I'm here. (Tim Bradford)

13

Maya Jackson.

As the evening began to mellow out, people slowly started to leave.

It was almost 9pm, and me and Tim sat down on the couch, watching a movie together.

He kept glancing at his phone, a worried expression on his face. But I didn't want to push it, hell I wasn't sure if I even wanted to know what it was about.

So many ideas ran through my head.
Is he cheating on me? Is something wrong with his ex wife? Is his sister injured?

But I knew it wouldn't have been any of those. The first one wouldn't happen, and the other two he'd say something about.

I knew I would know eventually, but I didn't know if I'd be able to handle it the longer it took.

I looked over at Tim. "What's going on, you've seemed anxious all night and pushed me away earlier." My tone was soft, as my eyes stayed on him.

"I don't think it's best that you know, Maya." His blue eyes were clouded with worry, and his bottom lip was being pulled in by his teeth slightly.

"You can talk to me, Tim. I want to know what's going on, what's causing you so much stress." I grabbed his hand gently, rubbing soft circles on the top.

"It's Aaron Hugo.. he's escaped prison." Tim looked at me with worry covering his face.

My body froze. My heartbeat was racing in my chest, my breath was being caught in my throat.

I immediately got up and made sure all doors and windows were locked. I also cleared my house to just be safe.

"How do you know this." I looked at him worriedly. He had followed me through the whole house.

"He called me... threatening to hurt you, and to put everyone else in danger." His voice cracked, fear and regret shown through his eyes.

My breathing wasn't steady, I was gasping in deep breaths and releasing them hard.

I had made a promise to myself to always protect the ones around me, but how am I supposed to do that if the leader of the Raven Mafia is out to get me again.

I thought I escaped it after we arrested him, he was sentenced to life in prison. I was never supposed to see the smirk on his face again.

This isn't something I'll escape from ever. He already haunts my dreams, now he will carry that into my day to day life.

I had gotten good at controlling the panic attacks I experience when thinking or talking about him. But now I'm unsure if I can even do that.

Tim was looking at me, noticing how frozen up I had become. He walked over slowly and pulled me into his arms. Adding enough pressure to remind me what's real and what isn't.

"Deep breaths, in for four, hold, out for five." He repeated the pattern multiple times until my breathing was under control.

"I don't know what I'm supposed to do. How am I supposed to protect you all when I can't even protect myself." Tears built up in my eyes like water overrunning a dam, it was begging to burst.

I turned my hands into fists, holding onto his shirt tightly as tears escaped.

"Maya, you don't have to protect us. You need to put yourself first, we will all be here for you. But I cannot leave you here alone especially with the threats he is throwing around." He whispered on top of my head.

I knew he was right, I knew I should put myself first. But Aaron is a force to be reckoned with, there is nothing that will stand in his way.

And I was the main reason he was being forced to stay still.

The months of therapy and training just fell down the drain by the new information.

"We need to tell Grey." I whispered through broken sobs.

"We will honey, just breathe." He held me until I finally calmed down.

I quickly grabbed my bag and made Tim follow me.

We got into my car and I drove to the police station. I knew grey would be there due to him having taken most of the day off to be at my party.

It took ten minutes for us to get there. I hurriedly rushed in, pushing the doors open hard and not stopping until I got to Grey's office.

I walked in with Tim behind me.

"Grey, Aaron Hugo has escaped."

~~
To be continued