Breaking Free

02

When I pulled into the driveway, a weird feeling had hit me. I had been here early, but I never thought I would come back here. But here I was, sitting in the driveway of the boy who I loved. I looked around my car for clothes, but all I had was my work uniform and the clothes that I was wearing. I dragged myself out of the car, heading up the walkway to the house. Before I had even hit the porch, Bryson was wrapping me up in a hug.

"Is everything okay?" He asked, worry evident in his voice. I didn't fight the hug; instead, I wrapped my arms around him as the tears began to trail down my cheeks. Bryson didn't push further for information, instead he pulled me closer, rubbing my back as he tried to soothe me.

"Can we go inside?" I finally asked after minutes of silence. He nodded, grabbing my hand and leading me into his house. When I made it through the door, I admired the homey feeling Bryson's house had. It was a small two bedroom house, but it was big enough for him and his two dogs. The entry was simple with a coat rack on the wall. As I moved further into the house, I noticed the pictures of him with Emmy and Mr. and Mrs. C. I also noticed a picture of the two of us from after we had just begun dating. A faint smile came to my lips as I ran my fingers over the picture.

"Good times, huh?" Bryson asked, pulling me out of the trance I was in. I turned around, looking at him with a smile.

"Very good times," I agreed. Bryson made his way into the living room. He plopped down on the couch, patting the cushion beside him. I made my way over, sitting down next to him. We sat in silence as I played with my fingers, trying not to make eye contact.

"Are you going to tell me what happened?" Bryson asked. I looked up at him, trying so hard not to cry again. It took me about a half an hour to tell him the whole story with Matt, and that whole time he never said a word. He waited patiently for me to finish, but I could see his costs clenching during parts of the story. "I knew he was a no good piece of shit," Bryson spat.

"I just don't know what happened. Yeah, he gets mad, but it's never been like this," I explained.

"Has he always drank this much, or is this a more recent thing?" Bryson asked. I shrugged my shoulders, thinking back to the last couple of weeks.

"It's a recent thing. We usually only had a beer or two with dinner and that was it, but lately he's been drunk before I get home from work." Bryson nodded. I didn't know what he was thinking, but I was pretty sure I didn't want to know. Bryson may have taken advantage of women in the past, but he would never hurt or even threaten a woman.

"You shouldn't go back there," he said, not making eye contact. I knew he was right, but I would have no where to stay. I had nothing with me, and I wasn't sure if I'd be able to afford living on my own.

"I have no where to go," I said, my voice becoming shaky.

"You're always welcome here, Riley." I thought about it for a little while before responding.

"I would hate to intrude. I haven't really been the nicest person to you for the last few years." He chuckled before placing his hand over mine.

"It's in the last, Riley. We've both grown up since then. We both made mistakes, and we learned from them. This is me trying to be a good friend; this is me trying to earn your forgiveness." I smiled at his words, knowing that they were sincere. It was hard for me though. For some reason I just couldn't get past what had happened between the two of us. I may not know what actually happened that night, but it still hurt. "At least stay for tonight," he said. It didn't take much for me to agree to that. It was already past midnight, and I had to work tomorrow. There was no way in hell I was going home.

"Thank you, Bryson. I really do appreciate it." He nodded, standing up from the couch.

"I'll show you to the guest bedroom."

~~~~

I was woken by my phone vibrating against the night stand. I rubbed the sleep from my eyes, squinting to see the name on my phone. I hit the answer button, and I didn't have to say a word.

"Good morning, beautiful," Emmy chirped on the other end.

"Morning," I replied.

"You sound awful," she said with a laugh.

"It was a long night," I said back, looking around the guest bedroom.

"Care to explain?" She asked. No matter how much I told her I didn't want to tell her, she knew I would tell her anything and every thing. "He did what?" She yelled after I explained every thing.

"Yeah," I sighed. "So here I am, staying at your brothers house."

"I'm so sorry, Riley. You don't deserve any of this. I'll be home shortly, and I promise that I'm going to beat the living shit out of him." I chuckled knowing that Emmy would definitely do that.

"Thanks, Em. Hey, I gotta get ready for work. Talk soon?"

"You know it," she said then hanging up. I sighed, dragging myself out of bed to get ready for work.

~~~~

The day dragged at work. It had been slow, and I wasn't expecting for it to pick up anytime soon. Once again I was stuck at the desk doing all the paperwork that no one else wanted to do. I only had a few more weeks of this left though before I would become a full time officer. I looked at the police academy as a blessing. It was going to be hard, but it would get me away from every thing for a while.

"A penny for your thoughts?" Adam asked, pulling me out of my own little world.

"I'd rather not talk about it," I said, getting back to the report on my computer screen.

"Oh come on, Riley. Your life intrigues me." I chuckled. Adam was always up in my life, but I knew it was only because he wanted a chance. If I told him what happened with Matt, he would jump all over that opportunity, and I didn't want to deal with it.

"Not today, Adam. I really have to finish this report." Adam nodded and headed off to his desk. I only had a few more minutes of my shift left, and I was beyond excited to leave; however, I would have to go back to Bryson's l, and I still didn't have any of my things. I had tomorrow off, and I knew that Matt would be working, so it would be the perfect time to grab my stuff. When I noticed that the clock had finally hit eight, I shut down my computer and grabbed my stuff to leave. I waved goodbye to Adam as I headed out the door.

I slowly made my way out of the building and towards my car. I stopped dead in my tracks when I was about twenty feet away.

"What are you doing here?" I asked.
-------------------------------------------------------

Hey readers!
I'm sorry it's taking me a little bit to update. I'm going to try to be quicker about it. I hope you enjoy the newest chapter! I know it's not exciting, but the story will get better!

-Shaylene