It had been years since Ava actually slept through the night without being plagued by terrible nightmares.

However, when she woke up the next morning, she felt like she had been ran over by a semi truck. Her muscles ached, her head was throbbing, and she felt like she was going to puke even though it had been days since she had eaten a full meal. Ava lied in the comfortable bed for half an hour with her forearm covering her sensitive eyes, not really wanting to face Austin after the events that had taken place last night. What if he thought she was some suicidal freak? Ava's heart constricted in her chest when she remembered the worried look on his face when he had first seen her damaged condition; Austin Carlile genuinely cared about her and she would never be able to accept that. She finally sat up and swung her thin legs over the edge of the bed. The scent of bacon wafted throughout the house and that only motivated Ava to get her ass out of bed. She changed into the clothes she had been wearing the previous day and combed her fingers through her long hair, trying to make it look nice somehow.

As she wearily padded down the hall, Ava could hear Austin humming loudly from the kitchen.

"Good morning, sleepyhead!" He shouted when Ava peeked into the kitchen. She flinched at his boisterous voice and reminded herself that he wasn't going to hurt her; he's just a naturally loud human being.

"Good morning," She said softly, "Do you want me to help?"

"Nah," He smiled, "I'm almost done anyways, take a seat on the couch and I'll bring you some food."

There was a lot Ava had learned about Austin during their time of eating breakfast together on the couch. She learned that he was the lead singer of a band she had never heard of, he had undergone open heart surgery back in 2010, he loved his fans more than anything and more importantly, Ava had learned that Austin Carlile is quite possibly the most compassionate human being that she had ever met.

The fact that he had taken a depressed, suicidal stranger into his home said a lot about himself.

"So what about you?" Austin asked as he finished the story of Squidgy and how he became the mascot for his band. He had even demonstrated the Squidgy theme song which definitely entertained Ava when he started screaming the 'falalalala' part.

"What about me?" Ava repeated, fidgeting around nervously, "I'm not nearly as interesting as you are."

"I think you're very interesting," His tone became serious as he stared at her sluggish posture.

She scoffs, "What do you want to know?"

He swished his mouth to the side before grinning, "Do you have a boyfriend?"

Ava dreaded that question whenever she met someone; she hated having to explain her perfect relationship with her perfect man. She hated telling people how she was in love and how he just loves her to pieces. She hated how she always had to tell everyone that Zack is just a sweetheart and is the kindest man you'll ever meet

She hated lying through her fucking teeth.

Ava opened her mouth to reply with her generic answer but before she could, the front door swung open and contained giggles could be heard throughout the entire house. A shorter man with red hair and a smaller amount of tattoos rushed into where Austin and Ava were sitting on the couch. He instantly started laughing as he entered the room, not even noticing the girl sitting next to Austin.

"Austin!" The man shouted and jumped on the leather couch next to him, "You'll never fucking guess what happened to Tino, it was the funniest shit!"

It was only after the ginger finished his statement when he noticed Ava sitting on the other side of Austin. His energetic personality quickly deteriorated as he observed the bruised and battered lady that had been previously occupying Austin's interest. Ava felt uncomfortable under the intimidating man's harsh stare; he clearly didn't like her for some reason.

"Who are you?" He asked in a monotone voice.

Austin scowled and elbowed him in the ribs, "This is Ava. Ava, this is Alan."

"Hi," She murmured quietly.

"So what happened to Tino?"

Alan glanced at Ava for a second, "Nevermind."

"Alan, don't even--"

"No," Ava interrupted him, "I should be going anyways, I-I've got things to do."

Austin frowned, "Oh, okay. I can give you a ride back to your place."

She shook her head, "My place isn't far from here, I can walk."

Austin glared at Alan as she stood up and made her way to the front door, her head hanging low as she tried not to let the ginger get the best of her. Ava hated the thought of meeting any other of Austin's friends, they all seemed intimidating and scary.

"Hey," Austin grabbed her wrist right as she was about to exit the house, "If you ever need to talk or even need a place to stay, call me or text me. I don't care what time it is or if you're sad or fucking pissed off; I'm here for you whenever you need me."

He slips a piece of paper with his number into her cold hand and offers her one of his infamous smiles.

"Thanks for everything Austin, I appreciate it."

"Oh, and Ava?"

"Yes?"

"I better not find you hanging off of any bridges in the future."

****

"Where the fuck have you been?"

Ava didn't even make it a few steps into her house before Zack was in her face, his eyes wide and nostrils flared out in fury.

"I was at a friend's house."

She wasn't lying, though she only knew Austin for a short amount of time, she already considered him a friend of hers. Ava always had a hard time making friends, even when she was younger. Her bashful and timid personality had always stopped her from going out and meeting new people and most of them thought she was a weird girl anyways. Zack was the only guy that ever really paid attention to her which was in all certainty the only reason she continued to put up with all of his shit.

Ava glanced up at his face; his cheeks were red and his blue eyes were wide with anger. She remembered the first time she had laid her eyes on him and how she thought he was gorgeous with his dark hair and bright eyes; now she couldn't even look at his face without wanting to cry.
Instead, she wanted to be with Austin and gaze into those warm, brown eyes as he talked to her enthusiastically with that natural gruff voice of his.

"Was it a guy or a girl?" He seethed, "Don't you dare lie to me Ava Lynn."

"It was a guy," Ava told the truth, just because that's the type of person she is. She was an awful liar and he would have been able to see right through her if she fibbed and said it was a girl.

He clenched his teeth together and his fingers curled into a fist, "And what were you doing at another man's house? Fucking him?"

"Zack please don't--"

"Just answer the question!" He hissed, "Are you fucking cheating on me?"

"No," Ava cried, "I would never cheat on you, I love you."

His blue eyes narrowed as he observed Ava's face for any trace of a lie; when he didn't find one, the palm of his hand collided with her already swollen cheek.

Ava didn't even flinch.

No, Ava was grateful that it had only been a slap when she had received worse.

"You are mine, Ava," He whispered into her ear, "You belong to me and you will do as I say. No one will ever love you the way I do, you got that?"

"Yes," She answered quietly, her eyes watering at his brutal words.

Of course she believed him.

He smirked and it made Ava feel sick to her stomach, "Good."

Ava ran her hand over the front pocket of her skinny jeans as Zack turned away from her; the piece of paper with Austin's messy scrawl felt like it weighed a million pounds. She considered calling him just to talk and hear his comforting voice.

She immediately dismissed the thought of calling the kind man.

Notes

Chapter inspired by Asking Alexandria's song Don't Pray For Me :)