"You're just like your father!" The words were out of my mouth before I could stop them, but for the first time I didn't regret saying it.
His hand shot out and connected with the left side of my face in a smack that sent me reeling against the back of the couch. This was the first time he had hit me, and I stared at him with surprised tears in my eyes. The look on his face was enough to let me know that he hadn't entirely meant to hit me, but he was still angry. I pushed away from the couch and walked out of the house to my car.
"Dammit, Jordan, I didn't mean it!"
He was running across the lawn waving his arms, but I ignored him as I started to back out of the drive. The rest of his words were drowned out behind the window.
*~*~*~*
I had driven across town to Megan's house. She opened the door and pulled me into a hug before moving me along to the kitchen. "What the hell happened?"
"We were having another argument," I began, breaking into tears. "It's all we seem to do anymore - argue. I told him he was acting just like his father and he hauled off and slapped me."
"Oh my god, Jordan, do you want to call the cops?"
"No. He's never done this before. I walked out of the house and came here."
She got up, wrapped some ice cubes in a towel and handed it to me knowing better than to try to convince me otherwise. There was a look in her eye, though, that said she didn't think this would be the end of it.
*~*~*~*
All of the arguments always started out the same. He refused to follow any kind of budget and became incensed when we were broke because of it. It was never his fault. I always spent too much on groceries or my hobbies. The problem was never that he paid no heed to the amount I told him was available for extras that month and he seemed to go out of his way to spend twice that amount. I had tried discussing it with him, but he refused to see it as anything other than me being controlling.
After he hit me the first time, all my give-a-damn went flying out the window. I cancelled his debit card to my account and handed him a check book register to keep track of his own money. I made sure there was only enough in the house account for the mortgage and the utility bills while the rest went into a joint savings we had set up so neither of us could withdraw for a certain amount of time.
It would take both of our signatures to change that, so he couldn't touch it. I kept my money separate and in good shape while he floundered and struggled to keep it together on his end. Several months passed without much of an incident until he came in after work with a letter from the bank.
"The bank is saying they're going to repossess my car for lack of payment, Jordan. You need to fix this and stop the petty money bullshit."
"I don't have to fix anything. You have your own account and you make plenty of money to cover your own car note. This is not my fault."
"For fuck's sake, woman! That is your car too. You can't lord the money over my head like this forever. I'm the man in this house and you will fix this."
"If you're such a man, then you should be able to fix it on your own."
His face was suffused with red when I looked up and I managed to dodge the first blow. This only seemed to enrage him even more. He grabbed my ponytail and yanked me off my feet. When I landed on the floor, he lashed out with his foot kicking me square in the ribs.
"You're my wife. We vowed to be in this together. That means with or without the money problems." The bank notice fluttered down to land beside my face. "Fix this."
The money wasn't our only problem. He resented the fact that I had a better paying job and never stopped to consider the amount of work I put in to be qualified for it. Our sex life had gone down the drain a year ago. What used to be a non-issue became a huge argument almost every night. Either I wasn't wearing the right outfit for him or my hair wasn't brushed well enough. Whatever it was, he found a reason to ignore me. When I started ignoring him was when the real trouble started.
