All Roads Lead Home (Book #1)

Chapter 19

Jayden's Point of View:

The drive from Cold Brook to Long Island felt like it took days. I haven't seen Krys in two weeks and it's been killing me. We talk and text every day but I want to hold her. I want to know she's safe in my arms.

That bastard laid his hand on her once and I'm not going to let it happen again. If I have to stay in Long Island until she turns 18 I will. He won't hurt her again.

I pull up in front of the house at the same time as a police cruiser. I get out and walk towards the officer.

"Does Krystah Blaine live in this house?" he asks.

"This is the address she gave me."

"And you are?" he asks.

"I'm her boyfriend Jayden. Jayden Newcomb. Is something wrong?" I ask, curious as to why he's here.

"I'm just following up on a claim of abuse that she mentioned to me yesterday," he says as he pulls his notebook out and writes my name down.

"You're the cop that told her to come back here even after he hit her, aren't you?"

He raises his hands in defense. "I was simply following protocol. I mentioned it to my supervisor and that's why I'm here today. He told me to look into it," he says as we begin to walk up to the front porch.

"Krys wouldn't lie about something like that," I say as we get to the top step of the porch.

"Help me! Please, someone help me! He's trying to kill me!"

I hear Krys screaming for help and try to open the door but it's locked. The cop attempts to pull his gun from his holster but stumbles. I lift my right leg and kick the door. It flies open just as he frees his gun.

He steps around me as I charge in. He has his gun raised and is pointing it towards Krys and her attacker. There's blood pouring out of a large cut on her thigh.

"Put your hands up and drop the weapon. Drop it!" he shouts.

I watch as her attacker pulls the knife out of her leg and begins to lower it, this time aiming for Krystah's chest.

He ignores the officers' warnings to lower the knife and to step away. The knife is inches from her chest. I watch helplessly as she tries to move backwards away from him, but she's backed against the wall.

"I said drop it!" he orders as the knife moves lower.

Suddenly a gunshot rings out and I hear her scream as her attacker slumps to the floor, the knife dropping from his hand beside her.

The officer rushes forward and kicks the knife out of reach. He radios for back up and 2 ambulances, checks Krystah's pulse and then her attackers.

"No rush on that second bus," he says into his radio again. "The attacker's dead." He says as he looks up at me.

I nod to show my thanks and then kneel beside Krys. She's alive but passed out.

Within minutes the ambulance arrives along with the backup officers. The next few minutes went by in a blur as question after question was fired around the room.

The officer that shot him was telling the paramedics that I was her boyfriend and that I was riding in the ambulance with her. One of the other officers guided me towards the ambulance with them.

The click of the ambulance doors is what brought me back. I shake my head quickly to clear it and look down at Krys.

"Is she going to be alright?"

"She's lost a lot of blood and she's still bleeding. Do you know her blood type so we can radio ahead?"

"It's AB-."

"You're sure?"

"Positive. Her dad made sure I knew," I say as I clench my fists and shut my eyes quickly.

I hear them radio ahead to the hospital.

We get to the hospital and they take me to the family waiting area until she's stabilized and I can see her.

An hour later a woman comes rushing towards the desk outside the waiting room.

"I was told my daughter was brought here? Her name is Krystah Blaine."

I stand up from my chair and walk over to the desk, towards who I can only assume is Madison.

"Yes, she is. She's actually..."

"Don't tell her anything about Krystah."

"But she's my daughter. I deserve to know what's happening." She says as she stands a little taller and crosses her arms. "Who are you anyways?"

"As her mother shouldn't you know the guy she's been dating for four years?"

She turns red. "Well I... Of course... You're... I..."

I look at the nurse on duty. "This woman left her daughter and husband 10 years ago without a single goodbye or real reason why. The ONLY reason she's here now is because somehow the state of New York managed to find her mother without knowing they found her mother and placed her with her and her new husband for a month. Her husband just tried to kill my girlfriend and would have succeeded if I wasn't coming over today," I say as I glare over at Madison. "So, forgive me when I say that this bitch," I say as I point at her, "doesn't deserve to know shit about Krystah now if she didn't care about her for the last 10 years."

I turn to look at Madison and she slaps me. "I deserve to know what's happening. I gave birth to her."

"You may have given birth to her, but you didn't stay by her. We all did," I say as I rub my cheek.

"Actually ma'am, there's no one by the name of Madison listed as an emergency contact which means we can't actually give you any information without permission from her contacts, per her request on her medical records when she turned 16," a doctor says as he looks over Krystah's chart. " And since Jayden is listed as a contact, he can deny you getting information."

A small smile creeps onto my face. I turn to the doctor as he walks towards me.

"If you come with me, I'll let you know how she's doing," the doctor says to me.

As we walk away, I hear Madison storm off.

"Is Krys going to be alright?" I ask as soon as we enter into an empty room.

"She is. She lost a lot of blood and had to get over 100 stitches. She's going to be sore for quite a while, but she's going to be just fine. We want to keep her overnight but she should be okay to go home tomorrow."

"Can I stay with her tonight?"

"Of course. I'll take you to her room. She's probably still sleeping though," he says as he guides me to her room.

I wake up in a cold sweat and I'm breathing hard. I look around and see Krys lying beside me peacefully. It was a dream.

She hasn't had one of her nightmares about that day since I got back from Boston. But I haven't left her side either.

I play with the rings on my chain around my neck and stop at mom's. I finger the heart shaped diamond on it and think back to all of the times I thought about giving it to Krys as a promise ring.

It never seemed like the right times to do it until now. After everything that happened in the last couple of days, I realized I can't lose her. I need her in my life, for the rest of my life.