-Warning, this story is going to have non graphic violence, mentioned physical abuse, sexuality, a whole lot of swearing, and badassery! ENJOY-
(Bubbles pov)
I get in the door, it's late and I'm balancing another weight with my body. I'm barely able to carry myself let alone this. The other weight was my husband, he and I were so beautiful on the outside, but oh how looks are deceiving. We were anything but beautiful anymore.
" Derek... Can you at least try to walk? I can't get up the stairs like this..." I say to him in exhaustion and his glazed over eyes look in my direction. I once felt comfortable from those eyes, but now nerves bloom in the pit of my stomach. I knew what was coming, I just hoped that this time I'd be wrong... I was always right these days...
"Shut up bitch..." He slurred, he had one flaw... It's led to one big secret in our relationship. One that I hide from everyone... Even my brother, who was the only one, other than Derek, that I have. If he knew what this man had done to me, Derek would be a dead man...
"Please..." I try to walk with him, but I end up falling on our marble flooring. I scream as he threw me off him, in his drunken rage, he slapped me in the face. I fall to the ground and feel the tears sting the corners of my eyes. This always happened when he drinks...
He wasn't always like this... At one point I was his world... He loved me, but I wasn't so sure anymore of how he felt about me... I don't know why I stayed... Maybe due to a false hope that he'd change, that he'd love me again like he did... That I'd want to stay... Instead of feeling like I had to...
"You dumb bitch! Look what you just fuckin did!" He screams and drunkenly stormed up the staircase. I was on the verge of leaving him, because I just couldn't take the abuse anymore. It went from rare occasions to often, like the problem was just getting worse and worse...
"I'm sorry..." I whisper to the floor, my reflection looked back at me, mirroring my words. What was I sorry for?...
Putting myself in this misery? For not being good enough to make my husband happy? For not letting him go when he clearly needed help? It was easier said than done and that was a painful truth a wasn't ready to accept yet.
I was the stupid one here, covering my bruises with beauty and masking my pain with an act. To give the illusion that we still live a perfect, happy life... Like I didn't make the biggest mistake of my life when I married him, because I didn't see what he'd become.
I get up and go to sleep in the guest room, because I no longer feel safe around the man I'm supposed to love, the person who signed those wedding papers and made a promise. This promise was already broken now...
As I lay down on the mattress, not even bothering to change, I began contemplating what my life would be like if I wasn't with him anymore. I drifted off in the middle of those thoughts, I wonder what my brother would do in a situation like this...
(Un-named apartment somewhere in San Diego)
"Deo... They're gonna be coming for me... I know it... I'm gonna need to lay low... I can't reason with em now..." A red haired man, covered in tattoos, sighed and sat in the chair next to his so called leader.
"Well you dropped a pretty big fuckin deal too late and aren't giving them the rest of the money... Of course they're going to be on your ass... Let's just hope everyone you love isn't a target until they find you Brick... You can't throw them off your scent forever... " Deo chuckles, he knew the game well. He sat back in the chair, he put his legs up on the table and looked at Brick through his his charcoal grey bangs.
"The fuck do you mean? I love nobody..." Brick raised a brow.
"You're good at hiding... I'll give you that... But they play dirty, they're going to be using something that you care about to lure you to em..." Deo warns.
"I don't have a wife, I don't have kids... I'm not sure they have much to hold over my head..." Brick's eyes narrowed.
Deo chuckles again, he finally pushed his bangs from his face and showed his cold grey eyes. "You convinced yourself that you have nothing... But I remember you mentioned that hot ass little sister of yours down in Tampa bay..." He caught Brick's attention with that.
"They don't know about Bubbles... I haven't spoken her name to anyone but you and one other person..." Brick glared.
"You think they don't... They're the biggest drug cartel in this side of the country... They know more than you do..." Deo retaliated, he knew Brick wasn't getting out this without a scratch.
Brick slammed his first on the table, "Fuck... I can't let her know... I don't let her in to keep her nose clean, so I don't have a shit ton of protection for her..." He felt worry in the pit of his stomach. Bubbles was the last piece of family he had, she is his baby sister and the only thing that he gave a shit about other than himself.
"One of our guys in that area might owe ya a favor... Didn't you help get that one hard ass outta trouble? What was his name?" Deo offers, he didn't want to lose a loyal. Brick was the only guy he actually trusted to some extent in their little circle.
"Butch..." Brick remembered him well.
"Yeah, I remember him now... Hasn't been on our radar for a bit, probably doing his own shit... He's our record number of kills... What does he owe ya for?..." Deo wondered why that was his first option. Butch was lethal and deadly, the guy didn't scream protection.
"I bailed him outta prison... Spent a lot of cash to do that... About a quarter million..." Brick ran his fingers through his hair.
Deo's eyes completely stare him down, "That's a debt worth cashing in... A quarter million ain't child's play..." He nods.
"I'm gonna give him a call... Lay low too... I guarantee that they know I'm with you and you're not exactly a god..." Brick said, getting up.
"Sure... I've got my protection and you got yours... We'll chat again soon..." Deo got up and left with several armed guards. Brick stared at the door and then down at the counter that had a book of phone numbers.
Brick out his phone and dialed a number from it, it rang twice before someone answered.
"Look what the south side dragged in... I haven't heard from you in awhile..." The voice that answered was cold and distant.
"Yeah, fuck off Butch... I'm cashing in on that favor you owe me... That really expensive favor..." Brick said and the other male gave a dry chuckle in response.
"You want connections to get blow and sluts again?" Butch mocked him. He knew Brick wasn't calling for that.
"No dumb fuck... I need you to protect someone... I got into some pretty deep shit and I need you to be the one to do this... For once I can't take care of this shit myself..." Brick snapped at him.
Butch's end went silent, Brick was growing impatient.
"You want me to protect who? I'm a contract assasin... I ain't nobody's babysitter..." Butch asked, his tone more serious.
"If I recall, you wouldn't be out and doing your job if I didn't get you there... And I'd be $250,000 richer..." Brick knew he was gonna be stubborn.
"You keep rubbing that shit in and I'll shoot you hood rat..." Butch warned.
"One favor ain't gonna be much Butch... Especially for that fuckin price... I need you to find and protect my sister... I can't do it... If she's with me, then it's two targets in one place... These people apparently go for the family... She's the only one I got..." Brick hopes they didn't already get her.
"I don't disrespect an eye for an eye, but I'm doing this my way... I'm not a caped protecter or some bullshit... I'm a criminal..." Butch finally caved.
"She's in your area... Tampa bay, but you'll have to move fast... Her name is Bubbles, blond hair, blue eyes... She living with that dick she calls a husband in a nice little condo in the rich neighborhood... Don't tell her anything... The less she knows, the safer she is..." Brick looked through the blinds of the small apartment he was in as cover.
"I don't know how long I can do it, but fine... I do require a small fee... But we'll discuss that if you don't die... Which people did you piss off, so I know where I can't be? I'm not dying because of your stupidity..." Butch mocked him again.
"A.S.O.S..." Brick chuckles, this was gonna be some shit.
Butch let out a low whistle, "Dumbass... Of course it had to be The Tank and his bitchs..." Butch knew these people too. They were a ruthless bunch.
"It's just until the heat is off me..." Brick assured him.
"If the heat ever is off you..." Butch now teased him.
"They're gonna give up eventually, I just gotta tough it out until they do..." Brick knew that was wishful thinking, he was sure that was gonna be a long time for that to happen.
"Well I gotta go... I'm gonna have to pull some shit to find her... You better wire me some cash for her expense, we're going to have to move around and that ain't cheap..." Butch owed Brick, but he wasn't made of cash.
"$25,000 will be there tomorrow morning... Thanks for doing this..." Brick was gonna have to move again himself, it was best not to be somewhere for longer than a week.
"Yeah sure..." Butch said and both finally hung up. Brick just hoped that they weren't too late to save her. He'd have to come clean to her eventually, but that would definitely be later. He went to start packing his bags again, readying himself to go to a new location.
(Bubbles pov)
I'm finally trying to pack my bags and leave, my mind was finally made up...
I'm in the middle of the process when a sound in the doorway made me freeze, my body stiffened. My eyes leave my task and look at the man who forced me into this position. His eyes were lost, like he didn't realize why I'm doing this, but I knew deep down he knew.
"What are you doing?" Derek asked and I'm silent, I don't want to say the words. I don't want to tell him I'm done... I just want to pack up, leave and never look back...
"Answer me!" There was panic in his voice, I feel my heart start wrenching. He was the reason I had a hard time leaving, he'd pull me back in.
"I can't anymore Derek... The drinking, the abuse, the emotional pain... I can't do it anymore... I'm leaving, because you're not getting better, you're getting worse... You hit me again last night..." I have to break eye contact. I still care about him, but this was gonna break me.
"You can't just walk away, you're my wife..." He sounded delusional. I'm his wife, but he was my husband.
"Husbands shouldn't hit their wives Derek... You hit me... A lot... Especially when you drink... I'm sick of pretending we're okay when we're clearly not..." I don't want to lie anymore for him, I want him to get help.
"Bubbles... I can try... Is that what you want? I'll do anything, just please stay... I'll stay away from the alcohol if it's what it takes..." His words made tears well in my eyes, oh how I just wanted them to be true. I couldn't leave knowing he said that.
"One more chance Derek... I only have enough for one..." I could never tell him no. I knew deep down I should leave, but l wanted this to be right for once.
He walked over and fell to his knees taking me into his arms, out of reflex I flinch. I was still afraid of him. He goes to kiss me and I try to feel anything but fear. This was the first time he's shown me love in a very long time.
He was now going for my clothes and I just submitted, because I don't want to make him mad. I'm wanting this to be a new start. I still loved him, I never stopped. I know I'm stupid, I know where this was gonna be heading. But I can't help but cling to that hope that there was still good in him and not this monster I've come to know. The only question is whether or not that monster would always be there.
Would he have the courage to just drop a bad habit he used to cope? Would he do that for me? Or was this just a ploy to get me to stay? I had yet to find out...
He had sex with me on the guest bed and after he held me possessively. I'm stuck in his arms again, I've always had a soft spot for this man, and if he failed again, I wouldn't know how to take it. I close my eyes, I'm not ready to think about that yet.
I just wanted to feel some comfort from this, I wanted to finally leave the life with Derek that he promised me, I wanted him to keep it this time, I just wasn't so sure that he would.
-What do you guys think? I had this idea long ago and thought I'd put it into motion! Let me know in the reviews :) -