My Ex-Boyfriend's Uncle

Chapter 2

Eilith’s POV-

My best friend, Kelly, had a little while before she started work at the restaurant, she was a manager at. She has dreams of starting her own restaurant chain and wanted to get experience working the lower levels in the restaurant beforehand. I jumped into my car, and headed to the restaurant she works at. I texted her to tell her I was on my way to her, before I left.

It only took me twenty minutes to get to her. She was waiting outside when I pulled the car into the car park. She rushed over and jumped into the passenger’s seat of my car. She looked at my concerned, and asked, “What is wrong? You have me worried.”

“I... I found... Dylan cheating on me,” I choked.

“I am not surprised. I have told you many times, he is not worthy of you. Think about your entire relationship. I have known you far longer than Dylan has known you. You were always so confident and free. You wore what you want, when you wanted. Red is your favourite colour, and you have stopped wearing anything red, because he didn’t like you wearing red. You told me it made him mad if you wore red. You stopped eating pasta, one of your favourite things to eat, because he said you would get fat. He told you to stop hanging around with my brother, who treats you like a sister. I bet he gets mad if he finds out you were with me and my brother. That is controlling behaviour, a major red flag. If you stay with him, he will just keep cheating on you, and this controlling behaviour will just get worse, until you are isolated from your friends and family, and that is when he will start physically abusing you. Eilith, please, you must leave him now,” she said.

I sat in the driver’s seat of my car, thinking about what she said, and as I thought, I couldn’t hold back the tears I felt any more. I wasted four years of my life with this man. I had met his entire family, and they all loved me, according to him. It did make me very happy, because honestly his grandparents were lovely, his father was kind, but his uncle was always so charming, and is a very good-looking man, even though I rarely saw him. I had specifically gone to speak with my grandparents today to get their blessing on telling this man my real name and introducing him to them properly. Thankfully, I did not get the chance to speak with them about it. Kelly wrapped her arms around me, as she whispered, “It is okay. You will make it through this and be stronger for it. You will find someone far better and more deserving of your love and kindness.”

“Was he really that bad? I can’t believe I let him do that to me, to do everything that he did to me,” I whimpered.

I was glad she didn’t ask what he did to me, because I wasn’t ready to talk about it. She rubbed my back, and said, “It is okay. One day soon we will sit down and have a long hard talk about everything that he did. Maybe it will be best if you go to therapy too. But I will not leave your side. I will stand by you through this whole ordeal, I promise.”

“How am I going to make it without you? You’re leaving to move to London in a few days,” I whispered, in between my sobs.

“Come with us. Josh and I have brought a three-bed house in London. Josh won’t mind you moving into the spare bedroom, until you get back on your feet. He will understand. He sees you as a little sister,” Kelly suggested.

Josh is Kelly’s older brother. He really did see me as his little sister, just like I see him as my brother. I looked at her, a little shocked about that idea. I whispered, “But, I have nothing packed, and he is at home.”

She nodded, pausing and thinking about what I could do to deal with this situation. I too, was thinking, because I didn’t want things to turn out like this. Dylan was very scary when he was mad. In those moments, I believed that he could hit me, even though he never got angry at me. She cleared her throat, and said, “I am only doing a four-hour shift, to cover the time the other manager can’t be in due to childcare. When she gets here, I will have Josh pick me up and come straight over to help you. Once you know he is out of your flat, go there and pack everything up that you can, as quickly as you can, and leave. Get it done before he gets home. If he does get home, before Josh and I get there, send me our code word. So, I know you are in danger, and need help I will call the police.”

We have had a code word, for a great many years. It was more to ensure our safety while we were out at night. We knew the other would need help if we received HOD by text. It stands for House of Dead, an arcade game that we both loved to play with Kelly’s brother. It was short simple and to the point. Plus, three letters that meant something to the both of us makes a great code word.

“But what if he tries to hurt you or Josh,” I said.

“Do you know why he hates Josh,” she responded.

I shook my head, and asked, “Why?”

“Do you remember that day when we were looking at dresses online, before we went shopping. According to Josh, when I said you would look drop dead gorgeous in that red dress you were looking at, Dylan looked at it, and muttered some vile things about you. Josh heard that, when they were alone, Josh laid into him. Dylan tried to get in Josh’s face, Josh didn’t flinch instead he just smirked. Dylan backed down,” she explained.

Josh was different from Dylan, physically. Josh is taller and has broader shoulders and is more muscular compared to Dylan. Josh is a gym rat. He loves working out and using weights. Dylan, on the other hand, rarely goes to the gym, but is well toned and skinny. Dylan wouldn’t stand against Josh in a fight, not only due to their difference physically, but because Josh is training to be a boxer for the Olympics. I have seen him knock a man out with a single punch. So, he is a strong man. The perfect kind of older brother you want.

“So, that is why he didn’t want me to be around Josh,” I said.

She nodded, “Josh made him feel emasculated. He is toxic, so you need to leave him. I will call Josh and tell him to be ready and get here to pick me up early, in the hopes that I may be able to leave earlier. I must go. Josh and I will be on our way to help you as soon as we can. Stay safe.”

I nodded, “Thank you, Kelly.”

“Be careful and send me text updates. Please make sure that if he comes back, you send me that code word,” she said, as she began climbing out of my car.

I nodded, “I promise.”

I watched as she called Josh and headed inside the restaurant to start her shift. I looked down as my phone, and realised I had a text from Dylan.

Dylan: “Hey babe, I hope you are having fun with your grandparents. I won’t be in when you come home. I am going to watch the football match with the boys. I will be back later tonight. Make yourself dinner. Xx”

I stared down at the text. The football match he was talking about was in two hours, so he would leave the home in thirty minutes to meet with his friends, so he can head to the match with them. I had to reply but keep it as normal as possible to my usual texts, and honestly that was the frightening thing. One mistake and this could go wrong.

Me: “I am just about to leave my grandparents. I will be about an hour, maybe a little longer, as there is some road works near my grandparents’ home. Have fun at the football match. Text me when you are on your way home. Xx”

He read the text message and replied with a simple okay. As it would only take me twenty minutes to get home, I decided to wait forty minutes, in that car park. I wrote a little list of things I would need to make sure I pack. I texted Kelly and let her know what I was doing. I figured that I would start looking for a new job in London. I also contacted my boss and explained the situation. Normally, I would have to give a one-week notice, but he told me I had unused holiday, so I could use that as my one week notice period, and just not return after my holiday. I also sent my CV to a few reparable companies based in London. The forty minutes were up, so I started my car, and drove back to my flat, to pack and leave it and him behind.