Trust Me

Chapter 2

Olivia

I woke up to my phone vibrating the bed just under my pillow where I left it to charge overnight.

Rolling onto my stomach with a groan, I rubbed my sleep-filled eyes before grabbing hold of it and checking to see who it was. As my eyes read the name on my phone, they widened a fraction. I could feel my face heat up and goosebumps rise across my entire body. All of the tiredness and grogginess left in an instant.

It was him. Daniel.

I couldn't move, let alone bring myself to answer his call. I didn't ever want to hear the sound of his voice again. He physically made me sick. He'd gone too far and pushed me to the seemingly endless limit of what I was willing to accept for myself.

When the phone stopped ringing, I relaxed slightly, but the relief was short-lived when I saw a text notification pop up from what seemed like not even a second later. My hands were beginning to get clammy and jittery from the nerves firing off in my body.

Flipping onto my back, I held the phone above my face and let my thumb float over the "view text" option. Did I want to see what he had to say? Should I delete it without even looking at it? After another moment of staring and debating, I sucked in a deep breath, opening the message as my heart beat a mile a minute.

"I'm sorry I hurt you so bad, baby girl. You know  I never want to hurt you...but you make me so angry sometimes Liv...why?"

I felt anger rush through my body at his distasteful words. Do I make him angry? So that's reason enough for him to beat the shit out of me to the point where I can hardly move?

"We're done." I typed out and sent the message instantly before I could change my mind about it.

He read the message as soon as it was delivered, and the little typing icon popped up. My eyes didn't leave my phone screen as I waited for his message. I could feel a large knot form in my throat as I did.

"Don't say that...it's you and me forever, Olivia, Remember? You're mine, baby girl. I love you."

I scoffed and shut my phone before placing it on my nightstand. I buried myself back into my blankets and stared at the wall across from me, full of the polaroids we'd taken together over the course of our relationship. I spent almost every single day with that boy and most nights. We did every little thing together, from studying, eating, going to fairs, and even showering. Admittedly, we did a lot of those things together because he caused me to, over time, passively isolate myself from all of my friends except for Cassie. She wouldn't have it. The two of them were basically all I had, and if it were totally up to him, he'd be the only person in my life. He'd even gone as far as to put a wedge in between my parents and me. That was the biggest regret of my life.

I thought he was a little selfish, wanting me all to himself, and for a while, it made me feel special. But over the last few months leading up to that day, things had gotten out of control, and I realized it wasn't normal. I mean, I had nothing to really compare it to since I'd never dated in the past.

Daniel was the first boy to really take an interest in me. I was always shy and nerdy back in high school. I kept my head in the books because I knew scholarship was the only way I'd be getting into NYU, the school of my dreams, as it was far too expensive for my middle-class family to afford. Because of my lack of experience and a mix of low self-esteem, I just thought that Daniel was doing no wrong, that it was okay, and that I deserved to be treated the way he treated me.

My blood ran cold at the thought of the way he'd made me feel that night and throughout our relationship. Truth be told, I didn't deserve any of it. I know that now. I couldn't contain myself from flying out of bed and over to that God forbidden wall to start ripping the collage of what must've been over 100 pictures down. Hot tears were streaming down my face as I did so.