AUTHORS NOTES

This chapter has a TW for domestic violence. I probably should have TW the whole story, but this chapter goes into a bit more detail. It's not the most excited chapter, but it is the first in Ivy(Rose's) pov.

Poison Ivy

Ch 5

Ivy(Rose)

I hated hospitals. Hated the smell, hated the noise, and hated how cold they felt. I wasn't a stranger to them. Spent plenty of time here when I was younger. I was a bit of a rough child and always had some kind of an injury. It was the time I spent in and out of here with my mom that affected me the most. She had died a couple of years ago from cancer. It had spread quickly and she was gone within a year. We may not have had the best relationship, but she was all I had. Once she passed my life went to shit.

I was in my last year of college when she was diagnosed. I quit to take care of her and planned on going back, but couldn't. I didn't have the money. I never left my mom's side the last year of her life. I don't regret spending that time with her. Because of not working and taking care of her I accumulated tons of debt. I ended up losing everything including our house. I was desperate for work, that's when I was told about Shadow Kissed.

Tasha had been working there for several years to support her and her brother Christian. Me and my best friend Lissa met him when they moved to our little town. Christian, now Lissa's fiancé, had become my rock after my mom passed. We bonded over the shared grief of losing a parent. Believe it or not I actually liked working there. The money was good and I got to meet new people. Everyone there had become my family.

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When I met Jesse I was at the lowest point in my life. It was just after my mom died and I was trying to get myself together. Lissa said it would do me some good to get out and start dating. Saying I needed to do something a normal young adult would do. She had met Jesse through her brother; they were attending the same law school. I don't blame them for introducing us. Neither of them knew what he was truly like.

At first he was just what I needed. He was supportive, loving, and helped me get on my feet. Soon his true nature started to show. First was verbal abuse, then physical abuse. He even went as far as to control all my money. He would show up to the club and make sure I wasn't going too far with customers. Normal Rose wouldn't have put up with it, but the person I was when I met him did. I was so ashamed that I let it get that far that I told no one.

At the time I had no support system. I was grieving everything that I had lost and wasn't in a good place. I didn't even have my best friend. She was too busy with her own life to even notice. My work family, especially Alberta made me see that I was being abused and deserved better. They are the ones that supported me through the break up.

Mason and Eddie became my bodyguards of sorts. They were bouncers at the club and we had gotten really close. They let me stay with them when I left Jesse. They made sure Jesse stayed away and he did until a couple of weeks ago.

Lissa had insisted I go with her and Christian to a charity fundraiser her parents were hosting. I knew Jesse was working for her parents law firm and would most likely be there. I told her no at first claiming I didn't have anything to wear. She saw right through that lie and Lissa being Lissa told me she wasn't taking no for an answer.

I was actually having a good time until I spotted Jesse. I had gone to the restroom and he was waiting for me outside. He was drinking and I suspected he had done something else. He said he was sorry for everything and begged me to take him back. I repeatedly told him that it was over and he needed to leave. I tried to walk away from him, but he grabbed me by the hair and pushed me down. I fell onto a table in the hallway and landed on my chest. He then got on top of me and held me down trying to choke me. Thankfully Christian had become worried and came looking for me. He walked around the corner to see him on top of me.

I thought Christian was going to kill him. He threw him off me and punched him hard enough to knock him out. Christian went and got security to remove Jesse. He told them he was drunk and had passed out. Once he knew Jesse was gone he came back and pulled me aside. He grabbed me in a hug and asked why I never said anything to him about Jesse. He always had his suspicions, but didn't say anything because we broke up. He let me cry on his shoulder and when I was done he said he was getting Lissa and taking me home.

That night I spilled my guts to them. I told both of them everything that had happened between me and Jesse. To say Lissa was shocked was an understatement. She was mad at both of us. Mad at me for not telling her and him for not bringing up his suspicions. I pointed out that if she would have been around she would have noticed.

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Last Friday Jesse was fired from the law firm. He was let go because he broke his contract with the Dragomirs by being drunk in public at the fundraiser and then failing a drug screen. I had been ignoring his calls all day. He had left tons of messages blaming me for getting him fired. I was afraid to go to work that night because I knew he would show up.

My night started out really good. I was asked by one of our regulars Ivan to give his friend a lap dance. I normally don't give lap dances to people that don't ask, but he gave me a generous tip so I agreed and I'm glad I did.

His friend was the most gorgeous man I have ever met. He had shoulder length brown hair and chocolate brown eyes. His accent, let's just say it made my panties wet. He turned down the dance and instead we just talked. I've never actually just sat and talked to a customer before.

I felt so comfortable talking to him and I didn't want it to end. Unfortunately it did when Jesse showed up and wouldn't go away. Mia had told me he was out back asking for me. Mia was fairly new and didn't know about our past. Mason and Eddie were busy and couldn't help so I was going to try to take care of it myself. I made a big mistake going out there.

He was drunk and pissed. I tried to calm him down, but he wasn't listening. He grabbed me and threw me to the ground. I tried screaming for help, but couldn't. He had put his foot on my back putting pressure on my already fractured ribs. I was having a hard time breathing. He then grabbed me and picked me up by my throat. He slammed me against his SUV and started screaming at me that it was all my fault he was fired. I tried to reason with him, but he just got angrier. He slammed my head against his SUV again. I was starting to lose consciousness when he was pulled off me. I fell to the ground gasping for air. I looked up to see my saviour, a Russian God in a cowboy duster. It was my customer from earlier, Dimitri.

My memory is a little fuzzy after that. I know that Ivan came out and took Jesse away. I remember Dimitri giving me his duster to put on because Jesse had ripped my top. The last thing I remember is the warm feeling of his jacket. The next thing I know I'm waking up in the hospital with a tube down my throat.

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A detective came to see me the day I woke up. Detective Croft and Tanner were assigned to my case. I didn't know if I should be happy or scared. I never once went to the police because Jesse always told me it would do me no good. His family was well known in the community and I was just a college dropout and a stripper. He wanted to get my statement about what happened that night. I was hesitant to give it to him till he told me it was all caught on camera and they had witness statements. They had a warrant out for his arrest for aggravated assault.

So even if I didn't give him a statement they had enough evidence for the warrant.

Jesse was on the run, which didn't surprise me one bit. I knew his family had money and connections. Croft told me not to worry they were going to keep me safe and were going to make sure he was caught. He also told me some other things that were disturbing.

I was not the first girlfriend he had done this to. When he was sixteen his girlfriend Meredith was pregnant and he beat her so bad she had a miscarriage. I couldn't believe I didn't know he had done that. Croft told me there was no way I could have known. His family got him out of it and since he was a minor when it happened that record was sealed. The more he told me the angrier I became. I decided that I was finally going to press charges on him. He needed to be stopped.

He visited me on Thursday, I think? I was having problems with my short term memory. I could remember things from before the attack, but would forget something that happened five minutes before. After I ordered lunch twice one day I started to write everything down. I was hoping to get out of here soon. Other than my healing ribs and my memory I was doing ok.

It was Sunday afternoon and I was bored out of my mind. I've had plenty of visitors since I woke up. Lissa was always here because she was doing her residency at this hospital. Christian had visited me yesterday and brought me some magazines and some food from his restaurant. Alberta and Celeste came by this morning and brought me some comfy clothes so I didn't have to wear that hospital gown anymore. Jill, Lissa's half sister, already stopped by. She was a volunteer at the hospital so was always around as well.

I was scrolling through the tv channels trying to find something to watch and heard a knock on the door. Hoping it was my lunch I told them to come in. It wasn't my lunch, but something so much better and unexpected. Walking through the door was my Russian God in a cowboy duster holding a bouquet of my favourite flowers.

"Hey comrade."