Between Beasts

Chapter 6. A Moments Relief

As the sun tried to rise on Sunday morning, occasionally peeking through clouds which had seemed to form just as it had started to rise, Kevin gathered Mark and their bags, then left without even saying goodbye to Jodie. She didn’t feel sad, she was just so relieved.

Jodie was exhausted, physically and mentally. She had stayed awake the entire night, thinking and watching the door. She wanted to curl back up into bed and finally get some sleep, but she also wanted to get out of the flat for a bit so decided to message Mary and have a shower.

By the time Jodie came out of the shower she felt much better. Her left breast had sore bruises on it from when Mark had squeezed it, but she felt, cleaner, like she had been able to wash away at least some of what had happened.

Jodie wrapped herself in a large towel and headed back to her bedroom to sort her hair and get dressed but as she was about to sit down at her dresser table she paused and looked across the room, out of the window beside the bed and across at the balcony. It was so much darker than all the others around it.

As Jodie stared into the darkness of that balcony she would have sworn that it was somehow staring back at her, but it didn’t unsettle her, it calmed her. She couldn’t say why but Jodie let the towel slip to the floor and just stood there, her wet, naked body clearly presented to the world beyond her window as she continued to stare into those dark shadows.

A pleasant, chill tingle ran through her body.

Jodie’s phone buzzed on the dresser table behind her, she turned out of instinct to see what had made the noise but instantly turned back. The shadows were gone, and the balcony now just looked like all the others around it.

A few moments later, the sun began to stream into her flat, warming her bare skin. It felt incredible.

Jodie met Mary at the Wulf cafe for breakfast. She had tried suggesting they go somewhere new as she wasn’t sure how she felt about seeing Teo again, especially given that she was sure Mary liked him. As usual however, Mary had insisted they meet there for food. Besides, nothing had actually happened between her and Teo, and she was probably wrong about him thinking about her like that anyway.

The moment they met Mary started quizzing her about what had happened after they’d left the night before, while also assaulting a large, cooked breakfast platter.

“So… how did it go? Had that rat told him anything? Honestly, don’t ask me how but one word and I can make him vanish!” Mary said the last part very seriously, just as she tore a sausage she was holding in half with her teeth.

Mary froze for a moment again, ducked her head and looked across at Teo, who was stood across the cafe looking at her with his arms crossed and one eyebrow raised, like a father who had told his child off for the same thing one too many times. There was no way he could hear their conversation from way over there though. Jodie shook off the thought.

“It, well, I don’t think so, but…” Jodie went on to tell Mary everything that had happened and been said, including the odd shadow on the balcony and the feeling it had given her…everything except from what had happened in the kitchen with Mark. She had been trying to pretend that hadn’t happened and she didn’t know how to tell Mary. It was too much to lay on her friend.

“What an asshole!” Jodie found her usual reflexive urge to defend Kevin, to excuse him and everything he did or said to hurt her just didn’t appear.

“Yeah, he is kind of an asshole.” Jodie was stunned at herself. Kevin was her boyfriend, but at the same time it felt good to say.

“No, not kind of, he is an asshole! A massive, selfish asshole!” It felt far better than Jodie could have believed possible to simply say those words, and what was even better was Mary’s face. Mary had never heard Jodie say a bad word about Kevin, no matter what he’d done or said to deserve it and was now coughing up some scrambled eggs she’d accidentally inhaled in her disbelief.

From that point the conversation took on a much lighter tone, primarily focused on laying into Kevin, Jodie trying out an area of conversation she had very little practice in and Mary loving every second of it, encouraging Jodie to get it out and the two of them bursting into laughter as Jodie’s lack of expertise showed.

After Mary and Jodie had exhausted every way they could think of to insult Kevin, Mary started begging Jodie to join her in going out next weekend.

“Come on, it’ll be something fun to look forward to! They’re away ‘for some fun’ for a couple weeks, why shouldn’t you have some fun yourself? And it’s the perfect excuse to go shopping! Actual shopping, not just trying things on! Go on, let yourself have some fun, honestly, you deserve it!”

“I’d love to, but you know I can’t afford it.” Jodie said, sadly.

“Why not?”

“… what do you mean, why not? We’re saving up for a…”

“deposit for your own flat. Which Kevin is spending on a lads holiday he is currently flying off to with Mark.” Mary interjected.

Jodie wasn’t sure what to say. It was true. They’d both been working overtime and saving for months but now Kevin had bought both himself and Mark several bags of new clothes, luggage, flights and she assumed a hotel… somewhere… Kevin hadn’t even said where they were flying to…

“But I can’t spend it. That’s all the money we have at the moment. If I spend all our savings…”

“Not all.” Mary interrupted again. “Just what’s left of your half. The half that you saved and that you put in.”

“I suppose that’s fair… but what if that means Kevin doesn’t have any money left for the two weeks he’s away?”

Mary just stared at Jodie for a moment.

“f**k Kevin.” She finally said. “Let’s go make a withdrawal and go buy you a smoking hot new dress.”

Jodie took a moment to try and process the thought of not basing her decisions around Kevin and still very unsure of the concept said “Alright!” Mary burst into a massive smile, grabbed Jodie by the arm and dragged her out of the cafe.

Jodie had never seen someone so enthusiastic to go to a bank, as Mary dragged her up to the cashier. Just over fifteen-hundred pounds left in their savings. There had been almost four and a half thousand. Jodie was still hesitant to withdraw everything that was left, but Mary left her little choice.

Now carrying more money than she had ever before held, Jodie, clutching her bag, was dragged out of the bank and round one of the many dress shops in the centre, having a range of dresses and lingerie piled over her arms and shoulders by Mary until she started to look like a walking clothes rack.

Once Mary was satisfied they had everything possibly worth trying on, Jodie was spun round and led to the changing rooms, where Mary began stripping Jodie down to use as her ‘best friend manikin’. Jodie was also used to this; Mary kept saying she envied Jodie’s figure and seemed to love dressing her up.

“What’s that? Did Kevin do that?” Mary asked, pausing after having whipped Jodie’s jumper off, looking at her chest. Jodie looked down at the large, thumb shaped bruise visible above her bra on her left breast. She had been so busy being whirled around the shop and worrying about carrying all that money that she had forgotten about the bruises.

“Jodie, what happened?!” Mary bristled, but instantly softened as she saw tears appearing in her best friend’s eyes. “Please, what haven’t you told me?”

“It… It wasn’t Kevin… Mark…” Mary’s eyes flared at the name and she seemed to be fighting to contain herself, forcing herself to be still as she listened to Jodie tell her what she had previously left out about the previous night. That Mark had assaulted her, threatened her and his promise to do worse when ‘they had time’.

Mary paced inside the small changing room for a few minutes, visibly arguing with herself.

“We have to speak to Teo.” She finally said.

“What? Mary, No!”

“Please, trust me Jodie! There’s got to be something we can do.” Mary said, almost as a question to herself. “We have to wait until closing though.”

Jodie knew there was normally little point in arguing with Mary, and Mary seemed very serious about this. Jodie had been ashamed having to tell her friend about what had happened and didn’t want Teo to know, but at the same time part of her just wanted him to wrap her in another fur, and those big arms, and tell her he would make everything better.

Mary declared it her mission to cheer Jodie back up, grabbing some ice cream and then resuming their hunt for the perfect outfits for next weekend. Mary tried to hide it, but Jodie could see she was troubled, and kept muttering about rules and it not being her place.

As it approached eight PM, Mary started leading Jodie back to the cafe. She sat Jodie down at one of the booths and disappeared through into the kitchen, not waiting for Teo to gesture her through as she normally would. There were a few minutes of quiet, followed by raised voices, and what sounded like a loud growl, accompanied by a crashing sound.

Jodie couldn’t imagine Teo would hurt Mary, but the sound had frightened her, and just as she had built the courage to go through to see what had happened, Mary appeared in the kitchen door, looking shaken.