Jett is with me, and somehow that makes me feel better. Or maybe it’s all the drugs they’re pumping into my system. I can’t tell anymore.

“You know, most people who’ve never been in a situation like this often wonder why a person wouldn't just leave. They don't understand that breaking up can be more complicated than it seems,” he says.

“But I did leave. I ran, hoping that my past wouldn't find me.”

“Well, some of your past is sitting here in front of you, and you left me. I never forgot you.”

I nod, listening to him and his attempt to get me to open up. “What day is it?” I ask weakly.

“It's Tuesday,” he replies, watching me closely.

I remember it being Friday. As I sit there trying to comprehend what he’s just told me, my mind begins to wander.

“Camryn, are you ok?”

“I'm as good as I can be, considering the circumstances. I have an answer to your question. I stayed because of fear. I was afraid of what would happen if I decided to leave the relationship. But I got out, I got away. And he still found me!” I’m also aware of my cell lighting up and then fading back to dimness, resting on the table next to the bed. I can't bring myself to move or answer the persistent calls from Ty. He did this and there’s no way I can ever put myself in that situation again.

Besides the beat of my heart, the only sounds in the room are Jett's deep voice and the constant hum of the machines. He continues to talk and I lose myself in the reality of what happened. Jett becomes silent as he observes me.

I can still feel the piece of glass from the shattered whiskey bottle jaggedly tearing into the skin of my face and slicing down to my neck. I immediately bring my hand up to the left side of my face. I cringe at the pain that radiates from it. I suck in as much air as my lungs will allow and let it out slowly. My eyes fall to my right hand and the cut that has been closed with black surgical thread. A flash of memory is seared into my mind.

As I continue to look over myself I see the sporadic bruises that line my arms, and my whole body feels like it's been beaten to a pulp. Shifting the blanket slowly to reveal my legs, I find dark purple bruises, and scratches are evident on my thighs. As I pull my gown up higher, the damage increases. I can feel the color leaving my face. Jett never stops his gaze, and there’s something comforting about it. Like seeing this all for the first time with him here makes it better, safer somehow.

The bruise hidden by my gown looks nasty; it's the darkest of purple, outlined by red and yellow, just above my hip on my right side. Pulling the gown back down, I feel the tears sliding down my face. “Can I see a mirror?” I ask.

“I don't see why not, but brace yourself,” he says, handing me a small, hand sized mirror, and I peer at my horrid reflection.

An angry red and jagged line runs from my ear to my collarbone. My neck is circled in a reddish purple ring reminiscent of being strangled. The whites of my eyes are bloodshot, with a pale hue of pink. As I continue to scrutinize my face, I notice stitching in the corner of my mouth and dried blood still lingering on my hairline. Slamming the mirror down on the bed, I let a sob rip from my chest.

Jett closes the distance between us and wraps his arms around my shoulders in a useless effort to try to comfort me. “Cami, it’s going to be ok, I promise. I’m going to take care of the asshole who did this, just wait.”

“How could he do this?” I whisper to myself as Jett continues to hold me. A doctor comes in with a disgusted look on his face.

“Miss Garrett, I’m Dr. Bennett. It looks like you will be with us for a few days. Along with your obvious injuries, you have multiple fractured ribs, and we want to be certain they don't puncture your lungs.” I nod and wipe my tears with the hem of my gown. “Is there any family you would like us to call?”

I shake my head and hear the familiar tap of my supervisor’s boots coming down the hallway.

“Oh dear Cami,” she says reassuringly as she walks through the door. She freezes a couple feet from me and her mouth drops slightly. Her eyes make their way down my face and onto my neck. I can tell she’s trying to keep calm, typical hospital staff. She rushes over to me, hugging me tightly and I cry out.

“Oh. I’m sorry,” she says, wiping her tears away with her fingers. “Maia told me you were here and I just had to check on you. Are you all right?”

“I’m alive.”

“Yes, you are. Thank God for that. Do you know who did this? What’s going on?”

Jett stands. “We’re handling it,” he says in a cold, calculated voice.

She takes one look at him as she touches my shoulder softly. “I bet you are.”

She nods to Dr. Bennett and Jett. “You boys better take good care of my girl,” she tells them. “Cami, I hate to leave but I got to get back to work. I’ll make sure Maia knows I was here, she’ll be down soon I’m sure.” She says, trying to remain composed.

She hugs me lightly and leaves the room quickly; I can hear her heaving in the hallway. Jett comes back over and sits on the stool.

“I work in labor and delivery here,” I say in a garbled voice. Jett sits there looking at me like he wants to say something, but never does. I close my eyes and focus on breathing. A slight click on the door startles me and my eyes pop open. I find myself all alone. I feel useless, like a failure. All I want to do now is lie down and give up, let the darkness take over. Closing my eyes again, I feel tears start to trickle down my cheeks to the pillow, and eventually, sleep finds me.

The dim light in the room begins to become brighter as the door slowly creaks open. I open my eyes slowly, squinting and trying to make out the face in the dark. His feet slide across the linoleum quietly, and I almost get a good look at the man when I catch a whiff of his cologne. I freeze, like a deer in the headlights. It's Ty, it has to be. I open my mouth to scream, but he must sense it and places his hand over my mouth. I try to reach the nurses’ button but the pain in my chest and side limit my movement.

“Don't scream, ok?” he says in a whisper. I nod lightly. “If you're going to scream I'll just leave my hand where it is, and I'm sure it hurts you. I don’t want to hurt you, baby.” I nod again as my eyes begin to flood with tears. “Listen to me, Cami, I'm sorry. I went crazy when you wouldn't listen to me,” he says, his voice dripping with guilt.

When I dare to look up again, Ty turns his head so that the dim light filtering through the blinds hit his face; he's unshaven and still in the same clothes. His bloodshot eyes are swollen and he looks terrible. The smell of whiskey and cigarettes is so potent I want to gag. I lay there unable to move, even more afraid to speak, because know If I open my mouth, I will scream.

Ty looks down at me. “Cami, damn it, I love you.” I draw in a deep breath when he begins to move his hand.

“Why?” I sob. “Why would you do this to me? You were the one in the wrong.”

“Fuck!” he screams, rearing his hand back to slap me. Unable to move without crying out in pain, all I can do is bring my arms up to protect my face. Ty catches himself only inches from me. “We'll talk when you get out of here,” he says, stumbling to the door.

Staring at the window as he creeps by, I inhale deeply and shift to reach the call button. I hold my finger just over it and contemplate whether I should or not. He is clearly dangerous and I don't want anyone else caught in the crosshairs of his rage, so I place it back down on the bed and sit there in the darkness.

Every sound makes me jumpy and I can feel the medicine wearing off. My phone begins to ring so I reach over and look at it. The picture is one of the best memories I have. It's the picture of Ty and me when we moved into our house a little over a year ago. I hit ignore on the screen and power off my phone. I close my eyes to keep the tears from falling, but the door opens and I immediately panic.

“Cami?” Jett asks as he flips on the light.

“Yeah?” I ask, trying to keep my voice from shaking.

“How are you feeling?”

“Like crap,” I reply.

He frowns. “I'm sorry to hear that, but on the bright side, you are alive.”

“I'd actually welcome death right now,” I murmur to myself. He looks at me with shock on his face.

“I would have thought you to be much stronger than that,” he says, coming over to sit on the stool beside the bed.

“I am, really. I'm just… afraid of the person who did this,” I reply, unable to look at him.

“You don’t need to be, I told you, I’ll take care of it.”

“Yes, but he came back.”

“What?!” The rage in his voice is definitive. I know what he’ll do to Ty when he finds him.

“He came in here last night. He…” I begin to fall apart, my words giving way to sobs.

Jett shakes his head and pulls out his phone. “I need round the clock watch on my girl.” I notice how he says the final part of the sentence. I’m his girl now.

Thing is, I always was.

“That fucker came back. He does it again and he’s mine.”

He ends the call and looks at me. “It’s taken care of. He won’t come back here to bother you during your recovery.” We sit there just staring at each other when the door swings open, startling me yet again.

“So how's my patient doing this morning?” Dr. Bennett asks, his voice carrying across the room.

He stops, looking back and forth between Jett and me as a huge smile crosses his face. Jett nods at Dr. Bennett and quickly turns to me. “I'll be back later to check on you,” he says as he walks out the door. I wonder where he’s going. If there will be blood on his hands when he gets back.

“My dear, you seem in better spirits today,” the doctor says as he begins to examine my face.

“I am, Jett has kept me company this morning,” I reply, trying not to smile.

He looks at me and shakes his head. “Out of the pan and into the fire.”

“I’m sorry?”

He sighs. “You’ve seen the vest, right? He’s in an MC, or at least trying to be in one. Those guys are dangerous, Camryn, and it seems like you have a predisposition to bad boys.”

“Jett would never hurt me.” This I know. Ty was a wildcard, but Jett is steady and true.

He nods and asks me to sit up. A burning pain shoots through my sides when I do, and I whimper.

“I know it’s uncomfortable, but I've got to finish examining you.” I nod as tears begin to fall from my eyes as he lays me back and presses on my abdomen. “I'm going to have a plastic surgeon come in and talk to you about your face, if that's ok?” he says.

“Ok,” I reply, closing my eyes as he turns to leave. The door shuts behind him and the silence of the room takes over. As I lay there with my eyes closed, I hear the door creak open again. I open my eyes slightly and see Jett and a teenage boy, not much younger than me, creeping in.

“Cami, this is Austin. This is the young man that found you,” he says, guiding him to me.

“I'm s-s-so sorry,” he says, taking my hand. The horrified look on the kid’s face speaks volumes. The bruising, blood soaked bandages and the purple rings under my eyes must look horrible. He just stares at me, his mouth occasionally opening, indicating he wants to say something, but no words will come.

“Austin? Right?” I whisper. He nods, not taking his eyes off me. “Thank you. You are the reason I'm still breathing. If you hadn't gotten there when you did, I would have died,” I say, fighting my own tears from the realization of it. Austin leans down to me hugging me softly.

“If you need anything… anything at all, please let me know,” he says, turning to leave.

Jett takes his place by my side. “Sweet kid,” I say with a smile.

“He's not much younger than you,” Jett says. I nod, closing my eyes with a sigh. Jett places his hand over mine, and I smile.

“You're sweet,” I say, slowly opening my eyes to look at him.

“I try,” he says, running his thumb across my palm. Laying there just looking at him makes my heart thump loudly. Here I am, a complete mess, scarred and bruised, being comforted by what could be the most beautiful man I've ever laid eyes on. I snicker to myself at the thought of telling him he's beautiful and he looks at me, eyes narrowed.

“What?” he asks.

“I was just thinking about you,” I reply.

“What are you thinking about me?” he asks.

“Nothing, really.”

“Liar,” he says jokingly. “If it is nothing, then why are you blushing?”

A knock on the door startles me as the nurse comes in. “Hey, Cami. How are you feeling today?” she asks, while checking my IV.

“My whole midsection hurts,” I reply, trying to sit up.

“Oh, honey, don't try to sit up by yourself,” she says, coming to help. As she raises the bed, I feel a slight burning sensation, but not as much pain. “I'll go get you some pain medication, ok?” she asks. I nod and draw in several shallow breaths while I adjust to sitting up.

“Are you going to tell me what you were thinking?” Jett asks. I shake my head, grateful when the nurse comes back with some medicine.

The pain begins to subside quickly as she injects it into my IV, and I'm feeling more relaxed by the time she leaves my room.

Jett just looks at me, waiting for me to answer his question. His phone begins to ring and he looks down at the screen. “I have to go,” he says. “But I'll be back.” Yawning loudly, I nod and close my eyes as sleep finds me just moments after he's gone.

Bright light filters through the blinds as I open my eyes. I look over to my left and find Jett passed out in the chair. His dark hair shimmers in the light and his eyes flutter as he dreams. The door slides open and Dr. Bennett walks in.

“My dear, you seem to be doing well,” he says with a smile looking like relief.

“I'm better, that’s for sure,” I say back to him. Looking over towards the window, where Jett is sound asleep, he smiles and shakes his head. He comes over and begins removing the bandages and looks me over.

“Well… it looks like you'll be able to go home in a couple days.”

I smile at the thought of my own bed, but the joy is short lived. The fact I have nowhere to go anymore and that Ty, knowingly, will be waiting, makes I shiver. He found my apartment, he found me. Us. Ella hasn’t visited at all because I made Aunt Suzanne promise to keep her away. Reality has just set in and my mind begins to race, making me unable to concentrate on what he is saying.

“Cami?” he says with concern in his voice.

“I'm sorry,” I reply in a strained voice.

“Is everything ok?” All I can do is shake my head. “If you need someone to talk to I'm here, or I can get one of the nurses for you,” he says.

“I-I-I have nothing… what I mean is when I leave here, I have nowhere to go,” I reply as the tears come.

“You have a place.” Jett is awake, speaking to me from the corner of the room.

Dr. Bennett leaves silently.

“What?”

“You have a place. My place. You and Ella are coming to stay with me. No questions, and no refusing. This is how we keep you safe. I’ve already discussed it with your aunt.”

I can’t believe what I’m hearing. I’ve been lying to him this whole time and yet he just takes me in? I can hardly live with myself. I have to tell him about Ella.

I have to.

A soft knock on the door makes my heart jump, and I hear the sweetest giggle ever. Ella runs towards me, skidding to a stop as her eyes begin to water. “Mama,” she whispers.

“Yeah baby, come give me a hug.”

She climbs up, carefully studying my face. “I was so scared. Daddy is a monster.” I cringe at the thought of her witnessing what happened.

“I'm gonna be ok. Look at me, Ella, Mama is ok.” She nods, wrapping her arms around my neck gently.