"Ow"

"Well maybe if you would've killed the guy like I told you to years ago, it wouldn't hurt cleaning you up every damn time you come back from spending another night at the lions den"

Jezzabelle grumbles angrily at my words as I cleaned up the last burn mark she had on her inner thigh.

"You know your brothers gonna notice the fact that you're literally wearing a scarf and baggy clothes when it's over 90 degrees outside" I say while putting away my health kit as she rolls over my lap to grab a bottle from the nightstand next to the bed we were on.

"Honestly, don't even care right now" She replies after taking another long swig from the Teremana Tequila bottle she somehow managed to have on hand when she came into my room last night reeking of alcohol all over herself.

After she passed out drunkenly on my bed last night, I awaited till she woke up in the morning to have her take a shower in my bathroom and made sure she took some aspirin pills to help with her hangover. But judging by the looks of all the bruises, burn marks, and cuts all over her skin while she put on my clothes, I knew she was going to continue drinking until the pain from her body was fully healed.

"Drinking won't solve anything"

"If it can numb the fucking pain all over my body, it can solve world peace"

I rolled my eyes as she continued to chug down the rest of the large Tequila bottle like it was water.

"Have you ever thought of us?" She ask while looking at me curiously making me roll my eyes.

"Don't. You do this every time you're drunk" I reply while grabbing the tv remote making her raise a brow at my words.

"Every time you drink and I have to nurse your ass back to being sober, you try so many different tactics to try to get me to sleep with you while you're drunk" I answer back while crossing my arms with a stern look as she groans at my words.

"Okay but don't act like you've never once thought of what would happen if we stayed more as friends with benefits than the usual whole best friends thing!" She snaps before going back to chugging down the whole tequila bottle.

She wasn't completely muttering jibberish. Of course I've thought of being with her, in more than a sexual way though.

I've always had a crush on her since we barely began being teenagers, but of course just like now, her older adopted brother is in the way.

He used to threaten me with so much as a preteen that I decided to give up even speaking a word to her. It wasn't until I bumped into her on the night of our graduation day that changed our relationship from strangers to best friends, as she likes to call us.

"I wanted to tell you earlier but I didn't know how" My mom says with teary eyes.

I stood in the middle of my living room where my mother wanted to celebrate my high school graduation, only to have it ruined when my moms new boyfriend who also happened to be 2 years older than myself walked in through the front door.

"How the hell do you expect to tell your 18 year old son that she's dating a guy that used to go to high school with him two years ago?!" I shout angrily as everyone in the party turned to see me yelling at my own mom.

"Dude calm-"

"You shut the fuck up! I don't even know why the fuck you're talking. I don't give a shit about what you and my desperate need of attention mother are doing, just know that I won't be here anymore to see it"

"Darius!"

Rolling my eyes, I rushed out side of my house quickly grabbing car keys. It was a good thing I already moved into my new apartment that I bought near the college I'm going to so I don't have to witness my whore of a mother parading a bunch of random young and old men she's been bringing around me ever since my dad left her cheating ass after finding out that he wasn't the only person that could've been my dad.

I've been waiting for the day that I graduated for so long. To be finally be able to leave the hell hole my mother ignored me while she used to go out for a good fuck or a good drink. While I was left alone with random nannies taking care of me as if I was their own.

I guess that was the only good thing I looked forward to as a kid living in a broken home.

Pulling into a random grocery store parking lot that I spotted while I was driving to my apartment, I decided to grab some stuff to make for dinner and some drink since it was mostly just furniture and my clothes that was at my apartment. I was still waiting on my order for a new fridge in my apartment to be installed, so I didn't want to go grocery shopping till I knew my fridge was already coming in.

I don't know why but as soon as I bought the apartment, I threw all the current furniture that was in there, out. I don't like knowing other people sat or ate or did anything where I was going to be staying for the next 4 years. It's unsanitary and plus I always had a bit of a germ freak side of me since I was a kid.

"Thank you and have a good rest of your night"

The woman at the counter says as I grabbed my bag filled with groceries in one hand while holding a large liter bottle of coke in the other.

As soon as I walked to the front door of my car, a loud thud like noise made me turn to the side of the building. Putting my groceries in the back seat of my car, I closed the door and walked towards the sound of yelling coming from the dark alleyway on the side of the large grocery store building.

"Get me my money before tomorrow night or I'll do more than hurt your little body, bunny"

A deep voice says as I crouched down behind a large trash bin. I peeked on the side of the trash bin seeing a large man holding a small woman by her neck against the dark alley wall.

"And wear that little sexy white lace dress when you bring me my money, at least if you don't have my money I can still give you a good fucking before you die" The man says with a laugh before dropping the woman as she slid down the cold wall with a groan.

It wasn't until the man walked back into his car and drove off, that made me realize the woman who he left in the middle of the alley was the one and only Jezzabelle Thompson.

I walked out from behind the trash bin seeing her groaning on the floor while holding her side.

"Jezzabelle?!" I say out loud as she looked up at me in shock.

"W-w-what are you doing here?" She stutters quickly trying to cover up herself as I noticed she had bruises all over her body and face.

The small cocktail black dress she was wearing with a pair of black stiletto did nothing to cover up her bruises all over her legs, arms, neck, and face.

"Jezzabelle who was that man yelling at you?! Do you want me to call the police? Or get an ambulance?" I question her while pulling out my phone before she snatched it out of my hand.

"Don't. Please. If you don't want me to die, you can't call the police" She says out of breath while wincing as she moved her body.

"But-" before I could question her words, she got up in pain while trying to stand on her wobbly legs.

"I'm glad that you're trying to help and all, but I really have to go and-" before she could finish trying to limp away from, I leaned down to pull her small body into my arms.

Her eyes widened and she stopped talking but I could tell by her facial expression that she was gonna try to argue her way out of me trying to help her.

But instead of stopping her from doing that, I let her yell and struggle trying to get out of my arms as I calmly carried her to the passenger seat of my car.

"Where are you taking me?! If you wanted to have a go at the used up whore in the alley, you could've just had your way with me in there!" She snaps as I got into the driver seat after putting on her seatbelt.

"I'm gonna get you fixed up since you don't want to go to the hospital"

"How the hell are you gonna fix me up? Is that another pick up line you use to lure bruised up girls into your-"

"As of tomorrow, I'm gonna be an official medical student at UCSF. I may not be an actual doctor but I already know the basic knowledge of patching up scratch marks, scars and bruises like the ones all over your body"

She stayed silent while staring at me with a speechless expression. I knew she was trying to find a comeback but I was already near my apartment so she's gonna have to figure that out another day.

"Where are we? The place where you keep your hidden sex dungeon apartment? What are you a Christian Grey fan?" She mutters while I carried her body and my groceries bag up to the floor of my apartment.

"I bet you have a pet kink? You like dominating girls that act like pets? You have a fetish for dominating smaller sized girls?" She asks annoyingly as I unlocked my apartment door and walked in with her still asking random questions in my arms.

After kicking my door closed with my foot and putting my grocery bag down on the small kitchen counter, I placed the woman in my arms on top of the bathroom counter watching her look around suspiciously trying to take in her surrounding.

"First of all, I don't have any of those kinks or fetishes you just mentioned. I don't have a sex dungeon, and I don't like taking in little girls, especially the ones that refuse to go to the police after being harassed and threatened in the middle of a alleyway"

I finally say while taking off my suit jacket seeing her wandering eyes following my every move.

Rolling my white button up shirt sleeves on both sides, I reached into the bathtub to turn on the warm water. Finally realizing that I was making a bath for her, she wrapped her arms around her body with confusion.

"I don't have any clot-"

"I have some of my clothes I will bring in for you to wear. Just get yourself cleaned up and after you get dressed, I'll fix up all the horrible marks on your body and you won't have to worry about me anymore from than on. You can leave anytime you want, I promise"

She looks at me suspiciously before putting her pinky finger in front of my face as I looked down with a raised brow. She shook her finger with an impatient look on her face as I laughed at her actions. Wrapping my fingers around hers, she finally smiled for the first time we ever had an interaction.

I've seen her smile a bunch of times before with her best friend in the hallways at school, but not once has she ever smiled at me. And that alone made me smile back happily.

Walking out of the bathroom, I decided to grab the smallest pair of sweatpants and hoodie I had in my closet. I walked back into the bathroom to hand her my clothes and turn off the bath tub water that was already filled up with bubbles.

"I don't know if you wanted some socks or a new pair of underwear so I just grabbed a pair of my new socks and bo

"Okay now get out, I don't want you peeping on me while I take a bath" She says while pushing me out the door as I laughed even more at how small she was.

She was 5 foot 6, yet compared to my 6 foot 5 height she looked like a small child trying to push me with all her strength.

As soon as the bathroom door was slammed shut and the locking sound came afterwards, I decided it would be best if I went ahead and started dinner, since it's going to be a long night now with company around.

It wasn't long till the sound of the bathroom door opening in my bedroom made me look up from opening the bottle of red wine in my hand.

Leaving the unopened bottle of wine on the table, I walked into my bedroom seeing Jezzabelle laying on my bed with a towel wrapped around her hair and my large clothes now covering her body.

"Just show me where the injur-"

Without me needing to finish my sentence, she pulled my sweatshirt she was wearing above her stomach.

Grabbing my first aid kit, I helped patch up the deep scars and bleeding areas she had around her stomach before moving onto the other parts she was showing me around her small body.

"Come on, the foods about to get cold and I'll open the bottle of wine when we get to the table" I say casually picking her injured body up after putting away my first aid kit.

It went silent right after I sat her down across the table from my seat where I placed some utensils and a plate of rib eye steak with green beans and mashed potatoes.

I knew by the surprise look on her face, she thought I was gonna kick her out of my apartment right after I fixed her up.

I mean I would've if I was an asshole, but even with a fucked up household I grew up in, I knew how to have some human decency and common sense in on how to treat a woman respectfully. Thank god for the kind hearted nannies I grew up with teaching me how to be a gentleman since I didn't have one around to show me how it was done.

"Thank you" She says after we both finished our plates.

"Your welcome" I reply before getting up to take both our dishes and empty wine glasses to the sink so I could wash them.

The whole time I was washing the dishes, I realized she was still sitting in the same place just staring at me with a nervous look.

"I'll get your stuff and you can go on your way" I say while putting away my kitchen ware.

It was a bit weird to feed someone and then throw them out, but it's what she was fighting me for earlier. She didn't trust me enough to talk about what happened in the ally and clearly she didn't wanna stay in my apartment so I'll do what she wanted since the beginning. Let her leave after I fixed up her scars and bruises.

I brought her dress and heels out of my bedroom bathroom to hand them back to her thinking she would leave afterwards, but to my surprise she stood in front of my door frozen in place.

"I can give you a ride to-"

"He was one of my regulars"

"What?"

"The guy in the alleyway. He's one of the regular men that I sleep with for money"

She turned around with a sad expression as I noticed her eyes were teary and her body expression showed how nervous she was trying to explain to me about what happened earlier tonight.

"Come on, let's get you tucked into a warm bed and I'll make us some hot cocoa" I say turning around to walk back into my room hearing her footsteps follow after me.

"Can I have some marshmallows with it too?" She asks innocently as I laugh while moving my blanket so she can lay down in my bed.

"I'll put some marshmallows in it. The remotes right here. I have Netflix, Hulu, HBO max and Disney plus"

"Wow, so boujee"

"Just a good WiFi deal"

She laughs at my words before grabbing the remote. Walking out of my room, I went into the kitchen to make two cups of cocoa. One cup with three marshmallows and another cup with way more than 3 marshmallows.

"Cocoa with extra marshmallows for the guest"

"Thank you. Wait, where are you going?"

"I'm gonna lay on my brand new couch in the living room since I only have one bed and room in my apartment. Since my room and bed is already taken by my first guest, I'll just go test out how good my new couch is for sleeping"

"Don't leave. Please"

I looked down seeing both of her small bruised hands holding onto one of mine which looked way larger now in hers.

"Come lay with me. We can watch movies and talk about what happened in the alley, isn't that what you wanted me to do in the first place?"

Looking between her and my open bedroom door, I let out a defeated sigh before walking around the bed to lay beside her.

"Fine, start your story miss storyteller"

"Damn, can I put on my favorite show first before we get all emotional and stuff?"

I laughed at her words while watching her put on Orange Is The New Black on Netflix.

"This is you favorite show?"

"Well duh, it's literally one of the best shows on this stupid app"

"Isn't this show about lesbians in prison?"

"Is that the only thing you took out of the trailer? Jesus Christ! You must really suck at assumptions. Not only does this show talk about the bad treatment of women in prison, but it also displays many important messages about our society with character stories that can be very relatable to the viewers. They have episodes talking about racism, mental illness, the lgbt community, corrupt cops, and ICE. I don't know about you but this show is seriously underrated as fuck and it should've never ended so soon"

I looked down at her in amazement. I was moved by her dedication to defend this show shes so passionate about. And I was also amazed by the way she spoke at the same time.

Now I understand why I had such a big crush on her in middle school.

"She's sleeping now" I say opening my room door to the eavesdropping person standing on the other side.

"I was j-"

"She's okay if that's what you're wondering. I mean she's gonna need a lot of painkillers in the morning but she's resting for now"

Luca walked into the room awkwardly as I gestured him to come in. He eyes switched between me and Jezzabelle's sleeping form on the bed.

"Since you're her best friend now, do you know why she works at that sex club?" He asks while slowly moving a strand of her hair away from her soft snoring face.

"Besides the free sex, she tells me the pay is really good" I reply while noticing he was trying to get some information about her through me.

I mean I understand his curiosity and protectiveness over his little sister, but within the 5 years me and her have been best friend, we've always promised to keep everything we say to each other, between each other.

I mean, isn't that the main responsibility of a best friend in the first place?

"How long has she been working there?"

"Never told me when she started out"

"How did you know she worked there?"

"She told me when we officially met for the first time"

"And when was that?"

"High school graduation night"

"You went to our high school?"

"Wouldn't really call it our high school if you left before the school year was even over"

"Now I remember. You were that skinny geek dude with the glasses and flannel who had a crush on Jezzabelle when we were in middle school right?"

"Wow, that wasn't quite the description I wanted to be known for in middle school"

He laughed at my words before taking one last look down at his sleeping sister and walking back out of the room.

"Just so you know, I'll be keeping an eye out on both you and Jezzabelle" He says while standing at the open door as I forced a smile on my face.

"Wouldn't think otherwise anyways" I reply before slamming the door on his face.