CHAPTER 2:

I just stood there, mouth opened in shock as the warmth hit my face. His apartment was more like a five star hotel suite. The floor was polished floorboards, and the left was the kitchen. The cupboards were white with silver handles. He had a dishwasher and the fridge was stainless steel and very big. There was a microwave, stove and everything you could want in a kitchen. There was a dining room with a large marble table with three chairs on either side of the table. There was a living room with two white leather lounges facing each other and in the middle was a coffee table and on the ground there was a rug. I saw as he showed me around the gym area. It made me feel as if I were in a gym. It had everything in there. Weights, exercise bike, treadmill, and many other things I had never seen before. His room was huge. It had a king size bed, ensuite, and walk in wardrobe. I saw the spare room and he said I would sleep here tonight, if that were all right with me. He showed me the bathroom. It was a big bathroom. It had a spa, shower, toilet and basin that was made out of marble. The walls had covered with pretty blue tiles. I could believe this was his apartment. It was bigger then the average home back in London.

"Wow!" I said as I looked around. It seemed silly, but that was all I was able to say. Everything was so nice and done up in here.

"You have a great place. Are all apartments like this in New York?" I asked I could barely believe it.

"No. This is one of the upper class apartment blocks. My company pays for me to stay here. Don't ask me why but yeah I'm not complaining." He replied and walked over to the fridge.

"You can hang up your coat in there." He said and pointed to a small cupboard near the front door. I walked over and opened the door. Inside were coats and shoes. And boxes just stacked on the selves at the top of the cupboard. I hung my coat on a hook on the inside of the door. I closed the door and walked over to him.

"Take a seat" he gestured. I sat down on one of the bar stools.

"Would you like anything to eat or drink? Probably been a while you have eaten anything." It was true. It had been since I had eaten. Last time I had eaten was in the morning. I had, had a muffin for morning tea. I really didn't want to say yes to his offer. He had done so much for me so far. But I didn't want to rude and 'no.'

"Could I just have a orange juice?" I asked politely.

"Oh come on. Is that all? Look I am hungry myself I am going to make a packet of pasta. And when its ready you try and tell me you don't any." He said and opened the pantry cupboard. I smiled. To think and hour ago I was on the streets, feeling alone and scared and now I was in the hospitality of a great young man who I had just met.

"I am guessing your England. Are you?" he asked

"Yes. How did know?" How could he possibly know?

"Oh you have a slight accent that's all" he replied. I laughed.

"Do I?"

"Yeah only slight though. I love England. Been there a few times on business. Love to go back there." He said putting some water in a pot.

"Yeah I grew there. Lived there all my life," I replied.

"Where do you live?" he asked.

"I was born in London and now I still live in London but I have a apartment which I share with a friend." I replied.

"A boyfriend?" he asked with a smile.

"No. I happen to be single at the moment. Why?" I replied. I wondered why he would ask a question like that. He put the pasta in the pot and put the lid on and opened a cupboard and got two glasses out and placed them on the bench. He went to the fridge and got the orange juice out, and poured it into the glasses. He gave to me and picked one up himself.

"To good timing" he said raising his cup. We toasted and both a sip. He put his glass down and replied

"Oh no reason just curious" he seemed a little embarrassed. I decided to change the subject and ask him a bit about himself.

"So how old are you?" I asked trying to make talk.

"23, you?"

"21 and ten months." I told him.

"Oh yeah when were you born?"

"September 28" I replied

"I was September 12," he said. I smiled. I was so tired but knew I couldn't go to sleep on an empty stomach.

Soon enough the pasta was ready. He offered me a bowl, and I accepted. As I leant over to take the bowl my shirt came down revealing, what was now a big bruise.

"Oh my God" Daron said looking at my chest. I looked down to see what he was looking at and saw the bruise. It was a strong red colour. It had gotten very bad.

"Its fine. Its looks worse then it really is." I went t button my top button up but happened to knock the bruise. I winced in pain. I hoped he hadn't seen in. But he had and walked over to the bathroom, and disappeared for a moment and came back again holding a tube of, what looked like cream. He stood next to me and opened the tube and went to put some on his hand, but stopped and looked at me. He then looked at where the bruise was and stopped.

"Um...here, you do it" he said a little embarrassed. I blushed slightly and accepted the cream.

"Thank you," I replied as Daron gave it to me. I put it on and rubbed it in. It hurt a little as I rubbed it in but when I had finished and put the lid back on the tube, I felt I strong sensation of relief upon my crest. It felt so much better already. It was like magic.

An hour later we had finished eating. We had discussed many things over dinner. We discovered that we had a lot in common. We had the same taste in music, movies and many and things we like to do in our free time. We had laughed and he talked about things that he had kept secret from many people. I wished I could have told him my biggest secret. But I sadly I knew I couldn't.

I was feeling much better and decided to go to bed. He didn't know what he could give me to sleep in. He looked through his clothes and found a big t-shirt I could wear.

"Would you like to have a shower?" he offered, passing me the shirt, then continued, "I am so sorry that's all I could find for you"

"This will be fine, and yeah a shower would be great" I said with a smile.

"Great. You can use the main bathroom shower and I will use the one in my ensuite. You will find a clean towel in the cupboard in there"

I got up and walked to the bathroom. I closed the door and started to undress. As I was getting undressed, flash backs started entering my mind. The men ripping my clothes off. The man hitting me. The visions were so vivid. I felt faint and sick. I suddenly fell to me knees, and started to silently sob. Why me? That was the question going through my mind. I tried to get up. My knees were weak. I forced myself to get up. I took my necklace and put it on the basin. I got in the shower and turned on the water. The water felt good. As I washed myself I felt as though I was getting rid of the germs that the men passed on to me. Once I had finished I got out and got a towel from the cupboard just like Daron had said to do. I dried myself and put the shirt. I saw a basket with all dirty clothes in it and figured to put the towel in there. I grabbed my other clothes and took out with me. As I closed the door I remember my necklace, I went back to get it then stopped myself. I turned and closed the door leaving it there.

I walked into the room I would be sleeping in. I hoped in the bed. It was warm as I settling in Daron appeared at the door and asked if there was anything I needed.

"No thank you" I replied.

"Ok, but you do need anything just give me a yell, you know where I am. Good night"

"Good night" I replied. When he had left I smiled. Whenever he spoke, he spoke with a cool voice. It only just occurred to me how good looking he was. He probably had girls crawling all over him. Though he had mentioned previously that he was single at the moment. As I thought about this I wondered whether I could keep in touch with him while I was still here. And before I knew it I was asleep with all happy thoughts running through my mind.

Daron lay down in his bed and looked at the ceiling. What a day. It had only just occurred him how attractive she was. Her brown, slightly curled hair. Her brown eyes and the way they looked at him. Her red lips and they way they smiled. He slowly realised that he was falling for the girl he had helped just a few hours ago. He couldn't believe it. It had been six months since his last relationship and he had thought it would've taken much longer to fall for someone again. They had a lot in common and seemed to get along like a house on fire. He hoped that they could keep in touch. He closed his eyes with her face in his mind.

The morning sun shone through the blinds in the spare bedroom where Hermione lay peacefully. Her eyes winced and she slowly awoke. I looked around at my surroundings. I slowly remembered where I was. I rubbed my eyes and stretched my arms. I was thankful and quite surprised at that. I arose from the bed and slowly got out. I glanced at the bedside table where a clock stood. It was nine o'clock. I grabbed my clothes that were on a chair near the bed and walked out of the room into the bathroom. I closed the door and pulled off Daron's shirt that I had been sleeping in. I put on my other clothes and looked in the mirror. I looked and felt much better then last night. I washed my face and ran fingers through my hair and put it in a ponytail. I glanced at the basin and saw my necklace, I smiled and walked out of the bathroom and left it there. I found Daron was in the gym area, doing weights. He was lying down and was pushing the weights above his head. The weight would have to been over 70kgs by the look of them. They were very big and I was amazed. He hadn't noticed me yet. I didn't really know what to do. Should I interrupt him or should I just leave him. Suddenly he stopped and put down the weights. He got off the bench and grabbed a near by towel. He looked very hot and sweaty and had his shirt off. He looked very attractive however. I was about to say something then he looked at me and said.

"Hey, there you are. I hope I didn't wake you up."

"Oh no I just finished getting changed." I replied smiling. Checking out his abs. He had a really good body. I thought it was nice on the eyes.

"Cool. How did you sleep?" he asked looking into my eyes. I looked back into them and it only just occurred to me how nice his eyes were. They were piercing dark brown and really went well with his dark eyebrows and eyes lashes. His hair was a blondy brown colour. Which made his eyes stand out even more.

"Oh I slept great." I replied looking away, I didn't want him to know that I was checking him out. He smiled at me, I noticed and it made feel uncomfortable. His smile was a happy and strong smile.

"So ah would you like some breakfast? Don't know about you but I am starved." He said putting the towel down.

"Yeah breakfast would be great. Oh and here is your shirt, thanks for letting me using it." I asked holding the shirt up slightly.

"Oh just dumb it anywhere. Doesn't matter." He replied putting on a shirt that was near where he had lifting weights. It was a white tank top, looked really good on him. He walked over to the kitchen and asked what I would like.

"Oh doesn't bother me, what are you going to have?" I asked.

"Don't know yet. How does toast sound?" he asked looking through the fridge.

"Sounds great" I replied.

"Cool. How many slices?"

"Two?"

"Great. I'll have four," he said grabbing the bread and taking out six slices. He put four into the toaster and said, "Ok the spreads are over there in that cupboard" pointing to a cupboard. I walked over and opened the cupboard "What do you want?" I asked looking at the spreads available.

"Oh get jam for me." He replied as the toast popped. I grabbed the jam and got honey out for me. I walked over and placed the spreads on the bench near where Daron was.

"Cheers" He said an placed the other two slices of bread into the toaster. He got two plates and put two pieces of toast on each one. "Here you go" he said in a cheery voice then added, "a knife is over there in that draw."

"Thanks" I replied and walked over to the draw he pointed at. I opened it and picked up a bread knife and walked over and grabbed the honey. I spread the honey on both slices of bread and wiped the knife on the crust of the bread. "Want to use this one?" I asked offering him the knife.

"Thanks" he said accepting the knife.

"So what time do you want me to drop you off?" he muttered.

"Oh what ever time suits you." I replied taking a bite of my toast. The toaster popped up and Daron took the bread out and piled it on plate. He spread the jam on the top one and took a bite. He looked at the time on the microwave and replied, "How's eleven?"

"Yeah, sure." I replied taking another bite.

"You can sit down"

"Good idea" I said with a smile. I sat down in the same bar stool as I did the night before and he picked up the plate, jam and knife and placed them down opposite me, and leaned on the bench.

"So, do you remember the name of your hotel?" he asked before taking another bite of his jam-covered piece of toast.

"Yeah, it's the Castaway, not far from here, I think" I replied.

"Oh yeah I know where that is, yeah it isn't far from here. About ten minute drive"