BROKEN (Sequel to Behind The Lights)

Jessica's POV

I wake up in an unfamiliar room and to the sound of the ocean. It took me a few seconds to process where I was. I sit up on the bed and take in the room. The huge bedroom balcony door is wide open and I can see the ocean from the bed. "God this is beautiful." I let out. There is a towel and toothbrush on a chair near the door and two familiar-looking suitcases next to it. Wait! Those are my suitcases. My stuff! Zac got my stuff? How? When?

I step out of the bed and walk straight to a tall mirror at the corner of the room. I stare at my reflection for a little while, taking in how different I look now. I'm so much skinnier than I was before, and I've never been the skinny kind. My eyes are a little swollen and you could tell I did a lot of crying. My hair is a huge mess on top of my head, and I'm in a huge T-shirt and shorts, Zac gave me last night. The scar on my neck is even more visible than it was yesterday and as I graze the scar with my fingers, images of yesterday surfaces in my mind. Me fighting for my life, me looking into his eyes begging for mercy, his eyes were dark, eerie, it was like he never loved me and the person I was looking at was a completely different person. The one question I had in the back of my mind since yesterday, that I kept choosing to ignore was, what if I didn't even know Jason. What if I was in a relationship with my idea of Jason and not the real Jason. All those times he showed me signs of being violent, I never would have thought he'd actually hurt me, he loves me, you don't hurt someone you love, you don't try to kill someone you love. Is this it? The guy I love and sacrificed my whole life to be with, my Prince Charming, the guy who promised he'll never hurt me. My heart begins to ache so bad I couldn't contain it, I fall to the ground and cry, not the kind of cry I did when he found out I cheated, not the kind when I was upset many times but this cry was from the feeling of a heartbreak, the feeling of betrayal and fear of losing him forever.

I hear someone walk into the room but I'm in too much pain to move and see who it is, I stay curled up like a ball on the ground in front of the mirror crying uncontrollably.

"Jessica! Are you okay?" I hear Zac ask me but his voice sounded muffled and all I could pay attention to was the pain and my own thoughts.

I feel him kneeling in front of me as he hoists me up and sits down placing my body between his legs and my head on his chest, he sits there in silence stroking my head and rocking me back and forth in a comforting manner. We sit that way for a good two minutes until I'm done crying and am ready to confront what happened.

"What happened Jess?" He asks me gently, still stroking my head. I pull away from him a little to look at him.

"He... Jason... I can't." I'm crying again. I can't even say it god, this hurts so bad.

"It's okay... Jess.. take your time... but we have to talk about this. It's important that you do." He says, using the back of his hand to wipe the tears off my face. I try to compose myself and try again.

"Ye.. yesterday afternoon," I say and Zac nods encouraging me to continue.

"He..he.. tried to kill me." I finally say.

Zac's POV

He..he.. tried to kill me." She stutters and my blood freezes.

"What?" My voice comes out in a hushed whisper. I'm shocked, confused but the feeling overpowering all of it is confusion. Did he really try to kill her? She looks at me nodding.

"Jess, what are you saying?" I know I sounded like I didn't believe her but as much as I hated that piece of shit and knew he was possessive, I thought he loved her. I can believe that he does have a temper and I'm not surprised that he had hit, but to try and kill her?

She places her hand on her neck and those scars from yesterday looked even more visible than they did yesterday. Her beautiful skin now damaged by the hands of someone who never deserved her in the first place. I feel like crying at the thought of the pain she probably went through, I also feel like getting a gun and walking right up to him, shooting him in the f**king head. But I knew neither of this would fix the problem. I had to be the strong sane one, I had to be strong for her.

"Jess... we're going to have to make a police report," I say and she begins shaking her vigorously.

"No no. Please don't Zac." She says, moving away from me and kneeling opposite me, her hands in a begging position.

"Jessica! You are not arguing with me on this. He tried to kill you dammit! We are going to the cops." I say sternly. There is no way I'm letting her win this. I'll stand my ground as long and hard as it takes. Is this girl for real right now? He tried to kill her and she's willing to let him go just like that.

Jessica's POV

Jess... we're going to have to make a police report." He says and my eyes go wide.

"No no. Please don't Zac." I say, kneeling in front of him, my hands together in a begging position.

"Jessica! You are not arguing with me on this. He tried to kill you dammit! We are going to the cops." He says sternly, I know I seem crazy to him right now but he doesn't understand. This is Jason we're talking about. The love of my life. The man whom I loved and still love despite him trying to kill me. I need to talk to him. I need answers. No I'm not getting back together with him but I can't throw him in prison, that'll end his career, he'll have nothing or no one. That guy is broken and throwing him in prison will make things worse for him. I couldn't do that to him.

"No Zac... let me handle this. This is my problem to handle." I tell him. I was not going to let him get involved in this.

"Jessica.. sweetie.. you're not thinking straight right now. We're talking about a very dangerous man. You ran from him Jess... you're afraid of him. Going to the cops is the right thing to do. He won't be able to come near you anymore." Zac says, placing his hands on my cheeks and looking into my eyes. I pull his hands away and stand up from the ground. I don't know how to fight him on this but he needs to understand, I need to talk to Jason first.

"I know this sounds crazy to you Zac but I need to talk to him first."

"WHAT!? ARE YOU F***ING CRAZY!? HE TRIED TO KILL YOU JESS AND HE ALMOST KILLED ME TONS OF TIMES AND YOU'RE GOING TO TALK TO HIM?" He yells and I just realize this is the first time I've heard him yell. Wow! He's really mad.

"Zac.. you don't understand," I say softly, hoping he too will calm down and I'll be able to rationalize with him.

"You're right Jess I don't. It's like he's done some sort of spell on you and you're not thinking straight." He says in frustration.

"I still love him Zac, I can't just put him in prison. I need to at least talk to him." I say. He stands and looks at me for a few seconds as if he was contemplating what I had said so I too stood there waiting for his response.

"Yea no. That's not gonna happen." He says walking out of the room shutting the door behind him.

"What the heck?" I walk up to the door and twist the handle, only to realize he's locked it.

"Oh my God! Are you for real right now? This is a joke Zac." I bang on the door. How the hell did he even lock it? He didn't come up here with keys. I hear his footsteps going down the wooden stairs and I bang the door louder.

"OH COME ON ZAC! OPEN THE DAMN DOOR!" I yell and still no answer.

"YOU'RE BEING SO CHILDISH RIGHT NOW! WHAT ARE YOU GONNA DO? LOCK ME UP HERE FOREVER? THIS IS RIDICULOUS!" I bang and begin kicking the door only to hurt my toe.

This is the most ridiculous thing that's ever been done to me. I walk towards the balcony hoping to figure out a way to exit from there but it's a little too high up and I'm not as brave as those girls on tv to walk around the hedge, so I give up and decide to wait for Zac to stop being a kid.