(Jasmine's POV)

I let out a small cry of horror and stagger backwards slightly as my eyes take in my appearance. My once full and bouncy brown hair lies flat against my head. It looks dull and lifeless. My chocolate brown eyes are no longer warm and happy looking but instead are empty and soulless.

My eyes travel over my face, which looks sunken in places. Dark circles are under my eyes, making me look like a drug addict. My lips are swollen and severely bruised from where Greg bit me hard last night, as is my neck. Next my gaze falls on the only remaining bit of skin I can see, my collarbone and shoulder. The skin is pulled tight here, as though it's been stretched to its limits to cover my now frail body.

I allow my eyes to trail over my clothes and I gasp as realization sinks in. These are clothes I bought a few months ago and I clearly remember them fitting me perfectly when I bought them. Now however, the long sleeve jersey hangs so loosely on me that my left shoulder has been exposed completely. The sleeves, that once comfortably hugged my arms, could now fit both my arms in one. From what I can see in the mirror, my skinny jeans, well, what are supposed to be skinny jeans are baggy on me and keep slipping down my no longer curvy hips.

I swallow hard as a tear falls down my cheek before I turn to stare at Ruby. "Is that really what I look like?" I ask, hoarsely.

She nods her head, a tear also streaming down her cheek.

I turn back to face my almost skeletal appearance and I feel a wave of shame wash over me. How could I let things get this bad? Why didn't I look in the mirror sooner?

"Ruby?" Ruby and I both jump at the sound of her name being called from downstairs.

"I'll be down now!" Ruby calls back through the open door.

"Is that Ryan?" I ask as my heart starts to race in my. The thoughts of not only having to speak to Ryan, but having, a second person from my past see me in my current condition has my anxiety flying through the roof.

Ruby seems to notice and quickly jumps to help me. "It is. How about you go in for a shower before you come downstairs?" She suggests. "I'll leave some clothes for you on your bed and you can come downstairs when you're ready."

I swallow the lump in my throat before nodding my head. "Thanks," I tell her.

"No problem." I follow her as she makes her way back into her bedroom. "Go on ahead, I'll just grab you something to wear before I go down to make some dinner for us all."

Despite having a shower this morning, and also hating them, I take another one in the hopes that the hot water will even somewhat sooth my nerves after seeing the state my body is in. Right now I can't even phantom how I'm going to go about the process of restoring my body to what it as before I met Greg.

As soon I climb out of the shower, I wrap a large fluffy towel around me and enjoy the feeling of the soft material against my tender and bruised skin. I make my way back into my temporary bedroom and grab my bag from the floor beside the bed. I pull out a pair of black lace panties and a matching bra. One thing Greg always made sure I had were matching and, in his opinion sexy, underwear. He always liked me in as little as clothes as possible when we were home. His reason for this was so that I'd be "always sexy and ready for him".

I dry myself with the towel before dropping it on the floor and letting it pool around my feet. I grab the panties and pull them up my legs. But it's when I finish clasping my bra that my heart stops. On the opposite wall I catch a glimpse of the clock, a clock that indicates that Greg's plane landed over thirty minutes ago.

"Oh god!" I gasp. "Oh god, he knows!"

Panic grips me and I stumble backwards once more in fear. No! No! NO!

Terror instantly spreads through me at the realization that Greg knows I've run. My breathing increases and my hand jumps to my chest. The feeling of my rapidly thumping heart under my palm causes me to panic even further. Tears pour out from my eyes as I continue to hyperventilate in the middle of the bedroom.

As I continue to drag short shallow breaths out of my lungs, I start to feel light headed and dizzy. I turn and make my way towards the bathroom, fully intending on splashing cold water on my face to try and calm me down. The motion of turning is too much for my strained body and before I know it, darkness consumes me as I collapse in a heap on the bedroom floor.

(Matt's POV)

"Yes!" Jaxon cheers loudly as the two of us make our way out the front door. "Freedom!"

"Jax, you're a fucking weirdo man," I laugh, shoving him away from me as we hurry down the stone steps.

"Matt, don't you realise what this means?" He asks me, his eyes wide as he stands in front of me, blocking me from getting to my pick up.

"Yes, Jaxon I do." I shove him to the side and roll my eyes at his childish behavior. We have the exact same conversation every single week.

"It means we're FREE!" He throws his arms into the air dramatically.

"You do realise we're back in work on Monday, right?"

"Shush!" He scolds me. "Stop killing my joy!"

"I repeat; you're a fucking weirdo."

"Yeah, but you still love me!" He flutters his lashes at me as soon as we've both clambered into my vehicle.

"Why did I get stuck with you as a partner?"

I put the key in the ignition and the pickup comes to life beneath us. The familiar roar of the engine greets us as I move into first gear and start the journey to Jaxon's house.

"Cause you love me!"

I mentally bang my head on the steering wheel at these words. What is wrong with this guy?

"Are you sure you're not gay?"

"Fuck no, man! I like way boobs too much!"

I roar laughing at these words. It's random shit like that, that reminds me why this nut-job is my friend.

"We going out this weekend?" He asks, as I turn us onto the highway.

"Tomorrow, maybe? I've plans with Ryan today, he finished work early too."

"Sure, tomorrow suits me. I'll find you a chick."

"You mean like the last one you found me?"

"Hey! I didn't know she was married!" He looks at me with a wide not-so-innocent face.

I raise my eyebrow at him.

"Okay, okay. I did. But dude, she was so hot!"

"That's probably why some guy married her!"

"Oh, right. I never thought of that." He frowns, as if actually contemplating this news.

Fifteen minutes later I'm turning onto the old farm lane that will bring us to Jaxon's parents house.

"How's Ruby?" He suddenly asks.

"She's good,' I say before pulling my brows into a frown.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing, she's just worried about her friend."

"Which friend is this? Jasmine? The one you're in lo-"

"Yeah, Jasmine," I blurt out, cutting him off before he can finish his sentence.

I can feel Jaxon's eyes on my face but I just ignore it as I continue down the narrow, bumpy lane.

"What's wrong with her?"

"I don't know. Ruby hasn't heard from her in around six weeks, which is very unlike her. They used to talk every day but since she last seen her two years ago, they've only talked a handful of times."

Finally we reach the large farmhouse and I park the pickup outside the front door. We sit in silence for a few seconds as we watch a small white kitten being chased by a black chicken three times its size.

"She must be just busy, Matt. She's working now isn't she? And she's got a boyfriend?"

"Yeah," I say, but both of us can hear the uncertainty in my voice.

Jaxon opens his mouth to say something but stops when the sound of my phone ringing travels through the Bluetooth system in the car. Ryan's name pops up on the screen and Jaxon takes that as his cue to leave.

"I'll give you a shout tomorrow," He tells me as he climbs out of the vehicle. "I'm sure Ryan will want to come out too."

"No problem, man. Talk to you tomorrow."

He slams the door shut and gives me a small wave as he makes his way across the yard to rescue the kitten that is now being pecked by the chicken.

"Yo!" I say as soon as I answer the phone to my best friend.

"What's up, man?"

"Not much, I'm just after dropping Jaxon home."

"How's the crazy little dude?"

"Still as crazy as ever."

I hear Ryan chuckling on the other end of the phone and I know that he's just as fond of him as I am.

"You still coming over this evening?" He asks.

"Yup," I say turning back onto the main road. "I'm just gonna head home and get a quick shower. I'm dying to get out of this uniform. The collar on this shirt is killing me."

"New shirt?"

"Yeah, that pup in the station destroyed one of my old ones. He got hungry."

"What pup?"

"Jaxon found some pup yesterday and insisted on having me babysit it while he contacted its owners. The little brat decided it would be a good idea to climb onto my lap and chew on my shirt."

"Who did? Jaxon or the pup?"

"The pup!" I say as Ryan's bellowing laughs reach my ears. "Fucker."

I turn into the parking lot for my apartment complex and wait for the camera to recognize my registration plate.

"Anyway, I'm just home now. I'm gonna jump in the shower and I should be at yours around the same time as you."

"No worries, man. I'll see you later!"

***

Twenty minutes later, I'm back in my pick-up on the way to Ryan and Ruby's house. I haven't seen either my sister or my best friend all week and I'm looking forward to spending some time with them both.

As I travel down the long road that will lead me to their house, my mind travels to Ruby's best friend, Jasmine. It's been over four years since I last seen Jasmine at Ruby's baby shower for Mireya. Any time she visited since then, I made sure I wasn't around.

When I found out that Jasmine had a boyfriend, I was both pissed and heartbroken. I was furious with myself that I still hadn't managed to grow a pair and tell the woman I'd been in love with for years how I felt. It was down to my own stupidity and fear that I lost out on my chance with such a beautiful woman.

Ever since then, I've tried to move on from Jasmine but it's easier said than done. Jaxon has been on a mission to set me up with someone. But each time he introduces me to a woman I can't help but compare her to Jasmine.

I know, that if I ever had the chance to be with Jasmine, I would. I don't want to miss out on an amazing woman ever again.

"Hey, man!" Ryan says to me as I climb out of my pick up. His is parked directly beside mine and he's just pulling out a crate of beer from the trunk.

"That was good timing," I tell him as I reach for my bag on the passenger seat. "How've you been?"

"Good, thanks. You?" I close the front door of the house behind me, drop my bag on the floor by the staircase and follow Ryan into the kitchen.

"Not bad, just been busy with work." I wait until Ryan finishes putting the cans into the refrigerator before asking about my little sister. "Where's Ruby?"

He frowns. "No idea."

I glance through the window into the back garden but there's no sight of her.

"Ruby?" I hear Ryan call. He returns to the kitchen seconds later. "She's upstairs; she'll be down in a minute."

Sure enough, less than two minutes later I hear footsteps coming down the stairs.

"Hey, gorgeous," Ryan says as he pulls Ruby in for a kiss.

"Hey, Ry." She smiles up at him, but I notice it doesn't meet her eyes. She turns to me with the same, weak smile. "Hey, Matt."

"Hey, little sis." I open my arms as Ruby untangles herself from her boyfriend and wraps her arms around me.

"What's wrong?" Ryan and I both ask once she's pulled back from me.

"What are you talking about?"

"Something's wrong, tell us," I say.

"You've got tearstains on your face Rubs," Ryan adds. "Is it Mireya?"

"What? No, she's perfect. She's at Mom and Dad's."

"Then what is it?" I press.

Ruby looks down at her hands before letting out a soft sigh. When she looks up at us both, I'm shocked to see her eyes full of tears. "It's Jasmine."

My stomach instantly drops with worry but at the same time my heart flutters at the sound of her name.

"What do you mean?" I ask, almost scared to hear her reply.

Ryan pulls out a chair at the kitchen table for Ruby as she sits down. He takes her hand in his and I can see him giving her a reassuring squeeze.

"I don't really know what to say," Ruby whispers weakly, almost too lowly for me to make out.

I try not to panic at the thought of something bad happening to Jasmine until I know exactly what has happened.

"Why, Ruby?" Ryan asks. "What's wrong? Has something happened to her?"

Ruby's eyes land on me and I swear my heart stops at her next two words. "She's here."

"What do you mean she's here?" I hear Ryan ask, as he turns to look at me too. "As in, here in this house?"

Ruby nods. "She's upstairs having a shower. She's staying in the pink bedroom"

My hands grip the table in shock, my knuckles white. I haven't seen her in over four years and now she's here? Why? Has something happened to her? All these questions swirl around in my head but the one I really want to know the answer to; has she broken up with her boyfriend?

At that minute, I hear a loud thud coming from upstairs. The three of us freeze and Ruby calls out to her best friend.

"Jasmine, are you ok up there?"

Silence.

Without wasting another second, the three of us are up out of our chairs and thundering up the staircase, me in the lead. I almost fall into the bedroom as I fling the door to guest bedroom. The site before me has me almost collapsing on the spot.

My heart drops and my stomach turns as my eyes take in every inch of the beaten and severely underweight young woman lying almost naked on the bedroom floor. A woman that looks nothing like the woman who has filled my mind for years.

**********

Did you guys miss Matt as much as I did?

Have you got a favourite character so far?

Please don't forget to vote and/or comment! It means so much to me to know that you're liking the story. I love to hear your thoughts!

Love,

Di xx