Worth Fighting For | Book #1

Chapter 11

His dark eyes peered through mine under the harsh light and I watched as he hastily crouched, clutching his stomach. "Where's Tom?" His voice was faltered, labouring his breaths to hide the obvious pain on his features.

"He's not here." My voice was raspy as I spoke, keeping at the same hushed whisper he had spoken to me with. He hunched over further, squeezing his eyes shut and stepping away from the door, retreating back down the drive.

His nose was covered in dry blood whilst I observed a small cut above his eyebrow, sinking through the hairs and dripping down his cheek. One of his eyes was red, sporting a hidden bruise that would soon begin to tint the pink colour of his skin.

I couldn't understand if I was being incredibly brave or stupid, but I rushed out towards him, holding carefully onto his back as he let out a restrained whimper with the pain that came his way. "You need to be at a hospital." I announced, using as much power to pull him back towards the house.

"I don't need to be anywhere." He spat back, attempting to retract from my grasp, but I only held him tighter, reducing his ability to push me away. "I came to see Tom. And if he isn't here then I need to go."

"No."

Before I even gave him the chance to escape away with the current state of the unbearable pain that he was in, I closed the door and turned the lights on, brightening up the room around us. Without a thought about Josh, I grew anxious of Sarah and Jake coming home to see that I had a boy over without asking.

"Sit, there." He furrowed his eyebrows at my pointed finger towards a seat in the kitchen. With shaky hands, I searched the kitchen for anything resembling first aid whilst I overheard the minimal creak of Josh sitting down.

My focus had turned from the familiar uncomfortable feeling of being around Josh to the necessary task of helping him.

I finally spotted a dark green box out of the corner of my eye and pulled it down, revealing a large first aid box, making me thankful that Sarah and Jake had invested in getting one.

My eyes remained cast down as I stepped over to Josh and pulled out whatever I would need before I'd even witnessed the damage. The clearing of his throat caused my vision to slip back to him and he searched my eyes intently. "What happened?" I questioned, keeping a fair distance from him.

"None of your business." His voice was now harsh, and I felt my fingers clench down into my palms, frustration being clearly evident on my features. His hair was even messier than usual with blood streaks painting the waves against his forehead.

"If I'm going to help you, then you need to tell me what happened."

"I didn't ask for your help."

"You didn't ask, but it's something a decent person would do." I shot back, stepping closer but keeping an arms width between us. "But you wouldn't know anything about that."

As I began to track back to the first aid kit and stare down at the various pieces of equipment inside, Josh grabbed weakly onto my shoulder, pulling me closer and glaring deeper into my eyes than I had ever seen before. His deep green eyes fell through me with desperation.

"Just be quick." He spoke a little softer before surprising me by lifting his shirt past his chest, stopping abruptly with the inability to get it over his head. However, I had lost my concentration on his struggle and instead stared at the streak of dark red and purple that flushed against his ribcage. I hated to admit that my eyes traced the bruises, following towards his muscular chest, illuminating my stomach with a short flutter.

I immediately stepped over to the refrigerator and pulled a bag of any frozen food I could find. "Hold this over it." I wrapped the bag in a towel from the drying rack and pressed it softly against his ribs. He winced shortly before slowly lowering his arms and holding the towel against him.