Fighting to Be Free (Fighting to Be Free 1)

I smiled, she is so damn adorable! “I think I might have flu or something coming, and my head is pounding,” I lied. Well actually, that wasn’t a total lie, my head was killing me.

“Oh ok, well yeah the weekend then. Listen, I’d better go, stud, I need to get ready for school,” she said, sounding a little hurt. Great, maybe she didn’t believe me or something and just thought I didn’t want to see her. Damn it Jamie, you are such a prick!

“Ok, I’ll call you later in the week then. Have a good day.” I couldn’t help but feel disappointed that I would have to wait all week to see her again, it definitely felt like a long time.

“Yeah, hope you feel better.”

I pushed myself up out of the bed and went for a long, and fairly painful shower, even the water hurt when it touched my skin. I proudly paid my rent, ignoring the sneer from the guy as he looked at me. I couldn’t blame him really, I mean, I was a crappy ex-con with a banged up face, I didn‘t deserve much respect for that.

I rented a safe to keep my valuables in so I wouldn’t get caught in this situation again. Ray called to make sure I was ok, trying again to convince me to go to hospital, but I didn’t want to spend all of my hard earned cash on hospital bills for stuff that would heal itself anyway.

I didn’t have the energy to go out all day, so I just stayed around my room, reading yesterdays newspaper, maybe I should buy myself a book or something to pass the time. I had nothing else to do, tomorrow would be the same and hopefully Thursday I would be working.

At just after three o’clock there was a knock on my door. I pushed myself up and answered it. Ellie stood there looking towards the stairs, her whole body tense.

“What the hell are you doing here?” I asked, as I grabbed her and pulled her into the room quickly.

Damn it, she could have gotten hurt or something coming here on her own! Jeez, does this girl have no sense of self-preservation at all? If any of those ass**les out the front laid a finger on her, I swear I’ll rip their heads off.

She turned to look at me and gasped. “Holy shit, Jamie! What happened? Are you ok?” she asked, her eyes filling with tears.

What the hell is she crying for? “I’m fine. Why are you crying?” I asked, moving her away from the door so I could go out after whoever had upset her.

“Your face! Christ, Jamie,” she whispered, reaching out a hand to touch my lip.

I caught her hand, moving it away, interlacing our fingers. “I’m fine honestly, it probably looks worse than it is,” I reassured her, shrugging and ignoring the blast of pain that shot through my shoulder.

“What happened?” she asked, her lip trembling slightly. I stepped forward and wiped her tears with my free hand.

“Ellie, seriously, you don’t come here again, you understand me? You shouldn’t be here. That was just crazy, don’t do that again, you hear me?” I asked fiercely. Damn, I was so stupid being in this girls life, she shouldn’t be here. I tried desperately not to think of all of the things the scumbags in this building would do to a girl like her.

“I just wanted to come and see if you were ok. I brought you some medicine and food, in case you couldn’t go out to get it.” She held out a brown bag in evidence.

Wow, she is so freaking incredible. “You did? That’s really nice of you, Ellie. Thank you, but you shouldn’t ever come here on your own, hell I don’t even want you here when I’m with you, this isn’t a nice place,” I said softening my voice.

“What happened?” she asked again. She turned her hand over that I was holding, and looked at my sore and swollen knuckles.

“I was fighting,” I admitted, not wanting to lie to her. Maybe I needed to scare this girl away from me, maybe I needed to show her who I was, so that she wouldn’t want to hang out with me again.

She looked at me with wide eyes, “Well, are you ok? What did the doctor say? And why did you tell me you were sick?” she asked, frowning and stroking my fingers softly.

I sighed, damn it she’s still not scared. “I didn’t want you to see me like this, and yes I’m fine, the doctor said I was fine. Just bruises and a couple of tiny fractures,” I said dismissively.

She winced, “Fractures? Like broken bones? Where? What the hell?” she asked, shaking her head in disapproval.

“A couple of fingers and ribs that’s all. They’ll heal on their own, it’s no big deal, Ellie.”

She stepped forward and went up on her tiptoes to kiss me, but she still wasn’t tall enough, I smiled and pressed my lips to hers lightly. Why did she have to taste so good? It was like torture and I wished with every bone in my body that I was different, that I deserved her attention and sympathy, but I didn’t.

She pulled back after a second or two, “You’re really ok?” she whispered. I nodded and kissed her again, ignoring the pain from my lips and jaw. “Is there anything I can do?” she asked, trailing her fingers over my cheek and jaw, looking concerned.

“No, it’s ok I promise,” I replied, closing my eyes, enjoying her touch.

“Oh, well never mind then, Stud. I was going to offer to kiss it better, but if you’re ok then I wont….” she teased.

Oh shit, I would love that. “Well, it hurts a little,” I admitted, playing along.

She smiled and pulled me gently over to the bed, making me sit on the edge. Her hands went to the bottom of my t-shirt, she lifted it over my head, carefully. I clenched my jaw tight when I lifted my arms, so that I didn’t wince or anything. She gasped as she looked at me, her eyes filling with tears again.