Take Me Back to Start

A couple days later, Alex informed Jolie they would be throwing a party for his friends and coworkers. She should everything ready for them. She agreed straight away and got planning. He still seemed like he hadn’t kicked is cold, which made her think it might be a bad idea. She wasn’t about to argue though. While Alex was at work, she made a quick drive to the grocery store before coming back home. She spent the day making small snacks like chicken on crackers with cheese along with just the typical snacks like chips. She even made some desserts.

When Alex came home, he saw that Jolie had everything ready. He glanced around the kitchen as she nervously watched him. When he was satisfied, he walked over to her and gave her a small kiss. “Good work, princess. Don’t forget to get ready. You need to fix your make-up. I’ll put a dress out for you,” he said in a light tone before heading into the bedroom.
Jolie followed along making sure to get ready after Alex was done. She showered and blow dried her hair. She brushed and curled it a bit so it fell in waves. When she looked over at the bed, there was a light blue strapless dress. Once it was on, she realized how short it was. She shifted a little uncomfortably feeling a bit too revealed, but wanted to make Alex happy.

Alex came back in seeing her and smiled brightly. He slipped his arms around her waist from behind. “You look perfect,” he murmured and started to bite at the skin of her neck. She squirmed against him trying to move away. He chuckled against her skin and let her go. “Put your hair up though. I want everyone to know you’re mine,” he added before smirking.
Jolie stepped over to the mirror and pulled her hair into a messy bun, letting a couple of strands frame her face. Her eyes darted straight away to the mark Alex left on her next. She hated it and fought the urge to cover it up right away. Leaning against the dresser, she took a deep breath to calm herself.

The party started in full swing. There was music playing through the apartment and everyone was chatting. Jolie kept answering the door to let everyone in while also checking on the food. Meanwhile, Alex kept close to her, always having at least a hand on her. He was overly affectionate in front of his friends. They all complimented the food spread and kept telling Alex that he found himself a keeper. Jolie would smile as Alex just kissed her cheek in reply.

Jolie had a moment to herself when she heard the door. She answered it seeing that it was Alex’s cousin Peter. Of all of Alex’s friends and family, Pete was by far Jolie’s favorite. He was a sweet man who tried his best to keep his cousin calm. He was young, only twenty-years-old. It was hard for him because he knew that his cousin was awful, but he was also family. There was no getting away. “It’s good to see you, Jo. Alex was a mess for those two weeks you were gone,” he greeted softly.

“I was just as upset to be gone. I missed him too,” Jolie easily replied without even thinking about it.

Peter just forced a smile, but didn’t say anything in reply at first. Jolie caught the look he gave her neck before looking away quickly. He looked around the room before looking back at her with a sigh. He took a step closer making her tense up right away. “I thought you were actually gone. Why’d you come back?” he asked keeping his voice low.

Jolie bit her lip a bit looking behind herself and then looking at the ground. “What do you mean? I came back because I love Alex. I never intended on staying away,” she quietly answered back.

Peter tried to reply back, but he was suddenly stepped back. Jolie was confused at first until she felt Alex’s tight grip on her waist. “Oh hey, Pete. I didn’t see you come in. What were you two talking about?” he asked with a bit of an edge to his voice. She tried to lean back into his touch to calm him down, but felt nothing else.

“Hey! I just got there. I was just telling Jolie it looked like she worked hard for that spread over there. I think I’m going to go try some of it,” Peter covered up the conversation without even having to think about it. He excused himself into the kitchen leaving the couple alone.

Alex’s grip became bruising as he turned Jolie around to face him. “What the fuck was that?” he demanded to know. Jolie instantly repeated what Peter said hoping it was enough to convince him. She knew she’d most likely be okay at least for a little bit. There were too many people around. “Just stay away from him,” he grunted before walking off.

A twenty-one-year-old Jolie had just moved in with Alex a few months earlier. She met all of Alex’s family beforehand, including Peter who was only seventeen at the time. Peter was a sweetheart and Jolie took a liking to the younger man straight away. The couple went over to Alex’s grandparents’ house one night for a family dinner, which included two of his aunts and two of his uncles.

Alex kept a loose arm around Jolie’s waist and an easy smile on his face. She was great with his family. They absolutely adored her. After a bit, he disappeared with his uncle to talk about business for a bit. Jolie helped Alex’s grandpa and grandma as they were finishing dinner. She easily bounced around the kitchen with a smile on her face. Grandpa laughed at her while Grandma would declare how Alex better not let her go. She was a catch.

Peter came into the kitchen kissing his grandparents on the cheek. When he saw Jolie, he hugged her right away. “It’s good to see you!” he said genuinely, “How’s living with the cousin?”

“It’s wonderful. I’m really happy,” Jolie answered without missing a beat and gave Peter’s arm a squeeze. They pair fell into some light conversation, but suddenly, Alex appeared in the kitchen with an upset look on his face. He asked Jolie to come outside with him. A bit confused at why he would be upset, she followed him outside. Straight away, he snapped at her for trying to come onto Peter, which wasn’t true at all. He didn’t want to hear it. Instead, he hit her in the stomach winding her before he headed back inside.

Jolie sat outside to collect herself so nobody would notice anything was wrong. Nothing got past Peter though. He snuck outside with concern written all over his face. “Are you okay?” he asked seeing the pain on the woman’s face, “Did Alex hurt you?”

“Of course not, I’m fine,” Jolie tried to force a smile straight away, but Peter wasn’t having it at all.

“I have eyes, Jo. I…I know he’s my cousin, but you shouldn’t let him hurt you. He pushes things too far, you should run. I’ll try to keep him as calm as I can. I’m sorry if I caused him to react badly. It was my fault, wasn’t it?”Peter rambled quickly. In the moment, Jolie could see just how young he was. He could see something was wrong, but felt powerless.

“I’m fine, sweetie. Don’t go worrying about me. Thank you for being so concerned though. Let’s head back inside with the family,” Jolie softly spoke.

The party continued without a hitch. All the guests seemed happy and Alex was roaming the room giving Jolie a small break. She walked into their bedroom closing the door behind her. She sat down on the bed to take moment to relax. Suddenly, the door opened and in stumbled in one of Alex’s friends named Trevor. Just by the looks of him, he was clearly wasted. He shut the door behind him with a smirk on his face. “What are you doing?” Jolie asked suddenly on edge, “D-did you need something?”

A chuckled suddenly filled the room as Trevor stalked his way over to Jolie as she slowly backed away from him. Much to her dismay, he back hit the dresser and Trevor had her pinned. “Please don’t touch me. Alex is going to be angry,” she whimpered out as she felt Trevor pin her hands down. He pressed his hips into hers and she struggled to get away from him. She could smell the alcohol on his lips, but he was too strong to get away from.

“You’ve been skipping around here in this little dress that shows so much of you with that fucking hickey on your neck. You’re practically begging for someone to fuck that little hole of yours,” Trevor slurred right away. He grabbed her roughly turning her around and pushing her so she was bent over the dresser a bit. He held her wrists with one hand while letting his other run down her body.

Jolie felt panic rise in her chest and tears start to fall. She couldn’t let this happen. “Let me go! Let me go! I don’t want this,” she begged right away trying to fight him off. Instead, Trevor roughly grabbed her hair in his fist pulling her head back roughly.

“I like it when it’s rough. You’re just going to make it worse if you fight,” Trevor grunted and released Jolie’s hair. He slid his hand down to her breasts giving one a hard squeeze that was more painful than pleasurable. “Fuck, you’ve got a sexy little body. I can’t even imagine how tight you are.” He slid his hand down to her ass hiking up her dress and slapping her ass hard before starting to rub it.

“Alex! Please! Help me!” Jolie shrieked out trying to scream over the music that filled the apartment. This only pissed Trevor off more making him slap her. He started unbuckling her parents and she cried out again, “Help!” Trevor roughly grabbed her jaw threatening her to be quiet.

The door to the bedroom flew open with Peter flying in. Next thing Jolie knew, Trevor was off of her and she was sinking down to the ground. Peter punched Trevor and started to drag him out of the room without even a word. When she looked up, she saw Alex at the door too. He was furious and she knew it was at her, not Trevor. He started walking towards her, but she was back on her feet. She pulled her dress down before quickly running around him. She grabbed her phone that was on the counter and ran right out the door.

The streets of LA were still busy even though it was nearly two in the morning. Nobody even paid any attention to the woman hurrying down the streets. Jolie’s make-up was running and hair was half falling down. She had no clue where she was going, but knew that she had to get away. Her heart was pounding and she could barely breath. Finally, she found a twenty-four-hour diner and hurried into the bathroom. She stared at herself in the mirror at first before slowly washing off her make-up. When she looked okay, she walked back out sitting down at a booth in the corner. She pulled out her cracked phone calling a number.

“Isn’t this a surprise! What’s going on, Knife Girl?” Jimmy answered his phone.

“I didn’t think you’d be up…” Jolie replied in a tiny voice.

“Well, inspiration hit a little while ago. Are you okay? You sound upset.”

“I…I need you to make me laugh. Can you tell me a story?”

“Now that is The Rev’s specialty! Did I tell you about Short Shit on tour? Well…”

It was nearly five in the morning when Jolie finally left the diner. She traced her steps without even thinking back to her apartment. Each step felt like a nail in her coffin. As soon as she was back in the apartment, Alex would punish her. The past three hours she managed to avoid thinking about the horror waiting for her. Jimmy told her story after story making her laugh until there were tears in her eyes.

The apartment was still trashed, but nobody was left. It was eerily quiet. She closed the door as quiet as she could before taking off her heels and heading towards the bedroom. “So, you came back?” Alex’s voice suddenly scared her. The tone was dark and menacing. She looked up at him seeing the fury in his eyes as he stalked over to her. It was the look she saw before he sent her to the hospital. She tightly closed her eyes and dropped her heels to the floor accepting her fate. Maybe this was the day Brian was talking about. The day that Alex would kill her.

“You never learn, do you?” Alex snapped as he grabbed onto her throwing her to the floor. Jolie barely made a noise as the pain started coming. This was it.

Notes

Uh oh. This was rough. I'm so sorry. Thank you all for reading and commenting <3 Your continued support means the world to me!