Page 22 of Jason

“M-Max?” I barely pushed through the tears that didn't listen and started leaking out of me.

“What's wrong?” his voice was alert in a second. I could picture him jumping out of his bed, scanning the room for threats as if we were still living at home and I had a nightmare.

“I-I... I need you to come to Jason's and pick me up,” I wailed.

“What? Now?” The confusion morphed into anger. “What's going on, Rory?” Hearing my brother being angry for me at whatever was happening had me spilling everything to him about the incidents at the stadium and the fact that, that night, Jason scared me, but I was weak and still stayed. Unfortunately, the fear of him betraying me, playing me, hadn't left me. Including the video I just got. Not even half an hour later, which was half an hour too long, as I was shaking from trying to hold in the hurt, I heard a light knock on the door and ran to open it.

“Thank God you're here. I co-” the words died in my mouth, seeing the person who stood there.

“Yes, thank God,” Niles sneered. “You're a slippery little thing, Rory. But finally, I have you all to myself.”

He took a step toward me. I instinctively took a step back and collided with the wall, essentially trapping myself. Niles slowly reached behind him, not taking his eyes from me, and shut the door, turning the lock. I watched, hopeless, as his hand raised when he did that and then came down toward me. The bad news was, the pain radiating from my eye and cheek matched the one that was in my heart. The good news was, I passed out.

Chapter Eleven

Rory

“He was here again today,” Chace said under his breath as he walked past me from my kitchen to park his ass on the couch and wait for the game to start.

I looked that way, only to see the picture of Jason on the screen while his stats this season were rolling, and the commentator gave his prediction of tonight's game, my heart screaming in agony. God, he was beautiful. I missed him so much. I wanted beyond anything to be at that stadium, cheering for him. To get him ready for his game. To celebrate the win, he'd no doubt give his team.

And then to come home with him. To have him hold me.

And to chase away the residue of the nightmares that still sometimes tormented me.

But I couldn't have that. I was weak, and I was scared. It's been three weeks since Niles attacked me in Jason's loft. It was pure luck that I called Max to come get me and take me home. It meant Niles had only five minutes with me alone before Max showed up. He knew something was wrong when I didn't answer his call to tell me he was in front of the building, and when he came to the door and heard Niles's grunts, he didn't hesitate to break it down. He tore Niles away from my unconscious body and beat him to a pulp, locked him in Jason's bedroom, checked on me, and then called 9-1-1. In those five minutes, Niles didn't have time to do what he was clearly bent on doing. He wanted to fuck me but was firm while talking to the police through a bruised jaw that it was not going to be rape, just two people attracted to each other. And sure, I was playing hard to get, made him work for it, as he explained, but I repeatedly sent him looks and signals that were clearly telling him I wanted him.

No matter how much he told that tale, no one believed him, and he was currently in jail, awaiting a trial. Jason came to the hospital the next morning, but he didn't get into the room. At my request, my brothers stood guard in front of the door. I knew he would come, since I hadn't yet told him I had proof of him lying to me and saw Mindy coming out of his room.

“Get the fuck out of my way,” his demand could be heard over the beeping in the hospital room.

Every muscle in my body hurt, my lips were split, and it was hard to breathe. Still, the moment I heard his enraged voice, I tensed. Niles went to town on me in the little time he had, so not only did I have bruises and one swollen-closed eye as a souvenir of his visit, but I also had cracked ribs and a sprained wrist from when he tried to drag my body into the bedroom. Guess he wanted to have me on the bed.

“No way, fucker,” Carter growled at Jason. “Not only was she attacked in your home, which means you didn't care enough for her safety and left her unprotected with that sick fuck on the loose. You also betrayed her in the most fucked up way.”

“Besides, Rory doesn't want to see you,” Chase put in.

“Not after what you did in your hotel room,” Max finished for him.

“What the hell are you talking about?” Even then, he was playing as if he didn't know why I would stop him from getting to me.

I knew my brothers were showing Jason the video of Mindy coming out of his hotel room by the silence. I sent it to them, because it hurt too much to talk about it. The one time I told Max what happened almost undid me, and in the end, I wasn't careful enough and opened the door to Niles without checking who it was, because I was so desperate to get out of there. Listening to the silence, watching in my mind as Mindy walked nearly naked down the hall, I was no longer just tense. Every muscle in my body turned to stone. At that point, I didn't know what hurt the most, my bruised body or my shattered heart. So, I took hold of the thingy the nurse explained that with one push would send the medication coursing through my body if the pain ever got to be too much to handle, and I pressed the button on top. I needed relief. Not from injuries, but from my heart shattering over and over, because that damn footage kept playing on a loop in my head.

“That's not what it looks like!” Jason shouted. “Someone set me up!”

“Sure, sure,” Max muttered, disbelief ringing all around. “Still, you're not going in there. She doesn't want to see you.”

I don't know how long Jason stayed in front of my hospital room, arguing with my brothers. The drugs started to pull me down, and I fell asleep. He came to the hospital every day in an attempt to see me, and when I got home, he came to my apartment, checking up on me, bringing food and sweets, sometimes flowers, other times coffee, and always asking if he could see me. When he was denied access to me, he would stand in that hallway, waiting.

There was one thing I didn't get. How did Niles find me? Jason's address wasn't a known fact. Sure, he had a lot of women knocking on his door, but that was only because guys kept bringing them there. I doubt one of them would tell anyone where he lived. Not because they respected his privacy. No, because they didn't want competition. Besides, none of them knew I was there that night.

That answer came later that first night in the hospital, when Logan came to see me, almost as frantic as Jason was. Standing by my bedside, my brothers scowling at him from the opposite side, he broke down and started crying.

“Hey,” I whispered, patting his hand. “I'm okay, just a few scratches and bruises. I'll be all right.”

But he just bowed his head, begging me to forgive him, hunching over our hands on the bed, his shoulders shaking between his ragged breaths.

“What for?”