I take his hand again as Whip comes in. "Is he okay?"
"I don't know.." I mutter.
"What happened?"
"He tried to move.." He steps forward and I move back.
"He's okay.. Probably just tired. Brooke, do you want me to leave?" I shake my head.
"That's not up to me.."
"But you're still scared of me?" I don't reply, he knows the answer. "I'm gonna stay outside then, shout if you need anything. Gina's going to come to take you home whenever you want." I nod and he sighs. "Take care Brooke."
"It's just us here now. Wake up Jakey, you can't leave me, not now." He barely responds. "I'll just talk at you then.. I was expecting to never trust a man again.. Even when I came out here, I thought it would never be possible then Chap came and he was so sweet and he tried so hard, I almost forgot everything that happened, I could push it to the back of my mind and only care about the 'now'. You and Whip were there too, always helping me, none of you ever did anything to hurt me and I thought maybe it would go away, maybe I wouldn't need to worry anymore.. When I got that text I was scared.. No one knew when I moved out here, there was no one to tell.. I'd already shut down all of my social media and I had no one who cared back home.. Somehow he had found out and he was here.. He's still here and he still knows we're near Bondi.. Y'know what's weird, the first thing I worried about was whether he'd hurt you guys.. And then I realised what it meant, him being back, it meant everything I'd hidden away from was also back.. The flashbacks, the recalling every single second of the two years he tortured me for.. And the fear of any man.. And I knew I couldn't do it to you, to any of you, let you see how terrified I was.. I had to get you to leave, I had to see you long enough to do that, but you all knew, you knew I was scared and it made you scared.. But then I knew what I had to do to Chap too.. I couldn't let him pretend any more, I couldn't put him through months of me not being able to be anywhere near him, we all knew it wasn't right anyway.. When you came to the door.. I expected myself to make you leave, even in that state, in the past I would have done.. You could have been pretending or anything.. But I saw you and I couldn't.. You were injured, you saved me so many times, I couldn't leave you when you needed me.."
"Thank you.." he mutters as I realise he's been awake for half of my speech. "Your accounts might not have been shut before you came.." he struggles to speak but it seems important.
"Why?"
"We may have found this Luke guy.." I panic, knowing what he's capable of.
"No..." He nods.
"Brooke, hear me out.. He really isn't anything to worry about.. For you, yeah, but he could never do anything to us.. He's just a kid, still, after all this time, he still acts like a kid.."
"How would you know? You didn't talk to him did you? You can't have spoken to him.. No.. You can't let him know where I am. You told him? He knows doesn't he? Why would you do that?"
"Brooke.." He places a hand on my arm causing me to flinch. He pauses, taking a deep breath. "Stop. Listen." I nod. "We found him on your account, in the messages, don't ask how we got on but we did.. You had no messages, other than from him.. They've been going on for years, apparently on your birthday.. Anyway, we hadn't decided what to do so we were all just getting on with stuff. Literally the day after we found him online, he was at the beach.. It's just good that it was me to find him, not Chap.. I'm sorry, I didn't catch him.. Whip was in the Tower so I radioed him and went to follow this kid, he really is still a kid.. He started running, I'm not sure why, but I couldn't let him go.. I chased him and yeah, the car came.." His eyes close.
"You shouldn't have even tried Jake.. You didn't actually speak to him though?" He shakes his head. "Does Chap know yet?"
"No.. I was coming to tell you.. I couldn't.. Whip doesn't know what happened.. I dropped the radio too.. They were scared.."
"Obviously. Were you the only person to see him? And he didn't see you?" He nods.
"With the messages.. We could try to press charges.." I shake my head.
"No."
"Okay. You need to talk to Chap.."
"I can't.. As soon as you're better I won't even be able to speak to you anymore.. You've seen what I'm like with Whip.. It's ten times worse with Chappo.." I can hear voices outside, Chap is here.
"Relax.. He's okay Brooke. Trust him.."
"I can't.. I need to go.." He keeps hold of my hand.
"There's one door Brooke.. They're right outside.. How are you going to get away?" I shake my head, my logic failing.
"Distract them."
"Brooke.. Please.."
"You tell them about what happened.. Anything I said that they might want to know.. I can hear Gina too.. I'll go with her.. They can stay with you and you can talk and then when you get out you can try to see me.. Just for a while, I can't see you.. I need to work it all out.."
"Be careful Brooke.." He drops my hand as his eyes close. I take a deep breath before opening the door, dropping my gaze immediately.
"Are we going?" Gina asks and I nod, unable to look at Chap. She leads me out as I try to avoid the stares. "It's okay Brooke, we're outside now. How are you doing?" I nod but my head swims. Jake found Luke. He almost caught him. They know who he is. He could hurt them. I need to find him, stop him before he does anything. "Brooke.. Should we sit down?" She pulls me to a seat. "What's going on?" I look up at her and see only panic as she gets further away. I feel myself fall before the darkness encroaches.
