Chapter 25

Gabby

My body tenses as I watch Matt slowly walk through the font door, I stay behind him. He stops as he looks around.

"We need to call Antonio" Matt states. I immediately walk around him to see what he is staring at. As I stand next to him I see that my apartment is trashed, my books knocked off the selves, broken glass from pictures frames lay on the floor, and all everything thrown around my living room.

I close my eyes and just shake my head, I couldn't believe this!

Matt pulls out his cell phone and calls Antonio, "Hey man it's Matt" I hear him greet Antonio. I start to move around my apartment to further inspect the damage. I can feel Matt's eye burn into the back of head; I think he is waiting for me to break down, but I know that right now that is not a possibility.

I hear Matt's voice as he talk to Antonio, but I can't make out what he is saying. I open by bedroom door knowing that it most likely received the same treatment as the rest of my apartment.

The first thing I notice when I walk into my bed room and turn on the light is my mirror is busted from top to bottom. Then I notice my clothes are thrown throughout my room and my lamp has been knocked off my nightstand.

"What a fucking mess" I say out loud as I move closer to bed. I know that I'm not supposed to touch anything, but I need to gather some of my things to take to Matt's. I bend down and reach under my bed to grab my duffle bag.

"What are you doing?" I hear a voice ask from behind me.

"Well I still need to get some of my things" I say as grab clothes around my room.

"I think that we should just leave" Matt says as he eyeing me.

"I just want to grab some clothes to get me through the next couple of days."

"Antonio said he was on his way."

I nod my head as I grab a pair of jeans I found laying on my floor. "I guess that I can always come back here if I need anything" I say throwing them into my duffle bag.

After grabbing a couple more pieces of clothing Matt and I went down to his truck and waited for the police to show up. This was just perfect I thought as looked out the window. Not only was I just released from the hospital because this asshole beat the shit out of me, but now he came into my home and destroyed any sense of safety I have left.

I could feel my warm tears slide down my face as I sat there in silence, knowing that if I said one word I was going to break.

Matt

I sat in silence with Gabby outside her apartment as we waited for the red and blue lights to make their way down the street. As I watched her, I noticed tears begin to fall from her eyes. I know that she probably didn't want me to say anything, but I can't sit her and just watch her cry.

I wrap my arm around her shoulder and pull her closer to me. She doesn't even fight me; she just leans into me and continues to cry. I stroke her hair trying to sooth any fears away.

"I wish that I could take all this away" I whisper as I rest my head on her's.

"Me too" she says as she moves to wipe her tears away.

"Gabby we don't have to do this tonight. I'll call Antonio and see if he can talk to you in the morning" I suggest knowing how tried she must be.

"Okay" she says without another word. I don't say anything else knowing that she doesn't need or want to hear anything anyone has to say. I untangle my self from her as I call Antonio. He picks up on the first ring, I then explain to him about Gabby's condition to which he agrees.

"Antonio will come by tomorrow morning" I say as I hang up the phone.

"Oh" Gabby says as she shifts her body to gaze out the window.

I watch her for a minute before I start the car, my heart breaks. We don't say anything on the ride to my place. As we pull up the curb, Gabby doesn't make a move to get out of the truck. I turn off the engine and then reach out to tab her on the shoulder, "Gabby?"

She doesn't respond, "Gabby we're here" I try again.

"What?" she says as she turns to face me.

"We're here" I say again.

"Oh" she says as she opens the truck door. I reach behind me and grab her bag. I move quickly and meet her on the sidewalk. She doesn't say anything as I lead us up the steps to my apartment. I unlock the door to find my mother sitting on the couch watching tv.

"Matt" she says as she stands up "How's Gabby?" Gabby then steps out from behind me, and a smile spreads on my mother's face. If my mother felt any shock from the bruises on Gabby's face, she did a great job hiding it. "How are you?" she asks as she steps towards Gabby and pulls her into a hug.

"Oh I have been better Mrs. Casey" she says moving back from the embrace.

"Call me Nancy" my mother replies. Gabby gives a small smile.

"Gabby I'm going to put your bag in my bedroom. I thought you could stay in there tonight and I'll sleep on the couch" I say as take my shoes off.

"Matt that's really nice but I can sleep on the couch" Gabby says with a look of confusion on her face.

"Don't be ridiculous!" Nancy chimes in. "Matt can sleep out here. He does it half the time anyways."

"See" I smile.

"Yes, but that was not what we had agreed to" Gabby said.

I knew that she was not going to let this go, "Okay I know that we had another agreement, but with all the events that took place tonight, I was unable to make those other arraignments."

"Fine tonight only" Gabby says as she follows me into my bedroom.

Gabby

I didn't like to be the one kicking Matt out of his own bed, especially since he has been the one to take care of me. He set my things on the bedroom floor.

"So when do you have to be back at work?" I ask wondering if he was planning on babysitting me for a while.

"Tomorrow but I was going to call Boden tonight."

"Matt, I'll be fine" I say as I take a seat on his bed.

"I know but I want to make sure. You were just released from the hospital and we find your apartment ransacked."

"You're not going to listen to me?" I ask knowing that he already made up his mind.

"No, I'm not" he states with a smile.

"Listen Matt, I really appreciate the fact you want to help me but I don't want you to feel guilty and think that you have to be here everyday."

"Gabby I do feel guilty but that is not why I want to be here" Matt says looking directly into my eyes. "But I will tell you what; I haven't talked to my sister yet so why doesn't my mom stay with you while I'm on shift during the day. Then at night Antonio can bring you to fire station, so you can sleep there and we can come back here in the morning."

"Matt I already told you that I didn't want to bring you mom into any of this" I say feeling a ting of panic. There was no way I was going to bring anyone else into my mess.

"Listen Gabby I know that you're worried about everyone's safety but what if I told you that Antonio said he was going be sending someone over every hour to check on the house."

"I would say when you and my brother became my boss" I say raising my eye brow.

"I know that is how it may feel but we just want to make sure you're safe and if you won't let me stay home tomorrow let my mom help you while I'm at work."

"Fine, but only tomorrow then after that no more" I say as I get off the bed and walk over to my bag.

"Alright" Matt says as he moved toward the door.

"I'll see you in the morning" I say.

"Yup" he says as he leaves the room.