The silence in the air was somewhat harsh as the two sat just two feet apart from each other in Gabriel's car, an extremely nice car at that.
"I'm sorry."
"You don't need to be sorry Ashley, none of this was your fault." Gabriel's voice was calm, collected, and sweet even for himself.
"Yes it was. I made John mad. I made him mad and he gets like this, I-I shouldn't have let him leave the apartment. I-I could have stopped this-" Ashley says as she looks at the floor in defeat.
"-Ashley, if you were to let him stay in that apartment, who knows what he would have done to you. This is not your fault. None of this is, he decided to get intoxicated, he decided to hurt you, he decided to come here and do this. He put everything on himself, not you. You are not in control of him, and he is not in control of you."
But he is. He always has been.
"Don't worry about anything that happened at Sanctuary, insurance will pay for everything. I just want you to focus on yourself for a few days Ashley. None of this is your fault."
Looking out the window with tears threatening her for the millionth time tonight, Ashley refused to cry. Not here, not in front of her boss who is making sense and being extremely nice to her.
For the first time in five years, she was seeing clearly. She was starting to see how bad this really was, how bad John really is. And it was painful.
It broke her heart, having to know that this is what everything has come to. That for five years he has been using her for his own pleasure and ways. A pain in her chest was telling her that she still cares fo him, that he needs her, he needs help that only she could give, that she should care for him because he loves her.
But her mind says otherwise. Torn between each and every thought, she can't help but feel sorry, for everyone and everything. For herself and John, and though she wants to help him with everything to get better, she knows that she needs the help too.
And that was something John could and never did provide her. And in order to help him and others she needed help herself, she needed to fix her self.
And that was the one thing she saw so clearly tonight.
"Ashley, do not beat yourself up over this. Okay?" Looking over at her during a red light, Gabriels face is illuminated by other cars and the red lights around him, making Ashley get lost for a moment.
When she regained her thoughts as the light turns green, she smiled and attempted to think right. "I-I'll try."
And back to the silence. Back to her home where pretty much everyone was waiting outside by their cars, even Billy was there seeing as he refused to go home with Ashley like this.
Seeing as he was papa bear of the group, he needed to make sure she could handle herself with Danny for the few hours left in the night. Everyone was worried for her, not even thinking of themselves.
Marco and Billy has called their partners to tell them what was going on, vaguely at that. Danny was pacing in the parking lot as Jack sat on top of Billy's truck, swinging his legs in the air as they waited for Gabriel's car to pull into the lot.
"Do you think she'll talk about it? Like...to the cops?" Jack, curious and tired, asked in hopes to lift the veil of worry that was weighing them all down.
"I don't know. I hope she will."
"I highly doubt she will. John has threatened her for years now guys. He's threatened me for years just for being around Ashley." Turning to face the group, Danny stops pacing for a moment to talk. Watching how everyone shifts at the sound of his name. "He has her hooked onto him, she doesn't see how this relationship they have is so fucking wrong."
"Well, if we all said something to them, wouldn't she?" Jack asked.
"No."
"He's going to be locked up well either way. With Gabriels lawyer, she'll find everything and get him convicted and locked up for years to come." Billy stated.
"We all know that Billy, it's the matter that he gets locked up for what he has done to our friend! That rat-eating dick-sucking bastard hurt her, I am not going to let him get away with that." Marco was visibly shaking as he spoke. Rage coming out with every one of his words.
"Danny, be honest with us. How long has this been going on?" Danny looks down again and starts to pace, not answering Billy's question because he can't. He shudders at the thought of it.
"Daniel." Leaning off of his truck, Billy makes his way over to Danny who just ignores the big man. "Answer me." Stopping in front of him, the tall and buff man stands over, intimidating Danny as he just turns away and walks down the parking lot again.
Upsetting Billy in a new way, he stalks over to his friend and angrily grabs him, spinning him around as he holds Danny down, not being able to struggle out of his tight grip, Billy stares at him in a way Danny has ever seen one other time.
It was pure anger. But it wasn't towards Danny himself, it was only because of the situation.
And though Billy was a scary person you don't want to fuck with, he was inside a big teddy bear.
And this scared Danny shitless to see his friend like this.
"Answer me now Daniel."
"I-I cant tell you."
"Bullshit."
"I'm sorry Billy! I can't. I promised Ashley I wouldn't! If I go back on her I will lose her forever. I can not do that to her. I'm sorry."
"I get that you promised her, but someone is going to tell eventually. It sure as hell won't be John and if you are so sure Ashley won't talk, who will?" Danny closes his eyes as a shaky breath comes out, he won't tell.
He refuses to tell even the person he trusts most.
Instead he raises his hand slowly and puts up three fingers. Three single fingers each representing a year. Starting three years ago, it when John had started everything, his threats, his drinking, his very very rare hits, and a few more unspeakable acts.
Thats when Billy drops him and nods. "Thank you." Danny nods as Billy hugs him tightly, understanding why Danny was so reluctant to say anything, but appreciating the fact that he did.
Not verbally or through a text, and in reality he didn't tell Billy.
If anything it looked like he was doing to salute from the mocking bird with his three fingers to everyone else.
I didn't tell, I didn't tell, I didn't tell. Danny is knocked out of his thoughts, literally by Ashley who hugs him tightly all of a sudden. He doesn't remember her getting there.
"Come on." Ashley forcefully pushes him towards the building with her keys in hand to get him walking again.
"Ashley, can we talk to you for a moment?"
"Y-yeah, sure. Can you go upstairs Danny?" Nodding, too scared to talk to her now, Danny takes the keys in hand and waves to everyone else outside as he leaves the scene.
Walking over to everyone still in the parking lot by their cars, Ashley smiles sadly at them as she waits for one to start talking about tonight.
"Are you going to be okay with Danny?"
"Y-yeah. I think I just need some sleep. I'll be fine."
"Will Danny be fine?" Jokingly Jack asks Ashley, but she didn't take it as a joke as she thought about it, really thought about it.
"I don't know."
"He was pretty upset."
"He just needs sleep. We all do." Ashley reassures everyone as they either watch her or the apartment building that Danny is in.
"Get some rest Ashley. We'll talk tomorrow okay?"
"I figured. Can someone call Summer and make sure she is alright though? I...I don't think she would want to hear my voice for a day or two now."
"I'll call her at some point, I'm sure she's fine. She's a tough girl." This time it's Marco to speak up, digging in his pockets for his keys once again, motioning to his car for Jack.
"Yeah, she'll be okay. She's punched guys bigger than him. Get some sleep Ashley. I'll come by and pick up Danny tomorrow to get him home." With that Jack and Marco head to the little blue car that sits there waiting for its owner to get home.
"You sure you don't need anything Ashley?"
"I'm sure Billy. I-I just want to get some sleep and not ever talk about this again. I know I can do one of those things."
"I hope it's the first one." Smiling slightly again and again, Billy leaves as well, leaving just Ashley and Gabriel in the small parking lot that was only lit up by a few small lights here and there.
"You sure you'll be good?"
"Yes. Thank you Gabriel. For stopping him and all....I-I really am sorry! If there is any-"
"Stop. No. You are not going to do anything for me. You do not owe me at all Ashley. That man was wrecking my building and endangering my employees. He's just lucky the cops got to him before I saw him again." Cutting her off before she can finish anything, Gabriel makes sure she knows that he is speaking the truth when he says what he says.
His tone grows dangerous as he starts thinking back again, but to Ashley that's just how he speaks to everyone.
"But...I really am sorry about everything."
"Don't be. What happened was not your fault. If you really want to do something for me, make sure you know that it wasn't your fault. Nothing he ever did was your fault."
Stepping closer as Ashley sniffles and nods, Gabriel places his hands on her arms gently, which still makes Ashley jump.
Not because she is in fear or scared of his touch, but because it was soft and caring.
It was almost loving for her, the most loving touch she's had in awhile. Looking up at the man who stands over her, Ashley bites her cheek as Gabriel's eyes look at her closely, they aren't dark, they aren't cold or bored, but rather soft like his touch.
"It's not your fault. And none of this should have happened, especially not to you Ms. Nicholus. Just go up and get some sleep, don't come in tomorrow because there is nothing you can do at work. Got it?"
Nodding as Gabriel steps back, Ashley waves softly at the tall man in the dark as he watches her leave inside the building.
Staying in the dark, Gabriel leans against his car as he stares at the door to the building. Only for a short while, but he stays until he is overly positive that Ashley is upstairs.
And yet something still stirs in his stomach, making his brain work through the scenes of the night over and over before he leaves.
All while Ashley gets upstairs and tells Danny she needs another shower, making her way around the apartment leaving Danny alone on the couch with his phone.
He thinks about texting Gabriel, telling him to stay away from Ashley. Because as he watched out the window, he could see everything.
The way Gabriel handles her, the way Ashley melted in his touch. It was his way of getting them. Getting the girls. And he was doing it to Ashley.
From his view it didn't look good, and though he couldn't hear them talk, the way he saw her was all he needed to know Gabriel would play her.
Danny never liked the fact that Gabriel handled a new girl every month, how he was a player, but he still respected him for everything else about Gabriel because he was a good man with a short temper some days. Danny still respected him for his traits, for his good wills even if people can't see them because of the walls he has up.
But he was pissed from what he saw minutes ago, watching Gabriel handle Ashley when she was broken. It made his blood boil, he would not let Ashley get into any more pools of trouble.
And he wouldn't let Gabriel get Ashley.
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