Six
1532 Words
TRIGGER WARNING: DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
Emma:
The firehouse felt too quiet once Kaden left on the call.
A chimney fire two blocks away. “Small,” he’d said. “Thirty minutes, max.”
But there was something in my chest that wouldn’t settle.
A cold, creeping certainty that safety was a temporary thing—and I’d already used my share of it.
Avery slept in the cot beside my bed, tiny breaths soft and even. I sat awake on the thin mattress, knees pulled to my chest as snow pressed thick against the windows, muting the outside world into a heavy white silence.
The silence that comes before something breaks.
A radio crackled in the hallway. Then the engine roared outside and the siren wailed to life.
I watched the red glow fade.
And then I felt it.
A shift in the air.
A pressure.
A prickle down my spine I’d spent years learning not to ignore.
I rose slowly, moving toward the narrow window.
At first, I saw nothing but the swirling snow.
Then—
A figure stepped out of the darkness.
Tall.
Still.
Waiting.
My breath froze.
No.
But the shape moved closer, confirming every nightmare I’d ever had.
He was back.
I grabbed my phone.
No service.
The landline was in the common room—too far, too exposed. I turned toward Avery, my heart hammering against my ribs.
“Avery,” I whispered, crouching beside her. “Sweetheart, wake up.”
Her eyes blinked open, heavy with sleep. “Emma?”
“We’re going on a little adventure, okay?” I lifted her gently. “I need you to be so brave for me.”
A pounding crash shook the firehouse.
Avery’s small body jerked in my arms, fingers digging into my shirt.
The second bang was harder—metal shrieking against the frame.
He was breaking in.
I had no time. No escape. No choices left.
I set Avery down behind the coat racks, crouching to meet her eyes.
“Listen to me,” I whispered, voice trembling. “You’re going to run into Kaden’s office. Remember the little room with the cot? You’re going to go in, lock the door, and stay quiet.”
Her eyes filled with tears. “Emma—”
“Go,” I whispered fiercely, cupping her cheeks. “Run now.”
A third crash—
The door burst open in an explosion of snow and metal.
Avery bolted.
And I—
I stood.
My ex stepped inside, boots crunching over the mess he’d made. Snow clung to his coat. His eyes were cold. Too calm.
“There you are,” he murmured. “Always making things harder than they need to be.”
“Get out,” I said, forcing the quiver from my voice. “Right now.”
He smirked. “Where’s the kid?”
Ice rushed through my veins.
He moved toward the hallway.
I threw myself in front of him.
He didn’t pause.
He grabbed my arm, twisting hard enough to wrench a cry from my throat, and flung me sideways into the coat rack. Metal clattered around me as pain shot up my shoulder.
I scrambled up in time for his backhand to whip across my face.
The sound cracked through the room.
Then came the pain—white-hot, exploding through my skull as blood gushed from my nose.
He grabbed my hair, jerking my head back.
“You always do this,” he snarled. “Always fighting me. Always running.”
I clawed at him, nails dragging across his cheek. He shoved me into the lockers. My skull slammed into the metal, ringing.
“Stop—” I gasped.
But he didn’t.
He lunged again, fingers reaching, trying to push past me toward the hallway.
Avery.
“No!” I screamed, hurling myself at him. “YOU DON’T TOUCH HER!”
He slammed me down onto the tile, knocking every ounce of air from my lungs. A stabbing shock of pain shot through my ribs.
His knee pinned my thigh. His hand closed around my jaw, squeezing until tears leaked from my eyes.
“Look at me,” he hissed. “Look at what you make me do.”
I tried to twist away, but his grip tightened, thumbs digging near my swelling eye until pain burst sharp and blinding.
Then he hit me again.
A brutal, closed-fist punch straight to my mouth.
My lip split instantly. Blood smeared over his knuckles.
The taste of metal filled my mouth. My vision blurred. The world tilted.
He reared back for another strike.
My body screamed. My mind blurred.
But my heart—
My heart thought only of the little girl hiding in the next room.
A growl ripped from my throat as I slammed my knee into his ribs. He grunted, loosening his weight. I twisted, grabbed the fire extinguisher from the wall, and swung.
It cracked against his shoulder.
He screamed.
I dropped it.
He retaliated immediately, grabbing my waist and slamming me so hard into the floor I saw stars. Pain detonated in my side—so sharp I thought something might’ve snapped.
He straddled me, spit flying. “STOP FIGHTING—”
A roar cut through the firehouse.
“GET. AWAY. FROM. HER.”
The bay doors were still rolling up when Kaden stormed inside, fire gear half-off, eyes burning with a fury I’d never seen in any man.
He hit my ex so hard the lockers shook.
One moment my ex was on top of me.
The next he was slammed against the wall, gasping.
“You touched her,” Kaden snarled, slamming him again, “after I told you she was under my protection.”
My ex swung weakly.
Kaden caught his arm, twisted until he cried out, and pinned him effortlessly.
Officers burst inside seconds later, dragging my ex away, cuffing him as he thrashed and shouted.
I didn’t hear him.
Because Kaden turned to me.
And the look on his face—
It shattered me.
He dropped to his knees beside me, gloves flying off, hands hovering like he was terrified to hurt me again.
“Emma,” he breathed, voice breaking, “look at me. Hey. Sweetheart, look at me.”
I tried. My vision doubled, blurred, steadied.
The moment his eyes met mine, relief and fury tangled in his expression.
“Your nose—Jesus—your lip—your eye—” His thumb trembled as he brushed blood from my cheek. “He did this?”
I nodded.
Rage flickered through him like a live flame.
“Come here.” His voice was gentle but firm, a command made soft. He slid an arm behind my back, helping me sit up inch by inch. “Easy. I’ve got you.”
When I swayed, he steadied me instantly.
“Tell me where it hurts,” he murmured.
“Everywhere,” I whispered.
His jaw tightened. “Okay. Okay. We’ll fix it.”
He lifted me carefully, guiding me to the couch. He grabbed the first aid kit, tore it open, and knelt before me—huge, focused, shaking under the effort to stay calm.
“I’m going to check your nose,” he said softly. “It might be fractured.”
I nodded weakly.
He tilted my face with tender, careful fingers.
The moment he pressed lightly along the bridge, pain exploded behind my eyes.
I gasped, grabbing his wrist.
Kaden froze. “Okay. No pressure. Sorry. I’m sorry.”
“You—didn’t—hurt me,” I whispered.
His throat bobbed. “He shouldn’t have touched you at all.”
He steadied me with one hand on my jaw, the other pressing gauze beneath my nose.
“You’re shaking,” he murmured.
“So are you.”
His eyes closed for a moment, as if the truth physically hurt him.
He touched my lip next—his thumb brushing the split with devastating gentleness.
“I’m going to clean this. It’ll sting.”
“It already does.”
A choked breath left him—half laugh, half disbelief at my stubbornness. He dabbed antiseptic on a cloth.
“Tell me if it’s too much.”
The sting hit like fire. I flinched. He dropped the cloth instantly.
“Sorry. I’ll go slower. I swear I’ll be careful.”
“You are.”
He swallowed hard. “He could’ve killed you.”
“But he didn’t.”
His eyes lifted to mine—dark, raw, full of everything he’d never said.
“You fought him,” he whispered. “You protected that little girl like she was—” He exhaled shakily.
Then he leaned forward, pressing his forehead to mine.
“You’re safe now,” he murmured, voice breaking. “I’m here. I’ve got you. And he will never lay a hand on you again.”
A tear slipped down my cheek. He caught it with his thumb.
Then he brushed the softest, gentlest kiss to my temple—right where I wasn’t bruised.
And despite the pain
and the blood
and the trembling fear—
For the first time in years…
I truly felt safe.
- Writer
