Chapter 8: Chapter 8

Chapter Eight

Ava

I collided into Jasper. My eyes met his concerned one and without thinking, I hugged him tightly. My body was seeking protection from him.

"Jasper, save me." I begged him in a shaking voice. He pulled me away from him and pushed me sideways. Right as I stumbled on a side, he blocked a hand in the air.

A hand that was holding a knife.

The intruder that was running after me, had a knife in his hand which was blocked by Jasper's. Jasper's other hand curled into a fist and he pulled it back before slamming it on the intruder's face.

A loud crack echoed around, followed by a loud cry and a blood sputtering from the intruder's nose.

The intruder went with the blow and slammed down hard on the ground. Very calmly, Jasper pulled out his phone and handed it to me.

"Go outside and call the police." He told me with a clenched jaw and strode towards the injured guy. Jasper looked livid like he would kill him.

And I hope he will.

I was so scared that it took a few seconds for me to register his order. Although, when I did understand his words' meaning, I wasted no time and ran away from there like hell. I ran a block away. Until I felt that it was safe enough to stop.

I called the police and told them my address. I told them to hurry up.

For more than five minutes, I stood there and waited in fear, until I finally walked back to the place. I saw the red and blue lights of police cars.

The police were here. I hurried up and reached out to one of the policemen. He was writing something on his paper board.

"Excuse me. Did you get the intruder?" I asked him. He glanced at me and stopped writing. He put the pen inside his jacket pocket.

"Are you the one who called us, Miss?" He asked me.

"Yes. Did you get the guy?" I asked him, again. My heart was still racing like hell.

"Yeah. He was knocked off by some guy so we sent him to the hospital first. May I ask you your name, Ma'am?" He asked me. I licked my lips nervously.

"My name is Ava White." I told him. My eyes searched around, looking among the police officers but I could not find him anywhere. I turned to the police officer as he whispered something into the radio station.

"Excuse me." I said to get his attention. He stopped speaking and looked at me.

"Do you know where the other guy is? Who knocked the intruder down?" I questioned him. Disregarding my question, he questioned me instead, "Miss, do you want to file a complaint against the intruder?" He asked.

I was about to answer him when his eyes darted behind my head, as something else caught his attention.

Right before I spun around to look at what he was looking at, a warm jacket fell on my shoulder, enveloping me in something warm and masculine scent.

Jasper came to stand at my side.

And OH MY GOD ...

His tall figure, his fit manly figure especially his serious yet calm features made me die out of relief. One look at his face and I felt like somebody had put a blanket of protectiveness on me.

"Yes. She will press charges." He told the officer and looked down at me, expecting me to back up his answer.

"If you don't press charges then he will go on with this and might actually end up raping and killing someone else. You got off lucky but others might not." He explained it to me, as a way of convincing me to press charges. His words hit me hard and I realised that he was right. This guy would not stop. He will go on hurting some other innocent people. These sorts of people need to go to jail.

I turned to the police officer.

"I will press charges." I answered the officer. The officer nodded and took down the whole report. Finally, all of them left, leaving me alone with Jasper.

The air had turned cold and also a little windy. I hugged Jasper's jacket closer around me.

Finally, I glanced at him. He was looking at me. After a second, he spoke.

"Are you feeling okay? Were you hurt?" He asked me, I swallowed a little and shook my head.

"Then why are you shivering?" He asked me. His question made me realise the fact that I WAS shivering. I was vibrating like a machine. I clenched my hand in fist to stop the tremors to no avail. All the fear, panic and horror I felt came back to me. My adrenaline was running inside me, making me all shaky.

The utter terror I felt when I felt like I might die and would lose my baby.

However, I was safe now.

All of a sudden, I lost control over my body, my knees wobbled and my legs gave away.

Jasper caught me in mid fall. I caught a glance of his bloody knuckles and felt my heart slammed against my chest.

"Whoa. Ava, are you okay?" He asked as he held on to me. I nodded, trying to ignore his bruised knuckles and tried to give him a small smile but failed miserably.

I tried to stand up on my feet again but my knees just did not listen to me.

The pain I was feeling from inside was too much. My stomach churned and I felt like throwing up.

"I am okay. Just shaky." I replied. Out of nowhere, a sob broke out of me.

"Hey ..." Jasper pulled me to him and hugged me tightly as I started shaking with crying. Jasper hugged me tightly, and began stroking my hair.

I buried my face inside his chest and bowled my eyes out. From time to time, I spoke in the middle.

"I would have lost ... my baby could have died ... he almost got to me ... he would have killed ... my baby." I shook with my sobs and mumbled nonsense. My heart clenched every time I remembered the moment he got so close to me. My baby would have died because of him. He would have stabbed me with that knife.

I cried and cried until no more tears came out. Finally, my sob died down yet my legs did not obey my command. My legs still felt like jelly - o. No matter how much I commanded them to get up, they did not listen.

Maybe, Jasper realised it too, because he lifted me up in bridal style and carried me inside the house. He closed the door with his leg and brought me upstairs to my room. He placed one knee on my bed and gently put me down.

"Stay here. I will be back." He said and disappeared out the door. A minute passed, but then I heard his footsteps coming upstairs. He appeared in the doorway with a cup of green tea. He gave it to me and sat down on the bed beside me.

I took it from him.

"You did not have to do this." I told him as I soaked in the warmth of the cup.

"It will help you calm down." He told me as an answer. I did not argue with him and instead took a sip from it.

It had an amazing, soothing effect.

My spiked up heart rate calmed down a little. I took another sip. All of a sudden my eyes darted to his hands and I halted in the middle from taking another sip.

His bruised knuckles.

How could I be so selfish?

How could I forget about his injured hand?

I placed my tea on the side table and took his hand in mine. He looked a little alerted until he saw what I was staring at.

My shameful eyes met his.

"I'm sorry for this. I will get an ice pack for these bruises." I told him and slid my foot down from and began to get up but Jasper's hand stopped me.

"Don't worry about it. It's just a little bruised. Worry about yourself and your baby." He advised me with a small smile.

"But, your hand ..." I said, gazing at his wounds. He shook his head.

"I told you not to worry about it. Now go to sleep. I will sleep downstairs on the couch." He told me. He stood up to go downstairs but I stopped him by grabbing his hand.

"Can you sleep in here with me?" I asked in a meek voice. I was ashamed of the fact that I was still scared even after the police had caught the intruder. For a few seconds, he only stared at my face blankly, then he sighed out loud.

I could only wonder how my face looked now. Tear stricken, frightened, flushed and exhausted.

"Okay. I will sleep on the floor then. You could sleep on the bed." He apprised the situation.

I wanted to tell him that he could sleep on the bed. That we could sleep together on the bed together, but did not. I had no intention of making any advances or making any move but him sleeping on the ground made me feel guilty.

I knew by the look of his face that he had made up his mind so I did not even bother to convince him.

He made a bed of blankets and threw a pillow on it. When we were settled in our respective beds, I spoke.

"Thank you." I said to him,

"Don't mention it." He replied. His reply brought a smile to my face.

After that it did not take me a lot of time to fall asleep.