Getting to Know You

Chapter 21

Chapter 21:

"Natalie, please don't-" My mom said, but I didn't want to hear anything she had to say. I hung up the phone and threw it into Kat's lap, nervously running my hand through my hair to get it out of my face. I fanned my face, feeling hot, like I suddenly couldn't breathe.

"Natalie, are you okay?" Ashton asked, reaching for my hand which I had balled up into a tight fist. I nodded my head, taking a deep breath.

"How long have you been taking to her?" I whispered, staring at the ground so I wouldn't get dizzy- I felt like I was going to pass out. Two years. I just heard my mother's voice for the first time in two years. I always thought that I needed her to come back, but after hearing her voice... it made me sick. She made me sick. What kind of a person leaves their daughter behind with a man like Marcus?
Kat didn't answer me, so I finally looked up, glaring at her.

"How long?" I yelled, clenching my fist even tighter. Somehow Ashton was able to wiggle his fingers in between mine, keeping a tight grip and holding me together as we waited for Kat to respond.

"She called me a month after she left, telling me why she had left and asking me to watch out for you. That's when I decided to give you a job here at the store, so I could watch you more easily." She said, her face expressionless as she told me that she had been communicating with my mother for two years without my knowledge.

"You've been talking with her this whole time." I said, shaking my head. Why did Kat think it was okay for my mom to do this to me?

"Natalie-" she started, ready to explain herself. But she couldn't. You don't keep that from someone, and you don't let a mother leave her daughter behind.

"No!" I cut her off. "I needed her, and you knew. You knew where she was!" I said, taking a step back. "You let her leave me."

"She wants to come get you. She wants to take you away from Marcus." She said, looking down on her lap as the phone started to ring.

"What do you know about Marcus?" I asked, my eyes welling up with tears. Had she known? Had she known all along and never done anything to help me?

"I know what he did to your mother." She said, answering the phone.

"You mean what he did to me?" I asked, glaring at her.

"W-What?" She stuttered, her eyes raking up and down my body as if she was searching for some kind of evidence that Marcus had ever laid a hand on me.

"You look fine..." She said, looking me over again. "You've always looked fine."

"You are so stupid." I laughed darkly from disbelief, a few tears slipping down my cheeks. "And so is Dianne, if she thought that Marcus wasn't going to turn to me when she left." I rolled up my sleeves and revealed the scratches and bruises on my wrist from when Marcus stomped on it with his work boots the other day and she gasped, reaching out for me.

"Don't touch me, Kat." I said, taking a step back.

"Let's go, Ash." I said, taking his hand. Kat rolled her eyes and for once didn't answer her damn phone, tossing it onto the desk.

"What?" I asked harshly, sick of her attitude toward Ashton and I.

ASHTON'S POV:

"Don't go with him." She said, glaring at me.

"Excuse me?" Natalie asked, stepping further away from Kat.

"He's just a kid, Natalie. He can't help you. Just look at your arm, he can't protect you!" Kat raised her voice, pointing to Natalie's bruises. "Your mom is almost here, just stay. Go with her. She wants to take you away, honey."