27. Torn

Your body trembles as you stare up at the man leaning above you. His eyes trail down your face to your chest and you blush when you remember the front of your white shirt is soaked in water. You glance again to the open path to your right but hesitate. Why won’t your body move? Just as you're trying to gather the nerve to bolt the man places his other arm up against the door moving his body closer to you. You can feel his warm breath above you as you stare forward at his chest. His clothes are quite weather worn and there are a few tears on his shirt and pants.

You jump when you feel a rough hand run along down your left arm. It stops just above your elbow and his fingers wrap around griping you tightly. “I’m here for my payment” you hear him whisper. His voice is husky and demanding. “I thought that one was on the house” you barely manage gasp out, still too scared to look up at his face. Some of his locks brush against the side of your face as you feel his breath on your ear. “I changed my mind.”

You feel his other arm brush against your side as he reaches behind you for the door handle. The door has just started slowly pushing open when you are both startled by a shout from the distance. The man drops your arm and turns running towards the tree line. You stumble , losing your balance, and find yourself falling backwards as the door behind you fully swings open. You gasp as the wind is knocked out of you when your back hits the floor. Groaning you use your elbows to slowly prop yourself up. You hear someone running up the steps and quickly try to scramble up. You let out a sight of relief when you see Jack’s familiar frame and relax. You glance up at his face and see his expression is cloudy.

He reaches his hand down to you and helps you to your feet. He doesn’t let go of your hand once you’re standing up right. You wince and rub your lower back with your free hand. “Who was that?” You’ve never heard Jack sound angry before, he’s always been fairly soft spoken, for a military man. You’ve always felt like there’s some personal burden he’s been carrying that’s slowly been weighting heavier on him over time. You feel his grip tighten around your hand and snap back to reality.

“I-I don’t know… where’s Dex?” You immediately regret your words when you see a look of disappointment come over Jacks face. “He was walking too slow so I went on ahead of him.” He drops your hand and goes to stand in the open door. His intense eyes scan the tree line and he scowls. “So this creep just turned up today?” You sigh and slowly sit down on the bed before relaying the whole story. You see Jacks hands curl into fists and he seems to be having trouble stifling his anger. “I told Dex that you shouldn’t be left here alone.” He shakes his head in frustration. After a moment he sighs and runs his fingers through his brown hair. It’s gotten longer since you last saw him and you wonder if he’ll ask you to help him trim it.

He finally walks outside for a moment and comes back in with his backpack. He wordless unzips it as you study his face carefully. He’s obviously still upset but the angry expression is gone for now. When he stands back up you notice he has a book in his hands. You can’t help but to gasp in surprise at this. That means they had found something during their journey after all. Jack walks over and hands you a medium sized hard cover book. You can hardly believe your eyes when you read the title. You didn’t think that Jack remembered when you told him what your favorite book was. And you’re equally surprised that he was able to find an undamaged copy.

“Oh, Jack” you whisper as you run your fingers over the cover of the book. You look up at him with grateful tears in your eyes. Jack smiles and gently wipes a tear off your cheek. You’re about to say something else when you both hear noise outside. Dex has finally caught up and is making his way up the porch. He hasn’t shaved in a while and his face looks weary. You jump to your feet and hurry to meet him. “What happened?” You demand when you see his left arm is wrapped in a bloody bandage. “It’s nothing” he promises wrapping his good arm around you, pulling you close. You turn your head in time to see Jack walk out of the cabin and head towards his shed.