Arrow in the Heart

Chapter Twelve

When we got back to the lair, I immediately set Laurel up in the medical center with a painkiller drip through an IV. While she rested, I ran a quick checkup on Oliver and Roy. Both of them had made it out without so much as a scratch.

"What are you all up to for the evening? Lyla wants to have you all over for dinner sometime soon." Diggle said, looking around at all of us.

"I actually have some stuff to do tonight, but tomorrow would work for me." I said.

"Tomorrow works best for me too." Roy said.

Everyone else nodded in agreement.

"Alright then. I'll let Lyla know. She'll be very excited to see you again, Emma." Diggle said, smiling at me.

I smiled back at him before turning back to Laurel. I removed her IV and taped a bandage in place over her stitches before turning her loose with instructions to get some rest. After she left with Thea, who had firm instructions from Oliver to keep an eye on her, the rest of us went about our lives as if everything that had happened today was a completely ordinary Wednesday for every normal person.

"I'm going to head out to the hospital for a few hours. I'll see you all tomorrow." I said, slipping on my jacket.

"Hey, hold up. Can we talk for a minute?" Roy asked, setting down the arrowhead he had been messing with.

"Sure. What's going on?" I asked.

"Earlier you mentioned that you were talking to Oliver about something. What was it?" He asked, his eyes a mix of curiousness and concern.

I glanced over at Oliver, hoping that he would help me figure out a way to tell Roy without things blowing up in my face. He looked at me and nodded, indicating that it was in my best interest to tell Roy. I turned back and faced Roy.

"Emma, what's going on?" Roy asked.

"Roy, I need you to promise me that you won't freak out if I tell you what I told Ollie." I said, looking him in the eyes, silently pleading with him.

"I promise." he said, sitting down in one of the rolling chairs.

"When I was in Central City, I had a boyfriend named Samuel Braxton. At first things were great. Then he hit me for the first time. When I threatened to leave him, he told me he was sorry and that he would spend the rest of his life trying to make it up to me. Unfortunately, he isn't exactly the most honest man. The heavier his drinking became, the more frequent the beatings. I got Joe and Iris and Barry to teach me some self-defense stuff and I used what I had learned to deliver him to the police."

Roy just sat there, staring at me for a minute. His expression was unreadable, which made me insanely nervous. The longer he sat there without saying anything, the more and more worried I got.

"Roy?" Oliver prompted.

"I need some air." Roy finally said, standing up and grabbing his jacket before disappearing into the elevator.

I sat frozen for a minute before turning to Oliver, my bottom lip quivering uncontrollably.

"Ollie, I didn't..."

"Shhhh. It's okay." Oliver said, pulling me into his arms and holding me tightly.

I sobbed into his chest, losing hold on all of the emotions I had bottled up when it came to Samuel. After my tears stopped flowing, I pulled away and picked up my bow and arrow. I felt a hand on my shoulder and I turned back to Oliver.

"Emma, I don't think you should be shooting when you're this upset." he said, his blue eyes clouded with concern.

"Ollie, I need to blow off some steam. Can you go check on Roy for me? I just need a minute." I said, stalking over to one of the targets and firing an arrow directly into the center of the bullseye.

Oliver quietly left to see how Roy was doing, while I fired off an entire quiver of arrows into an array of targets around the room. After I had finished that, I changed into a pair of yoga pants and a workout tank top and started practicing my hand-to-hand combat on some of the equipment that was placed around the lair. By the time I finished, it had been nearly two hours. I was drenched in sweat and my hands were bloody from punching so much.

"You're a hot mess." I heard a voice say behind me.

I turned and saw Laurel standing there in a form-fitting red dress with a black blazer. I wiped the sweat from my forehead with a nearby towel and took a swig of water.

"What has you all worked up?" she asked, walking over and helping me put ointment on the cuts on my arms and hands.

"I told Roy about my abusive ex boyfriend." I said calmly.

"I heard about him. Samuel Braxton, right?"

"How did you know?" I asked, looking at her in surprise.

"I work in the District Attorney's Office, Ems. I gave advice to your lawyer on how to get Braxton behind bars." Laurel explained.

The elevator opened and Oliver entered the room, followed by a very frustrated looking Roy Harper. I decided to give him some time to process everything, so I went to Felicity and Oliver's loft to take a shower.

"Hey." Felicity said, gently knocking on the door as I finished pulling on a pair of dark wash jeans and my favorite STAR Labs sweatshirt that used to belong to Barry.

"Hey." I replied, tossing my towel in the hamper.

"How are you holding up? Oliver told me everything." she said.

"I just wish I could un-tell Roy. I never wanted to make him upset." I said.

"Emma, he needed to know. He's upset because he cares about you and he doesn't want you to be hurt. And knowing Roy, he's mad at himself for not being there to protect you."

"That's stupid! There was no way for him to protect me. He was here and I was in Central City. Besides, I didn't even tell Barry. Why on earth would I tell my ex that my boyfriend at the time was abusing me?" I said, beginning to get frustrated.

Felicity pulled me into a hug without saying a word. After a few moments, she let me go and picked up my phone from the dresser. She tapped the screen a few times before handing it to me. When I looked at the screen, I saw that she had pulled up Roy's contact.

"Call him. Tell him what you just told me. He loves you, Emma. You have tolet people care about you."