Chapter Forty One
As promised, JC didn’t leave her side. He couldn’t find it in him to leave. The rape counselor had requested that Julie speak to her alone, but as soon as JC started to leave the room, his eldest daughter broke out into tears once more. It killed him.
“Alright,” Dr. Andrews said, coming into the room with Julie’s chart. “Unless you have any questions, you’re free to take her home, Mr. Chasez. The police would like for her to come by the station at some point tomorrow morning, but there is no rush. They just have a few more things they’d like to talk to Julie about,” he said.
JC nodded, taking everything the doctor said in. He was thankful that he didn’t have to subject his daughter to more questioning that evening. He felt like it was best to just get her home and let her get some sleep. “Thank you so much for all of your help,” JC said, holding his hand out for the doctor to shake. He shook his head when the nurse rolled the wheel chair into the room. “That’s not necessary,” he said. He walked back over to his daughter’s side and in one swift motion, he’d scooped her up into his arms as if she was weightless.
Normally, Julie would have protested such treatment, but after the night she’d had, she just wanted to feel safe in her father’s arms. She closed her eyes and snuggled even closer into him, praying that she would wake up and this would all be a bad dream.
~*~
It was much later that night, or early that morning rather, when JC found himself alone with his wife once more. He’d not had a chance to talk to her since earlier at the hospital, after he’d snapped on her. He felt terrible.
She was standing in front of the mirror in their bedroom, changing for bed. She still had no idea what had happened to her step-daughter, but she wasn’t going to press anyone for details. When they were ready or her to know, they would tell her.
Walking up behind her, JC wrapped his arms around her tiny waist. “You know I love you, right?”
“Mmhmm,” she responded coolly. “That’s what you tell me, anyway,” she said. He visibly winced in the mirror.
“C’mon Jen… don’t do this.”
“Don’t do what, Josh? Act hurt? Because I am. I’m so incredibly hurt. I understand you were stressed out with the doctors not telling you anything on the phone, but that did not give you the right to take it out on me. And it did not give you the right to snap on Abbi like you did.”
“I know that Jen,” he whispered, his voice breaking. Everything that had happened that night just hit him like a ton of bricks as she was speaking. He’d tried desperately to appear strong for his daughter’s sake, but now that he was alone, it was okay to break down, wasn’t it? “I know baby and I’m so sorry.”
She heard the emotion in his voice without even looking at him. She turned in his arms and wrapped him up in her embrace, holding him tight against her body. “Shh…”
“She’s only a kid, Jen. She doesn’t deserve this at all,” he said.
She found herself unable to refrain from asking. He’d brought the situation up, after all. “What exactly happened?” She asked quietly, pulling away long enough to take his hand and walk him over to the bed.
“Some creep at the party grabbed her and forced her into an empty bedroom. Turns out that the parents weren’t there after all. He held her down, ripped the clothes from her body and he… he…”
“Oh God,” Jen breathed softly, tears welling in her eyes to match those in her husband’s. “He didn’t…” she whispered, hoping to God that by making it audible, it would make it true.
“No, he didn’t,” JC clarified. “He didn’t get a chance. The cops busted up the party and one of his friend’s came, banging on the door to warn him. Apparently, he’d been watching Julie all night, commenting on what he’d do once he got his hands on her. But Jen… if that girl hadn’t been smart enough to call the cops once the party got out of hand… well… I don’t know what I’d do.”
~*~
The couple hadn’t been asleep long when the sound of Julie’s cries reached their ears. JC sat up in bed and then threw the covers off, before bolting out of the room and down the hall. He threw Julie’s door open and found her, crying hysterically.
“I can’t sleep!” She sobbed. “Every time I close my eyes, I can feel his breath on my neck and his hands on my arms. I’m so tired and I can’t sleep!”
JC had no clue what to do. He closed the gap between them and took a seat on her bed, wrapping his arms around her.
“Please don’t touch me,” she pleaded, shrinking away from him. “I feel so dirty,” she cried. “So incredibly dirty.”
JC’s eyes filled with tears as he released his daughter from his grip. Although the boy had not gone as far as he’d anticipated, he’d completely terrorized Julie. The look in her eyes, the sound of her heart wrenching cries told JC that much. Now, the question was, how on Earth was he going to fix this?
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