Authors Note:
Okay, I am extremely excited with this story and I hope you are too. I am currently working on three stories so I might take a few days to update. Part of this chapter was extremely difficult to write about because it is partially based on a real event. Please review and let me know how I did with it!
There was a heist. I had been planning it for months. Jess didn't know about it. I didn't want her being dragged into more of my crime. She hated me stealing petty things normally. Ever since we met that day when my father and I saved her, I've felt protective over her.
I sat in our warehouse and bounced a ball off the wall beside me. I caught it and threw it back. It felt like I was playing catch with my old man.
I licked my lips and threw the ball back and caught it once more. I heard a crash outside. I jumped up, fearing Jess was getting hurt. The door burst open and Jason carried her inside. She was slumped on his shoulder, I could see blood but I didn't know where it was coming from.
"She was turning a trick." He laid her down on the table in front of us. "When the guy left, I went to check on her. She was like this."
Her clothes had been torn and there were angry cuts down her chest and stomach. Her face was bruised and her mouth was dripping. I slammed my fist on the table.
"What was his name?" I asked Jason.
"I- I don't know!" He stammered. "He took everything she had! She had a whole month's paycheck!" I looked at his worried face and punched him. He went sprawling on the floor.
"That is what you care about? You selfish pig!" I screamed at him. "Look at her! This is your fault!" I pointed at the unconscious form on the table.
"Hey! I don't send her out there every night, letting strange guys have their way with her! You were supposed to so something!" He got up and walked out, slamming the door behind him.
"I'm sorry Jess; I should have never let that happen to you." She stirred and her eyelids fluttered as I crouched down to touch her bruised face.
"Ace, it hurts so much." I saw tears drip down her face. "My dad- I- it hurts." I looked down to her abdomen and saw a pool of red on her skirt. He must have raped her.
Dad and I were walking down the road in the evening one summer night when we heard screams coming from the house next door. We waited until the screams died down and a couple walked out of the house, laughing, with their suitcases. They got in the car and drove away. The loud cries from inside continued. My father and I crept up to the door and pushed it open,
"Hello?" My father called out. The whimpering came from the kitchen. I folowed him until we reached a dimmly lit room. There was a girl about my age on the floor. There was blood around her and her clothes were thrown around the room. She looked up at my father and I with such fearful eyes. My father told me to find a towel and a bucket of water. By the time I returned, the girl was wrapped in his jacket and crying in his lap. He spoke to her in a soothing voice and helped clean her up.
That was a sight I never thought I would relive again.
"That bastard. I'll kill him I swear." I tried to stop my hands from shaking with rage as I pulled her up and held her as close as I could to me.
"No, Ace, don't" She said through gritted teeth. "It's not worth it." Her head slumped on my shoulder and she shivered on my chest. I picked her up with ease and carried her to the bathroom. Her eyes were closed again as I placed her on the cold floor and filled up the tub.
"It's okay. I'm here." I said as I helped her out of her clothes. Naked, she looked so small and defenseless. What kind of monster would do this?
I placed her small frame in the warm water as her eyes fluttered open again. She reached out for me and shivered as the bath water turned red.
"Ace?" She asked me, sinking into the water, but still holding my hand.
"Yes?" I replied trying not to look at the bloody cuts and bruises on her. They were so awful.
"Don't ever leave me." She said quietly as she drifted into unconsciousness from the pain.
"I won't." I said as I clutched her hand.