The Life We Live

Chapter 11

Chris' pov
I was waiting outside Candice's dressing room while she was getting ready to head home, and take me back to her apartment so I could get my bike when Seb came running up to us with a panicked look on his face.

"Sebby? Is everything okay?" she asked in a scared tone.

"No. He's here Candy, he's here," he replied between deep, panicked breaths.

"Who's here? Sebastian, who's here?"

He looked at me with sorrowful and scared eyes and my eyes widened as I figured out who 'he' was, "He as in Justin?" she asked, who the hell is Justin?

"Yes," Sebastian replied, Candice got this panicked look on her face and collapsed into my arms.

I wrapped my arms around Candice as she rested her head on my chest and wrapped her arms around my waist, I could feel her tightly gripping the back of my shirt with her hands, from the way her body was shaking and the wet pool that I could feel forming on my shirt I knew she was crying. I looked up at Sebastian who still had a shocked look on his face as he looked at me and Candice. "Uh, Seb. Who's Justin?" I asked in a whisper, I knew sounded angry and confused, but right now I didn't care, right now, all I wanted to know was who this Justin guy was.

Sebastian took a deep breath before speaking, "He's her ex, they broke up about six years ago, he stalked her and harassed her, eventually he tried breaking into her apartment so she got a restraining order against him, it must have ran out, it only lasted five years," he said as he ran his hands through his hair.

"She can ask the court to get it renewed right?" I asked, my voice was filled with worry.

"Only if he stalks her or harasses her again, or worse," I wrapped my arms tighter around Candice at his words. There was no way on this Earth that I was going to let anything happen to her. I was just about to say something when Scarlett and Mackie came rushing towards us.

"We've moved your cars to the back entrance, get her out of here, security's dealing with him," Mackie said in a demanding and concerned tone.

"Go, quickly," Scarlett said with concerned filled eyes. Candice pulled out of my grip and wrapped her arms around Mackie and Scarlett, I heard her whisper thank you to them as they hugged her back.

I entwined my fingers with Candice's and pulled her to the back of the building, Seb was close behind us as we got to the cars. I turned to Candice and cupped her face in my hands, her beautiful blue eyes were swimming with unshed tears and it broke my heart to see her like this.

"I'll drive, you get in the passenger seat," I said in a soothing voice. She nodded and I opened the door for her to slide into her car. I ran around the front of the car and hopped into the drivers seat, I made sure we had our seatbelts on before pulling out of the lot behind Sebastian.

It took us longer than expected to get back to their apartment but we got there eventually and that's all that mattered. Candice had fallen asleep on the way there and I could see her tears glistening on her cheeks so I gently wiped them away with my thumb before getting out of the car. Seb walked up to us with a concerned look etched on his face. "Is she okay?" he asked me, his voice was laced with worry.

"She's asleep. I'll carry her in," I replied with a small smile.

"Are you sure. I can take her and you can go home?"

"It's okay. I'm not going anywhere until I know that she's safe," I replied and Seb nodded his head understandingly before I carefully scooped Candice into my arms and following Seb up to their apartment.

I gently placed Candice on her bed and put the cover over her, I brushed her hair out of her face and pressed a soft kiss to her forehead before joining Seb in the living room. He had his head in his hands so I sat down beside him on the couch and gave his shoulder a comforting squeeze. He looked up at me and gave me a smile.

"Thank you, for helping her, for being there for her. I really appreciate it. I'm glad she has you, I know you're not together but I know how much you care about her. So, thank you, Chris."

"No problem, man. I really care about her, I'm not going to let anything happen to her, ever. D-do you think he'll start stalking and harassing her again?"

He took a deep breath and shrugged his shoulders, "I have no idea, maybe, maybe not. I hope he doesn't. I don't want to see her go through that again," he said as he ran his hands through his hair.

"How bad did it get? If you don't mind me asking," I said with a concerned voice.

"It got bad, really bad," he replied, his voice broke and he wiped a tear from his face.