Secrets Cause Silence ✓ [Secrets Book 2]

[Chapter One]

   "... You don't have to wait for someone to treat you bad repeatedly.
                                         All it takes is once,
                   and if they get away with it that once,
                                  if they know they can treat you like that,
                    then it sets the pattern for the future."
                                                 ― Jane Green, Bookends

Chapter One

The first time it happened was after we had been together six months; I was over at his apartment and it was a few months after my fifteenth birthday. We were just relaxing on the couch with a movie on and he has a beer in his hand while I had soda. 

He nor my parents would care if I was drinking but it was a choice not to.

I remember the day like it was yesterday because after I found out who he was I would always look to this day, trying to recall every single detail to try to figure out why I didn't see it sooner, was I really that stupid not to?

Maybe, maybe not. But I was that young to not realize it wasn't normal. I wasn't a stranger to abuse, my parents would smack me around from time to time and since I didn't have friends or anyone else to compare my life to I thought that maybe it was normal.

When we were sitting there my hand slipped and I dropped the glass on the floor, the sound of it shattering was loud and the remaining liquid spilt on the floor.

"I'm so sorry!" I said and I got up carefully to get around the mess so I wouldn't be stepping in the class; trying to clean it up as soon as possible.

"What the hell, Addison?" he yelled and he put his beer down to come and help me grab things. we swept and picked it all up and threw it all away but I felt bad, I didn't mean to break anything.

"I'm sorry, it slipped." I said softly and like it was in slow motion I watched his hand raise and swing back and I heard the slap before I felt the sting on my face.

I remember my head tilted to the side and my hand shot up to cover the place that was now throbbing under my palm. His face went from angry to guilty instantly

"I'm so sorry Addison," He reached for me and I flinched back "Come here; let me see. I didn't mean to." He reached for me slower and I let him pull my hand from my face and his eyes shone with guilt when he saw it was probably red or bruising.

I pulled away from him.

"Can you take me home?" I asked him and he pulled me into his arms but I was stiff

"Please don't go, not like this. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you and I'll never do it again. I love you Addison." He told me and that's where he got me. he had never told me he loved me before, no one had.

Looking back I should have realized why he said it, he played on my weakness that I willingly gave up to him over the nights. I should have realized that it's not healthy for a twenty year old man to be dating a fifteen year old girl, and I should have walked away but I made the first of a series of mistakes.

"It's okay, I love you too." And at the time I did truly believe that. He wouldn't hurt me again, he loved me.