Viper

Chapter 10: Cheater

 Raven POV

TW: Self Harm

One Year and Six Months Later

August 2008

"What the fuck is this, Nate?" I shout, holding out my phone with a photo of Nate shoving his tongue down another girl's throat. My hand shakes as I yell. Nate rolls his eyes and drops his messenger bag on the floor as he walks through the door of our apartment. He takes a glance at the photo and sighs. "Look, I was really drunk last night. I don't remember anything that happened." He responds with an annoyed tone. I scoff at him, crossing my arms. "Bull. Fucking. Shit." I say angrily.

Ever since we graduated, Nate has developed a problem with alcohol. He'll deny it to the end of the world, as long as he keeps drinking. This isn't the first time I've caught him cheating on me, but for some reason, I always thought he was telling me the truth about not remembering. That was, until I looked through his phone and found out more than I would have liked to.

Anger fills Nate's eyes as he looks at me. He takes a step towards me, the smell of alcohol wafting off his breath, and slaps me across the face. "How many times do I need to tell you? Quit accusing me of this shit. I'm tired of it." He shouts at me. I hold my face in my hand and take a step back. I've gotten used to him putting his hands on me, but he's never actually hit me. Usually, he just grabs me and jerks me around. "Don't you even think about crying to anyone about this. No one will believe you." he sneers.

He quickly picks his keys back up from the floor and walks out the door, slamming it behind him. My hands shake as I sit down on the couch. I know if I try to leave, he'll find some way to force me back. He's always had a knack for making me feel guilty when I've done nothing wrong. I don't know why I ever stuck it out this long, but now I feel trapped. I never thought this relationship would even last this long, I always assumed that we would find that we're better off as friends. I lost feelings for him after Tom overdosed when he told me that he didn't understand why I had to be there for my best friend. I just didn't know how to break it off.

As I finish monologuing, I decide that I can't deal with the struggle of being with Nate anymore, and pull my trusty pocket knife from the drawer of the coffee table and add six new shallow slices into my forearm along with all my other ones. Not deep enough to scar, but just deep enough to feel real pain, something I haven't felt in a long time. I set my knife back in the drawer and inspect my work, watching as small beads of blood roll down my arm.

My phone rings on the coffee table as I sit back against the couch and sigh. I pick it up and see Tom's contact dancing across my screen as he calls me. I quickly hit the "accept call" button and prepare my "Im-totally-not-being-abused" voice.

"Hey Tommy, what's up?" I ask as I try to keep my voice calm. Tom and Bill have been in Germany for the last two weeks visiting family, and God have I missed them. I hear his sweet chuckle on the other end. "Hiya Doll. Bill and I just landed, did you still want to pick us up?" he asks. I hear Bill's exhausted voice in the background and chuckle. "Yeah, I'll head that way now. See you soon" I respond as I slip my shoes on my feet, throw on a jacket, and grab my keys from the hook by the door. Tom chuckles on the other end, making me raise an eyebrow. "What's so funny?" I ask in a playfully suspicious tone.

"Oh nothing, I just might have a little surprise for you," he says slyly. I giggle to myself as I lock my front door behind me and walk down the stairs to my car. "Well, I can't wait to see it. I'll see you guys in a few." I say before hanging up. The best part of being friends for so long is that they moved in next door to us when we all decided to move out of our parent's house. It's so nice to have them so close when I need to get away from Nate during our fights.