broken ; egd

twenty two

(about a year after the kidnapping)
(also sorry for the huge time gap)
talias pov-
i love ethan, with all my heart, but he changed. hes starting to become so possessive. i cant leave him. he means so much to me.

today we were in our apartment. after graduation we moved in together and grayson moved in with billie. grayson and billie are better than ever.

as i was saying, today we were in our apartment. ethan told me we were going to go out for breakfast.

its june in los angeles. its burning outside. i decide to wear black shorts and a white off the shoulder shirt. i walk out to the living room and ethan sees me.

"what are you wearing? go change. thats too revealing. i dont want you wearing that." ethan says.
"ethan. its literally 103° outside. theyre just shorts and my shirt isnt even revealing!" i argue.

i dont know what happened to him. he started hanging out with douches and started going to more parties. he got drunk. grayson and i tried to talk to him about it but he wouldnt budge.

now he doesnt let me even have a conversation with any other guy, let me wear what i want, and i feel like he just doesnt love me anymore. although i still love him. so much.

i go back inside and change. i wear ripped boyfriend jeans and a tight black shirt. i walk back outside and ethan is waiting out the front door.

he locks the door and we head to the car. we get inside the car and start to drive.

"ethan. i want to talk to you." i say.
"what do you wanna talk about talia?" he asks.
"why have you changed so much? ever since the whole kidnapping thing you turned into a whole different person. its like youve lost feelings." i say looking at him.

he pulls over and looks at me.

"i changed because i want to protect you." ethan says.
"how are you protecting me ethan?! youre becoming so possessive over me. you dont even let me get close to anyone anymore! i feel so trapped. you dont love me anymore. i know you dont. youre slowly starting to become like destin." i say as a tears roll down my face.

as soon as i say that he didnt love me anymore his face turns sad.

"i still love you i-i just.. i dont know. i dont fucking rape you talia!" he yells. i get shocked at what he just said. i flinch as he raises his voice.

"can you um just go back h-home?" i say looking away from him.

he doesnt say anything. he makes a u-turn and we are home in about two minutes.

we get home and i go into our room. i grab a little duffel bag. i put some clothes and underwears and bras into the bag. i get socks and my toothbrush. ethan sees me as i get my toothbrush.

"talia what are you doing? where are you going?" ethan asks.
"im going to billies house for a little. are you going to stop me from doing that too?" i say. my voice cracked at the end.

ethan doesnt say anything. i go to get my keys and leave. i get into my car and drive to billie and graysons apartment. grayson isnt in town so itll just be me and billie.

ethans pov-
as soon as she walked out i fucking regretted everything ive ever said or done to hurt her. in the car when she told me i was turning into destin i lost it. i didnt think before i spoke.

i love her its just different now. i want to protect her. so i thought maybe if i changed and became a hardass people would get scared of me and not try to mess with talia.

she packed up her things and went to billies house. i get mad and punch the door.

i sit on the couch and put my head into my hands.

"why the fuck do i have to ruin everything!" i yell to myself.

i need to get my mind off of this. i wait until its about 6 pm to go to a bar. i have a fake id to use.

talias pov-
ive been at billies house for hours. its about 6 pm. i told her everything. what ethan said. how ethan has been acting.

"you can stay as long as you want." billie says.

i think and i might be overreacting. i can go home. i can just sleep in the spare room.

"its okay. i think im gonna go home at like 9 pm. i can just sleep in the bare room." i say and she nods.

we decide to watch a movie before i have to leave.

ethans pov-
im at the bar. im lucky i look older than 19. im having shots after shots. i ubered here, because i sure as hell wasnt about to drive back.

someone comes and sits next to me. its a girl.

"hey. whatchu doing here? you seem pretty fucked up." she asks.
"problems with my girlfriend." i say.
"oh thats a bummer. maybe i can make you feel better." she says putting her hands on my chest.

i shove her hands off gently. i may be fucking drunk but im not gonna cheat on talia.

"sorry but no thanks." i say and ask for another shot.

its like 8:45 pm. im gonna stay here for a while.

talias pov-
i leave billies house at about 9 pm. her house is not very far from ours so it takes me a couple of minutes to get home.

i park and unlock the front door expecting to see ethan sitting on the couch scrolling on his phone or taking a shower. hes not even home.

i sit on the couch waiting for him to come home.

i scroll on my phone.

i watch a movie.

i literally paint my nails and my toes.

its 1 am. i hear the door unlock.

"taliaaaa! im hommmeeeee. where are you babyyyy!" he slurs. hes fucking drunk. everytime we get into an argument he gets drunk. he thinks thats the solution to everything.

"ethan im on the couch. why the fuck are you drunk. how much did you drink?" i scold him.

he leans in to kiss me and his breath reeks of alcohol. i lightly push him away.

"no e. youre drunk." i say annoyed.
"im sorry for everything i said. i didnt mean to be a douche. i love you with all my heart. im sorry sunshine." he says while i walk him into our room.

i lay him down on the bed and he pulls me on top of him. i slightly chuckle.

"ethan you have to sleep. youre gonna have a horrible headache when you wake up." i say.
"im not gonna sleep unless you sleep next to me." he slurs sitting up.

im already in shorts and a t-shirt. i tell ethan to change and he puts sweatpants on with no shirt. he gets under the sheets and holds them up for me. i get under the sheets with him.

he wraps his muscular arms around me.

"i promise ill start to change now. i will become old ethan. the ethan you fell in love with. i love you so much. please dont ever leave me sunshine. i dont know what id do without you. youre my whole world." he says to me. i dont even know if he really means what hes saying. he drunk.

although, i remember billie telling me that drunk words are sober thoughts.

"also some girl tried to hook up with me at the bar but i rejected her ass so bad." he says making me laugh.

im actually very surprised. he remembers everything when hes drunk. like even the day after. he remembers everything.

"get some rest, pretty boy." i say.

almost immediately i hear soft snores coming from his mouth.

i miss this.
so much.
i hope we stay this way. forever.

sorry i barley updated today :( but what do you think is gonna happen with talia and ethan. are they gonna break up or stay together?

also would you guys like a sequel after i finish this book? let me knowww.

i love yall 💞