Thank you all so much for coming back to this story! I appreciate it so much! Thank you all to the new comers to this story as well. I hope you all enjoy this next chapter!

"You can't be here. What are you doing?" Zoe said panicking as she opened the door a little wider.

"The hell I can't." Wade pushed the door open all the way and finally got a good look at her. Her face was bruised and cut and her arm was in a cast. She looked away from him. "Don't." He put his hand towards her face but she backed away quickly. "Is he here?"

"No, he went to work." She whispered.

"Zoe." He said and moved towards her again. This time she didn't back away. "How bad?" He asked.

"Not as bad as it looks. How'd you know?"

"You left your phone back in Bluebell. Heard his voicemails, read his texts. Zoe why didn't you say anything?"

"I wasn't going to burden you. I figured I could just go to Bluebell and all would be ok." A tear fell down her cheek.

Wade closed the distance between them and wrapped her in a hug. Careful not to hurt her and she started crying into his shirt. "Shhhh, you're ok now. I got you."

"It's not that simple. He'll hurt you too."

"Not gonna happen." He rubbed her back and she tensed up. "I'm sorry." He pulled away from her.

"Don't be. It will heal." She shrugged and a look of pain shot across her face.

"How bad is it?" He asked again

She sighed and rubbed her eyes. "Broken arm and broken ribs are the worst of it. Then just some cuts and bruises."

Wade shook his head. "Please, let me help you."

"No, just go home. If he finds out you're here he'll hurt you and me. I can't let that happen. Just let me deal with it."

"Deal with it? Zoe he beats the living hell out of you. How is that dealing with it? He's gonna kill you. He's been arrested for domestic violence before. He spent a year in jail."

"Eight months." She whispered

"Excuse me? You knew about this?"

"He told me after we got engaged. They let him out on good behavior."

"Ugh this is bullshit. Zoe come with me. We'll go home, I'll protect you."

She shook her head. "He'll come after me. I'm not taking that risk."

"Zoe you don't deserve this life. No one should live like this, it's not fair. You can leave him."

"I tried that and look where it got me."

"No Zoe you ran away. Call the police, get a lawyer and put him away. Get a restraining order."

"I can't afford all that." She shook her head.

"Yes you can. Your dad left you money, he left you that house. George has all the paperwork."

"What?" She asked in disbelief.

"Yeah. You're set for life Babe. You just have to get the courage to leave. You can do it and I'll protect you. I promise I won't let anything happen to you."

Zoe thought for a minute and then nodded her head. "Ok, but we have to go now because he said he's coming home on his lunch and that can be anytime."

"Grab your stuff and let's go." He told her.

"Ok. Give me a hand?"

"Of course. What do you need?"

"Well, wait how did you get here?"

"Plane to Baltimore and then I had to rent a car to get the rest of the way because of the storm."

"Oh my gosh Wade that must have cost you a fortune."

"Don't you worry about that. It wasn't that bad and it's worth it."

She smiled at him and turned towards her bedroom. Wade followed and watched as she started dumping clothes in suitcases.

"What can I do?"

"Um, just start putting shoes and bags in this one." She pulled another suitcase out from under the bed. He nodded and started to work. In a half hour all Zoe's belongings were packed up. She looked around apartment and nodded.

"You ready?" He asked.

"Yes, let's get out of here." She walked towards him and smiled once she reached him. "Thank you. You don't know how much this means to me." She hugged him.

He hugged her back and kissed the top of her head. "I got you."

They left the apartment and took the elevator downstairs. No one was at the desk so they kept going. Frank opened the door for them.

"Thank you Frank." Zoe smiled sweetly.

"You're welcome Darling." He smiled back. "And good luck." She looked at him confused. "I know my residents. Take care of yourself."

Zoe went over and hugged him. "Thank you."

"You ready?" Wade asked

"Yes, we have to go." She nodded and they left the building. Wade led her to the garage and once the car was brought to them he loaded it up and they left.

"You ok?" Wade asked a few minutes into the drive.

"I don't know. Maybe we should go back. He's probably not home yet. I can make it."

"No, not happening."

"I don't want him to hurt you." She said

Wade reached over and took her hand in his. "Stop your worrying."

She squeezed Wade's hand and sighed contently. "I've spent the last year and a half of my life worrying, I can't just turn it off."

"I'm so sorry Zoe. You don't deserve this."

She nodded. "I know, it's just so hard once you're there."

He just nodded and smiled at her as she yawned. "Why don't you take a nap, you look exhausted."

"I am pretty tired. Didn't get much sleep the last couple nights."

"Go to sleep."

"Promise me if you get tired you'll stop. You haven't slept at all either."

"Once were hundreds of miles away, I'll consider it."

She smiled. "Ok." She yawned again and rested her head on the seat.

"But right now I feel wide awake."

"Adrenaline, you'll calm down and crash. Just not the car please."

"Never." He chuckled

About a half an hour later Zoe was out cold as Wade continued to drive. He stopped after another almost 3 hours of driving for gas and some lunch.

"Zoe, wake up. Let's go grab some lunch." He nudged her

"Uh? Oh where are we?" she asked stretching in the seat and then she winced. "Ow."

"Delaware."

"Oh, how nice."

They both got out of the car and went into the rest stop. Zoe was sitting at a table waiting for Wade to bring back their food when she spotted a guy about 10 feet away looking at her. He had sunglasses on and a baseball cap so she couldn't get a good look at his face but she started to breathe faster and her palms were sweating.

"Hey." Wade said from behind her and she jumped as he sat down across from her. "Woah. You alright?"

"No, that guy over there, he looks like Julian."

Wade looked behind him and spotted the guy she was eyeing. His sunglasses were now off. "He's Hispanic?"

"No." she looked at the guy.

"Well that guy is." He smiled at her. "Zoe relax. He has no idea where you are."

"You're right." She nodded and let out a sigh of relief.

After they ate and got gas they got back on the road. It was another several hours before they stopped again except for a quick fill up somewhere in Virginia.

"How are you not exhausted?" She asked around 8. "And hungry?"

"Well I am pretty tired and hungry. You shouldn't be though. You've eaten that entire bag of cheese flavies and all the sour patch kids. Plus you've slept at least half this trip." He teased

"Hey don't judge me." She giggled. "I get bored on car rides."

"No judgment." He smiled over at her. "We'll stop for the night at the next major exit."

"Sounds good." She smiled back.

A few miles later they were pulling into a hotel.

"One or two rooms?" He asked as they walked in.

"One is fine."

He went up to the desk while Zoe sat in the lounge. She was looking around and a tall guy in a dark hoodie caught her eye. He was walking towards her with his head down. Again her breathing increased and she clenched her hands together. As he got closer she stood up and ran to Wade, slipping her arm through his and holding tight while still looking behind her.

"What's wrong?" He asked. She tilted her head towards the guy who was now sitting on the couch she just was. "Again?" He asked. "It will be ok, there'sl nothing to worry about." He kissed her head and she smiled but still kept an eye on the guy. He finally pulled his hood off and she breathed a sigh of relief. "Told you." He whispered.

"You're all set sir. I hope you enjoy your stay." The receptionist smiled and handed him a key card.

"Thanks." He nodded to the girl taking the card. "You ready?"

"Yes." She nodded.

They went to the car and grabbed their bags and then went up to their room.

"Oh I want that bed." Zoe ran to the furthest one and plopped down on it.

"Why?" He asked putting his bag on the other bed.

"Furthest from the door?" She told him.

"In case he finds you and storms in the room I'm the first target?" He asked

"Him or any other crazy murdering person."

"What if they come through the window?" He pointed to it with a smirk.

"They don't open." She stuck her tongue at him. "Plus were on the fifth floor."

"Fine." He shook his head. "Dinner?"

"Yes." She nodded and the left the room.

They went to the restaurant across the parking lot and a couple hours later made their way back to the hotel.

"I'm exhausted." Zoe said.

"Yes because you've been up for almost 36 hours." Wade snickered

"Sorry."

"It's fine, you've been through a lot." He gave her a sad smile and she nodded.

"I'm gonna go change." She said walking into the bathroom. "Ow ow ow." She said from in there.

"Are you ok?" Wade called

"Ow, yeah." She said weakly

"What's wrong?" he asked now walking towards the door.

"It just hurts."

"What hurts? Do you need help?'

"Well yes but you can't."

"Why?"

"Because we pretty much just met and I'm not sure I want you seeing me half naked."

"Zoe don't be ridiculous. You're in pain, I can hear it in your voice."

She sighed. "Fine, you can come in." He opened the door and gasped once he saw her. She covered up her chest immediately. "Hey." She said.

"Not those. And you have a bra on, would you relax. I was looking at your bruising and those cuts on your back. Zoe what the hell?" he said walking closer to her.

"I told you, it's not as bad as it seems."

"Bullshit, that's got to hurt like hell."

"It does."

"Those need to be cleaned."

"I can't reach."

"I can." He moved closer and took the wash cloth off the rack.

After he cleaned the cuts he helped her put her sleep shirt on and then left.

Once she came out he was already out of his jeans and t-shirt and lounging on the bed in just his boxers. "You don't really care about nakedness do you?" she smiled

"Nah." He shrugged

She laughed. "Of course not." She climbed into her bed and got under the covers. "Night Wade. Thanks for everything. I don't know how I'll ever pay you back."

He shook his head. "No way. You don't deserve that life and it's time you start a new one."

"In Bluebell?"

"If you want, yes. You will have an entire town that loves you, protects you and wants what's best for you."

"That sounds nice." She smiled and rested her head on the pillow.

Around two A.M Wade heard mumbling and stirring coming from across the room.

"No, stop, please. I'm sorry. I won't do it again. No don't hurt him, he didn't do anything. Stop, stop, stop." Zoe yelled

Wade jumped out of the bed and over to hers. "Zoe, Zoe." He called. He didn't want to touch her so he just kept calling. "Zoe, wake up, you're ok. It's Wade." He said.

Her breathing slowed down and her eyes opened. "I'm scared." She whispered

Wade knelt down on the floor and brushed her hair off her face. "I'm here, you're ok. It was just a nightmare."

"It was so real and you were there and, and he had a gun."

"Shhh." He stroked her cheek with his thumb. "It was a dream, he's not here."

"But he can find us and he'll hurt us. Wade you don't know what he's capable of."

"I think I do, I've seen it. Has there been worse?"

"No, not to me at least. But I know he's capable of more. And if he finds me, it's going to happen." She started to cry.

He shook his head and stood up. "Slide over." He told her and she did. He got in next to her and put his arm around her. She laid her head on his chest and he felt the tears start to fall. "Shhh, you're alright. I'm not going to let anything happen to you, I promise." He rubbed her shoulder gently.

Her breathing began to slow and he felt her relax in his arms. She shifted a little but didn't move off his chest. Once her breathing was steady Wade looked down and noticed she was asleep. He went to move her off him but she moved closer. He chuckled to himself and waited a couple more minutes and tried again.

She moaned. "Stay, please." She whispered

"You sure?" he asked

"Please."

Wade just nodded and got comfortable again. They were both fast asleep in minutes.