(Disclaimer: this romantic drama story can have a steamy nature at times and is intended for audiences 18+. It has themes of domestic violence)
Part One
I clenched my hand to my chest as I turned the corner of the paved street. My shadow was cast before me as the night lights on the streets illuminated the bird's eye view above me. I had been running through the Manhattan streets for a good twenty minutes it seemed. I was no closer to reaching my destination and the unfamiliar suburban cul-de-sacs located within the avenues was only a quizzical addition to my lack of direction. The truth was, I had nowhere to go.
I had been cornered there. Chased to reach the edges of the unknown in my knowledge. You think you love someone and you dedicate parts of yourself to them and sometimes you end up in a wild goose chase, or some other game that encourages a person to demonstrate that they understand what power play is. I know at first he told me that we were equals, but as I sit on a bench in the corner of some block, afraid to go home, I wonder when equal became two different numbers.
Theos is my man, as charming as he is delectable. The thing is that Theos has a temper that I felt able to be patient with at first. I could work with it, even call it out politely sometimes. I believed Theos just didn't know he was being an ass. After a while the patience turned into a worrying numbness. I could be as calm as I was anxious at times. I loved peace and in order to avoid conflict sometimes I found it hard to use my voice.
I was weak to Theos. He told me it too. It was as though he saw any sign of love or care towards him as a sign of me allowing myself to be his prey. There were times when I sympathetically told him I didn't believe that he was capable of love in any way, in return, he gave me his attention positively, asking me questions as though the idea of love was an interesting thing that he knew and heard of.
Yet, it was often he was cold. Theos knew how he wanted me to love him but he didn't want to understand how I wanted him to love me.
That's how I ended up sitting on a bench in Central Square, past midnight alone on a winter afternoon. The warm air from my chest humanized itself by forcing out from my throat, a blossoming spirit, my breath on the night-painted canvas.
I could not stand it when Theos yelled. That evening, his voice had raised larger than me, like it usually did. His hands had found a way to shove me, his fingers gripped into my skin, a light palm to the side of my face. I know I did not deserve Theos' treatment, how could punishment come to mind when thinking about the young woman who cared for him?
But he did it so gracefully - in a way that I silently erupted, in a way that I felt he did nothing, in a way that left me wanting more.
I grabbed my coat and created space between us, something that I preferred when we argued, but Theos hated. Whenever I retreated, Theo would take quicker steps to catch me. I was used to being the subject of his game and growing quickly tired of it.
I had my dreams and aspirations, to be a journalist for some swanky magazine up in central. Theos made it impossible, finding any way he could to weave his way into my plans and change them to suit how he liked them. I knew he had to be up to something, it was the only answer as to why there had been a deterioration in myself.
He had overtaken my life, but it was his woes and suffering I had to listen to, suffocated to answer to. I am only twenty-two but mature for my age in ways. I knew that I deserved that time to be free to focus on myself.
So I ran away from our home, with my pink cheek and mascara-stained eyes. My mind was foggy, I could barely remember what he'd done or the desperation in my voice as I pleaded for him. I did not believe I was a bad girlfriend and I did not believe he truly believed that in his heart either.
I had no idea where to go. At that young age, we might be more vulnerable to do crazy things for love. So I found myself sitting on a bench in Central Park, planning to spend the night and not that long after, I noticed that I was no longer alone.
A male, dressed in a thick duffel coat, sat on the bench beside me with his hands wedged into the pockets. The night flung dark hues onto his face, but I could notice the dark waves of hair on the top of his head. He sat with confidence, his long legs sprawled in front of him, clothed in dark-washed jeans. His face was pale and his lips were soft pink, his eyes were big and brown.
"Hello, good evening," he said in a cheery voice. His tone took me aback. I was used to Theos' gruff voice, which was monotonous and emotionless, often sounding as though he were discussing something that needed to be taken seriously.
This man sounded like a man, though maybe a little more feminine.
"Hi," I said back to him, quickly and with uncertainty. He smiled bashfully at me, tilting his head down and bowing towards me. He thought for a moment before speaking again.
"It's a bit late to be out in Central Park," he said. His voice wasn't husky or deep. He sounded rather ordinary, but he spoke with an accent of class and had an interesting voice.
I opened my eyes bigger at him and nodded my head, "It is quite late," I agreed.
"Well? What are you doing here?" He said. It was obvious his curiosities were piqued from the tone of his voice.
He appeared to be close enough to my age, maybe a few years older. There was also something about him that seemed to be trustworthy, he was soft. It might have been his build, although he looked good, he was far from muscular. He was skinny, hardly someone you expect to think about overpowering you.
Theos was muscular, but I hardly noticed it at times. If I noticed anything, it was his beer belly. He was still built like a man that an attractive woman wanted to fuck but he had a small belly from the beers that he drank daily.
Theos had made so many stories, played so many different characters and given so many excuses as to why he drank so much, but at that point, it was far from the point.
"I went for a walk, to clear my head or something," I answered him on the bench.
He looked at me, hmmph, and raised an eyebrow. "Don't you know it's unsafe for a pretty woman like you to be outside on the streets alone this late at night?" He said.
He said it without a hint of lust.
I felt my cheeks grow hot, as they moved with an automatic smile. "The world isn't always so bad," I replied hopefully, in a usual manner of mine.
He sighed, took his hands out of his coat pocket and tensely rubbed his hands against his jeans. "Look, lady, my name is Sebastian. Usually, people just call me Bass. And what's your name?" He questioned me.
I shrugged my shoulders nonchalantly. "My name is Aubrey and people usually just call me Aubrey," I answered.
Sebastian, or Bass nodded his head.
"Excuse me if my question is quite forward Aubrey but, do you have a place to stay tonight?" He said it softly, as though he were holding every care in the world for me. It made me thoughtful, although I barely knew him, I felt like I could be honest with Bass.
I was still in shock from my argument earlier with Theos. I could not think clearly. I was scared, I knew women shouldn't go home with men they find on the streets but, Bass seemed different.
He was dressed in plain clothes but he looked well cared for, he had a positive resting face, and the corners of his mouth constantly blurred into his skin to form a soft smile. There was an aura about Bass, if I stared hard enough to look at him.
I felt I could rely on him. Plus, I had a phone and pepper spray. If Bass was the next wannabe Craigslist killer then I wouldn't let him take me without a fight.
Although I was a humble person, I had my pride and I did not want to look so messy or needy to him, so I told him about my situation honestly.
"No, not really. I mean I have my flat but my boyfriend is staying there right now and we've just had the biggest argument. I just don't want to go back there right now, so I thought I would come to Central Park and sleep on a bench further in. I didn't expect anyone to find me here, yet here you are," I confided in Bass.
Bass raised his eyebrow again, he nodded his head in a caring way and breathed in as he thought. Finally, he said, "It's stupid, for both of us. I mean you should be at home right now and not here and I shouldn't be inviting you... but do you want to come home with me? It's better and far safer than some bench in Central Park," Bass proposes.
I bit my lip as my eyes sunk deeper into their socket. It was a tempting offer, though my mood was far from excited for the night ahead of me. I nodded my head and accepted, using my voice to agree. "Yes, that would be great, just don't like murder me or anything."
Bass chuckled slightly, he sounded awkward and off-key. I hoped I hadn't offended him.
Bass seemed to be a fragile type of guy that a female could blow like a fly.
"Well? What are we waiting for then?" Bass said, he put his hands back in his coat pocket, his breath spattering into the air like a cloud of smoke.
I shrugged my shoulders. "I'm not sure," I mumbled, lifting my ass from the seat. Bass got up from the bench too and looked around his shoulder. I collected my bag from the floor of the park and followed him on the way out of Central Park.
The moon glistened in the sky above us, a wavering yellow glow of vibrations as it served as the light to guide us out of the park.
"It's only a twenty-minute walk," Bass told me, "It might sound long but once we get home to my house then we're already there."
And I felt safe in what he told me. Bass spoke with comfort, with the assertion that he said what he meant and that he proved it with action. Bass seemed mysterious, like there was more to him that met the eye, like the conversations he indulged in reached a deeper level.
Maybe I was just making assumptions, but I felt that if I had a good reason, Bass would have let me move in right then and there. But I knew there would be more to why he accepted.
I wanted to be so far away from reality that I had to return home to Theos in the morning. I tried to forget about my boyfriend the whole walk to Bass' house but Bass kept badgering me with questions. Trying to find answers, he had noticed my red cheek as well. Surely, that would be bruised in the morning.
But Bass was patient and slow, he watched me curiously as I avoided questions and hung onto every word when I decided to answer. He was a magnetic field, that my body was inclined to lean towards.
He announced when we reached the street he lived on.
My mind wandered towards Theos.
My pulse made a sound louder than it should. I couldn’t shake the surreal feeling of being with someone kind, someone who didn’t make me flinch with every sudden movement. Bass kept glancing over at me, I wondered what he saw—a woman who had broken free or one who was still running.
As we reached his small brick home lined with dimly lit windows, he stopped and turned to me, his expression unreadable under the soft glow of the streetlamp.
“You’re sure you’re okay with this?” he asked gently. “It’s no trouble, I promise.”
I nodded, my voice barely above a whisper. “Thank you, really. I… I don’t know what I would’ve done.”
We stood in silence for a moment, and then, almost instinctively, he put his arm around me again. It was gentle as if testing my reaction. But the unexpected warmth flooded through me, washing over the lingering ache in my ribs, and for the first time in days, I felt… safe.
But before I could let myself believe in that safety, a faint light flickered from a parked car just down the street. My heart skipped. I had seen that car before—a black sedan with dented fenders and a broken taillight.
It couldn’t be.
I tensed under Bass’s arm, my gaze fixed on the car as if it could see me back.
The engine roared to life, and my breath hitched as the past crashed back into me, threatening to pull me under once again.
