a place we know| ✓

fifty six

"And find a place where every single thing you see tells you to stay."
S E E K E R
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February 7th
9:30 PM
New York
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Audrey paced around her room anticipating Tucker's return.

Just as she swore to Gunner that she'd end their relationship, it was exactly what she planned on doing tonight. All she lacked were sensible words that would restrain his temper. She experienced the depth of his anger before and it wasn't something she was eager to undergo again.

Where his hand struck her cheek burned, the violet bruise defiling her face. If her mother were to see her only daughter suffer this way, what would she think? Would she be the first to condemn her for her past mistakes or welcome her with open arms?

Audrey was too optimistic for her own well-being.

Her mother was an impenitent woman. Crawling out of the crevices in her mind, she could picture her beguiling features. She surely was beautiful, but her heart wasn't so. Although they were bonded by blood, mother and daughter, that was where it ended. Audrey would always be an estranged daughter; years from now, if she still existed in her mother's mind, her shortcomings would be all she'd have to carry, to remember.

The baby girl she gave birth to on a warm, May evening now an umbra amongst every memory they ever shared. Her love was a box she locked Audrey in, and it had remained untouched for far too long. It was decaying. It was old.

Audrey had learned to move forward from the woman whose only role in this life was to be the person she could lean on.

Gunner offered his shoulder instead. Leah was there to hold her up. Audrey was surviving.

But merely surviving could only take her so far. It had pushed her right into Tucker, her final destination.

Audrey swallowed the lump in her throat as his figure crowded the room. The edges of kindness that charmed her turned sharp and jagged. His eyes, once the color of cinnamon, were absent of light. The smile he wore didn't put her at ease because she knew who was lurking beneath the surface.

"I finally got the twins to settle down," he inhaled and his chest expanded. "They're so freakin' rowdy sometimes."

Audrey was repulsed that she had once been so gullible. "Yeah, kids can be a handful."

There was no immediate response from him. Tucker stood by the door and his eyes walked their way over her, looking over every detail. It left her susceptible to his unspoken attacks, to which she feared would hurt more than his physical strength. Breaking up with him was tougher than she bargained for.

"There something you wanna tell me, baby girl?" Tucker prowled like a predator would to its prey. "I'm listening."

Her brain signaled her legs to move, but she was stunned and frozen. Behind her was the bed and in front of her was Tucker. His consuming gaze put her in confines. "Come on, spit it out. What is it?"

He was cadaver-like, lacking liveliness and the love he confessed to having developed for her.

"It's about Leah and... Gunner." Her heartbeat kept her natural rhythm at a frantic pace. It was pumping too much blood to her face, yet not enough to her limbs. She alternated dangerously between panic and peace.