Marley stood frozen in front of Nick, he was less then eight feet away from her.
"Where the hell have you been?"
"Away."
"You think you can just leave?"
Marley was too afraid to answer.
"Looks like I didn't have to find you after all."
Nick walked towards Marley and slapped her. Marley turned to look back at him, wincing from the stinging of her cheek. "Who the hell do you think you are?" Nick was holding a beer bottle and threw it at her, shatetering on impact leaving multiple cuts on her arm. He pushed Marley to the ground and kicked her in the side of her body. She screamed out in pain and he kicked her again.
And again.
And again.
Jake was in the car waiting for Marley to come out, he was worried because she said she'd be right out. He got out of the car and started walking towards the house when he heard her scream. He ran to the front door and opened it to see Marley on the ground bleeding and a man he assumed was Nick kicking her. Rage took over him as he saw his Marley getting hit. Jake ran towards the man and grabbed him from behind, Nick looked shocked that someone had stopped him.
"Who the hell a-"
Jake didn't let him finish he punched him in the face a few times before Nick fell to the ground. He kicked Nick a couple of times before sqauatting to his level.
"I swear to god, if you ever lay a hand on Marley again I will kill you." Nick gave up trying to fight back and gave up.
Jake ran over to Marley who's face was covered in blood. Jake quickly picked her up and started going to the door.
"I got you, Marls." Jake ran to the car and laid Marley down in the back seat.
"You can't take me to a hospital, they'll send me back to him. Just get some medical supplies from a store."
Jake didn't want her to be in pain and knew a doctor could help. "Okay."
Jake pulled up to a store. "I'll be right back."
Marley just nodded her head.
Jake got out and ran into the store to buy all the things he could think of that she would need. He paid and got to the car as fast as possible. He got in and drove down the road a bit and found a hotel to check them into before carrying her up to the room with his medical supplies in his hand. Jake gently laid Marley on the bed.
"You're going to have to help me take my shirt off, Jake. That's where he hit me the most."
Jake carefully took Marley's shirt off leaving her in her bra. Jake could see the bruises starting to form on her stomach. She had a few cuts on her stomach, face, and arms. Jake tried to be as gentle as he could as he slowly ran his finger over her stomach.
"I'll be as careful as I can okay?"
"Okay."
Jake grabbed the rubbing alcohol and put some on a gauze pad. He cleaned her cuts, he hated seeing her in pain. Once he was done cleaning the cuts he wrapped her stomache in gauze and her arm. She had one cut on her face on her left cheek that Jake left alone after cleaning it. She laid there shirtless letting her cuts alone, she was afraid of putting on anyclothes that would hurt her.
"Thank you, Jake for everything. He probably would've killed me if you weren't there." Marley sat up and she had tears rolling down her cheeks.
"Marley I'm so sorry he did that to you, and I'm sorry I didn't go in earlier."
"It's okay, this isn't the worst that happened. I think he broke one of my ribs."
"It's not okay, I still want to kill him."
"Don't, I'm done with him forever. I can't thank you enough Jake."
"Marley you don't need to thank me, I really care about you. I wasn't going to let him hurt you anymore, you have no idea how much you mean to me."
Marley smiled weakly. "I really care about you too, Jake, and you mean a lot to me too."
Marley hugged Jake despite her pain and when they pulled away Jake let his hand stay on her cheek. Marley looked down at her body suddenly embarressed that she was in her bra.
"I'll go get our bags." Jake went to the car and grabbed their bags, he returned to the room and walked over to Marley.
"Here."
He set Marley's bag on the bed next to her. Marley put on an oversized tshirt and some shorts. Jake took a shower and changed, when he got out he saw Marley laying down watching tv. He laid down next to her.
"Where do you want to go to now Miss Rose?"
"Somewhere far away from here. Got any ideas?"
"Well since people are looking for you we should go somewhere big, where it will be practically impossible for them to find you."
"Like?"
"My brother lives in LA with his girlfriend and their daughter. He said I could come there anytime, they're like rich."
"Yeah, they said you. They know nothing about me."
"He would be fine with it. Let me call and ask him."
Jake dialed Puck's number and after a few rings he answered.
"Jake?"
"Yeah, it's me. Remember a couple of weeks ago when I told you I was leaving?"
"Yes, did you?"
"I did, and remember when you said I could stay there if I wanted to?"
"Of course you can, are you coming? Quinn will be really excited, ever since I told her there was a possibility of you coming she's been talking about it nonstop."
"Well, see I kind of have to ask you something."
"And what is that?"
"Okay so when I left I met someone."
"Is it a girl?"
"Yes but it's not like that, and she's with me and see I was wondering if she could come with me?"
"Yeah, I'm cool with it just let me ask Quinn."
Jake heard some muffled talking between Quinn and Puck before he came back to the phone.
"She wants to ask you something, if she ends up taking forever I'll just talk to you later."
Jake chuckled. "Okay. Bye."
"Hello?"
"Quinn?"
"Yes it's me. So what is this I hear about a girl?"
"I met someone and I want to know if she can come with me to stay at your house for a while."
"I'm fine with it, what's her name?"
"Marley."
"Marley..."
"Marley Rose."
"As in the girl that's missing?" "
Yes, but it's not what you think."
"If she is running away it's not a good thing."
"Quinn listen to me please. There is way more to the story, and I don't think it's appropriate to talk about over the phone. Once we get there and explain it to you, you and Puck will fell the same way I do."
"Okay, she can come but be careful. I want to know when you get here. When will you get here?"
"I'm not sure, we are staying here in Ohio tonight and if it's okay with Marley then we might pull an all nighter driving."
"Just let me know when you're in LA. You still remember where we live, right?"
"Yes, I remember. I'll call either you or Puck when we get there."
"See you soon, Jake."
"Bye Quinn." Jake hung up the phone and looked at Marley.
"Looks like we're going to LA."
"So it's okay?"
"Yes and no."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, Quinn watches Nancy Grace like a crazy person so she knows that you're missing and is worried you're running away for the wrong reasons but I told her that she doesn't know the whole story."
"What does that mean?"
"That once we tell her what happened, if it's okay with you of course, she will absolutely be okay with you staying with her. She's a big softy and I think you two will like each other. She's awesome, I stayed with her and my brother, Puck, this summer and she's become like my sister. They have a daughter, her name is Beth and she's almost four."
"If you say so."
"Don't worry about it. Everything will be fine."
Jake and Marley went to bed and when they woke up the decided to drive across the country without any stops. They agreed to switch on the driving, and they would only stop for gas or food. They started driving to LA and since Marley didn't know how to get there when she was driving, Jake decided to use the GPS. They drove for a day until they had to stop to sleep and to shower, they left the following morning. It took them three days until they finally got to LA in the afternoon. Marley had gone into a gas station to pay for some more gas as Jake dialed Puck's number.
"Hey Puck, we're in LA."
"Really? When will you be here?"
"Half an hour, maybe less."
"Okay well Quinn is waiting for that story and the guest house is all made up for you two. But, Quinn insists on making you dinner, after we all talk. She's making her famous chicken recipe."
"We'll see you soon. Tell her that if she wants to send Marley back now that she'll feel terrible later."
"Bye, Jake."
"Bye, Puck."
Marley came outside in her jean shorts, cowgirl boots and cutoff tee that showed a bit of her stomach.
"I'll pump the gas, Puckerman."
"I called my brother, they're expecting us."
After Marley pumped the gas she got back in the car. "Lets get a move on things then." She smiled at Jake.