Chapter 7

You drove to pick up Tommy in silence, you tried to fight the tears welling in your eyes as your mind racked for excuses of the clear bruises peeking out from your long-sleeved t-shirt.

You wiped any evidence of tears on your face as you pulled up to the Sawyers house, you put on your best smile and waved at the statue still Tommy standing on the front porch, as soon as he recognized your jeep he softened his stance and walked over to let himself into your passenger side, not given the circumstance his double-take and wide eyes would've had you doubling over in laughter but now you just make hard eye contact, you give him a small smile and went to reach start driving but his large hand gently wraps around your wrist as his other hand slowly brings his fingertips against the bruise around your throat- all while making direct eye contact that did noting but convey confusion and worry

"Oh hahaha that, it's nothing Tommy I promise don't worry"

His eyebrows lowered and his head tilted that you could immediately identify as "you're full of shit"

You sighed

"It looks bad I know b-but it wasn't! We got into a fight and I didn't realize how stressful this move has been on him I-I!"

You didn't want to sit there stuttering for excuses so you slammed the car into drive and glued your eyes on the road, you couldn't let Tommy see you cry so you leaned your head back for a moment to try to urge the tears back in your head but they slowly fell down your face anyways you tried to ignore his look of concern and went a few miles under the speed limit cod safety.

minutes later pulling into the front of the store the few tears that had run past your eyes had darkened the front of your shirt, you took a deep breath, wiped your face dry and reached for your door handle but were stopped by Tommy's hand covering yours on the handle, you slowly turned towards him and met his eyes while you couldn't do anything but breath his name out as his hand slowly slid up your arm and softly rubbed the front of your face where the tear stains started and gently massaging down your neck like he could make the bruises go away. The amount of affection and concern in his eyes as his hand lowered to your exposed cleavage to wipe away the cooling tears made you remember to breath

"Thank you, Tommy"

That was all you could manage to say as you ripped opened your car door trying desperately to ignore the heat in your face, you head into the back of the store immediately with Tommy quickly behind you and seemed to be more hunched than usual as you walked into your share space as he threw on his bright yellow apron on earlier than usual and didn't seem to want to look at you as he immediately threw himself into his butcher work that you couldn't describe even if you tried except that he looked good and confident doing it so you assumed he was doing it correctly.

Two hours later the cashiers came and started their opening duties, you tried to ignore the concerned looks and lingering glances from them as they all seemed to walk past your station- when lunch finally came around you practically threw yourself across the table from Tommy

"I swear if one more person stares at me or whispers at me I'm gonna snap"

His eyebrows immediately turned down as a threat to anyone who makes you unhappy

"Yeah yeah put away your meat cleaver, at least this morning you just immediately asked about it instead of just avoiding me altogether"

You shook your head as he slowly reached out and patted your hand, everything about him radiated cautious and unsure. You sigh and lowered your body so your head landed on his hand

"Do you mind if I don't talk personal today Tommy? Can I read to you maybe ?"

Your head poked up with the first genuine smile of the day and he nodded but suddenly stopped and his hand gently tapped your throat bruise and tilted his head- you could tell he was asking if it would hurt your throat

"Don't worry about it, I gotta get used to it somehow"

You shrugged and pulled out your favourite book from middle school, you know it's childish but it always helped you feel better to read something so familiar.

Tommy listened intently as you snacked on some muffins you had made that morning, after 20 minutes of reading you were interrupted by Luda Mae rushing into the break room saying your name

"Oh, no sweetheart! are you okay?"

She was immediately on you, smothering you in a loving embrace, you looked up and saw tears in her eyes

"Hey hey hey Luda it's okay I'm okay"

She started petting your hair

"Honey did he do this"

"It was an accident we talked about it it's fine"

She held on tighter as she repeated

"This isn't okay"

You couldn't help but pat her arm

"We don't have time machines, it already happened I would just love to forget it at this point"

You felt the tears in your eyes but you couldn't cry, you couldn't make her feel worse

"Well then sweetheart"

She stroked your face and helped dry your stray tears

"I can't wait to taste more of your cooking then"

You were pulled out of her motherly gaze by Tommy gently poking your arm and nodding aggressively

"Well, I suppose I better get back to it then?"

You quickly stood up and hugged Luda and whispered a soft thank you and you went back to your baking.

By the end of your shift, you went to say goodbye to Tommy before leaving for the day, Luda popped her head in earlier today to say they had a late delivery from the slaughterhouse and he had to stay late so she'd drive him home.

As you told Tommy to have a good night he suddenly reached out and grabbed your arm in a firm but somehow gentle grip, he pointed at the ground and you got the message "stay" so you did as he walked to the back, he reappeared just as quickly with your book you had forgotten at the lunch table

"Oh my gosh! Thank you I completely forgot honestly"

He lowered his shoulders and you could tell there was a blush underneath that mask

"Hey I'm in no rush to get home and I kinda left you mid-chapter because we got kindly interrupted, do you want me to read to you for a bit while you work?"

Before you even finished the sentence he was nodding, you couldn't contain your giggle as you sat on the clean butcher-less counter next to Tommy, you immediately started reading where you two had left off

You hadn't realized over an hour passed until you heard James voice suddenly boom from the shopping part of the store in front of the back cashier portion

"Are you kidding me? Sorry to interrupt this little date"

You immediately slipped off the counter and jogged over to James to prevent him from raising his voice further

"James, what are you doing here?"

He looked disgusted at the question

"What am I doing, what are you doing? We just settled things yesterday about this ox and the very next day you're over an hour late to get home and when I come here you're what? reading to him like he's fucking Hellen Keller"

You would've corrected him on his comparison but his raised voice perked the attention of everyone in the store, particularly Tommy who had his gentle eyes covered in a cold gaze at James, piecing things together in his head. You didn't have time to assure Tommy you were okay and leave when suddenly James made that decision for you by grabbing on your already bruised wrist you tried to hold back your yelp of pain while you were being aggressively lead towards the door by James drawing a crowd the entire way, you saw Luda give a nod to the back of the store when suddenly as James reached his hand on the exit door you felt the air whoosh past your ear and saw one familiar giant hand reach out and grab James on the back of the neck like a kitten, James instantly released his grip on you and struggled against Tommy's iron-like grip.

You slowly turned your head around to see Tommy, you didn't expect him to already stare at you with so much anger in his eyes it made you softly gasp, you were frozen in his gaze and you hated yourself for feeling turned on at his display, you did an awkward sidestep and were immediately embraced by Luda Mae, your eyes stayed glued to Tommy as he lifted a struggling and thrashing James off the ground and kicked open the exit door and left the building with him, you and the small crowd immediately followed desperate to see what he was going to do with him, Tommy set him down, turned him to face him and lowered his body to meet James wide eyes

"What do you want"

James said trying to puff his chest but the tremble in his voice gave away his fear, Tommy brought his pointer finger to James's chest, then pointed in your direction and shook his head no

"I won't touch her again is that what you want to hear? You think she'll give you chance there of mice and men?"

You have finally had enough, it's one thing to take jabs at you because you were dumb enough to fall for him but you couldn't let him say anything to Tommy who is just trying to protect your dumbass, you break away from Luda Mae's grasp a and throw yourself between Tommy's raising fist and James

"Listen, this is bad enough and you know it, James, I'll move into the guest bedroom and try to find a different place to live, we both knew it was over the second you grabbed me? Don't bring Tommy into this more than I already have"

Before anyone can say anything to you, you try to walk as confident as possible and get into your Jeep and begin driving trying to silence your spinning head while slowly processing everything.