The Neverending Hangover

Chapter Fifty-Eight

Rev grabbed the bottom of my shirt and gently helped me out of it. I couldn't look at him. I let him help me out of it and sat there silently crying while he carefully inspected my arms and all of my upper body.

"Pants off", he said, and I stood and pulled off my leggings.

Rev pulled out his phone. "I'm taking pictures of all of these bruises, love. Hold still for me".

I did what he said, still silently crying.

"What's back there?", I asked as he was moving my hair off my back to take a picture.

"You have two bruises on your shoulder blades", he said, showing me the picture after he had taken it. There were purple and green marks from where Brad had slammed me against the hotel wall.

I also hadn't been aware anything was wrong with my knees until he was taking pictures of them, and then I looked. They were also bruised. It must have happened when he yanked me to the floor.

My upper arms were the worst. The inner upper arm areas were black, purple, brown, and yellow bruises basically from armpit to elbow.

Rev didn't say a thing during this entire process.

"I'm going to have Tommy look at this", he said. "I want a witness".

I didn't say a thing. I already knew Tommy had suspected, and better him than Clay.

I had gone to bed in my clothes so I was still wearing a bra and underwear. No big deal. I was more uncomfortable about him seeing the bruises than I would have been about him seeing me completely naked.

Rev quietly left the room and came back with Tommy, who also started silently crying as Rev pointed out each of the areas and lifted my arms so he could see the underside.

"Oh, sweetie", Tommy said, tears dripping out of his dark blue eyes down his clean shaven baby face.

I didn't say anything. I couldn't.

"Okay, mate", Rev said quietly. "I took pictures, too. Thank you".

Tommy left and I sat on the edge of the bed. Rev sat next to me and wrapped an arm around me, pulling me into his chest.

"Start talking, love", he said calmly. "From start to finish. Every detail about where every bruise came from. What he did and what he said".

Then he waited.

...........................................................................

Rev waited as Paige hesitantly started talking. He absorbed every detail quietly, not letting on to the anger, horror, or disgust he felt, and only interrupting for clarification when something didn't make sense. He tipped her chin up and kissed her lightly on the mouth when she was done talking.

"Are you going to kill him?", she asked in a hushed voice.

"No. Not because I don't want to, but because you wouldn't like it, and I don't want you hating me. You would hate me, yeah?"

"Probably", she said hesitantly. "Can you tell me what happened to you now?", she asked.

"Brad".

"What do you mean, Brad?", she asked, her forehead wrinkling.

"I mean, Tommy and Clay didn't believe your bullshit story about being drunk and falling, so Clay called me and told me what they suspected. I stopped at Brad's house on my way through to you, and he admitted to me what he did and why. I tried to kick his ass but I wasn't winning and then the neighbor called the cops".