Finding You

by Ivy Love

  “Isabella,” he says, sliding into Dom mode.

  “Isabella, take a deep breath.” He pauses. “Good girl. Now tell me, are you alone.”

  I can’t hear what she’s saying and I need to know if she’s okay.

  “Are you hurt?” He pauses again, “Tell me what hurts.”

  As he listens he begins straightening his clothes and walking out to the hallway.

  “Is the door unlocked? Okay, don’t move. We’re on our way. In the meantime, I want you to lie still, and don’t try to get up, understand?”

  “Good girl, we’ll be there soon. Call me if he comes back.”

  He hangs up the phone, turns and hands it to me and when I look at his face, I see his eyes are filled with fury.

  “Get dressed, I’m going to get the guys,” he says turning down the hallway.

  “I’m dressed,” I say hurrying after him.

  “Morgan, Matt, Anthony, up now! We’re going to Izzy’s house,” Ryker shouts.

  I watch as the men jump up and throw on their shirts and shoes.

  “Car. Now, Liz,” Ryker barks out.

  I don’t question him. I just go to the car, shut the door and anxiously wait.

  Chapter 4

  Anthony

  I am freaking out, “Ryker what the fuck is going on?” I ask shoving my feet in my shoes.

  “I’ll tell you on the way.”

  I look at Morgan and Matt worriedly. This cannot be good.

  I follow Ryker out the door, with Matt and Morgan on my heels.

  “Close the door behind you Matt!” Ryker yells as he jumps behind the wheel. I hear the door slam shut and footsteps coming up behind me. We jump into the back of the truck and Ryker slams the car into drive and pulls out.

  “Ryker, are you going to tell us what is going on now?” I ask.

  “She’s hurt, dammit,” he slams his fist on the steering wheel, “Badly, from what I could understand. She’s alone right now but she doesn’t know if he’s coming back and to be honest I want to be there if that happens.”

  “You’re not the fucking only one,” I growled.

  “How bad is badly?” Morgan asks.

  “She was wheezing on the phone and her words were coming out broken, she says it hurts to move,” Ryker grits out.

  “Fuck,” Matt mumbles.

  We all slam into one another as Ryker takes a curve way too fast.

  “How far away are we, Liz?”

  I look over and see that Liz’s hands are nearly white from gripping the front seat. I lean forward and touch her shoulder, trying to give her a reassuring smile, but I know it doesn’t come off that way. She forces a smile back at me.

  “Um, about two blocks away.”

  We ride in silence as Liz points out the directions.

  “It’s right here on the left,” she says.

  “Liz, you stay in the car until I know it’s safe,” Ryker says as he pulls in front of the home.

  “Fuck no! Are you kidding me? That is my best friend in there. You are out of your fucking mind if you think that I’m going to stay outside. Plus, do you really think she wants to see four pissed off men racing to her rescue right now?” Liz says angrily.

  We all look at each other, “She might have a point there,” I concede.

  “Fine, but you stay behind me until I know for sure that he is not in that house.” Ryker says.

  “His car is gone, but go ahead and look,” she says impatiently.

  The door is shut, but when I try the handle it opens. I turn around and put a finger to my lips, hoping that they’ll understand to keep quiet. I slowly push the door open and enter. I enter first, with Ryker, Liz, Matt, and Morgan close behind.

  The door opens into a living room, some things are turned over, but I don’t see Izzy. We move through the living room, carefully avoiding stepping on the glass that lines the ground. As the living room comes out to the hallway I see her. She’s on her side, in the fetal position, and there is blood. I’m seeing red and every fiber of my body is telling me to go to her, but I know I need to make sure the house is safe first.

  “Izzy!” Liz cries out from behind me. I watch as she races out of line and straight to Izzy. I point out the other rooms to the guys and we do a quick search to make sure we’re truly alone.

  “All clear,” Morgan yells.

  “All clear,” Matt says.

  “Clear,” Ryker says.

  “All clear,” I call out.

  We all race back to where Liz is huddled around Izzy. I can tell she’s been crying, her eyes are red and her face is puffy. As I look closer, it looks like there is dried blood on the side of her face.

  I kneel down and nudge Liz out of the way.

  “Baby, what happened,” I plead. I reach out to touch her and she cringes. In that moment my heart crumbles. A pain like I’ve never felt before rips through me. I want to move away, but I can’t. I need to touch her to make sure she’s okay. So, instead I slowly bring my hand to the side of her face and push her hair back behind her ear. She’s still tense, but she’s not rolling away from me. It could be because it physically hurts her to move, but I’ll deal with that in a minute. Right now, I'm just grateful she's letting me touch her. I want nothing more than to pull her into my arms, hold her and chase her pain away.

  “Please tell us what happened,” I ask, my eyes never leaving her face.

  “I came home,” her voice trails off. She tries to clear her throat, “I thought that he would be waiting for me in the living room and we would just have it out there.” She struggles to catch her breath and her hand moves to her chest. “That I’d just have to deal with his anger for a day or two and everything would be fine again.” Her breathing is labored and breathy, but she continues on, “I was so very wrong. I went in and he wasn’t in the living room. I think I walked straight back to the bedroom, my memory is a little fuzzy right now. At any rate, he was in there throwing his stuff into a suitcase.”

  I watch as tears begin to form in her eyes and I grab her hand.

  “If this is too much for you right now, we can stop,” I say stroking her hand.

  She shakes her head, “Just…need to catch my breath.”

  Matt sits down behind her and begins to stroke her back. From the corner of my eye I can see Ryker clutching Liz tightly. I hear a phone go off and Morgan looks down at me apologetically. He steps into the other room and Izzy continues.

  “I remember he was so mad…he was throwing stuff everywhere and shoving things into his suitcase.” She pauses again. “He said things. Things not worth repeating ever. He told me I was going to be alone forever. That I had the weekend to get my stuff out of the house. He told me,” she pauses trying to catch her breath. “He said that I could take the money I needed from the account, but he didn’t want to hear from me. The only thing he wants to hear is that I’m out of the house. He’s going to send divorce papers.” Her voice chokes up and is barely a whisper now.

  “Izzy, you don’t need that ass. You deserve so much better,” Liz says tears rolling down her face.

  “I know. I really do.”

  I rub Izzy’s hand softly, trying to keep myself calm.

  “I followed him down the hall as he was trying to leave. I don’t know why,” she starts to cough and Matt starts patting her back softly.

  “I don’t know why I followed him. I was trying to reason with him, explain myself. He didn’t care. He wasn’t having any of it. I saw a blur of something coming towards my face, but I couldn’t see what it was. I just wasn’t able to react to it in time. I think he hit me with his suitcase, but I can’t remember.”

  She has to stop again to catch her breath. I can see how much it hurts her to talk, but still she keeps on pushing herself.

  “The next thing I remember is waking up to a kick in the stomach. He kicked me and kept talking to me, I vaguely remember what he said, but as he kept kicking me at some point the pain just outweighed his words and I stopped listening.”

/>   He finally left, after his little chat. When he did, I didn’t want to call you Liz. I really didn’t. But I hurt so much, I really didn’t have a choice.”

  “I am so glad you called Liz. If you had let yourself stay here on the ground through the night, I would have been pissed,” Ryker says.

  “You have people who care about you. Whenever you need something you call,” he continues.

  Morgan walks back in and kneels down at her head. “I’m so glad you trusted us enough to let us be here for you.” He kisses the top of her head and stands up.

  “I’m sorry, I have to go and pick up Mykiah. I called a car and it’s on the way. You know I wouldn’t leave unless it was urgent and right now Mykiah needs me. I trust you’ll be taking Izzy to a hospital to get checked out?” He asks looking at me.

  “No! No, hospital please!” Izzy says frantically.

  Morgan’s lips purse and he kneels down next to Izzy, “Let these boys take care of you sweetheart, they’ll keep you safe.” He kisses the top of her head softly.

  As he stands up he nods at me and heads out the door. It’s not odd behavior for him, it’s who he is. He knows we’ll take care of Isabella and right now he needs to take care of Mykiah. He’ll call if he needs our help and he knows we’ll call him, if we need his.

  “Izzy, you’re on the floor and you can’t move without pain. You need to see a doctor. Please,” Liz pleads with her.

  “I’ll be fine. Please don’t make me go to the doctor. If I do, they’ll make me fill out a report and I just don’t want to deal with that right now,” she begs.

  “Fine, but I’m calling my doctor and if he says you need to go to the hospital you’re going. Do you understand?” I ask her.

  She nods, her face contorted in fear and pain.

  Chapter 5

  Isabella

  I feel so ashamed. I want nothing more than to disappear into the floor. I wish I had figured things out sooner. That I wasn’t so blind to the reality around me. That I hadn’t lost myself in an illusion. But, I didn’t do any of those things. Instead, I’m battered and bruised, withering on the ground in pain like an idiot.

  I watch Anthony leave the room dialing someone on his phone. I’m assuming he’s going to call the doctor. It makes me wonder who the hell he is to have a doctor he can just call, but I honestly have too many other things going on in my mind to dwell on that.

  Liz takes his place on the floor and Ryker follows, sitting behind her. I can still feel Matt rubbing my back.

  “Liz, please help me sit up.”

  She looks at Ryker and then back at me, “Maybe it’s not such a good idea to move you yet. We don’t know if he did any internal damage or what kind of injuries you have. I don’t want to hurt you more than you already are.”

  I start to get a bit irritated, “Liz, I need to sit up. I can barely breathe as it is, so you can’t make it worse. I don’t want to be laying here like some helpless invalid. Now help me. Please.”

  She looks at me hesitantly. I reach out my hand towards her and she grabs it.

  “Go slowly Isabella, otherwise you risk hurting yourself more,” Ryker says sternly.

  “I’m going to help you sit up from behind sweetheart,” Matt says rubbing my back and gripping my waist.

  “Ready?” Liz asks scooting closer.

  I nod and brace myself.

  “Relax your body,” Matt whispers in my ear. “It might help a bit if you aren’t tense.”

  I try to take a deep breath and relax my body. Liz, looks over at me and slowly begins to pull me up. With each inch I raise, my body protests. I feel pain everywhere. My head is slowly coming off the ground and Matt is trying to help move my legs, so I can sit up. The pain becomes too much to bear and I can’t contain the cry that leaves my mouth.

  Fuck that hurts. Breathe. Just breathe. You got this.

  “Are you okay?” Liz asks worriedly.

  “Just keep going please,” I choke out.

  “What the fuck are you doing?” Anthony yells out surveying the scene before him as he walks back into the room.

  “She wants to sit up man,” Matt says.

  He growls, comes over to me, pushes everyone away, and gently sweeps me into his arms. “Did that hurt love?”

  I shake my head, “Not too much, no.”

  “Where is your bedroom?” he asks.

  “No, I don’t want to be in there. Just take me to the living room and put me on the couch,” I mumble.

  “Liz, Ryker, and Matt, can you clean up the living room before I lay her down?”

  They walk ahead of us and hurry to pick up the glass and other items that have been thrown everywhere.

  “I’m going to try and put you down as gently as possible. Okay?”

  I nod and try to relax my body again as he kneels down and slowly lowers my body to the stiff couch. I grit my teeth and bear the jostling as he removes his arms from me.

  “The doctor will be here shortly, okay? Just try to relax right now. Is there anything I can get you?”

  I shake my head, tears threatening to fall again. I angrily wipe them away. “No, thank you, I’m good.”

  I put my arms by my side and push upwards, wincing as I scoot my body into a sitting position. I shake my head and wave off everyone coming to help. “I’ve got this.”

  “Matt will you find a washcloth or something so I can wash off her face?” Anthony asks.

  He nods and goes to search.

  We all sit in silence as we wait for Matt to get back. He’s back quickly a small hand towel in his hand. He reaches out and hands it to Anthony.

  “Sweetheart, I’m going to wash off your face a bit okay? Let me know if I hurt you.”

  I nod and watch as he brings the towel to my face. He slowly wipes down the side of my face, scowling as he watches the blood come off. I reach out and touch his leg, trying to comfort him. He shouldn’t feel pain for my idiocy. His other hand tilts my face so he can get everything off.

  “Better,” he says putting the washcloth down.

  I start to rearrange my body, so that when I breathe I’m not in excruciating pain. Once I’m settled again, Liz comes and nudges Anthony out of the way so she sit on the floor beside me. She gets comfortable and lays her head on my lap. I begin to stroke her hair and shut my eyes. I feel tears drop onto my lap.

  “Please don’t cry Liz,” I say softly.

  “Do you know how fucking scared I was Izzy? You were terrified tonight when you left. I’ve seen you scared, but I’ve never seen you like that. Then I heard nothing from you! All I got was a lousy text. It freaked me out Izzy. Him leaving, fuck that, him doing this to you is the kick in the ass you need to leave. I know you’ve been with him for like forever, but seriously, it’s not okay anymore. You’re the best friend I’ve ever had and I need you, okay?” She says, tears covering my lap.

  “I’m so sorry Liz. You’ve always been there for me, you never asked questions, you were just there. I’m done with him. It’s over,” I say stroking her hair trying to keep my breathing even.

  She sniffs, “You better be and I’ll be here if you need anything.”

  “We’ll be here,” Matt says stroking my hair.

  I try and smile at them, “Go home Liz. You need to sleep and I’m not sure how I feel about everyone hearing how messed up I am right now,” She goes to protest, but I cut her off, “I promise to call you in the morning and then you can come back. Okay?”

  “I was coming back even if I wasn’t invited,” she grins.

  “I know you were, it’s one of the many reasons I love you.”

  She sits up slowly and wraps her arms around me gently as she hugs me. I can’t do much, so I give her a kiss on the head.

  “I love you Izzy, don’t you dare fucking leave me. I’m the only one allowed to leave,” she whispers in my ear as she hugs me a bit tighter. I grimace but bear the short lived pain.

  “I promise. Oh and next time you feel the need to run, you better fucking t
ell me,” I whisper back as she pulls away.

  Ryker leans down and hugs me, “I’m glad you’re okay. If you need anything tonight or these two bone heads get on your nerves just call us.”

  I smile at him, “Thank you, I will.”

  I give an awkward wave as they walk towards the door. The door shuts behind them and suddenly all there is, is awkward silence.

  Chapter 6

  Anthony

  It’s just me, Matt and Isabella now. I can tell she’s uncomfortable, but she’s stuck with us until the doctor comes. Hell, she’s stuck with us even after the doctor leaves, I’m not going anywhere. I’m guessing Matt isn’t leaving either. It’s going to be a long night.

  Matt’s standing behind her and I kneel in front of her. I go to say something but a knock at the door interrupts me.

  “I’ll be right back sweetheart, that’s probably the doctor.”

  I walk out of the room and to the front door. Just in case it’s unwanted company, I take a quick peek through the peek hole. Thankfully it’s only Dr. Fanner.

  I open the door, “Thank you for coming.”

  “It’s not a problem, I know you wouldn’t call me for just anything. Where is she?” he asks.

  “She’s in the living room and laying on the couch,” I say closing and locking the door, leading us back to Izzy.

  “Izzy, Dr. Fanner is here to see you,” I announce walking into the room.

  Dr. Fanner kneels down beside her and starts to speak softly with her. Matt moves from behind her and comes to stand next to me. We watch the doctor examine her in silence for a few minutes.

  “Do you think she’s going to be okay?” Matt asks worriedly.

  “I really don’t know, I hope so. I’ll tell you right now if she’s not I’m going after her soon to be ex-husband,” I say, anger lacing my voice.

  “I’m with you man. I just need her in my life.” He pauses, “We’re going to do this just the three of us. I want her and I don’t want to lose your friendship either. So, we’re either all or nothing.”

  I just nod, because all I want at this point is her. I need her. I have to have her.