Chapter 71

He woke during the night with a whimpering Cheyenne in his arms. Tears were rolling down her face and her pleading ripped him apart. She was begging Mark to stop and her hands tried to shield her from the blows he knew she was dreaming about.

Then it hit him, the bastard was hitting her long before this whole thing happened. He remembered the night in the hotel. How much suffering has she gone through?

“Cheyenne, honey its me Jon…wake up you’re dreaming. I’m with you, you’ll be ok.”

Cheyenne came out of her nightmare, following Jon’s strong voice back to reality. She was shaking so badly, she felt a shooting pain going through her ribs.

She held onto Jon until her shivering stopped and she felt the wetness of her tears on his chest. He just held her cooing to her in words she couldn’t make out. It didn’t matter his voice was all she needed.

Jon just held her trying to comfort her, not sure how just hoping that his arms and his words would calm her shaking body.

It took a while before he felt her relax, her crying subsided and her hands didn’t clutch anymore.

“Ok, now? Let me get something to drink..”

“In a little while ,don’t go just yet, ok?”

He moved back to her and stroked her hair.

“He hit you before, didn’t he?”

“He wasn’t always like that. He only changed after he lost his job. He went out a lot and would come back all drunk and violent. He slapped me few times, nothing serious accept that night…”

Cheyenne’s voice trailed of….

‘What night, baby? Tell me I want to know. It’s the only way for you to get over this.” Jon sat up, feeling his hair stand on end, not sure if he wanted to hear this.

“Jon, let’s leave it please I don’t feel like talking about it. It’s over.”

“No, baby it won’t be over until you get it out of your system. I want you to trust me…please baby tell me?”

Cheyenne sat up and stared at her hands not ready to meet his eyes. She kept quiet for so long, Jon thought she wouldn’t tell him. Her voice was low and nervous when she started to speak…