44. Chapter Forty-Four
Chapter Forty-Four
Jaylen
H earing her panicked cries through the phone has my heart tearing itself apart inside of my chest as I hurry down the stairs, shouting Kaleb's name at the top of my lungs.
As I reach the bottom of the stairs, Kaleb and Sophia come hurrying into the foyer from the door between both staircases, looks of worry and concern painted on their faces.
"You need to drive me to Aurora's house, now!" I shout, shoving my feet into a pair of trainers and then grabbing the crutches that are beside the front door.
"What?" he asks, confusion laced in his tone as he frowns at me.
That's when I realise I used her actual name by mistake, and I practically growl with frustration.
"Rory's in trouble! I need you to fucking drive!"
Realisation automatically spreads across his face, and he jumps into action, turning to give Sophia a kiss on the forehead before he too is putting shoes on and rushing out the front door.
"Darling, if you can hear me, we're on our way, okay? Hang tight, baby. We'll be there soon," I say into the phone, listening to her sobbing on the other end of the line .
Kaleb floors it down the driveway and through the partially open gates, his tyres screeching as we shoot around a corner that leads us towards the busy London roads.
The car's still moving by time I jump out, and Kaleb's curses as he pulls the handbrake up and follows behind me, rushing to catch up with me while his eyes dart around the dark street.
"Aurora, baby, please tell me you're okay," I mutter through the phone, waiting for Kaleb to put in the code at the gate.
She doesn't respond, and my heart pumps wickedly inside my chest as I start to worry about what could've happened for her to have this reaction.
As soon as the gate is open, I swing through on my crutches as fast as I can towards the stairwell that leads up to Aurora's floor.
Abandoning my crutches at the bottom of the stairs, I wedge my phone between my shoulder and my ear and then place both hands on the banisters either side of me and hoist myself up, desperate to get to her as quick as I can.
"I'm coming, darling. I'm almost there," I tell her, clueless as to whether she can hear me, but still determined to try and reassure her in case she's still listening on the other end.
Heading up the last set of stairs that lead up to her level, my limbs are shaky, and I'm out of breath, but I don't let that slow me down as I hobble up the last couple steps, groaning at the pain in my legs from my muscles starting to lock up.
Kaleb almost crashes into my back as he rushes up the stairs behind me, likely not realising that I've stopped to catch my breath for a second.
"Here," he says, holding out my crutches.
I sigh in relief, taking them off him and then watch as he charges towards Aurora's apartment.
I follow after him, and just as I'm about to reach him, he kicks the door open, and moves to the side, allowing me to go into the apartment ahead of him.
My eyes frantically dart around the living room as Kaleb follows behind me and checks the kitchen.
As I move towards the hallway that leads off to two other rooms, I hear her heavy, uneven breathing, and I almost drop the crutches which are helping to hold me up in my haste to get to her.
I burst through her bathroom door and find her curled up in a ball in the centre of the bathroom, naked and shivering with her phone held loosely against her ear, and her eyes screwed shut.
Moving into the bathroom with her, I close the door behind me and then grab a towel and drape it over her before I seat myself on the floor and drag her into my lap.
"I'm here, baby. I'm right here," I whisper, cradling her in my arms and pressing soft, gentle kisses against the top of her head. "You're okay. I've got you."
Her fingers grasp onto my T-shirt as she pulls her shaking body even closer to mine, and she buries her tear-soaked face into my chest as she sobs and mumbles incoherent words .
After a few minutes, her breathing begins to even out, and she pulls away from me, only a couple inches.
Our eyes connect, and pain slashes across my chest at the fear I can see in her eyes.
"H-he's here," she whispers, her bottom lip trembling violently. "He found me."
My brows furrow in confusion.
I watch her eyes dart over to the shower and then feel the tremor run through her body before she tucks herself against me again and continues crying.
My gaze drags across the room, looking at the still running shower, and as I tilt my head further to the side, I see the fogged-up glass and the message written on it.
I wrap my arms firmly around her, peppering kisses against her damp hair as I slowly rock us back and forth.
"I've got you, Aurora. You're safe, I promise."
I spend the next ten minutes, comforting her until her sobbing finally dissipates as she falls asleep against my chest, still clinging to my clothes as if she's afraid to let me go.
Once I'm certain she's fast asleep, I shuffle myself away from the door and then carefully remove one of my arms from around her so that I can pull the door open, grateful for the cool breeze that sweeps into the steamy room.
"Kaleb," I whisper harshly as I use all of the effort left inside of my body to lift myself and Aurora from the floor, careful not to jostle her body around too much. "Can you turn the shower off and open a window? "
He pops his head round the corner, his brows raised in concern as he takes in my sweaty appearance, damp clothes, and Aurora's limp body in my arms.
"You good?" he asks, watching me grimace as I move to walk past him.
"Yeah," I bite out, ignoring the pain shooting through my body as I walk into the tiny bedroom opposite me, carefully sitting down on the bed and readjusting Aurora in my lap.
He disappears from my sight for a moment, and I hear the shower turn off before he reappears.
"Is she okay?"
I shrug and look down at her, seeing her face screwed up as if she's also in pain.
"I don't know, but something's going on, and as soon as she's awake, I'm going to figure this shit out," I tell him.
"Need me to do anything?"
"Fixing her front door would be a good start."
"Yeah, I already called Leo. He's at a meeting with Dominic at the moment, but he said he should be able to get here within the next hour, and we'll get it sorted."
I nod, and glance around her room, frowning at how empty it is.
I know she hasn't lived here long, and she clearly left Ireland in a hurry, but the room is bare, and the boxes that are stacked against the wall indicate that she doesn't plan to stay here longer than she needs to.
Her grip on my clothes starts to loosen as she falls deeper into sleep, so I shuffle around and carefully place her in the centre of the bed, keeping the towel wrapped around her body .
I cautiously unwrap my arms from around her body, and when she doesn't react, I step away from the bed as quietly as I can and step out of her room, partially closing the door behind me.
"What the hell is going on, man?" Kaleb asks, walking down the little hallway and into her living room.
"I don't know much, but I do know she's running from someone, someone that absolutely terrifies her, and I'm assuming he's caught up to her because there was a taunting message on her shower door."
"What did it say?"
"Found you, with a smiley face on the end."
"Damn, that's twisted," he states, shaking his head.
"That means that whoever it is that's after her has been in this apartment."
"Okay, so we get her a new door, with multiple locks, and we install cameras outside that you can monitor," he says, pulling out his phone to make a list. "I'll also make sure that Leo and Charlie are placed out on the street at all times.
I can also text Miles and get him to send us a picture of every other tenant in the building so that we know if there's anyone lurking around who shouldn't be here.
" When he turns to look at me, he laughs. "No need to look so horrified."
"I'm just shocked," I tell him, moving to sit on the sofa so that I can rest my legs. "I'd expect you to do all of this if Sophia was in trouble, but I wouldn't expect you to care when it comes to Rory."
He scowls at me.
"Firstly, I'm offended that you seem to think I'm such a heartless prick.
Secondly, you pretty much saved my life, so I kind of owe you," he adds, rolling his eyes.
"Also, there's no point calling her Rory now because you fucked up earlier and called her Aurora, which honestly confused the fuck out of me, but then I realised that you obviously know more than we do and haven't decided to share said new information with us yet. "
"You'll all continue to call her Rory. She confided in me, and I fucked up because I panicked and wasn't thinking clearly, but that doesn't mean that you can all be privy to the information she shares with me," I spit.
He holds his hands up, and steps back with a wide smile on his face.
"Chill. No need to get all feisty with me, King. I'll respect it, but only because Sophia would probably rip my balls off."
Huffing in frustration, I get up from the sofa and walk into the kitchen, opening all of the cupboards until I find some cleaning supplies.
"I'm gonna go clean the bathroom. Go wait outside, will ya?"
I don't wait for his response as I storm past him down the hallway.
Before I go into the bathroom, I peek my head into the bedroom to make sure she's still asleep and then I get to work, scrubbing every inch of glass in the shower until I'm positive there's no more messages that could fuck with my girl's head.