Chicago Universe ✔️

Joe- Scared To Trust Again

Triggers- toxic relationship, boyfriend hitting girlfriend once. Cheating. Boyfriend thinks woman shouldn't have a 'mans job'.

My shift at the firehouse finishes so I get myself ready for my date with my boyfriend Reece. I walk out of the locker room
"YN is that you?" Severide whistles
"You scrub up well" Gabby smiles
"Thanks"
"Cruz close your mouth before you catch flies" Casey chuckles
"YN you look..." Cruz is lost for words so Brett finishes for him
"Beautiful"
"Still not sure why your with Reece" Herrmann scoffs
"Maybe because I love him" I reply rolling my eyes
"But he cheated on you" Severide frowns
"Yes but that was a drunken mistake"
"Hmmm" Matt crosses his arms as Reece arrives
"I'll see you guys tomorrow" I wave bye to everyone and leave the firehouse getting into Reece's car
"Hi baby" I smile getting into his car, but he just grunts in response. Must have had a bad day. The drive to the restaurant was silent, somethings off.

We sit down at a table in silence, Reece starts looking at the menu
"Whats going on?" I ask not picking my menu up
"Nothing" he replies. His phone beeps, he looks at it and quickly replies putting his phone back down
"Reece somethings wrong"
"Nothings wrong. Now look at your menu and decide what your having" not wanting to cause an argument I do as I'm told. We oder our drinks then our waitress walks over to us again. I notice Reece's mood shifts and he puts on a smile
"Hi what can I get you"
"I'll have the steak, medium rare. She will have the Caesar salad"
"Of course" the waitress turns around and I notice Reece watching her, more specifically her ass. I cross my arms annoyed at him. He looks back at me with a frown
"What?" He replies
"Are you serious? You were just checking her out"
"Here we go. Jealous YN as always"
"There's a difference with being jealous and being upset because your boyfriend was looking at their waitresses butt" I whisper yell
"Give it a rest YN" he sighs "I'm taking you home aren't I?"

After we leave the restaurant and head home Reece is still acting weird and constantly on his phone. So once he goes into the shower I do something I never thought I'd do, I take his phone and unlock it to check his messages. He's been messaging many woman talking to them as he would me. One message even implied that she enjoyed the sex. Furious I stand up with the phone still in my hand. I march my way to the bathroom and open the door, not caring that Reece is in the shower
"Are you fucking serious?"
"What?"
"Your fucking cheating on me again?"
"Well what do you expect when your at the firehouse all the time" Reece gets out of the showers wrapping a towel around his waist
"At work!" I yell "did you forget I'm a fucking firefighter?"
"Maybe if you were at home doing the cooking and cleaning not doing mans work..,."
"Woah woah woah. Let me stop you there. It's not the 1950s Reece. When we started dating you knew I was a firefighter, you knew that I was working full time. So why now are you saying I should be in the fucking kitchen"
"My head hurts YN give it a rest" Reece gets himself dressed "let's just go to bed"
"No I'm not getting into bed with you when you've admitted to cheating and then told me that I should be a house wife"
"Shut up" I then feel a pain across my face. My eyes widen. Without saying anything I grab my stuff and leave the house with Reece calling me to come back. I get in my car and drive home, thankful I never actually fully moved in with him.

The following day I arrive at the firehouse in a mood. I've done my best to hide the bruise but gave up when it wouldn't fully disappear. I go to the lockers where Cruz is putting his things away
"You good?" he asks me "is that a bruise on you face? what happened?"
"Let's just say I'm now single" I slam my locker and head to the kitchen area to make myself a coffee
"Did Reece do this to you?" this gets the attention of everyone at the firehouse "did he hit you?" I sigh in response not really wanting to get into it
"YN what happened last night?" Gabby asks walking over to me. Tears start to threaten to spill
"He's been cheating on me again. I confronted him and he slapped me telling me to shut up"
"Oh YN" Gabby and Sylvie pull me into a hug
"Has he ever hurt you before?" Severide asks
"No. That's the first time. I left him and went home after that happened"
"Good"

Later in the afternoon I hear a commotion outside
"How dare you lay a finger on YN! I hear. I rush outside and see Joe pushing Reece back
"Cruz calm down" Severide holds him back
"Reece go" I say "we're over ok"
"Babe come on. It was a stupid mistake"
"Which part? cheating on her or hitting her?" Herrmann asks
"Babe come on. I won't do it again"
"Just leave Reece"
"Oh and if you decide to harass her, I'll be making a call to my friend over in intelligence"
"Go" Joe shouts.

"Hey you ok?" Joe asks waking over to me at Mollys after our shift
"Yeah. Just sucks. I'm 30 Joe. I thought in the next few years I'd be married with kids and now I have to go through the whole process again"
"I know it's not ideal, but you'll find the right guy. Who won't cheat on you or hurt you. Never know you may have already met him just not realised it"
"I'm so scared to trust again"
"Hey look at me" I turn and look at Joe
"You will trust again, I promise"
"Thank you" I give Joe a hug thankful I have friends like him who have my back.

Months go by, I do have to get a restraining order against my ex, especially when he found out that Joe and I had starting to see each other. And Joe was right, I did learn to trust again.