When I woke up my phone had close to a dozen text from Devyn. She was continuously telling me to call her, that it was a serious emergency. I slept so good because of Nick being there, I must have been in a deep sleep if I slept through all her calls. I hurried up and called her my heart was racing hoping everything was ok. Finally she answered but what she was screaming was nothing I wanted to hear.
“Kadence get home now Nate is looking for you, he has called me several times trying to figure out where you are! I bought you some time to get home, I said you had ran to the mall to go pick up a last minute anniversary gift for you grandparents.”
“Thank you so much I owe you Devyn. How long ago was this?” I asked rushing around the room trying to get my stuff together.
“I barely told him about five minutes ago, just get your shit and go!” She quickly hung up and I finished grabbing my stuff. I looked at Nick still sleeping so peacefully I didn’t want to wake him so I left a little note next to his head.
“Hey you, sorry I had to bolt out of here I’ll call you off my house phone later tonight. J Kadence.”
I ran downstairs waking Sadie up, Nate knew I was with Sadie I told him that I was having her sleepover. I explained to Sadie what was going on and she ran out to the car and we took off. I left some stuff in her car I told her I would just pick it up later so it would look more believable that I was coming from the mall. As soon as I ran through the front door my cell rang. I took a deep breath because I could see it was Nate.
“Hey Nate, what are you doing?” I could barely breathe I just wanted him to be happy. I kept thinking to myself please don’t be mad.
“Hey baby, I couldn’t find you, thankfully Devyn told me you were at the mall. Did you find anything for your grandparents?” I sighed in relief but something felt a little off in his voice.
“Yeah, I have to pick it up in a couple of days I needed to have some stuff engraved on it.” The phone was silent which told me that I was in trouble. This was one time that I was so thankful for my parents to be home. I waited to hear him say something but instead the phone hung up. I panicked I didn’t know what to do, I ran out and told my aunt that I was going to Devyn’s for a little. Nate had never been there before so I knew he wouldn’t have known where she lives. I ran out to my car and got in as quick as I could and hurried to Devyn’s. Maybe if I just leave him alone for a little it will let him calm down. I went to get out of the car when Nate pulled up behind me. What the hell was he doing here did he follow me? I have never felt more afraid in my life, he had warned me that I was going to regret making him mad again. He came charging at me with full force slamming me against my car.
“Baby I am giving you one more time to tell me where the fuck you were!” I panicked if I told him the truth he would hurt Devyn. I couldn’t let him hurt my best friend.
“Nate I am not lying I was with Sadie like I said I would be. The mall was a last minute thing. I’m sorry, I didn’t know you would get upset.” I tried sounding confident about what I was saying but it was certainly failing. My next thought was to either make a run for it to the front door or sit here and try to make this better. Before I could make a decision, Nate slapped me across the face. His palm hit me so hard I hit the ground within seconds. My cheek was burning and you could see the welt that he had left. I just sat there for a second, how could I not see he was a sick bastard like my dad.
“Pretty girl, I treat you like a fucking princess. How ungrateful can you be to not respect me enough to tell me the fucking truth?” I flinched at the sound of his voice. He was passed angry at this point. “Your little ass wouldn’t be nothing if it wasn’t for me. I made you confident and sexy. I give you everything you want and you lie to me!?” He grabbed me by my arms lifting me up and slamming me against the door. “Why the fuck were you at Sadie’s last night. Why did you decide to stay there instead of at your house!?”
“Because! Look at my arm Nate!” My face was red filled with tears, how did he not understand that he was hurting me. “My arm is wrapped in bandages because of you shoving me yesterday, I just didn’t want my parents to see. I’m sorry OK?” His face grew with concern and I could feel his grip loosen on my arms. He dropped to his knees and wrapped his arms around my waist and started to apologize. I didn’t want to move because I was so scared he would turn back into this vial person.
“Baby I am so sorry I never meant to hurt you. I just need to know where you are at all times. I can’t stand the thought of you not being with me. What if someone takes you and I wasn’t there to protect you? Please forgive me. I love you and I want to be with you and make it up to you.” I didn’t want to get hurt anymore but I also didn’t want to get beat right now so I agreed to it. I would give Nate another chance to prove to me that he isn’t such an ass all the time.
“That’s good baby, I promise you made the right choice. Can I take you to get something to eat and we can spend some time together?” Nate kissed my forehead putting me in his truck. I didn’t say anything to him on the way to dinner unless he asked me something. Instead I just listened to him talk about his day and what he had done. It was nothing different Nate was always talking about himself he barely ever cared about what I had to say.
I sat there trying to figure out why I was ok with him treating me like this. I couldn’t put my finger on it. I have never let any other person talk to me like this let alone smack me. He was still sitting there talking about himself, he couldn’t even notice that I wasn’t even paying attention. Part of me wished that I never went to that party. I could have given Nick a second chance and been with someone that actually wants to make me happy and put me first. I would not be in the situation of being smacked and talked down too. Brooke could have him if she really wanted too now. I couldn’t take anymore beatings. I’ve been able to hide the marking from my parents but Devyn was aware that I was not just falling all over myself all of a sudden and so was Sadie. Thank god Nick didn’t know, he would snap and go crazy on Nate. The waitress came over to get my order finally snapping me out of my train of thought. I looked up at her catching her looking at my welt on my face the shape of a hand. I went to go order when Nate interrupted. “The pretty girl here will have a light dinner salad with light Italian dressing please and pair that with a water with lemon.” I could feel my blood boiling inside of me. Who the hell did he think he was? Was he seriously ordering me food and my drink, this has to stop. I wanted to say something so bad but I knew that he would over power me in any way possible.
We had finished our meals and I asked him nicely to bring me to my car so I could get home. It was a school night after all and at this point my safest place was my bed. When I got to my car I was hoping he wouldn’t drag this on any longer. I needed to ice my face and get to sleep. I turned to look at him and he immediately bent down and pressed his lips to mine. I couldn’t stay mad at him anymore those kisses were absolutely addicting. He kissed harder and deeper running his hands down my side. When they had found my rear end I broke the kiss. “Nate I’m sorry I just, I am not ready. Please understand it is not you it really is me.” I looked up at him with pleading eyes. He kissed my forehead and then rested his chin on my head. “Baby I know I have a short temper but I would never force you to do that. When you’re ready let me know so that I can make it perfect ok?” Once again not to make him mad I agreed with him, but inside I was so mad. He thinks he will just get my virginity like that. What if I don’t want it to be him? What if I want to be with another person? I got in my car and drove home. I was desperately needing a shower and some serious ice for my face. His finger outline was still on my cheek, what was I going to say to my parents. Thank god the way my house was set up my bathroom was right next to the front door, I ran in there hoping they wouldn’t ask me what was going on. I stood in the shower for close to thirty minutes hoping that I could just go straight to my room as the water mixed in with my tears. The hot water stung my face, but I had to make sure I looked better than this. Once I was done and dried I picked up my house phone to call Nick.
“Kadence baby you ok? What happened today?” Nick could always tell when something was wrong so I tried to mask what happened today.
“Nothing, Devyn needed me so I had to leave.”
“You sure because when I got up Ben told me Sadie had shot out the front door with you.” How do I explain this without making him furious?
“Nick can you just take this time to make my night a little better? I don’t want to talk about any of that right now.” I knew where this was going I should just tell him everything but I couldn’t. He started to laugh unexpectedly.
“Oh trust me Kadence give me the ok and I will make your night a lot better.” I could hear the cocky grin spreading across his face.
“Nick! You pervert.” I couldn’t stop laughing about it. “You wish that you could do that.”
“So what is really wrong that you need me to cheer you up?”
“I just had a really bad day, you’re always the one that can make me feel better.” We talked on the phone for about an hour and a half. It was like old times when we first started dating. After I hung up, I laid there staring at my fan. I couldn’t get the slap across my face out of my mind, there would be no way I was going to sleep good tonight.
The next morning I decided that I would just stay home. My cheek had a little bruising on it and I really wasn’t ready to explain that. I put a penny under my tongue to fake a fever so my parents would have a reason to believe I could stay home. As soon as they left, I texted Nate letting him know he didn’t have to pick me up after school because I was home sick. After about fifteen minutes I had finally convinced him there was no need to stop bye that I was fine. I knew deep down that he would probably have one of his friends drive by to make sure I was telling the truth. I texted Devyn to get all my missed work from school. I made my way to the bathroom to make myself a warm lavender bath. When I had looked in the mirror I was seconds away from breaking into tears, I didn’t even recognize that person anymore. I had looked so sick, my face was a lot skinnier and my body was losing muscle tone. Was this because of the diet Nate had me on? It could just be from all the stress I have been under as well. I let myself relax in the bath and I was finally able to step back and just breathe. I had no fear and no aches in my body, just me and only me. I definitely needed to eat some more food though. If coach started to notice this I would not be playing anytime soon. I wasn’t who I was months ago, I was someone who followed any order thrown at her now. Nate was going to be the death of me if I didn’t change the way this was all going. So many people told me not to stay, to get out as soon as I could, and I never listened and now I am stuck in the worse situation imaginable. I had to prepare myself for the worse every day and that was not supposed to happen in a relationship. I cried to myself for most of the day, I had never been so upset with myself. I just needed to see my best friend.
When school was out Devyn stopped over and gave me my missed work. She noticed my cheek but realized from my expression I was not in the mood to talk about it. Devyn had called my aunt to see if she could stay and help me with the homework for today’s lesson. My aunt said yes of course, my parents adored Devyn. She was really the only friend that was a girl they liked. She was like my twin to be honest. We both had long thick brown hair, with very bright eyes. Mine were more hazel and she pulled off baby blue very well. I was more of the hard ass and she was more of a sweet heart. Our opposite personalities worked because we got along perfectly. “Kadence were best friends ya know. You can tell me anything no matter how bad it is. It will always stay between us unless you tell me someone is trying to kill you.” She laughed a little, assuring me that it was ok to talk about everything.
“Devyn, I know you want to know why my face looks like this, but I’d rather not talk about it. Please just understand that.” I knew she wanted to talk about it because she wanted to help but I needed to keep her safe. If Nate knew that she had lied to him or knew how much his temper broke out around me he would hurt both of us.
“Ok well just remember that I am always here, you’re my best friend, you’re problems are my problems.”
I loved Devyn for that exact reason. I never felt alone through anything, she always made it a point to back me up. After we finished our homework my parents offered to have her stay for dinner. Before we had sat down at the table I covered my face in cover up hoping they wouldn’t notice it. Luckily dinner went smoothly, no one noticed my cheek and everyone was glad I was feeling better. We helped clean up the kitchen, I put away the food and Devyn did the dishes. After a nice relaxing day Devyn went home and I sat in my room waiting for Nate’s nightly call. It was about ten o’clock and I had not received any call from him. I wondered if he was just letting me sleep because he thought I was sick. I picked up my phone getting ready to text him when Devyn started to call me. I knew something was wrong because she never called this late.
“Kadence! Sean and Nate are out with two girls. The same girls that were at the dunes! Some bitch named Amanda and Jessica.” My heart started to speed up every time I repeated that name AMANDA.
“What the fuck, like out on a date? Are you sure they are just not hanging out?” I was damn near screaming.
“I don’t know Ben was out with Sadie and they saw them walking with those girls. Sadie said that they had hands all over each other. I am so disgusted with them!” Devyn let out a loud sigh. I could tell she was about to cry.
“Devyn don’t cry I will get to the bottom of this and Sean will pay for this. I will handle it all ok just get some sleep and I will see you in the morning.” Without giving her a chance to agree I hung up the phone and glared at the picture of me and Nate. If looks could kill, he would have died three times already. It was one thing for him to hurt me but for him to let his boy hurt my best friend, no way in hell would he hear the end of this.
That next day I drove myself to school not wanting to see or speak to Nate. He must have texted me close to twenty times throughout the day, but I had no reason to talk to him. What he did was wrong and he needed to know that. I knew he would show up at my school no doubt about it, but I wasn’t budging today I put my foot down. Even if I left with two black eyes, I still fought for my best friend. Each class was dragging through the day, I kept my eye on the clock until the last bell rang. I ran all the way to the locker room as fast as I could trying to avoid seeing Nate before practice. I let out a lot of steam in practice even hurt a couple of girls. Surprisingly the coach wasn’t to upset, she actually said it looked like I was getting my game back. I walked into the locker room to change, once I was done I looked at myself in the mirror repeating in my head DO NOT BACK DOWN KADENCE. As soon as I opened the door I saw his White lifted truck parked in the front row. Searching the corridor, I finally spotted him talking to some freshman girls. You could clearly see it on his face that he wasn’t interested. I started walking towards my car when I heard loud footsteps coming towards me. I felt his rough hand grab my shoulder and whip me around like I was a little rag doll. His face was actually calm for once, I really thought he was about to beat me in the middle of the parking lot.
“Pretty girl, I know you must be really upset with me but you have to know I didn’t do anything at all. Amanda is just a friend of mine that is all her sister was in town so we thought we would go hang out for a little. I am so sorry that I didn’t call you last night or text you.” His face was filled with grief and eventually confusion. He clearly saw that I was beyond pissed at him.
“Nate, if Sean even thinks for a second that he will pull a move like that on my best friend, he will be eating his ball sack for dinner! Are we clear?” His face relaxed a little once he saw I was madder at Sean then him.
“We are clear, I will let him know. Please tell me we are ok? I can’t lose you Kadence, you are the best thing that has happened to me in a very long time.”
“You want us to be ok? Then I better never hear about you hanging out with that stupid bitch Amanda!” I finally spit it out. “If I can’t hang out with Matt, Ben, or Nick then you can’t see Amanda or her sister! Do you understand?” I stood my ground for once. Deep inside I was shaking though, I was so afraid he was going to snap on me again. Before I knew it he pushed me up against my car pointing his finger in my face. I knew he wouldn’t hit me here there was too many people around.
“Listen here you little ungrateful bitch, you don’t get to call the shots in this relationship you understand?” He continued to push me against the car harder. I was trying not to yelp in pain but my body was failing to do so. “Don’t you make a fucking sound right now! You want to act like a tough bitch then I will treat you like one! You keep your mouth shut about this and don’t you ever tell me that I cannot see a girl. Your little ass won’t put out for anything so I have to please myself somewhere.” It was right then and there that he had admitted to sleeping with her. I could feel my eyes glistening with tears. I bit down on the inside of my cheek hoping that I could keep the tears back. “If you want me to yourself then learn to open your legs to please your man!” I just couldn’t take any more of this.
“Fine, Nate your right, it’s my fault. I guess you have to get it somewhere since I am not providing you what you need. Why don’t you leave me and go be with someone who will give that to you?”
“Good girl, I’m glad you’re seeing things clearly now. But pretty girl I can’t leave you I love you. I just need to have a couple times with some random girl until you’re ready.” Why can’t I just leave him? What the hell is wrong with me? “Nate I need to get home my parents will be wondering where I am. I love you I will call you later.” He planted a kiss on my lips and told me he loved me too. When I got in my car I just lost it. I completely broke down how can I love someone that treats me so horribly? The good of him did outweigh the bad at this moment in time. I just needed to relax and tell myself everything would be ok. Do you know how many girls would kill to be in your spot Kadence? You should be grateful for him.
For the rest of the week I just stuck to myself. I didn’t really associate with my friends or my parents, I really just wanted to be left alone. Every day I would go to school then to practice where Nate would take me home. I would do my homework, eat dinner, shower, and of course sit on the phone for about an hour with Nate. My days turned into a routine, which was never something I liked. I was always the spontaneous one. I thought about convincing Nate into going on a date, but to somewhere random. Maybe I could convince him to drive to California for a day.
“Hey babe, are you busy this weekend? I wanted to ask you something if you were free.” I waited crossing my fingers, hoping his answer was no.
“Nope, Kadence when it comes to you I will never be busy. So what’s up what did you think about doing this weekend? I’m actually really interested.”
“Well I was hoping, if you didn’t mind, maybe driving out to California on Saturday and going to like Knott’s Berry farm or something? It’ll be fun and cute and it will be so out of the ordinary. I think you would love it.” I knew he couldn’t see me but I put on a puppy dog face hoping he would agree. I heard a long sigh and he finally answered.
“Amusement park, alone with my girl, in another state. I definitely agree to that.” I started screaming I was so excited. Maybe this day road trip will bring out the Nate that I originally met. The sweet, knock you off your feet guy. I prayed that nothing that day would upset him.
Saturday couldn’t come quick enough, I was so excited in class on Friday I practically was dancing in my seats. I had told my parents that Devyn and I were going, so like always Devyn made herself busy to have the story seem believable. I drove over to Nate’s, so excited my jaw was hurting from all the smiling I had been doing. When I pulled up, Nate had already been packing the truck up with snacks and drinks for the drive up there. When he turned around, you could tell that he too was smiling like crazy. This was by far going to be the best date ever. He ran over to me grabbing me with excitement. He squeezed his arms around my waist and spun me around. I couldn’t stop but laugh at his goofiness. This was the Nate that I fell for, he was the greatest boyfriend when he was like this.
“Hey pretty girl, you ready? I got some hot Cheetos and some fruit snacks for the way. I knew those were your favorite. I also packed some water and some blue Powerade as well.” I was in shock at who he was right now. This was amazing, I finally can spend time with the sweet Nate I met at first.
“Thanks babe, I really appreciate it. I can’t wait to get there!!” I was so excited, I thought that we were going to Disneyland since it was the cheapest.
“By the way babe there has been a change in plans, go look in the passenger seat.” He looked a little depressed, which made me a little nervous. I ran over to the passenger side door and freaked out when I opened the door. He bought tickets for Six Flags instead. I didn’t even want to say anything, I ran over to him full speed and jumped. He caught me wrapping my legs around his waist while gently tapping my butt. I looked at him before I kissed him to get the ok because of what happened with the bracelet situation. He nodded in agreement, so I quickly pressed my lips on his. He walked me over to the truck pushing me against it while running his strong hands through my long brown hair. I let him deepen the kiss, I had never seen Nate like this until now. I was so hot from the kiss that I didn’t want it to stop. I probably wouldn’t have stopped him at that moment, but luckily his sister walked out.
“Ew can you two get a freaking room. No one wants to see you play tonsil hockey!” Nataly screamed loud enough so that the whole neighborhood could practically hear. Nate quickly dropped me to my feet acting like nothing happened. I couldn’t help but giggle into his chest. After being horribly humiliated Nate finally gave me the hint it was time to go. I threw myself into the truck and we were off to one of my favorite amusement parks.