“I- -I just can’t.”
She whispered, her voice breaking.
Brycen sucked his teeth as he tore his eyes from the broken down image of Gabrielle. She was a royal pain in the ass but he hated seeing the girl hurt and in pain. He slowly walked over to her and pulled her into a tight hug. She rested her head on his chest and sniffed as more tears silently fell. Confessing a little piece of what had been eating her alive seemed to lift a huge weight off of Gabrielle’s shoulders. She let out a dolorous sigh before gently pulling away and brushing her thumb against the wet stained teddy bear that was knitted into Brycen’s sweater.
“I'm sorry. I know I am rough to work with. But I just need you to be on my side sometimes.”
“And I am. I always will be. But your cry for help cannot be assault people.”
Gabrielle wiped the smudged mascara from both her eyes and giggled into Brycen's shirt.
“I did not assault her.”
CHAPTER TWENTY
Roelle Compton brushed the loose brown strands of hair that tickled Meredith’s nose out of her face and smiled as she watched her younger sister sleep with a content expression. She sat on the edge of the hotel bed as she waited patiently for her to wake. The sun had long since come up as it was approaching noon and Payton was getting bored waiting for Meredith to wake up on her own so she sent Roelle to do it while she went out for food. Moments later Meredith began to stir and Roelle adjusted herself so she wouldn’t scare her.
“Hey,”
She softly spoke, placing her hand on Meredith’s arm. The crease in Meredith’s forehead smoothed when she fluttered her eyes open. She yawned and sat up in bed and glanced around the room, adjusting to her surroundings. Roelle handed her cup of tea that she gratefully sipped.
“Where’s Payt?”
Her voice croaked.
“She went out to get lunch. You’ve been out for a while.”
Meredith peeked over at the nightstand to see the time of 12:09.
“I didn’t get a lot of sleep.”
“So I’ve noticed. Can I ask you something?”
“Yeah, sure.”
“What’s been going on with you lately?”
Meredith stared down into her hot tea and rubbed her thumbs against the rim of her mug as she thought of a reply. Roelle always had a way of getting Meredith to open up about things that she would normally keep to herself. Payton had more of an aggressive approach that would result in Meredith shutting down, and pushing herself further away from any talk but Roelle knew how to work around Meredith’s stubbornness.
“I just—have a lot of things going on right now.”
“Like what?”
“I don’t really feel up to talking about it now.”
Roelle paused before tensely asking, “
Is someone hurting you?”
Meredith looked up into her sister’s eyes and saw the look of concern that pained her face.
“No, no one is hurting me…not physically anyway.”
“Meredith you- -“
“Oh good, you’re awake.”
Payton walked in the door with a bag that appeared to be from a coffee place with a name in Swedish. Roelle stood up from Meredith’s bed and gave her sister a knowing look.
“Did I interrupt anything?”
“No, you didn’t.”
Payton raised an eyebrow at Roelle’s face that said she totally interrupted something important. Payton mouthed sorry to her sister before walking over to Meredith’s bedside.
“I think you’ve had enough sleep for at least three days. Get up, we’re going shopping.”
Payton yanked on the covers and Meredith groaned as she felt the coldness hit her exposed legs.
“I hate shopping.”
“Well, I saw an athletic store as I was getting coffee and the store was practically made for you.”
“Really?”
“Yes, now come on. Daylight is getting away from us.”
Meredith threw the covers over to the side and rushed to shower. Payton made sure the shower was running long enough before asking,
“What did I walk into?”
“I almost got her to tell me what was wrong. I was this close Payton!”
“Really?”
“Yes, your timing has always been God awful.”
Payton smirked at her sister's irritated expression.
“I asked her was anyone hurting her and she said not physically.”
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
“I don’t know. I just hope she’s okay.”
“If she were in real danger she would tell us. It’s probably some guy drama or something.”
“You think little Mer has a boyfriend and is hiding it from us?”
“Yeah.”
“She’s never had one before.”
“Well that would explain why she's been acting different lately. I don’t think she’s ready to tell the family yet or something and they probably are just going through a rough patch now.”
Payton hoped that her statement was true for her sake and Meredith’s. She couldn’t handle it if there was something more to Meredith’s strange behavior.
