Brother's Best Friend || l.h.

Chapter 18

-3rd Person-

She trudged her exhausted legs around the car to the back seat where her eight year old daughter sat, singing idly. She quickly unbuckled the young girl before scooping the child into her arms. From the driveway, she could hear the German Sheppard dog barking loudly at the sound of the car door slamming. The woman carried her heavy daughter on her left hip, while using her right hand to unlock the door. Once the door opened, Tattoo immediately began licking at the child's small legs, causing her to cry in laughter.

"Sit, Tat," the woman snapped at the dog. He immediately sat and stared at his owner expectantly. She rolled her eyes and set her daughter onto the floor.

"Ashley, go play with Tattoo in your room. Mummy has a phone call to make," the woman spoke to her daughter. The girl smiled and called the dog, which happily trotted behind the toddler. The mother huffed and pushed the hair on her forehead back before plucking the house phone off the hook. She dialed the number she memorized, for the simple fact that she couldn't let her husband know she'd been contacting the man.

"Pass code," the deep voice growled into the reciever.

"Fotry-two, seventy-eight," she spoke confidently into the speaker. The man grunted and there was a beep.

"Mrs. Swan. How nice to hear from you again. How's your daughter?" Felix spoke menacingly into the phine. The mother rolled her eyes.

"She's just fine,"

Mrs. Swan gazed out the kitchen window at the fairly sunny day. In the back of her mind, she knew that what she was doing was wrong, and she wanted nothing more than to be able to dtop. But it just wasn't that simple.

"Do you have what I asked for last week?" She spoke quietly, seeing her daughter pounce down the stairs with Tattoo.

"Of course, Mrs. Swan. When would you like to meet?"

"Tonight. Eight'" the woman spoke sharply into the phone. The man barked in laughter before agreeing, bidding her a bittersweet goodbye. The woman sighed.

She glanced at the clock that was flashing from the microwave.

8.03 it read.

She had a full twelve hours before she had to meet Felix, so she spent it cleaning. She'd cranked the radio up high enough for her to hear in another room, but kept it low enough so that she could hear her daughter trotting around with the dog and her toys. She'd successfully washed five loads of laundry, cleaned the entire kitchen from top to bottom, fed Ashley, and vacuumed the rug in the living room before five o'clock rolled around and her all-too-loving husband came through the door. He bid his wife a mall kiss and a 'hello' before proceeding to the backyard where Ashley sat with Ryan, who she'd begged her mother to let come over for an hour. Elizabeth glanced at the clock for the third time since her husband had walked through the door, and began to, guiltily, feel the excitement bubble in the pit of her stomach at the thought of the high she was to endure in thirty minutes. She hurried finishing dinner, slipped her shoes and coat on, and came up with a well-thought up lie to tell her husband before bounding out of the front door to the Cadillac that remained idle in the driveway. The drive to the abandoned alleyway on the other side of town consisted of her smiling to herself like a goon snd singing softly along to the radio. In thirty minutes, she was across town along shoving money into the hands of a burly, tattooed man clad in a tight black shirt and black jeans, the gun he carried securely held by the waistband of his pants. She'd thanked him with a nod and was power walking back to the safe haven that was her car.

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The next morning, Elizabeth was feeling very relaxed, a large contrast to the stiff muscles and multiple sighs of frustration that fell from her lips merely hours before. She kissed her husband goodbye after telling him to use her car since his was to be brought to the shops that morning. She drifted through the day, her high not having quite worn off yet. She was the happiest woman in the world, until her husband came home that night.

"Elizabeth," he spoke. She looked up from the pot she was stirring and widened her eyes at the small baggie her husband held with the illegal contents.

"Look, John. I can expla-"

"I don't want you to explain, Elizabeth," he said, "I want you to leave,"

"Wh-What?" She whispered in disbelief, her eyes brimming with tears.

"I'm not going to tolerate this around Ashley," he spoke calmly. He couldn't believe that this was what she had confided in again. This easy the third time that he'd discovered the items in her secret hiding place. She'd promised that she'd stopped.

"John, you can't do this,' she said as a tear spilled out of her eye.

"I'm can't believe you, Elizabeth!" He shouted suddenly, "how could you do this to me? To Ashley?"

His wife could feel the anger rising in her like a fire spreading. She felt it from her toes all the way to her face, which was undeniably red. She clenched her bony fists and began shouting at the top if her lungs.

"John, I am not perfect! I can't handle all of this! I can't handle having an eight year old daughter and a husband who is hardly ever home because of his job! I can't handle having to clean the house and take care of the laundry and coom dinner and take care of our daughter and our dog all all once! You're never home at night! I was so stressed, you couldn't even imagine how I felt! How was I supposed to handle things?" She yelled. The tears poured down her face, but no longer out of sadness. She was absolutely pissed that her husband couldn't even begin to try to listen to her to understand.

"Doing this is not the answer, Elizabeth! You could've been to a doctor! Enough is enough!" He yelled, throwing the bags to the floor. They both stood, angry tears falling down their faces, Tattoo was whining softly behind John and they both heard the soft patter of their daughter's feet running across the hallway upstairs, but both chose to ignore it.

"If this is the way you are going to live your life, Elizabeth, then you can go live this life. Just not with me and my daughter," he spkke. He shook his head in disappointment and called the dog to follow after him as he walked slowly up the stairs and to his bedroom. He immediately called the offices and requested a week off, using all of his vacation days for the year. First thing in the morning, he was to go to an attorneys office and file for divorce. He cried softly until he fell asleep that night.

Menwhile, Eliza eth had no problem packing all of her clothes and shoes, throwing all of them into the back of her car and speeding out of the driveway. She sobbed as she drove through the empty streets. She thought of the drugs that were stuffed into one of the duffle bags that sat in the backseat. She thought of the angry and disappointed loom on her husband's face as he spoke this last words to her. She thought of her beautiful daughter's sleeping for ad she kissed her forehead and left her engagement ring on the bedside table for her to keep, hoping that one day she would be able to see her again.

But most importantly, she thought about getting help.

A/N: helloooo. I'm working on updating the rest if my stories so those should be up sometime this week if you'd like to check them out.

NEW STORY!

One of my good friends from school helped me come up with the udea, so the entire story is dedicated to her. It's called End of The Day, and the story description is up for you to read now!

I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, you got a glimpse into Ashley and her dad's past.

Please vote and comment. I would love to hear your thoughts on everything so far.

All the love,

M xxx