Fighting For Life (published)

Who Hurt You? -Aiden's POV

Aiden's POV-

It had been only eight hours, actually less, since I had seen Aubry... but who's counting?

Me. I was counting. It was becoming unhealthy. I felt like I was becoming completely obsessed.

Brandon had actually showed up to come to the gym four our early morning session too. It was the first time in seemingly a long while since he'd decided to come in the morning with us. It was surprising for him to join us, nonetheless.

As we waited for Aubry to come in, B was going on about some girl that he had been messing around with. I couldn't really focus on him and his predicament, though. The only thing I could think of was the fact that it was past five-thirty, and Aubry was not there yet.

Granted, she was only a few minutes late, but it was not like her to be late. In fact, she was usually very early in the mornings. I tried not to panic. I mean, I knew that she had broken routine that morning because she was supposed to get her dad to drive her... still, something felt off.

"Chill dude! I'm sure she's fine. Her dad was probably just running late," Brandon shrugged while patting my shoulder. He was trying to be comforting.

A few more minutes passed while I listened to Brandon's gibberish. Then I heard it. It, being the slam of the front door.

Brandon stuck his head out of the office and yelled, "hey Aub!"

"Hey B," I heard her say in a soft voice, it was like music to my ears. I heaved a sigh of relief, thank God she was okay. I had been way more worried than I even cared to admit.

"Well, I guess that's my cue to get to work," Brandon said and scurried out of the office before Aubry even came in.

I stood outside of the training room door to greet her properly and to tease her about being late. She walked out of the locker room slowly with her head down. That wasn't super unusual for her, though. That was how she always walked at school, so I thought nothing of it. She walked by me with her head still down without saying anything to me. I figured that she must've not been in a good mood.

"Good morning. I'll excuse your tardiness today... just don't make a habit out of it, young padawan." I joked playfully trying to get her to crack a smile.

She was already past me and through the door. However, probably to placate me, she playfully reached her hand back and softly tapped me on the chest while laughing.

Something caught my eye before she pulled her hand away, dark bruises and cuts.

I pulled her small hand up closer to my face and examined it, effectively making her stop walking. Her knuckles looked broken. That was certainly not how they looked the day before.

I gently pulled her backwards by her arm and pulled her face up to look at me. I just had a feeling that her knuckles were not the only issue... What I saw was definitely not what I expected.

"What the hell happened to you?" I asked furiously. Who hurt MY Aubry?

She stayed silent.

"Aubry, who the fuck hurt you?!" I practically yelled.

I was so angry as I looked her over. She had bruises on her face; the biggest of which occupied almost the whole left side of her face! Her nose was clearly swollen and bruised. Oh yeah, and there were strangle marks on her neck. Someone fucking choked her! I was beyond pissed.

"Aiden, I'm fine!" She said as if there was absolutely nothing wrong. Even as she said that, there was a small amount of blood that had began seeping out of her nose.