It was the only time the entire trip that Bekah had been away from Jimmy even for a second. She’d gone back to the cafe they had celebrated their engagement at just two days prior, going to pick up more cake to continue their prolonged celebration. Even at his insistence he could go with her, she assured him she wouldn’t be long, she had her phone, nothing bad was going to happen, and every other sentiment this trip had instilled in her.
And she was right, for the most part. Until, while cutting through an alley to get back to their hotel, she felt herself suddenly pushed and held against the wall. Her heart rate instantly picked up, a part of her life she’d kept neatly packed away for the most part flooding her thoughts again. She nearly swore she heard Dylan’s voice, rather than the strange man’s voice who seemed to almost taunt, “you’re Jimmy’s girl, huh?”
Fear paralyzed her, unable to speak up or push back, and even when she was sure he said something else to her that she couldn’t hear, she definitely felt the blow to her face. And the next one. And the one after that. Bekah couldn’t even register what was happening by the time she’d been left slumped against the wall, the same strange voice commanding, “tell Jimmy to do his fucking job.” She was sure there was another threat - an ‘or else’ - but she couldn’t hear anything, not even his footsteps leaving the alley, over the sound of her own harsh breathing and her heart pounding in her ears. She hadn’t even fought back. She’d let this happen, she’d felt like she left her fucking body - everything so removed, even now. Her fault, her fault, her fault.
The only thing that finally brought her back to her own body was finally feeling the blood that had dripped down from her nose to her lips. Familiar. It took her several tries with how badly her hands were shaking to reach into her purse for her phone, opening the camera to assess the damage. Black eye forming, a dark bruise blooming on her cheek, blood dripping from her nose, her lip split. God, she looked fucking awful. There was no way to hide this from Jimmy - Jimmy. Fuck. Digging around in her purse again, she pulled out a pair of sunglasses, concealing the bruises she could with them. She found a couple tissues as well, holding them to her nose as she pulled the hood of an oversized sweatshirt of Jimmy’s she was wearing over her head. If she walked quickly enough, she’d be able to get through the hotel lobby without questions. What mattered right now was getting out of here - getting somewhere private for her impending breakdown.
The short, quick walk to the hotel was without tears, still too in shock to process any of what had happened to her minutes ago. All she wanted was to rush into Jimmy’s arms, just as she always had when she had been so badly hurt like this. However, her brain was already trying to rationalize how she had deserved this. How this was her fault. Just as she had been trained to do. This was going to ruin their entire trip. Ruin all of their happiness. It was her fault they couldn’t be happy anymore. So, by the time she’d entered the hotel room and closed the door behind her, before she had even given any time for her appearance to sink in, the breakdown had already started. “I’m sorry - It - It’s all my fault. Please don’t be mad,” she begged instantly, shaking hands pulling her sunglasses off. She hadn’t entered this headspace in so long, she felt instantly swallowed by it.
