I slam the door to Jaime’s place behind me, leaning against it for a second before sliding down it, my heart is beating out of time to my breathing and my whole body is shaking with fierce sobs but I don’t want to let them out, I don’t want to give Mike the satisfaction of the fact that he’s made me a weak, blubbering mess. To my left, I can hear sounds coming from the music room above which means that Jaime and Vic must be having a little practice session; it all stops as soon as they hear the front door closing.

“Tone? Is that you back?” Jaime calls down the stairs, his melodic voice drifting down towards me peacefully.

I don’t reply to him straight away, instead I try my best to take in a few deep calming breaths, my mind focusing intently on steadying myself as I stand back up on my feet, my arms using both the door and wall beside me for support before calling up to Jaime.

“Yeah. It’s me.” I call out, my voice straining slightly with the pressure of the air around me; it felt thick and I couldn’t help but think that it was going to suffocate me if I didn’t get away from everything soon. Along with the tears that were currently streaming down my cheeks, I felt like I was trapped within my own body with no chance of escape.

The sound of movement upstairs brought me out of my paranoid thoughts along with the sound of footsteps coming down the stairs. I hastily wipe away the tears from my eyes with the back of my hand and straighten myself up before Jaime reached the bottom step, his favourite bass guitar hanging loosely behind him and a smile spread across his face as he reads a sheet of what looks to be a page torn out from his music book.

“I’m really glad that you’re back Tone, I was hoping that you’d come and-” Jaime starts to say but as soon as he looks up at me, the smile is instantly washed off of his charming features and replaced with genuine concern.

I can feel the tears starting to build up again as he rushes towards me without a further thought crossing his mind as he completely disregards the piece of paper that he was previously reading as he wraps his strong arms protectively around my waist, pulling me protectively towards his chest.

“Turtle, what‘s wrong?” Jaime asks softly, using the nickname that he had given me on the first night that we had met almost two and a half years ago.

“Hime-Time. He…Michael, he…h-hit me!” Is all that I can manage to choke out before I feel myself breaking down again in his familiar embrace.

I feel Jaime tighten his grip on me as he rests his head on top of my own, letting out a raged sigh as he takes in a deep breath, trying to calm himself down as he muttered “that bastard” under his breath.

“I won‘t let him hurt you again Tony Turtle, I promise. I‘m not going to let him come anywhere near you ever again.” Jaime whispers in my ear as I bury my head in the crook of his neck, my tears falling from my eyes and onto his thin looking shirt.

I want to reply to his soothing words, to say something, anything in response but my throat is too dry and sore from crying so much. Instead, I just look up at him and within an instant I’m drawn into his gaze, a look of anger in his eyes towards Mike but a look of compassion directed towards me. I’m scared of what he’s thinking but at this moment I feel safe here in his arms and I can’t help but trust the words that he just spoke.

“Hime-Time!” I sob lightly into his shoulder as my hands grab onto him tighter.

I wrap my arms around his neck as he lifts me bridal style into his arms, carrying me into the cosy living room that he had decorated himself with random cushions and blankets thrown about in strategic areas, covering the many leather couches that were placed in the small room. Jaime holds me close to him as he takes off his bass guitar, setting it aside before lying down on the sofa with me beside him; all while he was doing this, he never loosened his grasp on me.

“Hime-Time!” I cry, my voice shaking as a small cry gets caught in the back of my throat.

“Shh, it‘s okay…I‘m here. It‘s okay. Everything’s going to be alright. I promise.” Jaime says quietly as he raises one hand from my waist up to my cheek, cupping it softly for a moment before he strokes a strand of hair away from my face, all the while humming a soft, unknown and calming tune in order to help me drift off into a deep sleep.

Notes

I know that I said that I was going to update this weekly, but then I thought...ah, what the hell; I'll update it daily instead!