The Break (An Eddie Munson Story)

Chapter 20: Vomiting By The Roadside

 A/N: Hi, all! I hope you are all doing omay and coping after the Vol 2 finale. As I said in the previous chapter, please refrain from posting any spoilers in the comment section. I too, will not be using any details from Vol 2 in this book. Please be courteous to those, who may have not had time to watch the episodes.

As always, thank you for your continued support. Enjoy the latest instalment of The Break!

Content warning: Discussions of violence, abuse and drugs.

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Revision, completed. Homework, finished. Dinner, consumed. You had officially survived your most productive evening in months.

As you both lay, dozing off on the sofa, too tired to drag yourselves to the bedroom, tge brunet were rudely disturbed at the sudden beeping of his pager.

An annoyed groan slipped past his lips, as he untangled his arms from around their secure position around your waist and leaned over you, to retrieve the electronic device from the coffee table. With bleary eyes, he struggled to read the small screen but there was no doubt to who had summoned him.

In the past, when he had received late night communication from his temporary employers, he had not hesitated to drag himself out of bed and get dressed but now, he was reluctant to leave his comfortable spot beside you. Eddie regarded your quietened state, longing to gather you back into his arms and with a kiss to the back of your neck, fall once more into a blissful unaware. Except he knew the consequences would be dire if he missed this drop. His ribs were still mottled with yellow and purple, after he his late arrival to the meet up point. He dreaded to think what they would do if he failed to show altogether. With you now a factor in his life, the brunet knew that you too would be a target of their displeasure, should his agreement with them go south. No, he had to stay focused and be an impeccable- but most definitely temporary- employee, for both your sake and his.

Mindful of waking you, Eddie carefully extracted himself from the sofa and hastily gathered his jacket, shoes and keys. Realising you could potentially awaken to find him absent, he scrawled a note on a rogue piece of paper, that had once been attempted song lyrics but had been cast aside in favour of improved stanzas.

'Hey, had to leave for a drop. Will hopefully be home before you have to read this. If not, go to the Mayfield's trailer and ask to borrow their phone- I have an arrangement with them, so just say I'll pay the service charge when I'm back. Call Nancy or Steve and get them to drive you to school. I'll meet you for lunch. I-'

He stopped midsentence, almost making the mistake of writing those three small words, that held a much bigger meaning to them. Though he had said them to you, on the night of your panic attack, while kneeling at your feet on the cold bathroom floor tiles, they had not been uttered out loud since. It felt cheap to write them as a flippant sign off to an unromantic note.

Instead, he vowed to murmur that sweet phrase to you in person and quickly amended his words to read: 'I'll meet you for lunch. No more punching Andy in the face. It's my turn next. E.' He had considered adding an kiss at the end, next to his initial but in all honesty, it was not really his vibe. It felt too much like something Jason and Chrissy would write to one another.

Creeping out of the house into the moonlit night, Eddie's mind drifted to thoughts of the blonde cheerleader, as he turned on the engine and put the truck into drive. Her evident fear of Jason's retribution was still etched into his memory. He was grateful that she had informed him of your whereabouts but hated that she had likely suffered for her kindness. It made him sick to his stomach to even imagine what the basketball Captain's punishment would be. It was one thing for Jason to take out his anger on people like Eddie, who was no stranger to a rogue fist to the face or knee to the gut, his Father had prepared him well in that regard but people like Chrissy, they were not jaded like him. They should not have been exposed to the harsh realities of violence, whether it be mental or physical.

Eddie then thought about you and the bile almost forced its way up his throat. He was aware of how cruel your parents could be but you had never mentioned then getting physical with you. Of course there had been rumours- mainly started by Andy- about arguments that had dissolved into fist fights and broken plates but Eddie had always doubted their credibility, due to the amount of hyperbole that left that imbecile's mouth. Without confirmation or denial about what truly happened during those arguments, Eddie's mind had always been left to consider the What Ifs. The mere thought of someone raising their hand to you, made his skin itch with disquietude. How often had you suffered and then dragged yourself to watch him play with his band or go smoke at Lover's Lake, while he was unaware of your inflictions? Or worse, how many times had the rumours been true, during your time apart and he had just dismissed them for gossip, while you had endured the hardship alone, with no one to turn to?

Suffocated by his attempts at not to dry heave, he abruptly pulled the truck into a hard ahould, on the edge of the road and scrambled out of the driver's seat, where he raced towards the nearby treeline and proceeded to vomit the contents of his stomach. The stress of the past week had finally caught up with him and hus body could no longer manage to keep into contained. It had been some time since he had thrown up due to anxiety but he was no stranger to the act.

Eventually, when his body had nothing left to expell, he shakily wiped his hand on the back of his sleeve, wincing at how worn out he felt. Cautiously, he made his way back to the truck, groaning at the time, as he hastily shut the door.

He had only ten minutes to make the drop and he was at least twenty minutes away. Praying that there were no cops monitoring the roads at that time of night, Eddie pulled away from the hard shoulder and hit the gas pedal, driving at full speed and taking every shortcut he knew from memory.

All the while, you remained fast asleep, safely tucked up in the duvet that Eddie had draped around you, none the wiser of his absence. Your mind was not preoccupied with worry for his safety, as it would have been, had you known of his late night dealings but instead, you dreamed of a small cabin by a frozen over lake. A place for you and Eddie to call home. Your fantasies filled with the possibilities of a future, where you could be happy together.