Love and Betrayal

Chapter 1

Ashlynn's POV

I tiptoed out of the bedroom. It was early, and I didn't want to wake him up. We got into a huge fight last night. Not that it was anything new. We have been fighting nonstop for a month now. It's always the same thing. I have a feeling he is cheating on me, but I can't find concrete proof, and he won't admit to it. Things have taken a toll on us since the first time I asked him. He screamed and yelled at me for two hours about how I didn't trust him and that it was my fault because he has done nothing to me and that it's all in my head. I felt like I was going crazy. So, I woke up extra early after our fight last night and grabbed his phone. I know that I shouldn't do it, but I had to put it to rest. When I asked him last night to see it, he lost it again.

I closed the door quietly and went to the couch and pulled the blanket over me and held his phone in my hands. It felt powerful to finally be doing this. I shouldn't but I'm going to. I finally got to see myself. I have to prove that I'm not crazy, because I know I'm not, but I need that proof. I took one guess at what his pass code was. He wasn't smart and everything was always the same, his date of birth. The phone unlocked, and my heartbeat picked up.

The first place I went was his text messages and I scrolled through them, finding nothing out of the ordinary which shocked me just a little. I was so sure about this. I kept scrolling and a name I had never heard before texted him yesterday. Tatum. That could go either way. I know people of both sexes with that name. I clicked on the messages and my heart sank. I knew I wasn't going crazy. The things in this text message thread had me blushing, or it would if I wasn't so damn angry. I clicked out of his messages and went to his social media messages, and it was worse than I could have imagined. There were so many girls, so many hookups and the hate he spewed about me just hurt. I was nothing but a fat b***h who made his life miserable. I was broke and mean to him, or so he said. I had to laugh out loud because it wasn't true. I mean I was a little on the plump side, but I was a baker and I enjoyed taste testing my goods. I had to make sure that they were good before they went out.

"What the f**k do you think you are doing?" I heard him ask. He was directly behind me and I didn't even hear him come out of the bedroom and, by the tone of his voice, he was going to turn ugly and mean. I moved as fast as I could off the couch, but it wasn't fast enough. He grabbed my hair and jerked my head back so that it was bent backwards, and now I was looking at him upside down. "I asked you a f*****g question." he growled.

"Getting the proof that I needed. I knew you were lying to me, and you were cheating. You have been for a long time now. It's over, get out of my house," I yelled at him, still looking at him upside down. He reached down and snatched his phone out of my hands and released my hair. I jerked my neck up and rubbed the back of it. I didn't bother looking at him. I had nothing left for him. It is amazing to me how fast those loving feelings can come and go so quickly.

I could hear him still breathing hard behind me, and I was over it, he needed to leave. "GET OUT NOW," I yelled, and finally heard his feet retreating back to the bedroom. I still had thirty minutes until it was time to get ready for work, so I pulled the blanket over me and let the anger leave me, and I was left with sadness. We have been together for two years now, and I thought it was amazing. I really thought I would spend my life with him. Someone who loved me for me, but that's not how my life goes. It never has. The first tear fell, and I didn't even bother wiping it off my face and I just let myself cry because when it was time to go to work, I had to put on that happy face.

Ten minutes later I heard the bedroom door open again and his heavy footsteps stomp across my hardwood floor. I knew he was dressed because it was his boots that I could hear. He came to the side of the couch and I just ignored him. I had nothing else to say to him. He just needed to leave.

"Ashlynn," he said quietly.

"Get the hell out of here Rick. You are nothing but a lying cheat. I can't even look at you right now, I hate you," I snapped at him, still not looking at him. I could hear him breathing hard again. It was like he was having a hard time breathing, but I wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of acknowledging him anymore.

Suddenly, my face exploded with pain and my vision went blurry. He grabbed my hair again and forced me to look at him. "You think you will be anything without me," he said and started laughing, "you are nothing. If you weren't such a fat stupid b***h, I wouldn't have had to do this. It's all your fault, you made me do this, and you will regret it," he sneered, and then released my hair and stormed out of the house.

As soon as I could breathe again, I jumped up and locked the door and then slid down it and cried, which made my face hurt even more. I don't know what had gotten into him. He had never hit me before. Sure, he had been verbally abusive but never physically, and he never would be again.

I finally picked myself up from the floor and went into the bathroom and looked at myself in the mirror. I had a small cut on my cheek bone and my eye was swelling. I cleaned up the best I could and placed makeup around the darkness that was forming and placed a Band-Aid on my face. I had to find a way to keep this from my employees because they are noisy and would ask way too many questions.

I popped a few pain pills and finished getting ready for work and I found the biggest sunglasses I owned and placed them on top of my head and would just wear them and tell everyone I had a bad headache today. I knew I couldn't do that every day, but I would think of something else.

I walked into my bakery and the lights were on already. Avery was already here. She beats me here most of the time. She has worked for me for three years and I loved the girl. She was one of my closest friends. The only one that was closer was Adara. She and I have been best friends since kindergarten. She was my ride or die in life. She got married recently and has been wrapped up with her husband. I understood newly-weds tend to do that.

"Good morning," Avery sang out as I locked the door behind me and double-checked it before turning around to her. "You know it's still dark out and there is no sun in here," she said pointing to her face because of my glasses.

"I know I just have a headache." I told her, and she just arched a brow at me, not believing me at all. I did have a headache, but that was to be expected.

I avoided the front all day and by the time I had put in twelve hours, I was just done in. This was my normal shift that I worked every day. The joys of being a business owner, and a small one at that. I needed more help but couldn't afford to hire more, not unless I raised my prices, but I didn't want to lose any customers. It was a battle that I fought each day.

"Ashlynn Marie, what the hell is going on?" Avery asked from my office doorway. I still had my sunglasses on.

"I told you just a headache."

"You're lying and we both know it. Now either spill it or I will call Adara." she threatened. She wasn't going to drop this until she got an answer or sicked Adara on me and that would be even worse, so I waved her in and told her to close the door. She came and sat down in front of my desk and pulled my sunglasses off. I hadn't looked at my face since I left for work and by the gasp that left her lips, I knew it wasn't pretty.

"What the actual f**k happened? Are you OK?"

"I'm fine. I really don't want to talk about it."

"Rick did this, didn't he? You have to go to the police. The guy always gave me bad vibes and some of the s**t he has said. I will kill him for you. I know Adara will help, and her husband can give us an alibi."

"I'm going to the police now, I just had to get through today."

"Want me to go with you?"

"No, I'm not a battered woman who needs someone to hold their hand. I just need to report it and move on with my life. My locks are being changed right now."

"I'm here if you need me, and you can stay at my apartment if you would like."

"Really I'm just fine." I told her and could see her give up. She came around my desk and gave me a hug and another offer to kill him again, making me laugh and left my office. I put my glasses back on and finished up my paperwork and then slipped out of my office through the back door and headed straight to the police station. I should have gone there this morning, but I had to work. I can't just skip a day.

Nerves hit me full force and I wanted to vomit as soon as I stepped inside. The person sitting at the desk had to ask me three times if I needed help before it actually registered in my brain.

"I'm sorry, I'm just nervous."

"It's OK mam. Why don't you tell me what happened, and we can go from there." she said kindly. I pulled my glasses down and didn't say a word. I didn't have to.

"Why don't we get you into a room and a detective will come and talk with you."

I followed her to a room that had a small table and couch and a loveseat in it. She motioned for me to sit on the couch and quickly left the room, but was right back with a bottle of water and an ice pack. "Keep this on your face and the detective will be right in," and just as quickly as she came in, she left, but the detective was right behind her.

"Hello, I'm Detective Smith. Want to tell me what happened to you?"

"I was hit, and I would like to file a charge," I said, but it was so quiet that he had to strain to hear it. This was so much harder to do than I thought it would be. Shame and disgust filled my body. Maybe he was right and this was my fault. Maybe I did deserve it.

Two hours later I walked out of there with a temporary order of protection and assault charges filed. They said they were going to find him and arrest him and that they would update me on how his case was moving.