Learning From Love (learning to love again sequel)

Part 3

It had been a few more days in the hospital for both of you before you were both discharged. You had been half-convinced that Paul paid off the staff to let him stay for as long as you were there just so you could be released from hospital care, despite the fact that you knew that he could have just stayed in your hospital room on that convertible chair.

Your throat was healed enough to the point that you had a bandage over the stitches that will dissolve on their own so you wouldn't have to go to your primary to get them out. And other than that, just a couple of bruises had already started healing.

Paul on the other hand, his nose was reset in the hospital, with the only signs of it being the two black eyes that he was sporting now. His ribs were still fractured but the doctors assured him that they would heal on their own in time, and it helped that they had prescribed him some minor pain killers in the meantime while he was still healing.

You both were waiting outside the hospital, waiting for the ride that Paul said would be coming to pick them up. A blacked out suburban pulled up, and of course Gene came out of the passenger side.

"Thought you two might need a ride." Gene said as he opened up the back passenger side door, for you and Paul to get into. As the driver grabbed both of the hospital bags full of your belongings that you came in wearing into the back.

"So I see you both are looking better." Gene said, as he looked back at the both of you in the backseats of the suburban. You could tell he was making small-talk but didn't know why.

"Trust me, I've been better." Paul said, as he winced as the car went over a pothole in the street.

"Yeah you've looked better to. But at least we won't be touring for a bit. Giving you time to get back into shape." Gene replied, as you noticed something.

"Like he was hiding something." You thought, as you didn't say anything and just stared out your window as they continued on talking about the future tour not paying attention to their conversation.

20 minutes later, and you had pulled up to the property.

"Don't forget to leave me a 5 star rating on uber!" Gene said, as Paul rolled his eyes, as you both got out of the car and the driver passed you both your bags of belongings.

"When you've settled in let me know. You can come over and hangout." Gene said, seriousness in his voice and you looked at him from the passenger side of the vehicle.

His face held a sort of compassion that you thought seemed misplaced at the time.

"Yeah maybe, but I think we're kinda tired." Paul said sincerely, as he smiled at Gene, as the car turned around and exited the property back to his house.

"That was kinda odd." Paul said, as you looked at him.

"Why is that?" you asked, as Paul looked at you.

"'Cause he's never really invited me to come over to his place if there aren't other people besides him and Shannon." Paul said as he shook his head, as he walked towards the entrance of the house.

"What do you say about getting some takeout and just watching some TV before going to sleep." Paul asked, as he opened the door and looked back at you.

"Sounds perfect. I'm exhausted." You say as you follow him in, and bump into him, as he had stopped at the entrance of the house, and looked around him to see what had him stopping in his tracks.

The house.

The entire house, that was meticulous decorated with everything seeming like it all belonged in the house, was everywhere.

"Holy crap. This wasn't like this right?" You asked, trying to remember how the house was before the incident.

"No, the cops probably did this. The entire house is probably like this. Even the second floor." Paul said, as you heard almost defeat in his voice, along with the exhaustion from being in the hospital for days.

"And now we have to deal with this." You thought, as you saw Paul finding the phone and seeing a multitude of messages and clicked the machine.

Which kinda was a mistake.

All the messages, ranging from people that worked with Paul as a crewmember, to his manager, and Tommy and Eric left messages on the machine.

"Probably thought he was already back". You thought, as you went to place your bag on the counter, Paul quickly took it, to place it in the washer with his clothes from the hospital.

That was when you looked out the sliding glass door that had broken glass through it from the incident.

It wasn't just an incident. Your ex tried to kill you along with his crazy girlfriend. It was an attempted murder. You thought, as you went to open the sliding glass door as your sandal covered feet crunched against the broken glass that was on the cemented floor that lead out to the backyard.

Where you saw it.

A section of the backyard that was right by the pool the tiling near the pool that was caked in your dried blood along with the little numbered indicators that were left over by the police.

You felt the blood leave your face, as you bent down to touch the spot, running your fingers against the spot, as it all seemed to be coming back from you.

The feeling of Andrews hands around your neck, the feeling of the straight razor going through your throat before you fell to the ground.

You took a shaky breath, trying to clear your mind of it, as you heard the sound of crunching glass behind you, as you tensed up and turned around, ready to bolt.

It was Paul coming to check on you.

"You ok?" he asked, as he went to where you were at in the backyard, sitting by the bloodstain.

"Not until I get some cleaner to it." You joke, as he offers you a hand to get up with.

You could hear the phone messages playing from inside the house, and one particular one had you tense up again.

"Mr. Stanley, this is the Los Angeles Police Department. We are calling to inform you that we have no caught the perpetrator that attacked you. We are still searching...." that was all you heard before you looked up at Paul and saw that he was getting hazy, as you went to hold onto something to steady yourself, which was ironically Paul's arms that he held out to catch you.

But that didn't happen, as your weight shifted backwards towards the edge of the pool tiling.

But the added weight of Paul instead made it so the both of you ended up falling straight into the pool.

Which was the shock you needed to pull you out of you almost fainting.

Once you broke the surface of the water, you felt not only the water dripping from your face but fresh tears.

"He's still out there." You thought, as you treaded water, as Paul broke the surface, sputtering water.

"Well they did say going in the water would help my recovery but I didn't think it would be happening anytime soon." Paul joked, as he smiled at you. Which fell quickly when he got a good look at your expression and came closer to you and pulling you to the shallow end of the pool and making you sit down on the pool steps.

"I know your freaking out. I am too. But I'm going to call Larry up and have him set up surveillance and security system for the house. State of the art. And if I have to I'll hire a bodyguard to stay at the house 24/7 and have another come with you while your working." Paul said, as you tried to process what he was saying, as you felt his arms go around you.

"Come on. Gotta find you some clothes to change into, while I call Larry." Paul said as he stood up, as you followed him back into the house with a blank expression on your face, as you passed him and went to the second story of the house.

And almost robotically went to grab some of Paul's clothes to change into, as you heard Paul talking on the phone to Larry, as you stared at his closet where the gun safe was.

If the police weren't going to catch Andrew you were going to.