Imprinted on My Heart

Maeve’s POV

I pulled into a space on the high street and Alex jumped out while I turned the engine off and locked the doors. He then smiled and offered me a hand which I took and he then lead me down the street and into a book store. Once in there he walked to the counter and dinged the bell that sat there about 20 times before a guy came out and ripped it from him while glaring at him. I hid slightly behind Alex and buried my face in his back laughing but trying to do so quietly.
“what do you want Alex, if my boss see’s you she’ll kick you out”
“aww come on Will, it’s not my fault that she blames me for what Gabe did” the guy grunted and replied
“he’s your friend, association makes you evil as well, who’s that?” I heard him ask and I popped my head out from behind Alex to see a kid of about 15 that looks remarkably like Alex. I waved at him and stepped out from behind Alex to offer a hand
“hi I’m Maeve, I’m new in town”
“and looking for a job” Alex put in and I rolled my eyes at Will and whispered
“has he always had a free flowing mouth?” Will chuckled and his eyes sparkled
“always, you know we have home videos of him when he was-” Alex jumped in then
“woah Will, no need for that! Anyway you got any jobs going?” I sighed and elbowed him in the gut making him grunt lightly and poke me. I glared at him playfully and Will watched this exchange with avid amusement
“you want me to get your girlfriend a job?” I yelped when I heard this and span to face him
“girlfriend? What are you talking about? Friends is all” Alex nodded in agreement and Will smirked
“yeah it won’t stay that way for long, anyway yeah we have a job going as a sales person/shelf stacker, you want it?” I grinned and nodded
“sure, when do I start?” Will shrugged,
“I’ll talk to my boss then I’ll call you” I smiled and asked
“do you want my number then?” Will winked and said
“I’ll get it off of Alex later” Alex rolled his eyes and grabbed my hand dragging me to the door
“bye Will, see ya at home” I waved to him just before the door closed.
“Well it seems I now have a job” I said to Alex and he grinned
“yep which means you owe me a coffee” I laughed and he pulled me into a little café where we sat down in a booth and a waitress came over. She apparently knew Alex and was geared up for a flirt fest
“hey Alex” she said and Alex smiled replying
“hey there, can we have two coffees and two slices of chocolate cake” the girl looked taken aback that he had kinda dismissed her and I grinned but tried not to by biting my lip and the girl saw and glared at me before smiling tightly at Alex and walking off. I couldn’t hold in the grin and Alex looked at me weirdly
“what?” he asked and I smiled saying
“that poor girl just got her hopes crushed” he raised a brow
“huh?” I laughed
“Alex she was all flirty and you just blew her off” he shrugged and said
“oh, I didn’t notice, oh well I’m not interested anyway” I nodded and smiled at him then asked
“so was that your brother in there then?” Alex grinned
“yeah he’s my little brother William, I also have an older sister Chantelle who married the local bad boy Bryan and now has a son called Hunter, he’s my cool little nephew I’m gonna train to be an athlete like me” I laughed
“and what does Chantelle think about that?” he rolled his eyes
“she wants him to be a musician but I told her musicians are lame but considering she is one it didn’t go down well and I had a black eye for a week!” I laughed and Alex huffed
“it’s not funny, it hurt!” I just shook my head and calmed my laughing
“ok Alex, no need for dramatics, I’m sure it did but you insulted her so I totally agree that she should have hit you” Alex rolled his eyes.

The waitress came back with our order and put it on the table with out a word then went back to work. I giggled
“opps Alex, I think you’re being given the silent treatment” he laughed and said
“is it supposed to be a punishment because I’m quite enjoying it” I laughed and we carried on talking as we ate and drank then when we finished Alex fished out some money and left it on the table before hurrying me out while I was trying to speak. When we got to the street I said
“The deal was I pay” he grinned cheekily and said
“oh really? Well then we’ll have to come out again so you can pay” I laughed and shook my head
“you sneaky git! I’m leaving you here now” I then darted off to my car but he caught up and grabbed me around the waisted but he grabbed my bruised stomach and my legs buckled beneath me but he stopped me from falling and pulled me to his chest and stroked my hair
“oh my god I’m sorry did I grab you too tightly?” I took in a shaky breath and tried to block out the pain as I looked up at his worried face
“it’s ok Alex, it’s not your fault”
“what’s the matter then?” I shook my head and Alex fished my keys out of the pocket of his hoodie and led me to the car where he sat me in my seat before getting in the passenger side and facing me with a look of concern, waves of worry coming from him
“it’s nothing, I just hurt my stomach last night and its sensitive” he shook his head and asked
“can I see it?” I hesitated before nodding, I had shorts on underneath. He pulled my dress up to chest height and his face looked shocked, I leant down slightly to see and saw a huge purple and blue bruise, as big as a fist. Alex seemed to have noticed this too as he made his hand into a fist before moving it to just in front of the area as if to gage if it could well have been one. His face quickly turned angry
“who punched you?!” he demanded and I sighed and didn’t reply; he huffed and let my dress fall down again before he asked again
“who hit you Maeve, I want to know” I opened my eyes and peaked up at his reddening face and sighed
“it doesn’t matter Alex, it’s done, can I take you home now” Alex clenched his fist before turning back to face the front and I noticed that the muscle in his jaw was working over time and the vein in his neck was sticking out. I looked at the steering wheel for a moment, contemplating telling him before I started the ignition and set off with Alex pointing in the direction I should go.

We eventually reached his house which was close by the woods and I knew I would have to remember its location and stay away from it lest they see me one night. I stopped the car and turned off the ignition; neither Alex nor I moved, he was still too angry. I looked down at my twisting hands again and thought about telling him but I knew that as soon as he found out he would either forget he ever met me or beat the crap out of my father, either would not be a good idea. I glanced up from the corner of my eye to see Alex’s hand still clenched so I decided to compromise so I took his hand in mine before leaning over the consol to kiss him on the cheek before turning his face to mine and saying
“I’ll tell you someday but for now please drop it, I’m too tired to fight” when I kissed him the muscle in his jaw relaxed and as I spoke he seemed to calm until his face was neutral and then when he looked at me his face totally relaxed to one of caring and he wrapped the arm I was holding around me and hugged me, resting his head on mine while I tucked mine into his neck.
“ok Mae but please tell me, I can’t stand to know that someone is hurting you and I can’t do anything” a tear fell down my cheek and I whispered
“you can’t save me from family” before I sniffled and backed out of the hug, with difficulty, until I was upright in my seat. Alex wiped the tear from my face and I smiled saying
“ahh, do you make all girls cry?” he chuckled and replied
“it’s a gift” I laughed and said
“well time for you to get out of my car, I need to go home and make dinner” he nodded and got out of the car then walked up to his drive. When he reached his door he turned and waved to me and I waved back before tearing off down the road back to mine.

I reached home in 20 minutes and raced to the door knowing that I would be in trouble for not being home on time.

As I thought as soon as I walked through the door and closed it I was thrown back against the adjoining wall with a back hander to the face. My head smacked off the dry wall and my hand flew to my now marked cheek as it stung in pain. I looked up to see my father glaring at me while my step-mother stood behind him with a smug smile and her latest purchase in her hands. I looked to my father as he advanced on me and spat
“where were you?!” I shied away slightly as he got closer and replied
“I went to town to find a job” father threw me to the floor and kicked me saying
“why didn’t you tell me! You could have gone looking after you made us food, your poor mother had to make it!” I tamped down the urge to laugh as she couldn’t even make toast but the comment about her being my mother pissed me off so I spat out
“she is not my mother!” father apparently didn’t like this as his face turned red and his fists clenched before he started kicking every inch of me he could as I curled up so as to protect myself, my step mother laughing in the back ground. He shouted as he did so
“you will call her mother! She is wonderful while you are a fat lazy cow and a whore! Cashlin is better than that bitch of a mother you had anyway, couldn’t even live long enough so that I didn’t have to take care of you wretch!” as he spoke ill of my mother I felt the beast in me fight to come out and rip him to shreds but I didn’t want human blood on my hands so I fought it with all the power I had left in me and waited until my father had finished.

Once he had stopped reprimanding me and kicking me he left without another word, Cashlin in toe, and left me on the floor at the bottom of the stairs.

It took a while but I eventually pulled myself up and hauled myself down the hall to the basement stairs and down to my room which I locked and then made my way to the attached bathroom which thankfully I had to myself. I stripped my clothes off and looked in the mirror at the damage. I had an even larger bruise on my stomach now with several of similar size all around it from other kicks. I also had a giant welt on my face and a lump just under my hair line; there were bruises on my legs and arms while I had a trickle of blood running from my mouth down my neck where his kicks had me coughing up blood.

I stepped into the shower and gently washed myself before getting out and doing the same as I dried my hair and body before I simply put on some boy shorts and a large t-shirt then crawled into bed. My last thought being how I was gonna explain this to Alex tomorrow.