No Escape

Chapter Five

He is really something else, Lily thought to herself. He acted like he cared about her and in that moment he was shirtless. Which was very distracting for her; especially considering that he was carrying her to his car, while in that state. Lily was... uncomfortable. Besides the fact that she was in a shirtless guy's arms, her chest was burning, and her leg throbbing. She knew Jackson was trying his hardest not to jostle her too much, but every move he made moved her leg which then caused it to sting.

After she agreed with him, Lily started making her way towards the parking lot, but she hadn't even made it out the door before her leg gave out from under her and she started to fall. It made her feel so beyond weak. Jackson caught her before she hit the ground and swooped her up in his arms without a second thought. She struggled a bit at first, but he laughed and told her she would hurt herself more if she fell and that there was no way he was letting her walk if she couldn't even get past the door without collapsing.

She wasn't sure where his proposition to let him get her professional help and he would leave her alone came from, but she was glad that he said it. She didn't want anything infected or to be getting sick because her wound wasn't healing properly. Not only that but it would help her in staying away from him. Lily knew that she liked Jackson. The fact that she was in his arms against his bare chest but was still mostly calm proved that. But if she wanted to survive the rest of the year intact, she needed him to leave her alone. She didn't need any more shit from Erin, or for Carter to find out that she was getting close to someone. She had to deal with enough as it was, she didn't need to pile on more.

However, it didn't seem right. Lily felt some kind of connection to Jackson; she didn't know how or why, but she did. Even though she knew she needed to stay away from him and vice versa, it felt wrong. Any time she pushed him away, was apart from him, or even thought about how to keep him away from her, she would feel this painful burning in her chest and that sense of longing returned. And the more she did these things and the longer it went on, the worse and more painful it felt. It made her so frustrated that she couldn't figure out why this was happening to her. Why were things like that?

Even still, maybe it was for the better. If Jackson and Lily stayed away from each other and left each other alone, she wouldn't have him in her head all the time and wouldn't have to worry about Erin and Carter punishing her for it for the rest of her life.

Jackson sat Lily down in the passenger seat of his car before making his way around to the driver's side. He had this big frown on his face and overall wasn't very happy. It was clear to him that Lily didn't trust him. The only reason she had agreed to let him help her was because he said he would leave her alone. He didn't want to do it, but she was hurt bad; bad enough that when it originally happened, he had felt it. The wound needed to heal properly.

The fact that she was so closed off from him and didn't speak to him was frustrating. It wouldn't have bothered him as much if she hadn't been getting hurt, but she wouldn't tell him what was going on, how it happened or who had hurt her. He could hardly stand it.

Lily didn't like that he seemed upset but forced herself to ignore it as he began driving. She started to think of different lies she could possibly tell about how she got this injury. It was only a matter of time before someone who knew it existed asked what happened to her. Most of the stories she thought up seemed unbelievable, so she continued to think about it until they arrived at a hospital.

She looked over at Jackson confused as to why a hospital was necessary, but he ignored her and got out of the car. Lily opened her door, stood up, and took a couple of wobbly steps before Jackson scooped her up once again and carried her the rest of the way inside. Lily felt the warm tingles all over wherever her and Jackson made contact and wondered for a moment if he felt them too or if she was just going insane.