Her Story | Book One

Chapter Eleven | Beautiful

The next morning, Brook was scrolling through her phone, watching some YouTube videos. It kept her distracted, for the most part.

When she checked her messages, she frowned when she noticed a majority of them had disappeared, along with any contact from her family. She looked up as Matt strode into the room, carrying a soda and staring down at his own phone.

"Matt, did you delete my mesages?" She frowned, causing him to slow down, not realizing she was awake.

"Yeah." He said, pressing a kiss to her cheek before he sat down on the recliner near the foot of her bed. "Your phone was blowing up with some pretty nasty messages. I don't want you to feel bad about what happened."

"I'm a big girl, Matt. I can handle my own."

"Your mom just tried to kill you, Brook. And your family still didn't have anything nice to say to you." He shrugged. "And I blocked the cancerous ones too."

"There's nothing they can do to me that is worse than what's already been done." Her hand ran over her stomach lightly, where she hurt the most when she did something as simple as take a deep breath.

He stood up, moving to grab her hand in both of his. He pressed his lips to her knuckles. "You keep me grounded, Brook. Worrying about you keeps me from picking up a drink or going out fighting. So long as you're under my roof, I'm going to take care of you. Okay?"

She was hesitant to nod. "Okay. Thank you."

"I did answer a call on your phone this morning when you were still sleeping. Someone named Natalie? I guess she heard about what happened."

"Natalie?" Brook frowned at him. "You should've woken me up. I would've liked to talk to her."

"She's your best friend, right?" He paused, continuing when she nodded. "Yeah, she explained that. I told her about what happened and she said she's on her way here. I guess she lives down in Mobile."

"She's on her way?" Brook grabbed her phone again, going to her recent calls. Sure enough, Natalie had called that morning. "Oh."

"I am sorry I snooped through your phone. I just don't want you to keep suffering because of your family. They've done enough."

"I appreciate it." She breathed, setting her phone down as she relaxed again.

"You know, I get that your nose is broken, but purple really looks great with your eyes." He said, changing the subject.

She slapped his chest gently, glaring at him. "Are you saying I should walk around with bruises all the time?"

His eyes widened. "Shit. That came out wrong."

She giggled, though grimaced when her abdomen protested, pain radiating through her body. "I know what you meant."

He playfully glared at her before peppering kisses across her features, causing her to smile as he avoided bumping into her nose.

"Bruised and injured, you're still the most beautiful girl I've ever seen." He said as he cupped her face in his palms.

Her face flushed, his desired effect as he chuckled lowly before kissing her.

"The doctor said it could be about two weeks until you can go home." He said as he stepped away from her, pulling a chair up beside her bed.

She nodded. "Have you heard anything about Cameron?"

"Not yet." He shook his head. "He's with your dad, I guess. I'll go check on him in a few hours, okay?"

"Really?" She let out a breath of relief. "That'd be great. Thank you."