Hi guys! I didn't want you to wait and I really wanted to apologize for not updating long before this week but I'm happy to say that my exams went really well! Thanks guys for keeping up with me :) I'm forever grateful! Have a nice day my peaches and enjoy reading! ^-^
Chapter 34
"Everything started with my ex-boyfriend, Nicholas."
Blake's eyes swirled darkly, "Boyfriend?"
I nodded and tightened my grip around his head, "His name is Nicholas Higgins and I started dating him when I was 14."
"What?" he hissed, "Isn't 14 too young?"
"Yes, but I-I-" I closed my eyes shut and cringed while saying the next words, "-I loved him."
Blake took in a sharp intake of air and the air filled with tension.
"I promise you that I hate him with all my might and nothing in the world can make me like him again," I tipped his chin down to look at me and gave him a pointed look.
He searched into my eyes for a moment before resigning with a nod, "I'm ready."
I took in a deep breath and fully launched into my past, "I went out with Nicholas a full year and I swear we were the happiest couple on earth. Everything was perfect, we were even planning to get married once I turned eighteen- although that idea was so ridiculously absurd- it showed how much we loved each other. But one day, Nicholas said that he wanted to try something new and he went to this huge night-club. I don't know what happened that night but when I saw him the next day, I knew that something was wrong. I came to know when it was too late that he had taken his first drug injection-"
I bit my wobbling lip and Blake squeezed my hand reassuringly, "It's okay,"
I opened my mouth and kept going, "He offered me some of what he took the same day and I obviously refused. I told him to stop but he said that he loved it and that he would never let it go. I loved him too much to stop dating him and my parents weren't even aware that I was dating a boy. Day after day, he got worse and when it was finally the last straw, I took away his drugs and told him to stop. He got angry a-and he slapped me. That was when everything went downhill."
My eyes filled up but I shook it away, "He took the pleasure of hitting me every time we were alone. I couldn't take it anymore and I told him that I would leave him and deposit a complaint at the police station. That day, I was alone at home with him and my parents had gone shopping. He got so angry that h-he pushed me down on my bed and tried to remove my clothes. Then, I did the worst mistake of my life, I-I screamed."
I can't do this. Burrowing my hands in my face, I shook my head and my shoulders began shaking. Blake's arms wrapped around me and he whispered, "Why was it the worst mistake ever?"
I gulped, "M-my parents were in the drive-way s-so they heard me. M-my father ran up to my room and pushed Nicholas off me. D-dad beat him up and pushed him out of the house. I was so stupid. I thought Nicholas was gone for good- I-I thought I was free because daddy was there to protect me but I was so wrong. That same night, my father went out to buy dinner and Nicholas' friends, t-th-they were waiting for him."
"They shot him, Blake. They killed my dad," and I burst into tears. I cried for the first time in 2 years. I cried and cried, opening all the bottled up feelings that had accumulated over the years. Blake held me all the while I cried, rubbing my back soothingly and just holding me close to him. But I had to continue or I would never finish; wiping away the tears, I kept on going:
"My mother blamed me- she blamed me so hard that she abused me every day. She drank all day and beat me up whenever she saw me and I was too scared to tell her anything. Mia saw me with black and blues all over my body when she was only 8. I can't imagine how she felt when she looked at me. Every time my mother would come up, I would push her in the closet so that she wouldn't get hurt. A-and one day, she got so angry and hurt that she smashed my head with a glass bottle-"
'Stop crying you pathetic b*tch! Crying makes you look f*cking weak but I guess you are weak so that explains,' she spat at my face. 'You're crying over nothing- you're not even suffering as much as I am so I'm going to teach you what it is to suffer,' she snickered and pulled at my hair. I let out a shriek as she slapped my cheeks hard.
'Stop please...I'll stop crying," I croaked. "Well we'll see with that after I'm done with you,' she seethed and flung the bottle at my head. I heard a sickening crack before blacking out.
I shook my head to forget the flashback and continued, "-when I woke up with a concussion and a slightly fractured skull, Mia was crying. S-she told me that mom had d-driven herself off a cliff-" my words choked up in a sob and I soaked up Blake's shirt with tears.
He squeezed me so tightly that it cut off my air circulation, "I'm sorry, Hayley, I'm so sorry." I nodded against his chest and breathed in slowly.
"E-ever since, I moved away to another state with Mia to find a job. But no one wanted to take in a girl who had just turned sixteen so I resorted to underground fighting with the skills that my father had given me when I was smaller, I practiced everyday with no exception but I never made my identity known so they named me 'Black Hood." I finished with a sniff.
Blake smiled down at me sadly, "Thanks for telling me," he burrowed his nose in my neck and breathed in.
We curled up together in the bed and just before I dozed off, Blake whispered, "I love you, Hayley."
My heart seemed to stop for a moment but I never got the time to mull over it as I fell into a pit of darkness.