Coming Home Pt. 02

Hi again everyone. I apologise for my last submission, it was late when I finished writing it and apparently didn't proof read very well. There were a lot of autocorrections due to writing it on my phone.

So here is the resubmission. I hope you can still enjoy it!

Jenny's brown hair blew in the wind as they approached the car. Mark was dumbfounded at the fact that he never truly noticed any attraction towards her until now. Of course, he knew she was beautiful but never felt like this about her. She was five feet away from him, on the other side of his car and he could feel that he missed her, just because they weren't holding each other.

He took his time to soak it all in. Her long brown hair, blowing in the breeze, her brown eyes that were so large and deep he could just drown in them. Her cute button nose and soft lips, just looking at them gave him flashbacks of the night before, their first kiss in his bathroom.

Jenny wasn't his usual type, she was a lot skinnier than the girls he had dated previously but still had enough curves where it mattered. Solid B cups but still had an ass that showed she had junk in her trunk.

Her looks didn't matter anyway, the admiration on her face when she looked at him was all he needed to know he loved her.

The admiration in her eyes wasn't unjust either. She loved the way he looked at her, too. He had put on a little weight over the pandemic and whilst "that bitch" had her claws dug into him, it wasn't anything she couldn't help him with though. He had broad shoulders too and she had always admired that. Mark had short, brown hair that he kept style with some product. His five o'clock shadow framed his face nicely and he had this habit of clenching his jaw now and then which really brought the shape together. Jenny knew the clenching wasn't great for his teeth but it really did make her weak at the knees.

They stood there for a moment, just taking in the view until Jenny broke the silence.

"Are you checking me out?"

Mark smirked and let out a chuckle. "Just admiring the view."

"That's great and all, but we have to get my stuff." She softly reminded him, "Do you want to unlock the car maybe?"

Mark shook himself free from the trance his view had him in. "Maybe I don't." As he quickly unlocked the car, and locked it again. Jenny tried to open the door but didn't before Mark managed to lock it again and he couldn't help but laugh.

"You know, some of your jokes are really shit." Her tone was matter of fact and he looked up waiting to see her scowl, which she held for a second and then burst out laughing herself.

"Sometimes your jokes are just as bad." Mark responded, whilst unlocking the car and climbing in.

The drive to Jenny and Chris' place was easily thirty minutes and in that time, Mark and Jenny spent the drive continuing the catch up they had started the night before. Some laughs and some tears, and, before they knew it, they had arrived.

They both felt their nerves building as they headed towards the door, Mark took the lead in an instinctive play to protect Jenny, in the event that Chris was actually home. His car was there, but he always left it at home when he planned to spend the night partying. Mark found it funny that he was that careful about protecting himself but that didn't seem to apply to anyone else.

As it happened, Chris wasn't home. The pair took a deep breath each as a sigh of relief.

"I just want my clothes and a couple of other things, everything else can be replaced." Jenny walked in like a woman on a mission.

"Well since you haven't specified the other things, I guess I'll grab your clothes."

"Oh look! He is a smart one!" She jested.

"Keep that up and you'll be doing this yourself, maybe you'd even get to see Chris one more time before you leave." Mark jabbed back.

"Alright, alright. You're right, I'm sorry." Jenny was on the other side of the lounge by now but blew him a kiss.

Mark caught himself smiling. He couldn't even feign being mad at her. What had she done to him? He was drunk on her, but he wasn't complaining.

The whole process of collecting the "must-haves" and "nice to haves" took some time, they arrived at 2PM and the next time they looked at the clock it was 4PM. Chris still wasn't home.

Mark had taken a little break, grabbing a soda while he looked for Jenny in the other rooms. "So, is this a typical day when Chris is out the night before." He raised his voice a little so she could hear him.

"Every weekend" he heard her shout back, closer than he realised, she was just in the next room, collecting her hair dryer, straighteners and curlers.

"No way, this late?! How can he keep up that energy?" Jenny got a shock when she realised Mark was closer than she had anticipated when he walked into the room.

"Sometimes more than one day." There was a sadness to her tone. Jenny hadn't taken into account how hard this was going to hit her when she decided it was best to collect her stuff. She felt herself sobbing a little, but then a gentle touch landed on her left shoulder.

Mark's hand was warm, and soft. She rested her head against his forearm and placed her left hand on top of his right one.

"It's over, I know you're sad now but you'll be ok. I'll be here as long as you need me." He mimicked her words from the night before, verbatim.

Jenny found herself smiling at his memory, despite the stress of the situation, he was able to relay her advice back to her, word for word. "What? Can't you come up with your own comforting words?" She said it without thinking, so before Mark could respond, she stood up and kissed him.

It was a long kiss, different to the night before, but in a good way. When they first kiss, it was a kiss of passion, a kiss that said "I need you" to the other. This was one of romance, a soft, delicate kiss of love and tenderness. Jenny felt her heart warm at the difference and noticed Mark's cheeks go flush.

She looked him dead in the eye. "I think I'm done. Take me home?"

Mark smiled and pulled her close, kissing her again. "Sure, I'll get the car started."

He walked out and Jenny was just placing the last few items in a bag when she heard her front door shut. Mark got there quicker than she usually did from this room. Then she heard it.

"Oh, hey Chris." Mark said it loud enough for her to hear. Jenny felt her blood run cold and an overwhelming sense of dread washed over her. It was happening.

"Mark? What the fucks going on? What are all these bags?" Chris was sounding a lot like Claire had the night before, except, with a much deeper tone. Jenny froze. She didn't know what to do. Then she heard Marks voice again.

"Jenny just thinks it would be best for her to take some time away after la-" Mark had been interrupted, and Jenny heard him stumbling.

"Speaking of last night, that's the one I fucking owe you. Now, here's the one for helping that scheming little bitch sneak away." Jenny heard another thud, she ran into the front room to find Chris on top of Mark, repetitively punching him in the face. The shriek Jenny let out was almost blood curdling, she ran at Chris and tried to push him off Mark but with her small stature, there was no luck.

"Oh so you're actually here?! Excellent." There was an evil tone to his voice. He grabbed her by her collar and threw her across the room. "I'll get to you in a minute."

Taking his opportunity, Mark waited for Chris to turn away from him when he threw his next punch. Mark grabbed the punch and used his own body weight to throw him off, wrestling him into an arm bar, and taking the pleasure of kicking him in the face in the process.

"Jenny, get the bags and go!" Mark had put Chris in the arm bar for two reasons, the first was to get Jenny enough time to get out of there, the second was to make sure he had enough breath in his lungs for a longer fight.

The scene became a whirlwind and seemed to be in fast forward as it only got worse from there. Chris struggled under him, Mark raised his leg and brought it back down into Chris' face to try and stop the bastard from getting free.

Jenny grabbed as many bags as she could carry and ran down to the car, taking out her phone and calling 911. After reporting the fight, Jenny ran back to the apartment to see if Mark had been hurt any further. As she got to the front door his face was covered in blood. But so was Chris'.

Mark was getting the upper hand when Chris saw Jenny back at the door. He pushed past Mark, making a bee line for Jenny. She screamed, falling to the floor out of fear of Chris' previous behaviour. His history informed her that he wasn't ashamed of the neighbours knowing and as he raised his arm to take a swing, Chris felt something snag his arm. Mark had managed to grab it and took a play out of Jenny's playbook, twisting Chris' arm up his back and shoving him into the wall by the front door.

Mark decided to take it one step further and kicked Chris in the back of the knee, forcing him to the floor. Whilst this was going on, the police had turned up. They ran up to the apartment, seeing someone pinned to the floor and immediately grabbed Mark, thinking he was the one to cause trouble. Jenny quickly corrected them, stating that Mark was defending her when Chris attempted to attack her.

For everyone's safety, Mark and Chris were both put into cuffs until the police collected their stories and corroborated them with the neighbours. Mark was still given a warning due to the excessive force used in self defence, but was released. Chris, losing his temper at the police officers, was kept in cuffs, and even though Mark and Jenny chose not to press charges, Chris was still taken down to the station for his behaviour toward the officers.

Mark and Jenny took their time getting the rest of her stuff out of the apartment, Jenny made sure to leave behind her key and her engagement ring, she had no use for either of those items anymore.

As they arrived home, Mark had noticed his phone had died and put it on charge. It took a few minutes to turn back on, but when it did there were a hundred or more notifications from Claire. She could wait. She wasn't a priority anymore. He sat on the sofa and lay his head back. Jenny went to the freezer to get out an ice pack.

"Here sweetie," she put it in his hand. "Put this on your head, even if it's numb it'll help with the headache that's gonna come."

"Thanks." Mark was quiet. Jenny knew he didn't want to press the issue further tonight, her apology can wait until tomorrow. For now, Jenny helped to clean his face up from the blood and to check his eyes to see if he had a concussion.

As the night went on, Jenny locked up for the night and sat on the sofa. She couldn't bring herself to move too close to him, she blamed herself for what happened today and began to tear up on the other side of the sofa. After a minute or so, her sobs became audible.

"Hey," She looked over to Mark. "Get over here."

Mark still had his head tilted back and had a fresh ice pack on his head. He waved his hand to gesture her towards him.

"Come on." He reassured her. "It's not like you're going to let me move until we go to bed." With that Jenny moved closer, and immediately cuddled into his arm, she began to cry uncontrollably into Mark's shoulder. Mark took the ice pack off his head and rested his hand on the back of her head.

Sitting up he lifted his arm from her grasp and wrapped it around her back. She accepted his embrace, throwing her arms around him in turn while she continued to cry.

Between the sobs, Mark could have sworn he heard the words "I'm sorry." Whispered into his ear, but he couldn't quite tell if he was just hearing things. Jenny had nothing to apologise for, if she hadn't called the police, who knows what might have happened.

Mark lifted her from his shoulder and wiped away the tears. He kissed her forehead and took another look at her.

"You have nothing to be sorry for. That asshole had it coming." He smiled softly at her. "Besides, I won."

His cheeky bravado stopped her tears and caused some laughter.

"If this is what winning looks like to you, I'd hate to see how bad you'd lose." She mused. He had a way with words that made even the worst situation melt away.

She leaned in, kissing him softly. "I love you. You were so brave, defending me today." Before Mark could get a chance to respond she began to chuckle. "I can't believe you thought you could talk him down when you literally only punched him last night." She began to giggle.

"Oh so me taking the first punch was funny to you?" Mark retorted, feigning offence.

"A little, but only because if I don't laugh, I'll be crying about it again." She hugged him tight and mumbled into his shoulder. "I really am sorry you got hurt."

"Hey, I've got no broken bones, just a bit of blood and bruising to the face. I can work from home anyways." He pulled her back again and kissed her softly. "I love you too, I would have done that for you a long time ago if you had told me what was going on."

Jenny smiled but there was shame in the smile, too. "I'm sorry for that too, I guess it was a lesson I had to learn."

"It's been a long day. Let's head to bed." Jenny was pleased at Mark's suggestion. As she helped him stand up, she heard her phone begin to ring, it was a private number.

"Go ahead, answer it. I'm gonna brush my teeth anyways." Mark smiled at her reassuringly. It was only 8PM, so it wasn't too late for a phone call.

As she answered the phone she couldn't place the voice at first.

"I hope you're happy." It was a deep tone, it was Chris. "They drug tested me after I arrived and found what I had been doing last night. Unless I make bail, I'm going to be here for a while, but I'll be sure to find you on the other side. I hope you don't think you're safe at Mark's house."

Her heart dropped and she hung up the phone as fast as she could. She had no idea how Chris knew where Mark lived. Was he bluffing? Was he just trying to scare her?

"Mark?" Jenny was by the bathroom door.

"Who was it?" Mark asked before turning in Jenny's direction. She was pale. "What's wrong?" Mark dropped his toothbrush and he walked over to her, placing his hands on her shoulders. "Come on Jen, you can tell me."

"It was Chris. I think you're lucky to be alive." Jenny paused and took a breath, she wasn't even looking at Mark, just staring past him. "He had been taking something last night, so he was probably still pretty drugged up this afternoon. The police tested him and found use of illegal drugs. He said if he makes bail, or even if he doesn't, he'll find me when he gets out. He said I'm not safe here."

"Ok. Let's take a deep breath." Mark lifted Jenny's face so that he was in her direct eyeline. "Chris isn't going to find you. He doesn't know where I live and if he does or even if you don't feel safe here, we can move."

"But moving doesn't happen that fast, there's all sorts of paperwork." Jenny pushed past Mark and began to throw up in the toilet.

"Then we'll stay at my parents until we find somewhere." Mark began to rub Jenny's back as he repositioned her hair out of her face. Jenny was caught by surprise, he did this as second nature and didn't miss a beat when she began vomiting. He didn't ask if she was ok, but she felt like she was taken care of regardless.

Mark had come from a somewhat wealthy family, and they loved Jenny. They had always asked Mark why nothing had ever happened between them, and Mark always had an answer, his go to was "We're just friends." Jenny's family wasn't quite as well off, her dad had disappeared when she was young and her mom lived paycheck to paycheck ever since. Jenny worked just as hard as her mother to give herself a good life and that's why Mark's family had admired her so. Mark's dad was a self-made man, and he appreciated anyone who was willing to work as hard as he did to get what they wanted, and Mark had picked up on those ideals when growing up. He'd been raised well, never flaunting his wealth to others, and just as Mark's parents loved Jenny, Jenny's mom loved Mark.

"Are you sure they'd be ok with that?" Jenny looked up from the toilet bowl at him with puppy dog eyes. Marks heart melted and he moved a stray strand of hair from her mouth.

"They'll be over the moon to see you, and if we're asking to stay there together, I'm pretty sure they're going to put two and two together." He smiled. "They've been rooting for us to get together since we were kids."

"I remember." Jenny smiled. How did he keep whisking all of her problems away? And so quickly?

"We can go there now if you like? I'm sure they won't mind." He smiled back, seeing her calm down. "But you might need to brush your teeth first." He threw her a wink.

"Oh hush, I think I'll be ok here for now, we don't need to rush these decisions."

"No rush, I just want you to know you're safe."

"I'm always safe with you." Jenny got up and began to brush her teeth using the spare toothbrush she had used earlier that day. She didn't have the energy to go through her bags to find hers.

Mark smiled, if she hadn't just thrown up, he would have taken her to bed so they could both get some rest. He was a little dizzy from all the blows to the head and Jenny seemed exhausted from the emotional day, so he thought maybe it best they leave any intimate activities for another night.

Mark sat on the lid of the toilet, like the night before, keeping Jenny company. Jenny noted his actions, taking in what she had said and Mark realising she wouldn't want to be alone again tonight.

Once Jenny had finished freshening up, they went to bed together. Jenny wore the same Sonic the Hedgehog t-shirt and Mark found his lounging pants, and, almost instinctively, they put themselves in a spooning position.

Jenny just wanted to feel safe and close to Mark, and Mark obliged. It was only 9PM but they both fell asleep without saying good night, the day had exhausted them both and they were just happy it was over.

The next morning, Mark woke up with an intense headache but with a damp piece of cloth on his forehead. Jenny was sat next to him scrolling through her phone to pass the time away. She was sat with her back against the headboard, knees tucked up to her chest under the overly baggy t-shirt she had claimed as her own all those years ago. She was chewing the neck of the t-shirt, staring intently.

"You know you're going to ruin that t-shirt if you keep chewing it." Mark's voice was hoarse.

Jenny pulled the neck of the t-shirt down and smiled softly at him. "Good morning to you too, handsome."

Mark probed, "What's on your mind?"

"What do you mean?" Jenny seemed confused at the question.

"Everything about the image I just woke up to has your anxiety written all over it." He pointed it out to her. "If you were cold, you'd be under the duvet, instead, you have your knees tucked up inside the t-shirt. You're chewing the neck of the t-shirt, because the sleeves aren't long enough to pull over your hands and chew, which is a bad habit by the way. Especially in my t-shirt."

Jenny's smile started to grow. His observations of her and memory of how she acted in her different moods made her heart throb with joy. While he was listing his observations, she couldn't help but notice that his face had started to swell a little and a black eye had formed over his left eye from the fight the day before, her smile faded slightly.

Mark was still going with his list, "You're also scrolling through your phone so fast that you can't possibly be taking any of it in. So, I ask again, what's on your mind?"

"You're so observant." Her smile returned, partially faking it to avoid making Mark worry. "Your face looks sore. I'm sorry about yesterday, and I can't stop thinking about the call from Chris last night."