[Dani]

 Monday 10th of September.

It was a long night for Dani, with a late-night visit from her ex-boyfriend. At least he had given her the decency to curl up into a ball and fall asleep on the couch, instead of beside her in the bed. She was too scared to move, petrified that he would strike out at her once more. Dani couldn’t take it, she couldn’t handle the way he raise his hand at her, when things weren’t going his way. Eli wasn’t like this when they were together, but with each fleeting visit he made in her life the rougher he had become. It was like she was a piñata and Eli was just belting, in hopes that one of his strikes was enough to render him successful enough to gain his prize.

Dani had never in a million years figured she was worth fighting for like this, but then again nobody should ever have to go through this type of torture and have it labelled as love. It wasn’t love, it was a sick desire that Eli had with control and once the balance of their relationship shifted and he wasn’t the main bread winner the scales of power tipped. This was his last resort at securing his power, this was his last-ditch effort at showing Dani that she needed him. Nevertheless, the more Eli reached out in a desperate attempt to win Danielle back, the harder he pushed her away. There was no way on God’s little green earth that Dani would ever wind back into his arms. She just hadn’t found the cure to rid herself of this lingering disease.

Now Danielle knew why Mackenzie and Charlotte had screwed their noses up at the fact that she had gone to the police. The woman was a fool to think that Eli would just up and leave her alone, because the court and police department ordered him to do so. In spite of that, it was the only thing Dani could think of, it was the only seed of hope she prayed would blossom. As the kink that had developed in her neck from her looking over her shoulder was starting to eat away into her social life. How long did she really think she could hide this? With Kenz, Charley, Aron, Fenris and Nick all-knowing something was going on, Dani didn’t stand a chance from covering this up from the local media. Soon, she would be a story on the front-page news, that was the last thing she needed, unwanted attention, people speculating that she was a victim.

Sympathy wasn’t something that Dani liked having aimed towards her, as far as she was concerned she was a smart, independent woman who could make it on her own, but she knew five sets of eyes were now looking at her differently. She couldn’t stand the fact they were possibly thinking she a damsel, that wasn’t what she was. Her whole life Danielle May Weston had been a fighter always taking on her challenges head on, this one just seemed to slip through the cracks and was dangerously becoming a bad habit. A habit she didn’t want, she didn’t entertain and she sure as hell couldn’t continue living life in this pattern.

As she laid awake, looking over at Eli, Dani was too afraid to move her body was taut with fear. What did she have to do to get rid of him? How could she send the right message to him, so he knew to leaver her alone because so far everything she had been saying might as well have been in a different language, as Eli wasn’t listening or comprehending what he was doing. The thought of dialling 911 played at the forefront of her mind, but her phone was now laying on the couch in front of his sleeping face. Dani might have been petite and light on her feet, but there was no way she could guarantee that she could pull of such a swift move like that. The thought of the back of his hand, slapping against her face, dragged her back into reality.

Her brown eyes shifted towards the door, there was a chance that she would make it if she was quick enough but the risk of being caught was still too high. Danielle had already been knocked out by his hands once, she didn’t need a repeat effort. Not only that, she looked at the three sets of locks, that were all refastened there was no way on God’s little green earth that she could sneak past him and make her way to freedom. There just wasn’t enough faith in her ability to tiptoe past him she was clumsy at the best of times, now with this added pressure her light petite figure felt like it was at least carrying an extra five hundred pounds.

Dani’s eyes darted towards the bathroom door, it was close to her, yet it was in the far back corner of her apartment. There was no windows or doors she could use to escape it was practically useless. Yet it offered her some distance, more or less some protection from Eli’s fleeting temper and careless hands. It wasn’t about the need to escape anymore, it was more about the desire to stay out arms reach. It took every inch of courage that she had left swirling around her body that she could muster up, before she slipped her legs out from underneath the bedsheets. It took even more nerve to place the soles of her feet on her carpeted floor and within the count of three she made a run for her bathroom.

The door slammed shut behind her as she quickly locked the door. Dani had cornered herself, but she just prayed that move alone, would be enough to rile Eli up enough to cause a ruckus when he attempted to rip down the wall between them. Maybe then he would be loud enough for someone else to hear? Maybe then that’s when he would get his just desserts? The door slamming shut was enough to wake Eli, as he stirred from position on the couch. Stretching his feet out, he planted them on the floor, before she extended his arms out to the side to release a big yawn. It still hadn’t dawned on him, what he had done.

His hands moved to his face, to rub at his eyes, while he dropped his face into his hands. His head was pounding, as his mind took him for a quick trip down memory lane of last nights events. Eli had started at a bar, that lead to a few others before he made his way to Dani’s house. At the realisation that the rest of his memories were foggy, he quickly looked up from his spot on the couch looking around at his surroundings. That’s when the panic kicked in, that’s when he knew he had fucked up and once again put himself in position that he shouldn’t have. Looking across the room, his heart sank when he saw Dani’s empty bed. His eyes darting quickly across the room to see if she had made a run for it. The locks were still across, meaning there was only one place left that she could hide. The bathroom.

His stood up and made his way towards the bathroom door, his hands instantly reaching out for the round door handle that his turned both ways, hoping that in a brief moment of stupidity that his Danielle would have forgotten to lock the door. There was no game pan here, he was just working on emotion as Eli started to pound his fists into the wooden door. The sound echoed in the small tiled bathroom that Danielle was housed up in.

“Dani, Baby… come out… I just want to talk.” Eli was good a begging, he had become a Master of It lately with their encounters but needless to say Dani wasn’t falling for it. He wrapped his fists once more and pounded at the door. “Danielle, please… let me explain.” He hoped that the sincerity in his voice was enough to instil come confidence in her, well enough so she would at least open the door and hear him out.

Dani didn’t know what to say or do, she was just stiff with fear on the inside of her bathroom. He hands clenched at her hair brush, because her mind was telling her to have something in hand in case he was able to break down the walls between them. It was a stupid mistake to grab for her plastic brush, but desperate times called for desperate measures and right now she wasn’t thinking clearly. All she knew is that she wanted Eli to leave her alone and the sooner the better.

“Go away.” She pleaded with him. “If you just go away, I won’t even tell anyone. Just please go.” Danielle was choking for air as she begged her ex-boyfriend to leave, it was as if fear had captured her lungs and rendered her breathless. The sound of his fist ponding at the door startled her, as she just clenched onto her hair brush a little tighter as if the bristles were going to be enough to save her.

“Danielle please. We need to fix this.” His voice was hoarse from the night on the town, but also fear itself as he knew this had put him in a bad place. “I know we can work this out.” Somehow Eli still thought he had a chance as he placed his hand up on the door with and open palm. “I’ll do anything baby, please.” It was his final plea as he knew he could only keep this up for so long.

Those words were ringing in her mind, “I’ll do anything baby, please.” Dani couldn’t believe it but there was a shoot worth shooting for with those words, she only prayed the ball made the hoop and not the rebound.

“Then please Eli, leave me alone. Please.” She was hoping he meant what he said about doing anything for her. “If you want this to work out, I need time…” It was a lie, but she was working on desperation now. “I need to think about us.” The words caught her in the back of her throat almost choking her. Dani wasn’t the one to lead people on, a spade was a spade with her, but she just needed him to go.

“You really mean that?” His voice was starting to soften, as he looked at the brown door before his eyes. “You really think, we can work this out?” Although his tone was different his intentions were the same, Eli just wanted his girl back and right now things were starting to look up.

Dani slid down the wall in the bathroom, her hair brush clenched into her chest as she closed her eyes. She was hoping that this would be enough for him to walk away on. It was false hope, but she didn’t see any other way of getting out of this situation unharmed. The thought of being punished by him again wasn’t something she wanted to live though again. “Yes.” That one word escaped from her lips at the very same moment a tear rolled down her face. Dani was scared, she was legitimately backed into a corner and unsure of what was going to happen next.

She didn’t have to wait long as Eli tapped the door lightly with his open palm, before a sigh of relief left his lips. “How about dinner on Friday?” He was blowing off the fact he had a restraining order against him as right now he was too caught up in the fairy tale that things might be working out for him. “I’ll message you the details.” His tone was excited, like a breath of new life was now just waiting to greet him.

Danielle didn’t have the heart to tell him, that this wasn’t going to happen in a million years, but things seemed to be working in her favour and right now she just wanted him gone. “Sure.” She forced out the one word as her teeth tried to act as a cage for her tongue. Her mind knew better to play this dangerous game, but Danielle just had to try by any means to get him out of her apartment.

“I love you, Danielle.” His voice sounded song like as he pressed his nose up against the door, holding it there for a moment before he took a step back. “I’ll see you Friday night, my love.” The thought of winning his girl back as almost as if his body had been pumped with ecstasy.

Dani didn’t say a single word, she just listened to Eli’s feet clap against the carpeted flooring before the sound of the locks on her door slid across to unlock. It only took a few moments for the door to open and click shut, but to her it felt like a life time. There was no solid proof that he had actually gone, or if this was part of some sick game he was playing and right now it didn’t matter as Dani was frozen stiff on her bathroom floor. Words and emotions had escaped her as she just looked across the room staring at the toilet that was on the other wall. Drawing her knees up to her chest, she let out a sob before the tears started to flow and she began to cry.

~~

Thursday 13th of September.

Two days had passed by and Dani was yet to hear from Eli, maybe he had had a good long hard think about the position they were in and was going to just give up after all. Well that’s what she was praying for in this point of time. No news on the date night front was good enough for her as that meant in the back of her mind that it wasn’t going to be going ahead. Meaning she wouldn’t have to come up with some far out lie to avoid it all together. Today was a new day for her, she had woken up in her apartment, had breakfast showered and changed because very soon someone would be knocking on her door to take her out for the day.

Fenris.

Yes, the rude, offensive foul mouthed Icelandic male had walked himself into a day out with Danielle when she threw up a picture of her new ring gear and Fenris had to add his two cents in and well now, he was locked into helping her come up with some new attire. This wasn’t a stereotypical gay thing, this was a bit of sneaky behaviour on Danielle’s end to spend time with her fellow Steven’s Gym student Fenris. Dani wasn’t going to take fashion advice from someone, who in habited baggy shirts and snapback hats but she was going to enjoy the rare bonding they were both going to be apart of.

Fenris was still very much a lone wolf in this sport, especially in Sin City Wrestling sure people knew him and they spoke to him, but it was rare for him to be spotted out enjoying the little everyday things that people were accustomed to. Dani had linked that to the fact his private life was now just a few clicks away from being leaked to the whole world, that it had pushed Fenris back into his shell. It was understandable for Fenris to react this way, sometimes when you give the world your all it often turns around to bite you and well truth be told Dani could still see the bite marks the world had left on Fenris from a mile away. To make things crystal clear, she wasn’t hanging out with him because she felt sorry for Fenris, but she did feel sorry for the situation he had been tossed into, no one absolutely no one should be made to feel this way.

Danielle on the other hand, sure she had started to get her footing in Sin City Wrestling and things were slowly starting to turn her way. Still she was very much by herself in this world. Gabriel and Odette had just added to their family and she was just their student in this point of time. London Underground were always there for her, yet the two circles led very different lives at times. Mackenzie and Charlotte were night owls always up to something. While Danielle felt she needed to put some space between Daniel and herself as people were kicking off about them being romantic. Needless to say, if anything Os was the one Danielle thought was the cutest, but she would never admit that out loud. She was hell bent on showing the world what / who she could become in this business without having to attach herself romantically to anyone.

Regardless it was still nice to have friends and right now it felt as if Fenris and Dani needed each other, as the pressure of both of them becoming Odette and Gabriel’s fastest rising stars was looming. That fac alone was already knocking at Fenris’ door as he had become the fastest star to claim the Sin City Wrestling World Heavyweight Championship from their gym. Danielle just hoped that today’s outing was enough to cement a friendship between the two, because irrespective of how different they both are, there was something about Fenris that Dani could see that many others had given up on.

As the time ticked by it didn’t take long for 10am to roll around and without any delay of lateness there was a knock at Danielle’s front door. It was the one she had been waiting for, it didn’t take her long to make her way towards it, cautiously looking through the peep hole before she opened the door to see Fenris’ less than amused face standing before her. He was trying his best to appear like he wanted to be here, but if anyone knew Fenris this was probably sure fire one of the last things he wanted to be doing on his final day off before Violent Conduct. Yet, he was still and gentleman who even though was ill-mannered and considered a grinch in the locker room he offered Dani a grin before he followed her hand as she invited him inside.

“OHMYGOD, Hi.” She was excited and well, Dani was pretty bad at hiding it.

As Fenris stepped inside Dani’s small apartment, he took a look around taking it all in what he had heard about her was true. This wasn’t the safest part of town, nor did it have the best accommodation, but Danielle was making do with what she had. No judgement passed Fenris’ mind until his eyes wandered back towards her smiling face. That’s when his eyes laid on the fresh new bruise that seemed to be still swelling on the side of her face. It didn’t matter how much make-up she had put over it to try and cover it, Fenris knew a shiner when he saw one and right now the deep purple almost black odd shaped circle was almost radiating from her skin. In his mind he was calculating the age of her bruise, his years of being in MMA had almost made him an expert of damage.

“I just need to grab by clutch and we can go, did you want anything? Bottle of water?” Dani was trying to avoid his cold hard stare, by distracting him with an offer of ice cold water. His attention didn’t shift, and Danielle knew it wasn’t worth trying to hide it anymore. “I slipped and...” She couldn’t finish that sentence because she already knew from the cold hard glint in Fenris’ eyes that he wouldn’t believe her.

A sigh left her lips as she just reached out and grabbed a hold of her black clutch that was sitting on the dresser beside her. Grabbing it with one hand, she scooped up her car keys as well with the other before she motioned that she was ready to head towards the door. Fenris just followed and as the door swung inwards towards them and they went to step out they were greeted by the slender yet muscular build of Eli standing before them. Dani’s eyes grew wide as she looked up at her ex-boyfriend, while Fenris’ hands balled up into little fists and before anything could be said or done the bunch of flowers that Eli was holding had been slammed to the floor.

Eli was enraged by the sight that was in front of him as in his mind, Dani was meant to be taking time to think about them but, yet she was smiling and walking out of her apartment with another man. It didn’t take long for the rage to boil over and one thing lead to another as Eli shoved his open palms into Fenris’ chest. As Fenris stumbled slightly backwards into Dani’s home, Eli swung out with his right fist and clubbed the side of the White Wolf’s face. That’s about the time that something clicked and the whole world started to move at warp speed, right before Dani’s eyes.

As Eli took another swing towards Fenris’, he blocked it before he wrapped both his hand around Eli’s throat slamming his back up against Dani’s wall with a sickening thud. Eli didn’t back down as screamed out between gritted teeth “Is that all you’ve got, you fucking c…” before he could continue his head was bounced off the wall before Fenris dragged him across the small room, tossing him to the side like he was last nights left overs. Elis slammed into Dani’s TV stand and Danielle watched as her flat screen wobbled from side to side before the toppled over and smashed into a million pieces on the ground. The boys hadn’t noticed as they were too focused on ripping each other to shreds. As Fenris made his way back over towards Eli, he dropped his right boot into Eli’s stomach winding him but still Dani’s Ex continued to egg him on with his words. “You fight like a bitch.” Another swift kick pelted Eli in the midsection, as Fenris had lost all control.

“Stop it.” Dani called out from across the room, she wasn’t defending Eli, but she didn’t want this to carry on. “STOP IT!” The more she called out the more she was convinced that the boys couldn’t hear her or just chose to ignore her.

Eli motioned for Fenris to take another kick, Fenris obliged as he lined him up but as he swung his leg back, Eli was able to duck it before he made it back up to his feet. Eli rose to his feet with fury as he took another blind swing towards Fenris, who was on unsteady footing but was still able to duck the onslaught before he collected the side of Eli’s face with his closed fist. Eli ducked down and ramped his shoulder into Fenris’ midsection, driving him spine first into the bathroom door. Fenris’ back slammed into the door handle, winding him for a moment, before he started to club his fists onto the back of Eli. As Eli tried to pin him to gain some advantage it didn’t help him as Fenris, grabbed onto his ears and lifted his face up to greet his. His white teeth were snarled together as he grunted towards him before he shoved Eli away from him, sending Eli straight into the coffee table in the middle of the room.

As Eli tried to scamper away on all fours, Fenris wouldn’t allow him to as he just reached out and grabbed onto the back of his head before he bounced his nose off the wooden coffee table. Eli tried again to crawl away but Fenris planted his foot into his spine, before he kicked him once more in the midsection for good measure. Dani didn’t know what to do, but somehow, she had found herself standing between them now her focus was on Fenris as she tried to calm him down. She couldn’t understand what Fenris was saying as he was rumbling on in his native tongue while looking down at Eli in disgust. The tension in the room was thick and it was confronting. Dani’s eyes fell onto Fenris’ fists to see that his knuckle were slight busted, before she turned around to see the pool of blood that was staining up her carpet from the broken nose of Eli.

“That’s enough.” Dani was furious at both of them and those were the only words she could find right now as the two held their distance.

The sound of Eli spitting out a mouthful of blood, drew Dani’s attention before his smugly mouthed off towards her. “You think this fuck head is going to be around all the time? You think he is going to stop me?” his words were pure evil and from the look in Danielle’s eyes Fenris could tell they weren’t welcome.

Side stepping Dani, Fenris reached down and lifted Eli up to his feet by the balls of his hands wrapping around his black shirt before he screamed into his face. “YOU. NEVER. COME. AROUND. HERE. AGAIN.” Fenris’ words were broken as he was livid, and English was still this second language, but it didn’t take a rocket scientist to know the meaning behind those words. He was inserting his dominance, also solidifying his stance as a protector to Dani.

Eli just looked down at Fenris and with the dirtiest of grins he arrogantly shouted back to the Icelandic man. “Just know I fucked her first and I’ll fuck her again.” His words were spine-chilling and sickly as he looked over Fenris’ shoulder and towards Danielle.

Dani’s mouth just flew open, before her hands came up to cover her mouth. Never in a million years did she every expect words like those to come spilling from Eli’s lips. She thought all of this was his weird way of showing her that he still loved her and yet his true colours had spilled at the hands of Fenris. The White Wolf had put two and two together and without a second through his right fist collided with the bridge of Eli’s nose combusting whatever bone was left unbroken. Dropping Eli to the floor like a rag doll as Eli was out to the world.

Fenris made his way towards Dani his right hand coming up to shield her eyes, as she instantly put her forehead on Fenris’ shoulder. This was all too much for her and well, it wasn’t going to get any better as the sound of sirens flooded her ears. This was not how today was meant to turn out, this was not how this week was meant to unfold. This was meant to be one of the happiest weeks of her life and right now it was in pieces. Fenris didn’t say a word as the two could hear footsteps outside the apartment. Turning to look, they both watched as paramedics and police quickly entered the scene leaving Danielle to wonder what on earth was going to happen next?