Wake to Dream(72)

A year had passed since Alice and Max married, and in that year Max had laid down a set of rules that Alice was expected to follow. What he asked of her was nothing surprising or unheard of when it came to the roles played by a married couple, and when Max had first made his demands and listed his expectations, Alice hadn’t thought twice about what those demands would one day mean.

It was never more than just the two of them. Neither had to leave the house to work on a daily basis, however Max would often leave for a few days at a time to manage the multiple properties his family had owned and left to him when they died.

In addition, there was still a lucrative family business that provided income to Max, and although he didn’t have an active role in any of the companies, he was still an overseer, an owner that had to check in every so often to ensure that the businesses were being managed successfully.

Alice never bothered to ask the details. It never concerned her and she didn’t much care for anything that occurred in the outside world. She was happy in the small bubble she’d created for herself, venturing outside of the house only on the nights when Max insisted on taking her to the theater, to dinner or to some other special date he’d arranged.

However, over the course of their short marriage, Max’ change in behavior had been subtle. Alice didn’t understand the danger she was in until the day came where he could no longer hide the person that he was, the monster that had been hidden inside him all along.

While Max was away on one of his extended trips, Alice had come down with a cold. She’d attempted to work in the garden that she’d planted over the spring and summer months. She didn’t have to do much to bring the garden to full bloom and she was thankful for the richness of the soil that fed the plants so abundantly that Alice had to do little more than stick them in the ground. Looking over the garden that had been a pathetic plot of dirt before she selected the plants that were now growing healthy and strong, Alice smiled.

Her head bothered her because of the sweltering heat. She wasn’t able to stay outside for much longer than an hour before retreating back inside to drink a cup of tea and lie down for a mid-afternoon nap.

Her disorders hadn’t bothered her since the first night she slept in Max’ arms, but on the nights he was away, she found herself thrashing, especially now that she was sick.

Having only been able to sleep for an hour, she woke with a start, her body springing forward to find the pillows on the floor and the sheets tangled tightly around her feet. She looked up and jumped in surprise to find Max standing silently at the foot of their bed.

A smile spread across her face to see him after the week he’d been gone, but as her eyes cleared of the blur left from sleep, his expression frightened her and the smile slipped away.

“Max?”

His eyes were a slice of cold steel across her senses, his lips a thin sharp line that pulled up into a sneer.

“Are you enjoying the life I’ve given you, Alice?” Every word he spoke dripped with sickening venom, the icy chill of his voice crawling up her skin until she’d frozen in place.

Her mouth opened and closed several times before she could find enough strength in her voice to response to the odd question. “Yes.”

A single eyebrow arched above his eye, his lips now pulling up into a mocking grin. “While I’ve been away working my ass off to see to all the bullshit my father left for me to manage, it seems you’ve taken it as an opportunity to lie around in leisure, to make a mess of the home I’ve provided you and to shit on every responsibility you’ve been given.”

Not understanding where his anger was coming from, Alice shook her head. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

He’d never struck her in the year they’d been married, never lost himself so much to the capricious temper that Alice knew he fought to control. Max was a man of many moods, and before today, when he was taken over by anger, he’d chosen to walk away.

Before today.

But not today.

She didn’t have time to move before he’d reached out to fist his fingers into her hair. And she barely had time to scream before he’d pulled her from the bed, across the carpeted floor and down three flights of stairs. Pain shot along her body with each step that slammed against her hip or knee, her body being dragged farther despite her pleas for him to release her.

By the time he’d dragged her into the kitchen, she was crying out in agony from the way the hard corners of the stairs had bruised her. The louder she screamed, the harder Max’ fist tightened in her hair and the faster he dragged her to whatever place he had in mind.

When they reached the back door leading to the garden, Max dropped her to the ground, standing over her as she sobbed over the tile, silently watching her failed attempts to push herself up from the floor.

Finally managing to find strength in her trembling arms, she forced herself into a seated position, but was grabbed by the hair, once again, her face shoved within inches of the floor.

“Do you see the mess you’ve made? The mud and filth you’ve dragged into my house, Alice? I give you a place to live, a place to grow your stupid plants and pretend like you’re a good little wife to me, and this is the fucking thanks I receive? What have I told you about your cleanliness, Alice? What have I said?”

It wasn’t abnormal for Alice to drag in dirt with her when she returned from the garden, but it was typical for her to clean it immediately when she came inside. However, due to the illness she was fighting, she’d neglected to do so today, and Max’ anger at the perceived slight wasn’t unexpected.