Hold On

*Axel*

I laid in her bed waiting for her to come back. The guys have been able to get more information on the son of a bitch causing us problems. His name was Vladimir Solokov and he was in charge of the gang known as the Poisoned Arrows. They showed up to town few months ago at the beginning of fall and have been making it their business to steal and destroy other gangs or kill the leaders and combined them. He just so happened to be targeting our gang at the moment.

I was lost in thought when I heard someone scream. I sat up on high alert.

'What the fuck?'

A loud thud of something falling echoed through the house making me instinctively go to the door cautiously. Something wasn't right. Aella seemed almost scared by the fact I was here with her uncle in the house, and she should have been back by now. Slowly I crept out of her room and into the hallway. Panic struck me when I heard a cry out from pain along with the sounds of something being whipped.

I ran through the living room toward the basement where the noise was coming. I frantically looked around trying to find Aella before going down the steps as quickly as I could. My fear turned to uncontrollable anger as I saw an older man using his belt as a whip on her.

Cuts were bleeding through her clothes and her head was badly injured. Her horrified eyes met mine as I heard her whimper out begging me to go before she passed out.

"Hey!" The guy who I assumed was her uncle turned around and glared up at me,

"Who the fuck are you!?!" I was so angry that I could barley see straight as I ran up to him punching him hard enough in the jaw I heard a snap as he fell over groaning in pain. I was ready to kill him but Aella's unconscious body caught my attention as I knelt down beside her.

"Aella..." she stirred but didn't wake up. Picking her up bridal style I carried her upstairs and out of the house toward my motorcycle. She was limp in my arms with her head thrown back. I sat down and adjusted her against my chest before taking off toward my house. "Just hang in there. You will be okay" I took her up to my room lying her on my bed. The guys were still at the warehouse and wouldn't be back until after midnight.

Carefully I pulled off her shirt revealing old and new bruises along her ribs and stomach and new open cuts from the belt.

'Shit!'

I ran to the bathroom frantically grabbing a towel, alcohol, and a cotton ball. I sat beside her as I stared cleaning up the cuts around her body and head. She cried out in pain trying to move away but I held her down gently with my free hand while trying to calm her down. "Shh it's okay, hold on." Finally I was able to stop the bleeding,

'There...'

being the dumbass I am I didn't think she might have a concussion until after I cleaned her up.

"Shit!" I started tapping her face gently hoping her eyes would open, "hey Aella I need you to wake up for me now!" I was practically yelling at her until she slowly opened them making me sigh relief making my body relax.

"Axel?" She was about to close her eyes again when I moved closer to her,

"Hey, no I can't have you sleeping right now." Her face showed pure pain and exhaustion. "Here I'm going to sit you up okay?" I slowly helped her up letting her lean on my chest as we sat there on the bed.

"When can I sleep?" She groaned wincing in pain. I sighed looking at my watch,

"Not for another hour or so" she groaned leaning further into me

'Fuck, how do I keep her awake?'

"Was that your uncle?" She looked down tears forming in her blue eyes but she stayed quiet,

"Aella tell me right now. Who was that piece of shit hurting you"

"It was Carl my uncle..." I could tell from her face that I was scaring her but I couldn't help it, I was beyond pissed; I had never wanted to kill anyone as much as I did in that moment. I couldn't stop thinking about the way he stood above her inflicting wounds on her body. "Please, just forget what you saw..."

"Forget?!?! You think I can forget seeing what that ass hole did to you?!?!? You do not get to tell me to forget something like that! I should fucking kill him for putting his hands on you!" Tears were freely falling down her face as she looked at me with pleading eyes,

"No please...don't make this any more difficult" I glared at her,

"What the fuck is wrong with you?!?!? How long have been living like that without telling anyone!?!? How could you keep that from me?!?" I looked away from her face in disbelief.

It hurt that she kept that from me, all this time of knowing each other and spending time together she has been going home to get beaten until she blacks out.

'How could I not notice something was wrong?!?' I pounded the wall next to me leaving a dent and making her move away from me in fear. I stood up and without another word I left my room slamming the door behind me. I needed time to think and I needed to do something with my anger before I accidentally kill someone important to me. I felt like screaming, how was I such an idiot for not knowing, why didn't she tell me, and what the hell was I supposed to do now. I couldn't kill him; she's already lost too much. But I couldn't let her go back to him either.

'Why did I have to start fucking caring about her in the first place'