Chapter 4

Author: This is one of my favorite chapters. I loved writing this chapter because Jack is just soooo sweet and I wish he was mine just like everyone else. But anyways….i hope everyone likes this chapter. REVIEW!

Kennedy woke up the next morning with the worse headache and the worse pain in her side. She lifted her shirt up and saw a blue bruise forming on her stomach. She squinted as she sat up. She tried to stand up but found herself falling back onto the couch. She couldn't go to school like this but she knew her father wouldn't hear of her staying at home. She slowly stood up again and braced herself on the side of the couch. She slowly walked over to the stairs and looked up. She couldn't make it up those and she knew it. She just prayed she had stuff downstairs so she didn't have to walk up the stairs to her room. She walked into the laundry room and saw that some of her clothes haven't been washed yet. Even though she hated wearing dirty clothes she knew she couldn't get to her room. She started going through them and found her something to wear. She walked to the kitchen and found Sara fixing breakfast. "Where's my father?" Kennedy asked almost in a whisper

"He left, he said something about a case that he needed to work on. Your breakfast is almost ready and I laid out your clothes for you in your bedroom."

"I'm not hungry. Can you do me something?" Kennedy asked "Can you bring my make-up and stuff down here. I tripped last night on the steps and I cant find myself to walk up the stairs."

"Sure. I saw you sleeping on the couch, I was wondering what was wrong."

"Yeah, im still not use to having those steps there." She replied with a little laugh. She couldn't stand up anymore and she quickly sat down at the table. She laid her head down and felt herself starting to cry again. She quickly wiped the tears away when she heard Sara coming. "Thank you Sara. I am going to go get ready in the guest bedroom."

"Alrighty. Are you sure you don't want to eat something? You look pale."

"Yes im sure. I just didn't get much sleep last night because of my side. I'll be fine I promise."

"Alrighty." Kennedy got up from the table and slowly made her way to the guest bedroom. She collapsed on the bed and cried for the longest time. She heard a soft tap on the door "Um, im changing." She yelled and quickly grabbed her clothes. She put make up over her bruises on her cheek and tried to cover the cut on her lip up as much as she could. She looked in the mirror and didn't see the pretty brown headed girl anymore, she saw a helpless girl. She quickly wiped the tears from her face and walked to the door. She picked up her cell phone and dialed Jenna's number "Hey Jenna, its Kennedy. Can I ride with you today?" Kennedy was in so much pain she knew she could drive. "Ok thanks, ill be outside." She hung up the phone and sat down on the bed. She lifted her shirt and saw the bruise her father had caused the night before. She tried touching it but flinched with she barely grazed it with her finger. She slowly got up and made her way to the door.

Jenna and Kennedy arrived at school just in time for the first bell to ring. Usually Jenna and Kennedy would stay and talk until the second bell but Kennedy had to sit down before she passed out. She said her goodbye and gave some excuse about doing her homework and left. She walked into the classroom and sat down at her desk and closed her eyes. She could feel someone looking at her, so she opened her eyes and saw Jack staring at her. "Sorry about last night. I didn't know I wasn't suppose to walk you home." He replied with a soft smile.

"Its ok. He just didn't know who you were." She whispered. She found herself whispering a lot. She was afraid her father might be listening and come find her. She was now terrified of her father. Yeah, he use to hit her but it was never as bad as last night. He had never really caused her the pain she was in right now. Everything was so different now that they moved to Detroit. It all started when her mother died. He blamed her, like all abusive fathers do. Her mother was the love of his life and she died in his arms one fall night. It was storming so bad one night that she couldn't see anything. She wanted Kennedy's father to stop and just wait for everything to settle down but he thought he could make it home. Someone was coming really fast through the red light but couldn't stop because their breaks got wet. They ran straight into Kennedy's parents making them flip multiple times, throwing her mother from the car. Cars passing stopped to help, but all Kennedys father was worried about was his wife. He crawled over to her and held her as she laid helpless in his arms. Everything changed after that day. He looked at Kennedy like she was a mistake, mostly because it hurt him to look at her. She looked exactly like her mother and he hated that.

"We are going over to Jennas again today if you would like to come." He replied

"No that's ok. I need to get home and help my father with somethings." She lied

"Come on, we are going to the movies."

"No its fine,"

"Is it because I am going?"

"No of course not. I just don't feel like doing anything."

"I wont go, if you don't want me to."

"Stop being ridiculous. I just need to go home today. I didn't get much sleep last night" She found herself not facing him, thinking he might see her bruises.

"Are you ok?"

"Of course. Why?"

"You are just acting different."

"Sorry I didn't know I was acting like anything."

"If you need to talk, I am a very good listener."

She could feel the tears coming to her eyes again. She did need someone to talk to but she couldn't. She was ashamed and scared of what might happen if she told anyone. All she wanted to do was cry into Jacks arms and let him hold her. "Thanks, but im fine. Now please leave me alone I need to do my homework."

"Ok." He whispered. He got up and walked over to his seat. He kept his eyes on Kennedy the whole class. She didn't pay attention much and she always looked outside. Jack knew something was up. He had to find out and help her. Just as the bell rang Jack made his way over to her again. "Listen, I know that you don't like me and I honestly don't know why but I know something is wrong and I want to help. Please get past all the 'I'm rich, your poor' shit and talk to me."

"Jack, I cant talk to you about this right now ok. I'm sorry but I need to go."

"No…wait!" he yelled but she hurried from him and went to her next class. She saw him walk in and quickly turned her eyes from him. She needed to get rid of him before everything gets worse. He finally caught up with her at the lockers and grabbed her arm. "Kennedy what is wrong with you?"

"Why do you keep thinking something is wrong with me?" she yelled, not meaning to.

"Did something happen last night?"

"Are you always in everyone's business? Nothing happened, I just don't feel good and I don't want to go to the fucking movies with you. I just want to be left alone and you wont stop bothering me. I don't like you and I never will. So stop trying because its not going to happen. We are two different people Jack and you need to finally realize that."

Jack stood there stunned at what just happened. He let go of her arm and let her walk away from him. She tried running but her side prevented her from that and she fell straight to the ground. Everyone around her stopped and stared. "This is no fucking show, so you can stop looking now!" Jack yelled as he bent down to help her up. She had tears flowing from her eyes as she lifted her head towards him. "Let me help you." He whispered "I wont hurt you, I promise." He leaned over her and saw her side. He lifted her shirt higher and saw the huge bruise. "What happened?"

Kennedy turned her eyes from him feeling so ashamed "You can tell me, I swear I wont tell anyone." Jack reassured her "Did your dad do this to you?" Kennedy just sat there "This looks pretty bad, we need to get that checked out."

"I cant…" she finally spoke "He will find out." She whispered

"So he did do this to you." Jack replied "Bastard!" The bell rang for lunch and soon the halls were empty except them. "Don't worry, I will take care of you."

"Jack, I cant be seen with you. Its too risky."

"Is this why you keep being a bitch to me?" he asked with a laugh

"No, I guess that was just me. Why are you being so nice to me? After everything I have said to you, you still care."

"I'm not one to give up on something I want." He whispered in her ear "Though I don't look it, I do care about people. Especially beautiful burnettes who need saving."

Kennedy smiled and looked into his eyes "Jack, I am so scared. Its never been this bad before. He's never really hurt me like he did last night. That man was not my father last night. He turned into an evil person."

"How long has this been going on?" Jack asked

"6 months. Usually its slaps in the face, but last night. He completely lost it. He threw me against the wall and slapped me. He kicked me in my ribs. He tried to choke me. I couldn't breathe." She started bawling trying not to remember what happened. "I feel so ashamed because this isn't normal. This doesn't happen to normal people."

"No it doesn't, but to tell you the truth. It's happened to more people that you might think." Jack rubbed the back of her head and felt a knot. He closed his eyes and let out a big sigh. "I am so sorry that this happened to you. You don't deserve this at all."

"I don't know what I deserve anymore."

"You don't deserve to have the shit knocked out of you because a boy walked you home."

"Jack…" she went to say something but felt a sharp pain go through her. She let out a scream and laid on the floor.

"I need to take you to the hospital. You need medical attention." Jack told her lifting her in his arms. He ran out to his car and softly laid her down in the back seat. She balled up into a ball and sobbed the whole way there. "You're going to be ok. Take deep breaths and calm down." Jack replied, knowing he was just trying to calm himself down. He wanted to kill the bastard that did this to her. He wanted him to pay. They finally arrived at the hospital and carried her inside. He wasn't allowed back while they were changing her so he decided to call his mother. After calling his mom, he sat down and waited patiently for any details. "Hi, are you the one who brought Kennedy Wilson in?" a doctor asked

"Yes! Is she ok?" Jack asked

"Yes she will be fine. Do you know what happened? She told us she fell going up her steps."

Jack looked at the doctor not knowing what to tell him "Yeah, she fell." He lied "She just moved here and not watching where she was going she hit the steps pretty hard."

"Her ribs are bruised pretty badly and the swelling is making it hard for her to breathe. She has been asking for you, so I thought you could go stay with her and try to calm her down."

"Ok, thanks." Jack made his way to where they were keeping her. Her face was so teared stained that all the makeup she had put on was washed away revealing the bruises and cuts on her face. "Hey!"

"Hi." She whispered'

"You ok?"

"Not really. Its hard for me to breathe, so they gave me this breathing machine thing if I have trouble"

"That's good."

"Have they called my father yet?"

"I told them you fell."

"Thank you." She replied. She coughed and her hand quickly went to her side. "I feel so helpless."

"Don't. Don't have pity on yourself like that. You are better than that and you know it."

"That was just an act Jack. To make people think that I was so much better than them. To make me think that it wasn't really happening. I'm the rich girl remember. Everyone envied me. My life seemed so perfect to other people and maybe they would make me believe it was perfect too." She wiped the tears from her face. She felt Jacks hand on hers. "Then you came into my life and ruined that plan real quick." She tried to laugh but she quickly stopped. Jack just smiled at her "I have never met someone like you Jack Mercer. You wouldn't take no for an answer. You were so nice to me and even put me in my place a couple of times. You befriended me, not even knowing anything about me."

"Kennedy, me and you aren't that different."

"What are you talking about?"

"I'm adopted. Evelyn isn't my real mother. She adopted 3 other boys as well because I guess we are what people call 'lost causes'. No one wanted us because we were so bad, but Evelyn did. I was adopted at the age of 9. I moved from foster home to foster home until I finally settled down."

"Why? What happened?"

"My father abused me when I was really little. He would do cruel jokes to me just to entertain himself or keep me busy while he screwed some girl he met at the bar. Social services found out and took me out of that place. It didn't matter where I went, I was so far gone by that time, I didn't care what happened to me. Each foster home had its moments. There was one I remember that I broke something by accident but that didn't matter. I was still going to be punished. It was really hot that summer day that I broke the vase and I can still taste the sweat running down my face. They turned the air conditioning off and put my winter clothes on me. They stuck me in the smallest closet they had and locked the door. I stayed in that closet for 3 hours sweating. I couldn't move my arms to get the shirt off so I waited for them. They never came. I honestly thought I was going to die. I could feel my breathing become heavy and the next thing I know I woke up in my bed having a cool breeze come over me. I had passed out from the heat. So they called social services the next day and I was shipped to the next foster home. I can remember the last foster house I had went to was the worse. Most of them I was always just forgotten about, which was fine with me. I had time to do my own thing and not be bothered. But this one time was so different. I was watched constantly. If I messed up once I was a goner. I was washing dishes one night and went to turn around and knocked this mans beer off the counter. It went crashing to the floor. I closed my eyes wishing it was just a dream, when I opened them again the mans scary face was right in front of me. I can still hear him screaming at me and hitting me as hard as he could. I remember laying on the floor after he had finished kicking me. I didn't know where he had went but I didn't want to move. He came over to me and picked me up. He walked over to the stove and I could see the plate getting scolding hot. I tried fighting him and I tried to get away but he was too strong and I was too weak from the beating he gave me. He first laid my hand over the stove. I can still feel the heat scorching my hand as he held it there. He then threw me on the ground and kicked me again and again. I felt like I was in a movie, I could see everything going on but I couldn't stop it." Kennedy watched as Jacks eyes filled with tears and his hands started to shake. "He then took a knife and carved into my skin his initials. He wanted me to always remember what happened to me. I don't think I can ever get those eyes out of my head. That night I was taken from that home and was put the burn center for about a week. Evelyn came and visited me almost everyday. I fell in love with that woman the instant I met her. She took me under her wing and I will always love her for that. You will never find a man that loves their mother as much as I love mine. She is my rock." Kennedy grabbed his shaking hand and held it tightly as she wiped the tears from her eyes "So don't you ever think that you are alone in this. You aren't. I am always here for you no matter what. Don't think that you have to put on some act to impress me. You impressed me the moment I laid my eyes on you. I wont let you get hurt again."

Kennedy couldn't keep herself from crying this time, but this time Jack leaned forward and held her in his arms as she cried.

Author: Ok so theres that one. Tell me what you think. Finally she gave into Jack, but under really bad circumstances. Don't worry theres more to come with her father and she finally gets to meet the mercers brothers. Teehee! That should be fun! PLEASE REVIEW!