Logan

 

I couldn’t believe she flushed my pain meds down the toilet. Looking up at my nightstand, I saw my phone was out of reach. Stretching my arm out as far as I could, I still couldn’t reach it. I took in a deep breath. I was now a prisoner in my own home. How could my brothers do this to me? I would never forgive them for this. Needing to use the bathroom, I scooted my way to the wheelchair and struggled to climb into it. Feeling a hand firmly grip my arm, I jerked away.

“Don’t you ever fucking touch me!” I yelled in her face.

I wheeled myself into the bathroom and slammed the door behind me. When I was finished, I wheeled myself back out to the bedroom and noticed my sheets were off my bed.

“What are you doing?!” I screamed.

“This room smells. Your bed smells and you smell. Do you have an extra set of sheets?”

“In the linen closet down the hall,” I spoke in an irate tone.

This was a losing battle. If I didn’t show some kind of decency, she would never put my sheets back on my bed and I would be stuck in this damn wheelchair. When she returned, she asked me to go back into the bathroom.

“Why?”

“Because I need to make your bed and I don’t like your attitude at the moment. So, if you want your sheets back on, you will go into the bathroom, shut the door, and wash up. I’ll call for you when I’m finished.”

Her attitude pissed me off. She was bossy in my home and I wasn’t standing for it. With that being said, she certainly was sexy. Especially in those cropped yoga pants and oversized sweatshirt she was wearing. I wheeled myself into the bathroom and shut the door. After a few minutes, she told me I could come out.

“Your bed is made.”

“Thank you.” I looked down.

“Do you need help getting back into bed? Or would you like to come into the kitchen while I make breakfast?”

“I don’t want to go out there. Could you just bring me some coffee? You already threw my pain pills away. Please don’t take my coffee away.”

She sighed. “Fine. I’ll bring you a cup of coffee.”

As soon as she walked out of the room, I wheeled myself over to the bed and climbed in it. My leg hurt and I needed my pills. Grabbing my phone, I dialed Brandon. No answer. I dialed Owen. No answer. So I left messages for both of them to call me. A few moments later, Brooke walked in with a coffee mug and set it down on the nightstand.

“Cream? Sugar?” she asked.

“Just black.”

“That’s how I drink mine too.” The corners of her mouth curved up.

“Can you please get out of here and leave me alone? I really don’t give a damn how you drink your coffee.”

****

Brooke

Walking to my room, I changed my clothes and told Logan I was running down the street to the store to buy some groceries. He ignored me. He would be fine on his own for an hour. It wasn’t like he was getting out of bed anytime soon. I purchased what I could carry back, and when I returned to Logan’s apartment, I set the bags on the counter and cleaned out the refrigerator.

“Is there anything you want?” I asked as I stood in the doorway of his room.

“Yeah. Get the fuck out of my house,” he growled.

“Well, that’s not happening. Are you hungry?”

“No! I don’t want anything from you! What part of that do you not understand?”

“I understand more than you’ll ever know,” I spoke as I walked away.

As I finished putting the groceries away, there was a knock on the door, and when I answered it, a girl stood there staring at me.

“Hi. Is Logan here?”

“I’m sorry, but he can’t have any visitors right now.”

“Oh. Okay. Just tell him that Gretchen stopped by.”

I gave her a small smile and shut the door.

“Who was that?” he yelled.

“Some girl named Gretchen.”

“And you didn’t let her in?”

I folded my arms as I walked back to his room.

“No. You can’t have any visitors right now.”

“What? Why the fuck not? Who the hell do you think you are?”

“As long as you’re lying in that bed, you can’t see anyone.” I walked away as he started screaming obscenities at me.

****

A couple of days passed and Logan’s behavior was still the same. He had barely eaten and he was finally getting to the breaking point. The point he’d needed to get to in order for me to help him. He did nothing but yell all day long and still refused to get out of bed, except to use the bathroom.

Pouring some water into a glass, I took it to him with a couple of pills I had brought with me from California.

“Here,” I spoke as I handed him the pills and the glass of water.

“I don’t want them. I want my other fucking pills!” He threw the glass of water at the wall. “You had no right throwing those out!”

I didn’t say a word because this was the reaction I had expected out of him. I calmly walked over to the broken glass and began cleaning up the shattered pieces. Suddenly, I felt a sharp pain down the side of my hand.

“Fuck!” I held on to it with my other hand as blood started to run through my fingers.

“Are you okay?” Logan asked.

Getting up, I walked into the bathroom without saying a word and grabbed a washcloth and a box of butterfly Band-Aids.

“Brooke, let me see if you’re okay.”

“You don’t get to ask me if I’m okay and you certainly don’t get to see if I’m okay,” I spoke with an attitude as I walked out of the bathroom and out of his room.

“Get back here!” he shouted so loud that it made my ears hurt.

I ignored him and went into the kitchen to examine my wound. After running it under warm water, I placed a butterfly Band-Aid over it and then I heard a loud thump. Rolling my eyes, I went to check on him and found him lying on the floor.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

“Is this what you fucking want?!” he screamed. “Is this what you wanted from me? Ever since you came here, you’ve made my life a living hell! You kept my family from seeing me, you sent my friends away, and you took the only thing away from me that kept me from feeling anything. I HATE YOU!” he screamed at the top of his lungs. “You have no idea what it’s like. You don’t have a clue in that fucking head of yours what it’s like to have your dreams taken away from you. To have everything you’ve worked so hard for vanish in the blink of an eye as if it never existed. You don’t know the feeling of being so alone that you hate yourself and want to die. You don’t know what’s it’s like to be told that you’ll never walk normal or without assistance again and to get used to it. YOU DON’T HAVE A FUCKING CLUE!”

Finally, he broke and a piece of my heart broke with him.

“You’re wrong,” I softly spoke as I got down on my knees in front of him. “I do know what it’s like to feel so alone that you want to die. I do know what it’s like to be angry at the world and feel like you got dealt the worst possible hand in life. I do know what it’s like to have your dreams taken away from you and what it’s like to feel that rage inside and to want to give up. But I don’t know what it’s like to be told that I’d never walk normal or without assistance again. Because what I was told was that I’d never walk again in my life and to get used to sitting in a wheelchair and to adapt the best I could. But here I am today, walking, using both my legs when all the odds were against me.”

He looked up at me, his face red from anger and soaked with tears. This was what he needed. This was what I’d been waiting for and it hurt deep in my soul that I had to bring him to this point. I slowly wrapped my arms around him and held him, bringing his head down to my lap. He didn’t pull away.

“It’s okay. Let it all out. You need to let it all go before you can start healing,” I whispered as I ran my hand through his hair. “I know you feel like your life is over, but it’s not, and I can help you.”

As he lay in my lap and let the tears fall, the memories and pain I once felt crept up inside me.

“My life sucks,” he spoke in a soft tone.

“I know it does, Logan. I get it. I know your pain and every emotion you’re feeling.”

After a few moments of silence, he lifted his head and looked at me.

“I don’t understand. How are you—”

“Hard work, dedication, and the will to fight to get my life back.”

“I don’t have any fight left in me, Brooke.”

“Yes you do. You haven’t even begun to fight yet. You have more fight in you than you’re giving yourself credit for. You have a power inside you that you haven’t even tapped into.” I gave him a small smile as I wiped the tears from his eyes. “Let’s get you back in bed, and if you’re ready, we can talk and I’ll explain everything to you.”

He slowly nodded his head and I helped him back into bed.