"It is a man's own mind, not his enemy or foe, that lures him to evil ways." - Buddha
He checked her wrist again, not wanting to let go but continue to feel the steady beat of her pulse under his finger. O was lying next to her, watching her sleep as Ben sat on the other side of her. Every other minute he would check her pulse, put his face close to hers to make sure he could hear her breathing. When he got the phone call from O, he had dropped the phone in the middle of the farmers market and ran to his car. He drove like a mad man, he pulled out of the parking lot with his door still open, the jerk of the car peeling out of the parking lot slammed the door shut for him.
"Do you think Chon will kill him?" O asked Ben, finally speaking up as she ran her fingers down Brookes arm, tracing her veins.
"I don't know." But Ben did know. Chon would slaughter a crowd full of people if they had harmed Brooke, and by Brookes boyfriend giving Brooke the drugs – his body was bound to be found washed up on the shore of the beach.
O grabbed Brookes hand and brought it to her lips, placing a soft kiss on the back of her palm. Ben moved his hand back to Brooke's wrist and checked for the pulse again. "When will she wake up?"
He didn't have the answers that O needed right now. He had never dealt with that. Bens head turned when he heard the sound of Chons bike pulling up. "Watch her." He told O before getting up and leaving the room.
Ben met Chon in the hallway. He examined him, Chon had a bloody lip and a bruise forming under his eye. Before Ben could ask if he was OK, the Navy Seal spoke before he could. "How is she?" Chon asked causing Ben to look up at him.
"Sleeping." He told him. Ben then looked in the direction of Brooke's room. "Are you sure you didn't know she was on that stuff?" They both hadn't known.
Chon shook his head. "No, I would have said something – wouldn't have let her do it." Chon finally looked back at Ben. "Liam said he didn't supply her but that doesn't mean it wasn't one of his men who gave her the dope," All Chon could think about was ending Liam's life, to put a gun to his dome and pulling the trigger. To watch him die painfully. "-He's an asshole." Chon told Ben. "Liam."
Before Chon could say anything, O called out for Ben. "-Ben!" O shouted causing the two men to sprint towards the room and rush in. O looked up at both of them, tears of happiness in her eyes. "She's awake!" She said happily.
She looked so fragile, dark bags under her eyes, her skin almost looked hollow. She wouldn't look at any of them in the eyes, too embarrassed. She even went as far as to pull away from Ophelia when she tried to hug her. But O wouldn't let her. She hugged Brooke, soft, not tight, not wanting to hurt her.
Brooke's entire body ached, her head pounding, her throat dry. She wanted to take a shower, a cold shower. She avoided Ben's eyes when he sat next to her. O got up, pushing the hair out of Brookes face. "How are you feeling?" Ben asked.
"Fine." Brooke mumbled.
"Well since that's out of the way, let's get to the part where you tell me why the fuck you are getting caught up in heroin?" Chon spoke up.
"Chon," Ben said softly. Chon was big on tough love – not as gentle as Ben and Ophelia.
"No," Chon shook his head at Ben. "She needs to hear this." He told him and then looked back at Brooke. "Are you out of your fucking mind?"
She sighed, though her throat was so dried up that the sensation she felt caused her to cough. Ben grabbed a glass of water he had out for her from the table. Though it was probably warm, Brooke drank it willingly.
"What else are you on?" Chon asked her. Brooke still would not look at any of them. "O, go get her purse." If she wasn't going to tell him all the stuff she was mixed up in, he was going to find it out on his own. "Your boyfriend? Liam. He's a dead man walking." Chon told her causing Brookes eyes to dart towards his. "I'm going to go back with my men – and I'm going to kill him."
"Chon, man, calm down." Ben tried to start the peace.
Brooke shook her head. "No!" She said in a raged voice. Brooke tried to sit up more. "Chon, don't do anything." She begged. "I'm not doing anything else; this is the first time I did it. The last time I'll do it."
But none of them knew if that was the truth, not even Brooke.
Chon looked at Ben, giving him a look. He wanted to talk to Brooke alone. Ben nodded, stay calm, he mouthed to Chon before grabbing a hold of O, taking her out of the room so Chon could speak to Brooke alone.
Chon didn't understand why Brooke chose that scum Irishmen. Was it his own fault for not acting on his feelings sooner? Had he caused the girl he loved to run in to the arms of a coke head dealer? Chon had a feeling deep down in his gut that Brooke was doing other drugs with Liam. And from what Chon could tell, Liam was a coke guy. He wanted to know everything – he also didn't want to know anything. He rather not think about Brooke being with someone else but he needed answers as to why Brooke would be so stupid as to get together with someone like this Liam tool.
"A drug dealer, Brooke. Really?" Brooke rolled her eyes at that comment. "You had choices Brooke – and you went for a drug dealer." He said in anger.
"You're a drug dealer too, Chon!" She said, surprising him.
Chon shook his head. "You know that he and I are nothing alike, don't go there. If you want to compare what Ben and I do versus what he does, you are going to get two very different fucking worlds."
"He's not a bad guy!" She started to defend him. "He's good to me, he treats me right."
"-Less then twenty-four hours ago you overdosed on the dope he gave you."
Brooke huffed, standing up, almost falling back down on her bed in the process from the light headed feeling she got. "He didn't give it to me, I took it from one of his guys." She confessed to Chon. "I took it – he didn't know anything about it."
Her phone began to ring again on her dresser causing her to look at it. A picture of Liam popped up along with his name. She reached for it but Chon took it from her. "Chon!" She argued with him only to fall forward in to his arms.
He dropped the phone on the ground when she fell forward, catching her before she could fall face first onto the ground. Brooke's small, dainty hands gripped on to Chons shirt, keeping her standing up. "You need to go to the hospital." He said, his tone softening when she was in his arms. He wanted to wrap his arms around her, hold her closer to him, move her face up and take her lips with his own. Kiss her hard and rough because he was livid with her. He could have lost her today. Chon wanted to plant his lips all over her face, her body, every part of her and confess his love to her. But she was pulling away from him.
"No," She shook her head, trying to stand on her own. "I'm fine." Brooke sighed. "I just need to go to my house."
"I'll go with you."
"No, Chon." She told him. "I just want to be alone right now."
He shook his head. "You're going to see him." He said, realizing that Brooke was only trying to meet up with her boyfriend again. "And if you are going to see him then I am coming with you." Before she could protest, Chon put his finger to her lips. "You don't have a choice in this, Brooke. Not after today."
She was reluctant, but agreed, telling him he could come but stay in the car. He objected to that and Brooke and he fought for a few minutes until Brooke agreed to him coming inside the place with her. She called Liam as Chon drove her there, letting him know that they were coming.
The ride was silent, but Brooke was thankful for the silence. She was also thankful that Chon had insisted on coming along just for the simple fact that she didn't have to drive to Liam's place. The only time they spoke was when Brooke was telling him which direction to go in.
So now here they stood, Chon rolled his eyes at the extravagant house. Brooke stopped him from making a comment by taking his hand in hers and leading him up the steps.
Chon followed Brooke up the steps to the large house in one of the finer areas of Laguna (though most of the houses in Laguna were designed for the rich). Brooke stumbled forward causing Chon to reach out for her with his other hand, his arm wrapping around her waist to keep her standing. "Are you OK?" He asked.
No, she wasn't OK. She felt horrible. Her head was pounding, she felt nauseas, every part of her body ached.
Why did she decide to take the drugs? She didn't have a proper answer for that other than she was curious as to what else could numb her pain. But she shouldn't be in pain. She may not have the family that was her blood (and after everything, she shouldn't want them)– but she had O, Ben and Chon. And now she had Liam.
Liam was great, he treated her like a princess, and he adored her.
Everyone deserves to be adored. She had heard in a song before.
He was always telling her how beautiful she was, how intelligent and strong she was. But Brooke didn't feel any of those things.
"I'm fine." She lied. Brooke hated when people worried about her, hated to see the expression on their face of pure fear. She supposed she deserved that for what she had done.
"Ms. Davis," One of Liam's men greeted Brooke at the front door. "Mr. Callaghan is expecting you in the living room."
Brooke turned to look at Chon. "Wait for me?" She asked.
Chon wanted to go with her, but he was reluctant to watch Brooke with Liam. "I'll be right here." He promised.
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Liam was waiting for her in the closed off living room where he conducted business, still waiting to hear from his men about which person who worked for him supplied Brooke with the drugs. He suspected a lad named Lucca. Lucca was young, infatuated with Liam's woman, and had the tendency to make wrong decisions. He would pay for that. With his life.
Liam stood quickly when Brooke was brought in to the room, running over to her and taking her in his arms. "How are you, sweetheart?" He mumbled against her skin as he kissed every bare surface that showed. "Don't ever do that to me again, swear to me." He begged. He couldn't lose his Goddess, not like this.
"I'm fine," she lied. She had said that so many times in the last hour that she wished that she would start to believe it. "I'm sorry, Liam, I didn't mean to scare anyone." His mouth moved to hers, cutting off her words. Brooke kissed him back, though it hurt to even move. "Liam," she said between his heated kisses. "We need to talk."
"We do." He agreed. "We need to discuss who supplied you."
"It doesn't matter, Liam. I'm fine now."
Liam shook his head. "It does matter. One of the men who are supposed to be in my trusted circle gave you drugs, dirty drugs that almost killed you. I hate to be grateful to your friend Chon but I owe him a great deal for saving your life."
Brooke sighed in relief. Liam and Chon may not like one another, but because of her they wouldn't hurt the other. And Brooke was grateful for that. Because she loved them both. As much as she tried to hold back her feelings for Chon, he was a part of her. But so was Liam. She loved them both, and she felt guilty as hell for that.
"But," Liam said, crushing her thoughts. "He came in to my place of business; put a gun to my head. I spared him because of you. If he comes at me again, love … I may not show him the same kindness."
"Chon won't come after you again, Liam. I swear." She promised. Though she wasn't sure if Chon would listen to what she had to say. "I'll talk to him. He knows that you had nothing to do with this, I told him."
"I would have never given you those drugs, Brooke. I would never do that. If you had died," He shook his head, not wanting to think about it. "I'd go mad. I would kill every known dealer in Laguna – I'd put their heads on spikes."
Brooke silenced him with her mouth. She didn't want to hear about that. His hands found their way to her face, his thumb traced her jaw line. He pulled away slowly, their lips sticking together for a few seconds before they separated. "I love you, Brooke. You know that, right?"
She smiled. "I do."
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Brooke arrived home late and Ben was waiting for her in the living room when she finally returned to the house. "Brooke?" He called out. She didn't say anything; she simply walked forward and followed the echo of him calling her name. When she walked in to the room, he got up and hurried over to her, picking her up and into a long hug, holding on to her tight.
"Don't ever do that to me again." He said in a shaky voice. "Don't you ever fucking leave me."
Brooke closed her eyes and wrapped her arms around Ben's neck, showing him comfort. "I'm sorry." She repeated over and over. "I'll never do it again." Brooke's fingers curled in his hair, brushing through the brown curls. "I'm so sorry, Benny." He sniffled in to her shoulder, a tear falling on to her skin which left her feeling horrible. Ben was never shy to show his emotions, but she had never been the one to make him cry. "Forgive me?" She cried, finally letting go of him and pulling away so she could look him in the eyes.
He forgave her. But made her promise to never pick up another needle again for the rest of her life. She swore to him she wouldn't, promised that it would never happen again. "I love you, Brooke." He told her, eyes red from tears. "We're family."
Brooke smiled at him and replied. "Yes, we're family."
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Ryan couldn't help but to smile as he made his way to Chon and Ben's front door. Sure he was doing the bitch work for his brother, but hey he didn't care at the moment. He had his own little plan when it came to the two Laguna guys. Not caring at all, Ryan just walked into their house and yelled "Hey saps!"
"Um, can I help you?" Ben asked Ryan as he walked over to him. Ben had no fucking clue who this guy was.
"Ben? Right?" Ryan loved to be in control and that's what was going on at that very moment. Ben slowly nodded his head.
"I'm Liam's younger brother." Both men shook hands. "I have a little gift for you and Chon." Ryan tossed Ben the DVD as he sat down on the couch, scanning the living room and making himself at home.
"Chon get down here!" Ben yelled up the stairs. Within minutes Chon was in the living sitting across from Ryan. Right away Chon did not like the vibe he was getting from the young man.
"As I was telling Ben here, I'm Liam's brother and the DVD there." Ryan paused and pointed at the DVD that was now laying on the coffee table. "It's for you guys... I hope you like it, I made it myself." The cockiness was seeping through ever crack of his body.
Neither Ryan nor Chon were paying any mind to what Ben was talking about; they were having a stare off, to see who had the real power. As Chon stared at Ryan, if finally hit him, how dangerous the young man sitting across from was. Ryan had this look to him, which Chon use to see with some of his buddies from the military. Ryan screamed 'fuck with me and I'll kill you without thinking twice'
"So are you going to tell us what is on the DVD?" Ben asked as he glanced over at Chon, who was still staring at Ryan. Ben was praying to god that Chon wasn't going to do anything stupid.
A smirk slowly crept on Ryan's faces. "Just watch it… it was fun to make." The young man then rolled his eyes as he felt his iPhone five go off, he knew it was Liam calling him.
"Brother..." Ryan said into his cell phone, knowing that Chon and Ben were both trying their hardest to listen. "Are they effin' dim or something?" Ryan mumbled as he rubbed the back of his neck. As the conversation got more serious Ryan's Irish slang got heavier. He didn't want Chon and Ben to totally know what was going on until Liam told him differently.
"Was she belt? Those fucking blacks." Ryan stood up as he added "I'm just glad he was a Boyo, imagine if he wasn't."
Chon gave Ben a confused look and mumbled under this breath, "What the hell is he saying?" Ben just shrugged his shoulders.