Time Ahead

chapter five

a/n: Hey! Here's chapter five. Some stuff is about to go down... Hope you enjoy!

Jade's POV

I turn over my phone. It reads 9:30 am. We have to meet at the studio for choreography at 11. I slowly close my book and get dressed. When I go downstairs, I see Jaz and Jolie playing with their Little Mix dolls with the dollhouse Jed built for them. I smile, watching them play pretend. I turn around and look for Jed. I finally spot him in one of the spare rooms that we turned into an office for him. He keeps his guitar and writes music in there. I don't go in but watch him through the big windows and I'm close enough to hear him arguing.

"How could you do that to me? You knew how important this was and you blew it!" he shouted into the phone. Confused, I walk into the kitchen, not wanting to get involved. I scan the fridge for food. Not being very hungry, I grab a small smoothie and a granola bar. By the time I close the fridge and sit at the barstools, Jed appears from his office.

"You alright?" I ask him. "You sounded angry. Who were you talking to?" Jed puts his phone in his pocket a little aggressively. "My manager. She canceled an event that was going to be really important for the band," he said with anger still in his voice. "Can't the band just discuss it and ask her to reschedule it?" I ask throwing the granola bar wrapper in the trash. "It's not that simple Jade! Don't get involved with stuff you have no idea about!" he shouts at me and shoved me into the wall and then storms away angrily. 

"What the hell," I mumble under my breath. I was shocked. Jed has never, ever, laid a finger on me. And, he just did, without even apologizing after. I feel my elbow starting to burn. Looking at it I see that it's red and already bruising. Still a little dazed, I say a quick bye to the twins and grab my coat to leave.

*at the studio* 

Leigh POV

Today we're learning choreography for our new single. We're performing at the Teen Awards in a month which is pretty exciting. I sit on my phone waiting for all the girls to show up. Jesy was the first, like always. Followed by Perrie and then Jade.

After about an hour we had already learned the choreography and was just practicing it on our own before lunch. "This is going surprisingly fast," said Perrie. "Yeah, we're thriving ladies," Jesy says, making us all burst into laughter. "Oh my god Jade," I say, "That bruise on your elbow is huge. What happened?" She had her sweatshirt on for the past hour, it wasn't until she took it off that I noticed it. "I bumped it last night on my door frame," she says, looking a little startled. "Okay," I say, not fully believing her. The atmosphere in the room was a little tense after that. Jesy, Pez, and I knew there was more to the story, but we knew Jade wouldn't tell us unless she wanted to. "Do you girls want lunch?" one of the tech workers asked, clearing the tension. "Always!" Jesy and Perrie said in unison, making them laugh. 

*after rehearsal*

Jade left pretty quick after rehearsal was over. He excuse was that the twins wanted to go to the park before dinner and she promised she would take them. None of us we're going to argue with her so we just let her go. "Okay, that was weird," Jesy said once she was sure she was gone. "What was?" Perrie asked confused. "Jade's cover story about her bruise," I explained. "Oh," Perrie says once she realized what we were talking about, "You all know how I get when I haven't had much sleep," she defends. "There's definitely more to the story that she's not telling us," I said. "You don't think it was Jed do you?" Perrie asked nervously. "I sure hope not, unless that boy wants a smack from me," Jesy says with anger behind her voice. "Listen, we don't even know if Jed hit her. She might have actually hit her elbow," I suggested. "I  don't think so," Jesy said.

Jade's POV

Luckily when I got home Jed wasn't there. He had left a note saying he was out with some friends at the local bar and wouldn't be back until later that night. I made dinner for Jasmine and Jolie and put them to bed. I eventually went into my own bed and scrolled through social media. Responding to fans and looking at their edits always cheers me up. I must've been on there for a while because I feel asleep. 

I woke up to the sound of the front door slamming. I shot up out of bed, still half asleep. Not realizing it was Jed, I went downstairs to investigate the sound. When I got down the stairs, I saw Jed walking towards the kitchen. Feeling relieved it wasn't an intruder, I walked over to him. "Hey, babe. How was your night?" I asked him, walking into the kitchen. When I turned the corner I saw this other girl in the kitchen with him. "Oh, hey Jade," Jed said, slurring his words. He was obviously drunk, but I wanted to know who was in our kitchen. "Who are you?" I ask the girl, assuming it was one of his friends. "Uh, his girlfriend," the girl responded, in a condescending way, "Who are you?" My blood went cold, "His bloody wife!" I yelled.

I walked over to talk to Jed face to face. "What the hell Jed! I thought you were going out with your friends!" I yell at him. "I was, until the love of my life showed up, and it wasn't you!" he yelled slurring his words still. I fought back the tears in my eyes, "How long have you been cheating?" I half yell, remembering the twins are still asleep. "A year. That's who I was on the phone with earlier, not my manager. But guess what, we made up!" He yelled getting too close for comfort.

"How could you do this Jed? We have two daughters who are going to grow up knowing that their dad cheated on their mam! How could you do this to them?" I shout at him. "I didn't do this to hurt them, they are going to be great when they come to live with me. You're the one I was trying to hurt, bitch." He says grabbing my wrist and bending it backward. But it wasn't complete until he looked me in the face and slapped me hard, on my face and a few punches to my arms and legs. "Let's go babe," he says to the girl and walks out the front door.

It stung. His words, the punches, my wrist, which is probably broken. I hear crying and look the other way. My heart drops. I see Jasmine and Jolie at the bottom of the stairs, staring at me with a terrified look in their eye. Not realizing how long they have been there, or how much they saw, I motion them to come over to me. They run and sob into my chest. At that point, the tears won and I was sobbing with them. I wanted to comfort them and tell them everything was okay, but how can I do that after everything they saw.

After a few minutes, the thought of him coming back entered my mind. "Girls, go grab some clothes and toys from your room to bring with you." They both looked at me, "I don't want to go upstairs without you," Jaz said, in between sobs. Normally, I would tell them to suck it up and do it anyway, but this time was understandable. "Okay, let's go."

We go up in their room and grab the first things we see. "Where are we going?" Jolie asked. "I'm not sure yet," I said. Honestly, I didn't care where we went, it just couldn't be here. "Girls, keep packing, I'm going to make a call." Stopping, they both looked at me. "I'll be right here," I say reassuring them. 

My hands were shaking. My wrist was still in agonizing pain and was starting to go numb. I look through contacts and the first person I saw was Perrie. I tapped it and let it ring. It was pretty late so I wouldn't be surprised if she didn't answer. I was shocked when she picked up on the third ring.

"Jade?" Perrie said groggily.

"I'm sorry, i-it's so late. If you're sleeping I-I'll call someone else," I say, feeling guilty.

"Are you alright?" she asks with a nervous tone, obviously hearing my sobbing through the phone. "What's wrong?"

"J-Jed cheated and h-hit me. He left b-but I'm afraid of him c-coming back," I say in between sobs.

"Shh, everything's going to be alright, okay? Just drive over to my house and you all can stay as long as you need," she says trying to soothe me.

"Thank you," I say in almost a whisper.

"Stay on the phone with me okay?" she pleads.

I continue to help finish the twins pack and then grab a few of my things. I figured Perrie would let me borrow some of her stuff and I just wanted to get out of there.

We pile into the car and I drive over to Perrie's house, afraid of what's to come.

a/n: There's the fifth chapter! Were you expecting that? I love Jaded but I needed some drama. Have a lovely day! -Honey