Chapter one
She came into the house with bruises and cuts on her body. Her eyes were filled with pain, but she was crying. I saw her limp into the bedroom and felt mortified by the sight of her injured body. The guilt sank down in my stomach. I promised her that I’d never hurt her. That I’d keep her safe. But here she was, walking into the apartment with marks all over her body. Obviously, she had to have been in -at least- moderate pain. That’s why I felt a little extra guilty when she walked by trying to hide it from me. Or it had apparently just seemed that way. I had to know what happened.
In the bedroom, she half leaned on the bed for support. Her attempt at peeling off blood-stained jeans futile. The face she made contorted in remorse. She glared back at me in the doorway as quickly as she had turned away. Grinding her teeth in agony was the way she coped. It was obvious I was going to question her, and she knew it too. Although, I knew there was no way in hell I would’ve gotten a clear answer.
A sheen layer of blood, dirt, and grime covered her body. The shirt she was wearing torn in several places. Thin slices decorated her arms and legs on the exposed portions of her injured body. It wasn’t uncommon for one of us to come home looking rough. Maybe, a bit beat up, but this was completely different. In her condition, it was a definite give away shit had went down.
“Go away, I’m fine.” Her eyes were doing all the lying. While the physical evidence of her body was screaming out the truth. She was hurt, but for some reason didn’t want to admit why. I walked up behind her and wrapped my hands around her waist. “No, you’re not. You’re bleeding. When you walked in you were limping. Clearly, something happened. Whether you decide to tell me the truth or not, is up to you. You should know by now, I’m done trying to get you to tell me everything. Right now, lying to me, telling me you’re not hurt. Its not the same as what happened yesterday.” Lightly, I leaned my head on her shoulder. Making sure that I wouldn’t be putting too much pressure on her. At the time, it seemed she barely could stand properly anyways.
“Sam, stop it. I told you I wasn’t mad at you. It happened, so what.” She remained faced in the opposite direction of me and pushed my embrace off of her. There was a know at the door and my ears perked to the noise. Immediately, I put my hand over her mouth to tell her to be quiet. “Go lay down in the bed like you’ve been here the entire time and pretend you’re sleeping.” I had a bad feeling about who was at the door but went to go answer it anyways.
