The CEO's Abused Cover Girl

Introduction Hi, Firstly, I’d like to thank you for your interest in my story. I hope you enjoy it. I like to begin each of my stories with a little introduction to let you get some idea of what to expect from not just me, but the story as well. I ask that you please be kind with your messages to me, but also with one another. While I do hope to receive feedback, I would appreciate it if you kept it positive, constructive, and respectful. I will do my utmost best to respond to your messages as soon as possible. However, if you simply flame me or are rude/disrespectful, I’ll simply ignore you. Now, about this book. I update on a nearly daily basis. This story is for the 18+ year-old reader only. There’s adult language, a little bit of s*xual content, violence, etc. throughout the story. I will not post trigger warnings. I apologize upfront for anything that may be triggering to the reader. Unfortunately, there’s so much in life that can be triggering for one person or another it makes such warnings difficult to keep up with. So if you are sensitive to such things, or are under the age of 18, please do not read any further. If you do decide to read further, you do so at your own risk. If you’d like a fuller introduction please feel free to check out the opening of my story ‘The Alpha’s Warrior Princess’. Lastly, but certainly not least, I hope you have an enjoyable reading experience. I look forward to seeing your comments. Koeh And now… Cover Girl Prologue *SL*P* I barely had time to register the sensation of his hand connecting with my cheek when I felt myself fall, then the first sharp pain of wood connecting with my body. Instinct had me curling my arms around my body to protect my belly as I bounced from one step to the next until I lay on the floor at the bottom. I couldn’t move, the pain was just radiating through my body so sharply it felt like someone was hitting me with a baseball bat or something. I didn’t realize I was crying until I felt the wet tears on my cheek. “Shut up! Just f*cking shut up! Or I swear you’ll get worse!” He shouted as he kicked my legs a couple of times. Only once has he ever put his hands on me this violently before. No matter how many times he’s threatened, this is a first. I thought he would walk away at that point, but no. The next searing pain came when he grabbed a handful of my hair and yanked my head up so he could look in my eyes. “Next time I tell you to have my dinner ready when I get home, you d*mn well better do it. Now I’m going out for a few beers and when I come home you better have this place clean and my dinner waiting. You hear me?!” He stomped across the floor and as I watched his feet moving away from me, I prayed my parents wouldn’t be far off. When the door slammed, I let myself breathe again, curling up into a tighter ball, as though that were even possible, and whispering softly, “It’s okay, baby. I won’t let him hurt you.” I just prayed to God I could keep that promise and that it wasn’t already too late. Things between me and Manny haven’t been good in a while. It all started about two months ago when he lost his job. He started drinking more and more. He makes no secret of the fact that he has other girls he’s seeing ‘on the side’ and I’m supposed to be grateful that I’m his ‘number one’. But after I took that pregnancy test this morning, I knew I had to get out. There is no way in h*ll I’m bringing up a child in this environment. So I called my mom. She and dad are picking me up. My suitcases are already packed. Thankfully, I heard him coming in and hid them so he wouldn’t find out and try to stop me. But then he threw his drunken tantrum. When the pain began to ebb, I pulled myself into a sitting position and rested my back against the sofa. I wasn’t crying anymore, I was just concerned he would return before my parents got here. So once I knew I could speak calmly, I took out my phone and just as I was ready to dial my mom, the phone rang. “Hello?” I said as I laid my head back against the cushion and began to close my eyes. If I could just rest my eyes for a minute, then maybe my head would stop pounding. “Ms. O’Malley? This is Sargent Barns of the LAPD. I’m sorry to inform you that there’s been an accident…” My world simply tilted on its axis then, as I listened to the man’s voice on the other end of the line explain to me that my parents were moving through an interaction when a truck going far too fast and whose driver was nodding off went through the light, T-boning their car and driving it off the road. They were pronounced dead at the scene. All I could do was shake. My mind went completely blank, and the tears were falling down my cheeks like a stream after a bad rain. It took me a good while to finally get it together enough to dial the phone again, but all I got out was, “Uncle Rory? Can you come?” “I’ll be right there, Snow.” That was the great thing about my family. They didn’t ask questions. They just showed up and asked after. About fifteen minutes later he came barreling through my front door. “What happened? Where is the b*stard?” Uncle Rory said, already ready for a fight. All I could do was shake my head and hold my arms out like a little girl. He took one look at me and crooned, “Oh Snow, sweaty. It’ll be alright, baby-girl.” He came over to where I was still sitting and crouched down to wrap his arms around me. “Mom. Dad. They…” It took some doing to get past my hysterics, but he got the basics and once he did, he sat with me crying as well. I hadn’t even realized my cousin Ryan had come in during all of this until I felt his arms go around me as well. “Don’t you worry about a thing, sweetheart. We’ll take care of everything. Now, tell Uncle Rory how your beautiful face got all marred.” “I’m gonna kill the f*cker!” Ryan growled, his hands fisted at his sides. “Not now, Rye. We need to get her to the ER. Go up and grab her suitcases, will you?” Uncle Rory said as he gathered my phone and pocketbook. “Is there anything else we need to get?” He asked, but I was so numb I could barely think. “Erin? Think sweetheart. Do you have your wallet, ID, credit cards, bank books, all that sort of stuff?” I just looked at him dazed for a minute before saying, “No. Manny took my bank books. He keeps them in a locked box above the fridge with my birth certificate and stuff.” “Okay. Give me a minute”. He said, marching into the kitchen and slamming open a few cabinets until he found the metal box. A few minutes later he came back in with my belongings and shoved them into my purse as Ryan was coming down the stairs. “Here, I’ll take those out to the car. You carry her. Gently, son. We don’t want to jar her any”. My Uncle said in a calm voice, but even in my dazed state I could hear the anger rolling under the calm waiting to break through. “Okay, cuz. Put your arms around my neck, okay?” He bent towards me as he spoke, sliding an arm under my knees and upper back so that he could cradle me against his body protectively. “Boo! Come on Boo!” I cried out, but the dog didn’t come. “I’ve got her”. My Uncle said, hurrying back inside. A few minutes later he came back with my little shih-tzu in his arms. “I’ll drop you, Boo, and the suitcases off to your mother on our way to the hospital.” My Uncle told Ryan, who shook his head. “Not a chance. I’m going with you.” “Rye, someone needs to stay with your mother in case that as*hole comes looking for Erin.” Ryan let out a loud, frustrated sigh and said, “Fine. But if that f*cker shows up, I’m kicking his god d*mn as*!” That nearly had me smiling. Nearly. Instead, I just let my eyes drift shut and listened to them argue over that until the car stopped again. After that, everything was a whirlwind until we pulled into the ER and my Uncle made me get in a wheelchair. When he told them I might be pregnant, they took me right back. They immediately began running tests and in no time the doctor was coming into the room and saying, “It would seem you have a very mild concussion, a badly sprained knee and wrist, a bruised spleen, and you have fractures in your one, three, and four metatarsals as well as your first and second proximal phalanges. Which is to say you’ve fractured multiple bones in four of your toes on your right foot. We’ll need to get you in a boot for that, but you’ll be able to walk with it. The tricky thing is going to be pain management since you are, in fact, pregnant. I spoke with the OBGYN on call, and they’re sending someone down to do an ultrasound to be sure everything is as it should be. Once that’s done, we should be able to get you on your way, but you won’t be able to be left alone for the next forty-eight hours due to that concussion.” “That’s not a problem, Doc. She’ll be staying with us for a few days”. My Uncle said, while I just lay there staring out the window. “I’ll have some food brought in for you, Ms. O’Malley. I know you may not feel like eating right now, but it’s important for the baby.” “Thanks, Doc.” My Uncle said, and I heard the doctor shuffle from the room. That night, after we got home and were just settling in for the night, Manny came pounding on the door drunk out of his mind and crying about how sorry he was and how much he loved me. They didn’t even answer the door. They just called the police and about thirty minutes later it was suddenly quiet again. I don’t know if they came and took him away or what. But that wasn’t the last I saw of him.