I rolled over until I was at the edge of our bed with barely any of the sheets covering my cold body. I wanted to get as far away from him as discretely as possible. Who knows what he is capable of? I chose a strong, buff, fisherman, as my first boyfriendsince Jesse, nice going Nash. The slap didn't even leave a mark on my face but his tone and actions from the night before left a scar permanently engraved in my mind. I was terrified to say the least, I have been hurt verbally so many times in my life, but never has anyone physically hurt me.

I got up from the bed and got ready for work as quietly as possible. Every morning before this particular one I had woke him up with a kiss and together we would go to the diner and then to our jobs. This morning it would be like it was a month ago; just me and Greg. Everyone used to ask me why I didn't leave my mother as soon as my dad left for Kabul and she started drinking again; the answer is the same form her as it is for Jarrett, because I love them. It is so sick, but I can't help it. I used to love him because I thought for once I was going to be taken care of by someone else, now I love him because I want to make sure he is taken care of, no matter what he does to me.

The bells above the door jingled, announcing my presence, as I entered the deserted diner and took my seat at the very edge of the counter.

"No Mr. Hadley this morning eh?" Greg asked as he finished turning on all the frying pans for the day's work. I just shook my head no in response and silently waited for my coffee.

"I'll have it to go today Greg, I need to get into work early to get a head start on an article I have to have finished by the end of the day." The truth was I just wanted to get out of here in case Jarrett woke up and looked for me here.

"Aww gonna leave me here alone are we, that's kind of mean don't you think?" he joked and disappeared with a grin as he went under the counter in search of a Styrofoam cup.

I left the diner, coffee in hand, and walk a few streets down to the paper. Maybe work would let me forget, even if for just a few hours.

I walked into the office expressionless; I couldn't let anyone in on what was going on. This is a small town, and with Kristen on the case, my whole life story would be out in the open and would spread like wildfire.

As soon as I settled in, there she was, Miss Gossip Queen herself.

"Uhgg!! Do you know what the latest gossip is? It's that some guy is coming here and to set up a car garage. Who the heck cares about that?" she yelled exasperated.

"Uh, I don't know, maybe someone whose car is broken, and the nearest car garage is a half an hour away if you drive there?" I stated simply, she rolled her eyes at this.

"What I'm trying to say is this town is so boring! I know you have only been living with that fisherman guy for a month, but do have anything I could use to try and get a promotion with?"She never called him Jarrett; she never fell under the spell that he seemed to have the rest of the town under.

I thought quickly, trying to come up with something that would stop me from saying "Well, now that you mention it, when he is drunk he has a really bad temper and likes to yell and slap people. Will that help you with a new article?"

"Absolutely, he has a pair of bright purple socks! They're terribly hideous! I'm sure an article about a guy's socks will get you a promotion, you better make it top priority." Socks, she'll never think you're hiding something now Nash. I had to keep that stupid smile on my face as she looked at me in a weird way, but all she just said was this.

"You know it would really help if you could date an axe murder or something." And then she turned on her heels and walk briskly away. You have no idea how close you are to knowing what Jarrett really is Kristen, no idea.

After work I went straight home, I wanted to see if he was going to say anything about what he had done to me. I walk through the front door and there he was in front of the TV, beer in hand.

"How was work?" I asked as I took off my coat and set down my bag full of research papers and other documents used to help me out with my articles.

"Fine." He said as he neglected to look at me and continued to watch the screen.

"Did you catch a lot of fish today?"

"What, did you lose your job or something? I can't be the only one to bring money into this relationship you know!" He was getting violent, and it was just then that I noticed there were three empty beer bottles sitting next to him. Maybe this wasn't the time to have this conversation.

"No, no I was just asking." I backed away a little, this didn't go unnoticed. His cold blue eyes stared at me for a second. He brought the beer down from his lips and set it on the end table next to him. He got up and came so close to me that my back was against the wall, and grabbed me by the arms. I could feel and smell his intoxicated breath as it trickled against my ear as he spoke.

"This," he said as he squeezed my arms so tight that I could scream bloody murder, "and what happened the night before; no one can know about it. Do you understand me?"

All I could was nod my head feverishly in a response as the pain in my arms sky rocketed to a level of pain I had never felt before.

"Good to know you get the idea." He said acidly with and evil smirk and let go of my arms then walked away.

I gingerly moved up my sleeve in order to reveal the newly forming bruise underneath. I clenched my jaw as pain ran through my whole body as I moved my sleeve slowly back down over the fresh wound. My arms can deal with a lot of pain, but when it's someone else causing it, it hurts seven times worse than anything I had ever done to myself I nearly jumped when I heard his voice from down the hall.

"By the way, whenever that new garage opens up I'll be taking the truck down to it; it wouldn't start this morning. So save up."

I would be lying if I said I wasn't scared. I was stuck and no amount of grease was going to help me out of this one. I would just have to try and survive each passing day.