There's Only You ✔

Bonus Chapter 1 | How It Happened (prt. 2)

Bonus Chapter 1 | How It Happened (prt. 2)

Kayden

"Hey, this is Bella. I'm sorry I missed your—" Zach hung up and threw the phone onto the couch next to him. We spent the last forty five minutes pacing back and forth, playing video games and watching movies to get our minds off Bella. Nothing worked.

I wasn't typically a nail biter, but my nails were currently being gnawed on by my teeth. We tried calling her parents but no one was answering their phone. The last time she checked in with us, she said she was doing homework. That was over an hour ago and we hadn't heard a peep from her. Granted, it was only five minutes over an hour, but still.

We were driving ourselves crazy over here wondering if she was dying in a ditch or bleeding to death. We never know how severe her injuries could be after a day with Gray. This time, the Los Angeles Hospital was on speaker. "Los Angeles Hospital. How can I help you?"

"Hey. I apologize. This isn't a medical emergency, but we're trying to get a hold of either Natalie or Owen Price in regards to their daughter, Bella. This is Zach, her best friend."

"Is she okay?"

That was Zach's cue to give me a hesitant look. We didn't want anyone to know that Bella was in an abusive relationship. Bella made us swear we wouldn't tell anyone and that included any medical professionals or the police. I was tempted to snatch the phone from Zach and explain everything.

Keeping this a secret may have been what she wanted us to do, but that wouldn't help if she was actually dying or bleeding out somewhere. The receptionist needed to know the truth about why we were as concerned as we were.

"Sir? Are you there?"

"Yes. Uhh... we don't know. She said she would pop over over an hour ago but my best friend and I haven't heard from her. We wanted to know if either of her parents have. Would you please let us know when they're available?" Zach gave the lady his phone number to call him back and hung up the phone, only to slam it back onto the couch.

He swore under his breath and began fidgeting with his hands over his bouncing knees. "This is so fucking frustrating. She begged us not to say anything because Gray would kill all of us but he could've already killed her. Maybe he found out somehow that she opened her mouth to us about him and seriously hurt her."

My heart clenched thinking about when Bella told us about Gray's abuse. She tried to play it off like it was nothing. She shrugged and explained that she ran into the back door.

She had a black eye.

You can't get a black eye from running into the back door or a gash of blood on the corner of your forehead from accidently hitting your head against the cabinet. We both knew she was lying again and we weren't about to let her get away with it any more.

We sat her down but before one of us could confront her, she clamped her mouth shut and tears fell from the curve of her chin. That was the most painful thing I'd ever had to witness. Bella had a breakdown and explained everything to us, about how Gray abused her physically, sexually and emotionally.

He threatened her to keep her mouth shut unless she wanted to know how painful a bullet inside her stomach would be. He threatened any of her loved ones she decided to snitch on him to. Zach and I were seconds away from taking our dad's guns and driving to his house but we were stopped with a hand on our wrists. She couldn't handle the image of us or her parents dead in a puddle of our blood.

After that, Bella held onto Zach's or my elbow everyday at school with a tight grip. We were sporting bruises on that spot for a week before she finally stopped. Zach's phone started ringing and we froze in our spots. My fingers, arms and ankles were crossed in hopes that it was the hospital calling us back. Slowly, Zach answered the call and put it on speaker.