Chapter Twenty

I walk out of the back door of my work, the fresh air making a smile form on my lips. When travelling here, all I could think about was how terrified I was to have this meeting with Jacob and the other man. But now I have and I kind of know what's happening, I felt more confident that in the end Austin would be free from Markus. But I also knew how dangerous this was, if Markus does find out what I'm doing who knows what he'll do?! I pull my phone out where I see all the missed calls from Austin, I did feel my phone going off in my bag but I couldn't just pull my phone out in the middle of that meeting. I hope he wasn't too annoyed or worried. I click on his name whilst putting the phone to my ear, it only rings twice before his worried voice comes through. 'Finally you've called, are you okay?" He asks worriedly, I smile thankful that he wasn't annoyed that I never rang him earlier. 'Yeah I'm okay, sorry it took so long my boss can talk for England!" I laugh thinking of an excuse on the spot, I don't know if this is a good thing but I've got much better at lying, I'm still pretty bad though. 'You took so long that I've just finished work, wait outside and I'll be there in a few minutes" he tells me as I hear a door slam in the background, this did make me feel better as I was kind of terrified to walk home alone after everything. I smile thanking him before hanging up the phone, but made sure to keep it in my hands just in case. This did let my mind have time to wonder, if I would have agreed to leave with Roman, would all this be happening? Perhaps Austin would have kept up with Markus if it wasn't for me, could this be my fault? But now I know this was all happening before Roman left, Austin just kept it to himself. If I didn't step in, he would still be stuck with no options. But I've just had my first meeting with those two, which I feel is our way out of this mess. Before I had time to dwell on more thoughts, Austin's car pulls into the carpark. Well that was surprisingly fast! He pulls up in front of me where I smile, I knew when I'm around him he'd keep me safe. I walk up to the door quickly climbing in the car, where he sat there smiling at me. 'You were fast" I say as I place my bag by my feet to grab my seatbelt, he looks around before pulling the car away. 'Yeah, I was just down the road" he tells me whilst I take a look out the window, that is where I see Jacob and the officer looking right back at me. I turn my head away not wanting Austin to see the pair, he looks over at me sending me a smile before we pull out of the carpark and onto the main road. We arrive home soon after where I jump in the shower, whilst showering the cuts on my face hurt a little bit but it wasn't unbearable. I get changed and begin to do my hair in the mirror, I kept having to stop for a few seconds as lifting my arms up for a long period of time hurt. I'm not sure if I've given the full rundown of my injuries yet, the most visible is my face for obvious reasons. I also have huge gashes going up my arm, what Austin thinks is a broken rib and a few cuts on my leg. These men just went to town after knocking me unconscious, at least I didn't feel any of them. Once I was done, I leave the bathroom where I hear Austin talking. At first I was worried he was talking with himself, but then he was replying to someone which also didn't calm my nerves, it could be Markus. I follow his voice to his bedroom where the door was open, he laughed before turning to look at me with a smile. I didn't know who he was FaceTiming, that was until I hear Roman's laugh coming from the tablet. At least those two have made up, I knew they wouldn't stay mad at each other for long. 'Payton wasn't too happy about the window getting smashed with the ball, but it was just collateral damage' Austin laughs looking back over to me where I hover near the door, it was nice to finally see him laughing after everything. 'Come talk to Roman, Payton" he laughs but my eyes go wide where I shake my head, yes I wanted to speak to Roman so much but he'd see how messed up my face was right now. Realisation soon hits here Austin regrets telling me to come in, I knew I had to think of an excuse as to why I wasn't moving in to see Roman. 'Can I talk with Payton?" Roman asks once I hadn't walked into frame yet, I start to panic a little holding up my hands in a what the heck do I say?! 'I would love to come to talk with you Roman, but I'm not wearing makeup" I say thinking of the dumbest excuse, but that was the only thought that came into my head at that moment. 'Payton, I've seen you without makeup and your absolutely beautiful" Roman tells me which nearly makes me say awe, Roman can be so sweet! 'You can't tell me you're naked as I've also seen you like that, Austin better not be seeing you like that!" He jokes which did make my face flash red, Austin let's out a laugh looking over at me feeling a little embarrassed. 'It is quite a view!" He jokes which does make me walk over and smack him in the arm off frame, I couldn't let Roman see my arms either as they were bad. 'It's not that, it's just you've been away for so long now, I want the next time you see me for me to be the most beautiful!" I exclaim hoping that excuse was better, I was running out of excuses if I'm being honest. 'Payton, you're already the most beautiful person I know, but okay if you want to keep off frame it's fine" he tells me thankfully giving in, I smile to Austin before taking a seat at his desk where the camera wouldn't be able to see me. We spoke with Roman for around an hour, the whole time I would nearly move to see his face or he'd hint. It sucked that I couldn't see his face, but I knew now I've got in contact with Jacob it wouldn't be for long. I just had to wait for them to get in contact with me. I didn't know how soon that time would be.