Save Me (Roger Taylor FanFiction) [Wattys 2019]

19: Phoning the Police

*14th December 1971*

WHEN I STEPPED IN THE door of Roger's house with my bag in hand, I felt free. I felt like everything was going to be okay, finally.

"Alright, Jules?" Roger greeted when I walked into the kitchen and sank, happily, into his kitchen chair. He turned around to look at me and his face fell.

"What the hell happened to your face, love? Why is it all red?" Then he stared at me for a minute. "You went to your house after work, didn't you?" He asked, jumping to the right conclusion when he saw the bag sitting on the floor next to my feet.

"Yeah, just to get a few things," I replied, covering my cheek with my hand.

"He hit you again," he stated, "he hit you again," he repeated, this time with more strength and volume.

"Roger, please, it's not even that bad," I told him, batting his hand away when he reached out to touch my cheek.

"Julie, he hit you again," he repeated for a third time, grasping my shoulders in his hands.

"Yes, Roger, that's three times you've said that now,"

"I'm phoning the police right now," he announced, letting go of me and walking to the phone that sat on a table in his hallway.

"No, please don't," I pleaded, getting up and running after him. "Please just leave it,"

"I left it the last time, I'm not leaving it this time," he told me, turning the dial on the phone and holding the handset to his ear.

This is absolutely great.

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"And what is your boyfriend's name, Miss Smith?" The police officer who was taking note of every word I said was a man who was probably in his 40s, he had bushy eyebrows and he was balding. He had a kind face and a wedding ring that had long since lost its shine.

"Lucas, Lucas Stevenson," he wrote that down quickly and continued to ask questions. Roger stood behind them, leaning against his kitchen counter, biting his fingernails.

"Would you like to press charges against him?" At this question, Roger looked up at me and there was a horrible silence in the room for a good ten seconds.

"Not right now," I replied and Roger seemed to accept that.

"Okay, we will give him an official warning, the next time anything like this happens, we will need to arrest him," he told me, putting his notebook in his back pocket.

"Thank you for coming out, officers," I thanked the two police officers and showed them out of Roger's house. I huffed and rested my forehead against the door.

"You know I had to do that, don't you, love?" I heard Roger's soft voice from behind me. I turned to look at him. 

"I know, Roger and it's okay. I'm glad to know that you care," I told him with a small smile.

"I really do," he stepped closer to me and pulled me into a hug. I sighed into his shoulder and wrapped my arms around him. Nothing beat a hug from Roger.

"What happened today?" He whispered in my ear, his arms still tightly wrapped around me.

"I just went over, he begged me to come back, I said no and he got all defensive. He started talking crap about you and then I told him I was sick of him, he slapped me, threatened me and then left me alone to pack. That was it,"

"He threatened you?" He question in disbelief. "What the hell did he say?"

"He said that one day you aren't going to be around to protect me and I'm that day, I will regret saying all the stuff to him that I'd said in the house," my voice held no fear, despite the amount that I felt.

"Well, he's wrong. I'm always going to be here, and I'm not going to let anything happen to you, love. I promise you that," he smiled down at me and leaned in to kiss me.

"You're so sweet when you want to be," I giggled, squirming out of his grip.

"I do try," he shrugged and followed me down the hall to the living room.

"You hungry?" He asked me, sitting down on the couch next to me.

"Yeah, I could eat," I answered, only just noticing that I was starving when he asked.

"I'm going to get something out the chippy, what do you want?"

"Erm, get me a fish supper," I told him, not looking up.

"...What?" He sounded confused and that's when I remembered I wasn't in Scotland.

"That's Scottish for fish and chips; I forgot where I was again," I blushed, embarrassed at my forgetfulness.

He chuckled and grabbed his car keys. "I won't be long," he told me and walked out the house.

Scotland was the home of the best chip shops in the world. Every story you've heard about Scottish people frying everything was true. You can take anything into a chip shop in Scotland, ask them to fry it and they'll just do it for you. I was slightly depressed that I wouldn't be able to get a fried mars bar.

Roger was so considerate with the small things. He did helpful things like going and getting a chippy. Lucas would never have done that, I'd have had to drive to get it.

When I stood up to go and get a glass of water, I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror on the living room wall. This was the first time I'd really inspected my face by myself and I had a sudden wave of uncontrollable emotions wash over me.

I thought of everything that had happened to me over the last few days and I couldn't stop the tears that fell from my eyes.

Look at what that arsehole had done to my face. I had a bruise around my eye from him punching my nose and I had a huge black and blue mark on my cheekbone too.

Why did this have to happen to me? What did I do to deserve this crap?

I need to stop feeling sorry for myself.

"Get a grip, Julie, come on," I whispered to myself, wiping my eyes and taking a few deep breaths. Roger will be home any minute and I didn't want him to know I'd been crying.

Everything was going to be okay now that I had Roger...Right?

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A/N

This chapter is a bit all over the place, no? I'm going to start writing the next chapter right now and see how messy that one is.

Keep reading!

Xx