Uncover Persona - Chapter 5

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Emily woke the next morning with her head throbbing. She gingerly opened one eye to the bright sunshine streaming into her bedroom. Her body hurt all over. She looked up at the ceiling, trying to recall what had happened the night before and when it came to her. She thought it had been a nightmare, but the pain she was feeling throughout her body told her that it had not been a dream at all. Her husband had savagely raped and beat her last night.

She had no idea what time Kenton had left. He had hit her in the head so many times that she had almost lost consciousness more than once. She needed to get up and go to the bathroom. She slowly rolled over to one side. The pain in her head was excruciating. She should go to the hospital, but she knew that she probably wouldn't. Despite what Kenton had done to her last night, she didn't think she wanted him to go to jail.

Kenton had been a completely different person last night. He had never been violent toward her. He'd been rough a few times, but not like this. It was like he was possessed by a demon. He seemed bent on punishing her for some wrong that she hadn't even committed. He wouldn't let her talk, and anytime she tried to get away, he would slap her viciously.

Pulling herself upright very slowly, she saw that it was almost noon. She never slept until noon. Sonja would have come and wake her up. That created a thought of panic. Where was Sonja? Why hadn't she come to check on her?

She made herself get up and go to the bathroom. Every muscle hurt. It hurt to urinate. Her rectum felt like it had been ripped apart. She noted that there were bloodstains on the toilet paper.

When she was finished in the bathroom, she went into the bedroom and put on loose clothes. The bedroom looked like a brawl had gone on, which basically it had.

Emily went downstairs in search of Sonja. The living room looked like a tornado had been through it. Furniture was overturned, pictures knocked off the walls, lamps, and anything that had been sitting on tables or the mantel broken into pieces.

Sonja was not in the house. Emily searched in the kitchen and laundry room for her, but she was nowhere to be found. She picked up the house phone to call, but the line was dead. Making her way back upstairs was painful, but she found her cell phone in her purse. It seemed to be working. She called Sonja's cell phone.

"Thank God!" Sonja cried into the phone. "We have been so worried about you."

"Where are you?" Emily asked.

"We're at a friend's house. Kenton came down to the house in a rage at about two o'clock in the morning and told us to get off his property. He was throwing stuff and punching the walls. Mario said he thought he must have been on crack or meth or something like that to be acting so whacked out. Are you okay?"

"No," Emily said quietly. "No, he hurt me pretty bad." She started crying. "Can you come to get me? I think I might have to go to the hospital."

"We'll be right there," Sonja said. Emily could hear Fernando asking her something in the background, and then Sonja asked, "Is he still there?"

"I don't think so," Emily said. "I'm going to pack an overnight bag. I'm not going to come back here for a few days."

"That's a good idea. Stay on the phone with me until we get there. I want to make sure he doesn't show back up."

"Okay."

While she waited for them to arrive, Emily filled Sonja in on what she remembered of last night, leaving out the sexual parts. Sonja was horrified and furious. When Sonja, Fernando, and Mario got to the house, Emily was sitting on the front doorstep waiting for them. She had gone through the house and gathered all the money she could find. She packed enough clothes for three days.

Sonja got out of the truck and ran to Emily. She stopped short when Emily looked up at her. She could see how badly Emily's face was bruised. "Dios Mio!" She wrapped her arms around Emily and helped her stand.

"Gently," Emily said. "I hurt everywhere."

Mario rushed to her. "Oh my God, Emily." He gritted his teeth, and his brown eyes turned black. "I'll kill that son-of-a-bitch for doing this to you."

"No, please, Mario," Emily begged. "Kenton knows a lot of people. He could make life very bad for you."

Fernando and Mario moved to Emily's sides and gently took her arms, helping her to Fernando's truck.

A light blue SUV pulled into the drive. The car stopped a few feet behind the truck. Ashley and Kim got out. Ashley took off her sunglasses. "Oh my God! What happened?"

"Kenton," Sonja supplied through gritted teeth.

"Kenton did this to you?" Kim asked.

"Yes," Emily said quietly.

Ashley moved closer and gently touched Emily's face in her hand and turned it so she could see the bruises by Emily's eyes. She turned Emily's face back toward her and looked into Emily's eyes. "You need to get to a hospital right away. You might have a concussion."

"I'm thinking about it," Emily said quietly.

"Emily, listen to her," Kim said. "She's a first responder. She knows what to look for when someone's been hurt." She looked at Sonja. "Please take her to a hospital."

"She's right," Sonja said. "You need a doctor, and we should call the police."

Emily was shaking her head. "No police," she said. She looked at Ashley, "What are you guys doing out here? I didn't think you were coming out for Kim to take pictures of the gardens for another week."

"We weren't, but I got this weird phone call from Kenton this morning. He said that I needed to stay away from you because he owned you." Ashley shook her head. "It was so weird. I couldn't imagine why he would say that or why he would think there was something going on between us. I tried calling your house, and the phone would just ring and ring. I tried your cell phone, but it kept going straight to voicemail, so I decided I was going to come by and see what was going on."

"We were worried about you after Kenton had been so cold and hateful last night," Kim said. "Then, when he called Ashley and started threatening her, we knew things must have gone badly here."

"Yes, they went badly," Emily said, shaking her head. "He has never been like this. I have no idea what he was so mad about, but he took it out on me."

"He came to our house at about two and told us to get off his property," Sonja said.

"That's about the time he called me," Ashley said.

"I don't know what has gotten into him," Emily said. "He has never been like this before."

"Do you think he might be on drugs?" Kim asked.

"I know he uses cocaine occasionally and smokes pot, but he's never been like this after using those drugs, or even when he's been drinking a lot. He's been kind of rough when he was drinking, but not like this."

Kim looked at Ashley. "There are a few different drugs going around that could cause someone to go off like this." She turned to Emily. "You need to find a place you can go for an awhile until he's come off of whatever he's on."

"Absolutely," Ashley said in a very lawyer-like tone. "You need to press charges, but if you're not going to do that, you need to at least be somewhere that he can't get to you." She looked at Sonja. "And I would suggest you all find a different place to stay for a little while, too, until this can be resolved."

Sonja said, "First thing, we need to get you to a hospital so we can make sure the damage is not more than what is on the surface."

Emily's head was hurting so badly that she couldn't take a chance on not agreeing. If nothing else, she would hopefully get some good medication for the pain. "Okay."

Looking across the table at Ashley, Kim said. "I'm so glad Emily's parents convinced her to go home with them. I was terrified that she was going to go back to her house."

"Me too," Ashley agreed and motioned for the waitress to come to their table. When the waitress approached, Ashley said, "Bring us another round."

Kim looked around the bar. It wasn't as big as some of the other clubs in town, but it had a dance floor and enough seating to accommodate a good-sized crowd. Ashley and she usually only came here to see the drag show, but tonight they both needed to have a few drinks and wind down after spending most of the day at the hospital with Emily.

"You know, I'd seen Kenton a few times in Knoxville, but I didn't realize he was the same Kenton who had married Emily until we moved over here," Ashley said. "Damon told me he was his cousin's husband, but I didn't make the connection."

"I can't believe Damon and he are friends," Kim said. "Damon seems like such a nice guy, and I thought he was gay."

The waitress brought their beers. Ashley paid her and then took a drink from her bottle. "I thought he was, too. I still think he's bi. And, what's weirder than that, I think he and Kenton are lovers."

"What?" Kim almost spits out her beer.

Ashley nodded. "I've seen looks that have passed between them, and occasionally I've walked in on a fight that I thought was a jealous lover's quarrel."

"Really?" Kim shook her head. "That is weird."

"They do a lot together or did. Damon hasn't been hanging out with Kenton as much as he used to. In fact, one of the fights I'd walked in on was about Damon going to Atlanta without Kenton or his wife, Carol," Ashley said.

"Carol's a piece of work," Kim said with a laugh. "She is so uptight."

"Emily told me that Carol thought Damon had been having an affair with me for over a year." Ashley laughed. "She almost choked on her drink the night I went to that party of Kenton's, and I was telling Emily about you."

"If she only knew you, she would know how wrong that accusation had been," Kim said, grinning at Ashley.

"I know, right?" Ashley laughed again.

"I had met Kenton a few times over this deal, and he'd never said anything about Emily. I wonder if he realized that I used to be a good friend of hers."

"Maybe not," Kim said. "He sounds like he's pretty self-absorbed. He probably didn't pay any attention to who her friends were, and she apparently hasn't had any since she's been married to him."

"It's so weird," Ashley said. "I never expected Emily to end up with someone like him. She was always very outgoing. I hate it that he's beaten her down so much."

"Well, hopefully now she'll get away from him and start a new life," Kim said.

"Yeah, I hope so. I'm going to run to the restroom." Ashley got up. "Don't let anyone take my seat," she said with a wink and squeezed Kim's shoulder as she passed her.

Kim took another drink of her beer and scanned the room to see if she saw any of their new friends there. She didn't, but what she did see took her completely by surprise. She saw a man who looked exactly like Damon Butler. Ashley had just said she thought he was bisexual, and here he was in a gay bar. She took another drink and watched for him to appear again. Maybe he'd come over and say hi, but she doubted it. He probably didn't want anyone to know he was here.

When she saw him again, he was headed to the back of the bar, talking animatedly on the phone. Kim hated to get up because she knew they might lose their table, but she wanted to see if he was hooking up with someone. She looked toward the bathrooms. Ashley wasn't on the line outside, so she must be inside, which meant she'd be back in a few minutes. Hopefully, Ashley would get back before someone claimed their table, but she was going to follow Damon. She had done a few investigative journalism photo shoots with some journalist friends, and Damon being here had all the makings of an interesting story. At the very least, she would find out if they had guessed right about him.

She went toward the back of the bar. Damon was standing by the back door yelling at someone on the phone. She wanted to get close enough to hear what he was saying without him seeing her. She followed a couple heading toward the dark part of the bar, keeping just behind them. Damon had his back turned to her. She finally got close enough to hear his conversation.

"You are a piece of shit! I can't believe you were fucking my wife and me! No wonder she was constantly accusing me of having an affair; she was having her own affair."

Whoever was on the other end was shouting on the phone. She could hear that it was a man, but she couldn't make out what he was saying.

"Fuck you," Damon shouted. "I should have known better than to believe you. You were never going to leave your wife, and you were expecting me to leave mine. You were just using me like you use everyone!"

Damon paused to listen again and then said. "You aren't man enough to come here to talk to me. You are just a pussy piece of shit."

Kim did hear the other man say. "I'm on my way." She rushed back to their table, where Ashley was looking around for her.

"Where the hell did you go?"

"You are not going to believe who is here," she said, grabbing Ashley's hand. "Come on; we have to get out of plain view. There's getting ready to be a scene."

"What are you talking about?" Ashley asked, grabbing their beers.

"Damon is here," Kim said, pulling Ashley into the shadows alongside the wall almost to the back of the bar. "He was fighting with someone on the phone, which he accused of screwing him and his wife. Like whoever it was, is having an affair with Damon and his wife, Carol."

"Are you shitting me?"

"Nope," Kim said.

Damon had gone to the bar and ordered a drink. Kim and Ashley had a clear view of him, but if he turned in their direction, he wouldn't be able to see them.

Kim and Ashley both gasped in recognition. They didn't have to wait long until a man stormed into the bar and straight t up to Damon. It was Kenton.

"Oh my God!" Ashley said.

Kim said, "We need to get closer so we can hear what they are saying."

They couldn't hear the conversation, but the two men were clearly arguing. Kim took Ashley's hand and pulled her closer to Damon and Kenton. Suddenly, Mario stormed into the bar.

"What the fuck are you doing here?" Kenton demanded.

Damon turned on Kenton, "Are you fucking him too?"

That caused Mario to pause for just a moment. He stared questioningly at both of them and then turned to Kenton. "If you ever hurt Emily again, I'm going to kill your stupid ass."

"Oh, little servant boy has a crush on the master's wife," Kenton taunted.

Mario punched Kenton hard in the face, causing Kenton to stumble backward. The bouncers were immediately on Mario and pushing him toward the door. Mario shouted over the shoulders of the bouncers. "I mean it, motherfucker. You better never put your hands on her again."

Kim and Ashley looked at each other. "I wonder how he knew Kenton was here," Kim said.

"That's a good question," Ashley agreed.

Damon and Kenton went back to arguing. During the commotion, Kim and Ashley had gotten close enough to hear tidbits of the argument.

"I can't believe you listened to her. You know she's a fruitcake," Kenton was saying.

"Why shouldn't I believe her? You've fucked every other woman in the state; why not my wife too?"Damon said. "And she's not the one who told me, Junior did."

"Junior is a punk. He's just trying to cause problems between

Ashley looked at Kim with a raised eyebrow and mouthed, "Wow."

"Carol confirmed it, Kenton," Damon said. "She said you two have been fucking for almost a year."

"She's lying," Kenton said. "And why would you be talking to Junior about our relationship? Are you trying to get me fired?"

"He was the one who approached me," Damon shouted. "He knew all about us. He knew about the parties, the bars, and the women you've been screwing."

"Bullshit. Why did he approach you and not me?" Kenton demanded.

Damon blushed and looked away.

"He wanted you?" Kenton growled. "That little son-of-a-bitch. Did you fuck him?" When Damon didn't answer, Kenton grabbed the front of his shirt. "You did. You fucking little fairy whore." Kenton shoved Damon backward. "I'm done with you."

Damon came back at him and grabbed the front of Kenton's shirt. "You are never going to be done with me. You try to push me by the wayside, the way you have with your other little bitches, and I will go straight to Walter and Emily."

Kenton punched Damon in the face. "You tell Emily and Walter, and I will kill your motherfucking ass."

The bouncers came over and separated the two of them and told them they both had to leave.

Kenton stormed ahead of Damon but stopped to speak to a very handsome young man. The young man smiled and took Kenton's arm. Kenton turned and grinned wickedly at Damon, who launched himself in Kenton's direction, but the bouncers held him back. The bouncers held on to Damon until Kenton had left the bar's parking lot. "Keep your lover's spats out of here," one of the bouncers told Damon as they escorted him out of the building.

So they could watch, and now everyone was slowly going back to what they had been doing before. Kim took Ashley's hand. "Let's get out of here." She looked toward the door and noticed a skinny guy staring at her. He looked vaguely familiar. She turned to have Ashley look at him to see if she knew the guy, but when they both looked back, he was gone.

"Wow, that was totally weird," Ashley said when they got into the car.

"Yes, it was," Kim agreed. "Are you going to tell Emily about it?"

"Of course, I'm going to tell Emily about it," Ashley said. "And if Kenton has been going to the sex clubs, he's probably using Ecstasy or some other club drugs, and several of them cause people to be violent. That would explain his behavior toward Emily the other night."