The Sanctuary✔️

32

Stepping off the bus at the restaurant Summer picked out, Ashley pulled Gabriel's coat over her head as she ran inside. It was still completely down pouring outside, it had been all day. When she got inside she was met with one of the best smells she had ever had go through her head.

A hostess came up to Ashley with a crooked smile and a tablet in her arm, "Can I help you?"

"I'm supposed to meet Summer Evans here?"

"Ms. Evans has a table in the back, I'll take you."

"Thank you." She followed the high class host lady to the back of the restaurant where she saw Summer sitting on her phone in a chair.

"Ms. Evans, your guest is here." Ashley saw Summer straighten out and put her phone away in her purse at her feet. She was in a black slit dress that made her look completely beautiful, while Ashley was dressed in a pencil skirt and white top, making her seem professional.

Summer was breathtaking, Ashley noticed. She was always breathtaking at work and when the group went out, summer always was beautiful. It made Ashley feel inferior for a moment.

"Thank you. Sit down, Ashley."

"This is a really nice place."

"Yea..."

"So, what did you want to talk about?"

"Everything that is going on. I know you have probably had this conversation a lot, so I will try to keep it to a minimum for the most part. But this guy?"

"John?"

"Yeah."

"He just...I don't even know when it started to happen. Collage we met and things hit off, he was a really nice guy then. A few years later he started to get more upset all the time, getting aggressive about anything. It was like I had to walk around everything and bend over backward for him. He started to drink, I think that's when he started to hurt me. It all seems like it happened too fast and never happened at all."

"So he's an alcoholic?"

"He became one, then stopped for a year and joined a sobriety club. He stopped when his job started to pick up a lot more, he said he only did it on his days off but I'm pretty sure he always went to work half drunk. He was a nurse, a patient died on him I think one day and that's when he started to hurt me."

"Alcoholic and abusive, you really know how to pick them."

"yeah...I don't know, he was amazing. I always felt guilty about leaving him because I had put so much into our relationship. It took me until I saw him in that jail to realize he had put nothing into me anymore."

"I spoke to him in that police station, he was an absolute prick. I am glad you dumped his ass. Fucking asshole, didn't even remember me from that night. I had to go to the hospital because of him. Does he ever remember what he did to you?'

"Sometimes, other times depending on if he drinks he doesn't. I know he would remember when he did hurt me because he would pamper me for days so I didn't tell anyone."

"He's a manipulative bitch Ashley."

"I know, it was right in front of me the whole time and I just ignored it. I know a lot of this is partially my fault-"

"Don't say that. Do not say it was your fault, you may have ignored the signs and shit he was doing to you. But it is not your fault for what he did to you. At all. I wanted to talk about him so I could know more. That sounds snoopy but I really did, because I wanted to talk to you about seeing someone."