Broken

Tommy first noticed the petite brunette a few months before the incident that started everything. He ran early enough that most were still sleeping, so it was hard to miss the only other soul pounding the pavement. No words ever passed their lips, or even a nod of acknowledgement, but they crossed paths each morning on his run. She held no real interest to him, merely becoming part of his daily routine. She became a constant, same as his route through the streets of Philly, same as his breakfast of eggs each morning. It was almost as if she was a part of his morning checklist. Wake up, piss, protein shake, head out the door. Run the resevoir a few times, turn a corner to run up 7th, sprint to Connelly, hang a left to run past the park, see the brunette, keep going to Front Street and back to the apartment. It was the same for months until it wasn't.

He was running up Connelly when a feminine scream rent the air. As a general rule, Tommy didn't get involved in other people's business. But the combination of rage and terror in that scream sent him sprinting to the park. He didn't think; he acted.

He turned the corner to a secluded area of the park to find the woman backed up against a retaining wall, her fists raised to a man hulking over her. The sight of blood running from her eyebrow and down her cheek was all he needed to see before attacking the man that had cornered her. He barely had time to register the stranger's already broken nose before landing a sungle right hook that sent the man tumbling to the ground unconscious.

Tommy kicked the man once in the gut to make sure he wasn't getting up any time soon before turning his attention to the woman. He was shocked to find she wasn't crying, or panicked. If anything, she looked pissed. "You okay, lady?."

The brunette spit on the unconscious attacker and wiped a hand under her nose before responding. "Fine."

She turned to leave and Tommy unwittingly reached out an arm to grab her wrist to stop her from going. "You ain't fine, lady, you're bleeding." A shrug was the only reply he received on that. "Ain't you going to thank me, at least?"

"I fucking had him."

The remark was so unexpected, he couldn't help but laugh. "Sure, doll, 'till you didn't."

She yanked her wrist from his grip as her gaze remained icy. "Thanks," she all but spat at him as she turned to go.

Tommy reached out and grabbed her again, intrigued. Any other woman, he figured would be huddled on the ground, crying until someone came to take care of them. She, on the other hand, looked like she would punch the first person that tried. The broken nose on her assailant clicked into his thoughts; she had fucking fought back, too.

"You going to let me go now?" she spat, her teeth nearly grinding together in what he could only assume was irritation.

"Nah, need to get you cleaned up."

"I don't need shit."

"Look, my place is a couple of blocks away. Gotta stop the bleeding. Bad idea to run with a head wound like that."

"No, thanks."

"I wasn't asking, lady." She looked him up and down then. Was she trying to figure out if she could take him on? "I'll haul you over my shoulder, if I need to."

A groan came from the assailant laid out on the ground. The woman aimed a kick at his ribs before wiping her nose with the back of her hand and nodding. "Fine."

"I'm Tommy, by the way," he offered as he extended his hand to her.

She stared at the hand as if it were alien to her. "I know who you are." He dropped his hand with a shrug.

"Follow me, then." Tommy tuned to walk up Connelly, zipping his hoodie as he went. When he didn't feel her presence behind him, he stopped and looked at her expectantly. She half-looked like she still wanted to run in the other direction, still debating whether it was worth it to get cleaned up after her attack.

She sighed resignedly and tugged at her ponytail before moving towards him. "Jade."

"'Scuse me?"

"My name is Jade." And at that, they started the walk in silence.