Flowers

58

"Who the fuck do you think you are pointing that shit at her, you fucking dimwit?" Michael's hands roughly pushed Rob back from his shoulders, causing his whole balance to waver.

Dumbfounded, he stumbled back and lowered the gun just slightly even as it was no longer pointed at me.

"You're fucked in the head, man," Michael spoke through gritted teeth, venom lacing his furious tone, everyone else in the room completely silent and shocked at what was happening, "you needa get sober and stop this shit. Get some fucking help."

Rob looked more taken aback than angry or upset anymore, simply staring at his brother with wide and bloodshot eyes. I felt pity for him, as the unjust actions of his father had ultimately made him to be like this.

"Camille..." I heard Jason's very quiet voice from his corner, from where he suddenly began very discreetly making his way over to me.

My brows furrowed as I watched him near me and reach a hand out for me, a tightlipped smile on his lips.

"Stay the fuck away from her!" Michael momentarily glanced a very threatening glare over at Jason, who immediately backed into his corner again.

I glimpsed back to find George and Tony very calm looking, unlike everyone else. Just as I was moving my gaze back to Michael's tight back and Rob in front of him, I heard a cry.

Rob had cried out and flung his arms around Michael to hug him. With his hands now behind Michael's back, he was able to aim the gun at me again.

My eyes widened and I froze completely, unable to move. The next thing I knew was that a heavy mass hit my side as I was pushed aside roughly. Michael had somehow known what was happening, and wrestled to spin them around before the gun fired.

The window behind Rob's desk shattered, the loud release of the gun making my ears ring while I realised that George had pushed me and stepped onto my previous place.

With my mind and body both still frozen with distress and fright, I watched in complete silence and without reaction as Michael threw his brother onto the ground and stepped down onto the wrist of the hand the gun was held in.

Rob cried out before Tony grabbed the gun and left Michael to hit his fist against his brother's head. The painful crunch forced me to zone back into reality from my haze.

"Michael..." I quietly beckoned, hoping he would hear me and stop for us to leave now.

He didn't, and I felt horrified to watch Rob lay limply on the ground, blood gushing from badly bruised areas on his face due to Michael's hits.

"Michael," I repeated with more conviction, about to reach forward for him before I felt a hand grab my upper arm.

Frowning and still in shock, I turned to find George shaking his head at me.

"Let him finish," he instructed quietly. I shook my head in return and forced myself out of his grip.

Just as I was about to touch Michael's back, feeling nauseous at this point at what I had seen and was seeing, the door of Rob's office flung open.

"Miss?" A familiar voice called, and I felt like crumbling down to the floor in relief.

"Who the fuck are you?" Michael suddenly stood up, still incredibly furious before intimidatingly taking steps to reach the three men now standing outside the open door.

"Michael," I quickly caught up with him before he could, taking a hold of his hand and tugging at it forcefully. Very quickly he turned around and glared at me, before his features softened as he took me in.

"You're crying," he realised quietly after a moment of silence, his rapid heartbeat able to be felt from how I was holding his hand.

I brought my free hand to wipe underneath one eye and realised I was, "oh, I guess I am... Michael, these are men from my security, they'll fix all this and help us. We need to leave now."

"But—" he was trying to look over at his brother now wheezing out a cough on the floor.

"No. We leave now and try to figure out how you won't get into trouble for this," I told him firmly, my high levels of adrenaline causing me to push past the nausea and everything else that would have pushed me to the point of fainting in a situation like this.

He blinked slowly down at me, body still incredibly tensed up, ready to fight, but dark eyes softening. He then looked over at each individual in the room, most likely trying to process everything as well.

"Please," I added quietly, knowing there had to be a way we could avoid Michael getting serious consequences from this, after my security would hand these people over to the police at my word.

"Yeah, yeah..." he breathed out unevenly, now taking a moment to look down at his brother moving the tiniest bit.

Deciding Michael wasn't capable of making any coherent decisions right now, I led him out of the room without saying a word to the others, George and Tony following us.

I knew the men from our security team would handle this, and I would keep in contact with them about what to do when they had everything and everyone left in the room sorted. Tony handed the gun to one of them after I had discreetly told him to.

As we entered the hallway and the men entered the room, I realised the hand of Michael's I was still holding was soaked with his brother's blood.

I stopped and quickly tugged mine away from him, feeling incredibly lightheaded all of a sudden.

"We need to wash our hands before we leave," I managed out, desperately looking over at George and Tony while Michael was stoically staring at the stairs.

George shook his head firmly, "no can do. It'll leave traces of blood in the sink. There's wet-wipes in the car, we'll use them."

With their lead we left the house, not a single word spoken until we had cleaned our hands with the wet-wipes in George's car parked behind Michael's.

I breathed out deeply, still trying to process what had happened and positive that I needed some kind of therapy very soon due to everything that had happened within the past week.

Michael and I sat in the backseat while Tony and George were either texting somebody or searching routes.

There were so many feelings my body wanted to feel, overwhelming me completely and virtually rendering me incapable of feeling any of them besides panic. My sympathetic nervous system was still in overload, and I felt utterly helpless and restless just sitting here.

Michael suddenly opening the door on his side and moving to get out of the car piqued everyone's attention, stopping whatever we had been doing as we all turned to look at him.

"Michael, where are you going?" I quickly reached for him, managing to grab the tee shirt by his side to stop him from leaving.

He glanced back with a mutter, "home."

"Honey, you're in shock," I tried to tell him, frowning deeply, "it's not safe to drive."

He blinked slowly, eyes focused solely on me with very little emotion visible in his features, "you drive then. We're getting the fuck outta here."

"But—" I began shaking my head, trying to make eye contact with the men in the front seats for help.

"If he wants to go home you should go with him," George grunted out, "not much to do here."

"We'll take care of the rest and be in contact if needed," Tony offered me the smallest smile in comfort, while I sighed.

"Alright, fine. Michael, give me your keys."