All the way home, all Dawn could do was cry.
"Why is AJ doing this to me"? She asked herself aloud. "Why doesn't he want me to be happy"?
A song came on the radio that she liked and she turned up the volume, trying to block the whole terrible ordeal with AJ out of her mind, but she couldn't. No matter what she did all she could hear was AJ yelling, "He hits you - and you let him"!
'I don't let him," she said under her breath. "Anthony said he'll stop drinking, then our arguments won't be as bad."
As she approached her street, she looked in her rear-view mirror at her tear ravaged face. She cleaned up her face and fixed her make-up the best she could. She expected to see Anthony's car in the driveway when she got home, but it wasn't there.
"I wonder where he is"? She asked herself.
When she walked in the door she put her purse down on the table and saw the answering machine light blinking. She listened to the message, it was Anthony.
"Hey baby, I'm going out for a little while with the guys. I shouldn't be too late. You must have had a really busy day if you're still not home. I want to hear all about it. See you later".
Dawn could detect the sarcasm in his voice when he mentioned her not being home. She knew there would be an argument when Anthony got home, she just hoped he hadn't had too much to drink. The best thing she could do was go to bed and try to deal with it the next day.
Dawn got undressed and got into the shower. She desperately wanted to go to sleep and forget this day ever happened. She couldn't believe AJ flipped out on her like that.
‘He still never explained the ‘not being able to work with me comment’’ she thought to herself.
She held her face under the stream of warm water and stayed there for a while.
After she got out of the shower, she put her robe on, towel-dried her hair and crawled into bed. She closed her eyes but all she kept hearing over and over again in her head was AJ telling her that he had seen Anthony kissing another girl.
‘AJ wouldn't try to hurt me like that, what if he's telling the truth? He's never lied to me before about anything’.
She had a bad feeling deep down in the pit of her stomach that AJ wasn't making it up. Tired of thinking about it, she drifted off to sleep.
She awoke to the feeling of Anthony giving her soft kisses down the back of her neck and back. She just wasn't in the mood for romance. She opened her eyes and turned to look at the clock.
‘1:26 she thought to herself.
"Hey beautiful", Anthony said. She could smell the alcohol on his breath.
"You're gonna stop drinking, huh", she said as she turned on the light next to the bed, got up and put her robe back on.
"It was only a couple drinks, no big deal".
Dawn rolled her eyes at him and walked out of the room into the kitchen to make herself some hot tea. Anthony followed her.
"And where were YOU when I called before"? He demanded, obviously upset at her question and the fact that she turned down his advances.
"I went to pick up some milk," she answered, praying he wouldn't look in the refrigerator.
He walked over and opened the refrigerator door. He saw the half empty gallon of milk.
"You must have been really thirsty then".
He turned around with a look of rage in his eyes and glared at Dawn. Then he slapped her across the face. She put her hand to her mouth and instantly saw blood as she began to cry.
"Are you gonna tell me the truth now"? He yelled at her. "You were with AJ weren't you? You were fucking him weren't you?" He continued. "Is that why you didn't want me? Huh? Is it"??! He demanded as he walked over and grabbed her hand to move it away from her face.
"Me??" Dawn yelled at him. "I'M the one fucking someone else? Let's talk about YOU. Who else are you fucking!?"
She didn't want it to come out like this, but she couldn't stop it.
Anthony just stood there in complete shock looking at Dawn and didn't say a word. She walked into the bedroom and picked up a small suitcase from the closet and opened it. She started going through her drawers, pulling out clothes, stuffing them in the suitcase.
Anthony was standing in the doorway.
"Where do you think you're going"? he asked. "To AJ's"?
Dawn wasn't even in the mood for to answer that. The truth was, she didn't know where she was going.
"You gonna go fuck him some more"? He raised his voice.
Dawn walked over to the doorway and tried to push him out of the way so she could get through. All she succeeded in doing was angering him more. She got past him, but he was right behind her.
"Answer me, bitch"! He yelled and yanked the suitcase out of her hand. She walked quickly to the kitchen, trying to get away from him.
"Fuck you"! She yelled at him.
She glanced over and saw her car keys sitting on the counter next to her. Anthony started to come at her again with the same look of rage in his eye. Dawn grabbed the keys off the counter and ran out the door, forgetting her suitcase.
She had nothing on but a robe and her lip was bloody. She didn't even know where she was going. She just got in the car and drove away as fast as she could with tears streaming down her face.

As AJ sat on his couch watching TV drinking a beer, he coudn't stop thinking about Dawn. He didn't know why, but he had this nagging feeling that something was wrong.
"I really fucked up this time", he said to himself aloud. "I wish I could call her and make sure everything's alright".
He glanced over at the clock.
"2:37", he said aloud. "I'm sure she's asleep. "Plus, Anthony's home, I can't call there. She hates me anyway,” he finished.
At that moment, there was a loud banging on his front door and his security lights flickered on. Startled, he jumped up off the couch and walked over to the door.
"I hope it's not fans, I've had too much to drink and I'm not in the mood to deal with it".
He looked through the peephole and saw Dawn standing there.
"Holy shit".
He unlocked and opened the door to let her in. She was standing there in a burgundy robe with no shoes on.
"Oh my god, what...", he stopped when she looked up at him, she had tears running down her face and she had a bloody lip. "Jesus, did he do this to you"? He asked as put his arms around her.
She shook her head 'yes' as she fell into his arms and sobbed. They stood at the front door for a minute and AJ held her in his arms while she cried.
"Don't worry, I won't let him hurt you ever again. I'll take care of you", he said softly as he picked her up and carried her into the house.


Chapter 12
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