I was only a minute away, but I could already hear yelling. How had nobody broken this up yet? Whatever was going on, they certainly weren't being quiet about it.
I picked up my pace, running until I could see Hannah and Drayden. Unfortunately, I hated what I found.
They were both outside of the apartment, and Hannah was sitting on the ground while Drayden leaned over her, yelling in her face.
I wasn't sure if he had laid a hand on her or not, but I wasn't going to take any chances by waiting to intervene.
"Get off of her!" I screamed, launching myself at Drayden and pulling him back by his shoulders.
Without any hesitation at all, Drayden turned to me. He grabbed the straps on my backpack, yanking me off my feet and tossing me like I was nothing. Surprising, since he really wasn't all that big; well, not by Jaxon's standards anyway.
I landed hard on the ground, my hands and knees scraping against the rough concrete of the parking lot. I was stunned; I had never been shoved around by a guy like that
I pushed my thoughts aside as I got back on my feet, only to see that Drayden was back by Hannah as he continued to berate her. This was way different than any other domestic fight I'd witnessed because Hannah wasn't even fighting back; she was just cowering on the ground, shaking and sobbing uncontrollably.
"You're a stupid fucking slut!" He spat at her.
Despite being shoved before, I didn't hesitate to wedge myself between them again. I was seeing red.
"You don't get to talk to her like that," I yelled. Why was there nobody around yet? I probably looked brave the way I was yelling at him, but quite honestly, I was hoping that Jax—or anyone really—would be close enough to hear me and help us.
"Oh yeah? Who's gonna make me stop? You?"
"Yes," I said, "Back off; she's had enough."
"Get out of my way, bitch," he snarled, shoving me once again to the side. I could smell the alcohol on him and knew that he was probably acting this way because he was under the influence. I knew he could be aggressive verbally, but I had never seen him like this before.
Still, his behavior, and the way he could just lay hands on women like that, was enough to set me off. I didn't care if these actions weren't in his usual character.
So, I brought my leg up, hard, into his groin.
Although I managed to make some contact, he was too quick, and he grabbed my leg, shoving me backwards with all his strength. I landed against the ground again, hitting my head on the sidewalk and reopening the wounds on my hands.
I was a little hurt, sure, but I was definitely more stunned and in disbelief that I just got shoved around so hard by someone I knew. Myself aside, I definitely didn't want Hannah around him any more after tonight.
I was about to push myself back to my feet for another round with Drayden, but then I heard the most beautiful sound of footsteps running towards us.
"Sky! Are you okay!?" Jaxon's voice rang out.
Thank God. "Yes! I'm good; Go help Hannah, please!" I shouted. I watched from my spot on the ground as Jaxon ran past me, grabbed hold of Drayden, and shoved him forcefully away from Hannah and I.
At first I was so invested in watching Jaxon that I was startled when a different set of arms scooped me up and hoisted me to my feet. I let out a soft whimper, and flinched as the skin on my scraped up knees straightened out.
"It's okay, I got you," Blake cooed. He must have been at the dorms, and I assumed Jax probably brought him as back up. "Are you okay? You're bleeding."
"I'm fine... I'm just worried about Hannah," I answered as I leaned against his chest. "Mason, I think she was drugged!" I called to him.
Blake snaked an arm around my waist as we watched Jax; Probably for the best, as I felt unstable and dizzy after hitting my head on the ground.
"Drayden, stop," Jaxon commanded, holding him against the wall as he thrashed around. "You're drunk. You care about Hannah, I know you do; so do everyone a favor and go the fuck upstairs before I drag you up there myself."
Once I saw Jax had Drayden under control, physically at least, I broke away from Blake, sitting beside Hannah on the ground. When I searched her face, there was nothing in her tear-filled eyes that indicated alertness. She was definitely on something.
"Hannah," I repeated, trying to calm her down. I wanted to reach out to her, but my palms were bloodied from scraping them so hard. "It's okay; we're here."
She nodded her head, but she continued to sob. I wasn't sure what else I could do for her.
I watched as Drayden finally took Jax's advice, retreating into his apartment building and yelling a string of profanities at us as he left.
"We need to get her home," I said, gaining the attention of Blake and Jax. "Mason, can you carry her? I don't think she can walk on her own."
Hannah wasn't the smallest girl around, mainly because she was so tall, but if anyone would be able to carry her all the way back to the dorms, it was going to be Jaxon.
"Yeah, of course," he said, walking over to us. "Blake, can you take our bags and help Skyler? Her knees look pretty busted up."
Stealing a glance at my knees I saw they were definitely both scraped up; one particularly so that was beginning to drip down my kneecap.
"Hannah, Mason's going to pick you up now, okay? Hold on to him. We're going to bring you back to the dorms," I comforted.
Although she was out of it and still hysterical, she was able to nod in response.
I watched as Jaxon scooped her up off the ground, bouncing her a little in his muscular arms to situate her higher on his chest. "I got you, Hannah. Drayden won't bother you anymore; just hold on."
I loved watching Jaxon with her. He was being so kind and comforting... it just made me like him even more. And, as inappropriate a thought as it was, I couldn't help but to stare at the bulge of his thick biceps as he supported Hannah's weight. He was so friggin' attractive.
I was pulled from my thoughts when Blake dropped a hand down to me, offering to help me up off the ground. I was about to reach for it when I noticed some more blood trickling down my wrist. I checked my other hand, both of which were bloodied. I didn't want to grab Blake's hand and get blood on him.
Blake frowned and moved behind me, scooping me up off the ground and placing me on my feet. I swayed a little bit as my knees adjusted and my head throbbed. Blake placed one of my arms around his neck and wrapped an arm around my waist to support me.
I shot him a grateful smile. "Thank you, Blake."
"Okay," Jax interrupted, "Let's get back."
The walk back was really something. We must have looked kind of ridiculous, so there was no way we weren't drawing attention, but at least nobody stopped us. I had blood running down my shin from one of my knees as Blake helped me to walk along. At one point he offered to carry me, but I didn't want him to have to do that.
Hannah sobbed most of the way home, her body curled into Jaxon's chest. Eventually, though, she quieted, and I assumed she passed out from whatever drug she was on.
"How you doin' Mason? Need me to carry her for a little bit?" Blake broke the lingering silence.
"Nah," he panted, "I should be fine."
We all fell into silence again for the remainder of the walk, only to find that once we were back, the piece of shit elevator was out of service... again.
"Fucking elevator. They need to get this fixed. This is the second time I've had to carry one of you up 5 flights of stairs." Jax grumbled, referring to when I was too drunk at the first house party.
"But we really appreciate it," I smiled up at him.
He shot me a smile back, but it didn't meet his eyes. He was either upset with me or exhausted... or maybe a little bit of both.
Finally, we reached my dorm room. At this point, Hannah was definitely sleeping; dead weight in Jaxon's arms. Once inside, he walked over, placing Hannah gently on her bed. I couldn't help but recognize how convenient it was that she had just decided to unloft her bed; of which Jax and Blake helped us to do. She never used her desk anyway and she said she was sick of climbing up that later. Still, it definitely came in handy tonight.
I fished two water bottles out from our fridge, handing them over to the boys.
"Thank you," Jaxon breathed, running an arm across his forehead.
"No, thank you both. I don't know what would have happened if you didn't show up when you did."
"It was no problem," Blake said, taking a swig from his water bottle. "I'm going to go get the first aid kit. I'll be back."
"Okay," I acknowledged, "thank you."
He waved me off, and soon it was just Jax and I. I was instantly worried that he would yell at me for not following orders and for leaving the library without him. So, I busied myself by watching Hannah. She seemed passed out; I just hoped she would be okay.
"Sit down, Ems. we need to clean you up," Jaxon finally said from behind me. He must also think Hannah is too far gone, or he never would have used my real name.
I turned to face him, nodding my head as I made my way over. I was too nervous to speak, as I didn't want to say anything that would invite a lecture.
He placed his warm hand on my lower back, guiding me to sit on the futon and helping to lower me down gently. He pulled up the ottoman next to me and gently set my legs across his lap.
He reached behind him, grabbing a tissue from our mini fridge before dumping some water from his bottle on it. "This knee is pretty bad, so this may sting a little," he warned.
"Go ahead," I almost whispered.
It did sting. I squeezed my eyes shut and tried to keep my breathing steady as he dabbed at my wounds.
"You okay?" He asked.
I just nodded.
He continued to wipe away at the wounds, picking my leg up by the calf as he wiped the excess blood from my shin. Now that he was off the worst part of my wound, I realized just how intimate this felt; his hands on my bare skin like that. My breath hitched.
We sat in silence for a long while, and I watched him as he worked meticulously on cleaning my scrapes. His handsome face was focused; the tiny scar on his eyebrow moving in and out as his brows furrowed and relaxed.
When he was finished, he moved to my hands. He sat atop the ottoman right across from me, his legs on either side of mine while he held my hands in his warm palms. Silently, he continued to dab away at the blood. I wanted to say something, anything, but I wasn't sure how to break this silence.
"You know," Jax finally chimed in, his voice sounding loud in the quiet dorm room. "You really scared me today. Again."
"I know..." I sighed, "I probably should have waited for you, but I was worried about Hannah, and I didn't know what I would be walking into," I flinched as I felt a sharp pain in my palm.
"Oops, sorry. Looks like a small piece of gravel is stuck in your palm. We need to wait for Blake to get back with the first aid kit; there's probably a tweezers," he explained.
"Okay. But...," I continued, "are you mad at me?"
He looked to think about this for a moment. "No. I'm not blaming you for anything this time. You were being a good friend. I just wanted you to know how much I care, that's all."
I released a breath I didn't know I was holding. "I care about you too, and I'm sorry. I'm glad you're not mad at me."
The corners of his lips twitched as if he was trying to contain a smile. "I'm not mad, but I swear to god if you don't remember to keep your phone with you, and to keep it CHARGED, from here on out, I'll kill you myself."
I scoffed, "Duly noted."
I stood up then, moving to where Hannah was passed out on her bed. I grabbed one of her makeup wipes from her bedside drawer, blotting away the tear stains only to reveal some bluish-purple coloring across her cheek.
I stared at it for a moment, making sure my eyes weren't playing tricks on me. I even blinked hard a few times, but the mark remained. I was certain... that son of a bitch had hit her.
"I'm gonna fucking kill him," I said.
Jax took a step forward, placing his hands on my shoulders and easing me back into his chest. "You won't do anything until we talk to her. Then we can figure out the best way to handle this."
I sighed, twisting out of his hold so I could face him. "How are you always so calm? I want to go find and beat up Drayden myself!"
"Easy there, killer," Jax said, "I want to beat him up too, but we're not thinking clearly right now."
I seethed, glancing back at Hannah. At least we got her back here safely.
"Will you beat him up tomorrow?" I asked, "Please?"
"I'm temped to," he said, "but no drawing attention to ourselves, remember?"
I groaned. He was right. We would need to talk to Hannah and come up with a better plan. For now though, I just hoped whatever he gave her was working it's way out of her system. "Will you stay in here tonight?" I asked.
Jax was silent for a moment, as if contemplating the repercussions of his decision to leave or to stay. He looked uncomfortable by my request, but he didn't flat out reject it either.
"You can be on the futon," I pressed, "I just don't want to be alone in here if something happens with Hannah; I don't know what drug she was given."
He sighed, taking a few steps back before dropping down onto the futon. "Sure," he said, "Whatever you need."
I wandered over, sitting down slowly beside him. "Thank you. I'm sorry I'm so much trouble."
He smirked, locking his icebreaker eyes onto mine. "You are. But I guess, just this once, it wasn't really your fault."
There was a moment then; it felt... charged. I couldn't get myself to tear my eyes away from his, and it seemed he was fighting his own battle as well.
I could feel it; that magnetic pull that I had felt that night after the fire. The same pulsing desire to crash my lips against his.
My eyes darted to his mouth for only a second, and when I looked back up, I could see him moving in, pulled towards me as if it was completely out of his control. Maybe it was out of both of our control. Maybe, he and I were just meant to be together...
And then, there was a knock at the door.
Blake was back.
______________________________________________
Damn it, Blake! Again!?
Though I guess technically, it was Hannah who knocked the first time.
Sorry to keep you waiting for that first kiss, but what can I say... I really, really like a slow burn. Perhaps they will kiss soon, or perhaps not. But the ALMOST of it all is kind of exciting, don't you think? lol
Thanks for sticking by this story!
-Haley