The Worst Choice

"You're... you're..." I couldn't form a coherent sentence. "Oh god."

Nash's cheek was bruised badly, along with scratches scattered all over his face. His bare torso was bruised, his right side bruised far more badly. I noticed he'd gotten a gash stitched up a few inches from his belly button. He had gauze wrapped around his left forearm and quite a few band-aids covering the rest of that arm and his other. The amount of bruises covering his legs were awful and made me lightheaded.

"I knew I should've gotten dressed," he mumbled.

"Are you alright?" I asked stupidly.

"Are you?" he shot back. "Ashlyn, are you fucking out of your mind?! What the hell are you doing here?!"

My mouth was dropped open, nothing but shock consuming me. Half due to how he looked, half due to the fact he was being such a dick about it. I mean, yeah, I knew he wouldn't like it, but I didn't expect him to freak out this bad. My mistake. "I-I came to check to see what was wrong with you," I answered. "Levi didn't tell me anything at all, except for the fact that you might be at school tomorrow, but look at you! You'll probably be gone a week- minimun!"

He shifted uncomfortably. "They aren't as bad as they look," he answered smoothly, but I heard doubt in his voice.

I snorted. "Yeah, right," I said. "I'm surprised you're out of the hospital already."

"I didn't go to the hospital," he said, as if it were the craziest idea he'd ever heard. "Levi's mom is a nurse. She helps me out on bad days."

"'Bad days'? You call this a 'bad day'?" I asked him, gesturing toward his more than bruised body.

Nash's eyes quickly narrowed. "Yeah, I do," he snapped. "You know what else I know? I know that- even though he shouldn't- my dad could walk through that door any second and see you here." He spoke slowly, his glare only darkening with each word. "And I know damn well that he isn't above hurting a girl. So being here is probably the stupidest decision you could make."

"I think being here is the stupidest decision you can make," I shot back. "Look at what he's doing to you Nash!"

"I don't have a choice," he snapped at me. "We've gone over this before and it's just a waste of breath. I can't put Eric's life at risk."

"What makes you so sure he'd be able to find Eric?" I challenged, crossing my arms.

He scoffed. "My dad is the smartest dumbass I've ever known, Ashlyn. I'm sure he'd find a way," he said. "But like I said, I'm not taking chances. Give me a 400% guarantee he'll never find him? Yeah, I'll think about leaving. Until then? No." He sighed heavily. "Face it, Ashlyn. I've been living this way for six years now. As much as you want to, you're not gonna be able to change anything."

"I'm just trying to help out-"

"You can't help out," he interrupted. He stared at me, chewing on his jewelry-free bottom lip as his gaze softened, but only slightly. "You need to leave, and not do this again. Ever."

I pursed my lips, trying to figure out what to say. "I don't know what you want me to say, Nash. I'm not sorry for coming over, no matter how dumb or threatened you're trying to make me feel about it. I'm doing all I can to help because I-" I paused. "I care about you, a lot. But if you really want me to stop, I will."

A minute later, and Nash was still silent, staring blankly right over my shoulder. I scoffed. "Okay," I said, ignoring the urge to bump into his shoulder really, really hard. I opened the door and stepped out, pausing to turn around a look at him. He hadn't moved. "Oh, and after I found out you were okay, I was gonna tell you that there's a way to see your brother this weekend." His head snapped toward me, eyes wide and full of shock. "My mom gave me the okay to go, but I'll talk to Levi or Jas about taking you instead."

With that, I closed the door and hurried to my car, not getting away from that house- and him- fast enough.