Wow guys, thank you for the lovely reviews over night they really do mean the world to me. There were a few questions and comments about things that happened and I'm not going to say too much in response to them because all will be revealed soon but yes the 'flashbacks' were in fact in Stella's subconscious and they are going to play into the story soon but I won't say how.
Anyway without further a do here's Chapter 13.
Several minutes passed, Kelly still rooted to the spot in the kitchen. Twice tonight she'd kissed him, once he was pretty sure was because of the alcohol she had consumed, but that last one. That wasn't a drunken kiss that was more her wanting to. But she left, went to her room, she didn't invite him after her. She didn't say anything. And he had absolutely no idea what it meant. Last week she was telling him she couldn't, then she spent all week avoiding him and barely speaking to him and then this. Fuck this was crazy. He so desperately wished he knew what this meant, what she wanted from him, what she wanted from them.
"Kelly" her soft voice cutting through his jumbled thoughts.
"Yeah" he said his gaze tracing across to her door way. Fuck! He thought. Why is she wearing nothing but her underwear? "Is she trying to give me a heart attack" he thought.
"Do you have any mouth wash? I'm all out."
"Erm yeah, in the cupboard under the sink" he said, his racing heart slowing slightly. Whatever this was it was clear it wasn't going any further tonight. It was perfectly clear to him that she was getting herself ready for bed again.
"What?" She said, her voice snapping him back to reality once more.
"Huh?"
"You're staring at me..."
"Sorry. I... Erm."
"It's ok, it was just a kiss don't stress it." She said shrugging her shoulders, the woman trying to act as if it didn't mean anything. That she hadn't just sparked something inside him, sparked something inside herself, between them both.
"Yeah, it was nothing. Just a kiss..." he said his words trailing off slightly, Severide unsure of what the right thing to say was. "Well I'm just, uh gonna go to bed now. I'll see you in the morning."
He made his way across the apartment and into his room, the man leaning against the door taking huge breaths as he tried to steady his mind and racing heart beat.
Stella stood in her doorway for a short time unsure on what to do. She'd wanted to kiss him, so she had but something about the way he reacted had confused her. She had half expected him to follow her into the bedroom, for them to get lost in one another. She didn't expect to go the whole way but she was hoping, praying maybe that he'd take her kissing him in the kitchen as an invite, a invite she really wished he'd have taken her up on.
The next morning was really awkward, neither firefighter knowing how to act in light of the night before. Stella harboring some embarrassment to the state she had let herself get into while Kelly walked around as if nothing had happened between them. She knew of course that it was just a kiss, that like he'd said it was nothing. But that thought alone made her stomach sink.
"Kelly?" She questioned, the man looking up from the tv program he was watching.
"Yea?"
"Can we erm... I.. can I speak to you?"
"Of course" he said switching the tv off and patting the seat next to him "what's up?"
"I know you haven't asked and I know you want to?" She said sitting down nervously beside him.
"Asked what?"
"Everything that went on... everything he did." She offered shrugging her shoulders slightly.
"We don't have to do this Stella. You have no obligation to me or to anyone to reveal what went down. I don't expect you to tell me anything you don't want to."
"But I do want to." There was a thick silence that filled the air while she tried to work out where to start, Kelly watching her carefully, the woman before him having his full attention.
"He.. he wasn't always violent." She said quite abruptly.
"Ok."
"He was once sweet and kind and loving, when we first got together he'd do anything and everything for me but there was always that... he always.. he always had this controlling side to him, this jealousy and possessive attitude. When we would go out he'd need to do these big displays of public affection, it was almost like he wanted to parade me in front of people. Let them know I was unavailable. Maybe I should have seen the warning signs, looking back they were there but I didn't see them or I didn't want to see them. I don't know."
"I'm sure you didn't take to kindly to that" Kelly said, the man more than aware that she was a very private person. She didn't like the overbearing act and she certainly didn't take to kindly to her personal life being aired out in public.
"No I did not." She said shaking her head, "we would fight over it constantly but nothing more than some harsh words from each other. Our problems didn't really start to become more physical until he crashed his bike. He'd been out riding and got into this nasty crash, it was about six months after we got married. The doctors they said he was lucky to be alive but the pain he was in, it was horrific. He couldn't sleep, he couldn't eat, he could barely move and he ended up almost losing his job. That's when they gave him stronger pills and from there on it went downhill."
Kelly didn't know what to say, he wasn't sure there was anything for him to say so he just listened. Opting to show little signs of affection and comfort when she looked like she needed it. Stella managing to keep her voice steady and calm for the most part as she described how the longer he took the pills the worse his temper would get.
"He was irritable and snappy, he would punch the wall or throw things and at first that was enough for him. I don't know maybe the signs were there, maybe I should have seen what was coming but I didn't and the first time he hit.." she paused taking a deep intake of breath, "the first time it happened I didn't really know what to do. I was frozen to the spot, frozen in time really. It wasn't bad, well it was but it wasn't like the most recent beatings. It was just a slap." She paused again, pushing herself up from the couch and heading towards the kitchen. Kelly's eye on her all the time, watching as she poured herself a glass of water and downed it in one gulp before refilling the glass and returning to her seat. The words she'd already spoken ringing in his head, 'just a slap' she'd said, like it didn't mean anything, like a slap was something that had become so second nature to her, she didn't even register it as being wrong anymore.
"We'd has this argument, he was taking more pills in a day then the recommended and I was worried. I suspected he was getting his refills for other places and I decided to question him over it. So I told him that he was taking too many and I thought he had a problem, he started yelling that I didn't know what it was like and how it was my fault he'd come of the bike because he was rushing home to please me. And I shouted back, I said somethings I shouldn't have, tossed around a few insults and then he slapped me. It took me so off guard I don't think I really registered it until he did it again. Three times he slapped my face and I was so embarrassed, so mortified by what had happened I couldn't say anything."
"What did he do afterwards?"
"He left, he stormed out and didn't return for a few hours. When he did I told him I was leaving, told him I wasn't going to put up with it."
"What made you stay?" He asked unsure why anyone would stay with someone after that. It was a question he'd always asked himself, even more so since learning that the spunky, and feisty woman that sat in front of him now had been a victim. Why didn't they just leave after the first time? Why did abuse victims stick around for it to happen more than once?
"He promised me it would never happened again, he said he'd get help and things would be different, said I was right that he did have a problem. And they were better for a little while. It was almost three months until we even had a crossed word with each other. He went to a clinic, went to meetings and managed to wean himself off the pills and I really thought everything would be ok." She took a sip of her water a sad look shining in her eyes as she locked into Kelly's, the same look reflecting back at her. "But it wasn't it just got worse."
"I'm so sorry" was all he could say, the man worried if he said much more his emotions would over flow.
"It's not your fault" she said shaking her head "he always made me feel like it was me, that I'd done something to deserve it. Each time he'd hit me, each time he'd shout, or hold onto me a little too hard, each time he'd ... I thought it was my fault. And I kept trying to do things to please him, I kept trying to make the right choices but nothing I ever did was good enough for too long and sooner or later he'd revert back to his old ways. The pills started to creep back into his life, and when they doctor started to refuse to prescribe more he found other ways of getting them. He met this guy Kelvin, and he became his dealer, whenever he needed something Kelvin would come round and fix him up but before I knew it things had progressed he wasn't just taking pills anymore, he was smoking and shooting up. I tried so many times to get him to return to the clinic but each time it ended in us arguing and me getting... well this one time..." She paused, the memory of what she was trying to tell him excruciatingly painful for her. Kelly seeing the immensely painful look that had settled on her face.
"What happened?" he urged, not sure if he really wanted to know or not but aware that her talking to him and opening up would in the long run help. If there was one thing he was sure about it was that talking helped, it didn't matter who you spoke to but the saying a problem shared is a problem halved was truer than true.
Taking a deep breath Stella prepared herself to speak, the firefighter closing her eyes as she opened her mouth, "He... this one day I came home, it was probably two or three weeks into my training at the academy and he was passed out on the couch, the needle was still in his arm. I thought he was dead, he'd vomited all over himself and I could see he was in a bad way... I was about to call an ambulance when he sat bolt upright but it was like he didn't see it was me. He started swinging and I restrained him as best as I could. It's true what they say about drugs making people have abnormal strength because I don't think I'd ever seen him stronger. He flung me across the room and I screamed. That only made it worse..." she paused again, the tears brimming at the edge of her eyes as she tried to find the courage to continue, Kelly squashing her thigh gently in reassurance.
"He started shouting at me to shut up, and then he kicked me.. he kicked me so hard he broke two of my ribs. That was the first time I ended up in the ER, I didn't tell them what had really happened, just told them I'd tripped on the sidewalk and landed funny. I don't even know if they believed me but no one questioned it. And then I just continued on like it hadn't happened. I came back to the academy the next day and struggled through the pain. I refused to even take any medication despite the pain because I didn't want to end up like him. So I just brushed it off when ever anyone asked, I didn't even tell anyone at the academy.. I was scared if I told them I wouldn't be allowed to continue and they'd make me come next time."
"Stella.."
"I know it was stupid and dangerous but I'm good and nothing happened so I figured there was no harm done."
"How many times did you end up in the hospital?"
"I don't know three maybe four times.."
She couldn't miss the sad look that fell across his face, or the annoyed sigh he blew out. She knew what he was thinking, how had no one put it all together, the hospital trips, the suspicious injuries, the lame excuses she had given. How had no one asked her?
"I know what your thinking" she said pointedly, "and I was asked, loads of times. But each time I had an excuse, much like my face that day on shift.. I didn't want people knowing, I didn't want people to look at me like you are right now, how Dawson has repeatedly looked at me since she heard all this. I just wanted to pretend it wasn't happening and if I didn't tell anyone then it wasn't real. I could pretend like I was just a normal women in a normal marriage."
"You know none of us ever believed you right?"
"I know, Gabby told me the same thing when I confirmed it all for her."
Kelly didn't know what else to say so he instead gave her a short nod as she continued her story. For the next hour she poured her heart out to him, telling him story after story of the times her husband had hit her, times he'd hurt her or shouted at her for something out of her control. The more he heard the more he wanted to hurt the man that had done this to her, the more he wanted to do to him exactly what he had done to her.
It took all his strength not to show her how angry he was, this wasn't about him. It was about her and she needed him to listen and support her, she didn't need him to go on a war path and do something stupid. So he kept taking deep breaths, he kept trying to calm himself as much as possible as he listened to her describe yet another incident he'd hit her, the first time it had gone further than a few punches, the first time he'd really beaten her up.
"Your such a fucking slut!" He yelled, storming across the room, the anger rolling of his body as he approached her.
"What did I do?" She asked nervously unsure why he'd come into the apartment screaming at her.
"This!" He said shoving his phone into her face, "how dare you post this type of picture on Facebook." Stella looked at the picture, it was of her a some of the guys from the academy they were all holding onto each other round the shoulders, and there she was in the middle wearing high waisted skinny's and a crop top, her wild hair flowing down over her shoulders as they all laughed together. She knew when it was taken, but she hadn't posted it.
"I didn't post that." She defended hoping that would calm him down slightly. It didn't, it had the opposite effect the mans fist hitting her full force in the stomach.
"Grant" she screamed flopping forwards the pain cursing through her.
"You think I fucking care who posted it! I care that you go out dressed like that and let other man touch you like that!" He punctuated each words with another sharp punch or kick, Stella's body curling into a ball on the floor her hands wrapping around her head trying to protect herself. "Who the fuck do you think you are? You are mine!" He said pulling her chin towards him and upwards, dragging her to her feet before landing another round of punches. "You don't go out with this people and drape yourself all over them! You don't fucking go out do you understand!"
"I'm sorry" she whimpered.
"I said do you understand.." he shouted slapping her hard across the face.
"Yes"
With one final punch he dragged her through to the bedroom. Screaming at her all the way, she knew what was coming. She knew what he would do once they got into the room but she wasn't going down without a fight not this time. She kicked and clawed at him as he pinned her against the bed, the woman fighting his every move before finally being able to squirm away and darting towards the bathroom. But he was behind her before she could even get to the door, the man swiping her legs from underneath her, her body slamming into the ground as her head smashed against the frame of the door.
"Where the fuck are you going?" He screamed, dragging her backwards, picking her up and flinging her body back on to the bed. Before she could stop him he'd pulled her pants off, the man staring at her from his higher position. Her hands secured in his one hand as he held her there.
"Grant no" she pleaded. "Please."
"Shut the fuck up. Your my wife and if I want to have sex with you I will."
He rammed into her roughly, tears streaming down her face as he assaulted her again. The same thing he'd done ever since that first time but this time was worse. This time he hadn't just sexual attacked her, he'd beaten her to within a inch of her life before taking her. Before he used her body as if she were nothing, as if she meant nothing.
She tried to clear her mind, to think of something else, anything else apart from what was happening to her. She tried to focus on being anywhere else but on this bed, trapped underneath him. But she couldn't, her mind wouldn't detach, it wouldn't allow her to block out what was happening and it felt like the torture would never end.
Silence filled the apartment as she finished telling him what had happened. Kelly's face morphed into a mix between hatred and sadness, his body tense as he processed the implications of everything she just told him. He knew Grant had raped her before, she told him that at the hospital and he had suspected it hadn't been the only time but hearing her confirm it. Hearing her detail just how violent those attacks, those rapes had been, nothing could have prepared him for that. Nothing could have prepared anyone to hear that.
"Please say something" she said, forcing herself to meet his eyes.
"I... I don't know what to say." He admitted quietly, his voice barely audible for fear of it betraying him if he spoke any louder. "How.. did he..." she could see he was batting with himself, he needed to ask something but he wasn't sure how to voice his question. But she knew what he wanted to say, she knew the question he was trying to ask. It was the same one she'd been asked at the police station, the same one Lindsay had asked her after she detailed the first time, the same question he'd asked her in that court yard.
"Every time" she said.
His face went blank, and his mouth opened slightly in shock the man pushing himself up from the couch. he didn't fully understand the meaning behind her two words, the answer to his silent question ringing in his head. 'Every time' what did that mean? Every time they had sex since the first time, or every time he got mad? What did she mean by those words?
He'd kill him, if he ever came face to face with the man that had done this he'd kill him. There was no excuse for that, absolutely no excuse for treating anybody in the way he had. He could feel the anger cursing through his veins, the blinding hatred for the man knocking all sense out of him as he paced up and down the apartment. His hand coming to rest behind his head while he tried to bring himself to respond, to say something, anything to her, to let her know that this wasn't her fault. That she hadn't done anything wrong despite what that foul man had told her.
"Kelly?" She said quietly, his pacing causing her to become more and more nervous. "Kelly" she said a bit louder.
"Huh?" His head snapped up towards her soft voice, the man seeing the tears streaming down her face, the uncertainty in her eyes breaking his heart even more.
"Please say something?"
"I'm sorry" he said moving back towards her, sitting himself on the coffee table so he was directly in front of her. "I just... damn. Stella everything he put you through, I can't even imagine."
"It's ok" she whispered.
"No" he said firmly, his voice making her snap her head upwards the darkness in his eyes causing a flicker of fear to flash across her own. "Sorry" he spoke softly noticing how she'd tensed at his voice. "It's not ok though, none of it. And I hope they throw the book at him, I hope he never ever gets to hurt another person."
"I hope that too. I didn't mean to upset you or make you mad."
"Hey.. look at me. You haven't done anything wrong I'm glad you've told me. That you felt comfortable to tell me and my anger, my sadness all of it, none of that was caused by you ok? I'm right here for you. To listen to you when you need me to, to hold you if you want me to. I'm right here."
"Thank you" she said leaning forwards and resting her head against his shoulder, Kelly's arms automatically wrapping around her back and pulling her closer to him. The two sitting for a while in silence, no words needing to be spoken as they let each other relax sightly. He wasn't sure if she'd told him everything, he wasn't even sure if she'd told him a fraction but she'd told him a lot.
"Is there anything else?" he asked, a slight hesitation to his question.
"No" she shook her head "You know it all, you know everything. Not all the details but you know what happened."
He nodded his head in understanding, he didn't need to know every detail not if she didn't want to get into it. He knew enough, he knew what she'd been through and for now that was a weight off her chest. That for now made her feel better and for now that was enough.
"So" Kelly said after about ten minutes "last night?" He wasn't sure how much she remembered and he didn't want to embarrass her but it was something they needed to talk about. It was something they needed to figure out and although now wasn't the perfect time, it wasn't exactly the worse. He just hoped she agreed.
"What about it?" She said pulling back and leaning against the arm of the couch. Her face flushing bright red at the memory of it.
"You Erm.. don't you remember?"
"I remember some of it.."
"Ok. And how do you feel?"
She sighed realizing there was no way out of discussing this. "I don't know."
"Ok." He replied no less confused than he had been when she'd left him standing in the kitchen.
"I wanted to kiss you. I still want to kiss you."
"But?" He questioned sensing there was a pretty big one coming.
"I don't know." She pulled her bottom lip between her teeth, the brunette biting down roughly as she thought over what had happened between them and how she'd felt rejected twice. But also how relieved she'd been this morning when she remembered him not taking advantage of her in the state she was in. If anything the rejections he'd given her had only made her feel more like he was a decent guy, made her feel more like she could allow herself to love him and him her but that was also the issue. "When I kissed you outside Molly's..."
"You remember that?" he exclaimed shocked she could remember anything from when he picked her up at all. A slight grimace crossing his features as he remembered just how much she'd had to drink.
"Yea" she said shyly "I'm sorry I reacted the way I did. I know you were right, I was drunk, if anything would have happened between us then, then I don't know how I would have felt. But I must have made you feel like crap by shutting you out. And then I kissed you again here and I was kinda hoping you'd follow me into my room."
"I thought about it, I just wasn't sure."
"No I know I wasn't exactly clear in what I wanted but thank you."
"What for?"
"For not you know..."
"Stella I would never ever do anything with someone who was that drunk, whether we were together or not. It's not my style and you never ever have to worry about me taking advantage of a situation like that because I never would."
There was a thickness gathering in the air around them, the two of them sat staring at the other. Stella was sure her heart was going to pound out of her chest, her eyes flicking towards his lips and back up to his eyes, those soft blue eyes, sucking her in like the tide engulfs the land. Her mind was racing, her subconscious battling against her natural instincts, slowly she leaned in closing the small distance between them her lips making contact with his, the both of them frozen waiting for the other to react. It didn't take long until they were battling each other, Kelly moving to press his body against hers as he moved back to the couch, his hands roaming her body blindly neither of them pulling back until absolutely necessary, their chests heaving. Stella let out a nervous giggle, her lip in between her teeth again.
"What's so funny" Kelly laughed watching her nibble her lip nervously.
"Nothing" she giggled, "nothing it's just.. you don't know how long I've wanted to do that."
"Well that feeling is completely mutual" he responded pulling her into his side.
"I've dream't about being with you, about kissing you" she admitted, the shy look covering her face making her look irresistibly cute.
"Yeah" he said raising an eyebrow, "When?"
"When I was erm... in the coma."
The shock on his face must have caught her of guard because her next words made his heart clench.
"Sorry"
"What? You don't need to say sorry for dreaming or whatever, you never need to apologize to me." She nodded nervously, she wasn't used to not having to apologize, with Grant she was constantly saying sorry, constantly having to excuse herself for the smallest little things, not having to do that felt good but at the same time was a really difficult habit to break. "So was it as good in real life?" He asked, his light tone making her scoff slightly.
"You're such a man Kelly Severide!" She scoffed pushing his arm lightly.
"Oh yea" he said tickling her sides, the two of them laughing loudly as she tried to wriggle away.
"Stop" she yelled, "Stop... I can't... Kelly I can't breath" She panted through the fits of giggles she was so desperately trying to control. "Stop I'm going to pee myself..."
He stopped taking her lips in his and kissing her deeply, their bodies moving until they were flush against the couch. Stella lying on top of him as his hands traced up and down her body. The two of them locked together, his arms holding her as close as he could while moving his kisses to her jaw line and down her neck. A low groan escaped her lips as he found her sensitive spot behind her ear. His hands moving towards her ass, her mind blank, all she could think of was his touch, his lips against her skin. She was completely lost in him, completely at his mercy and although it terrified her it also felt right, like it was meant to be this way and like she could completely trust him.
Knocking on the door pulled them from each other, both of them exploding in fits of giggles again as if they had been caught making out by their parents.
"I'll get it" Stella said pushing herself upwards and heading towards the front door. Kelly meanwhile tried to make himself presentable and a little less flustered.
"Who is it?" He called.
"Gabby" She said walking back into the apartment.
"Yeah it's only me so you don't have to look so worried" she joked. She could see the flustered look on her friends face as she'd opened the door and by the equally flustered look on Kelly's face she'd say she defiantly just interrupted something.
"Me worried, I'm not worried, do I look worried." he said nervously, looking between the two women.
Gabby laughed loudly "Calm down Kel, I only came to make sure Stella was ok as you never did text me."
"Sorry Gabs, we've been a bit busy talking."
"Hmm talking I'm sure." She said a knowing glint in her eye.
"I don't know what you think happened but..."
"She's probably right" Stella offered, the amused look on her face making him smile softly at her. It was the first time in a long time that he had seen her so relaxed, so free spirited and so easy going.
"Wait?" Gabby said, "I am?"
"Well it depends..." Stella said turning to face her, "what do you think you know?"
Dawson looked between the two, her eyes tracing across their faces and slightly swollen lips "Well if you ask me I'd say I just caught you two making out.."
The look they gave each other gave them away, the paramedic's grin spreading across her face. "You were weren't you?" She exclaimed not even trying to hide the excitement in her tone.
"So what if we were" Stella said after a few moments.
"Well that would be amazing, maybe my kicking your asses helped you both come to your senses!"
They both shrugged, they hadn't even worked out what this meant for them yet there was no way they could explain it anyone else yet.
"I wouldn't say it didn't help" Kelly agreed. "Drink?"
"Sure why not" Gabby said shrugging her jacket off and moving further into the room.
Stella was stood in the kitchen boiling some water for the pasta she was making. After spending most of the morning with Gabby after her unannounced visit, her and Kelly never did get to finish their conversation. The two of them knowing that what they had shared this morning had changed things between them. The man constantly placing soft kisses to her head every chance he got, Gabby had said it was like being in a room with two teenagers on heat. Making a joke of her being alright to leave if they wanted to have some alone time.
She smiled to herself as she remembered everything about their closeness this morning, how it felt to be finally wrapped in his arms, how it felt for her lips to finally get the chance to be against his and how if Gabby hadn't arrived when she did they would more than likely have gone further. The memory made her heart pound once more, something it had been doing a lot today. Each time he'd look in her direction or brush past her their bodies momentarily touching her heart rate would speed up, her face becoming flushed as she'd shyly look away. While the need to be near him, be with him was overwhelming she wanted to take things slow. They hadn't discussed it, for all she knew this morning was just a reaction to the high emotions they were feeling and nothing more. But something told her it was more, that they wouldn't have let themselves get that far if they hadn't wanted it, if they weren't both sure.
Ringing from her bedroom brought her out of her thoughts, assuming it was probably Kelly she turned the heat down and moved towards the sound. Without even looking who was calling she answered. "What you forget the list or something?" she said cheerfully down the phone.
"Stella"
The sound of his voice sent a cold shiver down her spine.
"Grant?" she barely whispered, the woman wondering what she should do. Kelly wasn't here, she was alone. Should she just hang up? No that would make him mad, what did he want?
"Yes who else would it be? Jesus Christ Stella, what the fuck are you playing at?"
"Grant you shouldn't be calling me." She said firmly, trying her hardest to keep her voice steady.
"Says who, your new boyfriend?"
"Grant"
"Shut the fuck up will you!" he shouted down the phone, her body automatically tensing at the sound of his harsh orders. "You are going to come home, and we are going to deal with this lapse in your judgement."
"No"
"I didn't say it was an option, you are my wife and you will do as I say! Now pack your bags and get home, otherwise I'll come get you."
Shit she thought how does he know where I am? No he can't know where I am, he's bluffing, he's never been here. There was no way he could find her, she was safe, all she had to do was hang up the phone and ignore him. But she couldn't, the fear in her quickly building as she clutched her phone tightly her body stumbling backwards until it hit the edge of the bed causing her legs to buckle underneath her. "I'm... I'm not coming back" she said.
"You fucking are! You've got until tomorrow..." and with that the line went dead.
Her body shook as she sat there on the bed, her mind racing and fear cursing through her. "He doesn't know where I am" she whispered out loud to herself, the woman repeating it over and over in an attempt to make herself believe her own words. Why was he contacting her, what did he want? He couldn't honestly think she was going to go back to him after everything he'd done. Her phone pinged in her hand, the noise telling her she had a text.
Hands shaking she swiped to see what it said.
I mean it! You have until tomorrow otherwise I'm coming for you...
She blinked quickly at the screen, hoping it was all a bad dream. This couldn't be happening.
She heard the door of the apartment open and close signalling to her that Kelly had got back from the store, his voice floating through the apartment as he called for her. "Stella?"
"I'm coming" she said trying to keep her voice steady. She didn't want to tell him about the call or the text, he'd only worry and make her contact Antonio and she meant what she said earlier she didn't want Grant to think he'd gotten to her. That he had any control over how she felt and reacted, she didn't want him to have the satisfaction of scaring her. No she was stronger than this, she was stronger than his threats and she wasn't going to jump at his demand not anymore.
Pushing herself off the bed he pocketed her phone, sliding the ringer onto silent before checking over her face in the mirror, making sure that all signs of worry had left her features before she returned to the main part of the apartment.
"You ok" Kelly asked the moment he saw her, the man sensing the tension she was trying so hard to squash.
"Yeah I'm good. Did you get everything?"
"Yup, all in there" he said pointing to the grocery bag sitting on the counter. "Do you need any help?"
"No, I'm good. It's almost ready and then maybe we can watch the game or something, have a couple of beers?"
"Sounds good to me" he said placing a soft kiss on her forehead. "I'm going to go wash up."
She gave him a short nod as he moved out of the kitchen and towards their bathroom, the woman releasing a heavy breath the moment he was out of sight, pulling her phone out again and sending a short message.
Leave me alone!
The evening went by slowly, Kelly and Stella eating together in almost silence. Her mind elsewhere for the most part and although he could tell something was bothering her he didn't attempt to push it too much. The man knowing better than anyone that she'd shut down if he even tried. Instead he just reminded a strong presence beside her, the man rubbing soothing patterns on her arm as they settled down on the couch together and although they still hadn't discussed what this morning meant for them and their friendship he had to say he liked the feeling of having her in his arms.
So there we have another one. I hope you liked it, I know a few of you had said you suspected we hadn't seen the last of Grant and as you can see you were right. Can't wait to hear what you have to say :)