Unspoken Memories (Unspoken Series) (18 page)

Kelly pipes up and says, “Are you kidding me? You’re just
pissed ‘cause she wiped your butt all over that asphalt again.”

This makes me laugh, because that’s exactly why he’s in this
sour mood right now. They had placed both of our times in the newspaper, making
it seem like I did wipe the asphalt with his butt, for it being my first
marathon.

I don’t care that I didn’t make this Boston thing anyways. I
was proud of myself for even finishing, that’s all that mattered in my mind.
The only thing I was worried about at this moment was the fact that my face was
plastered on the front page of the Portland newspaper, claiming I was a local
celebrity. I was far from being a celebrity anymore, and I wasn’t looking to be
one.

“ARE YOU SURE you don’t need any
help?” Kelly asks, leaning against the island counter in the kitchen, as I’m
placing the frozen lasagna dish into the pre-heated oven. I close the door as I
look up at her, and say, “No, it has to cook for about two hours, and then we
take it out. Put in the garlic bread while we are putting the salad together,
and everything should be good.”

I start the timer on the oven the way Matt had taught me the
last time I cooked with him, and walk into the living room with Kelly following
me.

As we sit on the couch she says, “I don’t know why you’re
making dinner tonight. You did win the race after all.” Then she lifts her
eyebrows with curiosity. “Unless you’re trying to score brownie points with
Matt. You know, my momma always says, the way to a man’s heart is through his
stomach,” she says with a mischievous smile, while wiggling her eyebrows.

I roll my eyes knowing exactly where Matt’s heart is. “I
thought I would actually try to voluntarily make dinner for once. It’s their
first practice back, and I didn’t want Matt to have to cook dinner. It has
nothing to do with winning Matt’s heart,” I clarify to her.

Now she’s the one to roll her eyes at me, and we both laugh.
“What time are the guys done with practice today?” I ask.

She shrugs her shoulders, looking down at her phone in her
hand. She’s just as bad as I am with that thing. One time she left it here
accidentally and drove back in the middle of the night to get it. She had woken
us all up ringing the doorbell like crazy. That was the reason why she now had
her own key. I had discovered I liked my sleep, so that night I was not happy
she woke me up.

Since the team had started practice today, they had no clue
when they would be done. David had mentioned when he dropped Kelly off to keep
me company, that they were probably going to have a usual meeting for the new
players and go over the rules with them. It shouldn’t take too long. I was just
hoping it was long enough for the lasagna to cook. I had forgotten that I
wanted to cook dinner, so I was a little behind on time.

As I start to channel surf, the doorbell rings, surprising
both of us.

Kelly looks over at me confused. “You expecting anyone?”

I shake my head, just as confused. Who would be at the door?
My gut feeling says to ignore it, but then I hear a determined knock. Kelly
gets up from the couch, and I stay there not wanting to attract any attention
at the door in case it’s someone I don’t recognize. Everyone who would come
over is at practice right now, besides Kelly, so this has me troubled.

From where I’m sitting I can see Kelly open the door a
crack, and she begins to speak to someone, shaking her head. But as I see her
try to use her body to force the door shut, she’s instantly thrown back with
it, and in walks Andre with Bill on his heels with a determined look on both
their faces.

“Hey what the hell, you can’t come in here!” Kelly shouts at
them, while trying to grab onto Andre, but he shoves her aside causing her to
fall to the floor.

I automatically panic, jumping off the couch. I try to run
to the back door. But as I take my first step, I feel a pain in my scalp from
my hair being pulled. I turn my body around trying to shove my attacker away,
but I’m thrown to the floor, landing on my side.

I lift myself up with my arms, trying to stand. Just as
fast, I feel something whack me on the side of my face. I’m thrown once again
to the floor and I hit my head. My head is now throbbing, and my face is
stinging.

My body doesn’t have the strength to fight back, but I can
hear Kelly screaming in the background for them to leave me alone, and she
sounds very panicked. Since my hair has fallen forward, covering my face, I
can’t see anything. I try to crawl in the direction of her voice. After a
couple of crawls, I feel my head being yanked up, and I’m looking directly into
Bill’s eyes. He looks ready to kill.

“You thought you could hide from me, bitch?” he says
angrily. “You’re lucky I need you, or else I would kill you right now,” he
growls into my face.

I try kicking at him with my feet, while trying to push at
him, but he moves away from my legs. Then he throws my body again. As the side
of my body hits the wall, my ears start ringing, leaving the room silent.

I’m expecting him to come at me again, so I brace myself in
a fetal position praying to let me die right now. I can’t take any more. I want
it to end already. But after a couple of seconds I don’t feel anything, and it
scares me.

The ringing slowly starts to subside and I hear Kelly’s
shouting again, with grunts along with it. In the corner of my eye, through the
cracks of my hair, I see two guys, David and another guy from the team,
tackling Andre to the ground pounding into him.

I automatically start to look for Matt and when I finally
find him, what I see is surprising. He’s pounding into Bill as Trey is holding
him back by the neck, keeping him from moving. Matt looks furious as he’s
repeatedly punching Bill in the stomach.

I start to hear shouting again, this time coming from the
door as police officers start running in, guns pointing everywhere. Everyone
stops, Trey dropping Bill to the ground as he lifts his hands up in the air,
but Matt ignores them and runs over to my side.

“Abigail, are you alright?” he fearfully asks. “Don’t move.
Somebody call an ambulance!” he shouts behind his back.

There’s instantly a police officer at my side asking where
I’m hurt, but another is pointing a gun at Matt, while shouting at him to put
his hands up in the air. I don’t want them hurting Matt so I grab onto him as
tightly as I can, “He’s okay, he’s my roommate,” I tell the officer.

I see the policemen stare at each other hesitantly, but the
one next to me nods his head, and gets up talking into his radio ordering an
ambulance. I shake my head trying to get him to stop, but even that hurts too
much.

Matt takes me into his arms as gently as he can. It still
makes me wince since I’m in so much pain, but I don’t care. I just want him to
hold me right now, even if it hurts. I bury my face into his chest while he
uses his hand to push my hair up and out of my face. He keeps whispering into
my hair that everything is going to be okay. I don’t know what to believe right
now, but his voice calms me, so I sit there and listen.

The ambulance arrives a couple of minutes later, and against
my protests, everyone insists that I go to the hospital for X-rays. I don’t
have the strength to argue anymore, so I go. As I’m being wheeled on the gurney
through the house, I see the cops arresting Bill and Andre, while David, Trey,
and the fourth guy are being questioned by the policemen. Matt stays at my
side, and climbs into the ambulance with me on our way to the hospital.

The whole ride to the hospital, I’m grateful that Matt and
Trey showed up when they did. If they hadn’t, I wouldn’t be in the ambulance
right now. I’m pretty sure I would be in a car on my way back to Seattle. There
was no question in Bill’s eyes that he wasn’t going to take no for an answer.
Especially since he claimed he needed me, and I’m pretty sure not in a nice
way.

We finally arrive at the hospital and they take me to a
private emergency room. A nurse starts taking pictures of my injuries for
evidence and I’m soon questioned by a police officer for my version of the
attack. As I’m sitting in the emergency room the familiarity of the IV machine
and monitors are making me very uncomfortable. The surroundings remind me Bill
and of the last time I was in the hospital. I really don’t want to be here, but
they insist that they need to do further testing.

I’m once again put through the cocoon of a machine, along
with taking some x-rays where my body aches, just in case. The whole time Matt
never leaves my side, except when needed. His presence is the only thing
keeping me calm.

After a couple of hours, since nothing is broken, and my
injuries are superficial, I’m given clearance to go home and take it easy for
the next week. That’s something I’m happy about, since I was not looking
forward to spending another night in a hospital anytime soon.

As we’re waiting for them to discharge me, Matt is sitting
at my bedside, holding my hand. He’s staring down at the bed, looking saddened.

“Matt, what’s wrong?” I ask him.

He hears me and looks up. His somber eyes make my heart
ache. “When I walked into the house, and saw what was happening, my heart
stopped Abigail. It literally stopped. I didn’t know who the fuck they were,
what they were doing in the house, or why they were doing that to you. But the
only thing I could think about was wanting to kill them for hurting you.”

He takes a deep breath, and then continues. “I was hitting
him so hard, if the cops hadn’t showed up I probably would have tried killing
him. I wasn’t thinking right,” he says before dropping his head against our
entwined hands.

Guessing how guilty he must be feeling at this moment, I try
to reassure him. “Matt, it doesn’t matter what almost happened. All that
matters is what didn’t. I’m just thankful you showed up when you did. I had
already given up Matt. I had no fight left in me, and I have a feeling he would
have killed me. Even if he said he wasn’t.”

He stands up from where he’s sitting, and hugs me. Tears
fall silently from my eyes. “I don’t know what I would have done if I lost you,
beautiful,” he quietly says into my hair.

The nurse walks in the room with my paperwork to sign, and
once I’ve signed them, we leave the emergency room. As I’m entering the waiting
area with Matt I see Trey, and he looks worried as he walks over to me, and
gives me a light hug.

“You okay, supermodel?” he hesitantly asks.

I simply nod my head, and keep walking towards the exit,
wanting to finally go home. I’m starting to hate hospitals, since the only
memories I have of them are not happy ones. I follow Trey over to where he’s
parked his Jeep, and I climb into the backseat. Matt follows, climbing in next
to me, wrapping his arm around my shoulder, and envelops me against his chest.

Right now there’s nothing in the world I want more than
Matt’s arms. Just being in them has a way of comforting me, instantly calming
me, so I take advantage. The whole drive home we’re all quiet. It’s an eerie,
but needed silence, since I really don’t want to talk about the whole situation
at all.

We arrive at the house, and I notice David’s car is still in
the driveway. “Why is David’s car here?” I confusedly ask.

Trey responds. “They didn’t want to leave until they knew
you were okay.

When we told them you were getting discharged tonight, they
insisted on waiting until you came home.”

I smile, but then easily grow worried because with all the
commotion around me, I totally forgot about Kelly. I start feeling like the
worst friend in the world after everything that happened. We finally walk into
the house, and Kelly immediately attacks me. She’s hugging me, crying at the
same time, and making me cry along with her.

She pulls herself away from me. “I was so scared,” she says
in between sobs. “After I was pushed by the big guy, I dialed 911. I left the
phone on the floor as I tried to get to you.” She sobs again. “But he kept
holding me back, making me watch as that other guy beat the shit out of you.
I’m so sorry Abi; I tried so hard to get to you,” she says hysterically,
crying.

David comes over to comfort her and I feel so bad for her
right now. It must have killed her inside to have to watch. Knowing she had to
watch the beating I was taking makes it so much worse.

“It’s not your fault, Kelly. I’m just glad you didn’t get
hurt. That’s all that really matters,” I try to reassure her.

I quickly glance over my shoulder to Matt, and then back to
Trey and David. “How did you guys know they were here?”

David shakes his head before answering. “We didn’t, we
actually got done with practice early, and headed here right away. Matt wanted
us to go out to dinner, but now I’m glad we rushed back.” As he mentions
dinner, my face goes mournful, knowing that I had forgotten all about the
dinner I was cooking.

Kelly sees my face and giggles. “Don’t worry silly, your
dinner didn’t get ruined. We actually managed to take it out on time when we
heard the timer go off. We were waiting for you to get home so we can all eat,”
she cheerfully says.

Matt turns my body a bit, with a really confused look. “You
cooked dinner?”

“It wasn’t from scratch, but it’s lasagna,” I muster.

“Shit, I don’t care was it is, I’m freaking starving. Let’s
eat,” Trey says, walking into the kitchen looking for the food. I giggle at
him, glad that he’s able to lighten the mood.

Matt leads me to the dining room table, and orders me to
sit. While everyone else brings the food with plates to the table, I notice
that the salad is made, the lasagna is still warm, and Kelly is pulling the
garlic bread from the oven. This makes me smile knowing that they actually saved
dinner. When they had reminded me about dinner, I had thought it was going to
be another failed attempt at cooking. It would have taken me a while to recover
from it, if it was.