Bed Sheets II

30. Abuser Behaviour I Guess?

They were able to stop the bleeding, and Eric was starting to calm down. His suit was covered with blood stains, and Draven had placed his own suit over Eric's shoulders. There were surprisingly no knocks on the door, and examined Eric's trembling fingers hold the tissue as he blew his nose, a few drops of blood on the tissue but nothing alarming.

Eric had been able to regain his composure, and Draven sat on the sink counter, observing the way Eric wobbled to the garbage can and returned to him. Instinctively, Draven reached for Eric and gripped his jaw. Their faces had been close, but Draven was focused on examining the finger print marks on Eric's neck, one of them already beginning to seem green from bruising.

"You promised to tell me once we're at the hospital," Draven reminded him, jumping down from the sink counter and heading to the door.

Eric was stressed about leaving the bathroom since he was unsure where Kyle was, and he asked, "How about we wait until the party is over?"

Draven shook his head, "I'm not waiting for you to get worse—stop looking at me like that." Eric's lips had puckered, and appeared to be a lost puppy for a second, his eyes still glistening to his earlier tears and Eric raised an eyebrow.

"I'm not looking at you in any way."

"Just...no. Let's go," he motioned for them to exit.

Which Eric refused again, "Please, let's wait."

"Then do you want to talk about it now?" Draven asked worriedly. When he saw Eric begin to shake his head, Draven huffed a long sigh, "Eric—"

"I'm scared, okay?" Eric admitted, meeting Draven's concerned eyes. "I'm really scared Draven."

"I'm here, nothing's going to happen to you."

"You can't promise that—"

"Yes," he reached forward, placing his palm around Eric's shoulders and pushing him against his chest. He got a swift of the strawberry shampoo from his golden locks, and tightened his grip around him for a few seconds before pulling backwards. "Just trust me, alright?"

Eric paused for a moment, before clearing his throat, "Can I ask you something?"

"If I answer, are you going to head out with me?"

"Fine," Eric chuckled softly, "yes." Draven nodded his head, and Eric then asked, "Why are you helping me?"

"What do you mean?"

"I ruined your life; I basically made everyone believe something that could never be true. I even used you for one night and left in the morning after promising I wouldn't. I made you wait five years—why are you still here for me?"

Draven furrowed his brows, scratching his chin. It was a difficult question to answer, since he never really thought of it that way. All he thought about was helping someone that meant a lot to him, and seeing Eric with injuries was causing him to suffocate inside. That was one thing he wanted to prevent, which he could not exactly explain why.

"I don't know Eric," Draven shrugged his shoulders, tilting his head and staring into Eric's eyes. They were quite empty, as if he thought himself to be alone in the world, and Draven wanted to make him know that wasn't the case. "I guess that's just love—"

"But you even said we should go our separate ways."

"Yes, because I'm too vulnerable to you. You could give me the deepest most critical wound and I'd find any way to believe that it wasn't intentional." Draven sighed, "It was only because I was too attached to being with you that it was hurting me in the long run."

Eric's lip tightened uneasily, "I hurt you."

"We did hurt each other, but that doesn't matter right now. So come with me and I'll guard you, okay?" Eric eventually agreed, and Draven opened the bathroom door. When he did, he saw Sophie standing there with a concerned look in her gaze.

"You both seemed quite anxious; I made sure nobody else asked to use this one."

"Thank you Sophie."

The party was ongoing, and Draven wrapped a protective arm around Eric who lowered his face, wanting to hide the blood stains on his face. Multiple guests that had heard of news reportage were eyeing them suspiciously, but none stepped in front of their paths. Draven continued to guide Eric towards the exit, Sophie followed behind them and they ignored all the greetings people attempted to give them.

Draven had won all four of his nominations, and since he had been in the bathroom, Hector had been the one to accept them. At this point it was merely dancing and drinking, and Draven was hoping they could leave without any trouble.

Until their path was blocked, and when he raised his head, the dark brown hostile gaze of Kyle made him cursed under his breath. He had hoped they would not see Kyle since he would make a huge deal about seeing them together, and he did not want to cause any trouble for Eric. However, the instance that happened, he felt Eric's entire body become stiff. Eric did not meet his fiancé's gaze at all, instead squeezed his body tighter against Draven's chest, which Draven was confused as to why.

"What's going on?" Kyle asked menacingly. That had caused attention, and a few more people were eyeing them at the point.

Draven leaned forward to keep the situation private, "Someone beat him—I'm bringing him to a hospital."

"I can bring him," Kyle spat. "Stop holding him, you're probably the one that did that to him."

It seemed as if Kyle was much more focused on him than Eric, which made him raise an eyebrow, "He's hurt and he lost a good amount of blood. He's been wobbling since earlier because he hit his head somewhere; I'm just trying to get him safe."

This whole time, Eric was gripping the side of Draven's suit, and his grip was quivering abnormally. When Draven realized Eric was shuddering under his hold, as if he was trying his hardest to get away from Kyle, it didn't take a genius to connect the dots.

Kyle rolled his eyes, "He's fine, he's being dramatic like always. Let him go." As Kyle reached forward and attempted to snatch Eric from Draven's grasp, Draven instantly stepped in front of him.

"Don't touch him."

"Draven..." Eric's breathed worriedly, seeing Draven shield h from Kyle.

Kyle was intoxicated, and his fury was burning in his stomach even worse than habitually. "Draven H. Malcom always coming to the rescue; the same way you had sex with him knowing he was engaged."

"Is this what this is about?" Draven stepped forward and hissed sharply, "That's why you beat him?"

With a smug smirk on his lips, Kyle said, "Prove that I did."

"I don't have to prove anything, look at his fucking wounds!" Draven snapped, not caring if anybody heard.

Sophie placed a palm on Draven's shoulder from the side, wanting to calm him down since an altercation was moments from happening. Draven glanced at her for a split second, but when he was suddenly shoved backwards, stumbling onto Eric who fell backwards, a fury from within him was lit.

Kyle widened his arms, "Then why don't we settle this once and for all? Fight me and see who wins, big shot."

Draven was not about to hold back; he pulled his fist and swung forward, slamming his knuckles into Kyle's jawline. Kyle did not even budge, and instead straightened his head, and smiled maliciously. The edge of his lip had been busted from the punch, but it didn't seem to hurt Kyle whatsoever, who shrugged his shoulders, "Abuser behaviour I guess?"

Kyle did not punch back, and securities eventually flooded the hall, separating them and pushing them backwards. Draven was carried by the back of his suit, Eric interlacing their fingers in order to stay together, and Sophie gripped Draven's suit, following them.