Pursuing Nirvana.

s i x

My approval was all the consent the officers needed to set him free, as they unlocked his handcuffs and shoved him through the door. The two cops wished me a good night before marching off down the hall.

I stared at Brayden in horror, small black and blue bruises were beginning to show themselves on his face. Dry blood was stuck to his lips and his nose, which was now slightly crooked and the ring on the left side had torn slightly.

His knuckles were also bruised up, accompanied by more flecks of dry blood. I covered my mouth with one hand and reached to touch his cheek with the other. "Oh my god, your face!" I exclaimed, still trying to comprehend the horrific view standing in front of me.

Brayden laughed, "You should see the other guy."

I furrowed my brow suspiciously, "What happened to the other guy?"

"He's unconscious." He stated nonchalantly.

Slowly everything was clicking together in my mind, and my anger set in. I slapped him hard across the face, yelling angrily.

"What were you thinking Brayden?! You can't go around beating up other guys when they talk to me!"

He recoiled in response to my anger, looking me directly in the eyes.

"I know him, Cecelia, he's not who you think he is and he deserved it."

I slapped him again just as hard, assuring there would be a red mark on his face, "That still doesn't mean you can just beat him up, even if he does deserve it!"

"I was protecting you."

"No you weren't! You were just jealous!"

"Jealous of what?"

"That he was talking to me? Why don't you let other guys talk to me, Brayden?!"

"I told you I was just protecting you, he had bad intentions."

"Oh like yours are any better?"

"Yeah, they are actually."

"Oh really?!"

"That's what I said, isn't it?"

"Your intentions aren't that good! You don't want to protect me, you just to make sure no one else can have me or even talk to me! You're being selfish and greedy! You're not thinking of my feelings you're just thinking of your own! You act like you own me, well news flash! You don't own me and I can talk to whoever the hell I want to."

Brayden remained completely calm, "You're so cute when you're mad."

"Is that really all you have to say for yourself?!" I spat at him with utter disgust.

"I-"

"I don't wanna hear it, Brayden, I knew I overestimated when I thought you were actually gonna be good to me."

I didn't want anything else to do with him so, I began to walk away as if he wasn't even there.

"Babe, I-"

I whipped around, filled with fury, "Don't you dare call me 'babe'!" With that I turned back around and kept walking.

"I'm sorry."

I froze, becoming solid in my tracks. Those words sounded alien coming out of his mouth. He was never sorry for anything. Ever. Brayden was the type to live life with no regrets, so getting an apology from him is just about as easy as finding Bigfoot.

Slowly, I turned back around, "What did you just say?"

He looked up at me sincerely, "I said I'm sorry, I didn't know it would hurt you."