The fussing over her made Rox want to lay down in her bed and pull the covers over her head before she snapped and strangled everyone. The cops had shown up and Mark walked them all up to his office to talk to her. The questioning hadn’t taken long. They’d asked if she’d like them to call an ambulance, but she’d turned them down. She gave them all the information she had, which was pretty much nothing. She had no idea how Jon had found her and how long he’d been searching for her.

She needed to send a text to the case worker she’d met with during Jon’s trial to find out why they hadn’t informed her that he’d been released. A heads up would have been nice. The office door opened and Liam came in, pulling Mark aside to talk.

“I’m going to go downstairs and get you some coffee okay, honey?” Jen said, crouched down in front of her. Jen gave Liam a nod as she passed him on the way to the door. Jen glanced back at her with watery eyes before she left the office and headed back downstairs. The subdued partygoers rumbled downstairs. Eric had stopped playing while everyone tended to her, but music was playing down there. She hoped she hadn’t ruined everyone’s night. Liam crouched in front of her and she pulled back, not expecting him to get so close. Her vision swam at her sudden movement and she put a hand to her head. Maybe the ambulance was a good idea.

“How are you doing?” He placed his non-towel wrapped hand on her knee and she flinched, a nervous reaction. He jerked his hand back immediately and moved back a little. Some of the blood from his hand seeped through the towel. He’d come to her rescue. She didn’t even want to think about what might have happened if he hadn’t come out into the alley. Why had he come out there anyway? The sounds of flesh hitting flesh were still fresh in her mind. She hoped he hadn’t hurt his hand too badly.

“Sorry,” he said, breaking eye contact.

“I’m okay. A little dizzy, but okay. Thanks for your help out there,” she said, staring down at her hands.

“Of course, Rox. What was that all about? Who was that guy?”

“I don’t know,” she said, glancing up at Mark who was giving her a grim look.

“He was her...” She shot him a skin-searing glare and shook her head. Mark’s mouth turned down in a frown and he glared right back.

“Mark…”

“No, Rox. He should know, especially if I’m not going to be here.”

“I don’t need you to tell him anything and I don’t need his help,” she hissed at him.

“You’re going to need someone’s help, especially if….”

Glancing back down at her hands, she squeezed them together in frustration. This was not how things were supposed to go. She was supposed to be safe now.

“It’s nothing. I can handle it,” she said, interrupting him. She glared at Mark, daring him to divulge her secrets after she’d asked him not to. Mark threw his hands up in the air and shook his head. No one else was going to get hurt trying to protect her. It was for the best Mark and Jen were leaving. No chance for Jon to get to him. And she wasn’t going to get Liam roped into this, no matter how much he pissed her off.

Jen came back up with a cup of coffee and handed it to her. The warmth of the mug soothed her, warming her back up. She hadn’t realized how cold her hands were. The heat of the kitchen, busy party, and warm summer night did nothing to keep the cold from seeping in. She shivered and brought the warm drink to her lips. She blew on it and ignored the little argument she saw Jen and Mark having out of the corner of her eye. Liam leaned against the desk, his eyes locked on her. She shook off the tremors that coursed through her at being under his scrutiny. Mark slammed his fist against the filing cabinet and Jen shook her head before coming over to Rox.

“Do you want to lie down? Do you need a blanket?” Jen fussed, grabbing a blanket off the back of the couch, and throwing it over her shoulders.

She shrugged off the blanket, set the mug down on the desk. She’d had enough. A little normalcy would do her good and being back in the hot kitchen would warm her up like the coffee.

“I’m fine, I just want to get back to the kitchen to finish things off for tonight.”

“Rox, maybe that’s not a good idea…” Mark took her by the shoulders and tried to steer her back to the couch.

“No,” she said, shrugging him off. “I’m fine, I’m feeling a lot better. I want to get down there, get into the kitchen and finish up this party, okay?” Jen and Mark exchanged looks and Liam hung back, leaning against the wall.

“It wasn’t a freaking request. I’m going downstairs to my kitchen and I’m going to finish tonight’s service,” she said, daring anyone to stop her. She stormed out of the office and downstairs. Her skin started to tingle as everyone’s eyes focused on her, dissecting her. She saw Eric Newcastle, Mark’s friend and resident rock star, sitting on the edge of the stage talking to Keira, one of Mark’s best friends. Eric had somehow decided that The Bramble was his go-to haunt when he was in LA and not on tour. He’d driven down from Seattle, just to perform for Mark’s going away. He wasn’t playing, but the music still played through the sound system.

“Hey, Newcastle, why don’t you play something?” she called out to him.

“What do you want to hear?” he said, pulling his guitar strap over his neck and slinging it up across his back.

“Something that will get everyone dancing.” And not staring at her. She hated being under anyone’s scrutiny, let alone a whole bar full of people.

“As you wish,” he said, bowing and hopping onto the stage. He pulled the guitar from his back and checked the tuning. He started up with a rousing rendition of his new single that more than a few people seemed to recognize. The crowd’s attention no longer on her, she strode back into the kitchen. Everyone froze when she walked in, but quickly went back to work the minute they saw her glare. She hadn't lost her ability to send people scurrying with a single look. She loved her team, but they knew when she needed space and she needed it now. Taking deep breaths, she found a quiet spot in the bustling kitchen.

Heading over to a prep station, she started chopping vegetables. They didn’t need any tonight, but she needed the mindlessness of dicing vegetables into neat little cubes to get her mind off what happened. She could use these in something tomorrow. He’d attacked her. He’d attacked her again. How had he found her? Why had he come after her? Why couldn’t he just leave her alone? Hadn’t it been enough he’d nearly killed her once? Ruined her life? What had she done to deserve this? She rested her head against the cold steel shelf over the prep station.

When she’d met Jon she was seventeen and on the run from her abusive father, and she hadn’t known she was jumping out of the frying pan and into the fire. He’d found her at a restaurant she’d ducked into to get out of the rain. She sipped her water and counted what little money she’d had left. She’d smoothed out the bills and slid the change across the table, stacking the coins into one dollar piles. Some guy'd come up to harass her and Jon had stepped in. Her knight in shining armor. Ha, what a crock!

At first, he was such a nice guy, a great guy. He took her in, gave her everything she needed, and knew he had the perfect mark. They even waited until she was eighteen to have sex for the first time. How sweet. She was completely alone without a friend in the world, she was already on the run without a penny to her name. He knew once he had her, she’d be hard pressed to escape and that had been true. With his resources and family connections it was easy to keep her under his thumb and even easier to make sure that any avenue for escape was blocked. Everyone told her how lucky she was to be with someone like him. Lucky indeed…

It wasn’t until he’d almost killed her she was finally able to escape, but not without some scars. The ones that crisscrossed her back were the least of her worries. With blood on her hands, she’d taken the money his parents paid her to keep her mouth shut and fled as quickly as she could. Her hands shaking, Rox laid the knife flat on the chopping board, breathing deeply. Tears gathered in her eyes and she willed them away. No more tears, Rox. No more.

A hand landed on her shoulder and she jumped, grabbing the knife and holding it out in front of her. Her head whipped around, her cheeks flushed and her heart pounded. She immediately put it down and stared down at her decimated vegetables.

“Sorry, shit! I’m sorry, Rox.” Liam said, his hands raised in surrender. “I wanted to check on you and make sure you were okay.”

“Hasn’t there been enough checking in on me today? Everyone has checked me over, I’m fine,” she said, her voice wavering. She gathered the diced vegetables and started separating them into containers for tomorrow. “I’m fine, I don’t need any help, I just need some peace and quiet. I wish everyone would just leave me alone for a bit, I’m fine.”

“Rox, maybe you should sit down.”

“I said I’m fine, Liam. God, why do you have to be so damn annoying? I’m fine.” She was so close to breaking down again and she didn’t want to do it in front of anyone, especially Liam. Who’d have thought he'd have come to her rescue?

“You’re crying, Rox,” he said, reaching out to her with a cloth. She touched her face, noticing wetness on her fingertips and the salty tears dripping into her mouth. Her vision blurry, she’d been cutting on instinct, not even really looking at what she was doing. She took the cloth from his hands, careful not to touch his hands and dried her eyes.

“Thanks,” she mumbled, running the cloth over her face once more. “How’s your hand?”

“It’s okay.”

“You should have a doctor look at it,” she said, reaching out for his hand. He hesitantly held it out to her. She unwrapped it and ran her hands across the back of his hand. She’d had plenty of experience with broken bones. Trying to figure out when she needed to go to the hospital and when she’d be able to nurse herself better at home. It didn’t look too bad. Turning his hand over, she had him flex it a few times and gingerly pressed on the inflamed areas. He grimaced as she re-wrapped it, her hand lingering on his.

“Nothing looks broken, but you should probably have it checked out. You never know,” she said, shrugging, before letting his hand go.

“I know we’ve never really gotten along,” he said, softly. She peered up at him. “I don’t know what I did to you, but I’m sorry and I wanted you to know that if you need anything—anything at all, I’m here. I know Mark’s leaving and I know you two have known each other for a long time, but I hope you know you can come to me if you need help.” The sincerity in his eyes made her hesitate. Could she tell him? What would he do if he found out? Did she want to put someone else in danger?

He stood there, staring at her. It had been a long time since she’d let someone else in. That she’d had someone else to depend on. She gave him a sharp nod, her eyes filling with tears. She glanced away and stared down at her empty station.

“Thanks, Liam,” she said, her voice cracking. That seemed to be enough because he pushed off from the counter he’d been leaning against. He approached and she was a bundle of nerves. He squeezed her shoulder and she glanced up at him. He was blurry as she looked up at him through unshed tears before averting her gaze.

“Anything you need Rox, just let me know,” he said, gently touching her chin. They stood frozen, her heart pounding for different reasons now. Liam had always been an enigma to her, nice to her, flirty even, but he rejected such a huge part of who she was, she never knew how to fit those two pieces together. “Right, I’m going to head back in there and leave you to it,” he said, giving her a small smile.

“Okay.”

“I’ll see you later, Rox.”

“See you later, Liam.”

Alone in her bubble in the kitchen, exhaustion set in. Rox pulled up a crate in the back corner of the kitchen. What she was going to do about Jon? What was happening to her life? All the stability and safety she’d built crumbled out from under her in an instant like she was standing on the edge of an eroding cliff. Could she grab the cliff’s edge quick enough? Could she do it alone?