Court of Ambrose

Getting Late

{Celeste’s POV}

[This Chapter contains themes of Domestic abuse, S/A, and PTSD, reader discretion is advised.]

I shook my head, and closed my eyes gripping Veryn’s shirt tightly as I buried my face into his chest. “Please.. just don’t talk about it anymore! Please, just find him, and arrest him again.. I’m going to have to take time off from the job that I just started today because of him. I don’t want to think about him any longer than I have to!” I cried out, too afraid to look out from my safe place in Veryn’s arms.

“Don’t worry Ms. Thompson, we’ll find him!” The officer assured me, quickly taking statements from all three of us, before turning and making his way out of the house. Once he left I shut and locked the doors, my heart still racing.

“Hey, so what happened?” Dayus asked, walking over to me and pulling me into his arms. “You need to tell us what happened? Seeing him made you physically ill, you had a panic attack, threw up, and couldn’t stop shaking.” He said, his voice soft, and relaxing to listen to.

I shook my head, looking up at him. “No.. I can’t..” I whispered, tears beginning to prick in my eyes once again. “I can’t talk about it.. I don’t even want to think of it!” I whimpered, backing away from him right into Veryn, who wrapped his arms gently around me.

“Did he hit you?” He asked, his words filled with worry.

Tears began to slide down my cheeks, my mind becoming flooded with the memories all over again. My body began to shake, and I felt as though I’d be sick again. I nodded my head before running back into the kitchen and throwing up in the trashcan. I didn’t know how there was even anything left on my stomach at this point. I cried out as acid burned my throat, and sat down on the floor, once I was done. I pulled my knees to my chest and hid my face in them. “What are you not telling us? How badly did he hurt you?”

“I was hospitalized.. I had broken bones, a punctured lung, he dislocated a disk in my spine, broke my right femur in three places. I couldn’t walk for months.. and my face was so swelled.. he broke my nose, and fractured one of my eye sockets. It took so long for me to get better.. I went through months of therapy, physical therapy, surgeries, hospital visits.. so many medications.” I cried, keeping my face hidden, I didn’t want them to know everything.. I couldn’t face them if they did.. this much should be enough, it has to be.

“I-I’m sorry..” Veryn said softly, walking over and sitting down beside me. “I didn’t know that he did all of that.. I shouldn’t have made fun of you, in any way, for any reason..” He wrapped his arm over my shoulder and pulled me under his arm.

Dayus walked closer, not saying anything until he knelt down in front of me. He tilted my head up, so that way I was facing him. “What else did he do?” He asked, a cold venom in his voice. It was a question that I didn’t want to answer, having them know the worse part, the part that made me ill to see Mason, or even speak his name. I have spent every single day trying to rid myself of the feeling of his hands on me.. the weight of his body against mine, and the smell of beer, that was hot on my face. I still can’t drink beer, or even be around it.. the scent is a trigger for me, but alcohol.. it’s become my safe place. The only time where I can feel normal is when I drink.. which scares me, but at least while I’m out of it.. it helps me forget.

I shook my head, becoming nauseous again, I stood up barely making it to the garbage can before throwing up again. “Please.. stop..” I whimpered, gripping ahold of the counter, trying hard to steady myself.

“What did he do to you? You told us how badly he beat you.. but you’re still holding something back. Which means that he did something worse to you..” Dayus said, walking up behind me and pulling my hair back, placing it up in a bun. “Tell us.. we’ll find him.. and we’ll make sure that he can never hurt you again!” His voice was deadly, a venom leaking from it that left the feeling of wrath lingering on his words.

Veryn walked over, and that’s when I noticed, Dayus looked like he would kill Mason, while Veryn looked as though he was going to cry. They were worried for me.. angry for me. They want to protect me.. but if I tell them what he did.. if they go after him. These two men would be in danger, and it would be because of me. I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if something happened to either of them. “No..” I shook my head again. “I won’t.. I can’t..” I turned and started making my way upstairs.

“No!” Veryn shouted stepping in front of me. “You’re not sleeping up there until Mason is caught!”

Dayus stepped up behind me, sighing as he place his hand on the small of my back. “He’s right.. you need to sleep downstairs in one of our rooms. We don’t sleep at night.. and well, to be honest, we don’t really have to sleep. You’d be safer if you spent your time with us downstairs.”

“B-But..” I began, but Veryn cut me off.

“No buts this time, I’m taking you upstairs to get the things you want to bring downstairs, then we’re staying down there for now. We’ll come out at night, and if we can order some blackout curtains for the house, then we’ll come up during the day too!” He said, pointing towards the staircase. “Let’s go get your stuff, it’s getting late, and you need to get some rest.”