Chapter Nineteen
He knew that he wasn’t being fair to her, knew that his communication, as always, was lacking for others, and in this instance Nicole… however she seemed to be rolling with it just as well as she had before the relationship between them had so drastically shifted. He didn’t do sitting down at a table to talk things out and hash over them again and again until the subject was dead and buried. He didn’t believe in discussing things that didn’t have any purpose to being discussed. They’d discussed where the both of them stood, they’d decided she was moving in with him, and they’d decided to tell Marie and Paul. As far as he was concerned, that was all that had been needed to be officially discussed between the two of them. He knew that wasn’t all that she probably felt that needed to be discussed, but then she had Marie for a mother, and Marie liked to over talk things more than anyone he knew period.
His breath huffed out all at once, dropping that box that he had, more than likely, over packed with belongings from her bathroom while he’d been getting dressed, shoving it back further into the trunk to make room for all of the boxes still that had yet to come. He had every intention of getting every single piece of furniture and boxed random shit out of that apartment between the two of their cars in the next hour, and on the road within the next two. He was allotting at least an hour in there to pause for a drink and possibly give a thorough goodbye to the apartment she had really only just secured for herself.
It was something that needed to be at least brought up, and before they left the place, was how she would go about breaking her lease. He was more than happy to pay for it for her, it couldn’t cost more than two hundred dollars, and if they did it before they pulled out of this space today, then it would be completely done with and save them having to make a trip back to this part of town. Not like she didn’t come down here for classes every day, but with the new move for her it would be out of the way, and he wasn’t a big fan of her being in this close of proximity to Aaron when she absolutely didn’t have to be.
Which was probably something he should share with her before it became an actual issue that was forced to be addressed. He didn’t know if he could handle her thinking her break up with the douche had been amicable to the point where it was acceptable for her to speak to him if they ran into one another, and he wasn’t all that concerned with how unreasonable that might seem. He pulled his pants up a little higher on his hips, trying to ignore the way that walking to and from her apartment shirtless made him feel, but he certainly wasn’t about to ask her for that shirt back when she was all wrapped up in it like she was. He much preferred the idea of removing it from her himself when he got the chance, rounding the front door and walking into the apartment, fully prepared to ask her what the hell she was doing to cause such noise before he caught sight of what was actually occurring.
It was like the world had slowed down to some joke of a slow motion feature film, Aaron’s foot flying as far back as it could go, releasing with enough force to actually shake the cupboard it had passed in front of despite his not actually touching it, and slamming into what looked to be either Nicole’s abdomen or ribcage. “YOU SLUT,” Aaron’s voice ringing out even over that wheezing cry that seemed to be leaving the contorted body on the ground.
Mason’s whole chest burned.
He couldn’t focus, it was so much worse than the last time he’d gone after Aaron, so much more concentrated and with even that much more reason for having seen the abuse first hand this time. He knew that he tackled him back, he could hear the protesting creak of wood from the cabinetry as they slammed into it and the resulting splintering of wood that followed as well. He knew he was driving his fist repeatedly into any portion of Aaron that he could reach, especially that area just beneath his ribs and his face. Oh yes, he knew that at some point, just like the time before, someone else entered the apartment from the noise and made a call—and he knew when he heard the sirens. He just couldn’t be moved enough to cease the repeated abuse upon that body that had considered himself allowed to heap it onto a woman half his size.
“MASON!”
Just like before, the only voice he heard through that fog of rage that seized him so completely was Nicole’s. And just like before, hands that didn’t belong to her were gripping him, trying to drag him off of that body now coughing up blood, the coppery smelling, warm liquid splattering his face more encouragement than the deterrent it should have been. He knew it took more hands than it had the time before, he knew there were multiple bodies literally dragging him back from the mangled form that had been Aaron now lying on the floor—but the all too familiar visage of Nicole in the corner, crying and holding herself as if afraid she was falling apart that struck him.
It was the multiple bodies that stepped between the two of them when she tried to make her way to him, his own shoulders dropping, and the fight leaving him just as suddenly as it had come on. Allowing his wrists to be shackled like they were behind his back and following the police officer that was trying to drag him from the apartment.
“Son, I don’t know what happened here, and I’ve worked enough cases like this to know it had to have been something, even real stupid, but the damage you inflicted on that other boy is going to see you in a lot more trouble than you probably reckoned,”
The words broke through slowly, Mason’s head lifting, dead-ass face shifted so as to address the cop more completely and one shoulder lifting in a half shrug. The only reason that was true was because he hadn’t stopped to consider consequences at all, paramedics rushing through that open doorway and the only thing that made him even half appreciate the fact was that obviously one of them was checking over Nicole as well.
“Do you want to tell me your version of what happened son?” He wished the cop would stop using that terming, wished that they would afford him more room than they were, standing so close to him, but other than that… he felt… numb, shrugging again and shifting his weight so as to appear less of a threat. He had to give his statement, one way or another, or it was an admission of guilt. Though, how he was supposed to admit to being anything but guilty to that particular assault was beyond him.
“I left my girlfriend in the apartment,” his every word was completely monotone, devoid of any emotion or inflection at all, staring just beyond the cop’s face as he spoke. “I was packing things in the car, when I came back inside it was to find my girlfriend in a pile of broken glass and her ex, who I believe to have abused her previously, repeatedly kicking her in the abdomen and chest.” There was a flicker there towards the end, words becoming more and more tight, his jaw ticking just to one side at the admission of what he had seen as it flashed in his mind’s. He hoped the prick died, even if that did mean a worse sentence for him. “I tackled him, I reacted, and then you guys arrived.” Easily condensed, his fingers cracking behind him even with the way that the shackles held them.
“MASON!”
It wasn’t Nicole that time, Marie pushing through the crowd of spectators that had gathered to reach him at the back of the patrol car, her worried eyes taking him in, assessing how much of the blood covering his exposed torso and face was his and how much wasn’t. “What happened, the police said something about Aaron again? Mason why?” She’d barely gotten the words out before Paul was behind her, hand on her shoulder and concern etched into his features as well, his mouth opening and being cut off almost immediately.
“MASON!”
Again, though this time it was Nicole again, her frame running across that short expanse of grass before the parking lot- wincing with every step, only to hurl herself at him as soon as she was close enough. He didn’t have the arms to balance her, not in cuffs as he was, but that didn’t seem to deter her, frame climbing up his and her arms and legs both wrapping around him, fingers brushing over his face as if she was checking, too, to make sure that the blood on it wasn’t his, but Aaron’s. “God Mason I’m so sorry, I’m sorry I thought it was you, I didn’t know it was Aaron, I would never let him in I swear. Oh God, I’m so sorry, I should have fought back harder or locked myself in a room or- God I’m sorry- this is my fault, you wouldn’t be in cuffs if it weren’t for me and I just- fuck I love you Mason, I’m sorry. God I’m sorry I didn’t say that earlier, I’m sorry I didn’t tell you until now, and now it sounds like a goodbye and I don’t want it to sound like that and oh my god Mason-”
She was rambling again, just like she was prone to do, her lips running slipshod over his face, rough, tiny presses of them into random places on his face the only break in her speaking at all.
He was frozen, himself, and not just because of the cuffs rendering him so, but the two people standing just to his right watching the whole proceeding with slowly evolving facial expressions.
From looking at her climbing up him like that to realizing that it was his shirt that she had on her frame, he could practically see them drawing the conclusions such hints supplied for them, and he had no voice to answer either their obvious questions or Nicole’s profession. Especially not once hands began to remove Nicole from him- Officers pulling her back this time and urging him to duck into the back of the cruiser. He should have said something, there were plenty of opportunities, even over Nicole’s yelling…
But again, just like the last time, the last thing he saw was Nicole’s crying face disappearing from the squad car’s window as it pulled off, her parents slowly closing in around her.