Chapter 24

Weeks went by with Jesse keeping a closer eye on Renee. She didn't try to harm herself, but she was closed off. He had stopped taking her to the mommy and me group each week. She rarely smiled anymore. He had been checking her phone and the usage to see who she had been messaging. So far, she hadn't deleted any of them off the phone. There were messages from the other women in the group asking her where she was and was everything okay. She never answered them.

When he touched her, she tensed up or shrunk away from him. She didn't fight him, but she was no longer responsive in any way. She would cry at night when she thought he was asleep. Even Christian couldn't get her to smile most of the time. He sighed as he sat on the couch, watching her play with Christian on the floor. She had a slight smile on her face, but you could tell it was only there for the sake of Christian, not because she was actually happy.

There was a knock on the door and Jesse quickly looked at Renee. No one had ever come to their house before. Who even had this address? Renee just looked at him and he knew she wasn't expecting anyone. He went to the door and looked out of the peephole. It was Rebecca. He frowned and opened the door.

"Hey, Mark. Is Tabitha home?" Rebecca asked.

"She is. Why are you here?" Jesse asked.

"I, um, I think she may have stopped coming to the mommy and me group because of my husband. I wanted to apologize to both of you and see if I could talk her into coming back. We all miss seeing her."

"Why would you need to apologize to both of us?"

Rebecca looked at him with a slight tilt to her head and said, "You don't know what Patrick did? I'm pretty sure you do with the way you were looking at him and Renee at the party. Did she tell you anything?"

"Yeah, I know what happened. I wasn't happy about it either. I don't care what you two do, but you should know better than to approach someone like that. At least gauge what type of person they are first or the type of person they are with."

"Is Tabitha okay?" Rebecca asked, suddenly looking worried.

"She's fine. She just doesn't want to be around you and your husband," Jesse replied, trying to close the door on Rebecca.

Rebecca stepped inside the door so he couldn't and said, "I would like to see her for just a few minutes so I can apologize."

Jesse felt a hand on his arm. He turned and saw Renee standing beside him. She looked at him with those dead eyes and he frowned again. There was no emotion about anything she did lately. He crossed his arms and stood there just looking at her, waiting to hear what she was going to say.

"I'm fine, Rebecca. I'm not comfortable being around Patrick anymore. I told him no at the party and he used your phone to text me. Needless to say that Mark wasn't happy about it. I can't say as I blame him. I was rather upset about it myself as I would not want someone coming on to my husband like that. So, I have decided not to come back to the group. Please tell everyone I'm fine and that I didn't mean to hurt anyone's feelings."

"Oh, Tabitha. I'm so sorry. I never wanted you to feel uncomfortable. And I definitely don't want you to quit coming to mommy and me and having Christian there. Our kids all play so well together. I hope you will reconsider," Rebecca said as she hugged Renee.

Jesse watched as Renee slowly patted Rebecca on the back. When Rebecca pulled back, she put a small smile on her face, but yet again, Jesse could tell it was not her real smile. Rebecca must have known too as she frowned. She told them goodbye and Jesse closed the door. Renee turned to go back into the living room, her fake smile gone already, and the blank face now back in place. He grabbed her arm and felt her tense.

"You handled that very well. I'll find another group for you and Christian, okay?"

"Don't bother. I don't care anymore," Renee said as she tried to walk away.

Jesse held on to her arm and said, "You act like you don't care, but I know you do. You wouldn't be this sad if you didn't."

"I'm depressed because I'm stuck here. I'm your prisoner and no matter what I do, that isn't going to change. You hurt me over and over and don't care that you do it. It doesn't phase you to hurt me. You could care less about what I want or even what I like. You say you love me, but I know that's a lie. You don't hurt someone you love. At least not intentionally, but everything you do is done intentionally. You wanted me to be compliant. You have that now. I won't fight you anymore. I won't ask to go out. I won't fight you when it comes to sex. I won't ask you for anything. Just don't expect me to be happy when I'm not," Renee said as she jerked her arm away from him and walked away.

Jesse punched the wall, trying to control his anger. He busted his knuckles open and cursed at himself for being so stupid. How could she say he didn't love her? He had done so much to prove he cared and all she had done was throw it back in his face. His anger had gotten the better of him more than once, and that had set them back, but none of it had been this bad. He had to try to fix things, but how?