Skinny Love

Chapter 33

*TRIGGER WARNING*

"Brodie"

He steps towards me again and again and again until he is standing directly in front of me.

"P-pl-ease leave m-me alone." I try and say confidently but only manage a stutter.

"Now, why would I do that? You enjoyed me so much last time before we got interrupted by Cadie."

A horrifying grin breaks out across his face before he grabs my wrist and pulls me towards him. All of the breath is knocked out of me as I'm staring directly into his chest, attempting not to look up so he can't try anything. However, my attempts are quickly overlooked as he grabs my face and pulls me up towards him and kisses me.

All I can taste is a mixture of beer, cider and sweat. It repulses me, the opposite of what I feel when Cole is kissing me. I want to scream but he is holding me in place with an iron grip, a feeling I can remember too well.

He moves down from my mouth to my neck, with one of his hands gripping my waist, breaking my ribs, and the other holding my shoulder. Finally I have the opportunity to say something.

"Please s-stop." he persists "Help me, please!" I scream as loud as I possibly can with what little air I have left in my lungs.

I regret this as soon as the words leave my mouth as I am soon met with a stinging slap on my left cheek.

"Shut the fuck up. Nobody will be able to hear you over the music anyway."

I feel tears drenching my face as his hands continue to wander across my body. The feeling reminds me of the last time this happened at the party in his house. I just needed the toilet then to but accidentally went into his room. He found me in there when he went to get changed but I didn't think anything bad would happen, I mean, he was just my best friend's boyfriend. I was wrong though; he kept talking to me, acting nice, then he came onto me, forced me to do things I didn't want to do. Luckily, Cadie came in before it went too far and stopped it. I tried to explain what had happened but she didn't believe me. Instead, she took Brodie's side and ditched me. Leaving me a broken friendless mess.

I pray someone finds us again this time but as his hands and mouth become more persistent and demanding, I doubt that will happen. So, instead of putting up a fight, I give up, accepting the fact that nobody can save me this time.

However, just as I do, I hear footsteps passing by the door. Brodie is too distracted to hear anything and continues attacking my body.

Without thinking I scream "Help! Please, someone help me!"

Again, I receive a slap around the face for this but I don't care because a second later, the door is being broken off the hinges and lands on the floor.

"GET THE FUCK OFF OF HER!" Cole shouts as he rushes over to us, pulling Brodie off of me and pushing him to the ground, punching him over and over. I stand there, too shocked to do anything at first. That is until, the sight of Brodie's unconscious body snaps me back into reality.

"Cole, stop! You'll kill him!" I scream, trying to get him to stop.

"He deserves it!" he replies, continuing to punch him.

"M-maybe but he's not worth it." he doesn't stop "Please." I cry, afraid of what will happen if he doesn't stop.

Suddenly, Cole stops and turns to face me. His eyes scan my body, obviously assessing the damage Brodie has done. He stands up and walks over to hug me. I feel like I should be crying right now but I just feel numb, all the tears were emptied in the attack.

"Come on. Let's get you home." he says quietly, taking my hand.

Before we leave, Cole turns around to face Brodie once more, kicks his lifeless body in the ribs and mutters under his breath "Asshole."

*****

After a lot of convincing, Cole finally agreed to let me go home instead of back to his house. I don't want to have to deal with the constant questions about if I'm ok or what happened, I just can't right now.

Nobody is home tonight; Hannah is at a friend's house and both mum and dad are staying in London until Christmas. I'm alone... and for now I can't decide if that's a good or bad thing.

When I get home, I go straight to my room to get out of these clothes. I reach into my wardrobe and grab the first pair of leggings I can find and a hoodie Cole gave me a while ago. As I go to take my dress off, I catch sight of myself in the mirror. My dress is ripped at the shoulder, the side and at the bottom. My hair is a mess, no longer just slightly frizzy, now a complete mess. The mascara that sat neatly on my eyelashes is now smudged all the way down my cheeks and my eyes are red raw. My cheeks are a more severe red due to the slaps Brodie gave me and my cheekbone has a cut on it. I look like a mess.

Taking my dress off, I leave it on the floor as a reminder to dispose of it tomorrow and look back in the mirror. The sight scares me slightly. Bruises cover my body in the form of hand prints, drawing a map of everywhere he touched me, reminding me of a connect the dots.

Strangely though, tears don't spill from my eyes. Instead, I just stand there staring at myself, taking in every mark, every curve, every bone on my body, thinking of a way to fix this... to fix me.

An idea pops into my head after a few minutes, the root of all my problems; eating. Brodie never paid any interest in me until I started eating, my friendship with Tyler was fine until I started eating, I was managing to fly under the radar until I started eating. At that moment I know what I have to do... I have to stop eating, maybe then everything will be alright again.

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Sorry for the slightly shorter chapter.

Thank you all for the love and support on this book, I really appreciate it.

Hope you enjoyed
xx