Don't Turn Around

Jack's POV

The kiss was short and sweet, but enough to get Sutton smiling again, not to mention my heart racing at a million beats per minute. She brushed any tears she had left out of her eyes and sighed, she looked exausted. It probably didn't help that we'd all had way too much to drink but the stunt Rachel pulled caused us to sober up a little.

Alex came back into the laundry room with a box of tissues and handed them to Sutton.

"Thanks Alex" she said, sniffling and trying to force a smile.

"No worries. What was with that Rachel girl anyway? Has she always had it out for you?"

"No, its weird because we've always gotten along fine. She lives with Leah and sometimes Leah says she can be a little nuts but I've worked with her for months now and I've never had a problem." she said, shrugging.

"She had the crazy eyes I'll tell you" I added in, making Sutton laugh a little bit.

"I'll be steering clear" she replied, raising both her hands in defense.

"Leah seemed pretty upset" Alex said, "She really cares about you."

Sutton's eyes filled up with tears again and she let out a little sob. Alex and I looked at eachother and I pulled Sutton in for another hug.

"Don't leave me alone tonight" she mumbled into my chest.

"Should I call a cab?" Alex whispered to me.

I nodded, and he lifted his phone to his ear and walking out of the laundry room.

"Your place or mine?" I asked, pulling away from her to see her face.

"You've never been to my place? Well its not much of a place but you might like it" she replied looking down.

"I'd love to" I said, pulling her back in. We stood there for a while and I could feel Sutton relaxing in my arms. I felt so bad for what had happened, but now I was curious about what Rachel was talking about when she referenced 'pills' being a better way to deal with Ian beating her. Thinking about anyone laying a hand on her in the first place sent a surge of anger through my entire body. No woman should ever feel like a man could, or would hurt them.

Did she start taking pills? Was she still doing it? I'd have to talk to her later. It was never fun pushing these things but I knew from past experiences people who have secrets build walls and eventually lock you out all together. That couldn't happen with her, I wouldn't let it.

"I'm so tired" she said, breaking the silence.

"Me too, do you want to go wait for the cab?"

"I don't want to go back out there, I feel like I caused such a scene." she replied with a frown.

"There's a back door we can slip out of, I'll go and grab your shoes" I replied.

She nodded, and I brushed a piece of hair out of her face before heading to the front door to find the pair of converse I knew were hers. The party was back in action like nothing had happened thank god, but I bumped into Cassadee and Rian on the way to the front door.

"Jack!" Cassadee called, "Alex told me what happened, where is Sutton?"

"In the laundry room. We're going to slip out the back door, she's embarrassed and doesn't want anyone to see her." I replied.

"I'm going to go see her for a quick second" she said, running off.

"That girl was crazy! Hopefully Sutton's alright" Rian said sympathetically.

"She's tough" I replied with a half smile.

"You like her don't you?" Rian asked, putting his hand on my shoulder.

"I don't know what it is" I said, scratching the back of my neck, "something about her."

"She'd be crazy not to like you back man. You better go though" he said, giving me a warm smile.

I hugged him quick and then went to find Sutton's shoes at the front door. After putting on my own and grabbing hers, I made my way back to the laundry room. To my disbeleif Cas had got her laughing about something, girls man. I handed Sutton her shoes, and she slipped them on, looking at me tiredly.

"Text me girl, we'll go shopping tomorrow or something" Cassadee smiled at Sutton.

She nodded her head in response and pulled Cas in for a tight hug. Even if her other friends were against her right now hopefully she'd feel like she had us.

I led Sutton out the back door and we made it out to the front where the cab was already there waiting. Sutton told the driver her adress and we were off.

"Sorry about this whole thing Jack, I know you didn't sign up for any of it."

"You shouldn't be the one appologizing" I replied.

"I should though, I mean I don't know why you've wanted to stick around this long but if you can't already tell there are so many shitty things going on in my life that saying I'm a handful is an understatement." she said, sighing.

"Hey, no more of that. I'm serious." I replied.

She just looked at me with sadness in her eyes and nodded.

After a short drive we arrived at her place and I paid the cab driver. I followed her down the side of the house where her door to her basement apartment was. She fiddled with the lock and then led us into the dark basement, crossing the room and flicking on the light. I slipped off my shoes and looked around. There was a very tiny kitchen and a futon in the main area, and I spotted a bathroom and what must have been her bedroom on the other side of the room.

"Its small but it's not that bad" she said, slipping off her shoes and locking the door behind me.

"I like it" I said, giving her a warm smile.

"I could have lived with Leah and her housemates but I kind of like having alone time, its nice to be able to go home and relax by yourself. Come this way" she said, and I followed her into her bedroom.

Her room was surprisingly big for the rest of the apartment. She had a big bed in the corner that was done up in all white sheets and fluffy comforters, it looked like a cloud. There were white little twinkle lights set up all over the room and it made it look happy.

"I like the lights" I commented.

"Thanks! I'm going to go grab us some water so the hangover isn't as bad tomorrow" she said with a smile and left me in her room to look around.

I sat down at her desk and looked at the textbook she had open, there were words in it I couldn't even pronounce. I flipped through a couple of the pages and then decided to check out her CD collection that I spotted on her bookcase.

Nirvana, Blink 182, Rush, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Paramore made up most of her collection. At that moment she walked back into her room and tossed a water bottle at me, taking a sip of her own.

"Ah, the best way to judge a person is by their CD collection" she joked.

I took a huge gulp of my water bottle and gave her a smile, "I approve of your musical taste. Although you're missing one group"

"Oh?" she challenged.

"All Time Low" I coughed.

"Ah, yes I think I may have heard of them. I hear their guitar player is crazy though" she joked back.

"That's it miss, you're in trouble now" I replied, getting up to run toward her.

She let out a scream and ran towards the bed but I caught up in time to tackle her into the fluffy mess of sheets and pillows. She squirmed away as I tried grabbing her by the waist to pull her towards me. She finally surrendered and I somehow got her sitting on top of me. After looking at me for a short moment, she leaned down and kissed my neck right below my ear, slowly making her way across my jaw. She softly bit my lip, and I couldn't help but reach my hands under her shirt and pull it swiftly over her head. She returned the favour and managed to get my shirt off, trailing her fingers across my chest. It was quite the turn of events from earlier in the evening but I wasn't complaining.

Sutton's POV

Sunlight streamed through my bedroom window onto my face waking me up. I opened my eyes and my room was filled with the bright sunlight, bouncing off my mint coloured bedroom walls and making the place seem cheerier than usual. I rolled over, and suddenly realized there was a man sleeping in my bed next to me.

Everything came rushing back and I suddenly remembered why he was here and why I wasn't wearing pajamas. He was sleeping on his side facing towards me and his face was so peaceful and at rest. I watched as his chest rose and fell with every breath he took. Then I remembered last nights events at the party we went to, Rachel's outburst and Leah's betrayal.

The worst part was I loved Leah so much. She had really been there for me over the past year or so. I had really trusted her and she let me down. Lying here next to Jack I didn't feel alone though. But a feeling of panic rushed through me thinking about what Ian would do if he found out I was with another guy. It had never really crossed my mind but now that I knew he wasn't afraid to get near me, who knows what he would do to Jack if he found out.

This was bad.

I felt my breath quicken as the feeling of anxiety began to rise in my chest. I took a few deep breaths to calm myself down, and with that I heard Jack inhale deeply, waking up. I felt like I was about to have a panic attack right there so I squeezed my eyes shut and kept breathing deeply.

"Sutton? What's wrong?" Jack asked in a raspy morning voice, propping himself up on one arm.

I just shook my head, continuing with the deep breaths, eyes squeezed shut.

After a few seconds I started to calm down, and Jack placed a strong hand on my shoulder. It wasn't an un-ordinary gesture but it made me feel a little more grounded and a little less terrified by everything.

I forced my eyes open to find his concerned face looking at me.

"I can't do this" I said, sitting up and putting my face in my hands.

"Hey" he said softly, sitting up next to me and pulling my hands away from my face, "can't do what?"

"Everything. I'm scared. I don't want you to get hurt" was all I could manage.

"What do you mean Sutton? This isn't making any sense."

"I want to tell you but--"

"Quit it with the buts you should know you can tell me by now" he said, a little sternly.

I couldn't manage a response.

"Do you want me to go?" he asked.

I turned to look at him in shock, "Please, please don't" I replied, my voice quivering.

His expression relaxed, and he pulled me into his arms, both of us lying back down into the soft white flannel sheets. His body was so warm against mine, and I'd never felt as safe here with him in my entire life.

I knew it was my turn to speak, to tell him everything; he deserved it. He'd been nothing but good to me, but what if all of this sent him running for the hills? I decided I couldn't put it off any longer.

I lifted the blanket that was covering us slightly and turned farther into him so that my right side was facing up, I lifted my arm so he could see the bright pink scar that ran along the side of my rib cage and was about 4 inches long. He traced it with his finger and it sent a shiver down my spine.

I pulled the blanket back up and rolled back onto my back looking up to meet his gaze.

"Ian pushed me into a glass coffee table one time when he found out I'd driven up to see Leah one night without telling him. I came home and he was waiting for me in the living room. It wasn't the first time he'd been rough with me but he'd never used that much force before, the anger in his eyes was so terrifying.

He cried after, told me how much he loved me and I was stupid enough to believe him. I don't know if it was out of fear or what, but after he did things like that, he made me feel bad, ashamed that I'd made him so angry. I thought it was my fault for abandoning him, that I wasn't being a good fiance, that he needed me. If I messed up it was my fault and I deserved what he did.

He charmed me, and I didn't really have anywhere else to go. I didn't have concerned parents watching out for me, I didn't have close friends who would have seen the signs. All I had was him. He'd hit me so hard sometimes that I felt like I'd rather die than continue that way. I felt so trapped like there was no way out."

It felt no emotion as I was telling my story to Jack, like I'd tried so hard to forget it that it was like someone else's story. I turned my head to see that his eyes were glossed over, staring at the ceiling. I placed my hand gently on his cheek and he turned his heard to look at me.

"I can't even believe.." his voice trailed off shakily.

"I'm not trying to make you sad" I replied apologetically.

He took a deep breath before replying, "I just can't even begin to imagine someone laying a hand on you like that. You were what 22 when this was going on?!" he replied, raising his voice a little bit.

I nodded my head in response.

"You were engaged to him?"

"Yeah, I lived with him for a few months at his house. I know it doesn't make sense, it seems so illogical but I can't explain. Its not easy to walk away from something like that, that's why it happens to so many women."

"You were going to school at the time?"

"Yeah, we started dating the year before I started University" I replied.

"How did you get away?"

"One day the neighbour, her name was Mary had come over. She was only about 35, she had a couple kids and me and her had been chatting in the living room when she came over to ask me if she could use the phone because hers wasn't working. She went into another room to make the phone call when Ian came home and he didn't know she was in the house.

The look on his face gave me a clue as to what was coming. I hadn't filled the car up with gas the night before and he had to fill up on the way to work. He yelled at me, wondering how I could be so stupid. He slapped me hard enough across the face to leave a mark and then threw me into the kitchen table.

Mary heard the commotion and called the police. It was about 9 months ago now, and he went to jail. I thought I'd be safe continuing my life out here since he was locked up and it just so happens the night I met you was the first night he had gotten off on probation."

Jack was silent for a while, and I suddenly felt sick to my stomach. I could feel the tears welling up in my eyes, and they weren't because of what had happened to me. They were for the fear of losing Jack, he felt like the last piece of hope I had to hold on to.

I sat up and turned to look at him lying there, with a stunned look on his face.

"Are you going to say something?" I asked, the tears finally spilling out over my eyes.

"I'm just trying to figure out how I'm ever going to feel okay leaving you by yourself again."