Within moments, Lucas enclosed his arms around me tightly. My heart was thumping and my mind was spinning. I couldn't think or even breathe properly.

Without any words, he swept me up in his arms and began to make his way through the crowd. The crowd seemed to part for him and I stared in awe as he walked among them. I ducked my head into him and tried to get my anxiety under wraps. What had just happened?

I had just been held against my will. I had just been touched against my will. I couldn't wrap my mind around it. It was like an out of body experience.

Lucas unlocked his car with his fob key and opened the door with one hand before placing me gently on the seat. He used the pads of his thumbs to wipe away tears that I wasn't aware had fallen onto my cheeks and tucked my hair behind my ear. He reached for my seatbelt and buckled me in before starting the car and driving.

It was a quiet drive. I had nothing to say. There wasn't much to say. There was just the quiet sounds of my sniffling.

Lucas held my hand the entire drive, squeezing it when another tear would drop, but his eyes were hard and focused intently on the road.

Eventually, Lucas parked in front of my apartment and it was hard to believe that it was our second time in front of this apartment that night. It had felt like days.

He bent over to pick me up as I got out of the car. "Don't," I shook my head, taking in the current state of his body.

He moved backwards, his brows raised questioningly at me, but we walked to my door in silence. I unlocked it with shaky hands and entered, my apartment looking exactly like it had when I left it. We sat on the couch where we had been hours earlier, except it was a completely different atmosphere now.

"What happened tonight?" Lucas asked, his gaze focused on me, his brows knit in confusion.

"I.." I cleared my throat, forcing my mind back to a few hours earlier. "I was looking for you. I didn't like how things ended and I was worried you'd get into trouble. Or hurt." I took in his battered and bleeding figure in front of me and more tears streamed down my face.

"You shouldn't have done that, baby," Lucas murmured as he pulled me into his lap. I could feel his warm chest against my cheeks and I realized he had never put his clothes back on. In fact, I was pretty sure he just left all of it there.

"I'm sorry," I muttered pathetically.

"There's nothing to apologize for. I'm the moron. I'm so used to dealing with things on my own and blocking everything else out," Lucas spoke softly, his hands running through my hair, calming me down. "You're the last person I want to block out. Never you."

He leaned down to kiss my tears away and whispered "I'm so sorry," over and over again until eventually, my eyelids began to droop and I fell asleep.

The feel of warm sheets woke me up and I stared in confusion at my bed. How did I get here? I slowly dropped by feet onto the floor and padded my way into the living room.

Lucas sat on the couch with an antiseptic pad, cleaning the new gashes that graced his body. He looked up as he heard me enter the room with a soft smile playing on his lips.

I walked to the sink and tied my hair into a pony tail before washing my hands and sitting down next to him. I took the antiseptic pad from his hands and tossed it out, starting afresh and pressing lightly on the bleeding. "How long have I been sleeping?" I asked.

"Just a couple hours," He replied. I looked at the clock to see that it was two in the morning.

I gently placed bandaids on the wounds and lowered my hands to check on any damage to his ribs. I felt his muscles contract as my cool hands touched his scorching skin.

I ran the antiseptic along a gash on his arm where I caught sight of a patch. My fingers traced the edges, "Is that a... nicotine patch?" I asked in surprise.

He laughed, nodding his head. "I grabbed it when I first took you out."

I was touched. Lucas hadn't mentioned a word. I just assumed he'd become really good at hiding the tobacco smell for my sake. "That's so sweet," I murmured.

He placed his hands on my waist and pulled me abruptly onto his lap, his lips meeting mine and moving quickly with need. His hand travelled along my back to the end of my pony tail where he wrapped his fist around my hair, tugging down slightly and causing shivers to run down my spine.

He used his grip on my pony tail to tug my head back slightly as he kissed down my neck, his tongue swirling against my sweet spot and even lower than that as he trailed kisses on the outskirts of my v-neck sweater.

He pulled back and rested his forehead against mine, his chest heaving. "I won't let anyone hurt you, Emily. There isn't anything I wouldn't do for you. And there isn't anyone I wouldn't fight for you."

~~~~~

Next update on Wednesday!