Bruised, Battered And Broken.

Chapter 1

Jess looked at herself in the mirror. The bruise that once blanketed her shoulder had faded now; it was just a feint yellow colour. She carefully placed her forefinger onto it and pressed harshly, wincing as she did. She pulled her sleeves down and began to admire herself again. No one could ever know what was going on behind closed doors. He never hit her where people could see, so to the outside work, she was the luckiest girl on the planet. Tycoon older boyfriend, nice car, she never wanted anything. But behind closed doors, she was scared to breathe, petrified of his reaction. It took all her persuasive skills to convince him to let her go to work, she needed it to maintain some sort of stability in her life, and it was the only part of her that he let her keep.

When she met Jack, he was perfect. She was only 18, he was 24, Jess had always been more mature than boys her age, so when Jack asked her out on her first date, she jumped at the chance. Jack was Jess' first; he reminded her on a regular basis, now however, that he would also be her last. They were inseparable from the word go, even Jess' family approved of him initially: they had never seen her so happy. Then one day when she didn't come home, they stayed up all night waiting for her, frantically ringing her phone every five minutes. She arrived home that morning, covered head to toe in cuts and bruises, and when her parents asked where she had been all night, all she could do was apologize and say she'd fallen over on her way home and banged her head. She had received her first beating.

And it wasn't her last. As Jack began to take over her life, she began to cut herself off from her family and friends, petrified of what it would do to them if they ever found out, and when Jack got a promotion at work and was relocated to London from their hometown, Jess' only option was to go with him, as she was too scared of what would happen to her and her family, if she didn't.

And now two years later here she was, in the middle of the capital of England, working in a record store part time, which was the only time she was allowed out, plodding through life. Because to Jess, this was her normal. The constant abuse was normal.

She was snapped out of her thoughts when her phone started ringing on the counter. 'Jack' flashed across the center of the screen. Jess debated pretending she was busy and not answering it, but not really wanting to face the consequences of not doing so, she swiped her finger across the screen.

"Hello?"
"I'm picking you up tonight," a gruff voice stated.
"Oh. You really don't need to Jack, I'm okay getting the bus," Jess liked getting the bus, it gave her a sense of normality.
"I'm picking you up tonight," He repeated, "and then were going out, I've picked you out a dress and shoes, they're at home waiting, and you better look good tonight Jess, this is a really important night We are meeting with some big clients, means big money for the company. Do not mess this up for me," and he hung up.

Jess winced a little as she placed her phone back on the counter. Jack worked for a big advertising company, and she knew he had just landed a contract for 'Pepsi'. He was going on about trying to find some celebrities for his advertising campaign last night. It was nothing new to Jess though. She had met Ant and Dec as well as Andrew Flintoff only last month when Jack had been put in charge of the Morrison's campaign. He has been parading her around all night like she was a trophy and then given her a beating when she got home because she had told Mr. Flintoff, that she wasn't all that interested in cricket and rugby was her sport.

The rest of the day had gone quickly and quietly, and Jess had been dangerously left with her own thoughts for most of the day. Before she knew it, she was staring into her full-length mirror, admiring the dress that Jack had picked out for her. It predictably had long sleeves and was floor length to cover up the bruises on her arms and legs. However, it did have a plunging neckline showing off her cleavage, and the redness of the dress complimented her dark brown hair and brought out her feline green eyes. She admired herself in the mirror. She looked okay. Only okay though. But she wasn't trying to impress anyone, she just didn't want another argument with Jack that always ended in the same way.