Faith

Arrested (chapter 28)

The rest of the school week went on as normal but I couldn't stop thinking of Austin. Every time I closed my eyes I saw his face, the face that I saw just before he walked out, the face that killed me. And the fact that he's not here sickens me. Out of habit I pulled out my phone while laying on my bed, scrolling through my finger hovered over his name, but I stopped myself. I need to stop thinking about him. I need the time away from him, as bad as that is to say, I need to figure things out. I heard a faint knock on my door before it opened and a loud voice echoed through my room.

"Mommyy" she whined out and I sat up slowly, the bed dipped down behind me and her arms wrapped around my neck. I kissed her hands softly and she moved to my lap, her big eyes looking into mine.

"What's up?" I asked and held her close to me.

"Can we go play outside?" Her eyes batting at me, I kissed her nose and nodded, she hopped off my lap grabbing my hand. I got up and followed behind her. It's a beautiful Saturday, and l might as well get some sun since I'll be with Nick later this afternoon. He called me at the crack ass of dawn asking if he could still come and where I lived, since then I've been awake laying in bed crying every now and then. Grace led me to her room where she grabbed her pure oxygen tank and I helped her put it on, tucking the clear tubes behind her ears. I pulled her curls into a high ponytail and grabbed her hand taking her into the front yard. Her idea of playing with me outside is laying in the grass and looking at the clouds. She went into the yard kicking off her shoes, then taking a seat turning around to wave me over. I slid off my flip flops and stepped into the warm grass walking over to my baby. I sat beside her and we both laid down, it was definitely a perfect day todo this. I listened as she pointed out the various shapes hidden in the clouds. Her imagination enlightened mine as I began to see the shapes as well along with many others.

"I love you"she said and I felt my heart flutter, her voice so sweet, I turned to my side and poked her.

"To the moon and back" I said and she smiled, her eyes wandered behind me and she smiled bigger, I followed her line of vision and saw Peyton sitting beside me his face right in front of mine, my heart nearly leaped out of my chest in fear, I leaned over and hit his chest.

"You asshole." I shouted and he laughed clutching his stomach.

"Your face!" He said with barely a breath and I rolled my eyes before sitting up.

"Peyton!" Grace cheered after his laughing fit came to an end, she walked over and he engulfed her in his arms.

"Hey ladybug." He smiled and she poked his cheeks. He laughed at her gesture and let her go.

"I have to go potty" she said to me quietly and then ran into the house calling for my mom.

"Other than trying to kill me, what made you stop over?" I smiled and his face pulled into a frown, my heart instantly dropped and i knew where this was going.

"Austin's been staying at my place" he said quietly and I felt a lump forming in my throat.

"Ok" I said dragging my fingers through the grass before picking some trying to pry my mind away from him.

"He's not doing well" he said quietly and I bit my lip shutting my eyes then opening them to release the tears that were formed. I looked up at him through wet eyes and he looked down.

"What do you mean?" I choked out and he shook his head running his fingers through his short hair.

"When I'm around he's ok, but If I leave the room he looses it. Charlotte he misses you so much it's crazy, but he's dangerous, he's not...good."

"Obviously I know that Peyton, but he's never hurt me...physically." I defended him and he shook his head.

"And he never would, but you need to understand Charlotte, he has a lot of issues. If you think him breaking your angel was crossing the line, you haven't seen him angry...he's been arrested Charlie." Arrested...he's been arrested. My stomach started to churn and my mouth started to dry.

"What?" Was all I could choke out, and he looked around as if he would hear us. I could feel my heart pounding in my chest, waiting for him to say something.

"When Michele first got into her relationship with her ex John, Austin started causing problems, like he would do things just to piss him off, and one day things got out of hand, I was there...and he brought up Austin's dad then they started going at it, and Austin being the guy he is, he didn't stop. He got this sudden burst of strength and he put John on the floor and hit him over and over. I tried to stop him but it made things worse. Then Michele came home and saw Austin on top of him. She called the cops and told Austin that she never wanted to see him again. There was a lot of blood and the cops came and took him away. After that my mom brought him to our place and he just hasn't been the same. The day his mom called him to come back he started breaking things out of anger, beating people senseless because they make him angry and it's just been a regular thing. And now this whole Troy thing, he beats the shit out of Austin and he still gets blamed for it. And then you came. Even though he still was a bit off to you, to me he was a totally different person, and now that you're gone, again, he's constantly yelling and having mental break downs because he knows he messed up." I'm at loss of words, my heart has shattered for what seems like the 100th time and I can't stop the tears from sliding down my face. Peyton leaned over and wrapped his arms around me, I fisted his shirt and cried into his chest, finally knowing the truth about him, and it hurts, no, it scares me, he scares me. My body started to tremble and Peyton gripped my shoulders as he moved away.

"No, Charlie, he'd never hurt you" he nearly whispered and I squeezed my eyes shut.

"But he hurt other people Peyton, that's not ok" my voice trembled in anger, "how many times?" I nearly whispered and he looked up at me with big eyes.

"I-I don't know Charlotte, there's a lot" he said in all honesty, more tears fell to my cheeks and I let out a small cry, I'm not crying because of the things he did, well actually I am, but I'm more angry with the fact that he wouldn't tell me, maybe he tried to avoid this, but now that I found out through someone else makes me even more upset.

"I know you're upset, but I think you need to talk to him, he's so much better with you around, just please, please talk to him." Before I could comprehend what was going on I felt my head nod slightly, he smiled widely and put his hand to his chest. I watched as a slick black car pulled up to the curb in front of my house, Peyton and I watched and I sighed in relief when Nick hopped out.

"Thank god you said yes, I told him to meet me here"