The Way He Lies | One

|Chapter Nine|

Previously in The Way He Lies: Kehlani is now aware of the abuse which Demi suffers at the hands of Nick. As Demi learns that Kehlani has a daughter, it makes her more curious about eventually starting her own family with Nick.

The black dress clung to my body as my long blonde curls bounced just down to my ribs. I felt somewhat uncomfortable as Nick and the stylist that he hired for tonight examined every inch of me.

"Blonde is not your natural colour?" The tall woman asked as she held her hand up to her face. I shook my head slightly while looking to Nick, "I don't like it, it does not suite you"

Nick cleared his throat, taking a defensive stance, "I like it, I think it looks great on her!" He disagreed with the woman, the professional stylist.

"I like it" I agreed with Nick. I hated having to lie all the time, but it was better than being victim to his wrath later. "I think it brings out my eyes"

The stylist shook her head, "We are going to try something new, something that will compliment you more"

"If you must" Nick huffed before leaving the room, the stylist frowned slightly before shrugging him off and unzipping the black dress from me. I didn't realise she meant we were trying something new right now.

...

I couldn't help but smile into the bathroom mirror as the different shades of brown flowed through my long hair. I had always been afraid to do anything but blonde since Nick and I got married, but seeing my hair like this makes me think I should have just told him to shove it. Deep down I knew I couldn't do that though.

"I love it!" I gushed to the stylist as she slipped the black dress back into my body, ignoring the purple and yellow bruises plastering my skin... No one wanted to get involved in that.

The lady smiled back to me, "I'm glad, I hope your husband likes it also" She told me as I sat in a black leather chair, ready for her to do my make-up for tonight.

...

"I like blondes" Nick muttered through his teeth as we walked, hand in hand, through the crowds of people. This was a work dinner, I didn't know there would be this many people here... I guess there was more people who worked at the restaurant than I thought. "I don't know how I'm going to enjoy fucking you now"

I rolled my eyes, hoping that he didn't see, "I do everything I can to please you Nick. Let me do something for me for once" I told him, feeling my heart beat race as I stood up for myself.

Nick pulled me closer as we approached Wilmer and Stephanie, who once again were pretending to be husband and wife. I owed them. "Listen you little bitch, I will drag you out the back and teach you a lesson if I need to, don't disrespect me"

With glassy eyes, we stood across from Wilmer and Stephanie. I wanted to scream, I wanted to yell out for someone to help me, for someone to take me away from this.
It had been happening over the past few weeks, almost since I met Wilmer, where even though I do love Nick, it doesn't seem worth it anymore. I don't think I love him enough to handle the abuse anymore, I'm just too terrified to leave.

"Boss" I smirked to Stephanie, the tears caught in my eyes slowly fading away, "Wilmer" I looked over to my real boss as Nicks fingers continued to dig into my waist.

"You dyed your hair... I like it" Stephanie commented as I saw Wilmer nod in agreeance with her.

Nick looked to me with a fake smile on his face, "Isn't it just gorgeous"

"It sure is!" A new voice piped up. I looked over my left shoulder to see Kehlani standing there, with who I assumed was her daughter next to her. "Hey D, what's that bruise from, are you okay?" She asked, pointing to my collar bone.

I felt Nick tense up next to me, "She's fine" He said sharply.

I'm not quite sure what happened in that moment. Somewhere between Kehlani's comment and Nick's response, I felt my anxiety creep up on me and attack me without any warning. The room almost felt as if it were spinning around me, the only thing I was able to hear was the sound of my loud heartbeat in my ears.
Not even thinking, I headed towards the side door, I needed to get fresh air, I felt as if I was going to pass out at any moment. It was too crowded inside, there was too many people, too much conversation. I couldn't do it.

Curling up against the cold brick wall outside the building, I tried to find my breath, the problem though is that I didn't know where I lost it in the first place. I just couldn't control it, as if I was gasping for air, unable to grasp it. I was anxious, and I was scared. Scared of what Nick was going to do to me, and scared of what he was going to do to Kehlani seeing as now he quite obviously knows that she knows what he does to me.

I felt a hand touch my shoulder as my head whipped up in a panic...

To be continued.