Chapter Text
Rio had somehow managed to get Beth into the bed after some struggle. Turns out he's not the strong guy he used to be, and had to call Annie to help him. He knew that it would cause her to tease him relentlessly. It was just after eleven, judging by the darkness in the backyard, that was partially illuminated by the porch light. Dean was who knows where and the kids were at his mom's. Annie decided to stay out in the living room, standing guard incase he were to come back. Ruby eventually showed back up after going home to tell Stan, who forced her to go back to the house to be with Beth. And Rio; well, he was trying to quietly climb into bed next to her. But there was no way of doing anything quietly after the night she just had. The bed shifted with Rio's weight as he laid down next to Beth, who lifted her head.
"Go back to sleep, it's just me," he told her, running his fingers through her hair, and resting a hand around her waist.
"Okay," Beth replied tiredly, moving back against him. She could feel his heartbeat, and his chest moving as he breathed. Up, down. Up, down. She knew he was the only one in the house that could protect her, even after the several protests in the past that Annie could 'Kick Deansie's ass'. After all, Rio was the one that carried a gun with him everywhere he went. But in the back of her mind, she knew that her sister wouldn't let Dean past the front door. That was what sparked the discussion where Annie tried to convince her to change the locks after he cheated, but Beth wasn't for that. Now she probably will, at least it'll give Rio a good time trying to pick the new ones. Sometimes she swears that he stole a key from her and made a copy of it just to get in.
Ruby had pulled up just in time. As she sat in her car, ready to get out, she saw Dean walking back up to the front door of the house. She panicked, quickly calling Annie to try to stop him. No answer. "No, no, no, no, no. You're telling me this child actually turned her phone off?" It was no use for her to try to get out to stop him, as the distance between the two wasn't even at all. Now she just prayed that Annie would hear the front door open. But unfortunately for everyone; she didn't. Ruby followed a little bit behind Dean, who walked in the door. She was a couple seconds behind, but still far enough away so he wouldn't see her. Dean ducked to go to the hall near the bedroom, and Ruby rushed to Annie, who was sound asleep on the couch. She shook her awake, motioning for her to be quiet as well.
"What's going on?" she asked. Ruby pointed to the bedroom. Annie's eyes widened, not wanting to say what she was thinking or what Ruby was trying to tell her. "No," she whispered.
Ruby nodded, scared. "It's not going to be good," she said. Annie jumped up and started to inch closer to the door, going to a closet to grab a baseball bat on her way. She looked back at Ruby, who gave her a confused look.
“What is that going to do?”
”I don’t know, incase I have to hit him on the head or something,” Annie explained. “God knows I’ve wanted to do that for a long time,”
Beth was woken up by the sound of the door swinging open. It took a couple seconds for her vision to unblur to get a good sense of what was going on. But it didn’t take long after that for her to realize that it was Dean standing there. She took a glance at the door, mapping her escape route just incase. Reaching back, she grabbed a hold of Rio’s arm that was wrapped around her, tugging it to try to wake him up.
“Rio,” she finally said. He lifted his head that was buried in her hair to see who was standing near the door. It was at this moment that Annie was at the doorway, motioning to try to get Beth’s attention. Any way she went, she feared that Dean would hurt her again. Rio got up, grabbing his gun that was lying on the bedside table beside him, and started walking towards Dean. He spotted Annie in the hallway, and motioned to her.
“Get her out of here,” he said to her. Annie entered the room, and locked eyes with Dean. She nodded, walking towards Beth.
“No,”
“Elizabeth, I ain’t got time for this. No way in hell are you gonna be in here,” Rio told her. “Go with her,” he commanded. And Beth listened, following her sister out into the hallway where Ruby was waiting.
“What is he gonna do?” Ruby asked.
“I hope he beats him up. Man deserves it,” Annie said.
“Annie!” Their bickering went on for a bit while Beth was just silent.
“He’ll kill me if Rio does anything to him,” she finally said, a tear rolling down her face. Annie and Ruby exchanged a look. You could faintly hear Dean arguing over Rio, and it seemed like he was trying to justify everything that happened. And Beth swore she heard a ‘Ain’t no justifying what you did’ from Rio.
Then a door slammed. It seemed like an eternity that they were waiting for Rio to come back out. Because they knew that it would be him. There was no way Dean was tough enough to beat him, especially after tonight. Rio eventually emerged from the room, surprisingly fine. They really expected there to be a physical fight, but I guess maturity was in the air tonight.
“He ain’t gonna be bothering you anytime soon,” he said. Beth kept her focus down at the ground, not saying a word. Annie was the first one to speak.
“What did you do?” she asked.
“Don’t gotta know,” Rio told her. Annie walked over to him, patting him on the shoulder.
“You’re the best gangfriend ever,” she said, and walked into the kitchen. Ruby followed, leaving the two alone. Beth walked over to him, still looking down. Until she finally broke the silence.
“Thank you,” she whispered, clinging onto him as sobs erupted from her body. Rio wrapped his arms around her, rubbing her back, and making a ‘shh’ sound.
“He’s never gonna put his hands on you again,” he told her. She looked up at him, leaving a wet spot on the shoulder of his t shirt. He looked into her bloodshot eyes and could tell that she was just—exhausted. Beth swallowed, taking a deep breath before leaning her head into his chest.
“What did you say to him?” she asked.
“I don’t think you should know,”
“But I want to,” Rio laughed, grabbing her legs and lifting her up to carry her back to bed. He sat her down, back where she was laying before Dean came in. “I could’ve walked,” she protested. Rio couldn’t believe how incredibly stubborn she was sometimes.
“Just had to stick it to your sister that I can carry you,” he replied as Beth laughed. “Get some sleep,” he told her, starting to walk away. He was stopped by her hand coming out to grab his arm, pulling him back into the bed with her. Like they were before Dean ruined it.
”Yo,” Rio said, walking towards Dean, gun in hand.
“Yo?” Dean replied, mocking him. “What the hell are you doing in bed with my wife?”
”You mean the one you slammed against a wall before you left here?”
“I was coming back to explain myself,” Dean swore. But Rio knew it was a lie. He would do anything to make himself sound good.
“Ain’t no justifying what you did. Here’s what’s gon’ happen,” Rio started. “You’re gonna get the fuck out of here, let your god damn wife do what she needs to do to get money to fix what your dumbass started, and you never lay a hand on her again,” Dean was speechless, and Rio didn’t even have the gun up to his face.
“Okay,”
“And if I find out this happens again, you might find another bullet in you,” Rio added. “You understand?”
”Yea-yeah,” Dean replied.
”Now get out of here,”