The mute and the bad boy (COMPLETED)

Chapter 16

Ashton's POV
My eyes roam over her scarred stomach, wondering who could of done this to her, and why she would have done this to herself. "Tess..." I speak not able to put my thoughts into words. I run my finger over a larger scar located to the right of her belly button. The scar was misshaped and took up at least 5-6 inches long and 1-2 cm in width. I look up to her with guilt and pity and she had tears brimming her eyes. She looked to my bedroom door and back to me, and I could tell that she was thinking about running away from me. I shake my head no, trying to convince her not to leave, and as I do tears brim my eyes. Slowly standing up, I let the shirt fall from my hand. Then I wrap my arms around her pulling her into a tight hug. She starts to cry more and more until she's weeping in my arms. "Shh... It's ok" I say trying to calm her down. I take one of my hands off her back and put it to the back of her knees, picking her up and holding her into my chest as I set both of us on the bed. "I don't want to go back there" she speaks throughout her sobs. I let a few of my own tears fall as I try to calm her down. "Shh... It's alright.. It's alright" I speak, she hides her face in my chest and I let her continue crying, though her sobs were slowly fading away and soon, maybe a little less than 5 minutes later, the crying completely vanishes. "A-Ash" she says breathlessly, removing her face from my chest. Her eyes were puffy and red and you could see tear stains running down her face. "Yeah" I answer softly. She lets another silent tear slip from her eyes as she try's to get herself to make eye contact with me. "I-" she begins. "You don't have to explain this yet if you want to have a few more minutes to catch your breath" I tell her, she silently nods and leans back into my chest, this time not hiding her face. We lay there in silence and I can hear her heavy breathing become lighter and lighter, as my mind starts to race thinking of what could have happened to her, trying to comprehend the gravity of the situation. As I think I can feel Tess move of my chest and sit cross cross in front of me on the bed. I also sit up. Looking at her for an explains toon, she sighs. "I um... " she begins clearly not knowing where to start. "The person who did this..." She begins again, not able to find a solid place to begin. "I'm being abused" she finally spits out, I look at her partly in shock. Surprised by the directness of her words "what" I say with a concerned look. She looks up at me again. "I'm being abused... My father...um... My father does this to me... He's done everything from poring hot soup on my head to making me clean up my own blood... He's cut me with glass... Kicked me until my ribs are completely broken and I'm coughing up blood... Basically anything that will cause me the tiniest bit of pain he'll use against me." She says quirky looking down at the bed. "H-how long?" I ask trying to be strong and not letting myself cry. "Um... It's been going on every since I was 3... That's when... That's when My mother left." She says a tear slipping from her eye. "And then When I was about 10, I started to, I started to self harm. And both the self harm and abuse... It hasn't stopped" she says letting out a small whimper at the end. I finally let a year slip my eye as I once again pull her to me. "I'm so sorry" I whisper holding her close to me. "No one should ever have to go through that" I say, voice breaking near the end. "Tess..." I began, she lightly pulls away and looks up to me, still sitting on my lap, "we need to tell someone"