In Every Bird.

Chapter 7: Buckeyes

"Alright, I gotta go back and talk to triple A to get your car back here." Graham says.

"Okay, just be careful." Cole says.

"You too, call me if anything else happens." Graham says then leaves.

Cole has his shirt off and I can see scrapes on a good amount of his arms, chest, and I know he has one on his back.
He's got a big bruise coming in on his jaw and a cut on his bottom lip, along with a gash in his eyebrow.
I'm standing across from him with my arms folded, looking at him in worry as he sits on his bed.

"I'm okay Liv." He says to assure me but I'm not.

"You're not okay." I say.

"I am though." He says back.
I take a deep breath and tears fill my eyes.

"Come here." He says.
I walk in between his legs on the edge of his bed and he holds my hands.
"I'm here, this won't happen again, there are cameras at that building and they're gonna catch the guys." Cole says.
He wipes a tear from my cheek then hugs me.
I hug him tight but he groans in pain.
"Sorry-" I say quickly forgetting how sensitive he is right now.

"It's okay." He says.

"Who do you think did this?" I ask.

"Honestly, I think your ex did or maybe some of his friends." He replies.

"Did you see him?" I ask.

"No. But I beat him up twice. The party, and on the sidewalk. And now my tires get slashed." He explains.
I look down. I feel guilty that I drank that much and started the fight in the first place.
"Did he ever hurt you?" He asks and I look back up.

"Yea." I reply.
"But everytime I would fight back. He wasn't always like that but he started drinking, and letting his anger control him. He just started off by pushing me out of the way when I tried to speak to him, then it got worse. He'd slap me, pull my hair, he would hold me back from leaving when we would fight and I felt uncomfortable. He also would call me things that I'm now realizing wouldn't have been said had he actually loved me. And I mean he held me down and would beg me to have sex with him all the time, but never in a romantic way, he wanted sex for the pleasure not love." I explain.

"Wait so he's tried to do what he did at the party before.?" Cole asks.

"Yea. One time he got on top of me and started to unbutton my pants while pinning both my hands down above my head. But I finally screamed at him then started kicking and he stopped. I wasn't going to let my body be used like that, and I'm glad to say i got away from something that could've been a lot worse." I say.

"Has he bothered you after that besides the party?"

"I mean he would text me from all sorts of accounts for the first month or so and then every now, but that stopped over the summer, until he transferred here... and I don't know it's just too coincidental if you ask me." I say.
Cole looks mad.

"Yea thats definitely him being obsessed."Cole says.

"I agree." I say.