20. Maeyve

What the fuck just happened?

I flew off the bed and ran to the bathroom door. When I tried to open it, the knob didn't move—it was locked. I had to get in there to make sure she was okay.

"Anevae, please let me in."

On the other side of the door, all I could hear was Anevae's sobs. Fuck. What happened? What did I say?

"Anevae, baby, please?"

A few minutes later, she opened the door, wrapped in her white robe. Her eyes were bloodshot, her face streaked with tears, and my heart broke. I quickly pulled her to me, encasing her in my arms, and stroked her hair. She clung to me as she began crying again.

We stood there for several minutes before she took a deep breath and whispered, "I'm sorry."

Confused, I stepped back to look into her eyes. "You don't need to be sorry. There's clearly something bothering you, and I just want to help you through it. Did I say something? Do something?"

Looking back to the floor, she mumbled, "It's nothing."

Tipping her chin up, I said, "Please look at me. This is not nothing. You're upset about something… Does this have to do with your ex?"

Her eyes welled with tears as she nodded.

"How can I help you?" I asked quietly.

She gripped my wrist and said, "I think it's time I tell you about him. You won't understand unless I tell you the whole story."

"Please don't push yourself to tell me this story if it's going to be too hard on you."

Shaking her head, she squeezed my wrist. "I need to talk to you about it, especially if we want to continue this relationship for any length of time. I'm going to put my pajamas back on. Will you please go downstairs and make some coffee? We can sit at the island or on the couch; I don't really care right now."

My pulse quickened, but I tried to remain composed. What would she have to tell me? Giving her a quick kiss, I did as she asked and met her on the couch about ten minutes later.

After getting comfortable on the couch, she took her coffee from me and quickly thanked me. Holding the hot mug in her hands, she took a small sip.

When she met my gaze again, she began, "My senior year of high school was one of the best years I'd ever had. I was a straight-A student with a bright future ahead of me—I was accepted into Yale, one of the Ivy League universities. During that year, I met a guy named Ambrose, and we instantly fell in love. Being so naive, I thought he was the love of my life. He initially treated me like a princess, but Eiri tried to warn me about what she'd heard from other people at school. At the time, I brushed her off because she was my younger sister who didn't know a thing about love.

"At my graduation party that summer, Ambrose proposed to me. I was over the moon, and my parents were happy for me; they loved Ambrose. Most of my friends were concerned about how fast things were moving in our relationship. Again, I ignored everyone because they didn't know us or how we felt about each other."

After sniffling several times, she sipped her coffee and continued, "About a month before school started back up, Ambrose and I moved into a rental home close to our respective universities. When we got settled, things began to change between us. We would argue over the smallest things—whose turn it was to do the dishes, what we'd eat for dinner and more. During these arguments, there were times he'd get so angry he put holes in the walls of our home.

"When school started, he began limiting my interactions with friends. At first, I wasn't allowed to spend time with my male friends. I didn't have many, and schoolwork was piling up, so it didn't bother me too much. Then, I couldn't go to parties without him. We were in college, and there were parties all the time. I wasn't popular by any means, but friends often invited me.

"This sparked a whole string of arguments between us. He told me that no matter what, he was the most important thing in my life, and I needed to treat him as such. One night, I tried to go to a movie with some friends, and he tracked me down. He claimed there was a family emergency, but once we got to the car, he smacked me across the face and told me that I ‘needed to remember my place.' When we got home, I ran directly to our room and began crying. He rushed in behind me, apologizing profusely. He told me he ‘didn't know why he did that' and he was ‘so sorry' and he'd ‘make it up to me.' I don't know why I didn't call my family then. Over the following days, he brought me gifts, begging me to forgive him. Like an idiot, I did. I thought it was a one-time thing and that it would never happen again. Our arguments stopped for a few months after that."

"I'm so sorry, Anevae," I said, reaching to grab her hand and let her know she was safe.

She stiffly accepted my consolation but whispered, "That wasn't even the worst of it."

My heart stopped. What she'd told me was bad enough as it was. If I ever came across the asshole, I'd give him the slow, torturous death he deserved.

Taking her hand back, she clutched onto her coffee mug again. "Our arguments resumed, and his anger grew with each one. I finally stopped going anywhere besides home, school, and occasionally the grocery store. I hoped that if I stopped going anywhere without him, our arguments would be better. It didn't; he just found new things to yell at me for.

"The first and only time I threatened to leave him, he beat me to the brink of unconsciousness. When he was done, he cried and held me as he said, ‘You made me do this to you. You forced my hand.' After that, I became scared for my life and withdrew from everyone, including my family. I didn't want them to see me at this low point. I didn't want them to get in the middle; I was worried he'd kill them if they did."

A tear slid down her cheek, and I could understand the pain she felt because, once upon a time, I had felt something similar. Scooting closer, I put my hand on her leg but avoided crowding her space unless she wanted me there.

After taking a shaky breath, she continued, "When Eiri graduated high school, keeping her away became more difficult. She had been accepted into the same school as me, Yale, so she moved into an apartment down the street from the home I shared with Ambrose. To keep myself away from her, Ambrose helped me come up with reasons why I couldn't see her. We were successful for a while.

"One day, I ran into Eiri on my way home from school. When she saw me, she rushed to hug me, but then she noticed my bruised lip and the discoloration under my eye that I couldn't cover up with makeup. She pulled me off the sidewalk and interrogated me, asking what had happened to my face. I tried to play it off as a fall, but she wasn't falling for it. In reality, Ambrose had beat me again over not doing the dishes a few nights prior. Eiri saw right through my bullshit and knew Ambrose had hurt me. I tried to cover up for him, but she wasn't having it, so I took off. I was running late and already knew Ambrose would be mad when I got home.

"The moment I walked through our front door, he was on me, yelling and demanding to know where I was. But he didn't let me speak before yanking me back to our room by the hair. Once we were in there, he tried to ask the same questions, and when I didn't answer fast enough, he grabbed me by the throat, bringing me to his level. I couldn't breathe, and I was clawing at his hand so he'd let me go, but when he did, I rolled my ankle. Displays of weakness angered him, so when I whimpered, he told me to ‘shut up, or I'll give you something to cry about.'"

More tears welled in her eyes. I reached up to wipe one away as it started falling down her cheek. "You're safe now," I whispered.

She shook her head vigorously, ripping her face away from my hand. "I'm not done. There's still a little more to this story… When Ambrose stormed out of our room, I heard a knock on the front door. Ambrose answered it to find my dad and sister on the other side. Eiri knew something was wrong, and I needed help, so she got our dad to save me. That was the last time I saw Ambrose. My family took me home that weekend, and I didn't return to school for a few weeks. I moved in with Eiri when I went back. It took me months to be able to be alone because I never knew if he was coming back. I haven't been in a long-term relationship since. I've hooked up with some men but didn't want to let anyone else in. You"re the first person I've told about this besides my family and therapist."

Staring down at the empty mug in her hands, she let her tears fall. I took it from her and placed it on the coffee table beside mine. When I turned back to her, I pulled her into my lap and let her cry. I stroked her hair with one hand and rubbed her back with the other. I would protect her with my life if that meant she was safe; I would never let another person cause her harm again.