How to avoid falling for a Trohman for dummies

9

Joe

The bus ambled on through the night as I held a thoroughly knocked out Terry in my arms, being unable to sleep myself.

It said a lot that she was in my dressing room, waiting for me. But I also wished I had gone to look for her when Ashley showed up at the meet and greet table. I should have known then already that something was going to happen. It was Andy, who said he didn't have a good feeling about it, that went and looked for her. I wasn't jealous; I was disappointed in myself.

I looked down at the delicate frame wrapped in my arms, she was shorter and smaller than my ex-wife so it was quite strange sleeping with her. Her cascade of curls lay over her face, spilling onto my chest. Her face was covered and I was thankful for that; I didn't think I was ready right now to see the bruising and swelling that had come out of the beating she'd gotten. There were a few shallow cuts from where his nails had probably gotten in too. My stomach churned at the thought of how many times this had happened to her at his hands already.

I didn't want to leave her, so I stretched out for my jeans and took out my e-cigarette and had a few drags to calm my nerves. I was not going to let anyone hurt her but I had to make sure I wasn't going to hurt her either. So I decided to let go of some old demons. In my head, I silently forgave Marie for leaving me the way she did. I still didn't know if it was for another man or if she just didn't want to have to deal with an injured husband. I let go of the resentment I felt towards the pain I went through and breathed out the first peaceful breath I'd had in a very long time.

My deep breathing must have woken Terry because their was a whimper on my chest. "Terry?"

She sobbed, "Joe, it hurts."

I stroked her hair, "Ssshhh honey, I know it's sore. Do you want some water? Maybe go have a smoke and try calm down a little?"

I felt her nod into my chest and braced myself for when she showed her face. It wasn't that I would be put off or repulsed, I just felt like less of a man. She slid out of bed with her face away from me and walked over to her bag, took something out, then switched on the lights. She starting crying almost instantly. She must have gotten out her compact mirror.

"Honey, I'm sure it isn't that bad."

She turned around and looked at me, her left eye, cheek and jaw deep blue and distended with scattered scrapes going along that side of her face. She was still beautiful but it was tragically. The type of person you feel sorry for in a bad drama series. Except this had been her life for a while and just when she thought she'd gotten away and was trying to start over, it slapped her, quite literally in the face. I felt my blood boil and walked up to her, grabbing both her arms and making her look me in the eye. "Terry Fields, you will not let this get to you. He's one of those bad things that happens to good people and I've promised you, I'm here now. There's no way I will let him touch you again."

I kissed her tenderly, not wanting to hurt her, but she deepened the kiss, almost desperate for some sort of comfort in the affection and closeness. I picked her up and backed her into the wall, not breaking our kiss, as her hands slid into my hair. This was getting intense way too fast. I didn't want to, but I broke away from her. "Honey, let's calm down. It's been a rough day and we're both just feeling a little over-emotional."

She nodded and I let her down and she walked out the room to the back where I sat down and she cuddled up onto my lap. "You're still beautiful as hell, you know that?"

She giggled, "thank you baby."

I smiled, "I like that."

"What?"

"That you call me baby. It's kind of endearing and sweet. Makes me feel cared about and wanted, I guess."

Just then, my phone rang. I fished it out of my pocket and looked at the caller ID. Why the hell would Marie be calling me at this time of the night?

"Hey, what's wrong?"

"Look, I know you have a new girlfriend but you and I have a very serious problem on our hands."

I was honestly confused, "what are you talking about?"

"Joe I'm fucking four months pregnant. I've been having my period normally and I started vomiting recently and I went to the drug store now. I got one of those pregnancy tests that tells you how far along you are? I'm 16 weeks pregnant. That means..."

"Holy shit. I'll call you back. I have to go."

Terry had jumped off my lap and was looking at me with tears in her eyes. Marie must have been hysterical enough for Terry, who had been on my lap with her head on my shoulder, to hear.

"Honey..."

She didn't let me finish my sentence and ran off into her room. When I got there, it was locked. I banged on the door fiercely. "Terry! Terry, you need to let me in! We have to talk about this!"

I slumped against the door, dropping down to the floor and buried my head in my hands. Andy came out his room, "why are you shouting? What's going on? Is Terry okay?"

I looked up at him, tears filling my eyes now. "No man. It's bad. Really, really bad."