Seeking Relief

Accepting Comfort

While Jade and Emmett had their staring match, Mitch decided to ask a few more questions from this more forthcoming Jade. He didn’t want to ruin the mood at first, but Jade’s suspicion of them was keeping it from staying light. So, he decided, the hell with it.

“Jade,” Mitch started, “Do you know exactly how you got your injuries?”

Jade shrugged, “From Lance.”

“Do you know what happened exactly with each injury?” Jake and Emmett didn’t miss that Mitch had his phone on his lap with the recording app going.

“He dropped a meat tenderizer on my foot one night when I didn’t have supper ready in time. Uhm he kept shutting doors in my hands. But I think why this left one is so bad, because he stomped on it one night I refused to put the collar on.”

“Collar?” Mitch asked.

“Yea. He had a collar that would shock me when I was ‘misbehaving’.” The men glanced at each other in horrified expressions.

“What about the other injuries?” Adam prodded.

“My ribs used to hurt really bad after he’d kick me, but they’ve gotten better. However, this one here,” She points with her right hand to a rib up high on her right side, “is still tender now and then. He hit me with a baseball bat when I came home too late another night.” Jade paused as she lost her train of thought.

“Do you know why your head always hurts? Did he hit you on your head?” Adam asked, keeping her on track and worried about any possible skull fractures.

“No. He only hit me in the jaw or slapped me. It hurts because of the migraines. I’ve always had migraines. Had them as long as I can remember.”

Jade then continued as if on a ramble, “My v****a didn’t used to always hurt. That started when he stopped being sweet with me and forced me to have s*x while I was still dry. I think he liked making me bleed from s*x when he was especially mad with me.” Jade said all this while looking at her lap. The men’s horrified expressions haven’t left their faces. Emmett’s was laced with tinge of rage. The grimace across Adam’s, Jake knew was guilt. Adam was still carrying the guilt that he felt that it was his fault she didn’t get help sooner. They were still trying to gather their own composure when she looked back up at the men. Her eyes were wet with unshed tears.

“This is why I can’t understand why you all want to help me. I’m broken. I’m a mess. And I’m undesirable. I’m still working through some issues thankfully to the therapist at the Crisis Center. I know I have an unhealthy view on s*x and relationships because of Lance. I am in no state to accept any kind of help or attention from you.”

She looked back down at her lap. When a tear fell from her face to the blanket, Jake broke. He quickly got up from his seat and sat next to her with his arm around her shoulders. She leaned into him and more tears flowed. Adam quickly got up from his seat and sat next to Jade on her other side, winding his arm around her waist. Emmett sat by Jake at her legs, then Mitch sat opposite Emmett. They laid their hands on her legs offering their comfort, too.

Jade fell apart in the arms of those men. The entire time she talked she was scolding herself to get it together, that she was being weak and revealing too much. When she started crying, her anger at herself continued. But as she let the sobs wrack her body, everything came to the surface. How long she’s been in pain. How frustrated she was that she couldn’t get her pain issues resolved. All those nights she felt alone. How alone she felt even when she was around people. The stress of living paycheck to paycheck and the constant fear of trying to make bills. The uncertainty she is now having regarding her mental health.

And how scared she was. How scared she was when she heard Lance come home, when he came to the bed. The terror she had when she found him in her bedroom in her apartment in the middle of the night after she left him. And now how scared she is every time she opens the door to her apartment.

And how scared she is to accept comfort, since Lance has conditioned her to feel that it comes at a price.

But she took comfort anyways, because in the arms of 4 strangers, she felt the safest and most comforted she’s ever felt her whole life.

So, in those arms, she bawled.

She let go of all her anxiety, pain, and fear that was plaguing her.

Then she accepted their comfort they offered.