Hold Tight |Jason McCann|

Chapter 35

| Jason |

The sound of her sobs made my heart break. She was shaking in my arms, clutching on to my sweatshirt as if she was afraid I'd let go.

I'd never let go.

I couldn't believe the state she was in. Her clothes were torn- still in the same shirt she wore that night. Her caramel soft hair was in knots, her body bruised and what looked like blood stains covering her leg and clothes.

She felt even smaller.

I missed her so much.

I stared in to her tired, tired eyes almost bloodshot red.

She was too weak to stand let alone walk and as I watched her eyes slowly close I was quick to pick her up in my arms, still weighing as light as a feather. I looked down at her unconscious body, watching her chest rise and fall slowly, reassuring me enough that she was okay.

But she wasn't okay. She was broken. The spark in her eyes was no longer there and her skin was dull and no longer glowing.

I walked out in to the darkness to see the boys stood by their cars. They all looked down at Savanna.

They looked at me with sympathy as I approach them, "Check the area for anyone else... meet back at the hotel. Be careful" with that, I laid her in the backseat of my car before shutting the door and getting in to my side.

Driving slowly out of the woodland area I was so familiar with, my eyes continued to divert to Savanna in the mirror to make sure she was okay, to make sure she was still there.

I knew where to find her. After finding out she had been taken by my father and separated from the rest, I could only think of one place in the whole of Brazil that my father would stupidly take her to. It was a house he would take my mom to before I was born, I was here a few times and that was enough to realise that my father wasn't just a 9-5 working class man. He was a drug lord and criminal. And every 'vacation' to Brazil? It was only to fuel his wealth and bring him power.

Sick fuck.

I arrived at the hotel we were staying at, parking my car and then proceeding to pick Savanna up in my arms once again. She didn't move a muscle. I took her in to the elevator and up to the room I had for us, I hadn't even used it for it's purpose because as soon as I arrived here, I was out.

I went to the bedroom where I walked up to the bed, laying her body on to it carefully. I had taken my sweatshirt off and put it on her just because I felt so uncomfortable seeing her so exposed. Especially right now.

I had called my doctor to come and treat Savanna for her wounds however, due to the 11 hours of travel time, he wouldn't be here until morning.

I couldn't help but stare down at her body. Her bruised and beaten beautiful body. Her legs had bruises on them, a cut hidden behind a cloth which was tightly wrapped and almost drenched with blood. I knew she had other bruises on her body that I couldn't see but from when I saw her in the torn t shirt, I could see her bruised rib. She was limping when she was walking which meant she was in a lot of pain. Her head had a cut on it along with dry blood formed on her forehead. Her hands were dirty and sore and her arms had scratches and bruises covering it.

It was almost unbearable to look at.

I quickly covered her body with the duvet, I leaned forwards and pressed my lips against her forehead, letting them rest there for a couple seconds. I had missed her skin so much.

I pulled away and stood up, walking out of the room as I heard the front door open and close. I walked in to the living room to see Ryan now stood in it, phone to ear as he looked at me sending me a nod before he cut the call.

"How is she?" He asked as I went over to the couch, rubbing my face with my hands as I felt tiredness take over me.

"How do you think?" I answered.

"Has she er... spoken about, it?" He continued as I leaned back in to the couch, slouching down in to it as I shook my head a no. "As much as I want to, I can't force her to relive those shitty memories... not now" I told him and he nodded understanding.

"Did you search the area?" I asked looking at him.

"We did, I got a bunch of boys keeping watch on most of their hideouts, anyone who comes back will be caught straight away... we'll deal with them there"

"I can't believe Alex is alive..." Ryan spoke. Ryan and I have known each other since Pre K, we had known each other the longest and he was the one I started all of the crime with and that's when I met the rest of the boys. Therefore, he was family. Alex, Ryan and I did everything together and through all of the pain we felt in our family life, we stuck together.

But my brother followed my father too much, he was greedy.

"He's lucky you left him alive bro-" Ryan was cut off by screams, belonging to Savanna. I was quick to get up and run back to the room where I found an empty bed, blood soaked in to its sheets and on to the ground. My heart sank.

Rest assured, I heard her sobs from the bathroom. The door was open slightly and there was blood on the door from what looked like a hand print.

I rushed in to see Savannah sat on the floor, her one leg out in front of her and the other bent up against her chest as she sobbed holding on to it. Her already deep cut was now bleeding even worse than before, the wound seemed to have completely reopened, torn a tiny bit as she attempted to cover it with her hand and stop the blood. I looked on the counter to see that she had used towels to try and stop the bleeding but must have fallen to the ground because she wasn't really able to walk.

Behind me stood Ryan and rushed in, crouching down in front of her.

"Baby, what happened?" I asked her as she looked at me with tears in her eyes, instantly making my heart feel heavy.

"I- I think I cut it open i-in m-my sleep" She was stuttering from not only pain but from fear as her hands shook and she looked down at it.

"Ryan, call a doctor, now" I told Ryan as I took the towel from him and pressed it against her wound making her grab on to my arm, clutching down on it and whimpering in pain.

"I'm sorry baby... I have to apply pressure to stop the blood" I explained to her before wrapping it around her leg and tying its ends.

She stayed quiet, watching what I was doing with tears in her eyes as she tried to steady her shaking hands. I grabbed her by her waist and picked her up in my arms, carrying her out of the bathroom and out of the bedroom itself. I went over to the couch where I sat her down on it before crouching down in front of her.

"You're gonna be okay princess" I assured her.

It was the first time where I truly didn't know what to tell her because I was lost for words myself.