Opting for privacy, JC snuck out of his house and chose to drive his dark blue Jeep Cherokee rather than having James take the limo for him.  Once the limo and the driver were of no concern, he headed out. 

So many thoughts ran through his mind as he traveled the streetlight-illuminated street.  Numerous questions he couldn’t answer crossed his mind.  Why did his friends’ comments upset him?  Why was he tired of being asked about his girlfriend?  Why did the mere thought of her annoy him?  Why did his new friend, Cassandra, keep coming to his mind?  Why did he see the sadness in her eyes, the way she tensed when he questioned her about the ex-boyfriend, the way she clung to him when he had carried her to the living room?  Why couldn’t he forget the way her lips tasted when he had kissed her earlier?  And the most nagging question, why did he feel compelled to go to her now, at twelve o’clock at night?  After all, it had been his decision to leave.  In fact, she had told him he didn’t have to.  He insisted, though, citing a busy and early next day.  Why hadn’t he just ignored his jealousy and stayed with her?  He knew he had no reason or right to be jealous but just the mention of her ex by her had him seeing the green-eyed monster. 

So why was he heading back to her place now?  He didn’t know why.  He just knew he had a gut feeling that he needed to check on her.  He felt she was hiding something; something that she felt she had to cover up so he wouldn’t know the truth about her.  There was a reason she was hiding it from him, and he wanted to know what it was.  No, he thought to himself, he needed to know what it was.  This new person in his life had come to him very unsuspecting and guarded.  They had created a tight friendship in just a short time and JC felt they had a chance at something more if she wouldn’t push him away, either physically or emotionally.  Whatever the final outcome, JC knew he wouldn’t be happy unless he tried to pursue it, with or without her cooperation.

As his car approached her house, an uneasy feeling stirred in the pit of his stomach.  The house was dark, almost too dark.  He knew she was alone, remembering her sister’s phone call earlier in the evening.  He knew Cassandra had been upset when he left her.  He remembered the sadness in her eyes as he turned to leave.  Seeing the house as black as pitch, somehow didn’t seem right.  He knew she didn’t like being alone.  He felt certain some type of night-light should be on somewhere in the house.  As he pulled into the driveway, he was all too aware that no light shone through any window.

“Something’s wrong.”  He said to himself.  His brow was creased as his eyes scanned the property for a sign of any activity, anything at all.  Hesitantly he got out of the car, closed the door, and put his keys in his pocket.  Slowly he walked around the Jeep and headed toward the front door.  He couldn’t shake the uneasy feeling.  He peeked in the living room window as he walked by it.  He could see nothing.  Yet he just kept feeling that something was wrong.

As he approached the front door, he stopped cold, with one foot on the sidewalk, the other foot on the porch.  The door was ajar.  Had he left it that way when he left?  He replayed the moment in his mind.  No, he thought.  He remembered hearing it click behind him as he walked away.

Had Cassandra’s sister come home and forgotten to lock it?  He shook his head, knowing that two girls living alone would not be that careless.

Then what could it be, a faulty lock, a burglar, or an ex-boyfriend?  The last thought shot more fear into him than the other two.  He didn’t know why.  He had met the ex at the hospital.  He seemed friendly enough.  But Cassandra didn’t want him there, for whatever reason.  That was good enough for him.

Quietly and ever so slowly, he brought himself to the door, pausing to listen for a second.  Nothing but silence was all he heard.  Pressing on, he pushed the door open slowly.  Trying to peer into the dark structure proved nearly impossible, but he was being cautious.  As dark as it was, he was sure no one was in the living room area.  He turned his head toward the hallway.  Still no lights were visible.  He took a couple of steps toward the hallway that led to the bedrooms.  He stopped suddenly, sure he had heard something.  He listened intently.  He heard it again; it sounded like crying.  ‘God,’ he thought, ‘did I make her cry?’  As he went to take another step, he heard a hushed voice, male, but hushed.  It was obviously someone who didn’t want to be heard, but who was it and why did he sound so angry?  JC stood silently trying to hear what was being said.

“Damn it, Cassandra!”  He heard.  “Why do you make me do these things?  Why do you create these problems?  Just who do you think you are, telling Marissa I can’t come over?  I’ll be here any time I damn well want to!  Not you, or Marissa, or that hotshot singer friend of yours will stop me.  Do you understand me?”

“Yes.”  That was her timid response.

“Good.  Now, I’m leaving.  Thank God I didn’t turn on the lights because the sight of you would only make me sick.  Clean yourself up in the morning.  I’ll be back at ten o’clock and we’ll get all of this shit ironed out.”

JC heard his footsteps and made a quick move to the living room area.  His eyes were fixed on the door and he saw it open, a shadow go out, and close behind the man.  Stepping to the window to watch, he noticed the man walked straight off the porch, across the grass and to a car waiting across the street.  When the car pulled away, JC breathed a sigh of relief.  The man had never looked toward the driveway, thus not noticing JC’s Jeep parked there.  He walked over, made sure the door was locked and reached for the light switch.  As he flipped it on, he could hear Cassandra, still in her room, crying.

“Cassandra, it’s JC.”  He called out to let her know she was not alone.  “Where are you?”  He asked, knowing full well where she was.

She didn’t respond.  Emotionally she couldn’t.

“Cassandra, come on honey!  Where are you?”  He called again as he approached her door.  Pushing the bedroom door back, he stood motionless as his blue eyes froze on her crouched, curled figure in the corner next to her bed dimly illuminated by the light reflecting from the hallway.  The covers were strewn about, obviously the telltale sign of a struggle.  Her face was buried in her hands and her knees were pulled up tightly to her chest.  He thought how much like a small, frightened child she seemed.

Quietly he repeated her name before he took the few steps it took to close the distance that separated them.  She showed no sign of hearing him.  Only her shoulders moved, shaking as she cried silently into her hands.

JC crouched down in front of her.  Carefully he placed his hands on hers in an attempt to pull them away from her face.  She gasped audibly as she felt his touch, tried to pull away from him rising to her feet, and screamed out the word ‘no’.

Quickly he grabbed her by the shoulders.  “Cassandra, honey, it’s me, JC!  You don’t have to be afraid.  Come on, look at me.”  His blue eyes finally connected with her brown eyes.  She stared at him, not making a sound.  His right hand held her shoulder, but his left hand came up to touch her cheek and brush away her tears.

“JC?”  Her voice was weak and shaky.

“Yeah, honey.  It’s just me.”

He felt her strength drain away as she collapsed against him.  He scooped her tiny being up into his strong arms and turned to lay her on the bed.  Then he reached to the bedside table and turned on the light.  He looked at her still form lying beside him.  Her eyes were closed, breathing shallow, but there was something else. He looked at her hard in the dim light.  At first he thought it was a shadow on her skin, but the harder he looked he realized the awful truth.  That was no shadow on her left cheek.  It was a cut, and blood had trickled down her cheek, leaving a dark, ugly trail.  Carefully he touched it, feeling her flinch as she opened her eyes.

“Don’t.”  She whispered.

He pulled his hand back.

“What happened, Cassandra?”

JC saw tears well up in her eyes.  She squeezed them tightly shut.  She turned her head to try to hide the cut.  Tenderly JC took her chin with his fingers and brought it back around for him to look at her.

Timidly her gaze met his.

“Talk to me, honey.  What happened here?”

“I guess I don’t have a choice, do I?”

“You don’t have to tell me.  But if you want my help, then you need to give me something to go on.  Do I need to call the police for you?”

“No.”  She brought her hand up to touch his.

“Are you hurt anywhere else?  Do I need to get you an ambulance or take you to the hospital?”

A weak smile crossed her lips.  “How can you be so sweet?  No, JC, I’ll be alright.  Please don’t call anyone.  I just need a little time to pull myself together.”  Her voice was timid and soft.

Closing her eyes, she drew a shaky breath and managed to calm herself.  When she re-opened them, she was met by two of the deepest blue eyes she had ever seen.  Concern filled them as he watched her every movement.

“What’s going on, Cassandra?  I mean, I’m no rocket scientist, but obviously something is very wrong here.  Why are the covers all thrown around?  Why were you all curled up on the floor?  How did you cut your cheek?

            “Maybe it’s none of my business, but I am your friend.  I’ve never seen anything like this.  Please, tell me what’s happening.  Tell me why you were crying.”

            Slowly she pulled herself up to a sitting position so she could meet his gaze.  She winced visibly as she felt soreness in her ribcage as she pulled herself up.

            “Are you okay?”  He asked when he saw her squeeze her eyes tightly at the shooting pain.

            “I will be.”  It was all she could answer.

            She shook her head for a moment and a sad chuckle escaped her throat.  Cassandra opened her mouth to speak, then stopped abruptly as she realized he had returned to her house unexpectedly.

            “JC, what are you doing here anyway?  I thought you were kind of angry when you left earlier.”

            Again he raised his hand to her cheek.  “I wasn’t angry, Cassandra.  I think more like confused or even hurt would be a better words.”

            “Why?”

            “Because you acted like you had something to tell me or show me.  But then you just totally blew me off when I tried to find out what was bothering you.  What did I do wrong?”

            Her hand came up to touch his.  “You didn’t do anything wrong.  I just got scared.  I was afraid if I told you what was going on, I might not see you again.  I didn’t want that because I felt so comfortable with you.  It was so good having you here, having you as a friend.  I didn’t want to lose that, so I decided to keep my dark secret to myself.  Then I ended up losing you anyway.”

            JC’s brow furrowed at her confession.  “You didn’t lose me.  My God!  Look where I am at right this minute.”

            “But, why?”  She asked.

            “I guess because a little voice in the back of my head kept telling me to come here and check on you.  For some reason, something just didn’t seem right.  So, here I am.  Obviously at a good time, I might add.”

            “I don’t know about that.”  Came her sad response.

            “So, tell me.  Cassandra, what happened here tonight?”

            “You know, JC, I’m not even sure where to begin.  The hospital, earlier with you, or the pieces of me you’re picking up as we talk.  Where should I start?”

            “That’s easy.  Pick it up at the hospital.  That’s where we met.  Earlier you seemed to want to tell me something about it, so let’s start with that.”

            Momentarily she looked down at her hands that had become folded in her lap like some prim and proper charm school student.  Without looking up, she started.

            “I wasn’t there for dehydration, exhaustion or any virus.”  She swallowed hard.  “I had been injured and had some bad bruises and internal bleeding.  When I first got there, I was in bad shape.  I had already been there a week, I think, when I met you.”

            “How did you get hurt?”

            “You probably won’t believe me.  I said something utterly stupid, and because someone didn’t like what I said, I got my fanny kicked.”

            His blue eyes opened wider than one would think humanly possible.  “Who?  Who in the hell would do that kind of thing?”  Anger sounded in his voice.

            “Do you remember the man that was in my hospital room today?”

            His brow furrowed again.  “You know that I do.  Don’t tell me…”

            She cut him off.  “He has a very bad temper.  This isn’t the first time I’ve had to pick myself up off of the floor.  But actually, it is one of the mildest attacks from him.”

            “We’ve got to call the police!”

            “There’s no point.  I’ve done that several times.  He usually ends up with a slap on the wrist and goes on his way.”

            “Let’s get a restraining order against him.”

            “What good will that do?  The man is hell-bent on getting to me.  Then he takes great pleasure in telling me how angry I make him and I cause all of this to happen.”

            “No way!  This is not your fault!”

            She smiled weakly at him.  “I know that, JC.  Maybe now you can understand why I told Marissa I didn’t want him here.  That’s what sent him over the edge this time.”

            “Why would she even put you in that position?”

            Cassandra looked down at her hands again.  She watched as JC reached over and intertwined his fingers with hers.

            “JC, she doesn’t know what he does.  I’ve always hidden it from her.  I’ve hidden it from everyone.”  She looked up at his him.  “You’re the first person who’s even remotely close to me that I’ve told.”

            “What can I do to help?”  The sincerity in his voice brought tears to her eyes.

            “You have already helped, more than you can ever know.  It feels so good to tell someone.”

            His right hand broke free and rose to gently caress her left cheek.  Carefully, so as not to hurt the wound there, he rubbed his thumb across her cheekbone.  “I want you out of here.  I’m taking you someplace away from here tonight, right now.”

            “I have no where else to go, JC.  There’s no place I can go to as a retreat.”

            “What about your family?”

            “They don’t know anything about this, and I want to keep it that way.”

            “Never mind.”  He stood up.  “You go freshen up.  I’ll throw a couple of things together for you and we’ll find someplace for you to go.”

            “I don’t need to go anywhere.”

            “Yes you do.  I heard him say he’d be back at ten o’clock.  You will not be here!  Now, let’s get moving.”

            “But, where…” She started as she rose to her feet.

            “I’ll figure that out.  You just get ready.”  JC patted her on the derriere as Cassandra turned toward the bathroom.

            “Hey!”  She smiled as her voice feigned indignation.

            “Nice butt!”  He returned with a sly smile.  “Let’s hurry.”