"Valentina will be able to stand up for herself...no one ever gets to hurt you, bella."
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My silent reassurances of my boyfriend not being angry with me were all for nothing.
He comes over to my house the next day and it's just my luck that my parents went out (probably to a bar ?) with Jude and Austin. My sister asked to go to her friend's house for a sleepover. I am left alone in my house.
"Val", my boyfriend's voice comes from outside the front door. I open my door to find him frowning down at me even though I was wearing a very bright smile. I had even changed into the pajama set he bought for me. My breath catches when he pushes the door—that I was leaning against—and storms past me.
"Baby", I say to him softly after I close the door and look at him again. His hands are fisted at his sides and when he turns around, he somehow looks even more angry. I swallow when he starts to come closer to me.
"Why can't you stay away from him?", he shouts at me and I feel my heart get caught in my throat. He was angry and all of it was being shown to me. He was angry at me. I push away my fear and say, "I'm sorry, Ethan. I didn't invite him to my talent show."
"Then why was he there?", he says and I'm glad he is keeping his distance. His voice was hitting me in my core and I felt myself flinching at his every sentence. I shake my head and say, "His parents forced him probably."
"His parents?", Ethan scoffs and I nod. He shakes his head and says, "How fucking stupid do you think I am, bitch?"
"Pretty stupid to be calling me a bitch in my own house", I say out loud before I can stop myself. My hand at my side goes up to slap a hand on my mouth when another beats me to it. My heart stops in my chest when the impact of the slap hits me so hard I step back.
I find my footing before I can fall though and feel tears pricking my eyes. I blink a few times and he is standing in front of me, his eyes unremorseful. He doesn't care that there are tears spilling out of my eyes.
"You can't expect me to keep my cool when you keep going behind my back to him", he shouts, his hand flying in my face. He wouldn't hit me again, would he? He wouldn't put another hand on me. He couldn't. He loved me. He just did that on an accident. "What is it about him that makes you act like a whore?"
Oh, he was stepping a line. I walk closer to him and say, "So we were seen together. So he held my fucking hand. Why are you so insecure about it?"
"You don't care about this relationship do you?", he spits back at me and my ten second surge of pride slips away. I shouldn't have said that. I made him more angry. I shouldn't provoke him further. "You don't care that I love you."
"I do", I whisper. His hand comes up to my waist and for a second I think he will hold me to him, that we would forget about all of this. But then his hand presses into my waist hard enough to leave a bruise. He looks into my eyes and says, "Do you Val?"
