COMPLETED | Stay

Chapter 8: I Need Help

"Where have you been?" Ryan shouted as Cass shut the door to their apartment behind her. He was sat, back to the wall, facing the door, bottle of beer in hand.

"I text you, I had to go help out with a case back in New York with Liv." Cass explained trying to keep her voice even. 

"Bullshit." Ryan shouted throwing the bottle in Cass's direction causing it to smash by her feet, a piece of the shattered glass catching her foot causing a small trickle of blood to make its way onto the floor. "I think you were having an affair." He said, standing up and pressing his forearm to Cass's neck, holding her in place against the door.

"Babe, you know I wouldn't do that." She said, trying to calm him down.

"I don't believe you." He said, pulling a knife from behind him and placing it to her cheek. "I think you cheated on me. After all I've done for you." He said, pushing the blade into her skin causing a second trickle of blood to appear.

"I promise I have never cheated." Cass said.

"Stop lying to me!" Ryan said angrily, moving the knife to her shirt and using it to cut away a part of the fabric leaving her collarbone exposed.

"I'm not lying." Cass whispered as she felt the blade dig into her shoulder. She looked away, tears forming in her eyes from the pain of her fiance carving into her skin.

"You're a lying slut and I'm gonna put that right here so everyone knows your a liar." He said as he finished up, making sure the cuts were deep enough to scar. Then he put the knife away, Cass believed there was a part of him that was still the Ryan she had fallen in love with, the Ryan her parents loved like their own son already, the Ryan that wouldn't hurt a fly, he still didn't want to kill her. 

Seconds turned into minutes, a few punches turned into more, light blurred into darkness. 

Eventually, Cass felt Ryan leave and go to bed, she lay there on the floor for a few minutes afterwards just to make sure he wasn't coming back before pushing herself off the floor and surveying the damage to the surrounding area before her own wellbeing even crossed her mind. Cass made herself busy, sweeping up the smashed bottles and cleaning away the blood from the floor before going into the bathroom to see the extent of the damage. Cass stood in front of the mirror and could already see the bruises forming on her face, neck and arms. She peeled back the material of her top which was now sticking to the open wound on her collarbone and cringed in pain when the cold air hit the open wound, she cleaned it with water from the tap before using medical tape to stick a bandage over it. The pain was more than it normally was and as she unscrewed the painkillers Cass contemplated taking just one more than the recommended dose but decided against it.

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"Wake up..." Ryan hissed. Cass's eyes snapped open and her jaw dropped in shock as she saw her fiance straddling her with a gun in hand, her gun. Ryan took this to his advantage and shoved the barrel of the gun into her mouth. "If I catch you even looking at another guy again I will pull this trigger." He said, tucking a piece of hair behind Cass's ear in an almost affectionate way. "Do I make myself clear?" He asked.

Cass tried to reply "Yes" but discovered it was pretty hard to talk with a gun shoved down your throat so just nodded.

"Good girl." Ryan said, removing the gun and placing a gentle kiss on Cass's lips. "Come on then, let's get some sleep, we've both got work tomorrow." He added, laying back down and placing the gun on his bedside table.

Cass didn't get another second of sleep that night, her eyes remained open, scared of what might happen if she dared to shut them again even for a minute. She figured it must be morning when Ryan got out of bed and began wandering around the apartment, getting ready for work. Before he left he came back into the bedroom and Cass quickly clamped her eyes shut, pretending to be asleep. He placed a quick kiss in her hair before leaving for work. 

She lay on her side, completely still for a few more minutes after she heard the apartment door open then shut again just to make sure he was actually gone, then she allowed the first tear to cascade down her cheek, but then it invited its friends and before she knew it they were pouring out. She didn't know how long she had been laying there, she thought she heard her phone ringing a couple times but pushed it to the back of her mind.

"Cass!" A voice rang through her apartment along with several knocks on the door. "It's Jay, let me in." The voice shouted again. Cass finally managed to drag herself out of bed and make the agonising journey to the door, she unlocked it and let her partner in, away from the prying eyes of her neighbours.

"Shit." She said, picking up her phone that had been left on the side. "I'm late for work, aren't I? Let me go get dressed, I'll be one second." She said, her eyes not quite meeting Jays.

"Hold up a sec." Jay called as she rushed off, further into the apartment. "Voight's given you the day off, Antonio told him you weren't feeling too great on the flight back."

"So why are you here?" She asked quizzically, still not meeting his gaze.

"I'm here to check up on you." Jay said honestly, taking a few slow steps towards her. "And don't say you're fine." He cut her off.

"I need help Jay." Cass said, the emotions on top of the lack of sleep taking over her body as her legs turned to jelly, Jay managed to reach out his arms and catch her before she hit the ground and possibly added to her already wide range of injuries.

"Whatever you need, we're all here for you." He said, running a hand through her long dark hair.

"I need to get away, somewhere safe, somewhere Ryan doesn't know about. And someone needs to keep me there, stop me from changing my mind." Cass said, pulling away and looking him in the eyes for the first time.

"Pack a bag, stuff you need to last you a few days." Jay said. "We can go to my place, I can get my brother to drop by, check you over." He said.

"Okay." Cass said, walking away and packing up the bag she normally used for the gym with enough clothes to last her and toiletries. Jay was leaning against her kitchen counter when she returned a few minutes later. "Will you take this?" She asked, holding her phone out to him. "I know if I have it and he texts me I will run straight back." She explained. 

"Of course." Jay said, taking it and slipping it into his back pocket. "I'll take that as well." He said, taking the bag from her.

"Thanks." Cass said shyly.

"Will's gonna meet us at my apartment." Jay said as they exited her apartment building for what he hoped would be the last time.

"Okay, who else have you told?" She asked almost nervously.

"Just him and Antonio, he was really worried about you, you know?" Jay said. "I hate to ask you this but is there any evidence here we can use against him?" Jay asked.

"Yeah..." She hesitated. "My gun, his prints'll be all over it."

"Look." Jay said, facing Cass. "Antonio is telling Voight as we speak. We're just doing it to make sure you're safe." He explained.

"He's going to prison." Cass stated, there was a slight questioning tone behind it but she knew what was going to happen.

"Yeah." Jay said, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. "He's going away for what he did to you." He said.

"Can we get out of here please?" Cass asked, taking one final look around her apartment.

"Of course we can." Jay said, leading her out of the apartment and to his car but leaving the door unlocked for the guys to get in and get her gun.