Criminal Love

Chapter 24: Jo Elma's POV

As I sit there on the couch and eat, I try to figure out how I'm going to tell him about what happened to me as a child. I eat my macaroni and cheese and gather up my thoughts and emotions.

"Are you sure you wanna know, babe?" I ask him.

"Yeah, babygirl, I'm sure. I really wanna help you get through whatever you're going through." he says to me with a pout.

Here goes nothing, I guess, I thought to myself as I figure out the right words to say.

"Well let's start from the beginning, shall we? I was born May 20th of 97 at 7:30am weighing 4 lbs 11 oz. I was diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis at two days old. I almost died as a baby due to Meconium Ileus. Luckily, I survived it. My bowel had ruptured when that happened. I was automatically sent to the OR so that they could fix it. I had a colostomy until I was about 2 or 3 years old. Then when I was four, I got hit with a baseball bat by my cousin on accident. It was just a big goose egg. No concussion. Then when I was 7, I went to a Kenny Chesney concert thanks to Cat Country. It was the best birthday ever for me that day. I was smiling the whole day. God, I miss those days. Then when I was 8, me and my mom moved to Navarre, FL. There, I lied on a woman name Yvonne Wilson. After that, she started abusing me and stuff until mama finally moved back to Cantonment, FL." I say as I struggle to get the words out of my mouth and tears start to fall from my eyes.

Jason runs over and hugs me tightly.

"It's okay, babygirl! Nothing will happen to you like that ever again. I promise you that. I know it's hard telling your life story. I really do!" he tells me as I sob on his shoulder.

"That day when we moved back, everything changed." I say as I gather up the strength to tell him the rest of the story. Even though I don't want to.

He looks up at me with a look of both concern and confusion.

"How so, baby?" he asks me with a soft voice.

He gets up from the floor and sits on the couch beside me and puts his arm across my shoulders.

"When I was 12 years old, one day, I was reading a book about sex, which I didn't know about until then. Then I asked my uncle if he could show me how to kiss someone. You know whenever curiosity hits? That's what happened with me. He put me on his lap and kissed me on the lips. When he tried to deepen the kiss, I pushed him away and told him that he went way too far and to let me leave. He put me down and I left. I didn't tell anyone because I was afraid to until I was thirteen. At the age of thirteen was when the molestation got worse. Me and him were watching TV and I wanted to go to bed. He followed me to my room and he asked me if I wanted to "play". I didn't know what he was talking about, so I said no I'm too tired. Then he started begging me. I was in my nightgown, ready for bed. He all of a sudden bursts in and pushes me onto my bed and starts messing with my vaginal area. I tried to get up and run, but he was too strong. He held me down and I didn't know what to do, so I screamed. My cousin, Travis, heard and came running and saw it. He told him to get off of me and he did just that. I pulled down my nightgown and put my panties back on, but I was scared the whole night and was sobbing so bad that I couldn't sleep. I.... I....." I begin sobbing harder than usual for him and Jason grabs my waist and pulls me on top of him and hugs me, rubbing my back in a circular motion, trying to calm me down.

"Shhhh it's okay babygirl! I'll never let anything like that happen to you ever again. I promise." he says to me while I'm still crying.

Tears just kept falling and I couldn't stop crying. I know I need counselling for this and I might have to get it done. I finally calmed down and looked at him, still crying a little bit, sniffling here and there. He wiped my tears away with his thumb and cupped my cheeks. He gently rubbed his thumbs against my cheeks and I grab his arms and close my eyes.

"Are you okay, babygirl?" he asks me with concern clearly in his voice.

"I'll be okay in a minute." I tell him in a soft voice.

"I was molested from then on out until I was 14, when he text me the first dirty texts and I reported it to the nurse that I had and then called mama. I was taken away because of his actions. It wasn't long that they took me back to her because I showed out so bad. She swore to protect me, my mama did. That's exactly what she did too. When I was 17, I got caught having sex at the children's hospital and was transferred to the adult hospital. Then another set of dirty messages came after me begging my uncle to tell me. And I reported it to Nora first, then my mama. She was on the phone with me while calling DCF. He got charged and is still in prison. But on my 17th birthday, before that, I went to Disney, SeaWorld, and Universal. I had a blast there." I finally was done telling him everything besides what my ex, Stephen Jones, did to me, what Jerry did to me and mama, and what Brad did to me as well. I'll get to that after I calm down.

"Oh my God, baby, I am so sorry that this happened to you." Jason says to me as he hugs me softly.

I hug him back and lay my head on his shoulder. I close my eyes and think about everything that I want to do with him. I want to be with him forever. He is just what I'm looking for. He is a real gentleman and and real man. I am in love with my kidnapper, Jason McCann.