Apologies. This took far too long for me to write. College is driving me crazy. But it's here now. I'll try and keep on top of my writing. I think I'll be done with college soon, anyway. So enjoy, and please, please review! It'd really help me out.

Chapter 5

Alex and Zack had left an hour or so after we'd brought all my bags into Jack's house. They had taken them into my room for me. Apparently I couldn't possibly lift such heavy bags in my "condition". They seem to think that being pregnant makes me incapable of everything. But I was grateful for the help. I was emotionally exhausted.

Jack had ordered in a couple of pizzas and stuck on Beauty and the Beast to cheer me up. I don't think I had told him, but it was my favourite Disney film. But we had both decided on a lazy evening after the shitty day I'd had. Exactly what I needed.

I couldn't help but think that Gaston reminded me of Dan; big, muscly and controlling with a violent nature. Damn, I gotta stop thinking about him, I thought to myself.

"You okay?" Jack asked. I had completely zoned out and forgotten he was there.

"Hmm? Yeah, sorry just…daydreaming." I faked a smile which he didn't buy.

"No you're not. Come here," he stretched out his arms and I e wrapped his arms around me and let me snuggle into his chest. "Everything's gonna be fine now, love. I promise."

"I'm just terrified of him, Jack. You don't know what he's capable of."

"What do you mean?"

"The stuff he's done in the past is just…It's not normal." There was a brief silence while Jack thought up a response.

"Can I ask what he did?"

"I'm not entirely sure where to start…"

"BETH!" his voice boomed and echoed throughout the house. He'd been drinking again, I could tell.

"BETH!" he shouted again, "COME HERE!" I quickly obeyed and walked from the kitchen, into the living room. "Ah, there you are!" he smirked at me and stumbled in my general direction. He raised his cold palm to my face and rested it on my cheek. His eyes scanned me from head to toe, like he was evaluating every flaw, then he leaned forward and kissed me. Hard. His hands dropped to the hem of my shirt and attempted to lift it over my head.

"No, Dan I don't really feel like it tonight…" I tried to push my shirt down but he persevered. "Dan, I said NO!" I pushed him off me, and before I could regain any composure he had slapped me so hard across the face that I fell to the floor.

"Bitch…" he muttered as he staggered upstairs to bed.

"Babe, where's my red shirt with the little white logo on it? I think it'd look good with my new black suit." The two of us were getting ready to go to a friend's birthday party.

"I'm not sure, I think it's still in the hamper. It must be if it's not in the closet."

"I asked you to wash it…" I didn't like his tone. I felt like I knew where this was going.

"I-I'm sorry, honey. I didn't get time. First Alex came over and then-" I didn't get a chance to finish my sentence. Dan had clasped his hand tightly in one of his huge hands.

"You are my woman. You do as you're fucking told. Do you hear me? Maybe you'll learn that someday." He pinned me up against the wall. Any other time, this might have been a turn on. But not now. Not with that look in his eyes. He was going to hurt me again. Worse than before.

His free hand ran through my hair and then tightened. He let go of my throat so he could hold me captive by my hair instead and I gasped for air as if I had forgotten how to breathe.

He pulled on my hair and naturally, my head followed. He guided me into the wall, smashing my head like a coconut against a tree. He did this three or four times until I was begging for him to stop and my vision was blurry. Then he let me drop and continued to get ready, muttering to himself. He left me there all night, dazed and concussed. Alone.

108 degrees Fahrenheit. The middle of summer. Beautiful sunbathing weather. Usually I wouldn't bother, but Dan liked a girl with a tan, and I couldn't use fake tan. I'd either get it wrong, or throw up at the smell of it. So I was out in the back yard, laying on my front and trying to tan my back in my favourite bikini. Dan had been inside all day, but I could now hear his heavy footsteps on the ground, thudding over to me. I stayed completely still. The next thing I know, boiling hot water was being poured onto the bottom of my back. I screamed in agony as he laughed.

"Careful," he said, "you don't want to burn in the sun!"

"Dan, could you give me a hand with this hamper down the stairs please? It's really heavy," I asked. He was sat on the bed, lifting weights. He sighed heavily and game to help.

As we were walking down, I kept stopping so I could see where I was putting my feet. In our house we had a lot of stairs, and they curved around so it could take a while, and I was being cautious so I didn't fall. But I wasn't going fast enough for Dan. He pushed the hamper and I lost my footing. I fell backwards, tumbling down the stairs. I ended up lying on the floor at the bottom with severe bruising, a broken wrist and a mild concussion. Alex had been the one to take me to the hospital when he found me lying unconscious.

Dan had taken off and gone to a strip joint with his friends.

Jack's grip had tightened around me. He looked severely pissed off.

"If that son of a bitch comes anywhere near you again, I'll fucking kill him. I don't understand how anyone could to that to another human being. Especially to you." He spoke through gritted teeth. "Is that everything, or is there more?"

"No, he'd hit me all the time and stuff. And he'd say these nasty things about the way I look or the stuff that's happened in the past.

"Why didn't you call the police or leave him?"

"I always thought it'd get better. I thought he was worth the bruises and the broken bones. I was stupid, and I loved him." Tears formed in my eyes and fell down my cheeks.

"Hey, you look at me! You are not an idiot. He was manipulative and cruel. You are the victim in all of this. None of it was your fault, I promise." He looked straight into my eyes as he spoke as if to prove his honesty. "If he tries anything, the police will be called. We'd just have to hope they got here before I was finished with him," he warned, still looking into my eyes. A silence fell on both of us but he held his gaze.

And just like that, it happened. I don't quite know how, but it did.

His left hand slowly rose up and grazed my cheek, tracing a pattern on my skin. Then his palm flattened and he held my cheek lightly. He slowly started to lean in closer to me. I could hear his shallow breaths as he became more and more nervous. I subconsciously leaned in too and soon enough our lips connected. The moment was tender and gentle and lasted a little longer than a brief peck. Butterflies were flying around my gut and goose bumps had formed on my skin.

When we broke apart he looked terrified, as if I was about to slap him around the face.

"I'm so sorry…" he said, stumbling over his words. He removed his hand from my cheek and got up to leave the room. Once the shock had worn off and reality had sunk in, I ran after him.

"Jack, wait! Jack…c'mon! Talk to me," he stopped in the doorway to his bedroom and turned around. I didn't waste any time.

I stopped inches away from his face, grabbed his shirt with both hands and kissed him harder than before. He didn't object. I didn't give him a chance to.

Our lips moulded together perfectly and moved completely in sync. His hands held onto my waist and pulled me closer into him. I wrapped both of my arms around his neck, and we kissed like this for a few minutes before breaking apart. We remained locked in each other's embrace.

"Well, I didn't expect you to run after me…"

"What exactly did you expect?" I queried.

"I don't know. A slap. Maybe you'd run off. Or maybe you'd let me run away." He looked down at the ground.

"Well you're silly. I guess I didn't realise just how much I had come to like you over the past few weeks until the moment we kissed." It was true. Now I thought about it, Jack and I made sense. Too much sense to deny anymore.

"This was all I had wanted to do for the past week or so. I kept imagining it. Different scenarios. Although in each one you ended up hating me for it. I never expected this…"

"You're cute." I smiled at him and looked back into his eyes. He looked happy. A new kind of happy.

And he kissed me again.