Not Without You [Chris Evans]

45

Chris' POV

I frowned when I came out of my home gym just in time to see Megan going up the steps, the back of her dress undone, showing a large amount of her pale skin - and her fading bruises. I smelled coffee, so I walked into the kitchen to see my brother sitting at the island, drinking coffee and tapping at his phone.

"Morning Scott. Did Megan just get home?"

He looked up at me, a smile flickering across his face before sliding off again. "Morning, Chris. Yup - maybe 10 minutes ago. She said she was going to shower and take a nap."

Scott toyed with his mug idly as he spoke, so I knew he had more he wanted to say; if I waited long enough, he'd get around to talking. I grabbed a mug to pour myself some coffee while I waited patiently.

"So I noticed something when I helped her out of her dress," Scott said and I exhaled in relief; that was why she'd been half undressed. I watched his face as he struggled to find the right words and saw the frown forming. "Her back was covered in makeup - which I wasn't expecting - but it's only to about where her dress would cover the rest of her skin. Below that line, though," he shuddered. "What the fuck happened to her?"

I took another drink while I considered what to tell him. "I told you why she moved in with Seb, right?"

He shrugged. "Kind of; you only said she broke up with her boyfriend and needed a place to crash, but I'm assuming there's more to it than that after seeing those marks on her."

I nodded tightly, feeling pissed at Megan's ex all over again. "Sadie found out the bastard was abusing her - which is where those bruises came from."

"So is there any truth to today's rumors?" Scott asked, raising his eyebrows. "Is she really seeing Tom or was that all just because Taylor's been such a bitch to him lately?"

"What do you think?" I asked Scott, wanting his honest opinion. "You saw her dress and probably a good deal of the pictures by now."

"I have." He sat back and folded his arms over his chest. "I think it took him a long time to tell her goodbye this morning when he dropped her off. Other than that, I don't know; she avoided answering my questions about him for the most part."

"She's good at that," I agreed, taking a sip of my hot coffee. "A little too good."

"Do you know why she's going to stay with her cousins?"

I looked over at him in surprise. "This is the first I've heard of it."

"So what did you do last night to make her think you don't like her?"

I groaned, running my hands through my sweat dampened hair. "I'll go talk to her, okay?"

Scott studied me closely. "You better. I kinda like having her around, you know? If I was into girls, she's the kind of girl I'd go for."

"Then I'm really glad you're not her type," I said, rolling my eyes at him.

I decided to finish my coffee before going upstairs, giving her time to get her makeup off and shower. I knocked loudly on Megan's bedroom door, calling her name.

"Just a minute!" I heard faintly, her voice muffled by the thick door. She was only in a towel with her wet hair flowing loose around her when she opened the door a minute later, looking less than pleased to see me. "What do you want, Evans?"

"I just needed to talk to you for a minute," I said, clearing my throat, suddenly not sure what I was going to say to her.

"I was getting ready to take a nap since I just got back a little bit ago," she said, clearly reluctant to speak to me.