They Can't Protect Me From Loving You

“Oh my god, you wouldn’t believe how many messages and stuff I’ve had come through.” Eloise called to Brian from where she was led on the sofa with her cell phone. With all that had happened in the previous two days she’d forgotten that the battery had died and she hadn’t had it on for a week.

“Seventeen voicemails and sixty three messages.” She added as she began to listen to the voicemails.

“They’re mainly from you so far.” She said as Brian walked back into the room carrying two bottles of Sprite and a tub of mini Oreos.

“Well, I was worried that you weren’t answering any of my calls.” He replied as she lifted her upper body off the sofa so that Brian could sit and then led back down with her head in his lap.

“Shit! There’s a few on here from Billie! I completely forgot about him and work. Does he even know what happened to me?” she asked looking up into Brian’s chocolate coloured eyes.

“I don’t know. I know the police were talking to your work colleagues to try and work out what happened to you, but I don’t know if they were told exactly what went on.” Brian replied with a shake of his head.

“I better explain” she muttered as she began to type a message to him.

“Hey, sorry about the past week, is it okay for me to call into the store to explain everything?”
As she silently began to read the messages she’d received over the past week, Brian silently ran his fingers through her hair. It wasn’t long before Billie sent a reply.

“Oh my God, it’s so good to hear from you, you wouldn’t believe how worried I’ve been. Of course you can come over! :)”

“Do you want me to drive you over?” Brian asked as he continued to run his fingers through her hair. She smiled as their eyes met and nodded. “You better get dressed then.” He said tugging at her tank top with a smile.

Eloise winced as she pulled her Vengeance University t-shirt over her head. The bruises that covered her ribs and stomach were fading to a green colour but they still caused her pain when she stretched.
She held her shirt above her stomach for a moment tracing her finger over the fading bruises as she looked at them in the mirror.

“They won’t be there for ever baby.” Eloise jumped at the sound of Brian’s words.

“I know.” She replied in a whisper pulling the t-shirt down fully.

“I’ll never forget though will I?” she asked as she turned to face him.

“No, but I know you. You won’t let what happened break you. You’ll deal with what happened, come to terms with it in time. You’ll get on with your life and be happy.” Brian replied stepping closer to her and gently placing his hands on her shoulders.

“What doesn’t kill me makes me stronger right?” she said with a small smile. Brian chuckled with a nod of his head.

“I love you baby.” He said leaning down to peck her lips.

“I love you too.” she replied as he took hold of her hand.

“Come on, lets go see Billie.” He said turning and guiding her out of the house and to the car.

“Hey Billie.” Eloise said as she and Brian walked hand in hand into the store.

“Oh my God, Eloise. What happened to you? Nobody knew where you were. The police were here asking questions because no one knew where you were. I thought you were meeting up with the guys on tour this week?” he replied in a long ramble.

“It’s a long story, you may want to sit down for this; you may not believe Me.” she said with a smile as she notice confusion taking over Billie’s expression.

“Do you want to come tell me in the office?” he asked pointing his thumb in that direction. Eloise nodded and followed Billie into the office, still holding Brian’s hand.

“Holy Shit, are you ok?” Billie yelled once she’d finished telling him what happened to her over the past week.

“Well my bruises are fading and I didn’t have a nightmare last night.” She replied with a smile.

“Shit, I really don’t know what to say. When I didn’t hear from anyone after the first day, I just assumed that you’d flown out early to meet the guys for some reason.”

“I’m sorry Billie, I should have got in touch sooner, but it just totally slipped my mind, it was only when I was going through the messages on my phone that I realised you didn’t know.” Eloise said as Billie raised his hands to stop her apology.

“Hey, there’s no need to apologise, I’m just glad you’re safe.” He replied.

“Thanks Billie, and I guess I’ll be back in work on Monday.” She said.

“Really?” both Billie and Brian asked in unison. Eloise looked at them both and nodded.

“Yeah, I’ll need something to take my mind off stuff, but Detective Meadows called this morning to tell me that they’ve both admitted what they did so there’ll be a sentencing hearing next week so I’ll need time off for that if that’s ok?” she replied.

Billie took a second to catch up with all that she’d just said and nodded. “Um, yeah sure, that’s fine, if you’re sure.”

“Cool, I’ll see you Monday then.” Eloise said rising from her seat. She was followed by Billie and Brian as she walked back out to the front of the store.

“Um, before you go…” Billie began.

“What’s up Billie?” Eloise asked.

“Well, I actually wanted to talk to Brian.” Billie said rubbing the back of his neck nervously. Eloise and Brian exchanged a confused look before they both turned to Billie.

“Shoot dude, what’s up?” Brian said.

“Well, um, I wanted to apologise for, for what happened the night I was out with all the girls.” He said finding it difficult to keep eye contact with either of them. It took a moment for both Eloise and Brian to realise what he was on about.

“You did hear me and Leana talking over the phone didn’t you?” Billie said noticing Brian’s confused expression.

“Shit, yeah, I’d forgotten about that.” Brian replied as Eloise turned to face him.

“You know about the kiss?” she asked quietly turning to Brian.

“Yeah, I heard Leana talking to Billie when I called here to see if you’d turned up for work.” Brian explained.

“Dude, I’m sorry, it should never have happened, but I was drunk and…” Billie stopped as Brian held up his hands to stop him rambling.

“Dude it’s ok, as long as you know that if you ever try it on with her again, I will have something to say about it.” Brian warned. Billie nodded.

“No worries dude, it’s not going to happen again. And just so you know, Eloise pushed me away straight away, she loves you.” Billie replied.

“I know.” Brian replied with a smirk, pulling Eloise closer to him.

“I’ll see you Monday Billie.” Eloise said with a smile.

“Bye guys.” He replied as he watched them walk away.

It wasn’t a nightmare that woke Eloise that night; it was the pain that ripped through her stomach. She couldn’t see the clock but she knew from the early morning sun making its way through the blinds that it must have been around five am. She got up quietly out of bed, not wanting to disturb Brian who was snoring softly on his front, his black hair sticking up all over the place.

She made it to the bathroom and opened the cabinet to find some pain killers, assuming that this pain was the start of her period. She took the pills and sat down on the toilet as another cramping pain shot through her abdomen. She waited another moment, breathing through the pain. Slowly she stood up again, only to feel the colour drain quickly from her face as heat rose up through her body as another cramp crippled her body making her cry out in pain.

As she clung on to her abdomen she heard Brian on the other side of the door.

“El!?” he called sleepily. “El, are you ok?” he sounded worried.

“In here.” She managed to call back as she tried to block out the pain.

“Baby what’s wrong, I heard you scream, are you…oh shit you’re bleeding, what’s happened?” he said kneeling down beside her and wrapping his arms around her.

“Bleeding?” Eloise questioned “Where?” she followed Brian’s gaze to her lower half of her body. She had been so preoccupied with the pain she hadn’t noticed the pool of blood forming between her legs.

“Oh God!” she gasped as another cramp gripped her stomach.

“I’ve got to get you to the hospital.” Brian said standing up quickly and scooping her up into his arms. He walked her carefully over to the bed and quickly threw on some clothes before picking her up again and carrying her carefully down the stairs and out to the car where he lay her carefully on the back seat. He drove quickly to the hospital, his one hand twisted back to hold hers as she continued to call out in pain.