Sunday in New York

Beep. Beep. Beep...

With just one slight movement, pain shoots throughout my body. Slowly I open my eyes, noticing a dim light above my head and a plain white ceiling. The beeping continues and I turn to look to my right, noticing the screen with a green line rhythmically going up and down. I slowly blink and let out a deep sigh, looking past the screen. Hudson was sitting in a chair, his head leaning against the back and his eyes closed.

I turned back and looked back up at the ceiling, thinking about what happened. All I remember is looking up at him, feeling my ribs being kicked in and screaming in pain. His fingers running through my hair and pulling me up. The rage in his eyes.

Shuddering from the thought, I grunted in pain, holding my side.

"Avery." I looked back and he was now by my side, gently placing his hand on mine.

"What time is it?" I whispered.

He looked above me at something that must've been a clock. "Three A.M." He yawned, scratching his head.

"You didn't have to stay." I sighed, feeling guilty that he was here.

"I wanted to...Avery, was it Eric?" He looked extremely distressed.

I lowered my eyes, hesitating to tell the truth. I slowly closed my eyes and whispered, "Yes."

He bowed his head and ran his fingers through his hair. He let out a deep sigh and remained silent for a long time. I watched him the whole time, realizing that I was not just some girl to him, that I actually had a meaning in his life. He looked up at me with sad eyes, biting his lip.

"You deserve so much more." He quietly spoke.

That was it. That was what I was searching for my whole life. This was the feeling I was trying to get out of Eric, and never got. My heart skipped a beat and a feeling of warmth filled my soul. I held his hand.

"Can you lie with me?" I sleepily asked.

He softly smiled and stood up, cautiously getting onto the bed as I turned to my side. He gently wrapped his arm around me, careful not to rest it on my rib. The warmth of his body against mine made me smile, and the faint smell of his cologne was in the air. His head rested behind mine.

"Your hair smells good." He spoke.

I lightly laughed, "Herbal Essence." He laughed with me.

"I promise that I will never hurt you. All I want to do is take care of you." He sleepily spoke, sounding like he was falling asleep.

"I'd like that." I replied, closing my eyes and drifting back into sleep.

Later that morning

We were fast asleep when all of a sudden there was a loud clearing of a throat. Hudson was the first to wake up and I heard him mumble something.

"Avery, wake up." He whispered then quickly got up and off the bed, stumbling into the chair. I opened my eyes and looked around, seeing my family, Amelia, and my boss at the foot of the bed. My mum burst into tears and came to my side.

"Oh Avery, how could this happen to you? You're such a sweet and innocent girl." She cried.

The others gathered around me, asking the same questions. Are you alright? Are you in pain? What happened? Where is he? I remained silent, still really tired. Hudson backed up to the other side of the room to let them see me.

"I'm gonna kill him. I'm serious Avery, I called the cops this morning when I found out." Amelia spoke with tears in her eyes.

"How did you find out?" I asked.

"Hudson, he texted me with your phone." She looked back at him, he looked down.

"Sweetie, you look so sad." My mom sniffled, lightly touching my face.

"He's not gonna get away with this." My father growled, balling up his fists. My brothers Jon and Paul stood by silently, looking unsure and confused.

"Avery, I'm giving you time off. As long as you need, I don't want you to be coming to work in pain. You mean too much to us Dollface, you need to get better." My boss Jann stood at the end of the bed.

The doctor then came in holding a clipboard. He cleared his throat and then began, "Avery I'd like to speak with you. Only immediate family are allowed in here for this."

Amelia, Jann, and Hudson then left the room. Dr. Warner came by my side, "That was quite a scare you gave us."

"What do you mean?" I asked, not thinking that it was anything life-threatening.

"Well, not only did the abuse take a toll on you, but your blood sugar was extremely low, so not only was the trauma to your head bad, you might have lost consciousness because you haven't been taking care of your diabetes. Were you eating right yesterday?"

I shook my head. "No..."

"Avery, you need to take care of yourself. But other than that, you suffered a minor concussion, several contusions, and a broken rib...Avery, are you going to press charges?"

I lowered my eyes and sighed. "I wouldn't want him to do this to any other woman. I have to."

"The nurse will be bringing you breakfast, and make sure you eat it. You need to balance out your glucose levels again. I'll come and check on you in a bit." He flipped the papers back and left the room.

Everyone was silent when he left, until my mother spoke up.

"Who was that young man that was lying with you when we came?" She asked.

I softly smiled, "Hudson. He's the one that came to my rescue...he's really sweet. He's a good man."

"Are you dating him?"

"No." I quickly answered, "He's just a friend."

She nodded and wiped away her tears, "We need to thank him."

"Jon, can you ask him to come in?" My dad said to my brother. Jon did as he was told and left for a moment, then came back. Hudson cautiously walked in, looking nervous as he walked over to the other side of me. He remained silent.

"Hudson, is it?" My father asked.

Hudson cleared his throat and nodded, "Yes, sir."

"Thank you." My dad half-smiled, still distraught over what happened. Hudson bit his lip.

My mother then started up, "I don't know if our daughter would've made it if you hadn't been there for her. Thank you."

"I wanted to be there for her." Hudson quietly spoke, clearing his throat again. I softly smiled at him, our hands holding each others. "Hudson, this is my mother Catherine, you can call her Kate. My father John. And my older brothers, Jonathan and Paul."

He shook hands with each of them politely, but looked uncomfortable. He then turned to me, "The doctor said that you'll be released today."

"Would you like us to take you back home with us, Avery?" My mom asked.

I thought for a moment, "I don't think so. I guess I'll just go back to my place...wait, oh no, I can't, Eric still has the spare keys."

"You can come home with us, Avery, it's no problem." My mother urged.

"I can take care of you...my place is not far from yours, and there's a lot of room." Hudson quietly spoke up.

My family looked at him, as did I.

"I'd prefer to stay close to home, mom. I'll be okay." I spoke.

She nodded. "We should get going then, I guess. Are you leaving soon?"

"Well, I'm supposed to have breakfast, but I'd prefer to be in a quiet place right now. I'm still so tired."

"Okay sweetheart. Call us when you leave then." My dad kissed my forehead.

"Okay." I smiled. They all said their goodbyes and soon left, my boss left too, and Amelia wanted to stay and miss work, but I convinced her to go. So again it was just me and Hudson.

I looked at him as he sat on the edge of the chair, looking down at the floor.

"I'm sorry that I put you in that situation." I spoke.

He looked up at me, and shook his head. "It's okay...would you like to call your landlord? So he can change the locks on your door."

I looked past him out the window. "Okay."

Later on in the day, Hudson took me back to my place to grab a bag of clothes and talk to my landlord. My landlord said that he'd change the locks tomorrow, so then I'd just spend the night at Hudson's place.

He held my bag for me and helped me into his place, walking me to the bedroom. He set down my bag by the bed. "You can stay in here, I'll stay on the couch." He turned to leave, but I stopped him.

"I feel bad for staying here. I feel like I'm burdening you."

He quickly looked back, "You aren't. Avery, I'm glad you're here."

I sat down on the bed and looked down as he slowly walked back. "Avery...I'm sorry if I seemed rude when you introduced me to your family...It's hard for me to act comfortable in family situations." He sat down next to me. "I have no relationship whatsoever with my father, and when my mother died, I felt like the love died with her...your family loves you so much and wants to take care of you...I haven't felt that in...so many years."

I closed, my eyes feeling a deep sadness in my heart. I wrapped my arms around him and rested my head on his shoulder. "Hudson, you mean so much to me. I know we've only known each other a short time, but I feel like I've known you all my life. And I know you want to take care of me, but I want to take care of you too."

He lifted my chin and kissed me, gently placing his hand on the side of my face. I ran my fingers through his hair as we kissed more passionately. Carefully he picked me up and laid me down on the bed, resting my head on a pillow. He crawled on top of me and kissed my neck as I wrapped my arms around him. Closing my eyes feeling my body tingle with every kiss, I bit my lip and slightly hissed from pain.

He quickly pushed himself up on his arms, hovering over me. "Did I hurt you?"

I softly smiled, "I think this is a sign we should wait."

He smiled back, "I'm sorry." He sat up.

We were both blushing, kind of embarrassed. He took a breath and began, "I should go to work now...will you be alright here?"

"Of course." I smiled.

"Okay, I won't be long, I'll be back this evening." He stood up.

"Where do you work?" I asked.

"Uh, I actually own a bar and restaurant down the street. La Maison, it's a jazzy lounge." He bit his lip, pushing his hair back.

"That's really cool. Have fun."

"I'll be back." He blushed, awkwardly leaning over to kiss me before leaving.

As he shut the door, I couldn't stop smiling. I sat up a bit and pulled my bag up onto the bed from the floor, and then noticed a book on the nightstand. I picked it up seeing that it was Dorian Gray, and the bookmark was almost at the end of the book. I softly smiled and held the book close to my chest. I then realized that I haven't looked in a mirror since before this happened. I dug through my bag and found a compact, hesitating to open it. Every time I closed my eyes I could see him, violent and angry. Taking a deep breath, I opened the mirror and held it before myself.

I quickly closed the mirror and shoved it back in the bag.