Saved By You

Chapter 16 (picture of Jace)

'You okay Angel?' He asks quietly as I squirmed a little to sit up properly.

'I... I have to go to the bathroom,' I muttered, cheeks heating as I bit my lip waiting for a response.

'Okay. Do you want me to come with you?'

I shook my head, 'It's fine. I'll be right back,' I whispered.

'Promise?' he asks. Instead of an answer I gave him a short kiss which he seemed to like better before getting up and making my way out.

Keeping my head down I quickly walked into the bathroom only to find a long line up against the wall outside.

'Damnit,' I muttered turning away. If I waited I knew for sure the movie would finish with the way the line was moving.

I turned, remembering one of the pubs across the street that my father used to talk about. It was decent he said. But the beer was too expensive for his taste. He didn't like it. He didn't go back to it.

I had to take my chance didn't I? Glancing from the cinema to the girls’ toilets I quickly made my decision.

'E-excuse me, where are the toilets?' I ask the lady bartender who gave me the most suspicious look ever.

She cocks her head at the door I just walked in through, ‘round the corner sweets, here's the key.’ She passes me a key that had a pink love heart attached to it.

Around the corner? But... but that's dark and there might be...

'Thanks,' I muttered hands trembling as I fisted the keys in my hand.

Round the corner. It’s just round the corner. Oh there it is! There's no one here Claire, relax. A few more –

I yelped as a hand grabbed me roughly and pushed me against the wall, stars’ blurring my vision for a moment as the air gets knocked out of me. 'It's about fucking time,' a familiar voice growls making my blood run cold.

My eyes widen.

He doesn't come here. He didn't like it. Too expensive he said. Too-

The hand I suddenly realise around my neck tightens making me gasp and drop the keys as I pathetically try to make him let go.

'Say something!' my father yells into my face. 'Say sorry!'

I tried swallowing my fear but my heart was hammering too loud and hard in my chest, blood rushing through my ears as my legs trembled that I couldn’t ignore the sickening feeling in my stomach.

Letting me go he slaps me hard across the face causing me to yelp as I fell to the ground. My ears were ringing, cheek stinging and tears blurring my eyes.

I'm not saying sorry. I won't.

'Get up you insolent child,' he hisses but I stayed down, eyes on the ground in front of me as I trembled uncontrollably. 'Get up!' he grabs the front of my coat then, yanking me up so I was face to face with him, my feet barely touching the ground as he had me against the brick wall again.

I could smell the slight alcohol on him, the scent of his cigarettes flooding my senses and choking me. He wasn't entirely drunk though. That I knew for sure.

'What happens when you run away from me Claire?' he asks rhetorically, knowing I knew the answer, knowing I didn't talk... or at least to him.

'I've been waiting very patiently you know that? And I am not a patient man,' his voice took on a heartless cold tone then, causing me to flinch as I kept my eyes averted.