Renee cried the next morning.
Shards of sunlight fought through her drapes, warming one side of her face. She hoped to hear Jack rustling beside her, or, at least breathing.
At first, she thought she'd killed him. Stress, worry, exhaustion… whatever.
They had spent literally the past two days together. Almost every hour of them.
The night before, Jack had come over to her place, wanting to talk. Between kisses and other things, they had planned a vacation together, and Renee finally got a chance to take a shower. So did Jack.
He was still there beside her on the bed, but his eyes were already open. He faced the ceiling, and had pulled the sheets up to cover his entire collection of scars.
With caution, Renee proceeded to turn her head. She studied him for a moment, glaring.
"Renee?" He asked her, moving his hands to her side. He ran them softly over every part of her that he could reach. It was a gentle massage, and Jack never intended to scare her, but that's exactly what he did.
Renee leapt backwards, nearly falling out of the bed.
"Get the hell away from me!" she shouted. She pulled the sheets off of him, wrapping them around herself instead. She was embarrassed and afraid.
Slowly, he got up and dressed himself. She came forward to inspect his scars before he put on his shirt.
There were so many… she couldn't even begin to think of who or what had put them there. Was she just like those? Someone he would easily forget? Something that brought back pain and shame?
"Go." She told him. Her voice was stretched to its lowest, and sounded more like a growl.
Renee was disgusted with herself, for even letting him into her house.
Jack retreated, not even bothering with his shirt. The depth of Renee's eyes told him a terrible story that he wanted no part in.
As soon as he was gone, Renee slammed her door and wept.
She never meant to snap on him. It just… reminded her of things. Terrible, terrible times. Particularly ones spent in the midst of a Russian gang. Vladimir had done similar things to her. Jack, of course, had been tender and polite. But that was beside the point.
Renee knelt over her bed, and returned the sheets to their place. She got dressed, and then cowered in the corner, violently shaking.
"How could I let this happen?" she demanded of herself, "How could I be so stupid?"
She snatched up a piece of paper, the one which she had written Jack's phone number on. Also, the date for their vacation.
Onto it, she scribbled the following shape: *
Author's Note: Yah, that was a bit over-the-top for me… but, if you liked it, please, do let me know. Originally, I wrote this much, much differently. If you'd like a revised, not-too-depressing version, I've got one handy!
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this! Your thoughts make it so much more fun for me to keep writing!
~Sally