"I love you." Isaac said, kissing Angela's head.
"I love you too." She said, resting her head on his chest. They were sitting in his living room of his house, just talking.
"I want to kill that guy." Isaac said. Angela could feel his chest tighten up with anger.
Angela sniffed and closed her eyes. How safe she felt there....how loved. She had spent the day with Alan, and things had not gone well.
She wiped her eyes again, wincing at the bruise on her upper left cheekbone. It was red and swelled, and that area of her face was slowly turning purple. It seemed like all she did was cry these days. She couldn't believe it herself when Alan had actually hit her. It had happened so fast, and by the time she got home, she was still in shock.
Alan had told her parents that she was hit when the cardoor opened and hit her in the side of the face. The lie had been a bad one and totally unblieveable. Angela had actually broken into tears when her parents nodded in reassurance. Alan might as well have told them. They knew what happened, and the part that really scared Angela was the fact that they weren't going to do a thing about it.
Isaac reaced over to the coffee table and got a new cloth. He had soaked several dishclothes in cold water and put a few ice cubes in the center of them for her face. He picked up a colder one, folded it up, and then resumed his position with Angela; her leaning against him, and his arm around her, holding the icepack on her cheek.
She winced as he touched the tender spot. "Sorry, sorry." He said quietly.
"It's okay." She said, her blue eyes looking into his brown ones.
"I can't believe he hit you." Isaac said. He couldn't understand why anyone would take advantage of someone like that, especially Angela, who was so young and innocent.
"I can."
Isaac sighed in frusteration. "No woman should ever have to put up with this." He said. He was more than furious at Alan and her entire family for allowing him to to this to Angela. To him, the thought of beating a woman made him sick to his stomach.
"My mom did, and I always thought I would too." Angela mused.
"Not all guys hit." Isaac said quietly.
"Really?"
"Really." He said, stroking her soft, blonde hair. "When I was growing up, my father never laid a hand on my mother, and my parents never laid a hand on me, either." Isaac said.
"Oh." Angela said.
"I had a friend whose father beat him." Isaac said. "And when I saw what that family went through, I promised myself that I would never ever let any anger get that far."
"That's really good of you." Angela said.
"Yeah." Isaac said quietly. "I just want you to know something." Isaac said, looking at her.
"What's that?"
"I just want you to know that no matter what you do, no matter what you say, and no matter how bad the situation seems, you never have to fear me." Isaac said. Angela's eyes looked at him intently. "No matter how angry I am, or how loud I may yell, I will never hit you." He said.
He watched as Angela's lip started to qiver. She leaned forwards and he wrapped his arms around her tightly. "I will never lay a hand on you. I promise. I don't want you to ever be afraid that I'm going to hurt you." He said.
She hugged him back tightly as he spoke into her hair. He gently rocked her back and forth on the sofa, knowing that the tears that now stained his shirt were thanks enough. He hugged her closer. "I'll never hurt you." He whispered.
Angela could feel her heart ache with pain and longing, she loved Isaac so much. She had known from the moment she'd met him that he didn't contain an once of meanness in him, and what he had just said would forever convince her of that.
When they pulled apart, Angela wiped her eyes in apptempt to pull herself together.
"Isaac..." She choked out.
"It's okay." He said soothingly. "You don't have to go back there."
Angela smiled a little bit, still sniffing.
"Stay here. Stay with me." He said softly.
She looked at him, then closed her eyes. She wanted to stay with him more than anything.
"Please?" He looked into her pretty blue eyes, his brown ones begging. "They can't find you here. No one will touch you here." He prodded.
"I'll stay." She said.
Isaac smiled and gave her a soft kiss on the lips. He touched her cheek affectionately, then pulled away to look at her. He moved so that he was laying down on the couch, and Angela was more or less on top of him. Half of her body was on him, and half was still against the back of the couch. They lay there, Angela with her head on his chest, silently thanking God that she would be safew for one night; and Isaac, wondering how long it would he could go without harming Alan, while mindlessly stroking Angela's hair.