Not Without You [Chris Evans]

7

Megan's POV

It was later than I thought by the time we got the details worked out and I got home from Franny's. Andy was already there, changed out of his work clothes and waiting for me with a beer in his hand and a couple empties on the coffee table. Some of the happiness drained out of me as I tried to gauge his mood – a drinking Andy wasn't usually a nice Andy, but it didn't look like he'd had enough to get drunk yet, so maybe it would be all right.

"Where've you been?" he said, the slur in his words making me change my evaluation of his mood as I shut and locked the door. "I got off early and you weren't here when I got home."

I set my purse and phone down on the bookcase and walked into the living room. "I had a callback for the personal assistant job, Andy. I didn't think you'd beat me home so I didn't want to bother you. I know you can't really look at your phone while you're at work, so normally by the time you got the message, I'd already be home."

"Oh," he said after a moment, turning to look at me, a sneer forming on his face. "You wore that to a callback?"

"Why not?" I asked, unable to keep the hurt from my voice. I hated it when he criticized me like that. "Sadie said to dress casual since we were meeting at Franny's for pizza."

"Joe's is better," he said with a shrug, tapping at his phone and replying to a text. "So did you get it?"

"Yeah, I did!"

"Good for you, Meggy."

I frowned. "Andy, you know I hate it when you call me that." It was the one thing I refused to answer to from day one.

"It has a nice ring to it; An-dy and Meg-gy," he drawled as I walked around the couch to stand in front of him. One look in his bloodshot eyes told me everything I needed to know.

"Andy, are you high?"

"As a fucking kite," he said, pulling out a joint out of his shirt pocket and sniffing it. "Me and Seth had a couple at his place with some beers."

I took the joint away and tossed it on the coffee table. "Don't smoke that here; you know how sick that makes me! What time did you get off?"

"7. No fucking overtime this week so that means I don' hafta go in fucking early tomorrow," Andy said, belching loudly as he finished his beer and handed it to me. The drunker he was, the crasser his language and behavior became.

"Well, I still have to work at 6 am tomorrow, so I need to get ready for bed." I set the empty bottle down and turned to walk away from him. "Night Andy."

"I'm goin' back to Seth's if you're jus' gunna be like that, Meggy," he sneered as he caught me by the wrist, getting up faster than I thought he could. He moved to kiss me, but I could smell the weed on his breath and clapped a hand over my face, fighting with my churning stomach. I hated the smell of weed - it made me want to puke, always had.

"Let go of me, Andy," I pleaded, unsuccessfully trying to push him away from me. "I'm gonna be sick."

Andy slammed me into the wall, his larger frame holding me firmly in place. "Meggy, babe - be a good girl and give me a kiss."

I held my breath and gave him a peck on the lips to satisfy him and he stroked my hair but didn't say anything, just looking at me strangely. After a minute he let go of me, walking out the door to go to Seth's, I assumed.  I let out the breath I'd been holding and tears slid down my face. It was a little bit before I could convince myself to move, my back aching from the impact. I still had bruises on my shoulder blades from the last time he'd done that.

I went into the bathroom and turned on the shower before stripping. I hated it when Andy got drunk and high because then he acted like this, trying to prove he was dominant. I turned to look at my back in the mirror and I could see the start of new bruises on my shoulder blades where they'd met the wall. My skin was so pale bruises showed almost instantly. I was also going to have to wear my cuff bracelets for a couple of days - there was a band of dark reddish purple circling the wrist he'd grabbed as well.