not in the same way || c.h.

28

Two months, two months since I've seen him. It's been the worst two months of my life. Most of my nights have been spent drinking. It didn't matter what day it was, as long as I wasn't with Noah I wasn't drinking pretty much.

It took away all the pain of missing him. It distracted me and kept me focused on other things that didn't matter at all. Noah was my other distraction, which helped me from having the need to drink when I was with him.

I would never do that to him anyway, because he shouldn't have to deal with me while I'm drunk. So luckily I didn't feel like I had to drink. Even if I did I still wouldn't, but it would make me not want to be with him. At least I think, but I'll never have to find out.

  I've texted Calum, called him even, but I never got an answer. He didn't come into the coffee shop anymore either or school. I haven't seen him or heard from him in two, almost three months.

  I've been so sad without him, and no one really understood why. The way my friends saw it, he was just playing mind games with me and he was a big asshole. Which I guess in a way he was, but not because he wanted to. He had his reasons and I get that he just wanted to keep me safe, but obviously they didn't know. But he's not an asshole, he's actually the complete opposite.

My shift today was boring as always. It was always boring whenever Calum wasn't there. I had no one to distract me or make me laugh or fool around with whenever I had a minute. Sure I had Heather and Carol and my other coworkers, who I love to death, but Calum was just different.

Everything I do with him is different than if I was doing it with someone else. I can't explain it, but he was just different than anyone else I knew.

  When I got home that Thursday night I relaxed on the couch and watched some tv. I was alone because Kendall was out on a date with Michael, so she probably won't be home till tomorrow.

  After about an hour of watching The Little Mermaid on Disney Plus I heard a loud banging on the door. I knew it wasn't any of my friends since they didn't knock so that was a dead giveaway. Plus they had a spare key so when it was locked they didn't have to knock either.

  I reluctantly got up after pausing the tv and answered the door. A tall, muscular, also scary looking guys was standing on the other side of the door. He had very thick and dark facial hair and messy dark brown hair. He was huge, like really huge. He could probably step on me and kill me.

"Are you Brenna McClaren?" He asked which made my face scrunch up in confusion. How the hell did he know my name?

"Why?" I asked and stood next to the door, ready to slam it in his face. However I wouldn't be able to do that because his large frame was standing in the middle of the doorway.

"Are you Brenna McClaren?" He repeated but a bit more forceful this time and got up in my face.

"Who the hell are you?" I asked and took a step back from him.

"That's none of your business missy." He said and progressively got closer to me while I kept stepping away.

"You've been hanging around Hood I see. You know everything, we know you do." He said and pressed me aggressively up against the wall so I wouldn't escape.

"I don't know anything. And I haven't seen him in months." I said while he stuck his forearm under my chin and pressed firmly against my neck.

"You better keep that trap shut princess. If you say a single word to anyone we will kill you and everyone that knows. We always find out everything, you can't keep a secret from us." He said and breathed his warm, cigarette smelling breath in my face.

"I don't know anything." I said but had to fight for air as he kept pressing firmer and firmer against my neck.

"Greeley, leave her the hell alone." That familiar voice yelled and slammed my door shut behind him. Greeley, or whatever his name was looked away from me and over to Calum towards his right. He smirked a bit and held his entire hand on my throat tightly while he stared him down.

"Get your hands off her." Calum yelled and angrily walked over to him with his fists clenched. My air supply was only becoming smaller and smaller and I was starting to get dizzy. Tears were pricking in my eyes from the pain and everything suddenly had stars around them.

  I let out a huge gasp for air as Calum ripped him off of me and threw him across the room. He was a lot bigger than Calum, but somehow he wasn't struggling to kick his ass.

  As I tried to catch my breath and regain whatever life I had left in me, the two of them were fighting all over my apartment. There wasn't anything that I could do other than just watch and stay out of the way.

  Eventually Calum was able to knock him out, but that took a lot longer than I had liked. And I wasn't entirely sure if he was unconscious or dead and I'm not sure I wanted to know.

"Are you okay?" Calum asked with his hands on his knees as he caught his breath. He had blood all over his hands and forearms. His face was cut up and bruised but it wasn't too bad considering the fight that just happened.

"I'm fine, are you okay?" I asked and rushed over to him.

"I'm okay." He said and stood up and turned to look at me. His lip was busted and his face was a little bruised in certain places, but overall he did look alright. His knuckles were cut up and bruised but I'm sure he was pretty used to it.

"Let's get you cleaned up." I said and looked down at his hands and pulled him to my bathroom.

"Bren you're shaking." He said and took my hand in his large and blood one and looked at it.

"I'm fine I'm fine, let me just clean you up." I said and sat him down on the toilet seat and started getting the supplies I'd need.

"Brenna it's okay to not be okay, I won't get mad or anything." He said and pulled me back over to him.

"Let's just calm you down okay?" He said and gently rubbed my arms.