Lost in the Game {Brollins}

| Chapter 46 |

The three guys watched as all of the blood drained from Rebecca's face, as she went pale. They saw her widened eyes, which were now darting around everywhere, and noticed her struggling to respond.

"Okay." She whispered as she took a deep breath before hanging up the phone and staring at the black screen.

She quickly turned away from the couch that the three guys were sitting on and tried to steady her heartbeat by breathing slowly, yet she found her lungs still begging for air as her shallow breaths didn't get any deeper.

"Uh, I have to go." She stayed facing away from them, looking around the room for a distraction. "Ashley needs me."

"Becks, I don't think that's a good idea." Colby immediately stood up. The small talk was long gone, and the tv had been muted when she first got the call.

"I have to go." Rebecca repeated, before taking in another deep breath and turning around to face the guys.

Rebecca felt her phone vibrate and instantly looked down at her phone, wondering if it was Ashley. However, she was given an unpleasant surprise when she noticed it was her mother instead. She read the plethora of messages, ranging from short jabs to long paragraphs filled with hate.

Although to someone unknowing they might not have seen the venom hidden beneath most of the messages, Rebecca knew the short reminders of her forgetting to do the most obscure things were still filled with it. While other messages were blatantly and obviously crude on purpose.

Rebecca almost winced as she could almost hear her mother berating her over nothing. She had no clue why her mother chose today of all days to harass her over nothing, but the randomness wasn't uncommon, and it made Rebecca wonder if her mother even realized that Rebecca had been out of the house for the past few nights.

When she saw Colby's confused and curious look, she pressed her lips together and shook her head.

"Just a daily reminder so I don't forget about how much she hates me." Rebecca gestured to her phone before quickly slipping it into her pocket.

"Red, you already have so much going on. You need to take a break." Colby stared at Rebecca, seeing the resigned look in her eyes. "I really don't think you should go."

"But I have to go." She repeated, her voice failing to hide its cracks as she became even more overwhelmed than she was before. She had no idea it was possible, but apparently, she hadn't even reached the peak of it earlier like she thought she had.

Rebecca got lost in thought as her mind whirled when she thought about everything that she was trying to balance on top of putting up a front. She promised Mercedes she would be in her corner to help with her addiction and now she was trying to help Ashely deal with her potential issue. On top of that, her mother was always an underlying problem, and something about Pamela's issue with Alexis was eating at her.

"Red?" Colby noticed her distant face and her quickened breathing. After getting no response yet seeing a million thoughts cross through Rebecca's eyes, he began to worry, quickly grabbing her by her shoulders, "Becks?"

"Becks." He repeatedly called her name and looked back to the other two guys who sat uneasily before Colby quickly cupped her jaw. "Rebecca."

Her eyes slowly moved towards his, before they fell back down to the floor, "I have to."

She surrendered to her emotions for a split second, as tears began to fill her eyes. Colby quickly noticed and she immediately felt him wrap his arms around her, as he took a step closer to reduce the space between them. Something about the simple gesture relaxed her immensely, and for a split second, there were no thoughts, no issues, no weight on her shoulders. Everything went still and it brought her more comfort than she wanted to admit.

She quickly stepped back and nodded to herself as reality set back in, cursing herself for her own actions, "I'm going."

She moved around the room quickly and grabbed a few of her things, reaching into her pocket and rummaging around as she began to feel her previous pain pill wear off. She quickly swore to herself when she shook the bottle and realized there was no clatter of a pill bouncing around inside of it.

Shortly after that, Rebecca went to leave, but she felt someone grab her arm before she could fully walk out of the front door, "Listen, Becky, uh, I'm not good at these sort of things, and I know you gotta go, but I just needed to let you know that I really am sorry for-"

"It's okay Jon. I don't blame you." She shot him a smile before giving him a quick hug, and something in the way she spoke and acted, calmed most of the guilt Jonathan was feeling.

With that, she bolted out the door and made a straight path to the convenience store down the street.

Colby sighed to himself as he sat down on the couch and ran his hands through his hair. He left his head down, holding himself still, as he shut his eyes in frustration. He felt the couch dip down next to him as Joseph sat next to him. "This isn't good for her man."

Joseph gave him a quick pat on his back before gripping onto his shoulder, "If there's one thing I learned from Rebecca, it's that when she wants to do something, there's absolutely nothing anyone can do to stop her."