The next morning was silent.
She ate the food he required and then I knew she went straight upstairs to throw it up.
I waited at the door until I saw her come down, making me move to the car with her.
"Want coffee?" I asked her, knowing we had extra time to grab coffee today.
"No thank you" she mumbled.
So I got it for myself before going to our normal parking spot, looking to her.
"You okay?" I asked her calmly.
"I'm giving you a week" she spoke slowly.
"I am running away, with or without you." My heart shattered at her words.
"And I know that if I run away and leave you- he's more likely to hurt you, so I'm begging you- do this with me." Her eyes were begging.
"Briley, we can't survive without him, we have no money-" "Ben, there's no way I'm going to survive with him" I knew she was about to start crying.
"My throat is sore today- and not the outside- the inside." She spoke.
"You realize that means that he was likely close to collapsing my windpipe-" "you're being dramatic." I told her.
"He was fucking choking me, I could not breathe, Ben!" She started crying.
"You have until Tuesday next week to decide, but I am leaving regardless."
She got out without another word.
There's no way in hell I was letting her actually do this.
Calum.
She walked in before I even had a nurse page her, and she was visibly upset.
"What's wrong?" I asked her, immediately moving to hug her, which she surprisingly walked into.
I could tell from the way she was holding me, she needed a hug.
"Talk to me" I told her calmly, guiding her to sit.
"I'm stuck in an impossible situation" she cried out, making me wipe her tears as she spoke to me.
"Well let's make it possible, talk to me." I told her.
"I can't." She was frustrated.
"Well- tell me as much as you can."
I watched her visibly calm down as she went quiet.
She was thinking for a solid minute before she looked to me again
"I can't tell you anything" she was frustrated at her own words.
"Okay, don't get upset-" "no I am upset, because I want to talk to you about everything. I want real advice, I want you to help me-" she cried into her hands, making me rub her back gently.
"Briley, you can talk to me, angel-" "you'll tell." She hiccuped out.
"I'll only tell whoever I'm legally required to tell-" "yeah, exactly." She leaned back into the chair, exhaling as she looked to her hands.
"Look at me, I've only known you for like four days and I'm crying like a baby- almost sitting in your lap" she managed to chuckle, making me squeeze her hand.
"Let me ask you something." I spoke to her, seeing her green eyes look into mine.
"Are you safe?"
"Right now, yes." She spoke confidently.
I'm so glad she felt safe
"I mean at home." I finished, watching her immediately look away from me and to her hands
"Yeah- home is fine"
and right then and there I learned, her lying giveaway is avoiding eye contact and playing with her hands.
"You know, if your dad or brother is hurting you, I can keep you safe" that made her look to me.
"If you tell me that you need help, I'll take you away right now. We will go to Ashton and we have two other friends that will sit with you in my office while we talk to the police and get this all worked out, I'll never let either of them get close to you ever again," I told her firmly, praying she would just let me protect her.
"I appreciate that" she spoke calmly, actually letting me completely hold one of her hands for once
"But home is really okay."
