Fate

Why?

Fleur POV

*Trigger warning* *Language warning*

I woke up completely wrapped in Axel's arms. For a split second I was confused on how I got there, then the memories from last night came flooding in and I could feel my face flushing. I slowly untangled myself from Axel's arms, trying not to wake him, and quickly slipped on some clothes and grabbed my phone. I was about to try and find call my mom when I heard a low buzzing noise and Axel's ringtone go off. I glanced over at his phone.

12 missed calls from his dad?! And a bunch more from Monty and his brother.

Shit. Had he not told his parents about coming here?

Of course he hadn't. We had left in such a hurry, I had basically dragged him over here without thinking. I was just so excited about this spot, and how I had finally told my strict mom, I didn't think about him, or his parents. The ones he never talked about..

I suddenly remembered a few weeks back when I had noticed a bruise on his arm, as he had pulled up his sleeves for chemistry class, and when I asked him about it, he had just turned away from me and absently said it was just from Tyler without looking me in the eye. And, now that I think about it, every time I mentioned his parents or that bruise, he would just change the subject.

I looked over at him, sleeping peacefully, wrapped up in our picnic blanket. I sighed, debating what to do, then slowly lifted the blanket off his chest. I dropped it in surprise and gasped when I saw him.

Axel and I had started dating in November, and it was only January now, so i had really never really seen him shirtless except for last night, but I was a bit pre-occupied to notice these then.

All up his arms and chest were bruises, in all different shapes and forms, but most of them were in the shape of a fist. I felt tears flood my eyes as I put my hand over my mouth. I swallowed hard and blinked back the tears. I looked closely at his chest, and noticed there were scars of old cuts there, and a few up his arms, too, but thankfully there didn't seem to be any new ones. I felt my heart ache dully, but pain was the last thing to think about right now. At least my pain.

Fresh tears threatened to fall, but I quickly wiped them away as I bent over him and examined him carefully. My mother was a doctor, so I knew a thing or two about this. I traced my fingers lightly over the bruises, some new, some old. As for the cuts, if they were... from what I thought they are from... at least it didn't look like he's done this in a pretty long time, which is good.

How could things go so bad so fast?

I was interrupted from thoughts, however, when his phone went off. I quickly grabbed it and answered it without thinking before he woke up.

"Hello?" I said.

I winced as someone screamed into the phone, "AXEL, WHERE ON EARTH HAVE YOU BEEN?!" I guessed by the voice it was his father.

"Uh, erm, t-this is Fleur"

"..."

"Look Axel's here okay, he's just sleeping, that's why he didn't answe-"

"And who the fuck am I talking to?"

Surprised at his rudeness, it took a second before I could form words. "Uh, i-it's, your uh, speaking wit-with Fleur? Like I said."

Call ended

What was that all about?!

And since when did his father become so mean?!

Though technically I've never even met his family before besides Monty and Tyler. Shaking my head at how odd this was, I gently nudged Axels' shoulders to wake him. He grunted and turned to his side. I sighed, and then nudged him a little bit harder this time, whispering his name. This time, he slowly opened his weary eyes, smiling when he saw me.

"Hey." He murmured.

"Hi." I whispered.

He sat up a bit, studying my face.

"What's wrong?" He asked.

Without saying anything, I lifted the blanket a bit more, showing him the scars, the bruises.

His face paled instantly as he pulled on the blanket, trying to pull it back up and cover them. His face went to a shade of crimson for a second, then an almost odd shade of purple.

Looking at the ground, he murmured mostly to himself, "I forgot about those."

"WHAT? You-you sorry you forgot?! How in the planet do you forget something like THAT?!"

He winced slightly at my words, but I went on, ignoring him.

"And-and why didn't you freaking TELL me? Or at least tell me the truth? I mean I doubt Tyler gave you those bruises and I HIGHLY doubt that Tyler gave you those goddamn scars!! Why didn't you TELL me?! I m-mean I could've helped you, I can help you, who-who's doing this thing to you? I mean is it your dad? Cause he called and called and called and when I answered he was so rude and it sounded like he didn't even know me!"

The words flew out of my mouth before I could stop them, and so many more questions were buzzing in my head I was dying to ask, but the look on Axel's face stopped me.

"What? What is it what's wrong Axel, tell me!"

"When he called you, what did he say?"

"He was just wondering where you were."

"What time is it?"

"Um, it's about 10, why?"

"Shit, he knows where we are, and he probably thinks I'm with some-some hooker or something. Damn it he's not gonna be happy."

"What?! And why haven't you told him about me?!"

"Because he won't allow me to be with you if he knew!!"

"The fuck?! Maybe you should've thought of that before we STARTED DATING."

"It's not that easy okay?!"

"Yeah right. And how does he know where we are?!"

"He..he tracked your phone call."

"Oh my god. Really. And how do you know that exactly?"

"Let me guess, he declined the call suddenly, right?"

"...yeah?"

Axel cursed under his breath, then jumped up and threw on some clothes, grabbing his phone and my blanket and hand then running towards the exit of the building, dragging me along.

————————————————————————

"Can you PLEASE t-tell me what the hell is going on?!"

We jumped in the car, and he quickly started it and started driving.

"Look, the reason I never told you about my dad is because-he-he's, not...well. He.. He has issues, but not like any other parent you've seen. My mother abandoned us when I was about 5, though that's a totally different story, and it's been living hell since then. He's an um, alcohol addict, and I always kept this from you to protect you okay? To protect Tyler and Monty too, so-so please don't be angry at me. And... um yeah. These bruises aren't from Tyler. Their... their from him." He finished off in a shaky voice, the whole time his face looked contorted, as if trying not to cry.

I didn't honestly know what to say.

"And look"-he pulled up to my house-"I really can't explain it now. So please, just go okay, I'll see you tomorrow." He added without looking at me. When I didn't budge, he leaned over me and opened my car door, unfreezing my body.

"Axel, no, I'm not gonna just leave you now-"

"Look, your mom is waving."

I turned around hesitantly and indeed saw my mom waving happily at me, stopping when she saw my face. Was I really that bad?

I turned back to Axel and opened my mouth to say something.

"Go." He said in a low voice. "I'll call you."

I knew I wouldn't be able to argue, so I slowly stepped out of the car, feeling numb. Before I shut the door, I whispered,

"Please call me."

To Be Continued...