Chapter 5

Madison and Seth sat at the breakfast table in their penthouse apartment which gave an amazing view over Newport Beach and the ocean behind it, both reading the morning newspapers, when the telephone rang.
Madison jumped up and smiled. "I'll get it, honey!"
Seth shrugged and turned his attention back to the newspaper.
"Hello, Madison Baker, " she identified herself at the phone.
"Hey, Maddy, it's me. Can I talk to Seth, please?" Marissa was on the other end, wanting to tell Seth what had happened last night. Or at least the things he needed to know.
"Hey, what is it about me, doesn't anyone want anything from me anymore?", Madison asked, making a pout.
Marissa laughed. "Of course I do. But I'll see you at work, so I won't spoil any hot weekend details for us. I mean, what else are we gonna talk about during coffee break?", she joked.
Madison smiled. "You're right, I'll get him. What's it about?"
"Oh, just a little something about Summer, nothing spectacular." Marissa tried to sound casual, not knowing that Madison had overheard hers and Summer's conversation last night at the club.
"Summer?" Madison's brains were working now. Marissa wouldn't dare telling Seth that Summer was still in love with him, right? Or what if she did? Why couldn't that small brunette finally get out of Seth's life? "Oh, you know what, I think he just left. Maybe you'll try him later."
Marissa was sceptical. "But you just said that you'd get him. Since when does he leave without saying goodbye to you?"
"Well he did, I can't change it, okay? See you at work!"
And with that, Madison banged the receiver down.
Summer wasn't Seth's business anymore.

When Madison returned, Seth was already standing in the doorway, ready to leave for work.
"Who was it?" he wanted to know.
Madison shrugged. „Wrong number or something. Too stupid to read the phone book."
Seth nodded. "Okay, so I'm gonna be off now… are you sure it was a wrong number? You had a very long conversation for a wrong number."
"Yeah it was. Why is it even bothering you?", Madison snapped.
Seth held up his hands in apologize. "Geez, what is it with you these days? You know what, calm down, and I'll go now." With those words, Seth left Madison in the kitchen, burning out of anger.

When Seth was in his car, he turned on his headsets and dialed Marissa's cellphone number.
After Marissa had picked up, he asked: "Did you just call at my house?"
"Hey Seth, good morning to you, too. Yeah I did, Maddy told me you were already off for work."
Seth sighed. "Well, I wasn't. You know, Madison's extremely jealous, especially when it comes to Summer.", he explained.
"Oh, now I get it. Well, I'm sorry for that."
"No worries. So, did she tell you anything yesterday?"
"Not really. She just kept telling me that she's fine. That's all I could get out of her."
Seth frowned. That was all he got from her, too. "There's gotta be something else, Marissa. Summer's never been that weird. Okay, maybe a little, but not THAT weird."
"And that coming from you… But I know what you mean…" Marissa thought about telling Seth about Summer's pregnancy. At least he wouldn't have to worry that much then. But then she had promised her best friend to keep her secret. So she decided to give him a little quiz. "Well, there's something on the way, but I'm not supposed to tell you, so why don't you ask her yourself?"
"Aaah, always that girly stuff kind of thing! Can't you just tell me what's going on?" Seth got angry again. He could speak in riddles, too, all the time, if he wanted, but that was just not the right moment for it.
"I'm sorry, I promised her. And I don't break promises."
Seth sighed again. Well, if Marissa didn't want to tell him, he had to find out otherwise. "Okay then. I'll find out. But don't come crying to me when she tells me more than she told you."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Nothing, I just wanna speak in strange, mysterious riddles, too. So, see you. And thanks nevertheless."
"No problem, Cohen. Bye."
Seth nodded to himself. "I've always been the brains. Marissa may be the beauty, Ryan may be the brawns, but my brains are unbeatable.", he mumbled, pulling over into the parking lot of his comic book company.

This week, Seth's company had very much work to do, since there was a new comic book published. There wasn't even time for taking breaks, a thing that Summer welcomed since then, people wouldn't have enough time to talk about her and her mysterious private life.

But as much as work took Summer's mind off Eric, it didn't prevent that her pregnancy was going on very fast, and that even her belly started to grow. She knew that during the next few days, she had to tell Eric, because she didn't dare to imagine what he would do if he found out otherwise. Last night was proof enough that Eric was crazy.

This Monday, the office was crowded with different publishers and their marketing assistants,
and Seth felt as if he didn't even have the time to breath anymore. Yet he had still enough time to think about Summer. Even though Marissa had told him that Summer seemed to be fine, he didn't quite believe it. And he was still bothered about "the thing" he should find out himself.

Without being able to think all the options through, Amber, one of Seth's assistants, rushed into his office and handed him a huge stack of papers.
"Hey boss, these need to be read and approved in one hour. Need to copy them and hand them out to the publishers." Amber explained and left the room before Seth could even answer, or make somebody else do the work he didn't want to do right now.
So Seth had no other choice than to read what had been given to him. Unfortunately, he couldn't concentrate for more than one word, because his mind went off to Summer again, wondering what was going on with her.

Suddenly, Summer stood in Seth's office and smiled at him. 'The sad smile she always manages when she sees me', Seth thought.
"Hey Cohen, I need the finances for the new comic, are they in here somewhere? Amber told me they might," she explained, her gaze searching for anything that looked like what she was searching for.
"Yeah, they might be on one of those shelves," Seth said, pointing out to some shelves that were situated right next to his desk.
"Thanks." Summer walked over to the shelves. After a few seconds she spotted the financial folders of CC. Since they were on the top of the shelf in front of which she was standing, she had to stretch to reach them. "Damn it, too small for that stupid shelf!" she cursed. When her wirsts were revealed from her pullover, Seth couldn't believe his eyes.

Suddenly, Summer twirled around and smiled. "Cohen?" she asked, trying to get Seth's help.
Seth got up to help her, but he was still shocked by what he had seen around Summer's wrists. Dark red and blue bruises circled them. It almost looked like someone had squeezed them incredibly tight. Could Eric really be able to do a thing like that?
Seth went over to Summer, and before she knew what was going on, he rolled up her right sleeve and held her hurt wrist up. "How did this happen?" he asked, his eyes never leaving Summer's, almost forcing her to admit what he already had feared.
Summer pulled her wrist out of Seth's grip and looked down to the floor. "Nothing," she plainly answered, ashamed. How could she be so stupid to let her bruises show?
Seth breathed heavily. "Is he hurting you? Is that where the bruise on your lip came from?" Why didn't Summer just tell him the truth? Off all people in her life, he wanted her to see that he was the one she could trust completely.
Summer blushed. "He didn't mean to," she whispered, "And besides, it was my fault."
Seth sensed how scared she suddenly was. On the one hand, he felt so much sympathy and love for her that he couldn't imagine how any guy didn't know what he had in Summer, and on the other hand he sensed the rage coming up in him, making him want to hurt Eric for what he had done to that beautiful girl standing in front of him.
Summer quickly realized she had told Seth too much. She reached up to the shelf, managed to get the folder down and looked at him. "Seth," she said, "this looks worse than it is. Don't get too upset about it," she took his hand, stroking it gently with her thumb. "And promise me you won't interfere in my issues, ok?"
Seth forced himself to calm down. He pulled his hand out of Summer's, looking her in her wonderful dark brown eyes. "If anything like this ever happens again, I swear to God Eric's gonna pay.", he said, hatred swinging in his voice.
Summer took a step back, content that Seth didn't seem to want to do anything about it. "Nothing will ever happen again," she confirmed, "Eric didn't mean to do a thing like that."

Suddenly, Summer was not able to stand the situation anymore, and she turned on her heels, leaving Seth's office as fast as she could. She felt tears coming up and ran to the bathrooms, where she locked herself in one of the cabins and began to sob uncontrollably.
"Oh how I wish I could tell you," she sobbed, "How I wish you could help me out of this…"
But she was too scared to admit – Eric had made it only too clear last night what was going to happen if she told anyone what was going on between the two of them.

Chapter 6

Later that day, when Summer was on her way home, she recalled the situation she had had with Seth earlier that day. He knew way too much, without the need that she had to tell him. He knew by just looking at her what was going on. She needed to tell someone. She longed for love, respect and most of all, dignity. And if she couldn't tell Seth, then who could she tell?
Shortly before arriving at home, Summer came to the decision that she had to tell Seth the truth. She couldn't go on like this, inventing stupid excuses that nobody believed in, and being afraid every second that she was at home. Summer hit the breaks and manouvred her car to the side of the road, where she started searching for her cell phone and dialed Seth's number.
Beep. Beep. Beep.
Summer bit her lip. Why didn't he answer?
Beep. Beep. Beep.
"Please, answer" she mumbled. She really needed Seth right now, so why didn't he just pick up?
Beep. Beep. "Seth Cohen?"
Summer sighed with relief. "Cohen, it's me." She said, sounding more serious than ususal.
"Summer? Is everyhting alright?"
At first, Summer hesitated to answer. "Um… honestly, no. I need to talk to you. Tell you something really important."
"Okay, do you wanna meet for dinner?"
Dinner. That meant at, like seven? After what had happened on the weekend, Summer didn't think she could afford lying to Eric again. What was she thinking? It was even impossible for her to talk to her friends with that monster she had to live with. But she had only this single choice, and she needed to take it now.
"Summer? Are you still there?"
"Yeah, Cohen, still there. Let's say, seven? At 'Al Forno's'?"
"Sounds great. See you then."
Summer put down the receiver. Her heart started to beat faster, because even the mere thought of selling Eric out like this scared the hell out of her. Slowly, she drove back on the street again, making her way home.

When Summer parked her car in front of the house, she could see that Eric was already home. That didn't mean anything good. Her heart started to pound faster, and her steps towards the house became slower. When she was halfway to the front door, she saw it fling open, a furiated Eric standing in the doorway. The look in his eyes made her shiver.
"Come on in, you bitch!", he yelled, not caring about the two neighbor girls who were playing in the garden.
With each step Summer took now, her chest felt like exploding. He couldn't have found out about the baby, could he? Slowly, she walked up to him, walking past him in the house. Maybe if she tried to sound casual he would calm down a bit. "What's wrong?" she asked with the most innocent tone she could manage.
Slap. The first one hit her right into her left eye. Summer ducked down and sheltered her face with her hands. "What did I do?" she cried, afraid that he was going to go on.
Suddenly, he grabbed one of her wounded wrists, squeezing it with more power than the day before.
Summer was scared to death. Her heart was racing, her head was spinning, and tears streamt down her face.
Suddenly, Eric pulled out a sonogram picture and waved with it in front of her face. "I found this in your nightstand," he said, a brutal look on his face. Sending another hard slap on her face, he screamed. "I knew you had an affair! This brat can't be mine!"
Summer took a few steps back, a terrified look on her face. "No, Eric…"
"Don't you dare saying a word! I know you've been seeing another guy! Once a cheater, always a cheater!"
Summer cried uncontrollably. "Please, don't…" Another punch hit her chin, the next slap hit her right shoulder. She felt the adrenaline pouring through her veins, the fear of death becoming more vivid with every second that passed. She knew she had to do something, otherwise Eric would kill her and the baby.

Suddenly, Eric came running towards her, pushing her with her back onto the wall, taking hold of her two wrists. She was trapped.
Eric's face neared hers. Summer could feel his breath. In her mouth, she felt the disgusting taste of blood coming up. Her eye was all bloody and blurry, and she wasn't able to see with it anymore. How she hated him. She needed to act right now. This was her last chance.
Just when Eric was about to force himself on her, she kicked him where it hurts a man the most. Whining, Eric went down to the floor. Summer used the chance, and ran towards the door as fast as she could, hurrying towars her car to escape this nightmare.
When Summer was halfway to the car, Eric got up on his feet again and started to chase after her, his speed twice than hers.
Terrified, Summer looked back and almost fell over a branch that lay in the garden. Crying out as loud as she could, she ran for her life and made it for the driver's door. She was shaking uncontrollably and had trouble to put the key into the engine. When she looked out of the window, she saw Eric had almost reached the car.
Just in time, she was able to make the car start, and without looking back, she pulled out of her parking space with screaming tires, crying and bleeding. There was only one person she could turn to right now.