Ruthless

Chapter 44

Audenzia's POV:

I woke up with an absolute pounding head ache.

"You had quite the night" I hear a familiar voice say. I sit up, rubbing eyes and look around. I see Gray standing in my bathroom.

He walks over with a glass of water and a few pills, handing them to me. "Thanks" I mumble, sipping the water and swallowing the pills.

He sits down on the end of my bed, "You're lucky Dad went to Chicago late last night, if he saw you how you walked in here, you would be dead."

"Dad went to Chicago?" I ask. Gray nods, "Him and Mr. Romano went to get Harper from one of the hospitals there. They kept her an extra week for testing and she is all good to go now."

I couldn't hide my excitement at this, "She is coming here again!?" I say. "For good this time. They cleared her to be done with hospitals"

We both froze when a knock at the door interrupted our conversation. "Come in" I say, patting down my bed head a little before someone comes in.

Xander opens the door and gives me an unreadable look, "That's my cue to leave" Gray says, standing up and dusting himself off. "Mom made lunch downstairs, whenever you're ready come down and eat" he tells me. I turn and look at the clock to see that it is already 12:30.

Gray and Xander exchange a look as they pass each other. Once Gray is gone, Xander turns to me, "Hows the headache?" He asks, smirking at me.

I roll my eyes, "Just great."

"What happened last night?" I ask, not remembering a single thing after a few drinks.

He lets out a dramatic sigh and takes a few steps closer to the bed, "Not much."  He said.

I close my eyes are try to remember any details from after I got drunk. All of the sudden I remember something. My eyes shoot open, "You beat up Cori!" I say accusingly to him.

He gives me a look, "The man who called you a slut and said you will be his? Yeah I did."

"He did what?!" I say, shocked that Cori would do something like that. "He's a prick, I would do it again."

I put my face into my hands, wishing I could remember everything. "Tell me everything that happened." I ask him, hating how these blanks in my memory felt.

He went over how I came and sat with him, Geo, and Dom, and how I tried to play pool with Cori and he had to stop me. Then he told me how I walked in on him beating up Cori and  I started screaming at Xander. Apparently mid-yelling, I tripped and knocked myself out.

Let's just say,  I'm done with drinking for a while.

Then I remembered Xander dancing with a beautiful woman all last night. "Who was the girl you were with last night?" I ask, knowing it's none of my business, but wanting to know anyway.

He laughs, "Dona Lopez. Owner of an arms business in Mexico. I was trying to make a deal."

"Oh." I say, feeling stupid. "Did it work?" I ask, not knowing what else to say. He shakes his head, "Unfortunately, I had to kick her out when she insulted someone very important to me."

I can feel the blush reach my face at his words, "You're such a sweet talker" I say, rolling out of bed and standing up. I nearly fall over at the transfer of my weight off the bed, but catch myself.

"Although I don't like you getting drunk, you are hilarious." Xander tells me, walking closer. I glare at him, "Well I don't plan on doing it again, so you're out of luck."

"Trust me, I'm good with that." He talks, but I can tell his eyes focus on something on my face.

"Holy shit" he whispers, reaching up and touching my scalp. I wince with pain that comes from him touching me, "Sorry" he mutters. "You have a massive bump from when you fell last night"

I groan, "Really?" I reach my own hand up and feel and low and behold, there is a massive bump on my head.

"Did you take headache medicine already?" He asks me. I nod, "Gray gave me some earlier."

"You should eat, get something in your stomach so you don't get sick."

We both go downstairs and find grilled cheese sandwiches laid out on plates for us. We both sit down and start to eat, neither of us speaking. I don't really know where we stand with each other. I told him I wanted space, which I do. But it's unfair for me to throw a fit at the fact that he was dancing with another girl last night. I miss him a lot, but things can't go back to how they were. How often we fought and how we didn't trust each other. It was unhealthy.

I hope we can rebuild things, because I truly don't think I could see myself with anyone else.

"Did you hear about Harper?" Xander asks me, breaking the silence.

I smile remembering how soon she will be here, "Gray told me"

"It feels like she has been gone forever, even after we found her." He says, and I completely understand. When I was freed from Fred and Victor, it took over six months for me to be cleared from the hospital. Not to mention the hours I had to spend in therapy. Thankfully, my parents didn't force me into more therapy after the six months. That is just my preference though, I don't like talking about things.

Maybe if I did therapy I would be better now, and not have nightmares and trust issues, but we will never know.

"I can't believe how old she is either. It's crazy seeing her this big." I say, remembering how little she was when we met.

We both went through hell, but she definitely had it worse. Her family thought she was dead all those years, and couldn't have been searching for her.

It's hard to think about everything that has happened in the past few months. Every time I truly realize everything, I just shut it out. Crying about my past won't change it, so why waste tears?

My mom calls me unemotional, which is true. She hates that I don't cry at these kinds of things.

"You think she is going to be okay?" Xander asks me, his voice shaky for the first time. I've never heard him unsure of what he was saying, until now.

Looking into his eyes, I can see the worry for his sister. Many people don't recover from something as awful as what Harper went through, I understand his doubts.

I nod, "She is stronger than any of us know."

He smiles at my words, "You can't baby her." I say. He looks at me, confused. "It drove me crazy to be around my family when they treated me like glass." I started to explain, "Treat her normally."

"It's going to be hard after everything, I want to make sure she is safe, how would I not baby her? She is my little sister who has been gone most of her life."

I sigh, "Just trust that she knows what she is doing. Trust me, the last thing she needs is being babied for the next few years."

"I will try" Xander says, genuinely. We both get up and start to clean our dishes from lunch. "Do you know when they get home?" I ask, realizing I was never actually told when.

He takes a second to think about it, "I think tomorrow morning." He tells me. I nod, "Are there any plans for today?"

He shakes his head, "We have the day off. Do you have anything in mind?" He steps closer to me and rests his hands on my waist. I smile at his touch, truly missing him.

"I know just the thing to do." I say.