She Will Be Loved

She Will Be Loved (Chapter 5)

Adams POV

As I followed Hannah down the hallway I could only think of one thing, praying she wouldn't leave. I don't know what it is about this girl, but I haven't been able to take my eyes off of her since I seen her inside the club while she was running around filling drink orders. I'll admit I went outside after her because I knew I just had to talk to her. And I am glad I did, who knows what would have happened to her if I hadn't been out there with her when Billy or whatever his name was came around. Just the thought of him laying a hand on her infuriates me. She's so beautiful, and sweet, and I can already tell she is so much vulnerable than she lets on. I was pulled out of my train of thought by the sound of the garage door beeping, signaling the lift button had been pushed. She was actually leaving, I have to stop her. "Hannah, please wait. Talk to me!" I yelled that last part, grasping her arm a little harder than I intended to. The force of my hand on her tiny arm sent her jolting around to face me. "Please no!" She screamed as she attempted to cover her face and coward down even further. The look in her eyes ripped through my heart like a box of razors. I immediately withdrew my hand, mentally punching myself for scaring her. In that moment I didn't know what to do. I just grabbed her and held her close to me, attempting to calm her down as the sobs now racked through her tiny frame. She didn't even try to push me away like I expected. Instead she just weakly balled her fist up and wrapped her arms around my waist. The way she was clinging to me brought tears to my eyes. I quietly shushed her while stroking her long dark hair. "Hannah, you are safe with me. Nothing will ever happen to you ever again. I will not let it. I am not going to pressure into anything you don't want to do. I will never force you to stay but I can't even fathom you leaving and going back to that man. If anything ever happened to you it would haunt me for the rest of my life. Please, come back inside and just let me talk to you." She slowly nodded her head, still unable to stop crying. "Come on then." I tried to untangle myself from her but the way she grasped onto me told me she wasn't ready to move. "Ok, ok, shh it's ok. We can sit right here if you like. I'm gonna lower us down onto the ground ok?" Again, she weakly nodded. I bent and swooped her legs out from under her, settling us both on the thick grass, her sitting on my lap with my arms wrapped protectively around her. Her arms snaked up around my neck while she wrapped her legs around my midsection. I absent minded began to rub her back attempting to sooth her. "Hannah, look at me please," Leaning back to peek a glimpse at her now red swollen eyes. She sheepishly looked up at me through her lashes. I slowly and gently placed my finger under her chin, lifting it so she was looking at me instead of hiding. "You are good. I can tell." She began to shake her head and protest, but I cut her off before she could even form the words. "You are. I have known you for less than twenty four hours but I can already tell you put others in front of yourself. You are forgiving, cocky, dorky, sweet, funny, absolutely beautiful, vulnerable, the way you look when you talk to people is as if you are staring into their soul. I watched you at the bar tonight, not one time did you take a break. You let every other girl go and made sure to save their tips for them instead of pocketing them for yourself. You have a amazing voice, and you captivate me in every single way. So don't tell me that you aren't good because I have yet to find one flaw about you." She now had a new set of tears flooding her eyes. Way to go dip-shit, you said something wrong and made her cry. Wait, she's smiling. But all too soon that smile faded. "But, Adam you don't know my past-" I cut her off before she finished her sentence, I know I am very rude. "Your past is the past for a reason. You don't live there anymore. You are here with me now, none of that other stuff matters to me. You will never have to go back to that life, you hear me?" She stared deep into my eyes and I felt something deep inside of me stir, something that has been dormant since Jane left me. Slowly she nodded her head and let out a shaky breath. "We can go inside now Adam." I nodded and stood up, her tiny body still wrapped around me. Jeez, she felt like a feather. I walked us back into the house after a minute of protest from her. Once inside I set her on the counter softly and walked off to get the first aid kit. Upon my return the sight in front of me made my mouth go dry. She had pealed off my shirt and was just sitting there in a pair of boxers and a bra. "Keep it together Levine." I mumbled to myself as I made my way over to her. The whole left side of her body was completely purple and black. Again, I felt the anger swell up inside of me. I focused my all my attention to her perfectly plump lips, a slight split now a darker shade of red due to it attempting to heal on it's on. I worked silently on cleaning her cuts and scrapes, making sure they wouldn't get infected. Once I was done with her face I began to scan the rest of her body to see if anywhere else needed it. That's when I seen them. This must have been what she was talking about. "How long?" I asked casually while cleaning the track marks on her arms. "Clean or how long did I use?" She asked in a serious tone. I continued looking down as I bandaged up her left arm and began working on her right. "Both I guess, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to." She shook her head saying it was fine. "I was forced to use since I was 16. Once my parents died I was left with Bobby. I didn't have anywhere else to go. No family or anything. At first it was fine, like all couples we argued and the beatings were minimal as they had been for a year. But then he began to get more abusive and aggressive if I refused to do something that he wanted. So he attempted to force his drug habit onto me to try and contain me. But when I refused he beat me until I was unconscious. I awoke to the feeling of a needle being dragged through my skin. That's where it all started. I attempted to fight him but it was the same every time. He would beat me into compliance and then dope me up so I wouldn't fight back or attempt to leave. I managed to convince him I was the compliant girlfriend when I was 18, that worked for 6 months, he didn't force the drugs on me and I had been clean. Then one night he found a job application in my purse. That was his trigger all over again. The drugs came back into his plan and he gave me extra to make sure I never would pass a drug test so he could choose where I worked. That's how I got the job at the bar. He took all my paychecks and sank half of them into drug, the other half into alcohol. And here we are two years later, I am penny-less and will be going through withdrawals within the next few hours or so." I had stopped cleaning her wounds by this point and just stared at her beautiful features as they softened with vulnerability and sadness. "Hannah, it wasn't your fault." Her eyes brimmed with tears and she shrugged her shoulders. "I can leave now if you want." Her voice was barely a whisper. "No, I told you, your past doesn't come past those front gates. I am here for you and I will help you with whatever you need. If you need to a drug abuse counselor we will get you one. I can have private medical care come to help you through your withdrawals and anything else you need." Again she began to protest, "Adam, no you can't, that is so expensive. I can do it on my own." I sighed and dropped my head. Now I was going to have to tell her who I was. She wouldn't let me help her any other way. I was going to have to tell her at some point wasn't I? I guess it's now or never. I sucked in another deep breath before standing straight and lifting her off the counter. I handed her my shirt back and lightly grabbed her hand. "Follow me, there's something I need to show you." A puzzled look crossed her face as she followed without hesitation. I closed my eyes tight as we climbed the stairs and walked down the hall to my office, turning to nob slowly. Now or never...is never still a option?