"Do you still think I'm pretty?"  I asked when I noticed Cam was staring at me still.

I ran my hand over Cam's chest and looked down at my tiny boy shorts.  His eyes followed mine and he swallowed.  He immediately reached back to grab something from behind the seat.

After a few seconds, Cam threw something over my body to cover me.  I'm not sure what it was, but it was really fuzzy and soft. He was the best person ever. He found my bunnies from the field. I had to stroke them. I ran my hand up and down, back and forth, petting the small creatures as they ate the blades of grass from my hands.

Cam pulled me closer to him and ran his fingers through my dirty, tangled hair.  His fingertips pressed gently into the side of my head.  His touch took away the pain as he ran his hand around the edges of my bruises. 

"Mmmm." I moaned. "That feels so good, Cami. Touch me again." 

My Dad's head snapped back like he was ready to jump back to smash in Cam's face too.  Cam gave him an innocent look trying to convince him he wasn't doing anything wrong.

"Sweet Pea, what did you take?" My Dad asked.

"Daddy, what didn't I take? I took it all." I laughed and collapsed down with my head on Cam's lap. 

I buried my head between Cam's thighs. I found little Cam and brushed him with my lips.  His body tensed when he felt what I was doing.  I sunk my teeth in him and bit down hard.  Cam yelped out in surprise. He covered my head with a blanket when my Dad looked back to see why he called out. I continued playing with him over his pants with my mouth.

"Ezra, it's a seven-hour car ride. I don't think she's going to be able to do that tonight. Let's pull off and find a place to stay. We can head home in the morning."  Uncle Aiden's stressed voice cut through my giggling.

I was really enjoying the new game I discovered. 

"I agree." Cam's voice cracked like he was going through puberty.

"Let's just keep moving. I want to get her home to Riley."  Dad said with a sigh.

The car slowed down to a stop while I discovered the stubble on Cam's face with my hand. It felt scratchy and poked my skin; I loved it.  It was much softer than Nate's. I ran my hand up and down over it. 

I brought my hand around and began playing with his perfectly soft lips. I stuck my finger on his lower lip and tried to strum it like a guitar.  He kept trying to pull my hand away and I would complain.  I wanted to touch things that felt good.  Cam had always felt so good. 

Maybe I could get him to touch me back to make me feel good too.

He raised the blanket up off my head and frowned down in disapproval.

"Stop."  Cam mouthed silently to me.

I shook my head no and raised his shirt up to run my tongue along the skin of his stomach.  His eyes were wide as he held up the blanket and pushed my head away. 

"Oh, Daddy." I called out and popped my head out from under the blanket.

"Yes, sweet pea." 

"You will never believe it.  Guess what? It's my Birthday today.  I have a Birthday! Did you know that?" I asked.

"I know. Happy birthday Jessa." He said softly.

"Did you bring me a present?"  I asked greedily.

"No, I didn't. I'm sorry, Jessa, we didn't have time to stop."

"It's ok. Nate and the guys were going to give me an extra special present tonight too, but I never got to find out what it was.  Nate told me I would never forget what they had planned for me. I asked for a birthday cake and he told me no. That made me super sad. I wanted to blow out my birthday candles, but instead, he told me to open my mouth and blow..."

Cam covered my mouth. I licked his hand with the tip of my tongue in a dirty circular motion against his skin.  He frowned at me but refused to let go.

"Aiden, find us a hotel." My Dad growled.

After driving a few more exits, we turned off and headed towards a few hotels looking for a vacancy.  We pulled into a parking lot of the nearest hotel that looked promising.   It looked a lot nicer than the places Nathan had us staying at when we weren't sleeping on the tour bus.  I was excited about sleeping on a soft bed instead of the rocks I was used to.

I must have drifted off while we were waiting for our room. I woke up to Cam carrying me up the stairs of a side entrance.  I'm guessing they were trying to avoid the stares and questions about why three men were carrying a passed out, half-naked bruised girl up to a hotel room.  I forgot to mention one of the men was also covered in blood.  It looked really bad if you didn't know they were actually trying to save me. 

"I got us two rooms." My Uncle Aiden said. He slid the card in the door to open it. "We can rotate keeping an eye on her. We all need to sleep at some point. Anyone who stays with her probably won't get much rest."

He held the door open for Cam, who walked in and placed me on the bed. He pulled the covers back over me and I snuggled into the pillow. I closed my eyes as the warmth surrounded me. 

I could still hear the three of them in a deep discussion as I started drifting in and out of consciousness.  They were debating over who got to stay in the room with me.

"I knew her first." My Uncle Aiden whined.

"She's my best friend. She needs me." Cam countered back to him.

"I made her."  My Dad growled darkly.

After a long, well-fought battle back and forth over who deserved to be there more, my Dad pulled rank and finally kicked Cam and Uncle Aiden out. He cursed at both of them as they left the room, complaining about it not being fair.

"Fucking annoying." He rumbled low enough that I could barely hear him.  My Dad didn't have a lot of patience with those two. I could only imagine what a car ride with the three of them looked like.  I guess I would find out soon enough.

After he locked the door, I heard him go into the bathroom to start cleaning himself up.  When he came out, he settled onto the couch on the other side of the room.  He started crying quietly in the corner.  I wanted to get up and go check on him, but I felt like I was invading his privacy. I don't think I had ever seen my Dad cry before. 

I closed my eyes and let my body sink into the quicksand below me, falling asleep to the pain I had caused him and everyone else around me.

I woke up sometime later when I heard Dad pacing around the room.  I didn't open my eyes because I didn't want him to realize I was awake yet.

"Hey, Beautiful." I heard my Dad's tired voice say the nickname he always called my Mom.  He must have decided to call her. I was surprised she was still awake.  I knew it was pretty late.  I kept my eyes closed, wanting to hear what he was saying.

"We did it. We found her." My Dad's voice broke at the end.  "I'm bringing our girl home."

Pause.

"I know, Ry. I know.  Shhh.  Don't cry, Beautiful. She's safe now."

Pause.

"No, baby. She's sleeping. I can't put her on the phone right now. She needs some rest."

Pause.

"I know you want to talk to her, but it's not the best time right now."

Pause.

"I want to prepare you. It's really bad. She looks different this time. She's lost a lot of weight and she's not making any sense. I'm scared for her." My Dad's voice was shaking.

Pause.

"He hit her, Riley. Her face is covered in bruises, she has finger marks on her throat and all over her body. That fucking asshole hurt our little girl." My Dad was full-on sobbing into the phone.

"I will Beautiful.  I'm trying to keep it together for her.  I'm just exhausted and didn't expect to find her. After all this time, I had lost hope."

Pause.

"I promise. I'll try to sleep. Cam called the room and is on his way over to switch me out. Get some sleep too, Beautiful.  We will be home tomorrow. I love you so much, Riley."

There was a gentle knock on the door.  I heard light footsteps cross the room and a few hushed whispers.  The door opened again and then closed softly.

I felt pressure on the side of the bed next to me. Warm fingers moved my hair back from my face and tucked it behind my ear. Those fingertips felt wonderful against my skin. 

"Hey, Cami." I smiled with my eyes closed.

"You are supposed to be sleeping, darling.  We have a long drive tomorrow. You need your rest." He whispered softly.

"I'll promise to go to sleep again if you snuggle me."  I said in my best innocent voice. 

"Jessa, that's not a good idea right now and you know it."

"Cami, I'm scared." I turned on my back to face him without having to strain my neck.

"What are you afraid of?" He asked, running his hand down my back.

"What if this isn't real? What if I'm still really there and none of this happened? What if he finds me again? What if he tries to hurt me? Will he go after my family? What if I stop breathing in the middle of my sleep? You won't know until it's too late. I could die right here and no one would even know I am still in here somewhere.  My Mom, Dad, Jax, Uncle Aiden, and you would never even know that I have tried really hard to stop it." I rattled off my racing thoughts.

"Whoa, Jess, hold up. Take a breath."  He said, trying to relax me.

"I don't want to be alone tonight."  I whimpered and turned on the baby blues.

"Fine, Scoot over."  He shook his head, giving in to me. 

I squealed and moved over to let him slip in behind me.   He pulled the covers up over us and wrapped his arm around my waist, pulling me against him. I wiggled my butt up against him and he pulled back from me to leave a gap between our bodies.

"Jess, don't.  I will go sleep on the couch if you try that again."  He warned.

"You're no fun." I said, pouting.

"I mean it. I'm not joking. Go to sleep Jess."  He said.

I closed my eyes and started to drift off into a peaceful sleep.