Waiting

Chapter 8

The next few weeks Noel and Ashley were like teenagers. They couldn't keep their hands off of each other. They hung out almost every day like usual, except in addition to lunches and movies, they had as much sex as they could. They never cuddled or stayed in bed long. They had sex then went on to the next activity. They never talked about it either and that is how Ashley wanted it. Noel on the other hand knew he was falling for Ashley and wanted to be with her. He had never been so sure about anything in his life. One day they fell asleep after having sex and she had another dream. She sat up in bed with a racing heart and covered in sweat. Noel was awakened and sat up too. He saw the fear in her eyes for a split second before she realized she had been dreaming again.

"Ash, What's wrong?" He looked at her concerned.

She stared at him for a minute then took some deep breaths.

"Are you ok?" He asked gently.

"Yeah. Just a bad dream."

She laid back down and so did he. He laid on his side looking at her.

"What about?"

"I always have the same dream about Chris. About the night he attacked me, but in the dream he ends up stabbing Josh." 

She felt tears forming in her eyes.

"Come 'ere" he pulled her in to him and wrapped his arm around her.

"It must have been terrible for you. What happened that night?"

She took a breath. 

"He broke in one night. I had been at the grocery store and I got home. I put the groceries away, then I went to my room and there he was."

"So you were broken up already?"

"Yeah. He had been acting really aggitated for a couple months before. He got angry at the smallest things. He even slapped me one night. Of course he then apologized profusely and promised me it would never happen again. I was so stupid. Anyway, about a month later, he slapped Josh right across the face because he wanted to stay up to play video games and Chris had told him to go to bed. I couldn't believe that he did it. The look on Josh's face broke my heart. I screamed at Chris and told him to get out and that we were through. He left but then kept calling trying to get me to forgive him. I finally had to change my number. I thought it was over and we could move on, but he showed up that night. Thank god Josh was at Ali's. He had a knife and tied my hands behind my back with zipties and threw me on my bed. He kept saying "just wait til Josh comes home." I felt so helpless and scared."

"So what happened?"

"Ali had been trying to call me, but I wasn't answering, so she thought something wasn't right. She and Rob drove over to my house to check on me. He heard the car and grabbed me off the bed and put the knife to my throat. When they came into my room he started threatening to kill me. Thank god Rob had come with Ali. He lunged at Chris, but he cut my neck as Ali pulled me away. They fought and Rob got him pinned down and Ali called the police."

"I'm sorry Ash."

"I'm just glad Josh wasn't there. I don't think I could live if anything happened to him."

"So he's in prison now?"

"Yeah he got life in prison for criminal confinement and attempted murder."

"That fucker deserves alot worse."

"I'm just glad he can't hurt us anymore."

"I won't let any fucker hurt you Ash."

He kissed her shoulder and she felt so safe in his arms. She also felt uneasy about her and Noel. She felt it was getting a little too serious and that scared her. 

*Song inspirations