Opposites attract

(16)

Later that evening Tyler and Ashley lay curled up together on the couch, they had just finished watching an episode of house of cards which they were watching together. Tyler looked down at Ashley, gently stroking her hair 'ash' he said softly as she nodded slightly, they readjusted position so they could see each other however still had their body's entwined. 'It wasn't always like it' she began 'Ryan and I were good friends for a long time, and then we started dating and I thought it would be like awkward cause we were friends but it wasn't, it was great - we got on really well, we were able to act goofy around each other, we didn't really fight often everything was great. Then once we started shooting again for season 3, things got a little different, we were doing a lot longer days for starters like my call time was 5:30am and we'd leave at like 12am and he'd call and be like 'come over I wanna see you' and he didn't get that I was shattered and I just wanted to sleep, I mean obviously I knew I needed to see him but it just got really difficult and that's when the verbal stuff started, it was just little comments about me not being good enough, pretty enough, smart enough, sexy enough, little things that used to play on my mind all the time and he'd laugh it off and say I needed to get thicker skin' she took a breath 'then one day I was meant to be shooting til 11 so I said I couldn't see him but we got off early so shay and I went for dinner, when I got home he was waiting at the apartment, he was so angry I'd never seen him like that before' she paused for a second before continuing 'that was the first time he got physical with me, I told him to leave and let me in my apartment so I put my arm up to move him and he slapped me, right across my face', Tyler looked at her 'I remember that day, you said you'd hit your face on the wall or something', she nodded slowly before continuing 'after that he apologised and promised he wouldn't do it again, and I was so in love with him I believed him. He used to make me drive to his after work, he'd say that if I really loved him I'd make the time to see him even if it meant I didn't sleep, which happened a lot because once I got there all he wanted to do was have sex' Ashley felt Tyler tense around her so she stroked his arm gently 'it's okay ty..' She whispered before continuing 'there were times where I would fall asleep whilst at it and he'd slap me and shake me and hit me to wake me up and then continue to tell me how worthless I was and how I didn't deserve him' she looked up at Tyler biting her lip as he nodded slightly urging her to continue. 'After a while I became numb to it, I'd come in, shoot me scenes, go to Ryan's and fuck, I hated it more than anything so one night I said no, I refused to sleep with him, I told him I needed to go home, and well..' She paused 'I woke up in the hospital' Tyler's eyes widened as Ashley bit her lip 'Lucy told me that Ryan had hit me so hard he'd knocked me unconscious, he then proceeded to... get what he wanted whilst breaking several of my ribs' Tyler shifted uncomfortably 'Lucy knew?' He said, Ashley could tell her was getting angry so she ran her fingers through his hair 'I made her swear not to tell'. 'Anyway after that I was so afraid of him, I did whatever he said but he continued to hit me, any chance he got, he enjoyed seeing me suffer, and every time was worse than the time before, I tried leaving him, but he always just came back harder, I was afraid he was capable of killing me' tears fell down Ashley's cheeks as Tyler wrapped his arms around her 'I hate him ty, so much' Tyler nodded slowly gently kissing her forehead 'I got you now baby, and he's never gonna get to you again, I promise'.