I Like Me Better When I'm With You | Ackley Bridge

32|'Cory Wait!'

I hear a continuous knocking on my door, and I know exactly who it is before I open it. "Bella?"

"Why didn't you tell me?" I ask harshly, walking back into the living room. "How couldn't you tell me if your dad's abusing ya?"

"You told me to when I'm ready." He says quietly.

"Yeah, I meant about last night! Cory says this has been going on for months! I'm your fucking girlfriend! Why didn't you come to me?!" I exclaim.

"Can you carry this on upstairs, Izzy, love? I've got headache." Mom complains from the sofa.

"Fine." I grab Jordan and take him upstairs to my room before dropping his hand. "Why?"

"Cos, I were ashamed." He admits. "I were ashamed of me family, me life and... me. I couldn't defend myself! I thought I could fight back. I thought I were strong enough, but I weren't. And I didn't know what to do..."

"You come to me, Jordan. You come to me and you lean on me! And you trust ME!" I raise my voice. "We can't keep things from each other! The lad I fell in love with would know that! And he would know that I don't care if he could fight off some bloke that were twice the size of him! We do things together, we're in this together! That's summet that comes with being in a relationship, Jordan! That's how it works!"

"I know! And I tried! But I were scared!" Jordan snaps. "My dad had just beaten me within an inch of my life and I couldn't do nowt! And all I could think about was, what if he went for you? What if he hurt you?! I couldn't defend myself, how am I meant to defend you?! I were powerless, and you have no idea what that's like!"

Yes, I do. And it's the scariest thing in the world. My eyes soften at his confession, "Show me."

"Wh-what?" Jordan asks, taken aback at the sudden change in my voice.

"Show me what he did to you." I tell him. "Show me what that grown man did to MY boyfriend."

Jordan carefully lifts his shirt over his head, and a gasp falls from my lips at the sight in front of me. Big, purple bruises decorate his body, scattered across his chest, side and back.

"Baby..." I step forward and hesitantly reach out to touch his wounds. My cold fingertips graze across his warm chest.

Slowly, my hands trail up his body and cup his face. "I'm sorry he did this to you."

Jordan leans into my touch, "It weren't your fault."

I stand on my tip-toes and gently kiss his lips.

As I pull away, Jordan stops me, pulling me flush against his chest as his tongue explores my mouth. The kiss quickly gets heated as we move towards the bed, not breaking the kiss once.

I lay back on my bed as Jordan hovers over me, we stare at each other for a few moments before his head dips and  starts sucking and biting my skin, earning soft moans from me. Jordan pulls away and rips my jumper off, along with my leggings and his jogging bottoms, before smashing his lips back on mine.

I roll us over, so I'm straddling him, and I sit up to look at him. "What?"

"I just... can't believe your dad did this." I trail my finger down his chest.

"You're thinking about my dad when we're -"

I cut him off, "Shut up. I don't want you to ever hurt like this again."

I then proceed to delicately place a kiss on each of his bruises that I can get to, finishing on the one just below his waistband on his hip. "There. All better."

"You're so cute." Jordan mumbles before leaning up to kiss me again.

As I adjust my position on his lap, I hear a small grunt from him, which causes a smirk to break out on my face. I roll my hips against him, and he instinctively cups my bum, proceeding to move me at his own pace.

One of his hands trails up my back and goes to unclip my bra, but he pulls away quickly before he does. "You sure?"

"Mhm." I nod, kissing him.

He pulls away again, "100%?"

"A million percent, now fuck me." I demand with a smile.

A matching smile breaks out on his faces and he flips us over and...

♡♥︎♡

I slowly trace patterns across Jordan's stomach as he watches me. "You okay?"

"Mhm." His chest vibrates under my head when he talks.

"You sure?" I double check.

"I'm always okay when I'm with you." He says.

"You're such a loser." I laugh.

"But you love me for it." He squeezes my hip.

"Yeah, I do." I say, barely above a whisper.

"What was that?"

I tilt my head to look up at him, "I think I love ya."

"I love-"

"Hey, Trouble. You're mom let me in, said you and Jordan were up here just under an hour ago or summet, thought I'd.... What the fuck?" Cory's voice drowns out his brother's and our heads snap round to look at him.

"Cor..."

"Unbelievable." Cory scoffs before storming out.

"Cory wait!" I call out. I quickly throw a pair of shorts on and Jordan's t-shirt that I found on the floor before running out. "Cory!"

"Save it, Izzy."

"Wait, can't we just talk about this?! Let me explain. Please?!" I beg, chasing him down the street, without shoes on.

"What, Isabella?! What could you possibly say to make this better!" Cory snaps harshly making me stumble back in shock.

"I'm sorry. We didn't want you to find out like this." I tell him.

"Looks like you didn't want me to find out at all, don't it?!" 

"Listen, I never wanted to hurt ya. Believe me, I tried to stay away but I couldn't. I-I think love him." I admit.

"Yeah right!" He scoffs obnoxiously. "You don't know what love is!"

"What's that supposed to mean?" I ask offended.

"What, you really think he'll give you the time o' day after he's gotten bored?" He questions but I don't say anything. "Come on, Booth! He literally slept with Candice Murgatroyd! He's just a horny teenager, looking to get it wherever he can, and you're just a dumb slut that fell for it."

"You arsehole!" I shove him harshly. "How could you say that to me?!"

"How could you sleep with my brother?!" He retorts and I stay silent, not knowing what to say. "You promised me..."

"I'm-I'm sorry..." I say quietly.

"So am I."

With that, my best friend walks off much to my dismay. "Cory, please! Don't leave me!"