Hey guys thank you so much for all of your positive feedback and suggestions. Here's the next chapter – it's darker than the last few chapters but I hope you like it.
Kate let out a contented sigh as she put on a CD and hummed along to the relaxing tune. A knock at the door caught her attention and she shook her head, smiling as she made her way over to the door. "Forgotten your keys?" she asked affectionately as she turned the handle, but opening the door her smile quickly faded and her heart slammed in her chest as she saw that it was not Jack.
"Hello Katie", Wayne sneered, smiling sadistically.
Kate grabbed hold of the door and slammed it as hard as she could, her survival instincts kicking in after so many years of running from this man. Unfortunately Wayne sensed what she was about to do and wedged his foot in between the doorframe and the door before it could shut. He wrestled with the door pushing it back open, that extra 80 pounds he had on her, overpowering her. "Now that's no way to treat your father is it?", he leered.
Kate grimaced from the potent stench of alcohol on his breath and stepped backwards until she was blocked by a wall. "You're not my father!" she yelled, trying not to let him see how scared she was.
Wayne just laughed in response, his eyes sparkling menacingly. "Told you I'd find you didn't I Katie" he slurred, "You couldn't run from me forever", he added, grabbing her face roughly.
Kate could feel her heart pounding between her ears. The nightmare she had been running from all these years was now playing out before her eyes. But even if she hadn't realised, those years of running, of surviving by herself had made her stronger. "Stop calling me that!" she demanded, shoving his hand away from her face with a strength and authority she didn't know she possessed.
A brief look of shock passed over his face at Kate standing up to him, but it didn't deter him. "Come on Katie" he continued, ignoring her demand, "I haven't seen you for years – we got some catching up to do" he added, placing a hand on the wall beside her, preventing her from escaping, and running the other along her arm.
The look in his eyes chilled her to the core and left her in no doubt about what he meant. She felt like she was going to be sick, the memories of her childhood coming flooding back to her. She jerked away from his touch and struggled to get away but Wayne blocked her when he placed his other hand on the wall, effectively trapping her. As he began to lean towards her, something inside of her snapped – she was not that helpless little girl anymore, she'd rather die than let him do that to her again. As he pushed her further into the wall she brought her knee up with as much force as she could manage given her cramped position and connected with him, eliciting a satisfying crunch.
It had the desired effect as it knocked Wayne off balance and caused him to double over slightly in pain. "Little bitch!" he spat hatefully.
With Wayne momentarily no longer caging her against the wall, Kate grasped the opportunity and bolted towards the door. Grabbing the door handle she yanked it open. Having only made one step outside she felt Wayne roughly grab her wrist and wrenched her back around with a menacing force. A thundering pain shot through her arm as she felt a sickening pop as her shoulder was ripped from its socket. She screwed her eyes shut and clamped her teeth together trying to block out the pain and unwilling to let him see that he had hurt her.
"You're gunna pay for that!" he told her wickedly as the back of his hand connected with her cheek, knocking her to the ground.
Jack backed off of his drive, a contented smile gracing his features. Even though he spent every night with her he always rushed home from work so he could get an extra few minutes with her, and the moment he was away from her he missed her like crazy. He'd never been this happy and he knew that Kate was the sole reason behind his happiness. He was in love with her – he'd known that for a long time but he'd never admitted it in so many words to her, afraid that she would get scared and run. Instead he hoped his actions would convey to her how much he cared for her, but tonight he wanted to tell her. He wanted to tell her that he loved her more than anything in this life and that she didn't need to run anymore because he would do anything to protect her.
He was about to turn out of his street when he realised he didn't have his wallet - when he'd changed he'd forgotten to take it out of his pocket. "Damn" he cursed, doing a u-turn and driving back to his apartment.
Kate brought her hand away from her face, finding it streaked with blood and realised it was coming from a cut above her eye. She looked up at Wayne and saw him looking at her with pure evil and hatred in his eyes, and scooted backwards holding her injured arm as he advanced on her.
Wayne laughed at her desperate attempts to escape. "You can't get away from me Katie, so why don't you be a good little girl and stay quiet – just like old times" he leered, leaning down so she could feel his breath on her face.
"Stay the hell away from me!" Kate screamed.
Wayne smiled evilly, "You never did like to do things the easy way – hard way it is then" he told her, "You asked for it" he added, bringing his fist back.
Kate closed her eyes, preparing for impact. 'Jack!' she pleaded silently as she waited for the punch.
Jack pointed his key at his car, pressing the lock button as he jogged back up the stairs to his apartment. Nearing the top he got a strange feeling inside of him that he couldn't quite place. Almost at his apartment he knew something was wrong, as his front door was wide open. 'I didn't leave it like that' he thought, 'and Kate would have closed it if she'd gone out'.
Jack's heart skipped a beat as he heard a voice coming from inside that definitely wasn't Kate's.
"You never did like to do things the easy way – hard way it is then. You asked for it"Jack went into autopilot, knowing that Kate was in danger; he bolted through the door into the living room and felt anger shoot through his veins at the sight before him. Kate was huddled on the floor, blood dripping down her face as a guy stood over her, fist drawn back ready to hit her. "Hey!" he yelled, catching Wayne's attention, "you lay another finger on her and I swear to God I will kill you", he added in a calm but deathly threatening manner.
Wayne dropped his fist and smirked at Kate, who had opened her eyes when she heard Jack's voice "This your little boyfriend Katie?", he asked, "I wouldn't get too attached though – you're only good for one thing, and you're not even very good at tha-" he added, but didn't get to finish as he was tackled to the ground by Jack.
Jack straddled him, pinning his arms so he couldn't move. He never thought himself capable of murder but after seeing what this bastard had done to Kate, he knew that he could snap his neck right then and there without an ounce of remorse. "You son of a bitch" he growled, bringing his fist back and smashing it into Wayne's face.
"She aint worth it", Wayne jibed, spitting out some blood from his split lip.
Jack snapped, not caring if he killed him as his fist connected with Wayne's face, over and over again. He would have carried on until he had killed him, making sure he could never hurt the woman he loved ever again, had it not been for Kate placing a light hand on his shoulder, halting his torrent of punches.
"Jack", she whispered timidly.
The look on her face broke Jack's heart – she looked so broken and frightened. Looking back at the guy on the floor he saw that he was out cold, and satisfied that he wouldn't be going anywhere he stepped away from him and gently cupped Kate's face, lightly stroking her bruised and bloodied cheek. To his relief she didn't flinch away from him, instead she just looked at him with sad eyes.
"Its ok" he told he softly, "he can't hurt you anymore"
Kate looked down at Wayne, her eyes wide, convinced that he was going to get up any minute and hurt her again.
Jack sensed her fear, "Come on", he said, giving her a small smile, taking her hand and gently pulling her over to the couch. To his surprise however, she let out a yelp of pain as he moved her arm. Snapping his head back to her, he looked at her, concern evident on his face.
"My shoulder" she told him quietly, holding it protectively with her other arm, "I think he dislocated it"
Jack sucked in a deep breath, knowing how painful a dislocation was. "Bastard!" he cursed under his breath. "Sorry", he added, realising that angry outbursts probably weren't what she needed to be hearing right now. "Sit down" he coaxed gently, "I'm gunna call the police and then I'm gunna drive you to the hospital – we need to get your arm looked at, and that cut" he added, lightly inspecting her face with his hand.
Kate just nodded numbly, the realisation of what had just happened starting to sink in. it felt surreal, like she was watching it happen to someone else. She snapped out of it as she heard Jack giving their address to the police and turned to face him as he hung up the phone, instantly regretting it as a searing pain shot through her shoulder at the movement.
Jack saw the look of pain on her face and was at her side in an instant, kneeling in front of her so he was at eye level, looking her over with concern, "Hey, Kate it's ok, I'm here, is it your shoulder?" he asked tenderly.
Kate opened her eyes to be met with Jack looking at her with a worried look on his face, "Yeah" she croaked out, "Jack please you gotta help me – please" she begged.
Jack took a deep breath, realising what she wanted him to do, "you want me to set your shoulder?" he asked.
"Yeah" Kate told him, a pleading look in her eyes.
"Kate…"he replied, unsure that it was the best idea, "it's gunna hurt" he added.
"I know – but when it's done it wont hurt as much. I trust you" she added, giving him a smile to show that she meant it.
Jack gave her a small smile back, happy that she trusted him but anxious about the fact that he was going to cause her pain. "Ok" he told her, "It'll hurt – a lot, but only for a second" he added, wanting to prepare her. Kate nodded so he continued, "I want you to tense yourself so you don't move forward – I'm gunna take your hand and on the count of 3 I'm gunna pull as hard as I can, ok?"
"Ok" Kate replied.
"Ok", Jack echoed, giving her a reassuring smile, "Ready?" he asked, taking her hand.
"Yeah" Kate replied.
"Ok, one, two…" Jack counted, and then pulled her arm as hard as he could, hearing the unmistakable pop of her shoulder returning to its socket.
Kate screwed her eyes shut as an excruciating pain shot up her arm, and clamped her teeth together to suppress her screams. After taking a few deep breaths she opened her eyes and realised that the pain had subsided and was now more of a large ache.
"I'm sorry" Jack apologised, looking at her with a sympathetic look on his face.
Kate pushed herself off the couch so she was kneeling in front of him and leant into his embrace, wrapping her good arm around his neck. "I thought you said on three" she teased lightly, "You've got nothing to be sorry for" she told him repeating the words he'd said to her all those weeks ago.
Jack felt moisture on his neck and realised she was crying. He wrapped his arms around her waist and traced small circles on her back whilst whispering soothing words in her ear, "It's alright" he told her, "It's gunna be alright – I promise"
There you go, so what did you think? Please drop me a review – I'd love to hear your thoughts. Thanks.
Exams have now officially started groan, but I will update as often as I can.
Next chapter – will Kate be alright?