YOU

Chapter 3 (Hayley)

About three hours had passed since I had been brought to the safe house in Downtown. A hotel room at the Westin Bonaventure. It was a room on the top floor. The place that once used to be the Citigroup Center used to be was towered by the place where Jake now lived. The only sound in the room was the occasional typing of a mac book that Jake was using. I was just sitting on the bed. I had gotten a small cut on my forehead. Jake had managed to fix it with just steri strips. My head ached a little. Jake was worried and stressed. His eyes were turning red. His face had lost it's color. He was worried for me. It felt weird. He was pouring himself into work to distract himself. His eyes said it all. His eyes shifted to me. He saw the thoughts on my face. He asked me if he could sit on the bed. I shook my head to agree. 'I can see that you're curious. So I'm gonna tell you a small story.' He said. 'Okay.' I replied. I watched his face as he spoke, the pain in his eyes unmistakable. Jake took a deep breath, collecting his thoughts before he began. 'Years ago, I knew someone who went through something horrible. She was just a kid, living in a nightmare she couldn't escape. Her stepfather was a monster. He beat her, abused her, and even burned her skin once. One night, it got worse than usual.' .He was reliving it, every word cutting through him. His eyes were about to start expelling tears. 'I was her friend. She trusted me more than anyone else. Every time I saw her, she had a new scar. One night, it got much worse. I was near her house to take her to a spot we went to. I heard her scream.' He paused. His face had this look on it as if he was reliving that moment. 'I went in to see her covering her torso with a towel. She ran out after grabbing a hoodie and I followed her. She got into my car and didn't touch her back to the seat. Even after wearing the hoodie.' His hands turned to fists and then relaxed. ''I took her straight to St Gabriel's Medical Center. The doctor asked me to wait outside, but the girl asked me to stay. She had clearly been badly beaten. I remember the wounds on her back. When she lifted that hoodie, her back had cigarette burns, and when I went out, the doctor stepped out with her a few minutes later. I saw the file. Her seventh rib had been fractured. The tears in her eyes were almost welling up. I then carried her and got her in the backseat of my car. I drove to my place.' He said. A tear fell out of his eyes. This was really personal to him. I could feel his heart shattering. 'Her last bit of innocence shattered that night. She was permanently scarred. I took her in. My family accepted her. I remember that day in the ER.' His voice was breaking. 'I'm sorry.' He said before going to the bathroom. He had faced pain. It felt bad by the way he said it. Now I was starting to get it. His entire worry for me. I sat outside. He had told me something that scarred him. My feelings for him were growing. I was actually falling for him. He came out a few seconds later. He had cleaned off the tears. He wanted some help. He was terrified of losing this girl. Her pain haunted Jake. He sat on the bed again. He was just besides me. I wanted to take this slow. I kept my hand in his. 'You've been through a lot, but you're still fighting. That takes a lot of courage. She's lucky to have you.' I said. He replied with a small smile. 'Maybe we could be friends.' I said. 'Well, I've opened up to you friend.' He said. He got back to the laptop. 'You know that there's a TV here right ?' He said. 'Yep. And I'm putting on an episode of Love Archipelago.' I replied. I could feel him roll his eyes. It's like he'd heard of it before. Probably from the girl who he was talking about. 'What's her name ?' I asked. 'Leah.' He replied. His face had a smile on it. 'Finally.' He said. 'What's up ?' I asked. 'We've gotten a nice and credible suspect. My partner's working on finding out the person who did this.' 'It's a woman. I think.' 'You're right. We figured it out this morning. Found some make up on the things we took from your place.' He said. 'Well ?' I asked. 'It's on a need to know basis friend. I'll brief you later.' 'Come on.' 'Lo siento Hayley.' 'You speak Spanish ?' 'My mom's a Latina.' He replied. He just gets better. And I had started caring about him. A lot.