I'm Not Broken - TH

•15•

•Toms Pov•
I follow Chloe as she walks out of her room. She can't leave. For more reasons than one, but most of all because I'm in love with her.. I can't lose her. She is the woman I want to be with for the rest of my life.. even if it is just as friends. This can't be over.
"You can't go with your mum, she can't protect you like I can." I say.
"Chloe you know we would never hurt you." Haz tries.
She stops walking, and turns to face us.
"What my dad put me through, is what you guys put others through." She explains.
"Darling I've never hurt someone who didn't deserve it." I state.
"You've killed someone Tom!" She exclaims.
"Because he was trying to kill my father." I explain. "I've never caused any harm to an innocent person, now I can't say the same for the rest of my men but Haz and I? We aren't bad people. We don't just go around attacking people."
She shakes her head, obviously frustrated. I know this was a lot to spring on her, especially given her past, but she asked. I hear some ruckus from the house, and Haz is quick to leave the room to take over, letting me talk to Chloe alone.
"You're not the guys I've known the past three years." She sighs.
"I am though. Who I am when I'm around you? That's the real me.. I was just born into this. But with you? That's the person I want to be. You know me more than anyone in this building."
She stays silent for a minute, and sits down on the sofa, patting the seat next to her for me to sit.
"Normally when something like this would happen.. I'd come to you.. I don't know what to do." She cries and I feel a little piece of me break. I don't like being the reason she's crying.
"I'm still here. I will still help you.. even if that means helping you get away from me."
The double doors open, and Haz hurries in, out of breath. His gun is pulled, and he looks like he's in a panic.
"Tom. We need you." He says.
I grab the gun that's strapped in under the table and stand up. I turn to Chloe, and she gives me a fearful look.
"Tom- Tom what's going on?" She asks in a shaky voice.
"Sweetheart I need you to take this." I say, grabbing her hand and setting the gun in her palm. "Just to be safe."
"I can't- what's happening?"
"You go, I'll take care of her." Haz says, and I look between him and Chloe, coming to the decision that I have to go when gun shots fire, making Chloe scream in fear.
"Okay, take her." I say, and run off towards the gun shots.
•Chloes pov•
More gun shots sound through the building and Haz grabs my hand, pulling me up.
"Come on." He says.
I follow Haz quickly as he drags me down to the room at the end of the hallway that has the piano and is pretty empty. This is where I found all those old photos.
Haz moves a painting, and presses a button hidden in the wall. My mouth drops when one of the bookshelves moves, showing a little room with all kinds of supplies in it.
"No way you guys have a secret room.." I say in amusement even though there's literal gunshots in the background.
"Get in, and don't come out until I come back to get you." He says.
"Wait where are you going?!" I exclaim as he pushes me into the room.
"They need my help. I'll be back. I promise." He assures me, and shuts the door.
I start to feel panic set in, I don't know much, but from the information Tom has given me today I can only assume something really bad is happening. I can't even worry about the fact that he's been lying to me because I'm more scared of him getting hurt now.
I pace the very small room, thinking up every possible situation that could go wrong. How did I get pulled into this? More importantly how did Tom get pulled into this? I get that it's his family's thing but Jesus Christ he at least deserves a choice.
I hear yelling, and put my ear against the door, trying hard to hear what's going on. There's footsteps, they're coming towards me! Fuck fuck fuck what do I do?!
I reach for the pistol that Tom had given me earlier, and hold it in my shaky hand. They won't find me.. there's no way they will know that there's a room back here. That's the whole point of a secret room.
"Uhh Ms. Massey? You in there?" I hear a voice say, but I keep quiet. "Alright I'm gonna open the door. Don't shoot. Mr. Holland told me to come get you."
The door slowly opens, but I keep the gun held up, and my finger lightly sitting on the trigger. A brown haired guy comes into my view, his hands held up to show me he has no weapons.
"Ms. Massey-"
"Chloe." I correct him.
"Chloe, Mr. Holland instructed me to come get you and take you to the safe house." He informs me.
"I'm not going anywhere without Tom or Haz." I state.
"It's not safe here-"
"I'm not going anywhere without Tom or Haz!" I repeat myself louder.
The sounds of a gunshot goes off closer, and I hear Toms voice yell a string of curses. I stand from my spot and run past the man and out through the double doors to see Tom lying on the floor in the hallway, a bullet in his arm as blood runs out.
"Tom!" I scream, running over to him.
He looks to me with fear in his eyes, not fear for himself, fear for me.
"get her out of here!" He yells at the man.
"I'm not going to leave you here like this." I cry and he uses his free hand to grab my face.
"I'm okay Darlin." He shakes his head. "I'm fine and Haz is taking the last bad guy down stairs. It's okay. I'm okay."
"I'm not leaving you." I hold my ground.
"And I'm not risking more people coming and you getting hurt." He says. "Ben, get her out of here. Now."
Ben's hands rest on my shoulders, making me stand to my feet as Tom scrambles to his, tying his jacket over his arm to stop the bleeding. A couple men come down from the other side of the hallway to help him.
"You keep my girl safe." Tom says in a warning tone to Ben.
"Yes sir." He nods, pulling me out of the house.