Title: Thin Line
Rated: T
Pairing: Haley/Nathan
Disclaimer: I do not own One Tree Hill.
A/N: This takes place in season 5 after Nathan's accident. This is my take on a darker way life could have been for Nathan and Haley.
"Get the fuck out of my house," she spat vemonantly as her eyes narrowed at the man walking through the door.
He seemed unphased, however, as he continued to make his way over to her.
"This is still my house too, you know."
She crossed her arms over her chest, defiant.
"No, it's not. At least for the past two months it hasn't been."
He stood directly in front of her, the glare of his blue eyes burning her skin. She was uncomfortable with his proximity.
"Leave."
He chuckled softly, a sound that made her cringe. His face contorted into a sly smirk.
"You know you miss me, baby."
Before she could fully comprehend his movements, she felt one of his hands entangle with the hair near the nape of her neck as his free arm wrapped around her lower back. His lips were pressed firmly against hers, kissing her fiercely. Part of her wanted to melt, to kiss him back, but she could taste the liquor on his breath, and so the larger part of her—the part that hated him—restrained her.
She tried to pull away, but the grasp he had on her was too strong. Instead, she brought a porcelain hand to his face and slapped him smartly. This had the desired affect because he released her, and she was able to take a staggering step back.
He brought a hand to his cheek, his breathing slightly ragged. He advanced toward her and slapped her across the face, much harder than she had hit him.
"You like that, Haley?"
He chuckled again, this time menacing and guttural.
She mirrored his previous actions and brought a hand up to her stinging cheek, surprised that her skin hadn't split open with the force of his blow. Her eyes watered, but she stood up straight.
"Get out you son of a bitch!"
He transfixed his eyes on her, and she caught a gleam of something in them, something she had surely seen before—malice. Striding over to her, his large hands enveloped each of her arms in a vice grip. He shoved her backwards until she collided with the wall. She winced at the pain that shot through her spine. The vigor of her impact had caused a picture frame to fall; she watched the glass shatter into glittering splinters, and she couldn't help but to find it rather poetic as she thought about how she felt at the moment.
Suddenly she felt his lips on her again, this time harshly sucking and biting her neck.
"Stop, Nathan," she choked out.
As a reply he pressed his body up against her, further trapping her between him and the wall. She felt as if the air was slowly being pushed out of her. The room was starting to spin.
"Stop!" she stated with more authority, bringing her knee to collide with his crotch—her futile attempt at an escape.
He stopped his assault on her neck, but he still held her arms tight. The smirk reappeared on his face.
"Just what do you think you're doing, Haley? You and I both know how this is going to end. You're weak. You couldn't defend yourself then, and you can't defend yourself now."
She started crying then. She had hoped it wouldn't be like this. She knew losing basketball was hard on him, but she never expected him to become this way; always drinking himself into a blind rage. She thought he cared about Jamie—and her—more than that. She never imagined she would see him become a worse version of his father. But here he was, abusing her like he has several times before.
He let go of one of her pale arms and thrust her to the ground. She didn't bother to fight back; he was right, she was too weak. She shut her eyes. He climbed on top of her, grabbing both her wrists and bringing her arms above her head. He easily encircled both her boney wrists with his left hand, and ran his right hand down the side of her body, stopping at her hip.
She opened her eyes and blinked away the tears to find him staring intently at her. He brought his right hand up to her sternum, and with a downward swipe of his fingers, he ripped her blouse open.
She clenched her eyes shut again as he placed searing kisses on her skin. His hand roamed her abdomen, down her thigh, and came to rest above her left knee. Hastily, he began to push her skirt up. Her breathing became shallow.
"N-No. No, d-don't do this. Nathan, don't do this to me."
He paused, and his eyebrows furrowed.
"Don't do this to you? Haley, look what you did to me!"
She gasped as he reached up and grabbed her neck, constricting her windpipe. He brought his face close to hers, causing her skin to tingle with each of his seething whispers.
"I got in that fight because of you. I lost everything because of you."
She never thought she had seen so much hatred in his eyes before. As his hold on her neck tightened, she believed that this time he would do it—Nathan was actually going to kill her today. Her gut twisted, not because she was scared, but because deep down she wanted him to. Life wasn't worth living this way.
Her thoughts went to Jamie. Her son needed her. He was all she had left.
"You did this to yourself, Haley."
And with that, he got up and walked out of the house, slamming the door behind him. A fresh set of tears rolled down her already stained cheeks as she brought her knees up to her chest, inhaling deeply. She decided she would just lay here for awhile and collect herself before she went to coax Jamie out from under his bed, promising him that his father was gone and lying that he didn't hurt her this time—although her fresh bruises proved otherwise.
She thought back to earlier, when she had wanted to kiss him back, despite all the pain that he has caused. There is a thin line between love and hate. She knows that more than anyone. Eventually, she drifted into a troubled sleep, wondering how the hell she could possibly still love the bastard that Nathan has become.
Fin.