Forgiveness is the final form of love – Chapter 4 – The Abbey

Bella's POV

Standing in front of the pub called 'The Abbey' I felt something unfamiliar stir in the pit of my stomach, Steve had called it nervousness but I knew it wasn't.
It was fear and I wasn't afraid to admit it. I was from Millwall, the sworn enemy of West Ham, and here I was heading into their headquarters expecting anything but a warm welcome.
Steve had said that I was sure to get a job there and normally I wouldn't even feel half as bad as I did now but there were some things that just weren't to my advantage.

1. As previously mentioned me = Millwall, they = West Ham. Together = Not a good combination.

2. I may have been able to cover up the bruises on my face but I still felt them and I constantly felt like the injuries had started showing again.

3. What if someone recognized me? Or even worse, what if my dad found out where I was?

"Lookin' for somethin', lass?" I turned around and saw a man walking up to me. He was probably around the same age as Steve and looked just as nice, but then again I knew looks could be deceiving.
"Yeah, maybe you could help me." I stuffed my hands in my pockets and walked up to meet him half-way. "I'm looking for the owner."
"Ah, then you must be Bella. Steve called me, said you'd be coming. I'm Terry, the owner." He shook my hand with a warm smile before unlocking the door to the pub and showing me in.

"So..." Terry looked at me from behind the bar. "Your old man got you real good, ey?"
"You know about..." I felt my throat dry up a bit.
"You being Hatcher's daughter? Yep. You see back when Steve was the Major I was his right-hand man. I was there the day your brother..." He noticed the look on my face. "Back then. So Steve told me what happened and asked me to take care of you. You know, make you feel at home and all that."

"Have you ever worked in a pub before?" He asked while he was giving me the tour of the place.
"Not really, but I've been to enough to know how things work." I explained and he seemed satisfied with that answer because he just hummed.
"What would you say about starting tonight, then we'll take it from there?"
"Absolutely! Thank you, Terry. I'm in your debt." I answered gratefully.
The older man shook his head.
"Think nothing of it, lass. I'm just happy to help."

He threw me a waist apron and I caught it, although with a grim thought in my head.
"Will anyone know?" Terry turned to me again with a confused look on his face. "About my family I mean..." I hesitated as the words left my mouth.
"I'm not really one for telling you what to do but I personally think it would be wise if you didn't mention Hatcher being your ol' man and all. Considering."
"And what about Millwall?" I asked, really wanting to know how much about me I should reveal.

"I don't think that'll be a problem." Terry smiled. "Just share what you feel, the boys in here wouldn't hurt a woman but they may not always be nice to one if you know what I'm saying."
"I was raised in a firm, I know what you mean." I chuckled humourlessly.
"Right." I couldn't really tell from the look on his face if he found my remark amusing or saddening but I shook it off as the bell above the door chimed and the first customer of the day made his appearance.

*I'm forever blowing bubbles, pretty bubbles in the air*I'm forever blowing bubbles, pretty bubbles in the air*I'm forever blowing bubbles, pretty bubbles in the air*

"Oi, Bells! Would you get some beers to the boys in the corner?" Terry called over the loud noise in the pub and I quickly drafted three pitchers of beer for the loudest patrons in the place.
"Here you go, boys." I said as I placed the pitchers on the table without really looking at the men around it.
"Well, well, well. What do we have here, boys?" One of the men whistled and when I turned my eyes to him I saw him looking me up and down.
"Terry got himself a new bar-maid did he?" Another asked although I could tell he was talking about me, not to me.

"Hello, boys!" A familiar voice coming from behind me made me turn around and I was greeted by the first familiar face I'd seen all night. "Bella? What are you doin' here?" He said as he walked up to me and the table.
"My first day of work, Steve set it up for me." I placed the last pitcher on the table and it was first now that I saw the man behind Pete. He looked like a typical right-hand man, willing to do anything for the firm.
I shivered at the thought.
"Pete, you know this girl?" One of the guys asked and Pete greeted them all before sitting down in the corner.
"She's a friend of me brother's. Not that I really know anything about her." He shrugged and looked at me as if expecting me to spill my life-story right then and there.

"Well. I'm Dave." The guy who'd whistled me stood up and reached out his hand for me to shake. "And sorry 'bout earlier, didn't mean to make you uncomfortable." He winked and sat back down, allowing Pete to introduce me to the other boys.
They offered me to sit down with them and I threw a look at Terry for conformation before I joined them. The right-hand guy, Bovver I think his name was, just kept staring at me as if trying to chase me away from the table but no one else seemed to mind him so I didn't either.

They didn't tell me but I knew from the first glance that they were at the top of West Ham's firm, the GSE but they were so different from the NTO in how they behaved.
They weren't afraid to pull jokes, they talked back to their "leader" which no one dared to do to my father. These guys really were a family, not just a bunch of guys who got drunk, watched football and fought together.
I was just getting comfortable next to Pete who's eyes, I noticed out of the corner of my eye, kept coming back to me and when I turned my head to look back at him he met my gaze with the hint of a smile. I really figured he would just meet my eye and then go back to the conversation but he actually kept his eyes locked in mine and I gradually felt my cheeks heating up until a loud voice broke the spell between us.
"Bells, you're up!" Terry called from the bar and suddenly I was back into work.
"Sorry, boys. Boss is calling." I sighed and stood up, throwing one last look at Pete before walking away from the table and going to do my job.

I had just left the pub for the night and was heading to the tube, very tired but very happy from working all night, when I heard someone walking up behind me. For a second I thought that maybe it was just coincidence that they were heading in my direction but soon the person started walking faster and faster until I felt a rough hand grab a firm hold on my arm and spun me around to face him.
"What the fuck?" I exclaimed when I saw who it was. "You scared the shit out of me!" I tried to free my arm but grip of the man called Bovver was too tight.
"Why the fuck are you here?" He growled.
"What?" I asked confused.
"I knew you were trouble from the moment I saw you but I never expected you to actually show up in West Ham."

I felt my blood run cold. Now that I thought about it I recognized him from somewhere, even though I couldn't quite place him I suspected he might have ran into my father sometime when I was with him.
"I don't know what you mean." I tried to pry his fingers away from my arm but he just gripped it harder than before.
"Don't act so innocent with me, you're Tommy Hatcher's daughter. Now..." I winced as his grip tightened until I was sure it would leave bruises. "Why shouldn't I tell everyone and get you fired?"
"Look. I don't know what you think you know but I have nothing to do with my father or Millwall any more." I pleaded, almost desperately.
"And I'm supposed to believe tha?"

"Look, I'm not here to hurt anyone, least of all the GSE. I just want to start over and Steve and Terry were nice enough to give me that chance."
His grip loosened a bit and I let out a breath I didn't know I had been holding.

"If you do anything to hurt this firm I will make sure you'll never live to see another day." He hissed and finally let go of me. He didn't even throw me another glance as he walked away, leaving only the bruises on my arm as proof that the conversation ever took place.

*I'm forever blowing bubbles, pretty bubbles in the air*I'm forever blowing bubbles, pretty bubbles in the air*I'm forever blowing bubbles, pretty bubbles in the air*

Two months had passed since my first night at 'The Abbey' and my life had started getting back on track. My job at the pub was going smoothly and I could only assume the Bovver hadn't said anything about our little interaction because everyone treated me really nice, especially Pete and the boys. Bov had been the only one who was distant, more like cold, with me but the guys told me not to worry about it, he'd warm up eventually.

I had slowly been getting more and more involved with the guys and the GSE, no matter how much I may have tried to avoid it. I was always in the bar on football-days and somewhere along the way I'd managed to get pulled into the merry atmosphere and had soon enough found myself singing along in the many songs that could be heard for blocks before a match.
Lately I'd kept getting invited to come to the matches with them and usually I would have declined, saying that there was just too much work to be done because I didn't want to get mixed up with the firms again, but today Terry had told me I should go and so there I was.

Sitting between Pete and Dave watching the game I actually felt good. As much as I didn't want to admit it football was in my blood and no matter where I originally came from I jumped and cheered whenever West Ham scored a goal. Something that seemed to thrill the guys, apparently not many of the girls they knew were this interested in football.

"I never thought I'd say this but I haven't had this much fun in a long time." I laughed as we were making our way out of the arena and we were all excited about the win when Bovver came up and pushed my slightly out of his way when he came to whisper something in Pete's ear. Something that got Pete very excited. Something that I assumed had to do with an upcoming fight.

I knew the boys weren't really comfortable with sharing the knowledge about their firm and so I didn't give them an opportunity to tell me some sort of excuse for leaving, by leaving first.
"Listen guys." All attention was turned to me. "Thanks for inviting me to the match, it was really nice but I need to head home. Steve needed a babysitter and I said I could cover for him so..."
"A'right, too bad but we wouldn't wanna keep Ben waiting, would we?" Pete said, unable to hide the overjoyed smile that made its way onto his lips at the thought of a good scrap.
"Right." I smiled and leaned over to hug them all goodbye, everyone except Bovver who just turned away from me when I got close, causing him to receive annoyed looks from the guys.

When I got to Pete I leaned a little closer to whisper into his ear.
"Be careful, you hear?"
When I pulled back he looked at me with a questioning look on his face, not quite understanding how I knew they might need to be careful.
"No worries, lass. We'll take good care of him for ya." Dave winked at me and I actually felt myself blush a little.

The guys headed in one direction and I in another, happily unaware of the fact that a pair of eyes were watching me turn the corner.
"Hatcher!"
I froze and whipped around to see who could possibly know my last name. I hadn't told anyone besides Steve and Terry, and Bovver but he had left with the boys!
"James..." I felt the breath hitch in my throat at the sight of the terrifying man in front of me.
"Miss me?" He smirked and started closing in on me.
I saw in the corner of my eye how someone walked up behind me and before I could even see who it was I felt a hard blow to the back of my head and everything went black.

*I'm forever blowing bubbles, pretty bubbles in the air*I'm forever blowing bubbles, pretty bubbles in the air*I'm forever blowing bubbles, pretty bubbles in the air*

When I woke up the next morning I immediately regretted it. Everything hurt and I mean everything. I looked around and despite the fact that I didn't know what James and his friend had done to me while I was unconscious I was relieved I hadn't been moved from the alley where I'd been jumped.
I was on my back and as I rolled over I felt my ribs screaming in protest, I'd say they were broken but then again I wasn't a doctor. I bit down hard on my swollen lip as I tried to stand up but sunk down back onto the ground, gasping for air.

"What the fuck happened to you, Hatcher?" And here I thought my morning couldn't get any worse.
"Not now, Bovver." I hissed through gritted teeth as I once again tried to stand up, actually getting up but was about to fall when I felt a pair of strong arms grab a hold of me.

I blinked a couple of times to clear my vision and was surprised to see the older man holding me up. He never got close to me, let alone touched me so I was a little shocked to say the least.
"What are you doin'? Going to drop me in a second, 'ey?" I chuckled humourlessly and felt Bov sigh.
"A'ight, I deserved that. Can you walk?" He asked and even though I still wasn't too sure about his intentions I took a trying step and found that I didn't hurt all that bad if I just took it slowly.
"Yeah." I grabbed a handful of the man's jacket to try and steady myself as a wave of dizziness came over me.
"You need to go to a hospital." He said as he helped out of the alley and halted a cab for me but I stopped in my tracks at the mention of a hospital.
"No, no hospitals. All I need are some painkillers and a decent bed to sleep in and I'll be good in no time."

Bovver looked at me for a few seconds before getting me into the car and joined me before telling the driver an address that I was sure wasn't the hospital.
I wanted to ask him where we were going but I suddenly felt very tired and leaned my head on the man's shoulder just for a second to rest my eyes and when I opened them again ten minutes later we were outside of an apartment-building.
"Where are we?" I asked, blinking the sleep out of my eyes as Bov paid the driver.
"Outside a place that has painkillers and a decent bed." He actually smiled at me and I felt my otherwise defensive attitude towards him lighten up a bit.

He managed to get me up the two flights of stairs but it took a little time and once we finally reached the apartment I was short of breath.
"You wanna sit down?" Bov asked me when he noticed.
"Nah, just need to... catch my breath." I breathed and braced myself against the wall for a second, looking around the small apartment as I took my time.

It was a lot like Bovver actually, it wasn't fancy but served its purpose, I thought and smiled softly to myself.
"I guess you wanna take a shower." Bove said and handed me a towel that I accepted gratefully. Sleeping in an alley all night sure did leave you feeling a little dirty so I walked into the bathroom after he showed me where it was and started undressing.

It was first now, when I started peeling off my dirty bloody clothes, that I realized why Bov had been worried about me and when I stood there naked and looked into the mirror I felt the hair stand up at the back of my neck.
I had gotten a shiner that surely I wasn't going to be able to hide, my bottom lip had cracked and was swollen at the corner. My long blonde hair had streaks of dried blood and my eyebrow had a bleeding cut across it. My torso and waist had several dark patches on them, no doubt from kicks and there were bruises on the outside of my thighs as well as my arms and wrists from when I'd been held down...
I shook my head tiredly and turned away from the mirror, stepping into the shower allowing the water to wash away the blood.

40 minutes later I was sitting on Bov's couch, dressed in a pair of his old sweatpants and a West Ham-hoodie, sipping a cup of tea as the man inspected the injuries on my face from across the coffee-table.
"So I have to ask..." I started and placed my cup on the table. "What's with the nice-guy-attitude, Bovver?"
He tensed up a little but still met my gaze, something that he'd rarely did before... At least not with a smile in his eyes.
"I was in Millwall the other night... And I kinda met your ol' man."
I could tell from the look on his face that it wasn't a good meeting, but since when was any meeting with my father ever a good one?

"And?" I bit my lip and tried to shake the thoughts of my dad out of my head.
"And I see why you left. He's gone fuckin' mental." Bov dropped his head and shook it as he spoke.
"You see..." I picked up my cup and took a sip before resting it in my lap. "I.. I didn't exactly leave."

He turned his face to me and looked at me with a questioning look on his face.
"He beat me up and pretty much banished me from Millwall." I shrugged softly and raised the cup to my lips again. "Guess he couldn't have a daughter who realized that he'd lost it."
"You're shitting me..." He stared at me in disbelief. "He would actually turn against his own kid?"
"Apparently."
"Who knows about this?" He asked and I drank the last of the tea before answering him.
"Not including you?" He nodded. "Steve Dunham and Terry."
"Not Pete?"

I looked at him with a confused eyebrow raised.
"Pete?" Another nod. "No, why would I have told him?"
He shrugged in a manor that made me a little annoyed but I was beaten up too bad to do anything about it.
"No one was supposed to know besides Steve." I sighed and leaned back on the couch, closing my eyes as I did to ease the headache that was currently attacking my poor head. "Then you found out and I was sure that you would get me thrown out of West Ham... But you didn't." I opened my eyes again and looked straight at him.

"Why didn't you, Bov?"
He kept his silence for a few seconds, as if choosing his words carefully.
"I would have. I told myself that I really would tell if you caused any trouble. But you didn't. And then when I met your ol' man last night I... I just thought you deserved better than what you had."

I smiled a little and told him to come to me seeing as I couldn't really get off the couch.
He did as I asked, although a little questioning when I leaned forward and kissed his cheek gently.
"Thank you." I whispered and although he seemed a little uncomfortable he met my eyes and let out a little smile of his own that I'd never seen before.
"No problem, kid."


A/N: I'm back! After a long-ass hiatus I'm back to writing on this story, it took a while but I hope you enjoyed chapter 4 ;)
Thanks for reading!