Kadence
I woke up to the sound of Nate talking, I was half asleep so I was unable to make a clear understanding of who he was talking to. I realized I was in a bed with his t-shirt on, putting me in a sudden panic. Oh my god did I sleep with him? Did I let him take the most special part of me? He must have noticed that I was a little freaked out, because he dropped by the bed rubbing my face with his fingers. “Hey baby, we didn’t do what you think we did, I just didn’t want you to sleep in your clothes.” He kissed my forehead and nodded his head towards the shower. I quickly jumped up running to the bathroom still trying to understand how I got in his t-shirt. I quickly stripped out of his clothes and hopped in the shower. As I was washing my body, I couldn’t help but notice the bruises I found all over myself. Majority of the ones I was looking at was just older ones that were fading away. I told Devyn yesterday that I remembered what happened but the truth was that I had only known what Nate told me. I went to start washing my hair when my head started to hurt on the side whenever I had touched it. I could feel some sort of lump on my head, and then it dawned on me.
Nate had slapped me so hard that I hit the ground hard enough to knock me out. I didn’t faint and take a hard fall like he said. I started to remember piece by piece little by little. I needed to get myself out of this situation sooner than later. Devyn was right about everything, Nick was better for me, Nate was a prick, and so many other things about this relationship. Nate snapped me out of my thoughts, he started banging on the door impatiently. “Kadence what the hell are you taking so long for? Are you messing around or are you starting to get dizzy again? Please answer me.” Nate had so much anger in his voice but also some serious concern mixed in there as well. I quickly shut the water off and dried myself off, lord knows I didn’t want him mad at me again. I walked out of the bathroom relieved to feel the fresh cool air hit my wet face. I went over to change into my clothes that I had on yesterday, I really wasn’t expecting to stay the night we were only going to be there for the day. Nate came up behind me wrapping his strong arms around me. My body stiffened, I was so afraid he was going to hurt me again, but instead he planted a small kiss on the side of my head asking me if I was ready to go.
Saying the ride home was quiet was an understatement. Nate didn’t say a single word to me, nor did I want to bring anything up. I couldn’t handle the silence so I finally spoke. “Did you enjoy yourself at the park? I had a really great time.” I had no idea what else to say, I didn’t want to bring up the fact that he nearly put me in a concussion. He stayed silent for a couple of minutes making my insides tremble. Please god let him just answer, please don’t let him get upset. He finally put his hand on my thigh rubbing it gently back and forth. Within seconds his grip became stronger as he dug his fingers into the sides of my thighs. I tried not to yelp, last time I yelped it just made him even madder. I clamped my teeth on the inside of my cheek hoping that it would keep me from screaming in pain. Finally he spoke to me. “Kadence god damn it, don’t you ever know when to shut your mouth? Can I not have a nice quiet ride home? Jesus I dealt with you pathetic whining and complaining all evening yesterday! Just shut up.” I was in shock, he caused me to hit my head so hard it knocked me out and he is yelling at me to basically give him his space. I couldn’t wait to get home.
Nate parked in his drive way with a sudden stop. He grabbed my stuff and shoved it in my car without saying a single word to me. I couldn’t understand what I did wrong, the only way to find out was to ask. The only trouble with that was possibly getting my face bashed in. He caught my attention when he slammed the door shut and started walking towards his front door. Was he mad because I didn’t give him my virginity yet? None of this made sense to me I did nothing at all to make him mad. The Nate Peters I had fallen for, the sweet breath taking guy, was no longer here anymore. Instead the asshole who thought it was ok to beat his girlfriend was alright, was back. I got in my car, making my way to Devyn’s house. We needed to talk about what happened, I had to warn her not to say anything or she would get hurt. I could never let that happen to anyone, let alone my best friend.
I arrived at Devyn’s fifteen minutes later, she was currently saying her goodbyes to Sean. She looked so happy, she had the biggest smile on her face. I could remember when I was that happy once, I always had a big smile when I was with Nick. He might have cheated on me possibly not by choice, but he definitely knew how to put the biggest smile on my face whenever I needed it. This weekend turned into one of the most ridiculous weekends ever in my life. I was going to make a phone call to Nick, maybe even sneak over tonight. I just needed someone to listen and not say anything to me. When Devyn came running over to me she threw her arms around my shoulders letting out a sigh of relief. “Kadence I am so sorry about what happened, I should have never even said anything to you in the bathroom. Sean feels likes the biggest asshole ever for even trying to distract the prick of a boyfriend you have.”
“Devyn it really is ok. I was the one that said we should go to the bathroom. Sean did the right thing so it is ok. But there is something I do need you to do. Please make sure you and Sean don’t say a single word to anyone about what happened.”
“Kadence are you crazy! Please tell me you are going to the cops? This guy is crazy, maybe not even far from landing his ass in a psycho hospital.”
“Devyn, stop, he is very capable of doing crazy stuff. If you open your mouth he will come after you and I just can’t let that happen. So please just make sure that you and Sean just don’t say anything ok?”
“Alright, fine I won’t. But I swear Kadence if you have as so much as one more bruise on you, I swear I will go to the cops!”
“Damn it Devyn NO!” She backed up a little, Devyn didn’t like it when I got mad. I didn’t even like it when I got that mad, but I was serious about this. “You can’t do that! Just listen to me about this ok? I will get out of this situation eventually but I want to get out of it without my friends getting hurt!”
“Ok. I won’t say anything, but I mean it Kadence don’t let this go too far where he eventually kills you.”
“Ok I won’t, now can we go inside and discuss this weekend. I don’t have very much time.” Devyn nodded in agreement as we walked to the front door. As always her mom greeted me with open arms for a hug. She was such a nice woman, I loved her like one of the family. We grabbed a soda from the fridge and made our way upstairs to her room. I had so much to understand about what had happened in the bathroom in such little time. I knew Nate would have his friends drive around to make sure I was at home. It was starting to turn into a nightly routine. I sat on her bed taking a sip of my coke. “Devyn, how did we end up staying at a hotel? How did you even make our parents believe all of this? Everything started to come back to me in the shower earlier. Did I say something to upset Nate, he didn’t say a single word to me on the way home?” I couldn’t tell her what he had done in the truck because she would have flipped out.
“Kadence, relax, Nate had told us about it the day you came up with the bright idea. You had already told your parents that it was me and you so I told my mom the same thing except you were driving. I had Sean pick me up around the corner so she wouldn’t see that it wasn’t your car. As for the hotel, Nate forced us to stay in a hotel. He refused to take you the hospital. Sean and Nate got into a huge argument again out in the parking lot because Sean thought he was being ridiculous. The reason why he is mad could be the fact he got an idea in his head that we took Sean away from him. He was ready to hit you again, but Sean stopped him. So we did as he said and got hotel rooms. On the way there I couldn’t stop crying, I was so worried about you, Sean was even afraid for you.”
“So he isn’t mad at me for not sleeping with him?”
“That could easily be another suspicion, but I can’t tell. I tried so hard to stay away from him.”
Devyn explained a little more about what had happen, filling in the blank spots for me. I had to try and figure out how to get away from him. I couldn’t tell Nick, he may hurt him or even worse kill him. If I get out of this alive, I made a promise to myself to forgive Nick and give him a second chance. I needed him right now, but how was I to get around the nightly drive around guards. As soon as I got in the house, my aunt had dinner ready for us. I felt a weight fall from my shoulders, the smell of cooked food gave me the feeling of safety. I knew if anyone tried to hurt me my uncle would do anything to go after them. After a delicious dinner, I changed into some soft lounge shorts and a cotton black tank top. I threw my hair up in my little fluffy bun and dialed Nick’s number.
“Kadence, Hey what’s up?”
“What can’t call me Kadence baby anymore?” It kind of hurt a little that he didn’t call that.
“Kadence baby, what’s up? You ok?”
“Nick I can’t get out of the house, Nate has people driving around my neighborhood watching the house. I can’t exactly jump and walls at the moment, do you think you can hop over a lot of walls and come see me. Around the usual time about nine o’clock?”
“Kadence, only for you will I jump a shit ton of walls. I will come over as soon as it is nine pm. Just make sure you pull some of my clothes out that you’ve stolen just in case I fall asleep ok? “I couldn’t explain the joy that filled my body. He was the one that I needed to be with, he was my safe place. We talked for a little longer and then said our goodbyes. I grabbed a book and started to read until Nick had gotten here. I felt myself drift into the world of fiction. I loved Nicholas Sparks, I had already seen the movie but I needed to read the book. The guardian had already had me hooked within the first three pages. All his books did that to me, I just could never let my eyes leave the pages. I must have lost track of time, because Nick had slowly entered my room. He looked so good in pajamas. He always wore long plaid blue and white pants and a tank top when he would come over. Once he hit the bed he would strip into some tight little boxer briefs. How he never pushed me to sleep with him was unbelievable. He slept with me several times only in his boxers and sometimes me in just a t-shirt.
He must have caught me looking because he had the biggest cocky smile on his face. It wasn’t hard to see that Nick and I were extremely attracted to each other. I knew Nate wasn’t going to call me tonight, but I still shot him a text to say goodnight. I turned off my light and set my book down, getting myself comfortable under the covers. Nick walked over to the other side and like always stripped down to those tight little boxers. Thank god it was dark in here, he couldn’t see me memorizing his body with my eyes. As he laid down in bed I rolled over facing my back towards him, I could feel his skin touch my back as he wrapped his arm around me.
“Kadence baby what’s wrong? Please don’t lie either, I need to know you’re ok. You may not believe it but I am still madly in love with you.”
“Nick, if I tell you everything you will do something stupid and I can’t face the fact of possibly losing you. Just trust me when I say I have a plan. And when I finally break free from him, please tell me you will be there to catch me like always.”
“Ok babe I will trust you, just promise if it gets really bad that you will call me immediately. I will never leave you babe. But I do have a reputation of protecting you and no matter what the case I will die doing that.” I couldn’t keep my eyes from prickling with tears, he was the sweetest guy ever. “Kadence baby please don’t cry, I didn’t mean to make you cry.” His arms tightened around me before I was able to speak. I turned myself around to face him. He was the only one that I was able to show all my emotions too. Sitting there staring at him, I repeated to myself ‘seriously Kadence if you would of gave him another chance, if you didn’t go to that party, you would never be in this problem.’ Nick cupped my face in his hand, wiping my tears away with his soft thumb.
“Nick please forgive me for not listening you when you wanted to explain yourself and going to that stupid party.” Before I could finish Nick interjected.
“Shhh, stop. Kadence I deserved for you not to talk to me. I made the stupidest mistake. If I ever got another chance I would use every second of my life making it up to you. Whenever you need to be caught I will be the guy to catch you. We are end game.”
“I still love you Nick. I will never stop loving you. This right here is the reason why. No one has ever done as much as you do for me, and the best part is you’re not expecting anything at all. You just do it. So thank you for being my safety blanket and thank you for loving me.” I placed a kiss on Nick’s cheek and buried my face into his chest. This was it, this was the one place I felt the safest. Just as I was falling into a slumber, Nick whispered I love you in my ear. Nothing could have felt more perfect than right now.