Justin caressed Jessica’s hair lovingly his touch sickening her more with each second. He traced the outline of her face with his rough, dry hands. He paused momentarily, leaning in to breathe the scent of her hair. Jessica watched helplessly, her fear incrementing as she envisioned all possible things he could do to her.

Suddenly, she heard his voice. “Jessica!” he yelled. At first she assumed she was dreaming, but when she saw Justin’s face contort with anger, she realized it wasn’t a dream. Nick was going to save her.

“Nick!” she screamed out, her voice hoarse and raspy. Her sudden outburst startled Justin slightly but he quickly counteracted by covering her mouth with his hand. She continued screaming although her efforts were in vain for all her cries were muffled by Justin’s hand. She proceeded to kick and thrash about but Justin merely tightened his grip on her. He held onto her tightly pinching her skin until it began to hurt.

Jessica however persisted, kicking and moaning until she was exhausted. “Scream all you want,” Justin yelled at her. “He can’t hear you,” he whispered nastily in her ear. Whimpering she stopped fighting him. She couldn’t win. Nick’s cries had long since stopped. All she heard now was silence. Utter and complete silence. He wasn’t coming to save her after all.

Nick stood glaring at the door, silently willing Jessica to open it. Finally, he gave up hoping. He had waited long enough. Roughly he inserted the key Lila had give him and easily entered the house.

He pursed his lips to call out her name, but fell silent as he noticed the eerieness that lingered in the air. He moved cautiously, closing the door gently. Accidentally, he stumbled over Jessica’s carelessly strewn shoes. Looking down, his eyes fell upon her stylish white cross trainers. The shoes were an obvious indication that she was home.

His blue eyes perused the area searching desperately for any sign of her at all. He began moving slowly throughout the house in search of her.

“Jessica?” he called. “Jess? Are you here?” he repeated heading towards her room.

Inside her room Jessica stood slightly slumped against the wall. Her limbs ached from the exhaustion of fighting Justin. She was emotionally tired and disoriented as well. Justin stood in front of her breathing down her neck. The closeness of their bodies rendered it almost impossible for her to move. Her body had long since ceased trembling although a sharp tremor coursed throughout her each time Justin moved.

As she heard Nick’s voice, her eyes widened incredulously. She opened her mouth quickly to alert him of her whereabouts, but again he was too fast for her. Justin quickly clamped a heavy hand over her mouth eliminating any possibility of her calling out for help.

Overcome with a fresh batch of tears, she began struggling to free herself from his grasp. “Quiet,” Justin ordered angrily, his eyes flashing. His eyes were so intense that for a few seconds Jessica ceased to notice the object that he now clutched openly in his hand.

A knock on the door startled her. Justin pressed his hand to her mouth harder as a scared whimper emitted from Jessica’s throat. “Jess? Are you in here?” came Nick’s voice.

“Tell him to go away,” Justin growled in Jessica’s ear. “Do it now,” he ordered his voice low and firm. He pressed the barrel of the gun into Jessica’s side forcing another whimper from her.

As he slowly released his hand from her mouth, she felt the cold hard metal jabbing sharply into her side. She caught Justin’s steely glare and knew he was dead serious.

Tears cascading down her face she turned away from the door. “I’m fine Nickolas,” she said her voice trembling as she carefully pronounced his name. “ Just go away,” she finished.

The words having left her mouth Justin’s hand resumed its position. There was nothing she could do now except pray. Pray that Nick had understood her and that somehow he would save her.

A cool breeze rustled through the air causing Mya to shiver slightly. She pressed her body closer to AJ’s drawing warmth from their closeness. As she leaned closer to him AJ stirred, his eyes fluttering open slowly.

As his vision cleared, he noticed Mya’s presence next to him. A look of disbelief crossed his face. The look soon changed from disbelief to relief. “You came,” he whispered softly.

“You waited,” she replied quietly.

“You knew I would,” he told her. Mya lifted her head slowly from his shoulder gazing into his eyes. The electricity between the two was evident as they stared longingly at each other. The look they shared expressed more that words ever could.

Another gust of wind whooshed through the air and Mya shivered involuntarily again. Broken from his trance, AJ noticed Mya’s discomfort. Reaching out gently he wrapped his arms tightly around her shivering body and pulled her closer to him. Mya succumbed to his embrace and allowed her body to press against his. She buried her face in the crook of his neck, his scent intoxicating and overpowering her completely.

Just being in his arms and having him hold her close she knew. She knew that she had never ever experienced anything like this before. But most of all she knew that if she didn’t tell AJ about the extent of her feelings she’d regret it deeply. She’d live her whole life wondering if the only person whom she ever cared about cared about her as well.

Brian lay in his bed watching slightly agitated as Lila paced the length of the room. He’d been anxiously waiting almost an hour for her to come to bed. Lila had repeatedly told him to go to sleep. She’d promised that she’d be there in a few minutes, but for what seemed like the tenth time this week her minutes had turned into an hour.

Lila paced back and forth with a seemingly concerned look masking her pretty features. The look Lila wore however was not one so much of concern but one of guilt. Despite the fact that she was quite worried about Jessica, her conscience was marked with guilt. It was a feeling so powerful that she couldn’t just ignore it. Every time she thought about what she’d done to Brian she felt a familiar wrenching in her stomach. Often it took everything in her to keep from breaking down and crying in front of Brian. She couldn’t tell him. He could never find out.

Every morning when she awoke she’d head to the bathroom to wash up. The moment she looked into the mirror though she became a basketcase, a sorry mess of salty tears. She tried desperately avoiding the mirror although it was nearly impossible. It was inevitable that her eyes would accidentally wander and she’d catch a glimpse of herself.

Nowadays, the better portion of her day was spent perched upon the toilet seat rocking her body back and forth as her tears soaked her shirt.

She continued to play up to the pretense that was ingesting the pills. She never forgot and never slipped up. As much as it pained her, she wouldn’t allow herself to mess up. Not after she had worked so hard. Brian was much too precious to her.

Now, Lila’s pacing ceased as the room began to spin dizzily around her. Regaining her composure she peeked over at the bed. Immense relief washed over her as her eyes fell upon Brian. As she was well aware he would, he had fallen asleep while waiting for her. It was safe now. She could crawl into bed without any questions asked or any inquisitive stares. [Next Chapter].[Table of Contents].