Take Me Back to Start

The bus ride from Huntington Beach to LA was about an hour and a half. As soon as the bus pulled into the station, Jolie could see Alex waiting anxiously for her. His face seemed soft, like he wasn’t mad, but he seemed like he wasn’t lying when he said he wasn’t taking care of himself. She grabbed her bags and trudged off the bus heading straight for him. Alex’s eyes locked on her and a smile spread across his face. It was practically contagious. She couldn’t help, but smile right back and falling instantly into his arms. He held her tightly to his chest and kissed her forehead. “I’m so glad you are home, princess,” he murmured, but she couldn’t stop the shiver from running down her spine from just the word princess.

Alex took the bags for Jolie and lead her to the car. They climbed inside the car before he headed towards their apartment. He laid his hand lightly on Jolie’s thigh. She wasn’t used to this much affection anymore, but she wouldn’t complain. She’d welcome it for as long as he was willing to give it. She found she was hopeful and that maybe she made the right choice.

Back at the apartment, Alex had already ordered pizza so neither had to worry about cooking. Jolie thanked him for being so considerate. They curled up on the couch together as if they had never been apart. She leaned her head into his chest while she ate the pizza. He ate as well and made her laugh while they did. It felt just like the first year of their relationship did.

While they were eating, Jolie noticed Alex didn’t eat as much as usual and was coughing every so often. “Are you okay?” she asked him concerned. He just gave her a smile and kissed the top of her head.

“I caught a cold while you were gone. You don’t have to worry, even though it’s cute when you do,” Alex replied with a chuckle at the end.

After finishing dinner, Jolie put the pizza into gallon bags and into the refrigerator. While she closed the fridge, Alex came up behind her wrapping his arms around her. She couldn’t help her instinct to tense up, until she felt small kisses being spread across her shoulder blade. She finally relaxed leaning back into him. “I missed you. Don’t ever leave again. I couldn’t function without you around,” he murmured against her skin.

“You’re my world, Alex. I couldn’t stay away,” Jolie replied quietly.

The moment was disrupted by the sound of Jolie’s phone vibrating on the coffee table. In an instant, Alex’s arms around her waist became a rough, bruising grip and he lifted his head. “Who is that? Why would someone be contacting you?” He demanded straight away. She knew that the loving Alex that had picked her up was gone. She tried to pull away from him, but he just held on tighter leaving marks.

“It doesn’t matter. It’s probably just a wrong number or something. I won’t answer,” Jolie tried to quickly defend herself hoping to keep Alex from getting truly angry. It was already no use. He roughly pushed her against the fridge before stalking into the living room grabbing her phone. “Alex, please…” she cried out, but he was already looking at the text.

“It looks like it’s Valary DiBenndetto, that’s the Matt guy’s girlfriend, right? Fuck, it says ‘We’re hoping you’re okay. Please call if you need anything. Remember you don’t deserve any mistreatment. We love you.’ Why would she say that, Jolie? Did you tell them I mistreat you?” Alex asked in a terrifying tone.

Jolie wouldn’t even come into the living room, she heard the tone Alex was using many times before and knew what it meant. “Huh? Are you just going to stand there like a fucking mute? So, you told them I abuse you? I don’t love you? You really think that?” he snapped once again, “Answer me, bitch!” He took her phone throwing it against the wall with a loud smack and leaving a mark on the wall. Jolie instantly jumped letting out a little noise of surprise.

“I-I didn’t tell them that. They kept insisting, but I told them it wasn’t true. I know you love and take care of me. They wouldn’t listen,” Jolie practically pleaded for Alex to believe her.

Next thing, Jolie knew, Alex was shoving her against the wall making her hit her head. “You know that it’s your fault that I have to teach you a lesson. You can’t behave yourself, Princess. My rules are simple, but you always misbehave,” he insisted with his voice eerily calm. Jolie felt the sting on her cheek when Alex reared his hand back and slapped her straight across the face making her whimper. “I guess we’ll have to make up for the time we lost. Are you going to be a good girl?” he asked her in a demeaning voice.

With tears welling in Jolie’s eyes, she nodded her head instantly when Alex questioned her. A huge smirk spread across his lips as he cupped the cheek he had just slapped, making it sting more. “That’s what I like to hear. We’ll have you disciplined once again in no time,” he says as if it is a promise. He leans forward to kiss her lips, though she doesn’t even response. “I love you,” he says before dropping her to the ground. Without even another glance in her direction, he walked straight to their bedroom and got ready for bed.

Jolie pulled her legs up to his chest and dropped her head against her knees. She was naive to believe that anything had changed. In her head, she could hear Brian saying, “She was buying time to get back to the man she knows will kill her, but still intends on defending until that day. Isn’t that right, Jo?” as if it was haunting her. The words just repeated again and again.

When Jolie calmed down, she went over to her phone to see how it was cracked, but still working. She put it in her pocket before following into the bedroom. Without a word, she changed into some pajamas and crawled into bed next to Alex. He wrapped his arms around her pulling him into his chest. It was a restless night, but eventually Jolie fell asleep.

The next morning, Alex woke up in a terrible mood right off the bat. In the middle of the night, Jolie woke him up screaming from a nightmare. He wasn’t about to deal with that. Jolie was groggy as he got ready for work. He had hit her when she started screaming.

Knowing that she had already put Alex in an awful mood, Jolie spent the day taking care of everything up to his standards. She made sure to look the best she could and clean the house until it was absolutely spotless. She knew he liked order and that was exactly what she was trying to give him. When it got closer to when he would be getting home from work, she started on dinner after a quick run to the grocery store.

The front door opened and closed with a slam causing Jolie to jump a little. She nearly knocked the pot of potatoes off the counter. Alex came walking into the kitchen even more furious than he had left earlier. He had a magazine and his phone in his hands. He slammed both done and looked up at her with a glare.

“So, you want to explain this?” Alex snapped straight away.

Jolie leaned over the counter in order to get a good look at the magazine. It was a music news one, but not one she recognized. On the cover was a picture of her entering the Avenged Sevenfold recording studios with the caption, “New girlfriend for Avenged Sevenfold?” She felt uncomfortable knowing that the paparazzi had been taking pictures of her without knowing.

“Oh, there’s more than just that cover!” Alex snapped nearly ripping the magazine open. He flipped a couple pages and Jolie saw there was an entire spread. There were pictures of Matt and her hugging outside her father’s house, of Brian and herself at the park, of them at the school, of Jimmy greeting her outside of Matt’s house, Brian and her dancing at Johnny’s Bar, and finally a picture of Zacky and her out shopping. “So, you weren’t just out there trying to convince your dad that you were okay! You lied to me! You were trying to sleep with that fucking band, weren’t you? Am I not enough for you? You fucking slut,” he snapped.

“No, Alex, please! You have to listen. I wasn’t trying to sleep with them. You know that they come along with my dad. The guys, their families, and mine are all like one huge family. They didn’t want me to come back, but here I am! I never would betray you!” Jolie tried weakly to convince Alex, but it was useless once again. He would believe what he wanted.

Alex took the magazine and started to tear it up into small pieces. Then, he tossed them all over the kitchen as he glared. “You need to be taught,” he said coldly before rounding the counter. He grabbed her wrist tightly, leaving a bruise around it, before dragging her into the bedroom where he threw her down onto the bed.

“W-what are y-you doing?” Jolie whimpered out in fear as she watched Alex undo his belt. He pulled it right out of the loops without answering her question.

“On your stomach. Now,” he demanded instantly, “Take your shirt and pants off.”

Not wanting to make the punishment any worse than she already knew it would be, Jolie obeyed Alex’s commands. She slowly took off her shirt and pants leaving her in a lacy pair of underwear and her matching bra. She laid on her stomach with her eyes tightly closed anticipating pain.

Next thing Jolie felt was the sting of Alex’s belt hitting her back. She cried out straight away, but Alex snapped at her to be quiet. She tried to muffle her sounds as he continued to hit her one after another. The metal of the belt even caught her a couple times making her bleed. After what felt like eternity, he finally threw the belt across the room. Without a word, he walked into the bathroom. Finally, she let tears fall out more and dropped her head onto the bed.

Alex came back into the bedroom cleaning up the cuts that he created with a washcloth. He was gentle as if not to cause more pain than he already had. Then, he added some ointment to them before gesturing for her to sit up and helped her put her shirt back on. She stared straight ahead as he helped take care of her. It was as if she wasn’t even in control of her movements.

“Let’s have some dinner,” Alex said simply when he finished helping Jolie into her pants. She just nodded her head simply and followed him back into the kitchen as if nothing even happened. This was just how life was.

Notes

Things will get better soon, promise. Hang in there guys. This hurt to write, but I swear I have happy times planned for the future. <3 Thank you to those of you who comment! Please keep letting me know what you guys think!