Tortured Beginning (13 page)

"What did you say to me?"

He grabs my arm and squeezes it hard. I know that it will leave bruises, I try pulling it away.

I wince, "Ben you're hurting me. Stop it." I hope that he snaps out of it.

"Don't you dare tell me to stop." He moves his face closer to mine, tugging on my arm and squeezing harder. "I know you are fucking that cop. You are mine, Jay-Bird."

"No I'm not, we aren't together anymore."

I try again to pull his hand from me. I see that the couple is looking over at us. I see the guy get up and walk off the porch. He starts running across the street to us. Once he reaches my driveway, I can see the concern in his eyes.

"Hey Jaylah, are you okay?"

Ben holds on harder, turning to see him. "Mind your own fucking business."

He quickly turns back to me and glares at me.

"I was talking to Jaylah and I want to hear what she has to say."

Ben turns around again and takes a step towards him. He still has a strong grip on me and pulls me with him.

"I'm fine," I quickly answer, not wanting Ben to hurt anyone else. But I can tell that my neighbor doesn't believe and he stands his ground.

"My wife is calling the police. You need to let her go."

I can see the anger building in Ben. I pull my arm from his grasp, with all my strength. He must of let go of his grip, slightly and I fall backwards. I lose my balance, tripping over my purse. I smack my head on the ground, I feel a sharp pain on the back of my head.

I look up to see Ben walking towards my neighbor. Suddenly a cop car pulls around the corner. They stop in front of my house and quickly get out once they see me on the ground.

"What's going on here?" the male officer asks.

I watch Ben stand his ground and look down at the cops. The other officer, walks around the car and straight to me. He is an older gentleman, with very kind eyes.

"Mam, are you okay?"

I nod, "I think so."

He stoops down and starts checking me out. He touches my head and I wince. I put my hand where he was on my head, and pull it away. When I look down at my hand, there is blood. I can't stand the sight of blood and I feel light headed.

I can here my neighbor telling the young officer what he saw. Ben is still standing there, not saying a word. I hadn't realized that the officer in front of me was talking to me and I put my attention back to him.

"Um, sorry. What did you say?"

Before he answers me, I see Trevan's car pull up behind the cop car. He gets out and walks up to Ben.

He points his finger at his chest, "You were told to stay away from her. You don't get it do you?"

"Fuck you. Where do you get off telling me what I can do with my woman?"

"She is not yours, you fucking scumbag. Now you can think about that while you're in jail."

"Don't think I don't know about you asshole, you will get yours in the end. Learn to keep your hands to yourself."

The young officer walks behind Ben and pulls his hands behind him to put on handcuffs. I watch as he leads him to the back of the squad car. Once the door is shut, I turn back to Trevan. He walks the short distance to me, he kneels down and puts his hand on my arm. I wince, and mentally kick myself for doing so.

"What? Did he hurt you?" he asks.

As he pulls up my sleeve to look at my arm, it's already changing colors. He then sees the blood still on my hand. He puts his thumb and finger on my chin, and gently turns my head. I can feel the blood flowing down my neck now. I see the officers come towards us, Trevan stands up and  turns to talk with them. They talk for a bit, while I sit there feeling stupid. I look over to my neighbor, I stand up and walk over to him.

"Thank you," I try to smile at him.

"Hey don't worry. Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Thank your wife, too."

He nods, looking at me with pity. I hate when people do that to me. I turn to walk back to pick up my stuff. I crouch down picking up the things that fell out of my purse. I hear the two officers get into their car, as I stand up. I turn to see them drive away, Ben with them. Well at least I'll be able to sleep tonight, knowing he won't come back.

"Um, I'm going to have to take you to the hospital."

"What? I don't need to go."

"You are bleeding Jaylah, you might need stitches. Plus, we don't know how hard you hit your head."

I sigh, not liking where this is all going. I simply nod, and let him grab my arm gently. He guides me to the passenger side of the car, and helps me in. Once in the car, I zone out, not wanting to think about what is happening. I don't remember any of the ride there, and if we even talked. It's about a twenty minute ride, and I couldn't tell you anything about it.

When we pull up to the ER, I simply sit there. Trevan gets out and grabs a wheelchair. He opens my door and helps me out and seated in the wheelchair. He hands his keys to the valet and he pushes me in. I feel in a fog, not wanting to deal with any of this bullshit. How the fuck does this shit keep happening to me?

He wheels me up to the nurse, waiting to register me. I hear Trevan talking to her and I'm assuming what the situation is. I retreat further into myself.

I was shocked at how Jaylah responded to the glass bird. When she finally told me what it meant, it made more sense. I knew that Ben had left it, but it still fucking pissed me off to hear it. I know she is trying to protect herself, but I wasn't ready for the cold response she gave.

When she got up to leave, it took all my strength to not take her in my arms. I wanted to tell her that I would always protect her. But I know for a woman like Jaylah, that would only make her run, and not come back. She doesn't want to hear that from a man, I can tell. So I will give her the space she wants right now.

So when I got the call that there was a disturbance at her address, I couldn't get there fast enough. I pull up to see that fucking piece of shit, Ben. When our eyes meet, he fucking sneers at me. It takes all my self control not to walk up to him and wipe that fucking look off his face.

But I look over to see Jaylah, and see the fear in her eyes. She is sitting on the ground and I can bear to see her like this, I feel the anger build in me, I walk over to him and try not to lose it completely.

I barely remember saying anything to him, always watching her from the corner of my eye. I wave the young officer over, I remember his name is Frank.

"Hey Frank. This asshole, needs to be taken in. He has violated his restraining order." I say to him.

Frank nods his head. I don't stand around waiting to see what happens. All my focus is on Jaylah, and only her. I kneel down, and when I touch her arm she winces. She tries to hide, the pain. But she isn't fooling me, and I pull up her sleeve. Damn, I can see that fuckers finger marks already darkening her skin. I look at her hand, and see blood. I gently grab her chin and see the cut on the back of head. She fell hard on the cement, and the blood is going down her neck.

I tell her I have to take her to the hospital, but I think she only partially understands all that I say to her. I gently get walk her to the my car and get her in. The drive to the hospital is a quiet one, I keep glancing over to her. I can't stand to see her like this. I know he didn't her that bad physically, but he has mentally. I can't imagine her living in fear, wondering when he will show up.

I pull into the valet section of the ER, get out of the car and grab a wheelchair. Once I get her inside, I walk up to the nurse. I explain the situation and they get her into a room. I don't leave her side, not wanting her to be alone. I know there are people she could call, but she won't. I can tell from her actions today, that she tries to take care of everything herself.

The doctor comes in and I explain the story to him. I watch as they check her out and the decide to also do an x-ray to cover everything. He looks at her cut on the head, and explains she will need stitches. Once the doctor leaves, a nurse comes in shortly after. She starts taking pictures of Jaylah's arm and the cut on her head. She will then put then into her file, so we have them for court.

When she is done with that she turns to me. "It will be a little while for her x-ray, we are very busy  today. But the doctor will be back to do the stitches as well."

I nod, "Thank you."

She smiles at me as she walks out of the room. I move my chair to the side of the bed, hoping to get Jaylah to talk to me. Jaylah is laying on the bed, in a fetal position. I decide to grab a blanket and cover her up, before I ask my questions.

Once I find one in the cupboard, under the sink, I lay it over her. I sit back down and grab her hand, that is rested in front of me on the bed. With that touch, she finally looks at me. I can see from her eyes, come back to me a little. I smile at her, hoping to not upset her. I rub my thumb across the top of her hand, wanting to comfort her as much as I can.

"I have to ask you some questions," I whisper to her, as I lean in closer.

She looks into my eyes, and nods. I hate to see her like this, hating myself for doing this now. I only need to know what happened from her point of view. Her neighbor gave a good recount of events, since they saw everything. I'm thankful they were sitting on their porch and called the police the minute he grabbed her. I can imagine what he would of done, if he wasn't interrupted.

"Can you tell me what happened?"

She takes a deep breath, and retells the story of him coming up behind her. I let go of her hand, to grab my little pad of paper from my suit jacket I write down a few notes for my report. Not like I would forget anything she told me. When she finish's her recount, I grab her hand again. We simply look at each other for a bit.

Before I can say anything, the doctor walks in to do her stiches. I move my chair out of their way. The nurse walks over to help the doctor. I watch as they work together, on Jaylah's head. Jaylah barely makes a face, as the doctor is working. I look away, not wanting her to see me getting angry. I can only think of all the pain she has been through, that this is nothing to her.

Once they are done with that, the nurse grabs the wheelchair.

"Jaylah, I'm going to take you for your x-ray." She smiles warmly at her.

I watch her help her into the wheelchair, and step out of the way.

"I will be here when you get back."

I stand and watch her being wheeled down the hall. I take this opportunity to talk to the doctor about sending all the paperwork to the station. I walk up to the center of the ER, which is bustling with doctor's and nurses. I notice how busy they are, and wait for someone to help me.

A pretty young nurse turns to me, and smiles. "Can I help you?"

I smile back, "Yes. I'm Detective Ryan, I came in with Jaylah Dean. I wanted to talk to the doctor about her files."

"Of course, let me see where he is."

I wait for him, only for a few minutes. The doctor walks up to and shakes my hand. We walk to a more private area and talk about Jaylah's case. He doesn't feel that there is any damage, only the bruising.

"She will have deep bruises, and it will be very sore. He squeezed her pretty hard. I will double check the x-ray, then release her if there's nothing there. I will get this all to you by tomorrow."

"Thank you."

The doctor nods and I walk back to Jaylah's room. She is sitting up in the bed, looking some what better than before. She looks up when she hears me enter.

"Nothing is broken. I told you I was fine," she snaps.

"That's good."

I try not to take it personal, and usually I can do that. But not with Jaylah, she is different. And it's not because we slept together, I think I'm falling for her. I stop in my tracks, realizing where my thoughts went. Shit.