Page 105 of Protective Love

"Put your clothes in here and leave it outside your room. I'll sort them out."

"Can you stop fussing over him and show me some attention now?" Kaleb teases.

Jaylen snorts behind us and Sophia laughs as she makes her way over to him.

"You gonna make it up the stairs okay?" Leo asks, watching me and Jaylen cautiously.

"Yeah, we'll manage," Jaylen grunts, shaking his head.

Holding him tightly, we slowly make our way towards the stairs, and then gradually make our way up them.

When we reach the top, Jaylen's body sways slightly, I push us forward, determined to help him make it to his room before his body finally gives in.

"Did you speak to Chrissie?" he asks, his voice quiet.

"Yeah, I called her while I was helping Sophia paint. I told her I'd update her properly tomorrow because I was too worried and distracted to explain everything to her."

"Aww, you were worried about little old me?" he teases as we reach his bedroom.

Forcing the door open with my foot, we trudge into the room, and I lead him to the comfy looking chair by the small table in his room, helping him sit down on it.

"Yes, I was," I tell him, leaning down until our faces are level. "I was petrified because I thought there was a possibility I was going to lose you tonight."

His droopy eyes pierce through mine and his lips tug up into a small smile.

"You'll never lose me, Aurora. You're stuck with me for the rest of eternity."

Resting my forehead against his, I knead my fingers into his neck.

"I hope so," I whisper.

Getting him into the bathroom was a tough task, but getting his clothes off proves to be much harder.

His body seems to have shut down, and he's sitting slumped down on the marble bench in his shower, staring blankly at the wall opposite him.

Unstrapping the holster with the knife in it from his thigh, I carefully toss it across the room. Then I undo his belt from around his waist, tugging it out of the loops of his trousers and throwing that out of the shower too.

"You think you can help me a little with this?" I ask, tugging at the hem of his top.

His eyes flick up to mine and the crease forming between his brows deepens.

"I'm sorry," he whispers, staring at me through glassy eyes. "I should've made him suffer more."

Kneeling between his legs, I shake my head.

"You did more than enough, baby. Now let's stop thinking about it and focus on getting these clothes off of you, okay?"

I roll the T-shirt up his torso, grimacing when I see mottled bruises across his skin, covering his freshly healed scar.

"It doesn't hurt," he says, seeing what snagged my attention. "Not too much, anyway."

His hands move to mine, and he helps me lift his top the rest of the way over his chest and head.

We both tug the sleeves down, the mix of dried, crusty blood and wet, gloopy blood mixing together making it an almost impossible task.

Finally managing to get it off of him, I grab the bag that Sophia gave us and chuck the top inside it.

"I think I cracked his skull open," Jaylen says, staring down at his bloodied hands. "I just saw red, and I snapped. Thinking about everything he'd done to you fuelled my rage and I stopped thinking logically. I just carried on going, and if Kaleb didn't stop me, I think I'd still be there now."