{Aspen's POV}
(TW Mentions of abuse and r*pe)
Caspian stops in his tracks and turns to look at me. We make eye contact and he moves to sit back down. Instead of sitting beside me, he sits across from me, where Opal previously sat. We make eye contact again and I realize I should probably start to talk.
I cant seem to find the words. We've been sitting here in silence for a few minutes now. I realize I picked the most intimidating brother to have this conversation with. Maybe it's not too late to go find Ambrose.
"Actually, nevermind." I get up from the couch but before I can get far, Caspian grabs hold of my wrist.
"Sit." He demands.
I reluctantly move back to the couch and sit down. I deeply regret my decision to talk to him at this point. I cant believe I put myself in this position.
"Tell me what's going on. First this morning you tried to tell me something and now again. What's wrong Aspen?" Caspian asks.
"I- I..." His intense stare causes me to stutter. Can he not relax just for a minute? I haven't even thought this through. Should I tell the truth about stepfather? What other excuse could I make?
"I cant help you if you don't tell me what the problem is." Caspian says in a softer tone than usual.
"I'm injured." I hesitantly say while looking at him in the eye. His jaw clenches and his eyes seem to darken. Is he showing... emotion? This is scary.
"Where?" He asks calmly.
I reluctantly pull up my pant leg and gently remove the bandage. The cut is swollen and red. Blood drips down my leg and other substances are around it, I assume caused by infection. I stare down at the nasty cut, too afraid to see Caspian's reaction.
I hear movement which causes me to look up. Caspian moves from his seat and sits beside me. He gently grabs my leg and pulls it onto his lap. He seems to be inspecting the cut. After a few seconds, he looks up and we make eye contact. I cant read him or see what he might be feeling. Not going to lie, it scares the crap out of me.
"What happened Aspen?" He asks softly.
"I umm..-" Before I can tell him, I'm cut off.
"What the F*ck!"
Caspian and I snap our heads to the sudden noise. We see a fuming Sorin and shocked Kohen standing in the entryway of the living room.
"Out. Now." Caspian demands.
"No! What the f*ck is that?!" Sorin shouts coming further into the living room. Kohen follows, staying beside him.
"Don't make me repeat myself." Caspian says in a deadly tone. It would make anyone wet their pants if directed towards them, thankfully it's not to me.
Sorin mumbles something under his breath before storming out. Kohen takes one last look at my leg and reluctantly leaves. Caspian takes a deep breath and turns back to me with a soft expression. How can he compose himself so fast?
"What happened?" He asks scarily calm.
"Erm.. I cut it on glass." I answer him semi-truthfully.
"And how exactly did that happen?"
I open my mouth to answer, but he quickly cuts me off.
"Do not lie to me." He says sternly. Man this guy just knows everything doesn't he? I take a deep breath, carefully thinking about my answer.
"I'm not ready to tell you yet."
Caspian sighs.
"Aspen, I know you don't know me, let alone trust me. But, you should know that I care for you. I may be your guardian, but I'm also your brother."
Caspian's words hit me like a truck. Maybe they're the bare minimum but what can you expect from him? I certainly didn't expect this. I more so expected him to demand the answer. I find myself wanting to tell him, but I'm still hesitant.
"There is nothing you can do now, the problem is gone." I reply emotionlessly.
Caspian is silent for a minute, furrowing his eyebrows in thought. What is he thinking? I couldn't tell you. Suddenly, his hands are in fists, turning his knuckles white. All I can see on his face is rage. I'm almost worried he's going to pass out from showing so much emotion so suddenly. I can tell he's connected the dots about the abuse.
"Your stepfather." He says distastefully.
I nod in response.
"Are there any other injuries?" He asks.
I inhale sharply and nod. I reach for the hem of my shirt and pull it up just enough for him to see my ribs. I look down and see a symphony of black, blue, and purple bruises. Caspian takes a minute to look at the injuries before grabbing my shirt and pulling it back down.
"Lay down, stay here. I will be back in 10 minutes. Do. Not. Move. Do you understand?"
"Okay.." I reply while hesitantly laying down.
Caspian leaves the room quickly, leaving me to wonder if I made the right decision. He just left me. Why would he just leave after this talk? What is he even doing? I reach for my phone to text Edith but I find my pocket empty. I roll my eyes remembering how Jasper stole it.
A few minutes later, I hear basically a stampede coming down the hallway. I sit up, feeling a little concerned. Suddenly the stampede stops at the entryway of the living room and I see all of my brothers. Rage and concern are clear on their faces, except for Caspian who seems to have composed himself.
"I thought I told you to lie down." Caspian says walking towards me and I shrug in response, straightening myself up.
"We're going to take you somewhere to get you fixed up." Ambrose says softly, following behind Caspian.
"Where?" I ask, Caspian and Ambrose share a look before turning back to me.
"A private clinic that we own." Caspian responds.
"Why do you own a clinic?" I ask with furrowed eyebrows.
"It's nothing to concern yourself with. We're leaving now." Caspian says. Of course he deflects my question.
Sorin approaches me slowly and reaches his arms out to lift me up. I immediately raise my hands, making him stop. He glances over to Caspian.
"Woah woah woah, what are you doing there?" I ask nervously.
"You don't think we're going to let you walk in your condition." Kohen speaks up.
"That's exactly what I think." I reply.
"No" Caspian simply says and nods to Sorin.
Sorin comes forward again and I jump up from my seat. Sorin quickly catches me and lifts me up bridal style. I tense in his arms and put one of my hands on his shoulder to hold steady.
"Can you put me down please?" I ask, looking up at Sorin.
"No" Everyone says in unison.
"Can I have my phone back?" I look at Jasper.
He reaches into his pocket and hands it to me. Everyone starts making their way to the garage and I open my phone to, I kid you not, over 200 messages from Edith. This seems a bit extreme to me.
Your brother's a wackadoodle
Why would you leave me alone to talk to him?
Why do you neveeerrrrrrrr answer??????????
Aspen
Aspen
Is something wrong?
Take your freaking phone off silent
I will fly to California if you do not respond within the next hour. Do. Not. Test. Me.
This is just a preview of the many messages I get. Before we get any unwanted visits, I type up a brief of the situation and let her know I'm okay. I send it, still unfortunately, in Sorin's arms. Thankfully he doesn't seem to be peeking at the messages.
We pile into one of their unnecessarily expensive vehicles. Sorin sets me down in the middle and takes the seat to my right, Kohen is to my left, Ambrose is in the passengers seat, Caspian is driving and Jasper rides in a different car.
"How long is the drive?" I ask.
"20 minutes." Kohen replies.
l nod and decide to take the time to go through the many messages Edith sent me. There is no talking through the car ride. I know for a fact Caspian told them about the abuse and I'm glad they haven't brought it up. I didn't talk about the rape with Caspian... I think I will only tell the doctor so that I can get checked out. I don't need my brothers to know and look at me differently.
We pull into a hospital looking building. It's a large, off white, square building with hardly any windows. There are no signs indicating what it is, I suppose that's what you get with a private clinic. It's in an odd part of town, it seems quite deserted. I also notice the guards posted outside the door.
Everyone starts to get out and before I can step on the ground, Sorin has me in his arms once again. I feel tense and uncomfortable. Again, I only hold one of my hands on his shoulder for stability. While we walk into the building, Jasper's car also arrives. He gets out of the car and jogs up to us.
When we enter the clinic, it's surprisingly empty. A lady in a white coat approaches us and stands in front of Caspian. I assume she is the doctor.
"Boss" She says and bows her head.
What the frick was that?
"This is Aspen, your patient." Caspian says, gesturing to me.
"Of course, please bring her up to the top ward." The doctor replies.
Sorin carries me to the elevator with all my brothers following and we go to the top floor. I'm put into what I can only describe as a private medical suite. It has the usual doctor equipment and basic monitors. What really stands out is that this place has a giant TV, a freaking chandelier, a mini fridge, and leather couches around an upscale medical bed. This place is nicer than My room back at my brother's house.
Sorin sets me on the bed and not long after the doctor lady shows up.
"Hi Aspen, I'm Dr. Maybell and I'm here to check your injuries." She sends me a sympathetic smile.
"Hi" I reply with a small smile.
"If you're ready to start I'll ask all the boys to leave." Everyone looks to me, silently asking if they should leave. I nod at them and they leave the room.
Dr. Maybell checks out my cut and cleans it with all the proper medical ointments and what not. She applies a cream and puts a fresh dressing on it. She moves onto my ribs and concludes that a few are broken and I'll be on bed rest for at least a week. After she is done with everything she turns to get my brothers but I quickly stop her.
"Wait!" I get her attention. "There is one more thing."
"Oh, what would that be?" She asks assessing my body for any visible injuries.
I take a deep breath. I can do this.
"I was... raped" I say hesitantly.
Her expression softens and she comes beside me.
"Do your brothers know?" She asks softly.
I shake my head.
"Okay, how recent was this?" She asks carefully.
"A few weeks ago, and on multiple other occasions earlier." I reply looking down.
"Would you like me to do some tests to make sure everything is alright?" She asks.
"Yes" I reply quietly.
She nods and goes to gather her equipment. She starts the tests which make me extremely uncomfortable, but I try to keep myself together. Through the process I force back tears, memories plague my mind and I feel like I'm drowning.
After all the tests are done, she says that there is some scarring, but other than that she sees no obvious issues. After the blood tests are done she can confirm there are no STDs, but that will take a few hours.
She leaves my room and I start sobbing. After holding back all my emotions I let it all out. I cry for what feels like hours but is only really a few minutes.
Suddenly I hear shouting outside of my room. I can feel myself getting anxious at the loud noise. I hear multiple loud bangs followed by more shouting. I get up from the bed and go towards the door. When I open it, I find all my brothers standing with furious expressions, even Caspian. I look past them and see a hole in the wall I didn't see on the way in. Sorin's hands are covered in blood, as are Jaspers. It suddenly dawns on me. Dr. Maybell told them.
Ambrose is the first to notice me, he must have seen my red puffy cheeks and a few stray tears. His deadly expression turns soft and he rushes over and pulls me into a hug. I try my best not to tense at his gesture but I cant help it. He pulls away and wipes a few stray tears off my cheek. Silently, he leads me back to the hospital bed and helps me on.
My brothers walk into my room, excluding Sorin who has disappeared. I take a deep breath.
"I don't want to talk about it." I say looking up at the chandelier.
"You don't have to, but we're here for you." Ambrose says gently.
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