Page 10 of Saved By Two

“I barely recognised her when I answered the door,” he says, his eyes dark with repressed rage.

Yeah, it took me a minute for my eyes to catch up with my brain when he yelled for me. Seeing her in that state was beyond a shock to the system.

The last and first time we met her in person, she was laughing and smiling. But she’s a shell of the person we met.

I should know; it’s not like she never crossed my mind since then. Hell, Caleb and I had talked about her for hours after the party ended, when she left with Mason.

I shake away the thoughts.

“Listen, just let her settle and get her bearings. We need to make sure she knows she’s safe. She’ll open up, I’m sure of it.”

He visibly swallows, his eyes dark and stormy, his body so fucking tense.

“That’s just it. She did when I was helping her in the shower, and she said how he… raped her while she was unconscious.”

Caleb is pacing back and forth, I can feel his rage like a live wire ready to spark into flame at any given moment.

“She couldn’t even defend herself.”

I have no words, it’s not like we haven’t crossed paths with sick individuals in our line of work, but still, this is too close to home.

Mason is a good friend. We promised should anything ever happen to him, we would make sure Jessica was all right. Even though this isn’t our fault anymore than it is Jessica’s, I already know without Caleb voicing it that he feels somewhat responsible. How could he not? It’s ingrained in his being to look after others. His cold exterior is just that; he cares more than most people I know.

I take hold of his hand. “We’ll take care of her together, okay?”

He clenches his jaw again. “Yeah, and then we’ll take care of that mother fucker too.”

Caleb would go to war for her, as would I.

I grab his face and pull him in for a hard kiss. My back hits the wall with force, a grunt leaving my lips as the air is knocked from my lungs, teeth knocking as he dominates my mouth. When he draws back, he rests his forehead against mine, inhaling deep, sharp breaths.

“Let me speak to her while you sort us both out a drink. I think we both could use one.”

He nods, squeezing the back of my neck, and stalks off down the hallway.

Turning back to the room, I take a deep breath and tap my knuckles against the door before poking my head inside.

“Can I come back in?”

“Of course.” Jessica tries to scoot back into a sitting position with a wince. I reach her in less than three strides and cup her shoulders, gently easing her so she’s half lying back down, propped up by the pillows.

“Rest.”

She scrunches the duvet between her fingers in a tight grip, her knuckles losing all colour.

“Is he really mad?”

Her one good eye peers over my shoulder before blinking and making eye contact with me again.

“Yes, but not with you, sweet girl.”

He’s angry on her behalf, and mine, probably After everything that happened to my own mum, seeing Jessica like this was the last thing either of us envisioned.

“Don’t worry about anything, okay? You’re safe here.”

She licks her lips, and I watch the roll of her throat as she swallows, her bruises prominent.

I reach out slowly, giving her time to tell me to stop before I trace the marks along her throat and down to her collarbone.

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