Hell and back [Dukesaw fic]

Half a break up

Heather Dukes POV

After we got back to the RV, I get to work checking out Veronicas cut immediately. I take her into the RV, and lift her up onto the bed. Heather sits patiently at the table and watches as I clean out the newly exposed cut.

She flinches every time I touch it with the disinfectant wipe. It's still not scabbed over, but it's not completely dripping blood. The old gauze is soaked, and rusty in color. I clean off as much blood off of it as I can, and put five band-aids over it vertically. Not enough to cover it, but enough to keep it together. I add on some more gauze just for good measures.

We can't exactly give her stitches, and she's made it pretty clear she doesn't want to go to the hospital.

Once I'm all done, we decide to leave early. Veronica doesn't look like she wants to stay here any longer, and I don't think Heather does either.

Veronica stares out the window the whole drive back, and I can't help but sneak little glances at her while I drive. She looks really out of it, and disconnected.

"What's wrong?" I ask and set my hand on her knee, snapping her back to reality, "does your back hurt? Because I can stop at the gas station and pick up-"

"It's not that's," she chokes back.

"Well than what is it?"

She looks to the backseat, where Heather sits looking out the window, her Walkman playing through her headphones. She lazily nods her head up and down, and taps her hand on her leg to the beat.

"I don't know how to say this... it's not your fault, and I really don't want to, but it's the best I've got right now." She says frantically, and she's starting to worry me.

I shift and focus my eyes back on the road while she sinks her face into her hands. What could possibly have her so upset? I swear if it's because of JD I'm gonna punch his lights out.

"Veronica?" I look back over to her, "talk to me. Please."

"Not right now. When we get home." She mumbles.

I mean, that's fair seeing as I'm driving, but now it's gonna be driving me insane the whole time, tearing my brain apart. We've probably got around an hour left until we get back. A whole hour of sitting and waiting for bad news to punch me in the gut.

It's agonizing to just sit and drive, watching her sink her head into her knees, choked back dry sobs escaping her throat. We eventually get back to town, and drop off Heather back at her house, before driving back to mine. As we open the door, she steps in emotionless and empty.

We both sit on the couch, and she sinks into the arm while I sit close to her. I can hear my mother rummage through the kitchen cabinets in the background.

She takes a shaky deep breath and whispers, "We need to break up." I can hardly hear her, but I wish I couldn't at all.

I feel all my emotions bubble up inside me, threatening to spill out at any moment. I though she was happy with me. After all she's done for me, and after all we've been through together.

"I love you, and I don't want to, I really really don't." She cries out hiding her emotions as well as she always does.

I scoot back as I try and figure out what the hell is going on right now. She isn't the kind of person to leave someone if she doesn't want to.

"JD said he'd leave you alone if I broke up with you. I just want to keep you safe. I can't handle any more blood on my hands. Especially yours." She manages to keep her cool as she explains herself.

Does he really just get a kick out of fucking with peoples emotions? One minute he wants me dead, but now he'll just drop it all to mess with my head.

"I really want to stay with you, and we can at home, but we can't at school. We can't talk at school, but it doesn't mean I don't love you, ok?"

She pulls me in for a hug, and I hug back weakly. I sniffle and swallow the lump in my throat. She buries her head into my chest. She's struggling to hold back tears, and I'm starting to as well. I don't want her to leave me.

"He said I have to get back with him. I really don't want to, but I have to," she mumbles into my chest.

"Will you still stay with me here? Will you still stay here and be my girlfriend, like in secret?"

"Oh course," she chuckles breathily, "it's just at school we can't talk to each other."

I'm absolutely relieved to hear that. I can't even imagine having to actually break up with her. She stuck with me even after I pushed her and everyone else away. She's the only one who stayed with me, who I could rely on, no matter what I did. I don't know what I'd do without her.

A/n hey y'all I feel like it's been a while on this story. I'm still processing what to do until the next big plot point and school is just emotionally draining, so updates might be a bit slow. I'm jotting down one shot ideas, and Ill hopefully get around to actually writing them.

Goodnight y'all