My Escort

26 - 4 Years Ago

Song: Sade - By Your Side
~you think I'd leave you now when you're on your knees? I wouldn't do that.~

***

Straining to open my eyes, all I can see is blur.. before it gradually begins to turn clear. I groan in aches attempting to move.

"Don't trouble yourself."

I look to my right to the sight of Austin seated beside me.

"Where am I?" I ask, noticing how groggy I sound.

"The hospital." He replies.

"Oh." I say disappointingly remembering the tragic incident I got myself into. I search my body for injuries as embarrassment reddens my cheeks.

"Don't worry. The doctor says you're fine." He assures me. He seems unsettled for some reason, but who wouldn't after I just near killed myself.

"I drank and drive." The embarrassment is clear in my tone and of course I can feel my cheeks warm up some more.

"You also ran a red light and hit a car." Austin add even more to my embarrassment.

"Did I hurt someone? My God, will I go to jail? That's like three different charges." I panic.

"Here you go again insulting me by worrying about things that I can have taken care of with one simple phone call. The driver was the only person in the car you hit, he wasn't hurt severely and don't worry about legal actions, I took care of everything. Medical treatments, potential legal actions, everything was taken care of. You just need to relax now and focus on eating right to get stronger quickly." He states and I sigh in relief.

"What would I do without you?" I take his hand in mine and he looks towards the door.

A beautiful doctor walks in at the same time. "Miss Scott, how are you feeling?" Her voice is soothing and her warm smile only adds more points to her kindness. I didn't miss how her blonde hair is full of luster, the sweep at the front seems to accentuates her curls as much as they do her incredible facial features. As for Austin, he doesn't seem to be paying much attention to her or notice what I have so far.

"Slight headache. Kinda drowsy. Also I'm kinda feeling a little pain in parts of my body, nothing I can't handle though."

"You suffered a minor concussion from the hit, but we ran some tests on the brain and there's no physical damage. The drowsiness is from the medicine we put in the drip for the pain, but now that you're awake, we can give you pills for that instead so you'd be free to go home. I'm waiting on your painkillers, so it'll only take another half hour or so and you'll be free to go." She states.

"Thank you so much Dr..."

"It's Dr. Hilson. Call me Ariel though."

"Ariel.." I trail off, and as I register her name in my brain, there's this weird knot in my stomach as if I've heard her name before in a more uncomfortable situation. Could she be.. no she's not. there's a lot more Ariels out there. Who are less pretty and less attractive. The ones who don't have my Austin looking like he wants to sink in the earth and never comes back up.

She's not thee Ariel.

"Thank you doc." Austin adds and she nods at him before exiting the room.

Silence roams the room for about a minute, mentally forcing me to give in.. "4 years ago when I was 20 years old, I got into an abusive relationship with an older man named Mark, he served in the military." I start shakily and Austin's brows pushes together in listening, not missing this once in a lifetime opportunity of hearing me open up.

"His mother didn't like me at all and every time he went away for work, he came back with accusations of me cheating and having random men at the house. He said people called him at work and told him. I knew it was his mother, because she came by one day and my cousin Michael was there with me. I could see it in her eyes that she thought Michael was my lover. Mark would always start arguments with me when he got home and always resulting in him beating me up severely." I don't even feel the need to cry anymore. The pain is obviously still in existence but it's just numb at this point.

"Early in the relationship, we were very much in love.. or so I thought. He started cheating with random women and I became so insecure and jealous because I was so in love with him. Every time I spoke on it, he would beat me up and later apologize, saying he only got that angry because he loves me so much. I got pregnant after a few months and this was my only source of happiness in my then miserable life. It was a boy, I named him Aiden." Austin immediately takes my hand in his, brushing his thumb against the flesh.

"He cheated again when I was seven months pregnant and I found out it was with my own cousin. It tore me apart. After a while, he even got married to her. Anyway, when I confronted him about the cheating with my cousin, he got so mad and slapped me in the face, causing me to suffer a nasty fall to the floor. I lost my baby. I lost my precious Aiden, and I will never see his face. That was the last damn straw; I grew some balls and finally found the courage to speak about my situation. I went to the military that he was based and told them the whole story and showed them my bruises. He was later kicked out the army and my cousin divorced him and took him for almost everything he had, then ran off with another man."

Austin slowly lowers his head, resting it on his hand that is in mine. A tear runs down my face after feeling the surface of my hand getting damped. His tears. He sits upright again, dabbing away his slightly wet cheeks and I give him an assuring smile, letting him know that it's okay now. I still can't believe I finally gathered my emotions and put them in words to tell him.

"On our first real date at a restaurant, I remember you telling me about physical abuse and being left for your own cousin. And I quote.."

"Me? Nothing extra.. Other than being cheated on, lied to and manipulated, physical, mental and verbal abuse, embarrassed, pushed away for someone else, receiving sex tapes of my man and other hoes, the love of my life getting married to my cousin.. etc, they're pretty fucking awesome!"

"Also I remember you saying you know how it feels to be insecure and obsessed. That time when I hired Eva. And upon losing your child, all of this was the mental weight you've been carrying.." He says in realization, searching my eyes for the answer he's already found.

"I spent months in therapy, I've learnt to live with it." I say.

"And on the bright side, you can always have another baby. Maybe it wasn't the right time in God's eyes." He squeezes my palm in his, a hopeful gesture of his.

A loud sob escapes my lips as I hold under my eyes with both hands. "It'll never be the right time." My words come out as a whimper as my voice breaks. "The fall and the miscarriage impacted my body very severely, because of that, the doctor said I can't get pregnant.. ever again." My sobs get more frequent as the tears gush down my cheeks uncontrollably. 

"And I believe you've met mark. In our own home. He's is Eva's boyfriend."

***

Don't be discouraged guys, I know this was a hard chapter to read but don't worry. Trust me, I got y'all.
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