*This is a continuation from the last chapter so some bits may be distressing to some people. If it is, feel free to skip past until you feel comfortable to read xx
"You saved me."
"If you didn't come James, he, he, he." I say chocking on my tears and James doesn't say anything put instead pulls me to his chest, stroking my hair.
"Shh, it's okay, he's gone for good and will never touch you ever again." James says as I continue to sob.
I can't believe what nearly happened. I thought Daniel was a good person, I thought he cared about me, but I was wrong. His intention this whole time was to get in my pants, I know that now.
James does an amazing job to calm me down, so that I'm not breaking down into tears every time I try to speak.
"Why does this shit keep happening to me?" I say looking at James and he gives me a sympathetic look.
"I'm sure it won't happen again."
"How can we be so sure? How can I keep choosing the wrong guy over and over again?"
"Don't blame yourself Tahls, you couldn't have known Daniel would've done that."
"But you told me, even warned me and I brushed that at the back of my head and convinced myself he was different... clearly not."
"I know I told you, but I'm not always right."
"You were about this though." I say snuggling into his chest and he sighs.
"Where's your brother?"
"Out with the boys." I say and he nods, then sighs again.
"I am so sorry Tahlia."
"It's okay, nothing actually happened, but I am pretty scared of men now."
"So you're scared of me?" James asks and I smile, then shake my head.
"No. I'm not scared of you." I say snuggling into his chest further which makes him smile.
"Well, I'm glad."
"It's just I thought trusting guys was getting easier, but after what just happened, I've gone back to square one."
"Maybe you're not looking at what's right in front of you." James says before getting up and walking over to the kitchen to grab us both a drink.
"There's no one in front of me." I say looking over and him and he chuckles.
"Sure there is, you just gotta be more observant."
"Thanks." I say as James hands me a glass of water before sitting down on the couch.
"No worries."
"More observant? I'd like to say I'm pretty observant."
"No, you're really not." He says with a smirk and I roll my eyes.
"Alright, I'll try and be a bit more observant then."
"Good." He says with a smile and I sigh, shaking my head.
"I just don't understand why he couldn't take no for an answer."
"Because guys like him they don't understand the meaning of no, that's why." He says and I sigh, shaking my head.
"It's not good enough."
"I know it isn't Tahls. I promise you, I will do everything in my power to make sure that you never see that bastard ever again."
"Thank you." I say and he gives me a sympathetic smile, wrapping his arms around me and pulling me closer to him.
I put my head on his chest as he strokes my hair and the tears start forming in my eyes, trickling down my cheek, soaking James' shirt.
We sit like this for 10, 20 maybe 30 minutes before we hear the front door open and the sound of my brother's voice ringing through the house.
"Tahlia." He says as he walks into the living room and I don't move, staying tied to James who eventually pushes me off and stands up, walking over to my brother with an angry look on his face.
"How could you just leave your sister here alone with that fucking idiot?" James yells and Marcus frowns.
"What?" He says clearly confused and James sighs.
"With Daniel. You really think that was a good idea?"
"What happened?" Marcus asks, looking at me who's curled up on the couch, unable to get the words out of my mouth what could've happened if James didn't rock up.
"She nearly got raped." James says barely in a whisper and Marcus' eyes widen.
"What?" He says in disbelief.
"If I didn't walk in here and stop it, it would've happened." James says and Marcus doesn't say anything but instead walks over to me and sits down on the couch next to me, pulling me onto his chest.
"I am so, so, so sorry Tahls." Marcus says and I can hear the pain in his voice. I know he thinks it's his fault but it really isn't. Like James said before, we couldn't have known.
"It's not your fault." I say in whisper and Marcus sighs.
"No it is, if I never left you alone then maybe you wouldn't have had to go through that."
"Maybe, maybe not. Daniel is the type of person who doesn't give a fuck." James says sitting on the other couch and facing us and Marcus nods, then sighs.
"We need to report him." Marcus says and I shake my head.
"And say what? He touched me?"
"Yes. Get a restraining order against him, so he can't touch you again."
"I-I. I don't know." I say and Marcus sighs.
"Look it's up to you, but because James saw it we will have enough evidence to file a case against him. But it's your call."
"Okay." I say and Marcus sighs.
"Don't worry, he won't be coming back near her anytime soon, I beat the shit out of him." James says and Marcus nods.
"Thanks, I appreciate it, but what if the club finds out?"
"Then they find out, I cop the consequences. But they won't find out.."
"They have their ways of finding out, so I suggest you just tell them what has happened." Marcus says and I shake my head.
"No no, he won't mention what actually happened, he can say there was an incident and the only way he was going to be able to stop it from happening was to fight Daniel." Marcus says looking at me and I nod, sighing a huge sigh of relief.
"I'd never tell anyone what happened, it's not something I should tell people." James says and I look at him, giving him a weak smile and mouthing a thank you.
"Lucky I wasn't here, if I got my hands onto that bastard, he probably would be dead." Marcus says and James nods.
"Don't blame you."
"I'm going to go upstairs to change, I'll be right back." Marcus says and I nod, letting out a yawn and he sighs.
"Do you wanna go to bed?"
"Yes, but I don't want to sleep alone... is it alright if James stays?" I ask my brother and he nods.
"Yeah that should be fine." He says before placing a kiss on my cheek. "I love you, and good night."
"I love you too." I say and Marcus lets out a weak smile, before looking at James and sighing.
"I don't really like the idea but I also don't like the idea of her sleeping alone."
"I get you." James says. "And don't worry, I'll take good care of her Bont, I promise I'm only there to comfort her."
"I know you are. I trust you." Marcus says before walking up the stairs.
James walks over to me and grabs my hand, placing a kiss on the top of it, before squeezing it.
"You ready to go to bed?"
"Yes." I say getting up and slowly making my way upstairs.
"I'll be up in a minute, I'll just turn the lights off down here." James says and I nod.
When I get into my room, I walk to my wardrobe and chuck my pyjama's on, breaking down in tears when I look at myself in the mirror.
I can still feel his hands on me, no matter how hard I try to forget, his hands are on me, holding me down, making sure I can't escape.
I collapse onto the ground, the sobs too much for my body to handle, making me feel claustrophobic. Making me feel like I am going to explode at any moment. My chest is tight, and I feel like I can't breathe, my body is shaking and I am starting to sweat.
I grip my chest, thinking by holding it, it would help me breathe, but it doesn't, instead it only makes it worse. I feel like I'm going to die, I can't breathe. My breathing gets quicker and quicker before I feel hands wrapped around me which causes me to look up.
I feel myself instantly calm down when I hear James talking to me, telling me I'm safe, and everything is okay and that I'm just having a panic attack .
"Tahlia, you're not going to die. You're okay. Hey." He says grabbing my attention and I look at him, straight into those gorgeous blue eyes and my breathing starts to go back to normal, the tightness in my chest disappears and the shaking slows down, but it hasn't stopped.
James wraps his arms around me, pulling me close to him and placing a kiss on the side of my head.
"You're okay, you're safe, you're with me." He says as he strokes my hair, making the shaking stop completely.
After a few more minutes, we both get up and walk over to the bed where we take a seat.
"What happened?"
"I don't know. I was getting changed and I looked at myself, at my body, and I just felt his hands on me, holding me down." I say, my voice breaking at the last three words. "Making sure I couldn't go anywhere." I add, breaking down into sobs and James wraps his arms around me.
"Hey, it's okay." He says and I take a deep breath before I continue.
"Then, I just felt my chest tighten, and it felt like I couldn't breathe. I felt like I was going to die James." I say and he sighs, shaking his head.
"You know it was just a panic attack right?"
"I know that now yes."
"You can't die from it."
"I know."
"It's just your brain playing tricks on you, making you think that you can't breathe, when you can." He says and I nod, then I let out a small smile.
"How do you know this?"
"I used to have a friend who suffered with panic attacks, and I would always help calm her down. And in order to do that I researched some methods I could use to help calm her down, without scaring her or worsening the attack even more."
"You are an angel." I say and he smiles.
"I'd like to think I am." He says and I sigh.
"I don't want to experience that ever again."
"I hope you don't Tahls, but unfortunately, you probably will experience it again. A bit of the PTSD." I say and she nods, then sighs.
"Thank you, for being here."
"I would never leave you, especially after what has just happened, you know that right?"
"I know. I guess I'm just used to people leaving."
"Well I'm here to stay, for good." He says, getting up and starting to take the pillows off the bed, chucking them gently on the floor before taking his shirt and pants off and getting into bed.
I can't help but scan his body and admire the muscle he has everywhere. I can tell he has worked hard for the body he has.
I sigh to myself as I crawl into bed next to him and snuggle up into him, which makes him chuckle.
"What?" I ask and he smiles.
"I haven't done this before."
"Done what."
"Slept with someone else..."
"You serious?"
"Yes." He says and I give him a small smile.
"Well, there's a first time for everything right?"
"Right." He says with a smile.
"Good night." I say placing a kiss on his cheek before closing my eyes and drifting off to sleep virtually straight away.
"Good night gorgeous." I hear him whisper...
***
How cute is James calming Tahlia down🥺
Also the poor girl has been through enough, all she needs is some happiness....
I can't promise anything, but I need you to all trust me and bare with me 😁
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Next update out soon xx