Battered and Bruised | Emblem3

Chapter 9: Speechless

Keaton POV

I have been awake for about an hour now, but I haven’t left the bed or Shayley’s side. I don’t want to leave her today. The guys and I have an interview and that means I have to leave her by herself. She hasn’t been by herself since the incident. I cringed just thinking about it. I hate that she has to go back to him. She refuses to let me do anything about it. She says it will only cause more problems. I don’t want to put her in anymore harm if he finds out about her telling someone or if he finds out about us. But I also don’t like the idea of her going back to him.

Shayley said something to me about him telling her when to come back. This will be the third day she’s been here. She says this is the longest she’s been away from him since they met. Is he really that demanding? He just makes her stay away until he allows her to go back to her home? It makes me sick.

I’m scared. I’m scared that when she leaves I won’t see her for a long time. I’m scared of what he’ll do to her when she goes back. I’m scared about the whole situation but I try to stay strong for her. I have to be her rock, and that’s what I’ll do. No matter what.

She started shuffling in my arms signaling that she was waking up. Her green eyes opened the slightest and looked up at me. We just looked at each other for a few seconds admiring each other.

“Good morning, dear,” she said to me with a smile.

“Good morning, beautiful.”

“Can you skip this interview, please.”

“I wish I could, but I can’t. I’m sorry baby,” I kissed the top of her head as I got out of bed. “Come downstairs with me. We can make breakfast together.”

“You mean I can make breakfast alone?” She had a smirk on her face. She knew she would be doing most of the cooking.

“Maybe…”

“You’re lucky I love you.”

We went downstairs and I let Shayley get started on making pancakes. I cut up strawberries and bananas. I knew Wes and Drew would want something healthy with their breakfast.

“Dude, this smells amazing,” Drew walked into the kitchen yawning.

“What can I say? I’m awesome,” Shayley said confidently.

“Uh, don’t let her fool you. I did all this myself.” I cut into their conversation jokingly. I could never in a million years cook, so it’s funny.

“I wouldn’t believe that for a second.” Drew winked at Shay. He grabbed plates from the cabinet and set the table.

“WES. Wake up! Breakfast is ready,” I yelled to wake up my brother. He soon joined us, half dressed and yawning every five minutes.

I enjoyed breakfast with my three favorite people. We had an interesting conversation about life at the table. Drew gave us the topic. After we finished eating, we all cleaned up together.

“Uh, Shay that was really good. You should stay around more often and cook breakfast every morning,” Wes said with a huge smile on his face. I agree with him. If only that were possible…

“So, are you guys single?” The interviewer asked us the same question that is asked in every single interview we do. It’s kind of annoying actually.

“I couldn’t get a girl if I tried,” Wes said. Ha, that’s funny because he could get close to any girl he wanted.

“Uh, I have someone in mind. Let’s just keep it at that,” Drew said referring to Macy. He might as well just say that he found his soul mate, because that’s what they are.

“I have a pretty special someone in my life.” I said it confidently and with a smile. That’s pretty vague. I don’t want to give anything away about Shayley. But I’m going to let everyone know I’m taken and proud of it.

“So, 2/3 of Embelm3 is taken? That’s something we don’t hear very often,” the interviewer spoke in his radio voice, “Keaton, is the special someone Emily? Or is that still off?”

I froze instantly. I haven’t done an interview since me and Emily broke up so the question hasn’t been asked. I never would have expected to get asked it though so I was completely caught off guard. I mean, it’s too personal and frankly, it’s no one else’s business. If I wanted everyone to know, all I would have to do is tweet it and the whole world would know instantly.

“It isn’t Emily and I would rather not talk about her,” I said in a rude tone. I was pretty pissed. I haven’t thought about her in a while. Since I’ve met Shayley, she’s been the main thing on my mind, not my ex who was ungrateful and cheated on me. Drew patted me on the back, trying to calm me down. Since I’m not really the type to get mad this easily, it worked. I’m lucky to have the guys here or else I probably would’ve said something I didn’t mean.

As soon as we left the radio station, the paparazzi standing outside swarmed us with questions.

“Who’re you dating, Drew?”

“Keaton, who is the special someone?”

“What ever happened to Emily?”

“Wes, why don’t you have a girlfriend too?”

We climbed into Wesley’s Nissan and drove away as fast as we could. The questions they ask are insane. Why do people care about our lives so much? We’re just normal people with unique jobs. I hope they don’t find out about Shayley. That would be the worst thing ever right now. I wanted to show her off and show how proud I was to be her boyfriend, but I couldn’t do that right now.

“Hey guys, how was the interview?” Macy asked us from the couch as we walked in the house. Shayley was sitting right next to her. Drew walked over to Mace and kissed her cheek.

“It sucked. They were trying to get information about you two,” Wes said motioning to Shayley and Macy. Shayley froze. She had a worried look on her face.

I walked over to her to comfort her. “Hey, they don’t know who you are. They just know I have a girlfriend, that’s it. It’s okay.”

“Don’t scare me like that, Keats.” She breathed a sigh of relief. We all talked about what happened today. Shayley and Macy had a girl’s day and watched chick flicks. Glad I skipped out on that, but I still probably would've done it if Shayley had asked me to.

Around 7:30, Shayley’s phone went off. She looked confused but got up to go see who had texted her, not interrupting conversation between the rest of us.

She broke down in tears as soon as she read the text on her phone. I walked over to her quickly to see if it was who I thought it was. She showed me her phone screen but didn’t look me in the eyes. She just kept crying.

Max: Get your ass back home. NOW.

Dammit.