The First Flight ❀ COLIFER

Chapter 43 ❀ That escalated quickly

Colin's POV

I gasped for air, and then I let go of the door and abruptly took a step forward. 

"Jen? Are you okay?"

But I knew she wasn't okay. And I was absolutely mortified. She left our room with the brightest smile on her face, but she came back with blood all over her shirt and a look of terror in her eyes.

She slightly shook her head when she took the last step that separated us, and then I took her in my arms.

It didn't feel like a relief. She was shivering from head to toe, barely able to keep herself up. I rubbed her back as I took her back inside the room, but I didn't know if it was to soothe her or to soothe myself.

I gently set her down on my bed since that was the closest, and then I knelt down in front of her. I grabbed her hands to stop them from shaking.

"Jen? What is going on?" I squeezed her hands and forced her to look at me, but she flinched at my touch.

I immediately let go of her, and then I saw the blood on her hands.

Oh, no.

"Jen?" I took her face in my hands, since that was the only place I wasn't scared to hurt her. "Can you at least tell me if you're okay?"

"I— I don't know," she stammered, another shiver running through her. Her pupils were dilated and her lips were dry.

I'd never seen her like this. She was just sitting there, looking smaller than she'd ever been, and I had no idea what happened.

I got up to turn on the lights, so I could take a better look at her. When the soft ambient light washed over her, I could finally see it.

"Okay, I'm going to grab a first aid kit," I said. "Can you... if it doesn't hurt too much, can you take off your shirt?"

She looked up at me and nodded, and I grabbed my suitcase to look for the kit. I always brought it with me just in case I needed it, but this was the first time I'd actually ever used it.

She'd taken off her shirt when I turned back to her. It physically hurt me to see her like this, but my mind was putting her wellbeing first. I was acting instinctively when I went into the bathroom to make a washcloth wet, and then I went back to her.

"What happened?" I asked again when I kneeled down in front of her. There were cuts and scrapes all over her chest and hands, but it didn't look as bad now that she'd taken off her bloody shirt.

"We were in the bar," she started when I took one of her hands and very gently wiped the blood away with the washcloth. "We were— we were having a great time, and we kind of lost track of time. There were these five big guys that came in at one point. I think it was almost midnight then."

I was moving the washcloth as carefully as I could, but she still moaned silently whenever I got close to a wound. "Five big guys?" I asked to keep her going.

She nodded. "Yeah. They made a lot of noise, but they didn't really cause too much chaos in the beginning. But then one of them suddenly started shouting over something stupid, so Rose and Lana tried to calm him down. Before we knew what was happening, bottles and glasses were flying everywhere. That guy just lost it."

"And you were right in the middle of it," I muttered softly. I grabbed her other hand, but I was so mad at myself.

I should've gone with them. I could've kept her safe from those guys, or at least have her behind me to keep the glass from hitting her.

I'd do anything to take it all away.

"Lana and the others are all okay, but it scared the crap out of me," she said when I'd put some bandages around her hands. The wounds didn't look like they needed to be stitched up, which was one relief.

I went to the bathroom to wash out the washcloth. When I came back, her shoulders were hunched and the light illuminated her almost bare back.

I'd never seen anything more beautiful.

Jen's POV

He made me turn around on the bed so he could take a better look at me, and I let him see my chest. His hands were so careful, so delicate, only barely touching me.

The only sound in the room was our breathing when he pressed the washcloth onto my skin. I closed my eyes, twitching every now and then when it hurt.

The incident in the bar was still going through my head like a movie. Almost everything was blurry, but I could clearly remember the glass hitting me, and my slightly intoxicated mood changing from one moment to another.

I opened my eyes when I felt something changing. I looked down; the tips of Colin's fingers were still on my chest, but he was reaching for my scars, the scars that were there before any of this happened.

His touch was different. And it wasn't the fact that he wasn't using the washcloth anymore, it was also the atmosphere in the room.

It was like there was a magnetic field between us.

"You probably shouldn't do that, though," I whispered.

He immediately lowered his hands, and his gaze found mine. His eyes were so incredibly blue in this light.

"I just... wanted to make sure you're okay."

My ears were ringing. His gaze was burning. I couldn't really think straight when he finished putting band aids over the cuts, and there was a whiff of his smell when he got up from the bed.

"Are you okay?" he asked again when I got up too.

I nodded and wrapped my arms around myself.

"You're shaking."

"I'm freezing," I said.

He didn't hesitate one moment and grabbed his sweater to wrap around me. I gratefully smiled up at him. "Thank you. I'm going to change into some other clothes first."

"Okay."

I knew by the way he smiled that he was nervous, but so was I. I went over to my bag, which I'd dropped next to my bed, but I let out a noise of disbelief when I'd searched through it.

"What is it?" Colin asked.

I looked up at him; he was sitting on his bed, both of his hands in his lap. I couldn't believe what I was about to say, but I said it.

"I forgot to bring pajamas."

❀ FACT: Jen has seven scars from having moles removed! ❀