Spending time in my room quickly gets boring, especially when I have nothing to do. I kind of hope that Braden and Rory already have their talk or they moved to her room, at least. 

I decide to quietly check out, but I almost sigh out in desperation when I see them still in the kitchen and now Rory is sitting on top of my brother. 

I still go into the kitchen in hopes for them to notice me by themselves, taking a butter knife out of the drawer. Because a girl's gotta eat, even though there are two lovers in my kitchen, expressing their love to each other. 

But then I suddenly hear my brother's grunt behind me and Rory's moan. "I swear to God if you two start undressing, I'm stabbing you!"

Rory shrieks. I have my hand over my eyes, holding out the hand that has the butter knife in my hand.

"Where did you get that?" Rory asks breathlessly with a low voice.

I spread my fingers on my face and peek through them to make sure they're both still presentable and have clothes on. I drop my hand down in relief. "Comes in handy, doesn't it?" I comment, absently looking at the small knife, not really knowing what would someone do with that thing.

Braden snorts. "Brooke, you couldn't even hurt a hamster with that thing."

Rory bursts out laughing while I send a glare in Braden's direction, holding the knife up to him, shoving it at his face as I speak, "Watch it, brother. I'm still very angry with you." 

"And you," I turn my eyes to Rory, along with the knife. Rory leans back in surprise, almost falling off Braden, but he catches her in time, wrapping his arms around her. "You betrayed me." 

"Christ, Brooke, put that away before you really hurt someone," Braden says, staring at me with a hard look. 

Rory has a wounded look on her face. "How did I betray you?" she cries out.

I roll my eyes and sigh for dramatic effect. "You people are so stupid when you're in love. I'd rather shoot myself in the face than act like you do," I mutter to no one in particular, sitting down across them.

Rory raises her eyebrows. "What about Aaron?" she asks.

Yes. Good question. What about him?

Braden beats me before I'm able to answer by grunting lowly, "You're still with that asshole?"

I knew that their 'truce' thing was too good to be true. "Oh, shut up, you," I retort back. "At least he didn't scream hurtful words at me and then left me," I challenge him. 

Rory tenses up, as does Braden. "That was a low blow," he says quietly.

I shrug. "You deserved it." 

"Brooke, please!" Rory pleads me. "Drop it."

When Rory continues glaring at me, letting me know she's completely serious. I finally huff and throw my hands up in defeat. "Fine!" I exclaim.

She continues giving me a pointed stare and I stare back at her, dumbfounded. Rory casts her eyes to Braden and then to me. It finally dawns on me what she means and I scowled. Rory lifts her eyebrows up at me and I roll my neck, rubbing my temples. "Fine," I mutter again. I look at Braden. "I'm sorry for everything I said, but don't think I didn't mean the things I said. You fucked up royally and if you do it again and you lose the best thing that will ever happen in your life again, I'll break some bones in your body." 

Braden waves his hand at me. "Yeah, I know," he says. 

And just like that, I'm forgiven. 

"Anyone want some tea?" Rory asks. 

We all say yes to it and Rory makes us all some tea.

     ◊      

I get a call when I'm at work the next day. Usually, the workers shouldn't have a phone on themselves, but if no one catches me, everything is good. And I rarely ever answer it. Braden's name flashes on the screen and I send it to the voicemail.

I'm busy at the moment and I'll call him back after. I don't know if he knows that I'm working because I have to stay late today. I feel the phone vibrate in my pocket again and I ignore it completely when a customer wants my help.

Minutes later, Sarah, a co-worker, comes to me. "Brooke, there's someone on the phone for you. He introduced himself as your brother and he says it's urgent."

At that moment, I feel something is terribly wrong. I just feel it deep in my stomach. "Thank you, Sarah." I rush to the back, going straight for the phone. "Braden?" 

"Rory was hurt. She's in the hospital," is Braden's form of greeting this time.

Oh, my God. Again? "Wha- what happened?" I breathe out shakily. My hands shake when I hold the receiver to my ear. Holy shit.

"I don't have any details yet, but they said she was beaten and hurt by someone. I just landed and I'll be at the hospital in a few minutes." 

I have to put my hand on my chest, over my heart where I feel the ache. And fear. "Text me the address of the hospital. I'm going there right now," I tell Braden. 

"Alright." I can just hear the panic and fear in Braden's voice. He must have been terrified - I know that I am.

I end the call and quickly grab all my stuff, informing my manager of what happened. He said that since this is an emergency, I can leave earlier and someone will cover for me.

I quickly type Aaron a text.

Me: Rory is in the hospital again, she was hurt. Going there now, tell you all the details later x

His response comes in minutes.

Aaron: I'm near your shop now. I'll come pick you up and we can go together.

I briefly wonder if he's not working tonight. He didn't say anything about being at home. I don't dwell on that, though. This is not the time. 

Me: Ok.

I wait for Aaron outside, not feeling the cold air at all. The only thing I let myself think about is Rory and what Braden told me. I'm worried about her, especially now that she's pregnant. And this is the second time she's been targeted as a victim of some kind of an attack, the first time being drugged with a rape drug.

It doesn't take Aaron long. I run to the car when I see it, greeting him by telling him the address of where he needs to take us. 

"What happened?" Aaron asks as he manoeuvres in the traffic, driving as fast as he can.

"I actually don't have much information. Braden said someone beat her." I can barely get out the word, that's how panicked I feel. I can't even imagine how I'd be if it happened to me. 

We arrive at the hospital when everyone is already there. And by everyone, I mean Braden, Lily, Rory's best friend, her mum and dad and even Jeff, Braden's driver is here.

"What the hell happened?!" I demand to know, seeing Rory lifelessly lying on the bed. I only glance at Braden's face once to know he's devastated and completely broken. 

"We don't exactly know. Someone must have hit her head against the wall repeatedly and very hard. Jeff only left her out of his sight for a few minutes and she came back running and crying in pain. When she came to the car, she left her conscious," Lily explains to me in the detail.

I stare at her with my mouth wide open, shocked to hear this. Why would anyone want to hurt Rory? She's an angel for Christ's sake! "Do we suspect anyone who could do this to her?"

"Charles," Lily says without even thinking about it. "He's a sociopath. I've always hated him because he treated Rory badly when they were dating, but Rory still loved him very much and didn't want to leave him. I'm almost sure it was him." 

"Can someone just, I don't know, shoot him or something?" I say in annoyance. I've heard about Rory's ex before but I didn't know how far he'd be willing to go to make her life miserable now.

"I just might, but that would be too easy. I want him to suffer first," Braden speaks up, his tone murderous. He's sitting beside Rory, his head placed on his hands, a defeated pose. Wow, this really wrecked him. His eyes are blood-shot red, his hair is tousled and he looks plain ... tired. And about 10 years older.

"I can't believe he would do this," I mutter in disbelief. I suddenly feel an arm around me. I look at Aaron who hugs me close to his body, offering me comfort. 

It's weird standing around the bed where Rory is lying unconsciously. It takes hours, just standing in the room and waiting for something to happen. I haven't eaten since the lunch I had at work, but at this moment, I don't even feel any hunger, although Aaron offered to bring me something.

"Rory, baby!" Rory's mum suddenly gushes, sprinting to the bed. We all turn to see what's going on and Rory is sleepily blinking at Braden.

Braden's head immediately lifts up and he stands up abruptly. Rory is watching him like a hawk, not moving her eyes away from his face. 

I see she forces her gaze away from Braden when her mum puts Rory's hands in her, bringing the up to her cheek. "You made us all so worried."

Rory's eyebrows draw together. "What happened?" her voice is groggy.

Her mum picks up the glass, filled with water, and brings it to Rory's mouth. "Here, drink this. You'll feel better," she says tenderly, tears streaming down her cheek.

After Rory drinks the water, she repeats the question, "What happened?" 

Just then, a fairly young doctor comes in with Rory's father. "Hello, I see you're already up. I'm Doctor Lucas and I'll do a quick check and ask you a few questions, okay?" he asks kindly, his voice a little rough around the edges, but still pleasing for the ears.

I don't remember seeing attractive doctors like that when I visited hospitals.

Rory obediently nods her head. 

"Good." The doctor leans over her and opens her right eyes, flashing it with a small torch. Rory winces and squirms at the light hitting her eyes.

"You have to stay still," the doctor orders.

Rory softly rubs her forehead. "Sorry, my head just hurts."

The doctor nods. "Lift your head up from the pillow a bit, if you can, please."

Rory does as he says and his fingers press on the back of her head. I'm watching all this with my fingers in front of my mouth, feeling slightly nervous for some reason.

Rory winces, jerking her head away. "Ah." Her face scrunches up in pain.

The doctor releases her and lets her put her head back down. He writes something down in the pad he's holding. "Very well, Miss. I'm going to ask you some questions now. Is that fine with you?"

"I suppose ..." Rory trails off, biting her lip.

"Do you remember what happened? How did you hit your head?"

I think we all hold our breaths at that moment. Rory's eyes search for Braden and then Jeff in full panic. No one says a word to her, but all of our eyes are trained on her.

She takes a deep breath. "I was exiting a store, walking to where my driver was parked, when someone grabbed me and dragged me into a small alley. It was my ex and he hit my head a few time against the wall behind me. I don't know if he did it intentionally or not." She shrugs.

Didn't do it intentionally?! How do you unintentionally hurt someone by repeatedly hitting their head against a wall? 

Braden grunts and Rory's eyes fall on him, his arms down by his sides and his hands clenched into fists now. 

The Doctor writes down everything Rory told him. "And why did he do that, may I ask?" 

She purses her lips. "He asked me for money and I refused to give it to him. He called me some names and he just got really aggressive with me."

The doctor writes that down, too. "Okay, we've got that covered. Do you know what's your name?"

I see Rory almost laughs. "Uhm, Rory?" she asks. She looks at everyone in the room, everyone standing with serious faces.

"I'd like your full name," the doctor orders.

"Rory Warren," she doesn't hesitate in answering.

"How old are you?"

"25. Soon to be 26," she answers immediately again.

The Doctor holds up three fingers, asking me, "How many fingers am I holding up?"

Rory bursts out laughing this time, only she stops and scrunches her face up at the pain she must felt. "Three," Rory says with an incredulous tone.

The Doctor nods and points to Rory's mum. "Do you know who is this?" 

She follows his hand. "My mum," she answers immediately. 

"What's her name?" the doctor asks.

"Darlene," Rory says with a sigh.

The Doctor looks at Rory's mum and she nods. He writes something down again. He points to Braden next. "And who's that?"

Rory's eyes fall on my brother. "Braden," she says with on hesitance. 

Doctor Lucas looks at Rory expectantly as if he's expecting her to say something else. "Who is he to you?" he finally asks.

Rory looks at Braden again and he slightly cocks his head to the side. "My, ah, boyfriend," Rory stutters slightly.

A grin appears on my face. That's my girl. You own that man, Rory, don't be ashamed to show it.

"Good," Doctor Lucas speaks. "You just had a severe concussion, Miss Warren, but it seems that your brain isn't permanently damaged. You had a great luck." The Doctor nods at her. 

"Can I speak to you privately for a moment?" Rory asks the Doctor.

Both Rory and Doctor Lucas look at everyone in the room. We instantly move, gushing out of the room.

Braden doesn't come out with us and I completely understand him. I have to lean on Aaron for support to catch my breath when we come out. It seems like I've been holding it the whole time I was in there.

Because holy fuck, people. That's some serious shit right here.