Keeping Claire

Chapter Thirty

                Chapter Thirty

Cody’s POV-

                All I could see was a drunk, crazy eyed man and next to him was Claire’s limp body. I wanted so bad to beat the shit out of the person that did this to Claire.

                Noah must have seen my expression. “Not now, man. Claire needs you right now.”

                The man, who I’m guessing is Claire’s father, glared at us. “Get the hell out of my house!”

                We didn’t answer him. I walked over to him. He shoved me back. I didn’t give him time to think I punched him, knocking him to the ground. I then kicked his stomach, causing him to cough and ultimately throw up. I grabbed what little hair he had left and spoke into his ear. “You are a poor mistake for a Father. You don’t deserve to live.”

                After I made sure he was passed out, I walked over to Claire. She wasn’t conscious, but she was breathing, which was a good sign. I picked her body up tenderly and walked out of the room. Noah followed close behind; making sure that no one else was on the house. I jogged out to my car. “Noah, you drive.”

                I didn’t like the idea of him driving my car, but the circumstances were extreme and I couldn’t. He nodded then ran to the driver’s side and started the ignition. It roared to life as I got in the back seat with Claire in my lap. I reached under the seat and pulled out a knife, cutting the ropes off of Claire’s wrists and ankles.

                She was in pretty bad shape. The scars on her wrists had been reopened and they looked worse than before. Her face was red from what I was sure multiple slaps and crying. I saw blood on her scalp, indicating a head wound.

                The drive to my apartment was short and silent. Claire’s shallow breathing had me worried.

                “Cody, she needs to go to the hospital.” Noah reasoned as he drove.

                “Then they’re gonna ask how it happened. They’ll end up arresting her Dad.” I didn’t want the bastard to come out of this with free food and shelter.

                “What’s so bad about that? Then he won’t bother you guys anymore.” He replied, stopping in front of my apartment.

                “I want to finish him off.” I said.

                He didn’t reply.

                I opened the car door and got out with Claire in my arms. Noah joined me as we entered my house.

                “You can make yourself comfortable. I can take you back to your place once I get her settled, which could be a while, so go ahead and get comfortable. There’s food in the kitchen.” I said, walking down the hallway to my room.

                I looked back to make sure he didn’t have any questions. He was starring off into space. I had to admit, I couldn’t have done this without him, and I owed him a big thanks. “Oh, and Noah?” I said.

                He looked at me.

                “Thank you.” I said.

                He simply nodded.

                I walked into my room and laid Claire’s body on my bed. Then I retrieved clean clothing from her bag. After that, I walked into the bathroom and plugged the drain in the tub up, turning the water on and letting it fill up. Claire was going to get mad at me for giving her a bath without her knowing, but it was worth it.

                I reentered my room and walked over to Claire. After I got her out of her clothes (which was rather awkward, I have to admit), I picked her up and put her into the bathtub.

                I struggled for at least thirty minutes to get the dried blood out of her hair and off of her body. Once she was clean, I dried her off and got her into some clean clothes. I checked her head wounds. They looked a lot better now that they were clean. Honestly, they weren’t that bad. Her wrists quit bleeding as well.

                I tucked her into bed then took a shower myself. I was exhausted. This was the longest day I had ever had. But Claire was safe, and that’s all that matters.

                I crawled into bed next to her, careful not to shake the bed too much. I didn’t want to wake Claire. Before I could wrap my arms around her, she turned around where she was facing me. Then she buried her head into my neck and curled impossibly deeper into my side. I wrapped my arms around her and rested my shin on her head, making sure that it didn’t touch her new wounds.

                She breathed deeply for the first time that night.