Unusual Mate

Bricks

(Trigger warning. This chapter contains Domestic Violence and abuse.)

Athena's POV

I had been here before. The living room small but cozy. There is a fire lit in the fireplace. Everything is painted white. The walls, fireplace, ceiling, and even the carpet is white.

I hate it. I hung brown and green curtains to change things up. Everything is mostly monochromatic though. Black and white in every room. His choice.

How depressing could an apartment get? Blackout curtains and no sunlight ever. My plants could only survive on the porch.

I stand next to the empty crib that would be my son's. Eight months pregnant. I felt so alone. My family miles away and I cannot speak to them or see them. At least not without receiving permission.

I spent the better part of the day cleaning the apartment, organizing the baby clothes for the tenth time, and finishing up the day with a prepared dinner.

Tonight, however, it is after ten and I am still home alone. Dinner became cold hours ago and I still had not heard anything from him.

Just as I began to worry, he walked through the door. Already grumpy and covered in black diesel grease.

"Hey babe." I smiled at him the best I could. He just ignores me and heads to the bathroom to shower.

All of my heart drops like a ton of bricks into my stomach. Replacing my little kicks with a fleeting feeling. Dread.

I want to runaway and hide. I know what is coming. I know there is nothing I can do to stop it. I wish the water he showered in would burn him and I would be free from this torment.

It doesn't work and he walks out of the bathroom free of grease. Yet, still a sour look lines his features. The bricks drop deeper into the pit of my stomach.

"How was your day, Wayne?" I ask. I am only trying to easy his anger. Trying desperately to make him happy. A fight I have battled and lost more times than not.

Wayne walks into the kitchen and then stops and stares straight into me. I feel naked and exposed.

"Worthless," he scoffs under his breath.

"Excuse me?" I ask. Anger now replacing the heaviness in me.

"You f*****g heard me w***e. But I will say it again. Maybe this time you can understand me. You're worthless," he says raising his voice.

"What did I do this time," I ask. Heat filling up my face.

"No. Not what you did. How about what you didn't do," he says taking a few steps toward me.

I take a step back confused.

"I go and slave my ass off everyday for you to do what? Put makeup on and prance around?" he points at me.

I had placed makeup and a comfortable dress on an hour before he came home. A hope to make him happy and want to be close. It was clearly the wrong choice.

"Who did you have in my house today?" demanding an answer from me.

A confused look crossed over my face. "No one. I did this for you."

"Bullshit. If you wanted to do something for me then you could clean this house," he paused and turned away. "Or better, you could have made me dinner. You are so f*****g ungrateful. I work hard and you just sit on your fat ass all day. You don't appreciate anything I do for you!"

"But I do Wayne. I cleaned all day. I organized Aleksandr's clothes. I made dinner but you came home late and it got cold," I plead my case upon deaf ears.

He turned back to me and I rest my hand on his arm. Begging him to look at me. Praying he will see in my eyes how much I do appreciate him. The love I have, or wish we still had.

He slings his arm making me stumble and fall. The baby weight throwing off my balance.

Looking down at me he commands, "Get up. You did that yourself. Stupid Bitch."

"No. You did that to me. Why would I throw myself to the ground?" I say standing to my feet. I am holding back tears.

He always says tears are a sign of weakness. This is why I never cry, not infront of him or anyone.

He raises his hand but does not strike. I flinch and he retracts his arm. Walking away leaving me alone standing there.

After a few moments I hear him snoring in the bedroom. Pain in my left ankle spells me to sit back down on the floor. Tears flooded my face in the lonely kitchen.

I reach down to see my ankle swollen from the fall. I figure I must have twisted it.

I sat there for an hour before the pain and swelling subsided. I had always healed fast but being pregnant made me seem to heal almost instantly. I couldn't complain.

I went into the living room grabbing a blanket and fell asleep holding my stomach and feeling little flutters. Aleksandr comforting mommy. I smiled.

I am awaken by his loud muttering. I keep my eyes closed so he doesn't know I am away. Too late.

"Wake up," he shouts.

I open my eyes and sit up. I know his yelling is only the start of the bad day.

"Where are my f*****g keys? Find them. I have to go to work since your lazy ass won't work," demanding me.

I join him in the search. I don't recall where he sat them down.

"Why the f**k were you sleeping on the couch? There is a perfectly good bed to sleep in." He continues to yell.

"You were across the bed. I didn't want to wake you," I lie.

Truthfully I was afraid of him. That alone made me want to be far away from him. He had thrown me to the ground multiple times since I got news I was pregnant. That was also when the screaming began.

We had only been together three months when I found out I was five weeks pregnant. He was happy about the news initially. A week later, that excitement was replaced with burst of rage.

I did not leave though. I was naive and he was the father of my child. The only man I had ever been with. I had to make it work.

"Found them," I shouted grabbing the keys off the bathroom sink. As I turned to hand them to Wayne, he snatched them.

"Finally. Goodbye. Maybe you can f*****g clean the house today before I get home," he shouted as he walked out the door.

Relief washing over me in the quietness.

.....

I woke up from the awful dream in a sweat. Panic over took me as I tried to decipher my unfamiliar surrounds.

The pack house.

Safety once again filled me. I looked over to see Aleksandr sound asleep.

The dream, or rather horrible memory, distant as I watched him sleep. My reason for being and staying strong far away in dreamland.

"Hopefully your dreams are far better than mine," I whisper to him and kiss his cheek.

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