Jason held sleeping Lily in his arms, carrying her across sidewalks and up roads.
Even though she was sleeping, she kept on snuggling into his grip instinctively... almost as if she found comfort with him holding her like this...
Her cheeks were stained with tears, arms and legs covered in burns, but she still hadn’t woken.
She murmured something while she slept, shifting in his grip as he carried her across a parking lot.
He let go of her legs, dropping them but held under her thighs, pressing her head to his chest as he walked up his apartment steps.
“Hold onto my shirt,” he whispered to her even though she was asleep.
But she listened anyway, grabbing a hold of his shirt while she slept.
“There you go,” he murmured. “Hold onto me for a sec, okay?”
No response.
He let go of her head and dug around in his pocket. After a moment, he pulled out his apartment keys and stuck them in the lock, shoving the door open moments later.
Pushing his keys back in his pocket, he went inside, kicking the door closed and locked the bolt.
“You can let go of my shirt now, Honey,” he said to her, and she listened.
He pressed her head to his chest moments later, carrying her to his bedroom.
After laying her down onto the white sheets, he brushed her hair out of her face, seeing her expression relax a bit.
“You’re beautiful, you know,” he said, continuing the previous gesture.
After a minute he pulled away, shuffling through his nightstand and pulled out some bandages, burn ointment, and gauze.
After rubbing some ointment on her arms and legs, she writhed a little, whimpering softly.
“I know,” he breathed, pressing his hand to her chest so she stayed still. “I know it hurts, but I promise it’ll feel better after.”
And he wrapped up her arms and legs with bandages, lifting her dress to her stomach to check for burns there, then pulled down her collar to see her chest.
There were none, so he threw the supplies back into the drawer, shutting it and cast a look down to Lily, who was breathing softly on his bed.
Drawing the covers up to her chin, Jason rose her hand… holding it tightly.
“I’m sorry, Lily. I’m so sorry this is happening to you… but I promise I’ll protect you from him… You’re safe now… and I’ll never hurt you… I might seem scary…” a single tear escaped from his eye and dropped onto her wrist, “but you don’t understand… I… I can’t let you go… Now that I know what he’s planning… I have to keep you safe… So please don’t be scared… I swear I mean you no harm….”
And he rested her hand back onto the bed, smiling softly at her relaxed expression and stood, wiping his eyes with a sleeve while leaving the room.
65Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkN7lxEsk1b
