Friend or Foe

-Hannah-

“Come on babe.”

I peel my eyes open to the voice and
I’m starting at my beautiful boyfriend,
Austin.

“Austin,” I greet and stretch my arms
wide and then grin.

Austin gives me a grin and tugs the
covers away from me, “We’re gonna be
late.”

“B---“

“No buts, come on, up!”

Just like a military sergeant, Austin
made me go to the bathroom, shower,
and brush my teeth. I walk out of the
bathroom and leap up and down as I
see the breakfast Austin prepared.

“Babe, you are the best,” I say as I sit
myself down in a chair.

Austin serves breakfast to me and I
glance up at him. I could not believe I
got this lucky, I mean what boyfriend
would make breakfast and get his lazy
girlfriend up to take her sightseeing.
But I was wrong, Austin wasn’t the
perfect boyfriend, he was a monster.

“Get the fuck up off the floor!”

I whimpered as I stood up and faced a
red faced Austin. I could not believe this,
he was hitting me!

“What did I do?” I scream back.

“You’re talking back to me!” Austin
yelled and his fingers closed around
my throat.

I gasped, my lungs were on fire. I tried
to breathe but my trachea was
blocked and I knew my father was
right. Austin was not the one. My eyes
were going glassy and Austin released
me and I fell coughing and trying to
breathe. I glanced up as Austin was
pacing around the hotel room and
then he looked down at me and
instantly I recoiled. His face was scary;
it was out raged and red. His gray eyes
screamed hate and fire. Austin gripped
my forearm tight and instantly the grip
loosened. He was now comforting me,
instead of slapping me. I gulped but
didn’t say a word. This was the second
time Austin lost it. The first time it
happened when I went to get a haircut
from some big New York parlor. I have
a small face so the lady gave me a
layer cut and it felt so good to get rid
of all the thick hair. Austin came to pick
me up and when I sat down; his eyes
went up to my hair and suddenly he
was gripping the steering wheel tight,
his knuckles turning white.

“Don’t you like it?” I ask and shook my
head. “Finally I got myself a trim.”

“That’s not a trim,” Austin answered and
glared at my hair. “You look weird
now, you looked better with your long
hair.”

I was appalled by his rude comment
but kept it to myself. I let that
comment slip and watched as the
skyscrapers zoomed by. When he
entered my hotel room and locked it
behind him, I thought we’d watch
movies but I was wrong. He slammed
by body against the wall and gripped
my face tight.

“Who bloody told you to cut your
hair?!”

Then Austin slapped my face leaving me
with a busted lip and then he walked
out of the room, slamming the door. I
cried and mechanically walked
towards the refrigerator to get some
ice and tender my lip. Austin did come
back and I ran to the bathroom.

“Babe?”

Austin turned the door knob and I
cursed myself for not locking it. He
stepped in and his face was
apologetic.

“I’m so sorry Hannah; I don’t know what
came over me.”

He came over and stroked my lip and
gave a warm tender smile. He then
walked me out of the bathroom and
sat me on the bed. He un corked a
tube of something and squeezed out a
Vaseline jelly type thing. He then
rubbed it on my lip with such care; I
forgave him on the spot. I didn’t think
much of it, Austin lost it and then he
needed to vent his anger out and I
stood in the way. Later on, we cuddled
up together on the sofa and watched
chick flicks with a tub of chocolate.

But today was different; I had no idea
why Austin was angry at me. I did
nothing wrong.

“You’re telling me what you did?” Austin
says softly as I sat on his lap and he
ran his fingers up and down my arm.

I didn’t answer, just closed my eyes as
my boyfriends hands went down to
my stomach.

“I don’t want you near Mr. Angelo.” He
spoke the name with such hate. “I
don’t like the way he looks at you.”

“But that’s rid---“

“What’s that?” Austin whispered in my
ear.

“Nothing,” I mutter.

“That’s my girl,” Austin said and gently
bit my outer ear. “In fact, let’s go back
to London.”

My jaw dropped and I quickly
composed myself. “Austin,” my voice
cracked. “That’s my profession, my
class… I just can’t quit.”

“And why not?”

“My father paid for this.”

“Hannah, your father has all the money
in the whole damn world and it’d be
nice if he could provide you with some
so we could fly first class,” he spoke
hard but then calmed down. “Don’t
you love me?”

I pause and Austin grazed my neck and
bit it a bit too hard.

“Yes,” I say out of the pain and Austin
kisses the wound he made with his
teeth.

Austin's hand went down to my legs and
the shifted me on the bed and tugged
my shirt open. I knew where this was
going and I closed my eyes waiting for
it to be over.

Sex with Austin wasn’t bad but it felt like
masturbation. I never felt any pleasure
but I never said a word. Austin was the
one whom I lost virginity too and I
sometimes regret it. But he is my
boyfriend, actually my first. I never
really went into dating and never
really cared. But right now, I was
wishing I was a virgin because I was
sure Austin ripped something inside me.
I slowly got up from bed, winching at
the pain inside me and crept out of the
bedroom. I sat down on the living
room couch and my hand wandered
over my cell phone. Should I call? No, I
answer myself. I shouldn’t. I wanted to
do something so I put on a sweater
and some shoes on and I was out of
the hotel.

I’m sure Austin would find out and I’d
get beaten up again but I couldn’t
handle it anymore. Austin wasn’t the
same gray eyed boy I fell in love with,
or I thought I did. He hid it well when
we were in London, but when I
brought him to New York for my
classes, he changed. Every mistake I
would make he would agonize over
that, making me feel small and non
worthy. He would always blame me for
his problems and at first I let them slip.
Every man goes through a rough patch
so I thought I’d give Austin his space and
things would be normal again. But I
was wrong, Austin became worse, his
temper would never die, it would
worsen. I sucked in a cold breath and
entered some type of bar called
Hooters. I grimaced as I saw girls strut
pass me wearing practically nothing. I
sat down in the corner and my hands
went to my pockets searching for the
cell phone I forgot to bring. I groaned
and rubbed my face with my hands.

“Is this seat taken?”

I glance up at the voice and my world
comes crashing down. What the hell
was he doing here?

Notes

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