Chapter 20

The next morning when Jesse woke up to Christian crying, he felt the bed beside him. Renee wasn't there. His head was pounding. He hadn't drunk like that in a long time. He slowly got up and threw his boxers on. He went into Christian's room and got him out of his crib. He changed him and then took him to the kitchen. He had yet to see Renee. Where was she? Had she run away? He felt anger take him over. He couldn't remember last night beyond where she had taken the keys from him.

He walked into the bedroom and still didn't see her. He noticed the light was on in the bathroom. He walked over and saw her laying on the floor, naked. He frowned. Why in the hell was she on the floor naked? He set Christian down and went to shake Renee. When he did, he started seeing the bite marks and bruises on her. Shit. What had he done last night?

Renee jerked up and when she saw him, she jerked away from him. She moaned as her body felt like it had been run over. She was cold from sleeping on the bathroom floor naked and her body ached from what Jesse had done. She saw Christian and covered herself as best as she could.

"Renee, what happened last night?" Jesse asked.

He watched as her eyes narrowed and she said, "You know perfectly well what happened."

She slowly stood up and he saw her entire body. In between her legs was swollen. There was bruising all around the area. The bite marks were deeper than he had originally thought they were. The bruising wasn't bad but it was in a lot of different places. He frowned. He'd had a lot to drink yesterday as he had been upset due to Renee's reaction to him. He remembered seeing Patrick with Renee and that triggered his anger all over again. He looked up at her and he saw her visibly shrink in on herself.

Was that it? Had his anger and the drinking caused him to blackout? It wouldn't be the first time that had happened to him, but he had never done that with Renee. He had been trying hard to make her feel something for him, but hatred hadn't been what he had wanted. His anger about Patrick touching her was something he couldn't hide. He stepped towards her and she backed up, hitting the bathtub. He quickly grabbed her as she started to fall backwards. She screamed the minute he touched her. This caused Christian to start crying.

He must have thought he had done something to hurt Renee. He let go of her and picked up Christian. He tried to soothe him, but Renee had burst into tears. This upset Christian further as he reached out for Renee. She took Christian out of Jesse's arms and tried to stop crying as she soothed Christian.

"It's okay, baby. Mama's alright. I'm going to be okay. You're fine, baby," Renee said as she tried to walk out to the bedroom.

Jesse stepped out of her way as she refused to walk past him. He watched her walk over to the bed. He'd done a number on her. She was walking slowly and making little pain sounds with every step she took. She opened her drawer and took out a long shirt that unbuttoned and set Christian on the bed. She slid it over her head and gingerly sat on the bed. She pulled the shirt aside and let Christian latch on.

She had been weaning him off the breast, but she always fed him first thing in the morning. Today, she was hurting so badly that she burst into tears as he latched on. Christian released and started crying again. She cuddled him and tried to calm herself down.

"I'm sorry, baby. Mama's not feeling well. You can have a regular breakfast today," Renee said as she slowly got up.

"Sit down. I'll fix breakfast. Afterward, we need to talk about what happened last night."

"Why? Are you going to continue to torture me until I tell you what you want to hear?"

Jesse frowned as he said, "I remember seeing you with Patrick. I don't remember what happened after you took the keys. You being upset is upsetting Christian. We will talk once he takes a nap or he is busy playing."

After Jesse walked out, Renee let out the breath she had been holding. She tried to calm herself down so Christian would calm down. He had been crying because she had been upset. She hated that she had upset him. No matter what Jesse did to her, she couldn't let Christian see it. As he grew older, he would think what Jesse was doing to her was okay and it wasn't. She would not let him grow up to treat a woman like this.

Once Renee got Christian calmed down, she put him in the playpen so she could try to take a shower. The hot water stung the bites on her body. She was tired of crying. She bit her lip until she tasted blood, trying to hold back the tears. She scrubbed her body, trying to get rid of the feel of Jesse's touch, but it was useless. She got out and dried off.

When she walked out to the living room, Christian wasn't in his playpen. Her heart skipped a beat. She went to the kitchen and found Jesse feeding Christian. He was so sweet and caring to Christian. If he could control his anger, they wouldn't have these kinds of problems. She knew by what he had said last night that he had seen Patrick come on to her. Patrick had found an excuse to touch her throughout the party no matter how much she pulled away from him.

Was that why Jesse had thought she had something going on with Patrick? She had tried to tell him that she didn't, but he hadn't been listening. She sat in the chair next to Christian's high chair and reached for the bowl of oatmeal Jesse was feeding him with. Jesse pulled it away from her and she dropped her hand. She had always fed Christian. He took the bowl with him as he went over to the stove and fixed a plate. He sat it down in front of her and went back to feeding Christian.