Thanks for the reviews guys! It really means a lot to me. Here's the update, and i hope you like it! It's pretty chilled at the moment, but things will get more exciting, i promise! :) Thanks! - Jade. xo
CHAPTER THREE: BE SAFE.
Punk was fuming, boiling with anger from the inside out. He absolutely hated men who had the nerve to lay their hands on women – it was the lowest of the low, and he had no idea how a man could stoop to that level. The worst thing of all was that the victim of abuse was Tia, one of his best friends, someone that had been there for him for so many years.
"How long?" he questioned in almost an accusing tone of voice – he didn't meant to come off that way, but he was just so angry and he had a terrible feeling that the violence had been going on for longer than she let him believe. Punk noticed how Tia was avoiding making eye contact with him, and this was a clear sign that she felt uncomfortable, probably due to the fact that the truth had now come out and there was no way of her stopping it.
"Five months.." Tia answered in a quiet tone of voice, lowering her head in shame as she picked at her fingernails – another one of her nervous traits.
"Five.." Punk spluttered, pinching the bridge of his nose with his thumb and finger as he squeezed his eyes shut for a couple of seconds. Words couldn't explain how annoyed he was. And no matter how much he wanted to be pissed off with Tia for keeping such a big secret from him, he couldn't bring himself to do so, she just looked so sad and vulnerable. "Why didn't you tell me sooner?" he finally breathed as he opened his eyes and dropped his hand back to his lap, gripping onto his knee as he looked over at her. All he wanted was answers.
"Because.." The raven-haired female began, twiddling her thumbs. It was obvious that she was struggling to come out with the truth. But he knew she hated lying, especially to him, and especially about something so big when the person questioning her was in front of her. This wasn't a simple affair over the phone where it was easier to lie because facial expressions couldn't be seen, but this was different, and it was easy to see if she was lying. "Because I'm scared of him." she finally admitted in a whisper, she looked so helpless and this angered Punk even more. Tia had once been one of the funniest, strongest women he had known, she always stuck up for herself and never let an opinion get in her way. And since being with Mark, it had all changed, she had transformed into a completely different person and it was worrying. He should have picked up on it sooner. How had he been so stupid?
"You know you could have told me, Tia.. I would have helped you." Punk's voice finally lowered as he took sympathy towards her, there was no way he could be mad at her, and she needed him right now.
"I couldn't.. I'm so embarrassed that I let this happen to me.." Tia bowed her head as a frown creased at her lips. Punk sighed and reached out to her, resting his hand on her knee as he leant forward to look her in the eye.
"Don't be.. This isn't your fault, it's his.. No man should ever lay his hands on a woman." He tried to comfort her in some way, shape, or form. He didn't want her feeling like it was her fault, because it wasn't, not at all. "What happened?" He wanted to know how this all came to be. But of course, he imagined that it would be a touchy subject for her, so if she didn't want to talk about it, he would understand. But it wouldn't make him any less angry.
"Well.. we were fine to begin with.. I thought we were perfect.." Tia almost spat the word, laughing a little at how stupid she sounded. Punk just sat there, a sympathetic, sad look on his features as he watched her and listened carefully. "But then he just started to change.. He would go out and then come home completely drunk, and that's when it would start.. He would shout at me, accuse me of cheating and push me around. And you know how much I hate excessive drinking. I would tell him that and then he would just flip. But then he started going mad at me when he wasn't drunk.. He would just come home from work and flip out if I hadn't cleaned the house or cooked him his dinner the way he wanted it. And then he wouldn't ever let me go out alone.. He would demand that I stay indoors whilst he worked, and whenever I went out, I'd come home and he would.. he would hit me.." Tia seemed to be struggling with her confession and Punk picked on this so he reached forwards and took hold of her hands in his own, sucking on his lip ring as he watched her through an intense gaze. "I couldn't bring myself to leave him though.. He would always apologise to me, and he would seem so genuine. He'd get tearful; he'd buy me flowers and tell me that he loves me. And you know how much of a softie I am.. It would win me over. But then he started cheating, and the attacks got worse.. And in the end, I wanted to leave him, but I was just too scared to. If I ever told him I wanted to leave.. he would get so mad at me." A tear suddenly broke free, and Punk sighed as he leant forwards to pull Tia against his chest, to comfort her and distract himself, as the confession had left him bubbling with rage inside and he needed something to keep his mind off the truth until he was able to let it out.
"Listen to me, and listen good, okay?" Punk began as he pulled back, holding onto her shoulders as he caught her gaze, making sure that she understood him when he continued with what he had to say. "I'm going to help you through this.. And we're going to clean up this mess before I leave for the next house show on Saturday. So that's two days. We are going to confront Mark, we are going to get all of your things, and we are going to travel together." He made sure to emphasize the fact that he was going to be there for her through it all, and that she would never be alone. He needed her to understand the fact that this wasn't going to go away by itself and that they needed to nip this thing in the butt before it got any worse.
He caught sight of the uneasy look gracing Tia's beautiful features and before she opened her mouth to retaliate, Punk lifted his finger as a gesture of silence before quickly sweeping in with his next set of words. "Don't tell me you can't do it. I know it will be hard.. But I'm going to be there for you, I'm going to help you. You can't let him do this to you anymore.. You can't let him control you." Punk explained, flashing a small smile in her direction, and it was nice to see one in return, even if it was an uneasy one.
"I guess.." she breathed in response to his words of encouragement whilst lifting her hands out of his to push her fingertips through the roots of her hair – a sign of frustration, or perhaps stress. It was probably going to be the latter considering the fact that she was being talked into doing something that she had been unsuccessful at so many times in the past, and was now scared of making those decisions again. The sound of a phone ringing broke through the brief moment of silence and Punk looked down towards her phone which had been placed upon the table, and the caller ID revealed that it was none other than Mark, and the name alone made Punk see red.
Tia reached out and reluctantly answered the call, pressing her phone to her ear as she took the call. Punk sat back in his seat and watched intently as she spoke on the phone to her deranged boyfriend, a man he so badly wanted to beat down for making Tia's life a complete misery.
"Hey.. Yeah I'm just having some coffee.." of course, it wasn't a complete lie because she was drinking coffee, but what she left out was the fact that she was out with a male friend drinking coffee, not sat on the sofa at home waiting for his return. "Okay.. I'll see you in a bit, yeah.." she paused for a split second, passing a hesitant look towards Punk as she responded to the voice on the other end of the phone. "Love you too." It was clear that it was hard for her to utter those words, but she had to make it as convincing as possible, he could understand that. After all, from what she had told him, he assumed that Mark would flip at the slightest bit of hesitancy or uncertainty from the woman. He watched as Tia locked her phone and shoved it into the pocket of her jeans before slipping on her hoody.
"What's up?" he questioned with a raise of an eyebrow as he lifted himself to his feet after Tia slipped out of her seat.
"I have to get home.. Mark's heading back from work and I have to be there. If I'm not there.." she cut off into silence, not wanting to go into any detail. Of course, it didn't take much for Punk to figure out what would happen if she wasn't there – she would be punished, no doubt about that.
"Right, well I'll let you go then.. Just make sure to contact me as soon as you can so that I know you're okay.." he ordered her in a gentle, yet stern tone of voice as he looked down at her, meeting her gaze.
"I'll try to text you in the evening or something.. I can't say when though." She answered with a sigh, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear before reaching down to zip up her jacket.
Punk didn't want to let her go knowing that she was returning home to that monster. He wanted to go with her and protect her from the potential violence that could come at any given minute. But he knew that he had to. All he could hang onto was the fact that he would be helping Tia out of the mess and taking her under his wing to look after her, to treat her the way she deserved to be treated, with kindness and respect. Not beatings and insults. "Be safe." He murmured, not happy about the idea of her walking away from his company.
"I'll be fine.. I promise." Tia answered whilst resting her hands on his shoulders so that she could reach up onto her tiptoes to press a kiss to his cheek. He had always loved the way Tia was, she had always been a kind soul, an easy person to get along with. She was caring and was nice to nearly everyone who deserved it. Punk sighed as she lowered herself back to the ground and passed him a small, weak smile as she turned her back on him and left the coffee shop. All he could do was watch her walk away, and hope that she would contact him as soon as it was safe for her to do so.