My Brother's Boyfriend ✓

Twenty

When I open my eyes again, I startle and move to try and get up, having just had a nightmare. 

I was running through the hallway at the hotel, trying to get away from Toby who was following me, but the hallway wouldn't end and I could never reach the door. All while he was catching up to me and shouting "You're mine, Niall, you will never get away from me!" 

I wince and hiss in pain at the sudden movement, noticing there's a bandage wrapped around my torso with an ice pack pressed into the side where he kicked me. 

My breathing picks up, as does my heart rate, and I start breathing hard. What's going on? Where am I? Is Toby here? I'm about to really start freaking out when I hear someone else's voice.

"Hey, don't move, it'll only hurt more," Harry says, sitting up from where he was positioned on the floor beside me. He rests his hand on my shoulder and gently pushes me back down into a laying position, my breathing ragged from fear. 

Then I feel the splitting pain in my head, and my hand goes to feel it, noticing a bandage on my forehead right where his ring cut me, but I don't feel any dried blood. 

"I cleaned it up," Harry tells me, his voice gentle, "It needed to be taken care of."

I just swallow thickly and nod my head, unable to speak at the moment. 

"Would you like some water?" He asks, and I nod my head again. My throat feels so dry. He hands me a glass he had sitting on the table nearby and I take a sip, almost sighing as the water soothes my 

"Here, take these," he says and hands me some pills that I eye suspiciously, "They're just painkillers."

I take them from him and pop them in my mouth, swallowing them with the water. 

"What happened," I whisper, my voice hoarse from everything that's happened. 

"You blacked out at the top of the stairs and almost fell down them, but I managed to catch you before you could, then brought you down here, laid you on the couch, and started cleaning everything up," he whispers, not wanting to speak very loudly - most likely for my benefit. 

"What time is it?" I whisper again, not willing to speak any louder. 

"About half three in the morning," he tells me just as quietly. 

My eyes start to water at the memories of what transpired not four hours ago, and I turn to look away from him, instead looking down at the bruising already starting on my chest. Since it's pretty new, it's mainly just red and swollen into a welt, but the purple is beginning to come through on my skin. 

"How awful is it?" I whisper. 

"What do you mean?" He asks and I see him shift where he's sitting, probably to make him more comfortable. He rests his arm on the couch beside where I'm sitting up. I lean my back against the arm rest and look at my fingers as they start pulling at the blanket that's laid across my waist. 

"How awful do I look?" I reiterate, unable to bring myself to look him in the eye. 

He brings his hand up and gently touches my face, but I flinch at the contact. He notices and pulls his hand away, sighing ever so slightly. 

"He did a real number on you, Ni," he tells me. 

I nod my head, "Yeah...I know..."

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to, but what happened tonight?" He asks carefully, treating me as though I could break at any moment. 

I take a shaky breath and a tear spills out over my cheek, but I quickly wipe it away. I don't want to seem weak, but I can't help the rest that come.