The footsteps shuffling towards them seemed like an eternity of noise. Both women could feel their hearts pound against their rib cage as anxiety caused their heads to spin. They didn't dare speak, didn't dare glance at one another, they hardly even allowed a breath to pass their lips as a foot finally fell on solid round.
It was obvious even before Violet opened her mouth that she was mad. You could see it in her eyes, burning wildly, and about to be unleashed. The only problem was neither woman knew who the anger was directed at this time.
"You called the cops," Violet hissed, her finger shaking with rage as she pointed it accusingly in Chloe's direction. "You called the fucking cops!" She screeched.
"I… no… I didn't I swear. I didn't!" Chloe stammered, voice faltering as fear consumed her.
"Then why were they here snooping about some car crash?" Violet roared, stepping closer to the girls as her voice rose, tuning out all other sounds that may or may not have been in the room.
"I crashed," Chloe began to explain quickly, her voice still shaking. "I crashed my car on the way here and they must have found it and been doing some kind of routine search," she nodded, knowing her story was (unfortunately) probably accurate.
"Liar!" Violet screamed. "It was a cover story. I know it was a cover story so don't lie to me!" Her fist swung before she'd even finished speaking, her knuckles coming into contact with the side of Chloe's jaw and causing an instant red lump to form.
"Violet Stop…" Beca screeched up suddenly, finding herself unable to sit back and watch Chloe get hurt again.
"No!" Violet growled. "You do not speak to me! You promised me we'd be safe from her. You promised me she wouldn't bother us and you lied. You lied to me Beca. How could you?" Tears ran down her face as she turned her rage towards the young DJ now instead.
"I… I don't… I mean I didn't know…" Beca's mind began to shut down in anticipation of what she was sure would come as Violet's fist rose, the knuckles white as she clenched them hard, getting ready to punch.
It never came though. The quick flurry of Violet's furious fists against her pale skin never happened. The searing pain through her jaw, her cheek, her nose, her lip, her torso; none of it ever came. Instead Chloe's angelic voice once more shattered through the fear, only this time it was real.
"No." In spite of the red heads fear the word was a demand. "You're not really mad at her. You love her, remember? You're mad at me… take it out on me." She seemed absolutely resolute in her decision, not even back tracking when her whimpers of pain began to fill up the basement room.
It felt like days before the sound of Violets fists against Chloe's body stopped. In reality it was no more than moments, but none the less Beca couldn't bring herself to look. She felt like such a coward, but she couldn't open her eyes. Not as her best friend, no, her only real friend, took a beating for her at the hands of a psychopath.
When she heard Violet release an aggravated scream she knew it was finally over. She still didn't chance looking however until she heard the steps ascend the stairs again. First her eyes opened only a crack. The room was dark though, and after a second she told herself it was safe to open them fully, even if it were only to locate Chloe.
She saw her friend curled up on the floor where she'd been sitting before Beca's eyes had closed. She could her the soft cries that the red head was trying to muffle, and without hesitation Beca shuffled as close as she could.
"Put your head in my lap," Beca whispered, waiting wordlessly as Chloe seemed to use all remaining energy to do so. "Let me look at you Chlo… please." She could feel the tears in the back of her throat but willed herself to be strong for her friend as Chloe slowly turned her face out of Beca's thigh.
It didn't look as bad as Beca had expected it to. Her lip was bust and her eye was swollen, though nothing Beca deemed to be life threatening. It didn't reassure here. In fact if anything it worried her more. Chloe wasn't one to dramatize things, so if she was crying, chances were she was in more pain that a bust lip would allow for.
"Where does it hurt?" Beca murmured, careful as she allowed her tied hands to slide over Chloe's head and rest around her shoulders.
"Sides…" Chloe groaned groggily, her voice frail and broken. "I'm okay though…" She added after a moment.
"No you're not." Beca shook her head defiantly. "You're hurt and it's my fault. I shouldn't have let you get hurt like that, I was just… I was scared," she conceded bitterly.
"It's okay to be scared," Chloe comforted her. "We all get scared sometimes Becs, and you've been through more in the last few days than I have."
"Still…" Beca tried to interrupt, though to no avail.
"Still nothing," Chloe silenced her instantly. "I would do anything for you Beca, and that includes making sure that psychotic bitch doesn't harm a hair on your head. I don't mind getting a bit beat up, I mean it's nothing a little concealer won't cover anyway," she tried to joke, though her humour was lost on the brunette.
"No. You can't just keep stepping in," Beca fought. "She could do serious damage, she could kill you Chloe."
"She won't kill me," Chloe shook her head softly from side to side. "And anyway, last time I checked being on the receiving end of beatings is one thing I can more or less guarantee for myself… what with her being in love with you and all," she reminded Beca triumphantly.
"That's not fair!" Beca sighed, wishing there was a way she could show Chloe just how scared she was for her safety.
"Life's not fair Becs," Chloe (needlessly) reminded her.
"I can't do this without you," Beca suddenly blurted. "If something were to happen to you, I couldn't keep going. I think I'd let her kill me," she admitted sombrely, not sure why she felt like this, just aware that it was nothing more than a statement of fact.
"Jesus Beca no need to be dramatic," Chloe teased softly, her one eye that remained open beginning to droop in exhaustion. "We're going to be just fine, I promise. We're going to get out of this, and we're going to go back to Barden and get shouted at by Aubrey for missing so much practice," she informed the brunette.
"That actually sounds kind of appealing," Beca snorted.
"Promise me you'll just keep thinking that…" Chloe adjusted her hands and extended her pinky finger.
"I promise." She wasn't sure it was a promise she could keep, yet Beca awkwardly linked pinkies with Chloe none the less, feeling an odd warmth run through her as the red head smiled adoringly up at her. "Now sleep," she added after a moment, seeing the way Chloe's eyes continued to fight to stay open.
"Yea…" Chloe nodded happily. "I think I'll sleep."
She was out like a light before Beca had a chance to say another word. Her breathing seemed a little uneven at first, but Beca willed herself not to panic, knowing that Chloe was tough (praying that Chloe was tough).
Even with her eye swollen shut and a scab forming on her lip Beca couldn't help but feel a calm wash over her as she observed the woman sleeping in her arms. She'd never experienced such an overwhelming rush of gratitude and admiration towards anyone before, and even in the cold and empty basement, she felt her heart warm, and her mind come to peace.
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
Aubrey was at her wits end. No texts, no calls, no facetimeing. No nothing. No contact with Chloe for god only knows how long now (dramatic and all as it seemed, more than a day without talking to her best friend seemed like an eternity).
She logged onto her laptop, figuring she may as well check her facebook messages once more before she got really worried. Another idea side-tracked her though, and instead she found herself signing into Chloe's tumblr account (the girl would never do well in the real world, she shared passwords on a whim).
She found Beca's page easily enough from there (apparently Chloe had followed Beca without the brunette's permission and they'd had quite the conversation about it in Chloe's ask box). She had to scroll for a further three pages after that (how many remixes, mildly amusing text posts, and pictures of DJ's can one person reblog, seriously?) but eventually she found what she was looking for.
Parts of a conversation Beca had been having with the Violet person Chloe'd talked about before she left. Violets page threw up no immediate warning signs, though Aubrey was determine to get to the bottom of it, and clicked on every link she could find until she came to one simply titled "face".
It took her mind a split second, but once Aubrey recognised the smiling woman staring back at her, her jaw almost hit the floor. Her books (as always) were on her desk beside her, and she grabbed blindly for the ring binder lying on top that contained the Case Study she'd been working on for her end of year presentation in her Criminal Law class.
"Jane Header…" Aubrey read the name and scanned the picture accompanying the file.
Her blood ran cold. Apparently there was a reason Chloe wasn't texting back.