The Enemy

Chapter 9

Hey...can we talk? -L

Bryn's phone went off in the middle of dinner.  She already knew it was Lias.  He had said he would text her after practice.

Didn't practice end over an hour ago? -B

She was irritated.  It was now eight thirty, and his practice was supposed to end at seven.

Sorry I was busy. -L

She rolled her eyes and turned her phone off.  The least he could do was text her and tell her he was busy.   'Whatever' she thought as she excused herself from her place at the table and went outside with Ash.  He was on his leash, and every time he saw something move he tried running after it.

"Stop it Ash!"  She yelled at him.  He gave her a sad look and walked slowly next to her.  They ended up walking to Natalie's house.

"Hey bud.  You brought the puppy?"  She squealed.  Bryn had told her about Ash the day after she had gotten him from Lias.

"Yeah.  I just needed to get out of the house."  Bryn realized she had left her phone at home, but she just shrugged.  Her and Natalie ended up watching movies all night, and they fell asleep on her living room floor.

That morning, they were woken up by Natalie's phone ringing.

"Hello?"  She answered groggily.  Bryn could hear someone yelling in a panicked voice through the phone.  She just couldn't make out who it was.  "Yeah...yeah I'll tell her...no of course I understand...yes...thank you."  Natalie hung up and looked over at Bryn.

"That was James.  They said you just got up and left last night.  They've been looking everywhere for you.  They even thought you snuck out with Lias, so they went to his town and asked everyone where he lived.  Your brothers almost killed him last night."  Bryn gave her a wide-eyed gaze.  "Jax and Jase got him pretty bad.  James tried to stop them, but they just wouldn't stop hitting him."  Bryn stood up quick, grabbed Ash, and took off running home.  When she got inside, she was immediately bombarded by her family.

"Where have you been??"  Her mother cried.  "We tried to get ahold of you last night, but you just disappeared!"  Bryn ignored her and went straight to her two brothers.

"What the hell?!"  She screamed.  "You fucking went to his house and beat him up?!  Are you serious??!!"  They flinched at how loud her voice was.

"Bryn we can-" Jase began, but she gave him a glare that made him stop talking.

"I hate you." They were all taken by surprise.

"Wh-what?"  Jax croaked.

"Don't ever talk to me again."  She bumped shoulders with him and slammed the door to her room.  She had to go make sure Lias was okay.

Bryn grabbed her phone and ran out their front door towards her car.  She struggled to start her car, because her hands were all shaky.

When she found his house by the football poster in the front yard, she had a mini heart attack when she saw that all of the lights were off.  She decided to see if he was home anyways, so she walked up to the front door and rang the doorbell.  After a few minutes, it opened to reveal a severely bruised up Lias.

"Lias?"  Bryn croaked and covered her mouth with her hands.  He looked down at the ground.  Bryn could only see the bruises on his face, but she was sure that there was more.  She just couldn't see them because they were hidden under his sweatshirt.  "I am so sorry."  Tears started to form in her eyes and he shook his head.

"Bryn, it's not your fault.  There's nothing for you to be sorry about.  I knew this was going to happen."  The sniffled.

"That doesn't mean it's okay."  He nodded and pulled her to his chest.  She noticed him flinch, so she pulled away and lifted his shirt.

"There's more?"  She spoke softly as she examined all the bruises on his stomach and chest.  He nodded then grabbed her hands.  "Lias I-I can't do it.  I can't be with you if this is what's going to happen to you."  He gave her wide eyes and took a step back.

"Are you serious?"   She nodded then started to cry.

"I can't put you at risk of being hurt anymore.  It's selfish."

"No it's not.  Don't say that."  He put his thumb and pointer finger on her chin and lifted it so they were making eye contact.  "I chose to still talk to you.  I chose to put myself at risk of this."  She shook her head and crossed her arms across her chest.

"I can't."  His face looked broken.  "I-I have to go."  Bryn turned and ran to her car.  That night, she didn't talk to anyone.  She refused to leave her room.  James tried repeatedly to get her to let him in, but she blocked his pleas out by putting in her headphones and turned up her music as loud as she could.

At school, Bryn was distant again.  She barely even talked to Natalie, and every time she asked about Lias, Bryn would just walk away.  She was falling behind on her work, and her good grades began to drop.  Little did she know that Lias had the same problem.

For Lias, he couldn't even see someone with long brown hair without breaking down.  He never really let a girl in, but he made an exception for Bryn, because she had already snuck into his mind.  His friends constantly tried talking to him, but he just shut them out.  He shut the world out.  Football was the worst part.  He couldn't even play.

The day Bryn's brothers had to play Lias again, they were all worked up.  Jase and Jax were ranting the whole afternoon.

"When I see that wimp, he's going to wish he never met me."  Jax growled.

"Knock it off.  Unless you want to get kicked out of the game, you're not going to do anything to him."  James snapped.  He was getting so sick of his brothers.  They were getting all riled up for no reason.  Bryn only told James about what had happened between the two of them.  He was okay with that.  He wasn't going to force her to go to this game, but she decided she was going to go anyways.

The whole ride to the game was silent between the four of them.  They decided not to ride the bus with the rest of the team, just because James didn't want to leave Bryn alone.

At the game, their coach made an exception and let her sit with them on the bench.  He even was using her as an extra set of eyes since she grew up around football.  She noticed that she didn't see Lias on the field at all.

When she looked over, she saw him on the bench with no helmet on.  He had his head in his hand, and he refused to look up.  When he finally did, they made eye contact, and they both could feel the pain the other was feeling.

Lias couldn't look away as soon as they made eye contact.  He didn't realize how bad it would hurt him.  He decided that he needed to play to get her out of his head.  The coach agreed and put him in right away.  The first few plays were rough.  He didn't throw the ball straight, or he wasn't looking around fast enough and got tackled hard.

One tackle in particular made his head bounce off the ground, and he laid in the middle of the field without being able to move.  The crowd was quiet as the ambulance and coaches came running to him.

"Lias, son, can you hear me?"  His coach got in his face, but it was hard to see him.  Lias' eyes started to get cloudy.