Body of Roses - l.h.

.04

The faint sound of beeping filled my ears gradually getting louder as I felt myself pulling out of what felt like a heavy sleep. My eyes lightly fluttered open but closed quickly from the blinding florescent lights on the ceiling.

I felt a hand lightly touch my shoulder causing my eyes to open again to see my brother standing beside the bed I was laying in. It took me a few moments to realize that I was lying in a hospital bed still wearing the clothes I put on this morning when I went on my mission to hunt down Luke.

Luke.

Everything began coming back to me like looking threw a kaleidoscope. From when I grabbed my longboard to search for Luke to when I eavesdropped on his and Jai's conversation to the moment when Jai's fist collided with my jaw. I wasn't sure if my head hurt from when I fell on the ground or from the overwhelming flood of memories.

"Ella," I snapped my head to where the voice was coming from to find my brother watching me with worried eyes. "You're okay, the doctor's are here and they told me you're going to be fine."

I watched him not knowing what to do before Luca bent over me and gathered me in his arms. It was what I needed feeling his warm, protective body near mine reminding me that I always had a brother who would tear apart an entire city just to know I was safe.

"What happened?" I whispered to him though the question was a bit misleading. I knew exactly what happened but I didn't know how much Luca knew.

"You took a nasty hit falling off your longboard." He told me, "Ended up with a mild concussion."

"Guess I'm not as good of a skater as what I thought." I mumbled to myself though I heard Luca's soft laugh knowing he heard the comment too. So Luca didn't know the whole story. I felt better knowing that considering if he did know what actually went down between the ally way of Geno's, he would probably put me on a leash and never let me out of his sight.

I began to relax back in the bed trying to go back to sleep though with the obnoxious beeping coming from the heart monitor I wasn't very successful. Letting out a groan I turned to face my brother. "When can we go home?"

"As soon as the doctor comes in to check on you," He answered. "I'll tell the nurses that you're awake now."

-

It was almost 8 once we got back home from the hospital. I told Luca that I was going to skip dinner tonight and instead go upstairs and sleep. Closing my bedroom door behind me, I flopped down on my bed and let out a long sigh as I replayed the events of today in my head.

My eye caught on something shiny. I got up and moved over to where the blade was lying on top of the dresser exactly how I left it yesterday after Luke left my room. His words replayed in my head haunting me like a broken record.

"It's hard to stop once you started." I jumped turning around to find Luke standing in my room.

"I wasn't going to do anything," I told him. "I was just in thought." He let out a hum that held a note of dishonestly on my part. I placed the razor back down on the dresser then turned my attention to the open window, "Thought you told me that you couldn't break into a house through a window."

Luke smirked at my words, "Guess I underestimated myself."

My eyes fell back on Luke who still wore the same black skinny jeans and flannel that hugged his toned body from when I saw him this morning. "What do you want, Luke? Other than proving you're incredible B&E skills."

He gave me shrug as though he was second guessing his actions of coming here tonight. "I just wanted to make sure you were alright." He said. "And I'm sorry that I didn't tell the doctors what actually happened, it just would have put you in more danger if Jai knew you called him out."

"I think I can handle myself." It was probably the closest thing to a thank you he was going to get.

"Ya of course, Ella, it was no problem at all." I rolled my eyes at his sarcasm. "Well I guess you're doing fine so I'll just show myself the way out." Luke began making his way to my still open window swinging one leg out of it.

"Luke," I called before he could leave. He turned waiting for me to continue. "What did you mean by I'm not the only one hurting?"

I saw the corners of Luke's mouth curl upwards. "You're not the only one with a secret."

Before I could question him again he was gone.