Fill My Lungs | J. Todd ✔

[20] Taking Care

The Outlaws had just returned from an exhausting mission so Roy and Kori were going to stay over at Jay's safe house. Jason was a little late so Roy had come to the front door before him, intending to go in using his keys.

But he was surprised to see a frail young woman curled up tightly into a ball at the steps, seemingly unconscious.

"Roy, what happened? Why are you not going in?" Kori asked and Jason had reached too by then.

"I don't know, there's someone at the door... A girl and she's hurt."

Hearing that, Jason quickly came to the front, the blood freezing in his veins to see Valerie passed out there. He took off his helmet and quickly thrust it into Kori's hands, bending down to lift Valerie's limp figure in his arms.

"Valerie," he called out, patting her cheek but getting no response.

Roy and Kori exchanged a glance, realizing that woman was definitely a friend or more for Jason as he seemed so worried about her.

"Let's take her inside, it's cold out here," Kori suggested, her voice rooting Jason's spiraling senses back to the present.

He scooped her up and carried her inside while Roy unlocked the door. He didn't tell them anything just yet as he took her straight to his room and shut the door. But it was very obvious that he was quite concerned about their unexpected guest.

Jason laid her down on his bed, his eyes sweeping over her to see what had happened to her. He could see bruises on her arms as if she had been held painfully, her feet were scratched and bruised as well indicating that she had run all the way there without caring to keep her shoes on and the thumb on her right hand was dislocated.

She had probably tried to punch someone in the face and in her hurry, she had ended up hurting her own hand. As the pillow underneath her head started to turn red, he lifted her head up, fingers brushing against the shards sticking to her skin.

He didn't have to see further to guess what she had run away from and it left a bitter feeling inside him to think about it.

He took in a deep breath to calm himself down as all he could see was red, the flash of anger that she had gotten so badly hurt and he hadn't been there with her to protect her. But then he had to look after her or else her state would get worse so he stood up and went out of the room to fetch his medical supplies as well as a few ice packs.

He ignored Roy and Kori in the living room who were probably quite curious to know who that young woman was but weren't asking because Jason looked disturbed right then and they did not want to risk him erupting on them in anger.

He came back to the room, tending to her as he removed the glass shards and staunched the bleeding with an old shirt and ice packs. As he was cleaning the wound on her head, her fingers twitched slightly. Seeing that, he quickly took her hand in his, being careful that her thumb didn't get hurt further.

"Valerie, can you hear me?" He asked, stroking her hand gently.

Her fingers closed around his hand and her eyes fluttered open, head tilting to see him.

"Jason..." She spoke but her voice was choked from the tears welling up inside her. He wanted to ask her what had happened to her but she was so terrified that she couldn't say a single word.

So he quickly engulfed her in his arms, cradling her frail form as if she was a precarious glass doll. She held on to him tightly, tears pouring down her eyes as he tried his best to comfort her.

He was keeping his anger in check because he didn't want her to be scared of him too but one thing was certain; he would hunt down whoever was responsible for her current state and make that person pay for it.