'Where am I?' Shay McKenna thought to herself squinting at the blinding light that was present in front of her. She seemed paralysed by fear, unable to move or even speak. Raging voices keep playing over and over in her heads. Somebody was shouting for her to shut the fuck up that this was all her fault. She'd been the one who'd meddled one to many times in his life and she was now going to pay the price.
“First you tell her that I'm no good for her to marry, that she could do so much better. Then at the wedding you stand there in your bridesmaid dress and try talking her out of the marriage. What the fuck gave you the right to be my judge, jury and executioner? You think you're so much better than me, but who fucking wants you. Even the people you work for try running away from you,” the bulky blond in front of her screamed, “nobody could ever fucking want you in their life because you're too pathetic to even give a second glance. Why do you think your precious best friend stays around you? She feels like she has to because you're such a pathetic reject that you can't even find a guy who will put up with you. And don't even think for one second that buddy boy that you've been lusting over for almost ten years knows you’re alive. If it weren't for the fact that you worked as assistance to them you never would've made it in this business. You would’ve been up on that stripper pole trying to get men off who would probably rather throw their guts up then see you naked.”
The man advanced and she cowered back from him for just a mere second before realizing that she didn't need to take shit from the loser drug dealer that stood in front of her. He was, after all a low life who had ruined her best friend's life for more years than she cared to count. It wasn't her fault that he was fucked up and couldn't treat people right; and it certainly wasn't her fault that her friend had wised up and divorced this fucker's ass.
“Seriously, are we into a petty insulting match? Grow the fuck up and leave my fuckin' friends alone. I put up with you for too long and watched while you fucked my best friend over six ways to Sunday. Now that she's gotten away I will not let you fuckin' meddle in another friend's life. He's just starting to get his life on track you will not fuckin' sell him drugs or lure him into your sorted life style. Really? Could you possibly hide the gang connections any poorly, I know you were stupid but gangs? You could get really fucked up, but what do I care? I don't have to stare at your ugly face any longer than I have to,” she countered and turned to walk away, “and if I even so much as fuckin' see you go near her again, or any of my friends for that matter, do not think I will hesitate to do everything that is possible to keep you out of our lives.”
“Don't you fuckin' walk away from me bitch! I'm not done with you yet!” the man said grabbing a hold of Shay's auburn hair and dragged her back towards him, “when I'm done with you, nobody will fuckin' recognize you, but really who cares not like anybody ever wanted to look at you. Nobody's going to miss your sorry ass once I get rid of you.”
“Get rid of me? You don't have the balls to touch a single part of me...you forget I am the one who has kicked your ass on more than one occ....” she trailed off when she felt the barrel of the gun pushing into her back and fear suddenly took over. There was no way she was fast enough to get that gun away from him before he pulled the trigger. The man had finally gone off the deep end and she'd only aggravated the situation to the point things were sure to turn out badly.
“Not so fuckin' lippy now are we?” he said shoving her roughly into the brick wall. She felt his hand before she even had time to react or stop it, the force of the blow caused her head to bounce roughly off the wall and she say stars. Holding up her arms in defence, she received the blows the man angrily inflicted until all she saw was blood clouding her vision. She heard more voices coming towards the ally way and could only make out the words, “this the bitch you needed fucked up?” after that all she felt were the boots, the fists that impaled themselves on her body as the pain intensified and was all she knew. Trying one last time to defend herself against the beating she opened her eyes to aim a kick towards her attacker only to lock eyes with one of the people that she'd been trying to protect. The brown eyes showed shock, but mostly showed the fact that the man was too wasted to even know what was going on.
With one last ounce of energy she had left she lunged towards the man with the gun and shouted “RUNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” That’s when the thunder started and the blinding pain confused her entire being. She felt herself grow cold and knew it was the end.
“RUNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” the red head in the hospital bed screamed and tried jumping from her laying position in bed only to scream in agony as the burning started in her body, the feeling of being ripped apart as tears slide down her face. She panicked and continued screaming, screaming for the bastards to leave her alone. It was only when she opened her eyes that she realized she was in a hospital room and a nurse was rushing to her side with a needle. Without thinking the red head pushed the woman away, batting the needle out of her hand and prepared to defend herself. Until she heard a voice say a familiar name. The voice was just the distracted needed for the other nurses waiting in the wings to restrain the woman, as the original nurse administered the needle that quickly calmed the woman down. It wasn't until the medication started to work that she got a chance to look around the room, then down at herself. The hospital gown she wore was slowly showing blood, it was then the woman cried and couldn't stop the painful wails that escaped her mouth. She didn't even realize that somebody was now holding her body close to theirs.
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Ash sighed as she walked into the hotel bar, she was exhausted, and she was sure that it showed on her face. That past while was draining, heck it would be draining on anyone, but most times she didn’t care about anything else, she just cared that she was there for her friend. Shay had always been there for her, through thick and thin, and this time she was making sure she did everything that she could to make sure her friend pulled through. It was hard; she would be the first to admit it, especially with the Doctors not holding out much hope at all. It was the stress of knowing that she might have to make a hard decision at any point that killed her on the inside. Tore her apart in every way possible. She quickly ran her hand through her hair as she glanced around the room, trying to find the guys. Sighing, as she didn’t spot them, she moved to sit at the bar, resting her portfolio in front of her and smiling as the bartender moved towards her, “I’ll just have a mineral water please,” tapping her nails on the bar. She glanced at them and sighed, she was in desperate need of a manicure. Most of her nails had been chewed and bitten from the countless hours in the hospital sitting beside a bed waiting. Just waiting, that’s all she ever did.
She ran a hand over her face as the bartender put her drink in front of her, lifting it to her lips she took a sip just as someone tapped her on the shoulder, startling her slightly as she turned and came face to face with a pair of blue eyes that were dancing with amusement. “Jesus Christ Nick, do you have to give me a heart attack?”
“Well it was on my list of things to do today,” he grinned before turning her on the chair and wrapping his arms around her giving her a tight hug.
She relished the warmth of the hug, it was something so simple and so normal, but she was sure he didn’t realize how much that simple gesture meant to her. She closed her eyes and just rested her head on his shoulder, holding on tighter then she probably should have but she couldn’t help herself.
“Save some of that for the rest of us,” Howie teased as he walked in behind Nick, followed close behind by Brian and AJ.
She laughed as she let Nick go and slid of the chair and went to give them each a hug, holding on tightly, “it’s so good to see you guys.”
“It’s good to see you too,” Brian, replied, “shall we go take a seat and relax?”
“Let’s do that,” as she turned to grab her stuff and her drink. Turning back towards them as they walked towards a table, “so how is everything going with you guys? It feels like ages since I’ve talked to any of you.” The tension in Brian’s face wasn’t lost on her, and she slowly glanced around at them all as they took a seat, “okay, so before we get down to business, want to tell me what is going on here?” taking a moment to look at AJ, knowing that his past was all a tense moment with the rest of the guys.
“Hey no need to look at me, I’ve been a good boy, thank you. Been straight and narrow since my last stint in rehab, which I can promise you.”
“Good, so what’s going on here?” as she lifted her glass taking another sip.
“You mean you haven’t heard?” Brian questioned as he leaned back unravelling the scarf from around his neck as he looked at her, “I figured that someone would have called you, or Kevin would have at least, seeing as how you two were always close friends”
“I haven’t really talked to Kevin since Mason was born, he was so absorbed in raising his son that we sort of just drifted apart,” leaving out the part about her controlling ex-husband who wouldn’t let her talk to any other man. It was hard enough for her to work, and was glad that most times that she didn’t have to have meetings and let Shay do most of that, it saved her more times then she had body parts to count on. She shook her head slightly pushing out the images of her past life and trying to keep herself focused on the present and even her future, which at this point seem extremely bleak without her best friend by her side.
Howie nodded as the waitress put down water in front of them, he waved at her motioning that they would be fine for now, “well I guess you didn’t know that Kristen was sick for a very long time. She passed away about two months ago.”
She let her eyes open in shock, “What? And none of you called me to tell me?” as she looked back and forth between each of them. Kevin had been the one person that she talked to about her life, the one other than Shay that had known about her ex-husband. She felt her heart beat faster in her chest; she couldn’t even image what he was going through, “how is he?”
“He’s doing okay, I mean they were expecting it, but who is ever really ready for something like that to happen,” Brian replied as he sucked on his bottom lip slowly, “he’s with us actually, him and Mason, he needed to get away for a while, and I figured, well we all did, that it would be better for him to be with his brothers so we could you know help him through everything.”
Nodding her head at him, “that is a good idea, you guys have been with each other for so long, and it only makes sense that you there for him now. Is he joining us or are we just here for business right now?” She would really like to see the other man, she wanted to hold him in her arms and wish all his pain away from him.
“He said he would be joining us in a bit, he’s just waiting for Mason to wake up from his nap so he can drop him off with Leigh,” Howie replied as he watched her carefully, “why isn’t Shay with you? You two are always together, the unstoppable duo.”
“I was wondering the same thing,” Nick chimed in.
“Well that’s a long story,” sighing as he cell phone went off, she grabbed it quickly off the table, seeing the number of the Doctor jumping at her, “I have to take this guys, give me a second…” as she got up and walked away a little, “Ash speaking… yes…what sort of changes? No I can be there in ten minutes; yes…I know I’ll be there.” Ending the call she moved back towards the table and grabbed her bag, “guys I really hate to do this, but I need to get back to the hospital, there have been changes in Shay’s condition.”
“Whoa, hold up, Shays condition?” AJ questioned as he stood up slowly and watched her, “what’s going on here Ash?”
“I don’t have time to explain, I’ll call you guys tonight okay? We can meet up then,” and before they could object she was out of the bar and out of the hotel, taking off in a sprint towards her car, “fuck Shay hold on until I get there, please for the love of God.”
