Page 69 of Shifted

"Hope? Who did this?" Theo repeats. I felt my eyes blur at the sight of him seeing me like this because I knew it broke his heart.

"It's nothing," I lied.

He makes his way beside Bella, and as his eyes find their way to my shoulder, he sees the bite mark scarred into my skin as the bruises begin to form against my wrists, arms, and waist. I swear I could see his eyes start to well up.

"This." He glanced at me up and down, his finger gently touching my eye as I rasp in pain. "This isn't nothing, Hope- who the fuck hurt you?" I don’t speak, I can’t find the words to say it, and I can’t accept it. I don’t want to because then nothing was real, "Was it him?"

"Did he do this to you?" His voice comes out in anger. He doesn't sound like Theo; he sounds like someone else.

"Hope." As I looked back at Grayson, his eyes pleaded with me to speak.

"It was an accident; he didn't mean to," I whispered, excusing him. I didn’t want to admit it fully, and I didn’t know why I was still protecting him.

"I'm going to fucking kill him." Without a second to spare, Theo charges for the door.

"Theo, don't!" I yell as the door slams behind him.

"Grayson, go!" Bella urges him, "You have to stop him. You know what he'll do." Grayson turns quickly towards the door and hastily leaves. The pit in my stomach was dangerously low, and I felt almost sick.

"Where's Joely?" I ask, not wanting her to see me like this.

"Asleep," she says but stares blankly at the door. It was as if she was processing, but as she looked at me, she stared at my hands. I didn't even realize I had been shaking.

"Hope." Her voice breaks for me.

And I hate myself.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

Hope Taylor

Me and Bella waited impatiently after mere minutes. For anything, any call, any text, any contact to know what's happening. My heart hasn't raced like this before. I felt nauseous, as if I could throw up. Maybe I should've just done it because maybe I wouldn't have the bruises.

It's stupid to say, to think. But if it meant that Theo wouldn't be risking jail time or the safety of himself on the road, then yes, I would do it for him, for Bella's sake. Her phone rings, and within an instant, she answers frantically.

"Grayson, god, do you have him!" She shrieks.

"He went into the building, and a woman let him in as she was leaving... I couldn't get to him and-"

"What do you need? Just spit it out!" She screams into the phone at this point, and she looks like she could cry.

"I'm locked out; I need a code." For some reason, Grayson sounded at ease, as if he didn't care if his best friend went to jail. That it would ruin his wife in a way, that it would ruin us. "Hello?" Bella stared at me eagerly as I came back to the world itself.

"It's 7721." I hear the door buzz on the other end of the call, followed by his frantic movements. I knew that the seven-floor walk-up would be a challenge in itself to get up. But I couldn’t even imagine what Theo was doing, and it made me nauseous.

"He's not going to make it in time," I say, sinking to the floor. It was all my fault; Theo was making an idiotic decision on my behalf. But after a minute, Grayson makes it to the top. I hear him stumble on the phone into the room.

"Theo!" He yells on the line as it crunches in and out. I heard someone grunt in pain; it wasn't Grayson. My stomach churns at the idea of either of them being hurt. Even if Reed hurt me, my sick self still cared if he were injured.

Then I heard it, the sound of Theo’s voice screaming on the other line in pain. He was angry. I’d never heard him this angry in his life, but he was hurt by the pain Reed had caused me.

"I’m going to fucking kill you for what you did to her! How could you?! How could you hurt her? She’s the only girl in the world that matters, and you inflicted pain. You hurt her, broke her. You’re lucky you’re even still breathing, I swear to God, Reed.” The sound of Grayson's phone falling to the floor could be heard. I shut my eyes and go into the fetal position. My body aches, it burns, it stings, and I can't even do a damn thing. What's the point of my job? What do I even do? I wanted my grandma. What would Mary Ellen do, some hell of a strong woman I was? She'd be disappointed.

The sound of glass shattering could be heard, and then Grayson picked up his phone again. "I got him outside the apartment. Reed's not in good shape… I'll call his sister. But I can't stop Theo from coming back on his own to finish the job." The thought of Theo killing a man shocks me. It wasn't in his veins, and he was too good for that. But yet again, we all have our demons.

"Let's get the fuck out of here" Grayson sounds like a wreck on the other line as he speaks to him. He cuts it off, leaving Bella and me alone again. She's just staring at me with mixed emotions. As if she had a million questions to ask but didn't dare go for them.

"Why did he do this?" I looked at the cold, tiled floor below me in shame. I felt worthless.

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