"Daniel is outside waiting for you and he seems in a rush." Tamsin yelled, her high pitched voice trailing across from the diners kitchen, it had been three weeks since the first time that old man had came in,

And since then, he had been coming in everyday to check on me, we would talk and talk but it would never advance any further then brief friendly exchanges, his name was Jack, and he had loved to tell me about his wife and children, and their grand children.

-He was the only one that cared enough to ask me how my day was.

And sometimes... I felt like the only reason I bothered to get up in the morning was because I knew that the highlight of my day would be the brief conversations with Jack.

"Thanks." I shouted back, before hanging up my apron and gathering my things in preparation to leave.

Maybe...
Maybe today wouldn't be so bad, maybe Daniel wouldn't be drunk...
Maybe he wouldn't hit me,

-Just maybe.

My palms began to sweat profusely as I exited the diner and began to approach Daniel's old pick up truck that he treasured above all else, it was an ugly thing really, with chipping red paint and one broken mirror hanging by its hinges that Daniel had smashed in a fit of rage last week,
-that was a bad day.

I could still hear my sickening cries, Daniel yelling at me for whatever it was I had done.
-and on that particular day, when he arrived at the diner to pick me up, I was ensconced in a pleasant conversation with Jack, which Daniel obviously didn't approve of,

***

"My wife and I-"

"AMORA!" Daniel yelled, slamming the door to his truck and storming towards us, cutting Jack off mid sentence.

"And who is this?" Jack asked, turning his full attention innocently towards Daniel with a warm smile on his face, one that didn't quite crinkle at the corners of his eyes the way I had come accustomed to.

A mask of happiness, just like the one I wore myself.

"I'm her boyfriend." Daniel spat with so much malice, considering his words a shield, "Who are you?" he narrowed his eyes suspiciously at the old man, as if sizing him up as a potential threat, which Jack certainly was not.

"Just a friend." Jack replied wistfully, his gaze focused on a passing bird that flew overhead.

"Amora doesn't have friends." Daniel snapped, stepping in front of me, creating a barrier between Jack and I.

"That's not true, so don't you speak about her in such a way" Jack protested, his brow furrowing in confusion and frustration.

Daniel was silent for a moment,

Deadly silent.

Silence was dangerous when it came to Daniel, usually he would just spill brunt of rage in verbal and physical abuse, but silence... silence was deadly.

Like a coiled spring pulled taught, until it snapped, flying into oblivion.

"Why so confident, old man?" Daniel said, cocking his head slightly in a way that made him look completely and utterly deranged.

But the old man merely smiled and said,

"Your time is limited here, the Alpha has returned."

***

Something inside of Daniel snapped that night, his face turned beat red and he silently stalked his way to the car, however the full force of his anger soon arrived.

As soon as we arrived home he exploded into a fit of rage, the shouting began in the drive way, blaming me for anything and everything.

But as soon as the front door closed, that's when the violence began,
That's when it always happened, behind closed doors.

Because nobody could know.
Everything was always a secret.

"Don't speak to him!" Daniel yelled, banging his fist against the closed door, making it shudder slightly.

"Why? He's my only friend!" I screamed, holding back the tears that began to brim in my eyes, threatening to spill over, "I have no one!"

"You have me!" He shouted, striding towards me and taking my face in his hands, placing a kiss on the top of my nose.

"That's different." I said softly.

"I only do this because I love you." He whispered, his answer seemingly diminished, but I knew better.

His anger never simply disappeared, it paused, only to rear its ugly head at a later time.

I knew that in a few hours the shouting would restart, worse than before.

"I love you too." I murmured in return, pressing my lips gently against his.

"Now," he said pulling away, "Go make dinner."

He pushed me gently in the direction of the kitchen, flashing me a devilish grin.

I huffed loudly as I headed to the kitchen reluctantly.

Typical.

I quickly whipped up a half-decent meal in a span of about ten minutes, the usual steak, Daniels favourite.

"Dinner's ready." I called to Daniel who was up stairs, placing the steaming plates at opposite ends of the table.

"Thanks babe," he said, placing a quick kiss on my cheek before sitting down,

The meal was silent, it seemed as though something was troubling Daniel, he seemed... distant, and he kept constantly glancing down at his phone.

His phone suddenly rang loudly, blaring out his ringtone.

Without saying a word, Daniel sprang up from the table to take the call in the other room.

I listened intently as I could vaguely hear him conversing in a hushed whisper.

"Please babe," He begged, "Send pictures, I need to see you." He paused for a minute before chuckling slightly, "See you tomorrow okay?..."
The rest of the brief convocation was to quiet for me to make out.

Maybe I was being too nosey,
Maybe I was too curious.

But curiosity killed the cat.

The rest of the meal passed in an unbearable silence, until I couldn't take it any longer,

"Who was that on the phone?" I asked,

"Work." Daniel snapped, seemingly wanting to end the conversation.

"Work." I repeated softly, trying to reassure myself.

I would like to think that I trusted Daniel, I believed that I trusted him with my life.

But deep down, I knew it was all lies.

***
This chapter might be a little but confusing, but the purpose of my books is because I hate reading werewolf books about abuse and seeing that it is always constant hate between the characters, I personally don't believe that it would be like that, especially in a relationship, there has to be some kind of pull to keep the characters together, this story is about toxic relationships.
I try to make all my books have a message behind them.
Anyways...
Don't forget to vote and comment!
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