His Barista - Soap MacTavish Coffee Shop AU

10

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Chapter Ten
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You'd think that someone who endures domestic abuse on an almost daily bases would be numb to any pain that was ranked below it. Wrong, very wrong.

In this case, something that brought the victim joy and an escape from it all, only for it to be torn away in less than a day, hurt more than the palm of someone's striking hand.

This was Elsie's reality as she lay, motionless on the kitchen floor where her mother had left her a half hour ago after Elsie had provoked her into a fight.

She had consumed a fair amount of the amber liquid she had discovered in a cupboard, hidden away by her parents, before they had gotten home and faced Elsie's tear stained face.

All it took was a single sentence before Elsie had lunged and swung her fist with all her strength, though due to the alcohol she missed landing it; stumbling into her mother's grasp as she returned the favour.

Usually she wouldn't fight back, knowing that would entice the drama even further, but this time was different. With every blow that connected with her soft skin, she spat an insult out and smiled menacingly while her head spun rapidly with an emotion she hadn't ever felt before, but could only describe as the colour red.

The same colour red that pooled around her, soaking her clothes and turning her skin paler than it'd ever been.

Her wrists ached and stung but she ignored it, her eyes trained on the ceiling and her mind worked with half the speed that it normally should.

Her phone was ringing in her pocket, but she chose to ignore that too.

They say your life flashes before your eyes just before you die. This was somewhat like that. She wasn't dying, but her life began to play out in her head slowly like a slideshow a fourth grader had made for their class.

Her childhood was something out of a horror movie, and those memories were much shorter than the ones that played in her head now. Her teenaged years were spaced out longer, most of them being about her mother and father and their relentless parenting. Then her life now.

You'd think those memories would be about them too, but they weren't the focus. At first, she relived the times she had to sit against her door to keep herself safe, and then it seeped through her mind as her memories with Johnny began to play.

Her eyes watered just thinking about the times his presence lifted her spirits and made her days bearable. He had hardly even knew her and yet he always offered his help, whether it be that time he filled in for her missing staff, or just chatting with her and sharing his funny stories to make her smile.

She missed him. She had seen him the night before, but that proved to be a miserable thing. But that's not what she missed — it wasn't seeing him that she missed, rather his comforting words he'd say whenever she felt just as she felt right now.

Her phone rang again, her curiosity peeking as she painfully slid it from her pocket and into her grasp.

It was Johnny. Talk about impeccable timing.

She smiled — her head still spinning and feeling out of her mind — and answered.

"Elsie?" His voice came softly from the speaker, something that seemed to soothe her mind despite what happened between them.

"Johnny... I miss you." She said weakly.

"You.. miss me?"

Johnny was audibly confused.

"Yes," She was getting breathless now. "I miss your voice... and your stupid fucking jokes and your stupid fucking face."

He remained silent, his confusion growing, wondering if this was some kind of joke to get back at him.

"I did something bad Johnny."

"What? What did you do Elsie?" He asked, his confusion turning to worry.

"I was upset and I — please could you come get me?"

"Of course I can," He quickly replied as the unmistakable jangle of his keys came through the phone speaker. "Have you hurt yourself?"

"...Not in the way you'd think."

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Sitting on the steps just outside her house, blood beginning to fade and dry out against her skin and clothes, Elsie waited. She didn't feel like crying and yet the tears fell from her eyes effortlessly, without permission but she was too exhausted to wipe them away. She was sure that she looked pathetic.

Sitting on the steps to her home, waiting for Johnny to rescue her.

She wanted so badly to be angry with him, to shout at him for betraying her trust — something she doesn't give out lightly —, for practically leading her on when he already had another lass under his wing, but she was finding it very difficult to be.

He didn't owe her an explanation or any favours, if anyone did it would be her. Or so she kept telling herself, sitting on the steps outside, watching as Johnny's car pulled in.

She didn't move from her spot even when he got out of the car and raced to her, obviously alarmed at her appearance. All she could do was smile.

"You're here."

Johnny furrowed his brows. "I'm here. What happened Els? Who did this?"

Before she could muster up the words to answer him, his gaze snapped to the front door that squeaked open, revealing Elsie's mother who stood in the doorway; she glared down at the two and remained silent.

Johnny didn't need an answer now, seeing her presence as she attempted to intimidate him. Elsie had clutched his shirt, like she knew who was behind her without having to look.

"What did you do to her." It came out more as a statement than a question; he wanted her to know he knew it was her that had hurt Elsie.

Elsie had never heard this tone of voice from Johnny before.

"I disciplined my child who was misbehavin'. You got a problem with that?"

"She's not a child and this is not discipline. This is assault." He raised his voice to Mrs Reid as he pulled Elsie up from the steps and held her close to him.

Mrs Reid's eye visibly twitched at his words, dumbfounded that someone could speak to her in such a way, and in her daughter's defence even.

Johnny lead Elsie to his car quickly but carefully, securing her into the passenger seat like he had done once before all while her mother lingered up until he had driven away.

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A/N:
Sorry for the delay for this chapter. It's short and not my best work but I'll get the next chapter out tonight <3