Capturing Memories

°•°Chapter 43°•°

"Oh, how a quiet love can drown out every fear."

-Jessica Katoff.

Chloe's POV.

My eyes start watering at the pain as I try getting out of the restraint and his hand starts undoing my pants. Oh no, fucktard. With that, I kick my leg back hard enough to hurt his knee and release my hands before punching him to the floor, "Ethan?!"

My jaw drops as he jumps up to his feet quick enough, "Oh, you're a feisty one, aren't you?" he tries grabbing me and I run to the door, where my efforts go in vain as he holds me against it, "Let me go!" I yell at him before finding every ounce of energy to knee him in his man parts.

"Oww! Damn it, you bitch!" he groans falling to the ground and I fumble with the door lock before unlocking it and running out breathlessly. Ethan?! Really?! I stumble into someone's hard chest, "Chloe?"

Zach's voice makes me breathe out in relief, "Oh my god, Zach!" I meet his worried gaze, "What the hell happened?" he holds me steady and tries asking me as calmly as he could while I calm myself down, "Ethan,"

I breathe out pointing at his office and his jaw tightens as he sees Ethan walkout, "You, bastard!" my eyes widen as Zach loses his calm and gets to the arrogant looking Ethan in two long strides before punching him in his face, "Zach, stop!"

I rush to his side and hold him back as Ethan already stumbles back with a bloody face, "Are you okay, Sugar?"

Zach turns to me with a look of concern as he takes my face in his hands while tucking a few strands of my hair behind my ear and I nod, "I should've seen this coming," he shakes his head before turning his angry gaze to Ethan who's lying on the floor, half-conscious.

"Grab your stuff, I'm getting you out of here and this guy will be made sure to never step in Colorado again,"

~•~•~•

"Shh," Zach silences me while looking guilty as he washes the little blood off my lips, "Stop giving me that look. I escaped and I pretty much defended myself," I mumble, caressing his cheek as the shower drenched us.

"You taught me how to defend myself well," I smile a little trying to get him to speak up, but he only sighs studying my face and body for any bruises, "I don't know how I missed this in his background search but the guy has been pressed charges for hurting his ex-girlfriend,"

He whispers letting out a shaky breath and my heart drops at the revelation. "It's not your fault that the background search wasn't done properly or Ethan just tried erasing that from the records,"

I reason out while trying to calm my racing heart, which he could probably feel, "I just warned him about this yesterday-"

"You did what?" I ask him in disbelief, "I just asked him to stay away from you and that we are together if that wasn't clear already," he closes his eyes, letting out a shaky breath as he leans his forehead against mine, "I'm sorry,"

"Stop that, you have nothing to be sorry for," I shake my head before taking his face into my hands, "Just look at me. I'm fine, nothing happened,"

"It could've,"

"But it didn't." I firmly state, holding his gaze. His free hand caresses my cheek where a small bruise sat, "You're such a strong woman," with that I pull him into a kiss. A kiss to tell him that I'm okay and a kiss to show how much I love him.

"We need to go, we'll be late to Mr. William's meeting," I breathe out and he sighs finally smiling a little, "You sure, you're okay?"

"I am. I'm a grown-ass woman who just managed to defend herself from a psychopath so if anything, I'm a little proud of it," I say patting his chest with a smile of assurance, "I'm proud of you too, Sugar,"

He says before pecking my lips one last time and pulls back, turning off the shower, "Let's go then,"

I add before walking out of the glass cubicle and grab a bathrobe, putting it on. Did the whole thing disturb me? It sure did, maybe for the first hour but then I realized, I stood strong in a situation like that and used the self-defense skills Zach taught me well. And Ethan is now behind bars for attempted sexual assault.

Right now, what's important is that we get to meet Molly after having a crazy day and we were lucky that Mr. Williams complied as soon as we called him to inform that we'll be late, "Come on, Sugar," Zach nudges me, getting my attention and I walk out of the washroom, wiping my hair.

Zach walks up to the nightstand and checks his phone before sighing, "The lawyer said, this could be taken care of without taking it to court from our end. With Ethan's record, he doesn't have much to defend himself and you need to pull a restraining order against him so he doesn't get back here,"

"That's quick, how the hell did you manage to get this groundwork done in two hours?!" I ask him in disbelief while walking over to him, "Contacted my lawyer as soon as we got Ethan sent off with the cops. I wasn't going to take chances with you on stake, Sugar."

He finishes off before looking back to his phone and types away with a serious expression. I hug him from behind, resting the side of my face against his back, "What about that date you wanted to take me on?"

A sigh escapes his lips as he turns around in my arms after sending the message, "Just not today, Sugar. We'll get back home as soon as we meet Molly and I'm not letting you out of my sight until Ethan's hearing is done,"

"Okay," I nod with a small smile as he holds me against his chest, "It's five p.m. already, we should get dressed," I say as soon as my eyes land Zach's phone flashing the time. He kisses my forehead before nodding and nudging me to get into the closet.

I watch him sigh and sit back on the bed with his head in his hands before closing the doors of the closet. I hate how he's beating himself for this and I need to do something to assure him that it's not his fault, because it isn't. This whole is thing is complicating his thoughts even more and he has enough on his plate as it is but oh, life loves to throw drama our way.

I pull out a purple pullover and black jeans before putting on my essentials. Putting on the jeans and pullover, I stand in front of the mirror to comb my hair. A sigh escapes my lips as soon as I realize why Zach doesn't seem to calm down, the bruise on my cheekbone is getting more and more visible and my lip looks slightly swollen.

Shaking my head of the thoughts, I comb my damp hair with a shampoo comb and let it drape over my shoulder while I pin up my bangs to the side of my head. Putting on my boots, I try not to think about anything. Dan and Eli are coming over tonight with Snowy cause all the guys together decided and insisted. I'm yet to even tell Blake about what happened because they just reached back home two hours ago, but the second I do; he's probably going to start discussing things with Zach's lawyer.

"You're dressed?" I ask Zach in confusion as I step out and he shrugs with a smile, "Just picked out the clothes from the freshly done laundry," he says making me roll my eyes as I study his outfit. Olive green pullover and jeans with his perfectly messy hair.

"I'm hungry; could we grab a sub on the way?" I ask him and he nods, "I'm starving too," he adds stepping closer to me before leaning down a little to kiss me. His kiss is gentle, trying not to hurt my lip but I press my lips against his despite the sore pain I was feeling.

"I'm fine, stop kissing me like I'm going to break," I smack his arm making him sigh with a heartwarming smile. Kissing his cheek, I walk away with him hot on my heels. I really hope Molly gets his mind off things.

~•~•~•