Daniel's P.O.V.
"Are you Daniel Seavey?" I snapped my head upwards when I heard my name. I stood from my seat and nodded to the nurse.
"Yes, sir."
"Follow me." He turned away and walked down the hallway to the room I had carried Jess into.
He opened the door and closed it behind me, leaving Jess and I alone. I pulled a chair to the side of her hospital bed and sat down. Her arms and legs were covered in bandages. She had stitches on her left eyebrow and her bruises were even more noticeable.
"How are you feeling?" I asked.
"Better. They gave me a ton of drugs," she chuckled. I laughed with her.
"Can I ask you something?" I asked her.
"Is about Justin?"
"Yeah. Why didn't you tell me? You know I would've gotten you help."
"You're so busy and I didn't want to worry you. I've put up with him for almost a year, I was fine."
"Jess, you're in a hospital. You weren't fine. And even if you were, that's not okay. He can't disrespect you in the ways he has. And who cares if I'm busy, I care about you and if you're in danger I'm gonna do whatever I can to help you."
"I was just scared. He had already threatened me, that's why I stopped talking to you. He started getting suspicious. But what I don't get is why you flew out here," she furrowed her eyebrows.
"I was planning to surprise you when Justin left."
"You were?"
"Yeah."
"Aw, Dani!" She smiled. She reached out and I scooted forward so I could hug her. I squeezed her, but not so tight that it hurt her.
"I just wanted to meet you, and now I'm even more glad I came." Her smile faded and she looked at her hands in her lap.
"Thank you," she whispered. She looked up into my eyes and I saw tears streaming down her face.
"I'd do anything for you," I told her wiping the tears from her face.
There was a knock at the door and the doctor walked in with a clipboard. He explained what the nurses did to help Jess. He then said that I could take Jess home whenever we were ready. He brought us a wheelchair and sent us out with instructions on how to change Jess's bandages. He said in her case, she should feel better within three days.
"You better not crash this thing," Jess warned as I wheeled her out of her room.
"I got this, I'm a pro." I steered her towards the front door, almost crashing into the walls.
"Maybe I should do it myself-"
"No, I can do it," I said laughing. I opened the door and rolled her out into the parking lot. SHe was laughing the whole way and my smile spread so widely. I was so glad that I could make her happy at such a low time for her.
I helped her into the passenger seat of the car then took the wheelchair back inside of the hospital. I jogged back to the car and hopped in with a smile on my face. It immediately faded when I saw Jess sitting in the seat, crying with her head in her hands.
"Jess, are you okay?" I asked quickly.
"Justin found us."
"What?!"
"He has a tracker on my phone. He just texted, threatening me that if I told any of the hospital workers what happened he'd come back and really give me a reason to be in a hospital."
"Jess he's not gonna find us." Her phone beeped.
"He said he's coming back to take care of me."
"Leave your phone here, and we'll go straight to the airport."
"Airport?"
"You're coming to L.A. with me."
"Okay."
She handed me her phone and I threw it into the darkness. I hopped back in and started the car again. Jess looked so scared and so nervous. Her eyes were wide and she looked frozen. I took her hand in mine and she seemed to loosen some. I held her hand, never letting go, as I quickly drove to the airport.
"Can you walk at all?" I asked once I shut the car off.
"I don't know. They're starting to hurt, but I can walk."
"No, I'll just carry you on my back."
"But you have our bags."
"I'm a strong guy," I smirked. She laughed as I hopped out and got the bags from the backseat.
I walked around to her side and helped her out. She then jumped on my back and I grabbed our bags. I slowly and carefully walked into the airport, putting Jess down when we got to the rows of seats. She looked scared again, but I told her she'd be okay.
I waited in the short line for the front desk, then bought tickets. The quickest flight I found was at 2 in the morning, which was in two hours. I thanked the lady then walked back to Jess.
"How soon can we leave?" She asked.
"Two hours, but we can go through security and wait on that side. No one is allowed over there unless they have a ticket."
"Okay." We got situated again and I carried her over to security. She got through by herself but quickly found a place to sit down as she waited for me. When I got through we went and sat down to wait for our flight.
"Daniel, I just wanna say thank you again. Seriously. I've never had the courage to actually run away because he always finds me and hurts me more."
"Did he always hurt you?"
"No, he used to be so sweet. All the things I told you about him were true, they were just from like last year. I don't even know what happened, I guess he just got tired of getting jealous."
"There are other ways to handle jealousy."
"He just didn't want to lose me."
"Jess, you can't defend him. I know that you might've loved him, but you need to let him go. He wasn't and isn't safe for you."
"I know, I just can't help it." She turned and lay against me, her head resting on my chest.
"I get it. But you'll get to L.A. and once you heal you'll get to start a new life without him."
"Unless he finds me."
"He won't. And if he does, you'll have me and four other guys protecting you. And Wren."
"Wren is Jack's girlfriend, right?"
"Yeah."
"Good. I won't be the only girl in the house," she chuckled.
I continued to comfort her in the airport, trying to get her mind off of Justin. I began telling her everything we'd do once we get to Los Angeles. She was most excited to hike to the Hollywood sign.
When our flight was called I helped her get to our gate and our seats. I let her have the window seat and she propped her legs up on mine. I gave her my neck pillow and she leaned against the window, ready to fall asleep.
I took her hand in mine and rubbed circles across the back of her hand. She smiled at me, then closed her eyes again and fell asleep.
*****
