His Bella

FIFTEEN

"Oh my God!", I exclaimed as I shut the door quickly and ran towards Wade. He lay on the floor, blood oozing from his side, "Wade, what happened?"

He groaned, "isn't it obvious?", amidst the pain in his eyes, he grinned, "I'm dying"

"I'm going to call an ambulance"

"No", he said quickly. I looked into his eyes and he shook his head pleadingly, "no"

"Okay", I said. I grabbed a cushion and placed his head on it gently, "wait here, okay? I'll be right back"

I dashed into Stacy's room to find the first aid kit. It was where she always put it, beneath the kitchen sink in her bathroom so It didn't take long to find it and soon I was back in the living room with a towel and the kit.

Wade's eyes were closed and I could tell by how he moved that he was getting weaker by the minute. He was losing consciousness. I took his hand off the wound. There was a hole in his shirt covered in blood. I raised his shirt up, my fingers running over his toned body. The wound was seemingly round but rough around the edges and dark blood oozed out of it.

"You were shot", I trailed, looking at his face. He looked like a cold sculpture but there was movement under his eyelids so I knew he was still alive.

I grabbed the towel, placed it on the wound and pressed it down with my hands. He screamed and I winced at the pain in his voice.

"I'm so sorry but i have to stop the bleeding", I said trying to apply more pressure on the wound but there was still blood. I took a deep breath. The bleeding won't stop if the bullet was still in him.

"Wade...", I said softly.

His eyes flickered open and turned to stare at him. He managed to give me a small smile.

"I have to take out the bullet and disinfect the wound", I said to him.

"C-can you do that?", he asked.

"No", I said, biting my lower lip.

Wade looked up at the ceiling for a brief moment before sighing deeply. He took my hand off the towel and tossed it to the side then his fingers felt around the area of the wound for a while. He took a deep breath before pressing two fingers slowly into the wound.

He screamed as he did so.

What the hell?

I glanced at the door. The neighbors must have begun to wonder what was happening but I couldn't stop Wade from screaming as he took his fingers out. I noticed a small silver cylinder in his palm- the bullet. His hand dropped and the bullet rolled from his palm to the floor. His eyes were closed again, his breathing was slow and his forehead was sweaty.

The bleeding was worse than before so I took out a bottle of disinfectant from the first aid kit and stared at his face. If I wasn't able to save him, he would die. Ten years of waiting for him only to have him die in my living room.

"You can't die Wade, not now", I said, "I need you to endure this", I poured a little disinfectant on the wound and cringed at the smell of the blood.

***
I put on a shirt and picked up my phone, there was a text from Stacy.

Heeney, good morning, how are you?!

I smiled at my phone before replying

I'm okay Stace, how are things over there?

I noticed i had missed calls from Noah so I decided to call back.

"Hey, good morning", I said immediately he answered the call.

"Morning babe", he said, rather cheerily, "how are you?"

"I'm okay"

"Want to go out today?"

I hesitated to give him an answer as I passed by the guest room. Wade was in there, asleep. I had managed to move him as soon as I could tell that he wasn't bleeding anymore. I couldn't leave him alone and calling the police or taking him to a hospital would most likely cause more trouble. How was I supposed to explain how he had been shot? I couldn't account for the fact that he may have been the one who had been attacked considering the fact that he killed Danny. He had probably been trying to kill someone else.

"Bella?", Noah said breaking into my thoughts.

"Oh sorry", I said quickly making him chuckle, "I can't today, I have some volunteering work I'm doing for a charity in town this week", I lied.

"Oh", Noah said and I could picture the confused look he probably had on his face. "That's fine"

"I have to go now, talk to you later?"

"Sure, love you", he said.

"Yeah, love you too", I said before hanging up.

I bit my bottom lip and stared at my phone screen. I felt guilty about lying to Noah but I seemed to be doing a lot of that lately. I struggled to figure out if I was lying to protect Noah because I didn't know what type of person Wade was now, or if I was protecting Wade from Noah who would most likely get the police involved.

I took a deep breath as I paused at the door to the guest room, listening for any sign that he was awake. I highly doubted it but I needed to be sure he hadn't died on the bed. I opened the door to the guest room. It was bright with the sunlight that came in through the windows. My gaze rested on the bed. The sheets were rumpled but it was empty.

"Wade?"

I walked towards the bathroom and knocked. There was no reply or sound coming from it so I opened up. Worst case scenario, I would stumble upon a naked Wade Steele. I blushed at the thought.

"Wade?", I called again and still no reply.

I opened the bathroom door and frowned when I saw it was empty.

Did he leave? Again?

I ran out of the room and towards the living area. He wasn't there. The kitchen was empty as well. Besides the scattered sheets and the fairly blood-stained rug that I had scrubbed with soap and bleach until my hands were sore the night before, there was no sign that Wade had ever been in the apartment.

"Bastard", I said to myself, "I can't believe this"

I help him and this is what I get?

He disappears without an explanation?

I sat on the couch and buried my face in my palms. All Wade had ever done was take me into his life and kick me out whenever he felt like it. I was frustrated but I was also hurt. It hurt to think that I wasn't worthy of at least an explanation why he showed up. Of all the places in the world? Why my apartment?

The door opened and I looked up. He walked in, wearing a pair of black jeans and a plain grey shirt- totally different clothes than what he had on the night before. He also held on to two bags in each arm. I noticed his hair was neatly combed and his skin wasn't as pale as it was last night. He shut the door and turned, his gaze landing on me. Then he grinned.

"Oh", he said, "hey Bella, you're finally awake"