AN: Since I'm on break and I'm caught up on all my work now, I decided to post another chapter. I might as well, after my break ends, I'll be busy again. A reviewer was curious as to what happened to Barney, I will thoroughly explain that in either the next chapter or the one after that. That reviewer also said they wanted Barney to punch Brad, I won't say too much, but let's just say I've had something in mind. ;) This chapter contains some slightly graphic domestic violence, the story is rated T though, so don't be too shocked.
Robin had been resting on the couch when she heard a noise at the door. Who could it be, at 4:30 A.M? Robin ignored it and hid under the blanket to insure her own safety. Robin heard the door slide open, she didn't dare look to see who it was. She heard some shuffling, and realized footsteps were approaching her. The mystery man came and pulled the blanket off of her. The tall, beefy, scarred, and tattooed man was none other than Brad. Before Robin could scream for help, Brad put his sweaty palm over her mouth and tightly pulled her hair. He picked her up from the sofa and whispered, "You're coming with me."
Brad carried Robin to a lot near the apartment. He firmly shoved her into the back seat of his rusty and torn up Mustang. He pulled out a revolver, and put it to her head. "You make a peep, and I'll beat the fucking shit out of you, got it?" he whispered.
Robin simply nodded, not knowing what to say. Robin realized that revolver was hers, how did he open the safe to it? "That's right babe." he grumbled. He put his hand on her thigh and gave her a wet kiss, making her feel rather uncomfortable. Robin wanted to ask where they were going, but realized it was probably better not to say anything. She tried to hold back tears, but they rolled down her cheeks no matter how hard she tried. She was shaking uncontrollably, and was scared to death. The ride was silent for only a few minutes when Brad finally questioned her. "Why the hell did you leave in the middle of the night without telling me?"
Robin wasn't sure if it was a rhetorical question or not as she was ordered not to speak. "You can talk." he reassured her.
"I left because... I hate our mattress." Robin lied.
"Why don't you buy a new one?" Brad retorted.
"I would, except for the fact you're always wasting our, no my money on drugs and alcohol! I work hard to make it, and all you do is sit around and-"
"YOU SHUT YOUR FUCKING MOUTH!" Brad spat at her before striking her across the face, leaving a red mark on her cheek. "You keep using your mouth as a weapon, and I'll use mine!" he shouted.
"Okay, I'm sorry." Robin cried.
"You better be, dumb slut." Brad muttered.
"Could you please call me by my name? I'm not 'Dumb Slut', or 'Stupid Bitch', or 'Useless Whore'." Robin begged.
"Why? That's what you are, that's all you are. You're just a journalist, you're not special. You're not even hot, you're just decent to have around for free, but mediocre sex." Brad teased.
At this point Robin didn't care. No, she wouldn't have this. She wouldn't let someone below her treat her like crap. "I'm useless? You haven't had a job in years. And I am NOT a dumb slut! I have never cheated on you during all this time we've been together! You're lucky I'm still with you, even after I found you with those two hookers! Why am I the slut?" Robin exploded.
The car came to an abrupt stop. Brad gave her a deathly stare for what seemed like eternity before punching her around her face. He hit her nose, and she began to feel blood run down, he then proceeded to punch both her eyes to the point where she could no longer see anything. He began tearing at her shirt, and realized he was cutting it open with a knife. He then put the knife to her neck and gritted his teeth "Don't you even think about opening your stupid mouth another time. Next time you talk, I'll use this knife for more than just that." he threatened.
Robin nodded. She covered her face and began to whimper. She tried as hard as she could to muffle her sounds, but eventually it peeved Brad. He swore under his breath, and ripped of a piece of duct tape and put it over her mouth. Tears were at this point, uncontrollably running down her face. Why had she, of all people, chose Brad? Sure, she'd probably never find someone she loved as much as Barney, but the least she could have done is find a guy who wouldn't treat her like she was worthless. She couldn't understand how Brad was even a person. How could someone be so evil and coldhearted? Even Barney, when she first met him, wasn't as bad as this guy. Even though Barney might have treated women like crap, he'd never beat them.
At this point, all she could think to do was simply fall asleep. When she was asleep, she had an amazing dream. It involved Brad never existing. She had chosen not to marry anyone else after Barney's death, when one day, while she was going back up to the apartment, Barney was there. He had set up candles and roses all over the apartment. He'd come back to life. She did all the things she missed doing with him, they had dinner, watched a movie, and made love. It was ready to reach another level when Brad shook her. "Wake up, we're here."
Robin rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and took of the piece of tape. "Where are we?" Robin asked.
"A place. We're still in the city, don't worry."
"Wait, why are we here!?" Robin demanded.
"Me and a couple of my buddies robbed and took a bank hostage, we killed a couple dozen people, and now the cops are on the lookout for us. We're hiding here." he confided.
"Wait, why did you need to take me?"
"Because, if the cops showed up at our place, you surely would have figured out I did it and told them." Brad explained.
Robin then followed Brad to a small trailer that looked to be in bad condition. When she walked in, the most foul odor reached her nose. His three friends had been sitting on a couch getting high, smoking, and drinking alcohol.
"BRAD! MY MAN!" One of the men yelled in a drunken voice.
"Charles, how you been?"
"Oh, you know same old. Is this your girl?" he said almost sounding disgusted.
"Brad, I know you always said she ain't hot, but I never expected that mess!" one of the men sitting on the couch remarked.
"Um...thanks?" Robin said sarcastically.
"No problem, girl. My name's Ethan." he said reaching out his hand. It didn't look even close to sanitary. There was dirt, burns, and dried blood on it. Robin simply passed on his offer.
"Robin, that's Tim." Brad said gesturing to a slender man with pale skin, dirty blonde hair, and bloodshot eyes.
"Hey." the man waved, his voice was incredibly raspy.
Robin was afraid of all of these men. Of course, if they were hanging out with Brad, they were obviously dangerous. She didn't even like hanging out with Brad to begin with, but now she has to be with four 'Brads'? This was painful to even think of.
"Hey! Um...what's your name girl? Eh, I'll call you Mosquito Bites. Pass me that bottle on the table next to you." Ethan asked carelessly.
The four men erupted in laughter. "Those are Mosquito Bites." Tim agreed.
These men had just met Robin, how could they already be so awful to her? Perhaps, Brad had already told them about her. Robin sighed and reluctantly handed the bottle of Wharmpess to Tim. Robin sat herself down onto a lumpy chair that made her back feel extremely uncomfortable.
"So Mosquito Bites, I hear you're a journalist." Ethan snorted.
All the men began to laugh again at their stupid joke. "It's Ro-." Robin cut herself off realizing it was stupid, they would only tease her more. "Um, yeah. I've been the lead anchor on WWN for more than ten years now." Robin said nodding her head.
"What the hell does a journalist even do? It seems like such a stupid job." Charles asked insensitively.
At this point, Robin didn't feel like arguing with them, they were a bunch of idiotic misogynists who thought they were the shit. She just played along with what they said, she knew they were a bunch of losers anyways. "Yeah, you're right. I'm worthless, I'd be better off it I were working on the pole, that would please more people." Robin forcefully laughed.
"Nah, I think that would just make matters worse. You're not pretty enough anyways." Charles bugged.
Robin's hands began to form in a fist slowly, as she rolled her eyes. She simply answered "Yeah."
Robin excused herself to get away from them and asked to go to the bathroom. Tim gestured towards a small door to the right and went in. The bathroom looked disgusting. There were hairs all around the floor, there was dirt and scum everywhere, and the floor was very wet with God knows what. Robin went inside the tub, closed the door, and took out her phone to call the cops. She informed them of everything, and though she didn't actually know the location she was in, the cops said they could track it down. Robin walked out of the bathroom to see a suspicious Brad.
"What were you doing in there? I heard talking!" Brad demanded.
"I was um...watching the forecast." she lied.
Surprisingly, Brad actually gave a nod of approval. Robin hoped the cops would be coming soon.
After about half and hour or so sirens began to ring, and all the men jolted up immediately and stared at Robin.
"I KNEW YOU WERE DOING SOMETHING!" Brad shouted.
Ethan came towards her and began to punch and hit her. "Stupid little bitch!"
Brad pulled Ethan off of her. "Relax, we can get out of here!" Brad yelled over the sounds of the sirens.
The four men worked together to tie Robin up with tape. They raced to a truck that was parked outside in the lot, and stuffed Robin in the trunk. She was so close to safety, and then suddenly, she was getting farther away from it as the car sped of to the distance.
So, quite a bit of action went down in this chapter. Unfortunately, this won't be continued in the next chapter, instead it will just be Barney, and what happened to him. I think it's something I should address as it will explain stuff that will later happen in the story. I promise there will be more scenes with Barney being close to seeing Robin, or even seeing Robin. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, as always, if yo have any suggestions, please review! Thanks for reading.