Two Lost Souls • Paul Lahote

29. Vulnerable

Not wanting to attract the attention of her aunt or uncle, Paul decided to sneak in. Luck was on Paul's side as when he had dropped Lizzie off, the door had been unlocked meaning Elizabeth hadn't realised she had left her house keys in his car meaning he now had them. He opened the door almost silently, thank heavens it's not a creaky door like his, he thought. He waited, staying perfectly still for a few moments, listening for any movement upstairs, as he walked to the kitchen, staying light on his feet, to grab some kitchen paper to avoid leaving blood stains from his dripping cheek and lip on the floor. He knew Darren and Sarah would be fast asleep, despite it only being around midnight, as they work fairly long hours during the week and are exhausted come Friday night.

He makes his way upstairs, making as minimal sound as possible before reaching Lizzie's door. As he brought up his fist to knock, he was suddenly very aware that he had showed up to her house at midnight, letting himself in (which he had done before but that was during daylight), and not only was he coming completely unannounced but he was also bruised and bleeding. He knocked quickly and quietly before he talked himself out of it.

Figuring it was Darren or Sarah, she looked over at her phone to check the time, put down her pencil and notebook, sliding them into her top drawer before opening the door for what she had assumed was one of her relatives.

She was rather shocked to see Paul stood in her doorway but even more shocked to see bruises littering his arms, some looked as if they were already healing others more fresh (which was peculiar seeing as he most definitely did not have them earlier that day). But no bruises compared to the amount of concern that filled her eyes as he let his hand drop revealing the rather deep, harsh looking gash on his left cheek causing the girl to gasp slightly.

"Geez Paul, who'd you get in a fight with?" She whispered, pulling him gently by his arm, careful to grab a non bruised area.

"My father." He said plainly, his voice empty of any emotional towards the man, but pain etched into his features as he placed the material back on his face, covering the wound that reached from about a third way in from the top of his ear down to the corner of his lip, but not quite reaching his lip. The slit was a good 5cm long, maybe a bit longer, she couldn't be sure by the amount of blood covering it. She led him over to her bed before quietly hurrying downstairs to grab an old, clean cloth, a bowl for water, and some saline solution. She knew he'd heal relatively quickly so wouldn't need a bandage.

When she came back upstairs she filled the bowl with water and sat cross legged on the bed in front of him soaking the cloth in the bowl. She took the kitchen paper off of him, placing it on the side before lifting up the cloth, "this is probably gonna hurt." She spoke in a hushed tone, though her voice was quiet, he could hear the sympathy in it.

As the cloth reached his injury, Paul felt a sharp sting as he suppressed a hiss of pain as his hand clutched the blanket tighter, trying to relive some tension and distract himself from the agony he was in.

About 20 minutes later, Elizabeth had cleaned up Paul's face and wiped his bleeding lip, which had already started to heal though the gash would probably scar for a day or two. She had just returned from putting everything back to see Paul sat in the same position with his head down.

Lizzie sat down in front of him on the bed once again, "Paul," she waited for a response, "hey, look at me." She spoke softly, gently lifting Paul's chin, careful to avoid the healing gash on his left cheek, and cupping his right one in her left hand, "talk to me."

Usually, in this type of situation, Paul would close off or get irritated by being spoken to so softly but when he heard her soft voice, he felt relaxed, when her hand cupped his right cheek he found himself leaning into her touch, and when his deep brown eyes met her emerald green ones, he saw nothing but love and concern.

He surprised himself, opening up was not usually this easy for Paul so he was shocked when he found himself telling her about the verbal and physical abuse, that his bruises healed too fast to tell anyone, that nobody knew (though they would now as when Paul shifts on patrol they will see it and even if he manages to hide it, they'll see the mark on the side of his face) and he even told her that he was scared of the man. He had never once in his entire life ever admitted of being afraid to anyone. Not that he's ever had anyone to tell before the pack anyway.

Paul hadn't even realised himself that his eyes had started watering until he had finished talking and felt the silent tears fall from his cheek, cursing internally not only at how weak he must look but also how much his cut was fucking stinging from the damn tears.

His thoughts were interrupted as Elizabeth very gently wiped Paul's tears away from the wound with her sleeve having noticed his discomfort before pulling him into a gentle yet reassuring hug. She held Paul for as long as he needed before he pulls away, looking at the time but not wanting to leave. Lizzie got up, walked over to her drawer, and pulled out some clean clothes, clothes he had left there in case of a spontaneous movie night, for him to change into. He went into the bathroom to change and wash the blood off of his hands with the coconut soap whilst Lizzie got into bed yawning as she saw the time, 1:39. It had been a long day.

When Paul came out of the bathroom, Lizzie pulled back the covers and Paul climbed into the bed. This time, her arms wrapped around him. One arm was wrapped comfortably around his shoulder, the other hand in his hair, gently massaging his scalp, tugging slightly at the longer hairs in a soothing way. Paul fell asleep almost instantly and when he woke the next morning, he smiled to himself as he could feel her arm still loosely wrapped around his shoulder. As he lay in his imprints bed, in his imprints arms, breathing in his imprints coconut smell, he had never been more relieved to have found her. He couldn't possibly imagine a life without the girl who had spent her night cleaning him up, holding him, wiping away his tears and caring for him. The only person he had ever willingly been completely and utterly vulnerable with.

AN: one more chapter left guys