Twenty Seven

As everyone returns back to the Cooper household, they enter, taking their spots around the living room as Maverick and Justin stay standing, facing George who enters from the kitchen.

"She's not too good." he informs them. "She's in a trance. Almost like she's not here."

"Where is she?" Maverick asks, licking his lips.

"Maverick, listen." Annabell says.

"I don't think you should be so eager with her." George says, gulping. "She obviously isn't herself and I think we all need to take that into consideration. We don't want to overwhelm her or ask her a bunch of questions."

"I agree."

"Of course you do." Maverick scoffs at Justin's response. "Why the fuck are you even here? You need to go."

"No, he doesn't." George states harshly.

"You're dad's right, Maverick. I don't. Accept it or not, I'm the one who got your sister out of there with the help of our two new recruitments. Not you. If I hadn't shown up she'd still be there." Justin tells him. "So, I'm staying."

"Hell if-"

"No Maverick." George sternly growls, giving Maverick a look. "And you're not to argue with him in front of her either. That's the last thing she needs right now."

Maverick's hands clench as well as his jaw, shaking his head in disbelief.

"Where is she now?" Rylee softly asks.

"She's been in the shower for almost twenty minutes now." Caitlin says, glancing at everyone.

"Did she notice you guys?"

Ryan shakes his head. "No. But, we didn't really expect her to, either."

Everyone nods and sits around, waiting until the click of the door upstairs is heard, indicating Hadlee is leaving her room.

Appearing in the living room only a moment later, she ignores everyone else in the room, facing her father before looking off to the side.

"I made you a plate of food, honey." Annabell speaks after a silent moment. "You need to eat something."

Hadlee licks her lips, slowly nodding before forcing her feet forward and to the small, closed off part of the dining room where the plate of food sits on the table. Gulping to herself, Hadlee sits staring down at the food with shaky, tired hands.

Annabell peeks over, noticing her not eating a few moments later and sighing. "She won't eat."

"Everyone was constantly putting negative things in her head." Alex whispers. "That could be why."

Maverick stands, making his way over to Hadlee in the secluded area and sitting across from her. "Hey Hads." he starts, speaking softly.

***Hadlee's POV***

I hear him. I hear Maverick speaking to me. I hear the whispers from the living room but I can't seem to make out what they're saying because they're too far. My ears ring with uncertainty and Maverick's words do the opposite of help me. I hear them, but I can't listen. His voice burns in my head along with the others, causing a fire to form in my chest. I know my hands clench in my lap. I feel them do it. My skin is hot. I can't seem to cool it down. To cool my mind and relax. I know he's talking. I know he's begging and I know he's trying to help. But knowing he's the reason for this incident makes my blood boil. If only he could do what he's supposed to and refrain from crossing so many lines, he'd have less people out to get him... out to get me.

The fairness of the situation is none. Yes, I'm his sister but in no way have I ever agreed with his way of thinking and his attempts to overrule Justin and William. He's not capable of being a leader. He's only capable of screwing things up out of pure jealousy and misunderstanding.

I feel as he rises from the seat across from me and walks away, letting out a big sigh to let everyone know that I won't listen.

Of course I won't, he doesn't know what I've just been put through. My head is spinning, I'm choking and I can't seem to get the fire to go out within me. I'm angry. So angry. But I can't get that to show either. I'm empty to them. They can't see all of my emotions. They're too hidden to be seen. My brain isn't responding. It doesn't know which emotion to show. So it shows nothing.

But at the same time... I feel no desire for revenge. I feel as empty as I look. I feel as worthless as the men had told me I am. I feel as though I'm everything they told me I am.

Fat.

A Whore.

Ugly.

Repulsing.

A sex toy.

A revenge plot.

Privileged.

Unworthy.

And everything in between.

Soon, another body is in front of me, trying to get my attention, trying to get me to look at them. Trying to get me to snap out of a daze I seem to be in. Their hand reaches out, settling gently on my arm.

One touch. One touch brought me back.

I raise my head, noticing the person in front of me. The one person I've longed to see. I gulp, noticing his eyes filled with worry.

"Baby, you gotta eat. For me, please." he begs.

I gulp down the lump in my throat before slowly moving to pick up the fork, letting him keep his hand on my left arm... needing it to keep me here. To keep me awake.

I pierce a piece of chicken with the fork, hesitantly putting it into my mouth and starting to chew.

***No One's POV***

In the living room, everyone looks around to one another, wracking their minds as they try to figure out what could've happened in there.

"What do you two know?" Maverick asks, looking to Alex and Ben.

"What?"

"About what happened."

"Now isn't the time, Maverick." George warns.

Maverick's brows furrow until he realizes that Hadlee can hear and lets it go, sighing heavily.

Back over at the dining room table, Hadlee gulps down the last bite from the plate Annabell had given her.

"Do you want more?" Justin asks softly. "It's been a few days since you've eaten an actual meal."

She shakes her head, not ready to dive back in.

He nods. "Okay, that's fine. What do you wanna do?"

Hadlee struggles to find her voice, once again gulping down the lump in her throat. "Sleep." she finally whispers.

"Okay." he says, nodding. "Come on, I'll take you upstairs."

She stands, pushing back the chair and starting towards the stairs before stopping and going to the kitchen instead.

Everyone watches hesitantly.

Hadlee grabs two bottles of water, gulping half of one down now before starting to go upstairs with Justin again.

"Did she eat?" George asks.

"I'm afraid to look." Annabell sighs.

After a few moments, Justin returns back downstairs, looking over to Annabell and George.

"I was able to get her to eat the whole plate. It seems like they told her a bunch of shit that makes her not wanna eat." he informs them. "I asked if she wanted more and she said she wanted to sleep."

Annabell gasps in surprise, picking up the empty plate and putting it in the sink. "Wow, I didn't think she would."

"Thank you, Justin." George says, nodding.

Justin nods once in acknowledgement before turning to Alex and Ben. "I wanna know everything."

"Well, Ben's the one who started taking care of her, so..." Alex says, looking to Ben.

"I knew who she was when they brought her in. I had seen you two together before once so I knew you were together. Unfortunately I wasn't able to get to her at first but when I did I promised her to bring her water and food whenever I could. I was able to get her a protein bar and a bottle of water but knew I needed help. So, Alex and I had always been close. I explained everything to him and he was in." Ben explains.

"Basically, we were only able to get to her about three times. We'd bring her a protein bar and water each time to try and keep her energy up and help her stay alive." Alex states.

"What did they do to her? Say to her?"

"Keegan hurt her a lot. Not only by the things he said but physically. He'd hit her, cut her a couple times..." Ben starts.

"A couple of the guys tried to take advantage of her but we threatened them."

"That was the one thing Keegan said wasn't allowed." Ben adds.

"They said anything you could think to make her feel bad. She was fat, unworthy, ugly, repulsive, a sex toy," Alex starts.

"Keegan even told her that the only thing she was good for was a revenge plot." Ben interrupts.

"So, she definitely has reason to not want to eat. They made her feel completely worthless." Alex informs them.

"I wish I could bring him back to life and kill him all over again." Justin mumbles.

"You think that makes you mad?!" Maverick exclaims.

"It's not a fucking competition who's more angry, Maverick." Justin booms. "We're all angry. She's everyone's friend, my girlfriend and your sister. She means a lot to each and every person in this room. Don't act like your the victim here the only victim is your little sister who's upstairs struggling with herself."

Maverick shuts up, licking his lips.

Upstairs, Hadlee's eyes blink open as she squeals lightly, noticing that no one was above her and it was all just a nightmare. Gulping, she shakes her head, curling into a ball under the covers and feeling the tears prick at the corners of her eyes before spilling out.

She had fallen asleep quickly after Justin brought her upstairs, but the nightmares have woken her twice already within only twenty minutes.

She escaped but who knows how long it'll be until she can sleep.

***

ahhhh! I'm Sorry for not posting LAST WEEK! But I posted two chapters today to make up for it!

there you have it! Chapter 27! ONLY 2 CHAPTERS LEFT OF THE FIRST BOOK!

What did you guys think of this chapter? Did you like the way I put Hadlee's thoughts or no? Let me know by commenting below! Also feel free to leave a vote if you don't wanna comment!

See ya next Tuesday!

much love,

shan:)