Justin and Alexa left the club a few minutes after finding Claire and Lance. He opened the door for her and she slid into the cool, leather interior. He got in a second later and started the engine.
"So..who was he?"
"Why do you want to know?"
"How come everytime I try to just ask one personal question to you, you fire back with some smartass comment or question?"
"Why are you so nosey?"
He sighed, "Alexa...it might help if you talked about it."
"That's what everyone says and when I do, they all look at me with pity, I can't stand that at all. I don't want people to feel sorry for me at all."
"I might be able to understand on some level..if you try."
"If I tell you my story, you have to tell me yours."
He smiled wryly, "We might be up all night then."
"He's my ex-boyfriend."
"Who? Ooohh..that guy?"
"Yeah."
"Oh...what's his name?"
"Will."
"Did he do anything to you, tonight, cause ya know, I got people who could find him and kick his ass..."
She smiled a little, "No Justin..he didn't do anything...I promise. Turn left here.."
He did so and nodded, "Ok...but..from what I gather, he did hurt you before?"
She nodded, "Yeah...it's this complex here."
He nodded, "Alrighty..," and pulled into a parking spot close to the door that led to the elevators and the apartment building.
They got out and Alexa led him to the elevators and then to her fourth floor aparment. She smiled as she unlocked the door and flipped on a light, "It's probably not as nice as your place but it's home to me.."
He stepped inside and looked around, it wasn't too big or too small but seemed just right for her. "Do you want something to drink or eat?"
"No, I'm fine.."
"I'll be right back then, I'm gonna go change real quick."
"ok."
"Make yourself at home, I guess."
He nodded, "K."
She disappeared from the main room and Justin took the time to look at all the pictures that lined the wall and the coffee table. There were a couple of her, Claire and some other girls in front of Planet Hollywood, one of Alexa and Dan, another of Alexa and Dan and who he guessed were their parents. He picked one up of just her and her parents and another picture fell to the floor that had been behind the frame. Justin's long form bent down to pick it up and he flipped it over to reveal a picture of Alexa and the guy he had seen in the club. 'Must be Will..,' He thought as he sat down on the couch and looked more closely at it.
Will had his arm around Alexa's waist, a smile on his face. He then looked at Alexa's picture, she was smiling but it looked almost too forced. "That's him."
Justin jumped, he hadn't realized she had come back in. "Oh..umm..yeah...it fell from behind this picture of you..and your parents?"
She nodded, "Yep..that's my mom and dad.."
"Ohhh.."
She sat down beside him and took the picture of her and Will from him, examining it, "I met him..my senior year of high school, about two years ago I guess...he was a freshman at Florida and he had a friend that was also friends with Dan, or something like that. So, we hit it off and he called me and we went out. We had been dating..I guess..maybe a year or so when...when he changed. Will was much bigger than me, and I'm not short or anything, he was taller but he was also alot more muscular than me and used his size alot to intimidate me. He wanted me to go to UF so we could be together but I really didn't want to, I wanted to go somewhere out of state but noooo, I absolutely had to go to Florida. So, I applied to UF and didn't get in, in fact I got into UCLA but apparently that was too far away and he sent a letter to them telling them I wasn't going to be able to go. I was so pissed off. We fought so bad that night and that was the first time he hit me. He slapped me so hard I fell down. Dan heard me hit the floor and came in and about beat the shit out of Will and he left. I don't think I ever cried that much in my life. Will was back a couple days later, apologized to me and Dan. I let him back into my life, figuring we were both just having bad days or something."
"But he hit you.."
"I know Justin."
"And you just let him back in? And Dan did too?"
"Will was pretty convincing. So, I moved out into a small apartment closer to campus and Will practically lived there. We were always fighting, no matter what it was about we were fighting. The hitting became more and more frequent and a couple times I hit him back, which made him even angrier."
"You hit him back?"
She smiled a little, "Yeah..I got some good hits in."
"I bet you did."
"Well..I left him about..I guess, eight months ago."
"How?"
"Dan came and got me and I left with him and lived with him till he got the job with you all and then found this place."
"You're not telling the whole story."
Alexa sighed, "How do you do that?!"
Justin smiled, "It's a gift."
"You're right though. Will had pretty much beat the shit out of me one night, I was in bed barely able to move. I was scared to even get out of bed because I was afraid I'd do something wrong and he'd beat me again. I heard him come home, he had left the night before and I hadn't seen him since. But..he wasn't alone. He brought some girl to the apartment and went into the spare bedroom and they were...you know."
"Ohhhhh.."
"Yeah. So, I called Dan and he came over and put me in the car, went back in and grabbed me some clothes and things I would definitely need. He put those things in the car with me and went back inside. Next thing I saw was the girl running out of the apartment, about naked, and I could hear Dan screaming at Will and Will screaming right back at him. A few minutes after that, Dan came back out and we went back to his place."
"And you hadn't seen him before tonight?"
"Oh I've seen him. He practically follows me around. Plus, Dan made me press charges and we went to court...he's on probation right now.."
"Oh.."
Alexa bit his lip, "I have alot of problems Justin..I'm not comfortable being myself anymore and I feel like everything I do is going to be a problem and I'm going to be punished. No one understands how scared I feel. Claire...Lord knows she tries, but she has no clue what to do or what to say. Dan's the same way..I thank God every day that he's my brother and that I have such a wonderful person like him in my life but he doesn't know what it's like to be scared of the dark or of your own shadow. And I completely understand..if you, you know, want to leave...or have to leave because I'm such a freak.."
He covered her smaller hand with his larger one and stared directly into her eyes, "You are not a freak Alexa. I'm here to listen and to be your friend."
"Really?"
He nodded, "Really....do you want to hear my story?"
She nodded, "Yeah..it might help for you to talk about it.."
"I think it will."
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