No Heroes Here.

18. Police

The floor disappears from beneath me as the menacingly look in his eyes goes wild as his nose begins to bleed. I gasp as my body meets the shelves behind me again but at full force. His hand has moved from my jaw to my throat and my hope has moved to the trash.

As he picks me up, using in my face, I realize 3 things: no one is going to help me in this damn supermarket and I hate him. I hate this man in front of me. The man that saved me from a monster has become the same monster that he saved me from. The last thing I realized is that I haven't changed. I'm the same girl who always seems to be abused by someone she loved no matter how much she tries to protect herself.

Pain bursts across my face as he slaps me before I'm dropped to the ground. I look up and find Andrew holding Daniel back, that's when I finally hear someone yelling for him to leave me alone.

Daniel is very much bigger than Andrew and Andrew is having a hard time holding onto him. Holding my now swollen face, I scoot back, not having feeling in my legs to run. Hands grab under my shoulders and help me move back before help in me stand.

I don't drop eye contact with Daniel. Not even as I begin to cry. I want him to see my hate and what he has done to me. But I don't think he does, I think he's blinded by his own anger.

"I called the police, they are on their way!" Yells and elderly voice. My body tenses and I fall back to the ground.

The police don't help anything. If I've learned anything from those years with Christopher, the threat of the police just makes them angrier.

I scramble on the floor, the blood on my right hand from holding my face makes me slip as I try to stand. Finally making it to my feet, I push off the shelves and get moving, running.

I never thought I would be running for my safety again but I am. I have no where to run because where ever I go, I would put everyone in danger.

I turn down aisles and find the supermarket exit,nearly running into the automatic doors as they slowly open. I make it outside and see that it is pouring down raining, lightning decorating the sky.

I peek back for a second before I begin running again. My mind blanks as my shies hit the pavement, the sound barely reaching my ears. I lose track of time. I'm blocks away from the market when I hear someone yelling my name.

No.

I turn and run down a hill, heading towards trees. But I lose my footing, sliding in mud and rolling down the rest of the hill. A tree breaks my roll, and I'm pretty sure it breaks one of my ribs also.

The tree keep the rain off of me as I lay there. Someone is yelling my name again, they sound closer. I just close my eyes and lay there.

---

"You're getting too close to the case."

"She is not the case, he is. She is just in the crossfire and I intend on taking her out."

I open my eyes and find Dawson and his partner a few feet away from me, speaking quietly. My clothes feel sticky on me as I move on the leather couch. I let out a small noise as one side of my ribs ache.

Both men look at me, dawson excusing himself. He walks over to me, "hey, I called your friend, Telara? She's on her way over with some clothes for you--"

He's interrupted by knocking on the door. His partner opens the door and tee's panicked voice fills my ears, "where is she?" She brushes past the partner, her eyes landing on me. She runs over, falling to her knees and sliding the rest of the way to me.

"Oh my god, oh my god! Oh my god, Stephanie, I am going to kill him." Her voice is soft but here eyes are full of emotion. "I cannot believe he did this to you! Oh my god, one on, get up, let's get you cleaned up." She moves the blanket from over me and grabs under my arm. I grit my teeth as I lean up, balancing on one hand.

Tee catches one look at my face, "what hurts? Point it out." She demands. I point to my midsection and she raises my shirt and curses. I peep down and see that the left side seems to be entirely purple.

Not saying anything she just shakes her head and helps me stand the rest of the way. She looks over to Dawson who was quietly watching with his partner, "spare room?"

"Down the hall, first room on the right."

Moments later, I am sitting on a fluffy bed, naked as Tee makes a hot bath for me in the connected bathroom. I stare at my swollen feet, knowing better than to look at the mirror in front of me.

"Okay, come on." Tee says as she walks back into the room. She puts her arm around my waist and leads me into the bathroom and right to a large jacuzzi like tub. She holds my hand as I walk up the stairs that lead to the tube and lower myself into the hot water.

I groan as the heat hits my side and lessens the pain. Tee takes my hair out of its dirty ponytail and it slides down my back, curling as it hits the water. I lean my back against the wall of the tub and close my eyes a little.

Something drops into the water and peek down to find a bath bomb dissolving. "What happened Steph?" She asks quietly.

I look at her and sigh, "they cornered me, him and Andrew. Andrew said that he heard about the detectives showing up at the club. I said something smart and Daniel just started snapping. We barely argued before he had my jaw in his hands." I touch my has and flinched. "I asked him to get off of me, Andrew told him to chill but he wasn't listening to anyone. I begged for him to let me go. He wouldn't; he slammed me into the stuff behind me. So I swung on him." I look up to the ceiling, blinking back tears, "and he slapped Me. That's when Andrew grabbed him." I look back to Tee who has her hands covering her mouth. "He said that I'm not the woman from two years ago but its not me, it's him, Tee. He's the one that changed." My tears are falling now and Tee looks just as heartbroken as I feel.

She wipes her tears before reaching and wiping mine, "look, you gotta stay low for a while, okay? You can't stay with me because that's the first place they will look. So on the way here, Dawson said that he wouldn't mind if you stayed here with him for a while, just until you heal and they can catch Daniel--"

"No, I can't hide, I don't hide-- if you think me being here is going to keep me safe then you're out of your mind. If he wanted to get to me, he would've got me by now."

"Then what do you want us to do? Keep you in the open?!"

"No, Let me live my life! This isn't the first time I've gotten my ass beat or have you forgotten?" I lower my tone a bit, knowing that Dawson isn't far. "I'll stay here, that's fine, but I'm not going to stay cooped up like I'm in the witness protection program."