Broken Bonds

Chapter 18

Chapter Eighteen

I stood in the bathroom looking at myself in the full length mirror. I took a step closer to assess the damage. I tilted my head at different angles to get a good look at my neck. Purple. Blue. Green. Red. The unmistakable imprint of Luke's hands were around my neck...I didn't think it was going to be that bad. I swallowed hard. I sighed and slipped my pyjama top off. I turned my back to the mirror and clutched my top over my bust. I turned my head to get a look at my back. A variety of red scratches covered my upper back. I had picked the wrong night to wear an open back dress.

The door opened and Riley's reflection appeared in the mirror. His hair was still damp from his shower, his accelerated healing had already started because the swelling around his cuts and gone down really quickly. I turned my head to look at him clutching the top closer to me. He stepped close to me. Riley was so close that I could feel his body heat on my bare stomach. He looked over my shoulder at the mirror, obviously looking at the scratches. He gently traced his hand along my scratches. His fingers passed over my shoulder blade and I flinched. His hand stopped moving and dropped to his side.

The silence was so loud.

Riley lifted my chin with his index finger. I got a closer look at his face then. The thin cut on his lip, the bruise under his right eye, the cut running through his left eyebrow. His face showed no emotion, and neither did his eyes. He traced his finger along my neck, assessing my bruised neck. I caught a glimpse of his knuckles. The skin was so red and the surrounding skin had a faint tint of purple to it. Riley's hand moved up to my cheek.

We'd been home for about half an hour and we hadn't said a single word to each other. We didn't need to. The silence was speaking for itself. I gathered enough courage to finally speak to him.

"It's okay." I said softly.

"It's not okay, Jolene!" he spun me around so that I was facing the mirror again. "Look at you!"

I did. I took a real good look at myself. My bi-coloured hair in a messy bun on the top of my head, my red eyes, my bruised neck, my hands clutching my pyjama top to my boobs and my little pyjama shorts with smiley faces plastered all over them.

"I'm fine." I choked out.

"Fuck, Jolene! You are not fine!" he was yelling but his voice was hoarse. He spun around and headed into the bedroom but not before leaving a dent in the door from a fist. I quickly put my top on and went after him.

"I am fine, Riley, really." I ventured into his bedroom. He was sitting on the edge of his bed with his head in his hands. I went and sat on my knees in front of him. "I'm okay." I whispered.

"No, you're not." he mumbled. I put my hand on his cheek.

"Look at me." he raised his head a little but didn't make eye contact. "Right at me, Riley." I coaxed. He look at me directly in the eyes. "I'm fine...because you were there, I'm fine."

"What if I wasn't there-"

"But you were...you were."

He leaned into my hand, closing his eyes.

My cell phone disrupted the silence by blaring out Sail by Awolnation. I took a deep breath and got up to answer it. It was lying on the bedside table. Alicia's name popped up on the screen.

"Hey." I answered. There was shuffling.

"Jo, what happened?" Alicia demanded.

"Well, it's nice to speak to you too, Ally." I said sarcastically.

"Jo, I'm serious, Luke and Matt are in a huge fight right now." she said sounding panicked. I heard something shatter in the background. "You broke my glass table you pricks!" Ally yelled.