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ruthoakenshield · 4 years

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The Lady in the Black Leather (Ch 23)

Catch up here [chapter 22]

Harley, Graham, Phantom, Lawyer

Warning: 18+ readers only! Mentions of rape, torture & abuse. (I do not know who Rich’s lawyer is, I just made this one up.)

You both look up when you hear a knock at the door, and Phantom ‘wuffs’ softly. “Come in!” you call out.

A tall, thin, older woman appears and introduces herself as Janice Rightborough, Attorney at Law. She explains that she is Rich’s lawyer and he asked her to come talk with you since you were unable to come to her office.

You introduce Graham and yourself and then introduce her to Phantom, who had come over to your side of the bed to investigate who this new person was. She lets him sniff her hand and he puts his head in it wanting scratches from her. She chuckles and obliges him for a moment.

She moves over to the chair next to your bed and sits down. She explains everything to you. How the process works, what to expect and what the possible outcomes are for your case. She asks you to give her your account of everything.

You tell her how you met your ex at a party a friend was having. How the two of you hit it off and began dating, then he started to get possessive and violent and how he would use you sexually and you show her the cuts on your legs, and you whisper to her that they go all the way up your leg and are also on your privates. Her eyes get wide and she frowns. You tell her you were afraid to leave him as you had no family and he had cut you off from most of your friends.

You explain about the health issues you started to have while dating him and what your doctor had told you. You show her the ultrasound photos of the uterine fibroids that you had saved to your phone’s photo app. And explained that you had to have a hysterectomy which removed your womb, and ovaries just after Christmas last year and that it took 3 months to recover fully from it.

Janice asked a few questions about the recovery, which you answered, explaining that your ex didn’t want you to have the surgery and that he didn’t believe what the Doctor had said. You told Janice what he had said to you and what he called you and how much it hurt you. You explain that as soon as you had the surgery, he broke up with you and what he said and did at that time.

Phantom can tell you’re getting upset having to remember all of this and recount it. He nuzzles your hand and whines quietly trying to comfort you.

You take a moment and try to calm down.

You explain how you got cleared by your doctor to resume normal activities finally, and how Scarlett took you for a makeover and shopping to try to pull you out of the depression you had fallen into for the three months of your recovery. You explained how you felt, and Janice asked if Scarlett’s attempt helped you to feel better. You nod.

You explain how you met Graham, and then how you all ended up at the same bar that night and how you ended up meeting Richard.

You explain how Scarlett went home with Aiden, leaving you with Richard, thinking he’d take you home. You tell Janice why you didn’t let Richard take you home and told her what had happened in the past when you had allowed a man to do that once before.

Graham and Janice were both surprised and understood your reasoning. You explained how you walked home because you had forgotten your phone at the apartment when you left in a hurry with Scarlett.

You tell her how your ex stalked you off and on over the three months you were recovering, and how the police wouldn’t do anything about it cuz he never tried to physically attack you until that night.

You tell her what happened, and how you ended up staying with Aiden and Scarlett. You explain how Alex and his officers moved your belongings out of the old apartment for you and are storing them someplace secure. Then how you found out that your ex had gotten out of jail and had burned your old apartment to the ground making 3 families lose their homes and possessions because he didn’t realize you had moved out of there.

You tell her about Todd hiring you and how your ex sent someone to find you and how the guy stalked you at work all day, then how he got arrested. You fill her in on how your ex and one of his lackeys came in and shot Todd in the back then dragged him to the open area of the shop. and beat him severely because he refused to tell them where you were hiding out after he realized what was going on.

You tell Janice that if it wasn’t for Graham finding him when he did, Todd might not have survived the attack, but lucky for Todd, Graham found him and got help right away.

You fill Janice in on how your ex and his lackeys all stalked your friends, showing up at their homes / apartments and at the studio where they work currently. You tell her about your ex calling you from his old phone number to threaten you and your friends and how he admitted to starting the fire in your old apartment, and shooting your boss all because you wouldn’t stay away from Richard, like your ex had ordered you to. You explain he wants you back only so he can use you as his sex toy and nothing more.

You sniffle a few times and are close to tears by now. Graham is holding your hand and gives it a supportive, gentle squeeze.

“I never wanted to cause so much mayhem in these wonderful people’s lives. They have been so helpful, patient, supportive, kind and caring towards me. They don’t deserve all this. I feel horrible that people have lost their homes, their belongings, and nearly their lives just because my ex is trying to scare me to go back to him!” you cry. “He is doing this because he knows he can’t do it directly to me, not without obviously violating the restraining order, so he goes after those closest to me, like in Chess.

But I think he didn’t realize that by calling me and threatening me and my friends over the phone like he did, he violated the restraining order.” You tell her, through sniffles.

She hands you the tissue box from off the counter. You let go of Graham’s hand to pull out some tissues to dry your tears.

Phantom is frantically trying to get you to stop crying and is nuzzling your hand and bum leg and is quietly whining. You wince when his nose nudges your bum thigh.

Graham pets him to calm him down and lets you talk with Janice. Phantom is having none of it and is wanting up on the bed with you. You signal him to ‘go’ and he whines and goes to his bed. Graham stands up and grabs the leash. “Come on, boy, let’s go for a walk and let the ladies talk for a bit.” He tells the dog. Phantom gets up and whines, but follows Graham out the door.

Janice comforts you and tells you not to worry. She is already working with the police and needs to know if you want to press charges.

You nod and tell her to throw the book at him. He deserves whatever he gets.

She asks you why you never reported him for all the physical abuse you suffered at his hands. You tell her he wasn’t the only one to give you the scars on your legs. Your two previous boyfriends to him treated you the same way. You explain that all three threatened you if you reported them and you were rarely left alone. He was with you all the time and rarely left you unattended. He as well as the prior two before him all threatened you that if you ever told anyone or reported it that they would kill your family, friends or you.

You were too afraid to report it and no one but your doctor, the nurses who took care of you in the hospital, and Scarlett knew about it until you met Richard. And you told your doc, nurses & Scarlett not to report it for fear of what your Ex might do to you. You tell Janice to talk to the nurse named Ann who works the overnight shift here. She took care of you the last time you were brought in from your ex’s abuse.

Janice quietly asks if Richard knows about all these scars too. You tell her that you let him see them two nights ago when you let him make love to you for the first time. But none of his friends know that you two have done that. You tell her he likes his privacy and doesn’t ‘kiss and tell’. She nods and understands. You let Janice know that Richard doesn’t know all your history with your exes yet. You haven’t told him what all they did to you and how you nearly lost your life from the last ex’s treatment of you.

She asks you how Richard reacted to seeing the scars and learning what you have shared. You tell her he was upset at first, but was quick to reassure you he was not mad at you, but at the ones who hurt you and gave you the scars. You tell her what he said about loving you, your brokenness and all. You tell her how being with him makes you feel protected and safe and like he is mending your broken pieces back together slowly with his love and affection and kindness. You tell her that he treats you like a treasure, like a princess.

She smiles and tells you that you are indeed a lucky woman to find someone so understanding. She asks you a few more questions and then tells you that is all she will be needing for now.

The two of you talk for a bit just to get to know each other better and wait for Graham and Phantom to return.

When they do, Janice looks over to Graham and thanks him for joining you and keeping you company today. He nods and Janice tells you both that you will need to make sure you have Skype up and working on your laptop tomorrow. She tells you what time the Judge will call and to be ready to share with him, what you told her, and to be ready to honestly answer his questions.

You nod and she tells you she will be at the hearing with the judge so they can discuss anything else. She says she will come see you and let you know how things went and what to expect for the next hearing on Monday.

You and Graham both thank her, and she says goodbye and heads out.

“Sorry Phantom got so whiny. He knew ya were upset.” Graham tells you when he comes back in the room.

“I know, Graham. Thanks for taking him out for a walk.” You reply quietly.

Phantom jumps up on the bed and comes and snuggles on your good side. You pet him and tell him he’s a good boy. He gives you the lovesick puppy look that reminds you of the look Richard had on his face the day before. You snap a picture and put it into the app on your phone. You make a photo collage where Rich’s photo you took is on one side and Phantom’s is on the other. You send it to him with a message, “See you DO have the lovesick puppy look nailed! Ha! 😉”

Graham chuckles at the dog’s antics and then looks at you with a little bit of awe on his face. He shakes his head in disbelief and sighs. “Lass, I didn’t realize what all ya had endured with yer exes. I’m terribly sorry ya had to go through all that. Yer a real trooper to have survived it.” He tells you as he pats your hand and holds it gently in his huge mitts.

You sigh, “And that was just with him, you don’t want to know what I had to endure with the two before him.” You tell him with your head down. “Richard is the first ‘nice guy’ I’ve ever dated. No guy has ever treated me the way Richard does.” You say quietly.

Graham looks at you in disbelief. Then shakes his head. “Wow, Lass. You got balls of steel if you had three guys in a row who treated you horribly and you survived and are still the sassy little ray of sparkly sunshine that you are!” he tells you. “If ya don’t mind me askin’ how long were you with those guys before you met us?” He asks curiously. “Some of those scars on yer legs looked pretty old.”

You sigh, “I was with the first guy for 2 years before I was finally able to get away from him. Scarlett’s family helped me escape. My family had moved to here and Scarlett’s family had also moved out here too. Our Dads worked in the same field and were both transferred out here around the same time. I had stayed behind, because of my first ex.

When I had had enough, Scarlett’s parents paid for a one way train ticket. I took the little bit of belongings I had, crammed them into my backpack and messenger bag and fled one night when they left me alone and unsupervised for an hour. I took a cab to the train station and got on the train and came out here. I called the police and told them I was not missing, and that I was fleeing an abusive relationship and to not give any info to anyone looking for me from that area.

The second boyfriend I had, I met at my job. many years later. I was waitressing at Hooter’s and he was a regular that would come in with the linemen who worked on power lines. He was really nice at first and always tipped me well. One day he asked me out and when I said yes, we dated for about a month, then he started getting more and more pushy and wanting sex. He told me he loved me and would be good to me, but the longer we dated, the meaner he got. I was too afraid and embarrassed to report him. We were together for 3 years.

Finally, Scarlett convinced me to leave him and again, helped me to escape and we got apartments in the same building. But she was on the third floor and I was on the 8th.

She and I went to a party one night and I met Ben there, my latest ex. He again, was nice at first, but soon switched and became mean and demanded sex. He was super possessive and would lock me in his ‘dungeon’ in his basement for days and would call me in sick to work so no one would suspect. If I refused to have sex with him, he’d beat me and pitched a huge temper tantrum and would tie me up, torture and rape me.” You explain, with tears running down your cheeks. I didn’t tell Rich about the first two exes. He was already upset enough just hearing about my latest one. And I couldn’t tell him everything that Ben had done to me either! I didn’t want to overwhelm him.” you tell Graham.

He rubs his face in shock at what you’ve revealed to him about your past. “Ya really haven’t had luck with men, have ya lass?” he said quietly.

You shake your head, no.

“How long were ya with the last one?” he asked.

“A year and a half before he dumped me.” You replied.

“Try not to dwell too much on the past, Lass. Ya can’t change it, ya can only learn from it and move forward. You’re better off without that looser. You’ve found a new love and have been doing pretty well with the whole ‘move forward’ part, so let’s focus on that, okay?” he tells you.

You nod.

“I promise ya, lass, Rich would never treat ya like that. If he did, I’d pummel the shit out of him even if I had to fly half way across the world to do so. I’m sure Aiden and Martin would also do so as well!” he tells you.

“Rich has a temper and is often moody, but I believe he would never treat you like that. When he gets moody, just give him his space and don’t say anything till he calms down. He’ll let you know when he has calmed down and is ready to talk. Then talk with him about how you’re feeling and how he is feeling.” Graham tells you and then gives you a hug.

“So now what do we want to do?” he asks you.

You pull out your phone, turn on the ringer, and see it is almost 3pm. You have a message and you open it to see it is from Richard: “Hey, Sweetheart. It’s a long day, but we’re nearing the end. Am eagerly awaiting the final cut of the day, so I can go and see your sweet face and hold you in my arms. <3 <3 <3 Okay, maybe I do nail the puppy dog look… you’re right. Ugh! LOL! See you when I’m done love, Gotta go. Ttyl. Xoxoxo – Rich.”

You grin and show it to Graham, who chuckles. “I can’t believe you got him to admit that! How did you do that?” he asks.

You show him the picture collage you made with Phantom’s and Richard’s pic of their Lovesick Puppy eyes. He grins, “Yup, nails it!” he says, chuckling.

“How about we see if Aiden and Scarlett are done and want to come hang out. Maybe we can find a game to play or something.” You suggest.

Graham grins and nods.

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