Status: New and Active!

Nobody's Hero

IV. || Baseball Bats & Promises

"Yeah, mom. Love you. Talk to you later," Phoenix said into the phone, clicking the 'end call' button before Pat could see the picture of Andy that hovered on the screen. Andy's face faded away and she put the phone down on the coffee table.

"Spilled booze on myself already. Can ya believe it?" Pat asked her, plopping down on the couch beside her. In fact, she could believe it. He smelled like he'd already drank an entire bar and there was a giant brown stain covering the front of his light blue shirt.

She smiled at him, wondering if he was going to say anything else to her or just go back out. He sat there for a good few minutes silently, staring at her. She felt like he was expecting her to say something, but she didn't and neither did he.

All of a sudden, Andy's photo glowed to life on her phone screen in front of them on the table. She cursed herself for not putting the phone face down. Pat snatched the phone up at once, before she could even manage to reach for it with her limited mobility.

"Your boyfriend's calling!" Pat singsonged, waving the phone in front of her face.

"Stop calling him that, Pat. You're my boyfriend. You know I love you," she said, trying some of the things she'd used before to calm him down. He smiled at her, and for a moment she thought she'd avoided the blow-up. But then he threw her phone across the living room. She watched as it bounced off the wall and hit the floor with a thud. She could see even from where she was that the screen had completely shattered. "Pat-" she started, but he cut her off with a sudden hand around her throat. He squeezed hard a few times and then let go, throwing her head back just slightly as he did so.

"No. You don't get to talk right now, princess. Right now, it's my turn. See, I'm about done with you. We've had our fun, but now I think it's over. I've been so nice to you, Phoenix. So nice. You know that? I've tried. I've tried so hard to give you nice things and be good to you. Sure, I might've lost my temper a few times. I might've accidentally hit you and fucked you up a few times. But I've always been good to you!" Patrick ranted at her, his volume increasing with each word he uttered.

Instinctively, Phoenix got up off the couch and started backing across the room. Patrick followed closely, smiling at her like he was a lion about to enjoy a meal. She was afraid; maybe more afraid than she'd ever been. All she could think about was how much she wished Andy was there. She'd just barely had that thought when suddenly, Andy was there.

He barged into the front door of the apartment roughly, a well-used old metal baseball bat firmly in his grasp. Patrick barely glanced up at him in his pursuit of Phoenix. He backed her into the corner across the living room and she reached for Andy, sobbing. Patrick swatted her arm away and raised a hand at her, smacking her hard across the face before Andy even had a chance to do anything. She collapsed into a small heap on the floor and before she even realized what had happened, Patrick collapsed on top of her. Blood poured from his head and she realized Andy had hit him with the bat.

"Phoenix, come on. We've got to get out of here," she heard Andy's voice say the words and soon his face appeared right in front of hers. "Belle, you're having a panic attack, okay? You're okay. I need you to breathe and I need you to come with me. I'll keep you safe if you just come with me," he rambled at her, knowing that hearing his deep voice was comforting to her. He'd broken her out of panic attacks many-a-time when they were younger when she and everyone around her thought she might actually be dying. His voice had always been the trick.

Realizing he was going to have to wait out the attack, Andy moved Patrick off of her and sat down right in front of her, getting as close to her as he could. They sat there for a while, her breathing and him running his hands up and down both of her arms, reminding her he was there. Finally when she seemed to have gotten it most of the way together, he grabbed her hand and reminded her again that they needed to go.

"Scar, is he dead?" she asked him as he hurried her through the door and he shook his head.

"No, and he's probably going to wake up soon, so we've got to go," he said, looping his arm through hers and guiding her even harder down the hallway of the apartment building, mindful of the pain she must've been in because of her ribs but also knowing that she needed to stop worrying about Patrick if they were going to get out before he came after them.

Once they were safely out in his car and on their way somewhere -he wasn't sure where yet-, he asked her to call the police and was surprised when she started shaking her head.

"I can't," she said and he cocked his head off to the side at her.

"What the fuck do you mean you can't?"

"I mean I can't. His dad is the fucking sheriff, Andy. He wouldn't do anything for us anyway, and if we did call him, we'd both probably end up in jail. You did hit him with a bat, after all," she said and he scoffed loudly.

"I hit him with a bat after he broke your nose, three ribs, and fuckin' smacked you right in front of me!" Andy yelled, and she could see him almost shaking with the rage he was feeling.

"The first time he gave me a black eye, I made the mistake of calling the police. An officer showed up and took me to jail even though I hadn't done anything at all. He'd punched me because I'd apparently given him a look that he didn't like. Do you remember when I was gone a few days a couple months back? I told you I was on a bender or something? I was in a holding cell," she admitted to him and he gave her such a prolonged look that she thought he might crash the car then and there.

"Tell me you just made that up," Andy said to her through gritted teeth. She shook her head.

"I didn't," she told him, almost able to see his heart breaking as he realized there was a whole world she'd been keeping from him that stretched much further than he'd even thought possible.

"Well, I'm going to keep you safe. I promise," he said, softening just slightly and reaching for her hand. She gave it to him and he held it tightly. She watched him as he watched the road, wondering if it was even possible for him to keep that promise.