Jail Time

I sat there as my Mother iced my arms and she was fuming with rage at what he had done. "That son of a bitch." She scoffed as she shook her head and looked at me. "I won't let him keep terrorizing you, Diana. He is breaking the restraining order and he physically assaulted you, again." She said exasperated and I looked over at Colton, who was wearing a white t-shirt and dark blue jeans and those sexy ass cowboy boots and I couldn't help but drool over him. I know it wasn't the right time, but he was drop dead gorgeous.
"Well..." I trailed off as I saw Colton smirking at me and I quickly looked at my Mother. "You're kicking him out of the school, he won't graduate on stage, and I have a bodyguard now. Everything is going to be fine." I assured her and she looked over at Colton. They smiled at each other and then she looked back at me.
"Thank goodness for that, right?" She teased and I giggled as I rolled my eyes. My Mom was such a goof sometimes, she always made jokes no matter what the situation was and that's what I loved about her. She is a terrific Mom and even though she had me when she was seventeen, my life was pretty amazing considering my Dad's an amazing basketball player and gets paid a lot of money.

  "Did you tell Dad?" I asked seriously, we had to talk about this whether we wanted to or not. This was serious, he could hurt me again, or do something even worse.

  "No, not yet," She shakes her head and I sigh as I pull out my phone. "It's going to be on social media in a few hours, Diana. I don't see the point in calling him now." She mentioned softly and I stared at my phone contemplating whether or not I should call him.

  "I have to call him, Mom. It's better he finds out from me than from those stupid reporters." I said sarcastically and dialed his number.

  "So, Colton you need to tell me all about the south. I've always wanted to live there." I heard my Mother say as she dragged him out of the kitchen so I could be alone. After a few rings, my Father finally picked up.

  "Hi sweetheart, you calling to complain about your Mother not letting you come tonight again?" He teased lightly and I felt tears well up in my eyes. I truly wished that was what I was calling about.

  "Daddy, when're you coming home?" I asked my voice wavering from the tears and the fear I felt, I just really wanted my Dad here so he could protect me at night.

  "Diana, honey, what's wrong?" He asked softly and I bit my lip nervously trying to think of a way to tell him without making him upset. "Diana Nicole, what happened?" My Father asked, his tone was serious and I took in a ragged breath as I calmed my heart.

  "Kevin happened, Daddy. He hurt me again. He keeps hurting me, Daddy. I'm so scared and I don't know what to do." I croaked out and suddenly, I was sobbing on the phone with my Father. He was quiet for a few moments then I heard rustling on the other end and him swearing.

  "I'm on my way home, baby. Don't you worry, Daddy'll take care of this. You just forget today ever happened and enjoy the last week of high school, okay sweetheart? I promise you will never hear from or see him ever again." He said sternly and I continued to cry as I held onto my phone, not wanting my Dad to go.

  "Thank you, Daddy. Thank you so much." I sobbed and I heard him start taking shaky breaths and I was worried he was having a panic attack.

  "My poor Diana. This wasn't supposed to happen to you... but, I promise this will never happen to you again." His voice was thick from crying and I felt my nerves start to relax as I let his words soothe me.

  "Thank you, Dad. Please hurry home." I said softly and he sighed.

  "I already booked the earliest flight, I'll be home before nine o'clock, sweetie." He said and I smiled a little at his words.

  "Okay Dad, I love you and be safe coming home." I wiped away my tears and I noticed Colton standing in the doorway.

  "I'll be home soon, I love you, Di. Bye." My Dad hung up and I let out a shaky breath as I pressed the end button and placed my phone down on the counter top.

  "You don't have to be scared, Diana." Colton said gently as he walked toward me and I stared at the ground feeling so ashamed of myself that I let this happen.

  "It's all my fault this happened to me, Colton." I said and he started shaking his head but I held up my hand to stop him. "It is, I stayed with him for two years and let him beat me over and over again." I spit out angrily and I clench my hands into fists wanting to punch myself repeatedly for what I'm putting myself through. "How could I be so weak? I don't understand it." I said disgustedly and Colton walked up to me.

  "Tell me about the first time he hit you." Colton said softly and I took in a deep breath as I looked up at him tiredly. I could trust him. He told me his secrets, it's only fair that I tell him mine.

  "It was the middle of sophomore year..." I began.

I was sitting at the table across from Kevin and I see him smiling at me. The same smile that could melt my insides like I was sitting in front of a nice warm fire. He made me feel so incredibly special, beautiful, and smart. No guy ever tried to get to know me for me, until I met Kevin in my bio class at the beginning of the year. We were really good friends before we dated. I was single and he had a girlfriend, so I only thought of him as my friend until they broke up in November. A few weeks after they had broken up, Colton admitted that he liked me ever since the first day of school and I felt like I was the luckiest girl in the world. The captain of the basketball team liked me and I couldn't believe it. I was a cheerleader, so it wasn't like we were from different cliques. We hung out with the same people, but never really got to know each other. We flirted with each other constantly after that. Then on Valentine's day he asked me to be his girlfriend. Of course I said yes, what girl in their right mind would reject Kevin Lewis?

I blush as I look away and excuse myself from talking to Kelsey and the other girls on the cheer team and make my way towards Kevin. He gets up and walks over to me with a smirk on his face. "Come with me." He says softly as he grabs my hand and pulls me outside and toward his car. We get inside and I smile at him, but he doesn't smile back. "What's wrong, Kevin?" I asked, my smile slowly starting to fade away and his lips are pulled into a tight, straight line.

  "Is your skirt always that short? Or are you hiking it up now because you're dating me?" He demanded and I stared at him confused as I reached out and placed my hand on his shoulder gently.

  "What're you talking about, babe? My skirt is-" Then all of sudden my head hits the back of the head rest causing my vision to go black and blurry for a moment just as my heart shatters into tiny thousand little pieces and my whole world comes crashing down around me.

  "I don't like liars and I do not like being touched when I'm angry." He says calmly and I hold my cheek in pain as I look up at him in utter terror. He's not looking at me, though, he's looking out the window like he hadn't just hit me so hard that it felt like my head was going to pop off like a Barbie Doll's would. I start breathing erratically and suddenly, I'm crying. Like really crying. Crying so hard that I can barely see. Kevin looks up at me suddenly confused, then his eyes land on my cheek and they widen in horror. "Oh my God, Diana, I'm-" He reaches toward me but I cower as far away as I can from him until my back is pressed tightly against the door and I'm staring at him like the monster he truly is and I feel my heart continue to break at the fact that I actually started to fall in love with this boy who I really didn't know at all.

  "Stay away from me. Don't call me, don't text me, just leave me the Hell alone." I whisper and he stares at me with hurt and regret filled eyes, but I ignore them and quickly hop out of the car.

  "Diana!" I hear him yell after me, but I run away until I see the bus that leads to my house and I quickly hop on. I never wanted to see him again.

Colton stared at me confused and then sat down at the kitchen table. "If you ran away then why did you go back?" He asked and I shook my head as I started to play with my fingers, clearly embarrassed and I continued on with my story.

I walked into school on Monday after that horrible weekend and Kelsey walked up to me holding my bag. "Are you going to tell me what happened on Friday and why you left so suddenly without taking your things?" She asked and I shook my head and took my stuff from her.

  "Thank you, but it doesn't matter anymore. It's fine now." I sighed and she stared at me like she was crazy.

  "I saw what happened, Di." She whispered and I stared at her in shock. "From the window, I saw him," She looked around and then leaned in closer so no one would overhear. "He hit you." She said in disbelief and I took in a ragged breath as I tried to not recall that night and how much cheek felt like it was on fire and being stung by thousands of bees.

  "Well, don't worry. You saw me jump out of his car, I dumped him and told him stay away from me." I informed her and she pulled me into a tight hug as she rubbed my back soothingly.

  "Good for you, Diana." She said encouragingly and I smiled feeling proud of myself. Then someone tapped me on my shoulder and we pulled away to see who it was. I gasped and fear flooded through my veins as I held onto Kelsey for dear life.

  "Diana, I need to talk to you." Kevin said gently and tried to touch me, but Kelsey backed us away from him.

  "Don't you dare touch her, I saw what you did on Friday so don't even try to deny it." She hissed and Kevin looked down ashamed and I relaxed a little. Good, he should feel disgusted with himself.

  "I'm sorry, Diana. I have anger issues. That's the one secret I have never told anyone. I know it's no excuse, but I get my anger from my Father. I just can't control it, I don't realize what I've done until a few minutes later. When I saw your face after I hit you..." He trailed off and tears welled up in his eyes as he stared at me. "I felt like a horrible monster, I shouldn't be allowed anywhere near you and I am so unbelievably sorry. I understand if you want to break up, Di. I just came here to apologize and if you give me another change I will never ever hit you again. I love you, Diana." He whispered as he pulled out a red velvet box and I stared at him in shock. What the Hell was he doing? "It's just a promise ring," He said and Kelsey and I immediately relaxed once we realized he wasn't going to propose. "It's a promise that I will never do or say anything to ever hurt you again. This ring is like a contract that I made with myself. Every time I feel angry I just look at this ring and remember that I'm not really angry with you, it's just me." He looked up at me hopefully and I bit my lip as I looked from him to Kelsey then back to him.

  "I swear to God, Kevin, that if you ever hit me again I will tell my Father and he will ruin your chances for playing in the NBA and going to college." I threatened and he nodded quickly as he opened the box and pulled a beautiful tiny silver diamond ring and then held up my left hand.

  "I promise I won't ever hurt you again." He said sternly and slid the ring on my third finger just as Kelsey let go of me.

  "I gotta go to class." She said bitterly and then quickly walked off. Kevin stared aretreating figure worriedly and I gave his hand a squeeze then he looked back down at me.

  "Don't worry, just give her some time. She's my best friend. If you make me happy, then she needs to understand that." I whispered and he nodded as he kissed my forehead and then pulled me in for a tight hug.

    "How many times did he hit you after making that bullshit promise?" He asked angrily and I felt myself start to cry once again as I shrugged and looked up at the ceiling.

  "Honestly, I lost count." I admitted casually and I could feel the anger radiating off of him in waves.

"Has he ever tried to...?" He trailed off not wanting to finish his question, but I understood what he was asking. I took in a ragged breath and looked away from him trying to block out all the painful memories that I had gone through and it made my stomach clench with discomfort. I heard something slam on to the counter and I snapped my attention to wear the sound came from. His fist was on the counter and he was shaking his head as he glared at the counter top with so much hatred in his eyes. I looked at him worriedly and approached him slowly.

"Colton, I'm okay now. I left him for good. I'm okay." I whispered soothingly and he just shook his head slowly.

  "No, Diana, you are not okay. I know you're not okay!" He shouted making making me jump at his outburst. "I understand why you stayed and I don't think you're weak because you left him and you told on him. He has to go to jail, Diana. He doesn't deserve to be able to play basketball or have a good life. He's a piece of shit and you and I both know it." He spat out with disgust and I quickly looked down sadly. He was right. Kevin was a monster and he didn't deserve to have a good life. But could I really do that? Send someone away for sexual and physical assault? I don't think I had the strength to tell everyone what happened besides him just being too controlling. I didn't want everyone to know what he did to me.

"I can't tell people, Colton." I whispered as I slowly shook my head and he stared at me confused.

"Diana, you don't have to be afraid of him anymore. I'll be here right next to you until all of this gets cleared up and that I know you're safe." He said soothingly and he approached me slowly and I watched him warily. How could I trust him? I barely just met him a few days ago and now here he is making promises that I don't really know he can keep. He seemed really nice and like he cared about me, but I was tricked before by Kevin and I won't be tricked again.

  "We'll see how it goes, Colton. I don't really know you that well and I don't think you should make a promise that you don't know if you can keep." I admitted and he sighed as he looked down at the floor for a moment while he processed my words.

  "I understand that you can't really trust me after what Kevin has done to you," He said gently and slowly approached me making me slightly nervous as I watched his every step, looking for any sudden change that he was going to lunge at me and attack me. But that change never came. "I need you to know that I won't ever hurt you, I might let you down a few times, sure. But nobody is perfect and I'm not expecting you to be perfect either. I'll wait for you to open up to me and trust me, I don't care how long it takes I'll wait." He whispered once he was in front of me and I stared into his eyes and searched for anything that would make me not trust him. But my gut was telling me that he was alright, that he wasn't going to hurt me, whereas my mind is telling me to keep my guard up and see what happens.

  "Well, you might be waiting a while Colton because it's very hard to gain my trust." I said sternly and he nodded his head as a small smile appeared on his face.

  "Whenever you're ready to open up to me about everything Kevin put you through, I'll be here ready to listen." He confirmed and I smiled a little back at him as I gave him a slight nod and then held out my hand.

  "Thank you." I said and he chuckled as he grasped my hand in his and shook it gently.

  "The pleasure is all mine, ma'am." He teased making his accent thicker and deeper and I laughed as I rolled my eyes at him and pulled my hand away.