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“Someone said that he’s here because he’s foundher. Now I don’t know if they’re talking about Hope, but—”
“The chance of it being Hope is high,” I cut him off as I watch her through the window. “Fuck.”
"You have to tell her," Jackson says, and I already know that I just don't want to.
“Yeah, I know.” We make our way back to the house. “Stay close today, we’re going to see her friend and … I don’t…” I pause again. I don’t want her to go see her friend just in case, but I can’t tell her to hide away either.
“I’m close, let me know when you go to the park and I’ll be close by,” Jackson tells me.
Maybe the bastard doesn't know where Hope is, but I'm not taking any chances. If he finds her, I want Jackson close enough to get her away from him.
“Would you like some coffee or juice?” Hope brings the plates to the table and I look over at Jackson to let him know that we are talking to her now about it.
"Coffee please."
Sitting down, I wait for Hope to join us. "You really need to fix that fucking tile," Jackson says as he looks behind me, making me turn around as Hope walks past it and glances down at it. "You can tell the tile annoys the hell out of her." I start laughing.
As Hope sits down, I give her a nudge. “Someone is coming to rip out the tiles next week, so you better pick a new design,” I tell her.
"I was thinking wood floors that run all through the kitchen and the dining area, so that it's all the same, but it's your house so—"
“It’sourhouse. We can do that, have you picked any out?”
“No, I’ll have a look in the book.”
“Hope, we need to talk about something—”
"He's found me. I kind of thought that when you and Jackson went outside." I can hear the nervousness in her voice, and I'm worried about how it's going to affect her.
"We don't know, it's just what we hear at the moment, but Jackson will let us know the second he finds something out."
Hope looks down at her food and starts playing with it with her fork. She better not be shutting down on me. I know that she knows I won’t let anything happen to her, so I need her to still have faith that everything will be okay.
"What time do you want to leave to see your friend?" I ask her. I need to get her out of the thoughts that she's having. If she talked to me about the thoughts I wouldn't mind so much, but she's keeping them to herself, and that will make her go crazy.
“You still want to go?”
“Yes, you’re not hiding. Hope, I’ll do anything to protect you, so I don’t care how my times I fall, I’ll get up until I know that you’re safe.”
She goes to say something but stops; I think my words came out in a firm tone, enough for her to know that wearegoing. I look over at Jackson, as I feel he has something to say.
“What?”
"I just think that it won't be an easy, torture kill. He seems too smart for that. It might just have to be that you kill him when you get the chance." He moves his attention over to Hope, then back to me. I take a quick glance at her too to see how she is reacting.
"You won't find him alone," Hope adds. I look over to her as she continues to play with her food. Her hands are shaking, and it's clear that she's scared. Her breathing rate has started to pick up. Something is preying on her mind right now and if I ask her, she might shut down on me.
"Hey," I say, placing my hand on hers. "Eat something, then have a shower, get dressed. Don't worry about anything."
She's going to worry about this every second of the day until it's over. I have no idea how to reassure her when I know myself what he's like. To me he is still the man that abused me, hurt me, but to Hope, he's so much more. He's the man that took her in when her family was taken away from her. He was the man that was meant to look after her, but instead, he hurt her, abused her, raped her and then sold her. Even after he sold her, he was still there to make sure she was following the rules. She knows him a lot better than we do, but my worry is that she's scared he'll take her back.
* * *
Later we walk to the café so that Hope can get her friend some coffee and food. She hasn't said much since this morning, and I haven't asked her anything because I don't want to upset her.
“Would you like to have lunch somewhere today?” I ask. Now, I’m not really a person that likes to eat out or be out in public for very long, but I know a few places that know me well enough to give me my own space. That was the mistake I made last time. I should have called my friend ahead of time and asked him to get me a table at the side of the restaurant, but I didn’t think. So I won’t be making that mistake again.
“Don’t mind.” I watch her as she walks around people with her head down. I expected her to hide away from everyone knowing that Jack is in New York. She asked me before we left if it was better going to visit her friend in the evening and when I asked why she looked away. I suppose I already knew the answer to that question. She’s more comfortable in the dark outside; less people and because she knows all the little cracks on the pavement she won't ever have to look up. To anyone, she would just be a ghost.
