Without A Trace(Luke Hemmings FF)

Four

Luke's POV:
I'm in the back alley behind the servo as planned. I pace back and forth, feeling a little uneasy at what's happening. I look at my phone. 1:59. He said that he'll be here. I hope he isn't lying to me. I see a shiny black Mercedes pull up and park and that is when my heart starts to race with adrenaline as the man got out of the car. He opens the back door and pulls Zoey out. She has more wounds than before and my heart aches knowing she had just been beaten again. Her face is soaked with tears and covered in fear. He holds a tight grip onto her arm and looks at me.

"I'm going to give you the girl and then I'm going to tell Mark that she got away and that is the story you two will stick to, yes?" The man says. I nod. He lets go of Zoey's arm. Zoey runs toward me and I grip her side and pull her close to me as the man gets back into the car and drives off. Zoey drops to the ground, sobbing. I thought that Mrs. Delany crying was the saddest thing I'd seen, but this tops that. I bend down and bring her to her feet.

"Come on. Let's get you out of here." I tell her, setting my hand on her back. She jumps at my touch. PTSD.

"I-I'm sorry." She apologizes.

"Don't be." I tell her with a hopefully warm smile. I lead her to my car and I get inside. She gets into the back.

"What are you doing?" I ask.

"What do you mean?" She asks.

"Why are you getting into the back?" I wonder. I can't read her face, but she gets into the passenger seat.

"S-Sorry. It's habit. They never let me sit up front." She explains. I feel a sickening ache in my stomach and I choke down a knot in my throat.

"Well, you're safe now." Is all I say as I pull out of the servo parking lot. When we get to the hotel, I get her one of my T-shirts and a pair of my pajama pants.

"You can shower and change into these. There's shampoo and body soap in there. I'm going to call my mum who will tell your mum that I have you and you're safe." I tell her, handing her the small stack of clothes.

"Can you, uh... Can you not t-tell anybody yet?" She requests and I look at her confused.

"I just need a little bit to gather myself before I get hounded with questions. I'm not the same girl I was before I was abducted." She explains and I nod.

"Sure." I tell her and she walks into the bathroom. I hear the shower running. I turn on the telly and put on MTV. I watch the Billboard's Hot 100 until I hear the shower turn off. I turn off the telly as she walks out of the bathroom looking slightly refreshed. She still has many visible bruises and scars that I can see on the skin that isn't covered by my clothes. She still looks frightened, even though she's safe now. I don't blame her. She probably has trust issues now. She looks at her bruises on her neck in the closet mirror. I see her lip start to quiver as she brings her hand up and grazes her fingertips over the markings. I stand up and walk over to her.

"Why don't you get some sleep? I'll sleep on the sofa." I tell her. She just nods. She isn't much for words, but it will take a bit to get her to open up. Like an onion. Layer by layer. I really want to know what my father meant by, 'filming another movie.' She settles into bed and I lay on the sofa.

...

After an hour of not being able to sleep, I looked over at Zoey who was sound asleep. I've never admired her beauty the way I am now. Even though she's covered in bruises and scars, she's the most beautiful girl I've ever seen.

The next morning:

I never ended up being able to fall asleep, so I got up and got Zoey and I some breakfast. When I walk back into the hotel room, I see her clutching her knees to her chest and crying. I quickly set the plates on the dresser and sat next to her on the bed and put my arm around her slowly, to prevent triggering her PTSD.

"Hey, you're okay, now. I promise. I'm going to get you back home safe and sound and you can go back to your normal life." I promise.

"I'll never be able to go back to my normal life. I've seen too much. I'm not that innocent little girl I was before I was abducted. I'm anything but innocent." She whimpers.

"Hey, Zoey, you are innocent. Anything that you did during this past year isn't your fault, okay? You are a beautiful and intelligent girl and I don't want to see you beat yourself up over whatever happened with my father." I tell her. She nods. I stand up to get our food.

"Hey, Luke?" She calls quietly in the softest and purest voice causing me to turn around.

"Yes?" I answer her.

" I answer her.

"Why did you decide to look for me?" She asks. I grab the food and sit on the bed cross-legged.

"My mum and I brought food to your house and our mums were talking about your disappearance and your mum's information jogged my memory of what I knew about that day." I explain. She furrowed her brows as she drank her orange juice.

"What do you know about that day?" She wonders.

"I had seen you talking to Brad, so I called Brad the day before yesterday. He told me that he saw you get into a black Mercedes. I didn't even know my dad had a Mercedes and I thought my dad was dead, so I never suspected him. I asked around and it made me think that maybe my dad was alive. I knew about his house in Tasmania, so I drove there." I state. She took a bite of her waffle and her eyes watered. I take it she hasn't eaten anything decent in a year.

"Is it good?" I ask. She nods, still chewing her food.

"All I've had since I've been there was buttered bread and when I was lucky, be would toast the bread and water." She tells me. I set my hand on hers, causing her eyes to dart to mine.

"Well, how about I take you to the best dinner I know when we get back?" I give her a sympathetic smile. She half smiles and nods. We finish eating in silence and I clear our plates.

"I'm about to take you to buy some clothes." I tell her.

"Oh, no, that's okay." She replies.

"Come on, I insist." I urge, but she shakes her head.

"I could never trouble you to go through the time and money of buying me clothes. Trust me, you've done more than enough." She tugs a loose strand of her hair behind her ear.

"Zoey, trust me. Money isn't an issue. My dad had a huge life insurance policy and when we thought he was dead; the money went to me." I explain. She looks down at her fingernails.

"Besides, if we're going to go to the amusement park, you should probably wear something other than my batman trousers." I add with a hopefully charming smirk. She looks up at me.

"The what?" She says with a look that I can't read. What is it with this girl? I've always been able to read a girl like the back of a cereal box. I can tell if they're clingy, slutty, or a good girl just by looking at them, but Zoey... I can't read her.

"Luke?" He adds, pulling me out of my daze.

"Let's go." I smile and grab my keys off of the dresser. She stands to her feet and follows me out of the hotel room, to the lift, and then to my car before we leave.