Cookie

47

Two weeks passed by without another word from Jasper and not even the protection order mom got for both of us and Tiffany couldn't ease my nightmares. Because despite the hot strong body that was always next to me, despite the fact that I was never left alone for more than 5 minutes, despite the fact every one of my friends tried to make me feel safe, I keep seeing Jasper's empty eyes when I close mine at night, I still feel the burning sensation on my cheek from the slap. 

"He's just waiting" Tiffany keeps on saying every day making me feel sick to my stomach. Truth be told, she knows him best, she had to deal with this monster all her life, while we just met him. 

Fear is a feeling that became my second nature since that day in the parking lot, like a second skin that makes me see shadows and ghosts at every corner. I am always afraid, in the morning when I have to leave the house to go to classes, leaving mom alone for so many hours. In the middle of the day when I keep imagining Jasper entering our home as if nothing happened, whispering mom his delusions about their future. When I get out of Liam's car, those five seconds before opening the door to see mom waiting for us with hot coffee and tasty food. Every night when a loud noise breaks through my window making me shiver and scream next to Liam's hot strong body. I am afraid, but not for me, never for me, but my mom. 

Mom in her innocence thought Jasper was going through a rough phase, that he's feeling probably lonely now that both his daughters turn their back on him. She believed me when I told her about the incident, she was so angry and ready to take out his eyes for hitting me, but mom didn't see him that day, she could not understand the emptiness that I saw in his eyes, how heartless I felt him to be. She called the cops and asked for a restriction order for both of us and Tiffany, she received it, but she doesn't feel as in danger as me and Tiffany. She hadn't seen the monster yet. 

Tiffany moved with Anne to Liam's house, his parents were happy to help us after hearing the monster Jasper turned out to be. They were officially still working with him, but he took a three months vacation since Christmas, so they didn't have to face him. Tiffany bloomed the past two weeks, feeling safe and cared for probably for the first time in her life and everyone seemed to like this new side of her, including mom, who was more than happy to cook Tiffany's favorite dishes when she came over and talk with her for hours. It was nice to see them like that, it was nice to have the confirmation that mom didn't hate her, that she understands my sister was just another victim in Jasper's path.

Victims. That's what all three of us were... all four of us, including Tiffany's mother, even if Jasper managed to pull her on his side, she was a victim too, even if she was not aware of it yet. I couldn't stop myself from always thinking about her, about why on earth she would not follow her daughter, why wouldn't she defend her? 

"How much time could a person stay in a bathtub?" Liam's soft voice pulling me back to the present seconds before his large body appears in the door frame. His usual black pants and shirt hugging his muscles in all the right places, making him look even hotter than normal. On his beautiful face, a cocky smile appears when he sees my eyes lingering on his clothes like they could disappear if I concentrate long enough. "Seeing something you like, cookie?"

"Mhm," I said smiling at him, despite everything feeling so happy and at peace only at the sight of him. I can't and I don't want to remember how my life used to be before Liam, how dark and sad everything was around me. Even these days his simple presence makes everything better, bearable because I know at any moment that he will have my back, no matter what he will have my back. 

I get out of the now not-so-hot water, my wet skin glowing in the light of the candles I've lighted up around the bathtub. Liam's eyes widen and a hungry expression enlights his features making my knees tremble and my body burn. He takes a step towards me just as I get out of the bathtub water falling everywhere around me and he wraps me in the white big towel that was hanging close to the bathtub.