Familiarity Breeds Contempt
Chapter Ten of the Through the Scope series | Chapter Eleven
Rating: Mature
Word Count: 4.1K
Chapter Overview: Rochelle and Frankie's relationship finally reaches a boiling point
TW: toxic relationship, mentions of cocaine, depictions of domestic assault/violence
Notes: hey everyone !! this is a heavier chapter,, so it didn't feel right to include a lot of the things i originally intended too. not to worry though because that's what next week is for hehe ((: thank u to @missbabyjay for being a blessing and giving me some inspo for the fight scene !! i updated the tag list so please let me know if i missed you/ you want to be added ! as usual ... my asks are always open and happy reading <3
*no use of y/n & female presenting reader*
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“What’s going on?” Benny looks puzzled as Will holds your scared body with extreme care. He peers past his brother to find only Pope following closely behind. “Where’s Fish?”
“Dealin’ with his past.” Will sighs as he sets you down.
You quietly wrap your arms around your body and turn to look back at the front door of the gym.
“His past? Could you be any more vague?” He brushes past his brother for you. Benny crouches down and cups your face in his hands while cautiously inspecting you. “What happened out there?”
“I don’t know. I really don't know. One minute everything is fine and then the next minute a car comes barreling towards all four of us and I’m being rushed inside.”
He looks for his friends for more answers as he rubs your shoulder. When Will stays silent, Pope speaks up.
“Crazy bitch decided it would be a good idea to show up here.” He offers.
“Rochelle?” Benny stands to his full height. “Rochelle is outside my fuckin’ gym? No way in hell.” He starts heading for the exit with murder in his eyes, but Will plants a steady hand on his chest.
“Fish is takin’ care of it. Leave it be.”
“Leave it be?! How can you say that after everything she has done to him?” Benny spits.
“For the love of God will someone tell me what’s going on?!” You finally crack.
All three of them look at you with pained expressions.
“As much as we want to tell you-” Pope starts.
“And we really want to tell you.” Benny quickly adds.
“This is something Catfish has to tell you himself. You deserve to hear it directly from him and not a third party, hermosa.”
“But-” You begin.
“He will tell you, hon.” Will wraps his arms around you and you allow yourself to accept the comfort you so desperately need amidst the chaos. “You just need to be patient with him. His past, just like the rest of ours, is hard to talk about. I know it’s easier said than done, but trust us.”
You slowly move your own limbs around his torso and take a deep breath of his woodsy cologne. Of course he wears a scent that is reminiscent of trees. They are one in the same if you think about it. Both of them are tall, strong, able to stand firm in any weather, and always constant. Will is your oak tree and you cling on to him until the raging winds start to die down. Unfortunately, just as trees are predictable, the winds never are. Muffled yelling begins to seep through the door accompanied by pounding fists on glass.
***
“Francisco fucking Morales!” She screeches. “We need to talk!”
He starts walking towards her. “Yes, Rochelle. We do.”
“Oh!” She gasps dramatically. “So now you want to talk?! That’s funny because you have been avoiding my calls and texts for the past week! I haven’t heard from you since Saturday night! It wouldn’t have anything to do with that fucking receptionsit, would it?”
He knew this would happen. He knew that she would immediately bring you up.
“Do you know how many times you would disappear on me while we were dating, Rochelle?” He asks calmly. “But now that we aren’t dating and I’m the one not responding, it’s an issue for you?”
He can see it in her eyes that she's taken aback. In every argument that they have ever had in the history of their relationship, Frankie had always rolled over and bared his stomach to her. He never tried to fight back in order to preserve the peace. Clearly she thought that this time would be the same.
“Why haven’t you answered my question?! Does that receptionist have anything to do with you ignoring me?!”
“This is between me and you. Leave her out of this.” He wants to keep you as far away from her hooked claws as he can. He might not have been able to escape them, but he sure as hell wasn’t going to let her drag you down.
“So, that’s a yes!” She throws her hands up in the air as if she is celebrating a victory. “I’m also going to correctly assume that she’s the reason why you haven’t given me an answer about getting back together!”
You were the reason. You were without a doubt the reason. In the short time that he has known you and the even shorter time that he has been with you, you have given him things he didn’t think he was worthy of. You gave back all the kindness and care he gifted you tenfold. You listened when he talked, communicated with him about the little things, and above all, even if you didn’t know it yet, were patient with him. He knew he was a broken and shattered piece of glass, but you were like the sea. Your gentle waves came up and kissed his rough edges until they were soft and round. You were nothing like the relentless, careening waters that he knew Rochelle to be. That he thought all relationships to be. You never made him feel like he was in a perpetual state of purgatory waiting to be granted access to the Heaven that was your affection. You gave it to him so willingly and without hesitation.
“No, I’m the reason why you haven’t been given an answer about if we are getting back together. I don’t want to do this anymore,” He motions his hands in between the two of them. “I want something healthy.”
He watches her eyes grow wide at his words. The sheer weight of them slams down on her so hard that he swears he almost sees her knees buckle.
“You ‘want something healthy’?!” She mocks. “I pulled you out of the gutter when I met you!”
“Oh my fucking God.” He whispers. It’s like he’s looking in a mirror eight months ago. “You’re high, aren’t you? You could have killed all of us and yourself driving like that!” Anger starts to bubble below his cool demeanor.
“Don’t change the subject!” She bellows.
“You want to talk about pulling me out of the gutter? Fine! You pulling me out of the gutter caused me to lose my fucking pilots license! The best part was,” He can’t help but laugh dryly. “You didn’t even care! That didn’t even snap you back to reality! You never came to visit me in rehab either!” He takes a deep breath to get centered as he can feel himself getting sucked in. “I’m just as complicit in the drug use as you were. You may have shown it to me, but I continued to buy it. I know this. But, when I needed your support you bailed on me.”
“I gave you a distraction from all of those goddamn nightmares!” She hollers. “If you were too busy being high on coke then you wouldn’t have them!”
“You’re fucking deranged if you think that’s what help is supposed to be!”
“At least when you were with me, you knew I wouldn’t judge you for it!” She quips. “What has she said about your little ‘habit’, Frankie? Did she gasp? Did she move away when you tried to touch her? Did she tell you she needed time to be by herself to think everything over?”
He stays quiet as he clenches his fists by his side. His nails are biting into the flesh of his palm, but he doesn’t care. Her words vibrate violently around in his head. He hadn’t told you about the coke, not yet at least. It wasn’t something he was comfortable coming right out and saying on a first date. The fear that it would make you look at him differently or even want to leave all together haunted him at night. Keeping it from you was wrong if he wanted to be in a relationship; however, he selfishly wanted to keep the image you had of him inside your head intact and uncorrupted.
“Well look at that!” She giggles maniacally. “She doesn’t know. You haven’t fessed up, have you?”
“What she and I talk about doesn’t concern you, Rochelle. As a matter-of-fact, nothing I say or do should concern you from here on out.” He conjures images of you and uses them to keep him steady and put the final nail in the coffin. “Since you clearly didn’t understand what my silence meant this past week, I’ll waste my breath on you one last time. I don’t want to be in a relationship with you. I don’t want to associate with you. I don’t want to know you anymore.”
“Frankie, baby. Please-” Rochelle begs. She can feel him slipping out from where she verbally pinned him. The struggle for control was tipping in Frankie’s favor and she didn’t know what to do.
“Don’t pretend like you care now to make up for the fact that you never did the entire time. It’s over for good. I should have ended it officially long ago. I guess in a fucked up way you did help me when we did coke. Whenever I was high I could actually convince myself that I loved you.”
Frankie watches as the woman’s eyes across from him darken. Her lips contort into a sinister smile and she tilts her head to one side. It made his blood run cold at how quickly she could switch emotions.
“She’ll leave you, you know?” Her voice is thick with false sweetness. “If she doesn’t leave you when she finds out about the drugs, she will leave when she learns about the little ‘vacation’ you took.”
He feels like he just got the air knocked out of him.
“Once she finds out that it’s all an illusion, you and all your friends, she’ll run for the hills. At the end of the day, you’re still the man who shot first.”
There it is. There is her winning blow. There is that conniving woman he always knew she could be. She had a gift for knowing exactly what to say to destroy a person from the inside out. Every time she did it, that signature smile was always present. It seemed to grow wider each time she twisted her verbal blade into his stomach. Up until this point, Frankie had managed to remain relatively controlled. He knew she was sick, but he never dreamed she would bring up what happened in South America. He told her, in confidence, a little about what happened because he desperately needed to. He went to places he never imagined due to the guilt he felt about Tom’s death. Figuring that talking about it would lessen the pain, he opened up to her. Unfortunately, that only worked when the person he was talking to was actually listening.
“Leave, Rochelle.” His voice waning under the strain of his plethora of emotions. “We’re done here.”
“I’m not done! I have something to tell that lovely woman hiding inside the gym!” She makes a mad dash to the gym entrance. When she frantically pulls on the handle and finds it locked, she resorts to yelling and slamming her hands against the glass. “Come out! Come out!”
Frankie has caught up to her by this time and is trying to move her away. As angry as he was, he would never resort to being physical with her.
“Rochelle, for the love of God get the fuck away! This isn’t going to fix anything!”
“Does it look like I care?!” She screams, turning her body to face him. “I don’t get dumped! That’s not how this works! I’m in control!”
She starts to bring her fists down on Frankie now. He blocks her blows with his forearms and prays that the guys have kept you far enough away to where none of this madness reaches your ears.
Loud sirens slice through Rochelle’s incomprehensible rambling. He looks past her flailing body and sees red and blue lights begin to paint the buildings on the street. As they get closer, its noise registers in her ears too.
“You called the cops?! You called the fucking cops on me?!” She brings her balled up hands down harder and faster on Frankie’s makeshift shield. “Asshole! Asshole! You’re such an asshole!”
A police cruiser pulls into the parking lot and comes to a quick stop in front of the gym. Two officers immediately jump out of the car and rush over. Within minutes they have Rochelle pinned up against the wall of the gym and are attaching handcuffs to her writhing wrists. She keeps yelling things like ‘this is a misunderstanding’ and ‘we were just having a passionate argument’. Frankie watches as the cops have to force her into the back seat because she keeps trying to climb out. She looks like a rabid animal being caged.
“Goodbye, Rochelle.” He doesn’t know if this is the last time he will see her, but for now he knows he can sleep without having to keep one eye open.
Once they finally have her secured, one officer climbs into the passenger seat and the one makes his way over to Frankie.
“Evenin’, sir. What can you tell me about the young lady?”
He has no idea how the cops arrived and no energy to speak with them. Frankie just wants the comfort of you.
“Uhh her name is Rochelle and I’m pretty sure she’s high right now. I really don’t have any other relevant information to give you. She just showed up here out of the blue.”
“Well, we were already goin’ to charge her with assault when we arrived on the scene, but I’ll have her drug tested when we get back to the station.” The man looks into the gym. “They know anythin’ about it?”
Frankie turns and sees Benny leading Will, Pope, and you to the front. Benny unlocks the front door and you slip under his arm and scurry to Frankie’s side. He swaddles you in his arms as he buries his head in the curve of your neck. He doesn’t know which one of y’all is shaking harder at this point.
“I’m Benjamin Miller, the owner of this gym. Maybe I could help answer some questions? My friends here were also outside when she sped through the parking lot earlier.”
Frankie looks up at his friend and nods in his direction. An unspoken ‘thank you’ for getting the attention off of him.
“Let’s get away from all this craziness, estrella. Walk with me.”
You feel him pull away from you, but reach down to take your hand. He holds it tightly as he guides you away from all the commotion. You follow him as he walks around the back side of Brass Knuckles until the sights and sounds of the evening fade away. Then it's only him and you leaning against the brick wall. There are so many questions buzzing around inside you, but no words come. You observe him take a small pack of cigarettes out of his back pocket. He thumbs one out and places it delicately between his lips. Then he looks over at you with tired eyes and offers you the pack. You shimmy one out for yourself, an act of solidarity, and wait as he gets the lighter. He lights yours first and then he takes care of himself. Only after he takes a long drag does he speak.
“I’m sorry that you had to be a part of that.” He sounds distant when he speaks. You don’t think that he’s doing it on purpose. This must be a defense mechanism.
“Do you want to talk about it? I know it's still really raw, but I’ll listen if you want me too.”
The sun had long set, but the faint glow from the end of his cigarette allows you to see a small smile pull at his lips.
“Would you settle for the sparknotes version right now? I promise I’ll give you the details tonight.”
“Whatever you’re comfortable with.” You offer quietly.
“Did you-did you hear anything that she said?”
“I heard her yell your name before Will and Pope got me completely inside. Then we all heard yelling, more her than you, and finally her banging on the door.”
“To make a long story short, Rochelle showed up angry because I have been ignoring her since Saturday. Over a month ago, the day Benny hired you actually, she texted me saying she wanted to get back together. It wasn’t a healthy relationship, but it was the longest one I had been in so I was confused. It sounds silly.”
“No it doesn’t.” You reassure him. “Keep going.”
“Well, I knew I didn’t want to be in that relationship anymore and I just didn’t know what to tell her. Ignoring her was childish, I know, but it seemed like the best possible option at the time. I didn’t want to get into a big argument. I guess that blew up in my face, huh?”
“You did what you thought would be best, Frankie. Unfortunately, things just go south sometimes.”
“Hmm.” He nods at your statement. “Basically she was just angry that I didn’t want her in my life anymore. She’s not really used to being told ‘no’. You really didn’t hear anything specific though?”
“No.” You take a pull from your own cigarette. “The guys never let me leave the heavy bag area in the back.”
“Good.” He breathes out. He sounds like he is coming back to you.
“But…” You turn your head up to face him. “They really should have kept a closer eye on me if they didn’t want me involved.”
“It was you!” He says, whipping his head to look at you.
“In their defense, they were all discussing what they should do about her showing up. Will wanted to let you figure it out yourself, Benny wanted to punch her out I'm pretty sure, and Pope was somewhere in the middle. I got tired of sitting there and listening to them bicker so I took my own course of action.”
“You amaze me, you know that?”
“What do you mean?” You feel your cheeks heat up.
“I just-I just can’t believe you did that. There were four people telling you to stay out of it and yet you still found a way to help me. I’ve never had someone like that in my life.”
“Your friends would drop everything for you!”
“I know that.” He laughs lightly. “I mean I’ve never had a woman I’m … dating do that for me.”
“Oh, so we’re dating?” You tease.
“Yes? No? Talking? Courting, maybe?”
“Courting?” You cough. You were in the middle of inhaling and that caught you off guard.
“Don’t laugh!” He says, shoving you in the shoulder. “I’ll be honest, I have no idea what we are. I just know I like whatever it is.”
“I like it too, Frankie. Labels can come later.” You take the hand he had resting by his side and interlace your fingers. “So…you smoke?”
“It’s not an everyday thing!” He rushes. “It just helps curb the anxiety in a stressful situation.”
“I get it.” You say honestly.
“I haven’t had to use them in a little over a month.” His hand squeezes yours. “That’s about when you came into my life.”
“I’m your new vice, huh?”
“You have no idea, estrella.”
The two of you stand, hands together, letting the smoke from your cigarettes dance around in the air. The quiet that has encompassed y’all is welcome. You don’t hear the blaring sounds of the siren nor the damped dialogue between the police and your friends. It’s safe to say that the coast is clear and safe, but something keeps you here. Something keeps you both here. You can feel it in the way Frankie is breathing, the way that his thumb is rubbing over your skin, that he has more to tell you. He says your name barely above a whisper.
“Yes?”
“I know I said I would only give you a quick summary, but you deserve more than that. You deserve better than that.”
“Frankie, it can wait if you want it to.”
“This is something I need to tell you. I’ve been trying to figure out a way to explain it, but it’s just so hard.” You clutch his hand to let him know you’re listening. “It has to do with my Tuesday work meetings.”
“Alright?” You aren’t really sure what that has to do with the current situation.
“I don’t really go- they aren’t work meetings. They’re meetings, but they focus on something other than my job. I uhh fuck.” He has to take a breath. “It’s a support group.”
“For dealing with what you saw on missions?”
“For the things I did to erase what I saw on missions actually. I go to an NA meeting every Tuesday. I met Rochelle when I got back from a particularly bad one. We both kinda clung to each other although, in hindsight, we were both sinking ships. We would go out drinking all the time and when that stopped helping I started using cocaine. It just snowballed from there into something I couldn’t control. I ended up losing my pilot's license because my habit got so bad.”
“God, Frankie. I’m so sorry.”
“The guys helped me get into a temporary rehab and then find a new job. I’ve been clean for eight months now.”
“That’s amazing!” You're looking directly into those deep brown eyes. “I’m so proud of you!”
“You’re what?” The pure shock on his face makes you want to sob.
“Frankie, I’m proud of you. Pulling yourself up after dealing with something like that isn’t easy in the slightest, but you did it. You found your footing and have been walking on your own for eight long months. Going to those weekly NA meetings proves that you are serious about recovery. You should be proud of yourself.”
“You don’t want to leave?”
“Leave? Why would I want to leave?”
“I’m an addict.” He speaks softly.
“A recovering addict.” You say taking his face in your hand after discarding your cig. “You’re recovering. Please don’t discount all of your hard work. I’m so humbled that you wanted to tell me about this. It would be hard to support you if I left, now wouldn’t it?”
He surges forward and swallows you in a kiss. His tongue tastes of sweet tobacco as it parts your lips. Your hands find his hair and knock away his cap so you can run your fingers through it. His moans fill your ears as you bite down on his bottom lip. He moves so he’s positioned in front of you. You feel the coarse brick nip at your exposed skin as he pushes your body against it. His hand comes down to roughly palm you through your shirt. You whine in approval as your back arches in a subconscious response to his actions.
“It’s Pope! I’m coming back there! Y’all better not be doing anything I would be doing!”
The two of you scramble to separate before you get caught like a couple of horny teenagers. Frankie is in the process of snatching his cap off the ground when Pope rounds the corner of the building.
“Hi!” You say, breathing abnormally.
“Hello to you.” Pope says with a knowing grin. “Fish.” He nods
The man next to you returns the same greeting.
“Not to kill the vibe of whatever is going on here, but Benny is bitching up a storm.”
“Oh, God. What now?” You question.
“He can’t find his ring girl for this evening.” He smiles.
“It’s barely even 9 o’clock.” Frankie finally chimes in.
“Hey, don’t shoot the messenger.” Pope holds his hands up. “I was just told to come tell you to get your ass inside. You know how the Millers are about punctuality.”
“Yeah, alright.” You concede. “Tell him I’m coming.”
Pope throws each of you a devious wink before leaving. You throw your head back and sigh loudly when it's just you and Frankie again.
“Want to accompany me into the lion's den?” You hold out your hand to him.
“Yes, but can I ask you something first?”
“What’s up?”
“Would you maybe, Christ I feel like a child, want to be my girlfriend? I know you said that labels could come later, but I don’t want to wait until later.”
Your smile could light up the entire alley. You throw your hands around his neck and kiss him. He learned from your last interaction and placed one hand on his cap and circled your lower back with the other. You can feel him smiling against you as you pepper his lips, his jaw, and any skin that you can reach with kisses.
“Is that a ‘yes’?” He laughs when you finally release him.
“Of course it’s a fucking yes! Francisco Morales, I would love to be your girlfriend!”
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