"So, what do you feel like for dinner?" Tessa yells from her bedroom before appearing in the doorway down the other end of the hall a moment later, as she turtles her way into a sweater. We had spent most of the afternoon into the early evening at the storage unit, sorting through my stuff enough for me to pack a suitcase full of my things to be able to crash for a week at Tessa's. 

She insisted I share her room with her but after everything she has already done for me, I told her I would be perfectly happy with the couch. Apparently, she wasn't having a bar of it though and after much argument, I finally caved and let her put my things in her room and help set me up. It was mildly helped by the fact that she has the bigger of the two bedrooms in her apartment and so she was adamant that there would be enough room for both of us. I was just greatly appreciative of the gesture in general, even if I was genuinely okay with sleeping on the couch. I really don't know what I would do without her.

"Umm, I'm not fussed..." I start, looking at her from the couch as she makes her way to me. "Maybe we could make something? Like we used to do back in our college days?"

"Ohhh what a great idea!" she beams. I watch as she thinks for a moment and then heads back down the hall to her kitchen. I hear her rustling around through her cupboards before reappearing a moment later. "I have ingredients for a risotto or a curry or-" she starts but is quickly cut off by a loud banging on the front door that makes us both jump.

Startled, I leap up from the couch and grab my phone out of my pocket. The screen reads half past six... Surely it can't be...?

My question is quickly answered as Liam roars Tessa's name and bangs on the door again.

"TESSA! I KNOW YOU'RE HOME! OPEN THE FUCKING DOOR!" he roars, his voice seething with rage.

Panicking, I turn to Tessa who gives me a calm look in return.

"Go into Claire's room and lock the door," she whispers, nodding her head towards the door behind me.

"But-"

"She won't mind, I promise. Don't come out until I tell you to, okay?" 

I nod my head in response before racing my way into Claire's room and quietly shutting the door behind me. I click the lock, dread washing over me as I sit against the door and place my ear to it.

"What do you want, Liam?" Tessa asks in a cold tone after having opened the door to him. I can imagine the look of disgust plastered on her face. For as long as I've been with Liam, she never liked him, never even warmed up to him. So her reaction to this whole thing is unsurprising in the least.

"Where is she?" he grunts angrily.

"Who? Hayley? I honestly don't know. Last she told me, she was staying with a friend."

"Bullshit! Who is this friend?!"

"Again, I don't know. Someone she met at work maybe? She didn't say. Why? Has something happened between you two?"

"No, of course not" he grunts, with a very fake sweetness. I feel the colour drain from my face at his answer. Of course, he's lying to her. I broke up with him and hung up as he started to scream. He probably thinks that if he sees me, he will be able to charm his way onto my good graces so that I don't actually leave him.

God, this man is worse than I thought he was. He can't accept the fact that I finally broke up with him.

My stomach twists into knots as I continue to listen to their conversation.

"She just didn't tell me where she was going. I didn't think she would go to her mother's and this whole 'friend' thing is a load of horse shit so the only logical explanation is that you are hiding her here..."

Shit.

"Well you think whatever you want in that delusional brain of yours Liam, but she's not here" Tessa snaps back at him.

"So you have ten seconds to leave my apartment before I call the police on your ass for harassment."

"You wouldn't..." he scoffs. I can practically hear his eye roll from here. I shiver. This man is too much. How did I let him get away with this behaviour for so long? 

"Oh, I would... Ten... Nine..."

He growls and punches something, the vibrations running through the door and into my soul.

"You bitch!" he spits. "I will find her, just you wait!"

Seconds after, I hear the door close and instantly the damn breaks and tears stream down my face in ugly sobs.

"Open the door, babe" Tessa says quietly from the other side of Claire's door. Picking myself up, I move out of the way and unlock the door. Tessa opens it and within seconds, she has pulled me into an embrace as a fresh wave of tears rolls through me.

She holds me as the sadness and fear continue to rip through me until eventually, I calm down enough to look at her.

"God, Tessa, he's so awful" I croak, wiping my face with my hands.

"I know, Hayley. I'm glad you see it now. He was never good for you and I'm glad you got away from him," she says softly, with a small smile on her face.

"What am I going to do?" I whisper, looking at her with a sense of despair.

"Well firstly, you're going to apply for a restraining order against that monster."

"I can do that? Who would believe me?"

"Well considering when you wiped away your tears you also wiped away your makeup that I can now see was covering a bruise from where he hit you, I saw you've got a very good chance. Hell, you could even take him to court for domestic violence if you really wanted to."

Without thinking, my hand reaches up to touch the mark on my cheek. I had completely forgotten I had covered it up this morning whilst trying to make sure I left Theo's place before he woke up. God, today has been a long day.

"I guess so," I sigh, suddenly feeling extremely tired.

"Come on then, we'll start with a restraining order. I'll need to take some photos of the bruise on your face" she starts, pulling me up and dragging me back into the lounge.

I let my mind shut off and she goes about her business, cleaning up my face and taking photos of the wound.

I watch silently as she proceeds to fire up her laptop and begin to fill out the form that she had conveniently bookmarked in her web browser. 

"Have you done one of these before?" I ask quietly, curiosity getting the better of me.

"Unfortunately, yes. I've had a few clients come to me in distress but were too scared to go to the police, so I helped them fill out the forms so that I could help keep them safe."

I nod absentmindedly as she continues to word. She asks me the odd question here and there and no more than ten minutes later, she has submitted the form and put her laptop away.

"Now what?" I mumble, watching her for guidance.

"Now we wait," she starts, a frown creeping onto her face. "Liam has five days to choose if he wants to respond to the order. If he doesn't then you will go to court alone and a judge will decide whether or not to make the order pertinent - which with your evidence, I don't see why they wouldn't. However, if he does choose to respond, then you will both go to court - with attorneys if you want them - and you will be able to argue why a restraining order against Liam should be made."

"I see... well, I think you and I both know that he will want to argue it so I guess I'm going to court with an attorney" I sigh, rubbing my hands over my face.

Suddenly, Tessa's face cracks into a huge smile. Confused, I narrow my eyes at her, frowning.

"You know who could be your attorney in court?" she giggles, wiggling her eyebrows at me.

Oh god. No don't say it.

"Theo! He's an attorney, right? At least that's what his business card said."

"Yes, he is" I groan, rolling my eyes at her. "But he's a criminal lawyer? I didn't think they dealt with restraining orders..."

"They do, restraining orders are considered a criminal offence babe..."

"Oh. Well, I can tell you right now that he is way beyond my budget. Plus, I already said that I didn't want to get him caught up in my mess of a life."

"Ugh you're no fun" she groans back, a grin still plastered on her face. "I still think you should give Theo a chance but either way, there's not much that we can do currently, so why don't we just order some dinner and then get you into bed because you look exhausted."

"Sounds like a great plan" I reply with a nod. Thank god this day will be over soon. 

The rest of the evening goes by relatively quickly and soon enough I find myself laying next to Tessa in her bed, thoughts of both Liam and Theo swimming around my head.

"Everything will be okay, Hayley. I promise," Tessa pipes up quietly from the darkness next to me, as if having sensed the turmoil in my mind.

"I really hope you're right" I whisper back, trying to believe her as best I can as sleep begins to wash over me.

"Goodnight Tessa. Thank you for everything. I-" is all I manage to say before I'm out cold.

____________________________

AUTHOR'S NOTE

Hey Guys,

I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Please feel free to leave me your feedback as I always appreciate it. Also, if anyone reading this is from New York City, please pm me as I would love to have a conversation about life in NYC as I'm from New Zealand and so writing a book based on a place I have never been to before can be quite challenging. I've done loads of my own personal research, however, talking to a local would be even better as it would help to improve my story.

As always, if you would like to follow me on social media, my Instagram handle is amy_duffell & amyduffell_author. Please also check out my other books as well as voting and commenting on this one.

I hope you all are well and having a good day wherever you are in the world and I will see you all in the next chapter!

Love,

Allamy xx