Chapter 3.

***4 years later***

"You stupid whore!!" He yelled as he threw his cup across the room. "Don't lie to me, I saw you flirting with my friend! Are you banging him behind my back!?" He yelled again, pacing towards me with a murderous glare. I backed myself against the wall, wanting to just disappear, and tried to not cry or scream.

"Jason... I swear, I would never do that to you-" he slapped me across my face then put his hand against my throat, holding me against the wall.

"Stop lying to me!" He growled through his teeth.

"Jason, please. I swear." I held in tears as I gasped for breath. His face slowly started to soften and he sighed. His hand fell from my throat and he pulled me into his chest, his arms wrapped around me gently in an embrace.

"All right baby, I believe you." He said softly as he pulled away and cupped my face, looking into my eyes cautiously. "You know I love you, right?" He asked with pleading, yet demanding eyes. A fire raged in the back of them, making his brown eyes seem somehow darker, more menacing.

"I love you too, Jason." I forced my voice out of my burning throat. I wanted to make my words sound as believable as possible so I wouldn't anger him again tonight. But on the inside, I was wanting to just crumble into myself, to just run and hide somewhere and hope he doesn't find me. I did not dare to let him see that in my eye's though, and stood up tall and to not show any fear towards him. Last time I showed I was afraid, things went south pretty fast.

"Good," he kissed me roughly then backed away. "I'll see you tomorrow baby." he said, then softly caressed my check that he slapped, almost as if he regretted it. I knew better. He was reminding me why he slapped me. Then, without a glance back, he let his hand drop and left left out my front door.

After a full minute of silence, I knew he wasn't coming back for the night. Sliding down the wall, I put my head in my hands, trying to hold in the tears. I remembered back to the first time he slapped me; He tried to tell me he was sorry-he tried to tell me it wouldn't happen again-but I didn't want to risk it, so I broke up with him... or at least I tried. But he wouldn't let me. Instead, he had beat me till I told him I wouldn't ever leave him.

Ever since he has always hit me whenever he suspects the smallest thing. If I say the wrong thing, or if I cook food for him the wrong way, or he see's me looking at something that he doesn't like. I even had to stop responding to Ty's letters after we got together. For over the past two years I hadn't been able to talk to Ty. My best friend... I wonder what he would say if he saw what I've gotten myself into.

If Jason was every around when a letter from Tyler showed up, he would rip it from my hands or purposefully dig through my mail to find one, then tear it to shreds right in front of me. He made sure I watched it every time. Then his fist would connect with my face, or my stomach. Sometimes I would end up on the floor and he would kick me, all the while saying I was lying to him. that I was still talking to Tyler. He would get jealous over a letter. Now I make sure when I check the mail that I hide anything and everything he would hit me over.

I sighed as I finally composed myself, pushed my aching body to my feet and went to the bathroom, knowing what i'd see in the Mirror. When I saw my reflection, a red mark on my cheek was slowly turning colors, and an angry red mark around my next was already forming bruises.

I hung my head, keeping my tears at bay. This was nothing worth crying over. My hand quickly grasped the icy metal of the sink as I started running the cold water, and soaked some clothes. Then carefully wrung out excess water and held it to my reddening flesh, letting the cold slowly ease the pain and hopefully stop or slow the bruising. After dampening the cloth again, I took it with me down stairs into the kitchen and grabbed some Advil. I knew the pain I was feeling wouldn't be as bad in the morning, but swallowing anything after being held by my throat was always a searing pain.

I sighed and put the cloth in the sink, then went to my room for the night. I barely remembered to turn out the lights before I carefully crawled into bed. As drained as I was though, I couldn't sleep. Laying there still as a rock and trying to force myself to dream, was all I could do to keep from tossing and turning. After a while I gave up. I huffed and rolled over, my hands feeling for the piece of paper I slid under the mattress. When my fingers felt the delicate line of the paper, I pulled it out and turned on my lamp. The black ink on the front shined in the lighting, making me smile, and a small tear come to my eye.

To my Kotabear

I quickly flipped the envelop over and pulled out the letter, one of five I was able to save from Jason, then slowly read over the words written. I already knew what It was going to say, though the words still brought me comfort after the fortieth time to read it.

Hey baby girl,

I heard you had moved out and got a place of your own, so I got your new address from your parents.

How's college going? You still making all A's? You always were a brainiac ;)

We got deployed out to another location last week, so far it hasn't been too hectic and a little relaxed.(as relaxed as you could get in the marines)... I heard your Christmas was good? And hey, I got your present! I know you couldn't get me much, but the picture of us meant a lot to me. And the chocolates were fantastic! :)

I don't know if you got my last 3 letters because of the address change or whatever, or if your replies got lost in the mail... But I will still write to you, keep you updated, just like I promised. I will never break another promise again, Kota.

I swear to you with all my heart, I will never break another promise to you. Now don't you start crying either, because then I can't keep that promise ;)

Love you, baby girl.

(You're most best-est best friend ever!) -Ty

I smiled at the letter. This was one of the first few after I had stopped replying to him. True to his word though, no matter how long it has been since then, and even though I haven't replied since... He still writes. Even though I was sad, I was finally able to fall asleep, a slight smile on my face and no tears, just for him.

~

"Oh my gosh, we really need to go see that!" Carrie squealed excitedly, shoving her phone in our faces as the trailer for a new movie flashed across the screen.

"We totally should!" Jamie agreed quickly with her twin. The twins seemed to always agree, even on their worst days they share the same mind set. Not like they've ever had any bad days though.

"Let's go tomorrow, what better day to see a movie than on a Friday?" Carrie suggested, looking between her sister and I.

"Let me see, a Monday. Because Mondays could be enjoyable then... Well, almost." I teased, putting emphasis on my sarcastic remark. What I wasn't planning on, was them taking me seriously. Jamie's brown eyes suddenly grew wide, a sparkle in them now as she suddenly gasped, her

"Oh My gosh, we should go see it on a Monday! I mean we get out early enough, and there won't be a crowd!" Jamie suggests as she literally bounced on her feet. Her short, fiery red hair bounced all around her face from the action, and her grin matched that of a five year old who discovered marshmallows for the first time.

"Very true, I think we should do Monday." Carrie once again agreed with her twin, her smile almost matching her sister's.

"Monday for what?" A familiar voice that sent chills down my spine asked. The person came up behind me, snaked their arm around my waist and pulled me back into their chest. I internally gulped and tried not to stiffen up, and kept my face composed like I wasn't having an internal battle going on. Not even seconds had passed yet since Jason showed up, but it's already felt like an eternity to me.

"Oh hey, Jason. We were just talking about what day we're doing girls night." Jamie smiled over my shoulder at him.

"Girls night," He eye's looked over at me, then between the twins. "Y'all going to a club or something?" He questioned. Something that may have sounded innocent to the twins, but there was a hidden warning tone that I had caught, saying that it 'better not be the case.'

"No, we're going to go see that new Tom Cruise movie." Carrie told him with a smile like her sister's.

"Which one?" Jason furrowed his eyebrows.

"Does it matter? He has a new one out almost every month," Jamie giggled, no doubt thinking about Tom shirtless, again.

"True." Jason nodded, "So since you guys are doing Monday, does that mean I get Friday?" Jason asks, nuzzling his face into my neck. Shivers went up my spine-and not the good ones either-at the thought of having to spend the weekend with him.

"Yep, you can have her all to yourself Friday." Carrie says, wiggling her eyebrows at him.

I've never told them about him hitting me, or any of the abuse. I knew that if I did, he would either hurt them too, or he would hurt me more. I could deal with the pain, but I wouldn't be able to stand it if my friends got hurt, especially because of me.

Another reason why I hadn't told them is because they wouldn't be able to just keep it to themselves. They would be trying to help me in every way possible to get away from him, even if they had to go to the police. If the police ended up getting involved, Jason would probably kill me, or my friends. I know because he's threatened them before, the second time I tried to leave him. I didn't want anything to happen to them, so I kept my mouth shut, even if it means I got a few bruises here and there.

"So, you're the man that's brave enough to go after this girl. I've heard rumors, but I didn't know if it was true or not." Another familiar voice said from behind us. We all turned our attention to see who it is, and my eyes caught glimpse of shaggy blond hair, and bright blue eyes peeping out from between his messy locks. The guy looked familiar, though I couldn't seem to place from where.

"Yeah, that would be me."Jason said proudly, then proceeded to narrow his eyes at the guy, trying to figure him out. "And you are?" He asked him, not too nicely.

"Damien." The guy said with a big smile, my eyes widened as I recognized that smile.

"Damien Matthew's, what hole have you crawled into for the past four years?" I asked Tyler's best friend from school, a big smile overtaking my face. Damien and Tyler used to hang out a lot, especially at school since they were co-captains on the football team. They became good friends over doing that, he even used to come with us to the twins cabin over breaks.

"Ah! And she finally recognizes me." He playfully smirked.

"Hey, it's not my fault you haven't been here for four years." I scowled at him, or at least I try to, but a smile fights its way onto my face again and he laughed at my lame attempt. "And wait a minute, what do you mean he was the only one brave enough?" I furrowed my brows in confusion. Brave? why would anyone have to be brave to ask me out?

"Not many people wanted to go after Tyler Anderson's, Best-friend-since-ever... too scared." He shrugged, but the look on his face said there was more to it than he's letting on. I was about to ask him to tell me what he hadn't spoken out loud, when Jason spoke up from behind me, making me lose my train of thought on the subject.

"Well, I was. And we've been happy for over two years now," Jason tightened his hold on my waist and kissed my cheek, a little possessively it seemed. I tried my best to look happy in that moment and not cringe away from him like my instincts told me to do.

"Wow, two years? I heard it was a while, just not that long." Damien said, blowing some blonde locks out of his eyes. There was somthing hidden in his eyes when he said that, but I couldn't tell what it meant. He looked back and forth between Jason and I, and I finally found my voice again, wanting to speak up before he could go too deep into thought.

"Where did you hear about it anyway?" I asked curiously when some of my previous thoughts came back. Sure, this was a small town, but it wasn't that small. Plus he's lived in a different state for the past four years, so how he could of heard anything was beyond my knowledge.

"Friends, or just random gossipers. It's kind of a big deal when Military's Girl starts dating someone." I almost commented on how people have no lives, but then something he said had struck me.

"Military's Girl?" I asked in confusion, the words almost fumbling out of my mouth.

"Military is Ty's nickname, that's what everyone's been calling him. Not that many people from this town would do what he did, so he's kind of earned himself that nick name."

Damien is right, not many people here would just get up and join the Military when they turned 18, let alone do it because they wanted to. But Tyler did, and people admire him for that. But that still doesn't explain why people are calling me Military's Girl, or let alone his Girl.

Damien could probably see the confusion written on my face and decided to explain.

"You two have always been best friends, you would hardly ever go anywhere without each other. That's also one of the reasons why people were so shocked when he left, but that's not the point." He cleared his throat and continued. "Everyone who knows Ty, or has heard rumors about him also know you, because you guys are like, a package deal. And because of that, you basically have a claim over you, or better yet-what I would call-a protection program." I still didn't understand, and I guess he can clearly see that written on my face.

"No one wanted to try and get with you because they were scared that either Ty was going to be really pissed with them, or that if you did get together and break up, Ty would be pissed and beat the shi-"

"Okay wow, I get it." I wasn't a big fan of cussing. But then what else he said clicked and it all made sense. When Ty was here, he usually kept the guy's away, not wanting any of them to hurt me. He has always been protective of me. And I would guess that's why hardly any guy would approach me for the past four years. I mean after I started dating Jason, I was kind glad that no one came up to me, because that would have been bad for me. "So, you're basically saying, everyone is scared of what Ty will do to them?" I ask after thinking it over, Damien just nodded. "Well that's just stupid! He's a whole country over! What's he going do, come all the way back, just to teach whoever a lesson?"

"Yep, pretty much," Damien nods.

"Chickens." I mutter under my breath and mentally rolled my eyes.

"Hey, I wasn't a chicken. I took that risk for you," Jason spoke up, almost causing me to jump because I forgot that he was even there. I forced a smile on my face and lean into him more, trying to erase any suspicion in his head.

"I know you're not, baby." I said and turned my head to look up at him.

"Damn right, I'm not." he smiled, then leaned down and kissed me, his dry, salty lips forcefully pressing into mine. A pit formed in my stomach and It took all I had within me to not push him away, cringe, or whimper at his touch. Then I suddenly thought of what it would look like to my friends, and how they would start asking questions. I couldn't drag them into this for their own safety, I had to keep them out of it. It made it seem easier after I reasoned myself with those thoughts, and though it was still revolting and cringe worthy, I made myself look like I was happy to the people around us.

"So, are you guys doing anything this Friday?" Damien asked as Jason finally pulls away from me.

"Just hanging around the house, it's going to be a lazy day." Jason replied quickly. He didn't ever want to make any plans that involved another guy, let alone one I know, not even with his own friends, though sometimes he still makes an exceptions-like when he wants me to come to his tournaments- but even then he still doesn't like it, he just deals with it.

"Ah okay cool, I was thinking maybe you and Jason here would like to come out with our friends since we're all going to be back in town, but you don't have to, we can do another day." He smiled sweetly. Damien didn't even act like Jason was the one who spoke, he just looked straight at me the whole time. A glimmer in his eye's made me think he knew something, but I didn't want to ask him what it was, afraid of what exactly he could know.

"Yeah, maybe some other time." Jason answers again.

"Well, see you around Military's Girl." Damien mocks lightly as he waves goodbye. I nodded my head with a slight smile on my face, scared of what Jason would do if I did more than just that.

~

The next few days came and went, and just like that, it's already Friday; the day I've been dreading most of this week. For once I was more looking forwards to Monday. Jason isn't coming over till six because he has to train for a kick-boxing tournament, but he wants me to fix dinner because he will be hungry after he's done training.

I started hustling around the kitchen at 5:15, trying to prepare a little bit of dinner for Jason, hopping that he wasn't going to be early, or that my dinner isn't going to be late.

I finally finished cooking the meat sauce and let it sit on the stove to keep warm, then I dumped the noodles into the boiling water, hoping they wouldn't over cook. As quickly as I could, I ran to my room and changed into something more comfortable sand slightly more presentable for Jason, then ran back down the stairs and into the kitchen just in time for the noodles to be done.

I drained and started plating them, and as soon as I started to pour the sauce on top, Jason came strolling through the front door. He has his own key, which he insisted on having in case for emergencies.

"Hey baby, how was practice?" I asked and plastered a smile on my face, then brought him his food as was taking his seat.

"Tiring, but I'm ready to kick butt Sunday." He smiled up at me. "Thanks baby," he kissed my cheek as I set his plate in front of him."So how was your day?" he asked as he dug into his food.

"Oh you know, same old same old... it was pretty boring without you." I said, telling him what he wants to hear. I've learned over the last two year what he likes and doesn't like to hear... the hard way. One time I was too tired to even try to make pleasant talk and ended up getting a slap to the face, another was when said the wrong thing, earning another slap.

"What would you do without me?" He asked, a wide smile on his face.

'Live a better life' I mentally thought, but dared not say it out loud. "Oh, I don't know, I couldn't even begin to imagine." His smile widens and he pulled me up from my seat to sit on his lap, facing him. He moved his plate aside and started kissing me with a hungry look in his eyes, and I complied, though I feared what could come soon.

His hands snaked themselves around my waist and pulled me closer. I tried putting my hands on his chest to keep from being pushed up against him, but he just pulled me tighter. He tried to deepen the kiss, but I kept my mouth shut because I knew what came after this. He was persistent enough to try once more, but I again denied him. His hands that were on my sides started to squeeze me to the point of pain, which caused me to gasp. He takes full advantage of that and deepened the kiss, shoving his tongue in my mouth, and effectively quieting any protest I'm trying to get out.

Deciding that he didn't want to sit down any more, he lifted my up and put me down on the table. He pushed himself between my legs, his hands going down my sides and to the table to cage me in. In the process, accidentally hitting the plate of food he sat aside, causing it to fall off the table and onto the ground. The plate shattered and the rest of the food that's there, now all over the floor along with the broken glass.

He pulled away from me with a sort of growl in his throat and looked down at the mess, The his attention turned back to me with a sharp snap of his head and a glare on his face.

"Now look what you've done!" he snapped. I flinched back from him as he throws his hands out to the side, "Well, what are you waiting on?! Clean up this mess you made!!" he ordered. I quickly hopped off of the table and start to pick up the plate, not wanting to face his wrath instead.

I tried picking up the big pieces first, then end poking my fingers on the smaller pieces of glass as I moved on to them. Try as I might to hold in a hiss that wanted to come out every time I cut myself on a piece of the plate, I accidentally made an audible noise, and a sharp slap on the back of my head that jerked my body forwards, let me know he had heard me.

"Stop whimpering and clean up this damn mess. Now!" He yelled. "Clumsy slut." he growled under his breath as he stalks back and forth in front of me.

I quickly picked up the rest I ended up dropping when I got slapped, careful to not make any noises this time. Then stood up and threw it away and rinsed off my hands in the sink. As the water washed away the food, I could see little pricks of blood on my hands and fingers, though it wasn't anything too bad, just something that could all heal overnight.

Jason saw me looking at my hands and he came over, picked them up and examined them himself. Then he brought them closer and kissed each of my palms sweetly, a tender touch that often occurs when he's calmed down from being upset.

"See, this wouldn't be hurting right now if you weren't as much of a clumsy mess." He said looking at my palms. "Come on, you ruined my dinner, so I guess I get to have an early dessert." He smirked and pulled me into his arms. I almost whimpered at the thought of having to be with him again, and all the pain I'll have the next day all over my body. But none the less, I dared not let him see that in my eyes and let him lead me to my bedroom.

———

Authors note:

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- Kenzie Laine