"Brooke, speak." She said as soon as we entered the elevator.
"What no coffee first?" I tried to beat around the bush.
Peyton burst out crying, hysterically. "Brooke, don't you care about me at all! I just saw you get almost raped and killed!"
I had messed up badly. In all my concern for Lucas, I completely forgot that I had someone who was as concerned about me in that whole mix. She had been such a trooper through it all, following my lead knowing I would have a good explanation for everything.
"I'm so so so sorry, Peyton," I said, flinging myself in her arms and hugging her. Her tall frame enveloped me as it was her turn to cry and let go of all her pent up emotions.
"I'm sorry for all the storytelling and lying," I began as we entered the cafeteria and sat at an empty table at the far end. "So here's the truth, as you can see, Lucas' asshole of a father beats him up and when he does, he texts me whether he can come over for the night for cover. This has been on for a couple of months now. Tonight, he texted me but never made it and so I knew it was bad. I had to do something about it."
"Well, why the lying then? Why not call the cops? That man is literally hostile!" she asked with a hint of rage in her voice.
"Dan has connections. Strong ones. He basically owns the place. He is not going to go to jail. Don't you think Lucas or even I would have done something by now if the cops could help?" I reasoned with her. "It's a messed up situation Peyton and there is nothing we can do about it."
"Also, since when do you talk to Lucas? I have never in my life seen you two talk and now y'all are what, dating or is this one of your charitable things!?"
"We actually began talking after my car accident, the one he got me out of after our trip to the mall. It does seem random, because it is, but yeah. And no, we aren't dating and what in God's name do you mean by charitable thing. You know I donate an equal amount of what I spend in the month but this Pey, calling the guy a charity case is funny and weird and wrong! We honestly haven't defined anything. It's more a friends with benefits kind of thing more than anything else and that too has been recent. But yeah, I haven't seen any other guy after," I replied.
"Do you want it to be something more than that?" she further queried.
"Uhhhh…. Ummmm…. Brooke Davis has never dated yet," I settled with that answer.
"Well, yet!" Peyton winked before embracing me into a hug.
"Promise to keep it a secret?" I confirmed. I didn't tell her about my end of the saving that Lucas was doing. I just could not worry her any more than what she already did. It was better this way. I loved her so damn much, I needed her to live a full life, her life.
"Of course, B. Davis. I love you," she smiled.
"Right back atcha, P. Sawyer!" I winked.
"But Brooke, we can't keep Lucas in this situation. Dan is going to come here tomorrow and he is going to be as mad and senile as they come. I'm afraid for you and for him!" She said now equally invested and worried
"Oh P! What can we do?" I didn't even know I could cry this much as a new batch made their way out of my sockets.
"Uhh, what do you know about his family B? What about his mom? Where is she?" she asked.
"Rehab. Less to do with drugs and more to do with escaping from Dan. She speaks to Lucas once a week but keeps it short. He worries a lot about her and so he is willing to face this onslaught because it makes sure that his mom is safe, wherever she is." I responded honestly. I just needed to save him.
"Brooke, we can maybe use this to our advantage. Does Lucas have any idea where his mom might be? That's the only way this works. We can try to misdirect Dan and send him on a wild goose's chase." She suggested.
"Peyton, this might actually work. With Lucas out of commission, at least until he is in the hospital, Dan will do anything to get Karen. I know it's a temporary fix right now but at least for now he will be fine. Lucas did mention that he thinks his mom might be in Savannah. She has a sister there that Dan never knew about. He feels that rehab was just a facade so Nathan's parents would not come looking for her. Nobody wants to deal with a junkie," I explained.
"Then let's send Dan somewhere else, but how will we convince him about it? He really needs to believe that his wife is in this other place." Peyton spoke out loud.
"I might just have an idea. As the two of us believe, the probability of Dan showing up here tomorrow surprised that he isn't paying a wad of cash to whoever his friends are to wipe his record clean is super high. We need to find Lucas' phone, I know his password, I've seen him type it in. Then we change Lucas' mom's contact to Peyton and your contact on his phone to mom. Karen changed her cell number anyway when she ran. We can type up some chats to show that the two of you have been in contact and then when Dan sits besides Lucas, we will send a text pretending to be Karen. Using Face ID, Dan unlocks the phone easily, he will send us a text pretending to be Lucas to get Karen's location. And then we could send him off to Seattle! Rehab facilities don't exactly reveal their patient records so he will take a while to comb through them all. It's perfect!" I suggested.
"Brooke this just might work. Let's do it! Just make sure that we can't be seen by his father. Otherwise the whole thing goes south," Peyton warned.
Nodding my head, we left the cafe with cups of coffees for the Scotts.
"Any update, Natey?" I asked as I handed him a cup.
"Nope, still in surgery. That jackass will do anything to get out of Whitey's suicides," he tried to make a joke.
"Oh god, should we tell Haley about this? I mean her best friend is having major surgery. She should know!" I yelled all of a sudden surprising my two friends in the room.
"Since when do you talk to all these nerds, Penny?" Nathan asked me, confused at me showing concern for people we only knew because we found it odd that Lucas chose to hang out with them over his team.
"I'll remember to keep you in the dark when Peyton is dying, okay?" I sneered.
"Hey, why am I the one dying!" Peyton laughed.
"Like I care if Peyton corks out," he chuckled, nudging Peyton's side.
"Also Brookie, here," he said, holding up a folded piece of cloth in his hand. "I went to my car to see if I had something in there for you to wear while you two went to get coffees. Peyton's jacket with the broken zipper is doing nothing to help your case."
I blushed as he came and stood in front of me, his body acting as a wall blocking everyone from seeing my exposed chest. I quickly pulled on Peyton's jacket and held up my arms while Nathan helped me put on his hoodie over my torn top. It pooled down all the way to my knees, given his tall height making it look like that was all I had on, my shorts hidden under the soft fabric of his worn out hoodie.
He gave me a look of approval before handing Peyton's leather jacket back to her. I rolled my eyes before going to the corner to call Haley.
"Hey Haley," I greeted again.
"Wow Brooke, two calls in a row! Some might believe we are actually friends if you keep this up!" Haley responded on the phone. Wow, I had always taken Haley to be a sweet, shy girl. I had no idea she was that self-assured!
"Actually Haley, I'm calling you regarding Lucas. He is in surgery at the hospital," I explained. I went down to narrate the story I had created for the third time adding the part of how I had finally got through his cell and he had asked me to meet him at the River Court for the book swap. Narrating the fib that third time, it almost made me feel like that was actually what had happened and not how Lucas' father had tried to rape me after almost killing his son.
"Is he going to be alright? Are you alright?" Haley's voice began to crack as she asked me those questions.
"The doctors said that the repair would not be that hard and yeah, I am alright, I guess," I responded, trying to assure her.
"I'll be right over! I want to be there for him," she said to me.
"Wait, you don't have a car, do you? I mean you alway ride in with Lucas," I asked.
"Uhh, not yet. I'm getting a car soon. Lucas and Keith are trying to hide it but I know they are fixing one for me to give on my birthday. I overheard my parents talking to Keith about it and why am I blabbering about a stupid car when Lucas is lying on a surgical table!"
"Okay, don't you worry. Text me your address, I will send Nathan or Peyton over to pick you up," I answered her.
"Brooke, that's really sweet of you but why would they come to get me? I mean neither of them have even had a conversation with me," asked Haley, her shy girl persona coming to the surface.
"They'll come because I said so Just send the address, somebody will be there in ten," I assured her.
"Nate, I need you to go pick up Haley from her house," I commanded walking back to where he was scrolling through his instagram feed.
"Brooke! Why? I don't even know the girl. She seems weird man. Have you seen the way she dresses?" He asked, knowing very well that he was fighting a losing battle.
"Good thing you're not dating her then! Now chop chop, I'm forwarding you her address," I smiled.
He sighed but stood up to go get her. "Lucas!" Nathan screamed at the same time, making Peyton look up and me turn around.
They were wheeling him out of surgery. Keith and Deb who were sitting in the other corner ran up to the doctors as the three of us followed.
"The surgery went well. We were able to repair the rupture easily. He has a long road to recovery, but he will be fine," the doctor assured us.
I let go of a breath I didn't even know I was holding.
"How long before he can play basketball again, doc?" Nathan asked.
It was surprising to see it though. The two Scotts almost made it look like they hated each other and that they were being forced to play basketball together on the same team. They had great synchrony when they played together like an actual team, but that was only after Whitey had threatened to kick them both off the team if they didn't stop playing their personal games and learnt to pass the ball.
"The recovery time for broken ribs and punctured lungs is about 6 to 8 weeks. He needs to take it slow in that period," came her reply. "And it will take an hour or two for the anaesthesia to wear off. Mr. and Mrs. Scott, why don't y'all follow me to the nurse so we can get the prescription for his meds."
Keith and Deb thanked her while following her to get the prescription for Lucas' pills.
I couldn't help myself, I ran inside the room where we had seen them wheel Lucas in. His forehead had bandages from where they had stitched up his cuts. I took his palm and linked his fingers through mine and just began crying heavily. I put my head on his bed, feeling dizzy with all the fear and anxiety and worry and I finally let it all go.
Peyton eventually entered the room and placed her hand on my back. "B, I'm sorry to bring this up right now but we need to do it ASAP. The nurse gave Deb all of Lucas' things and I took it from her. I have his phone."
"Yeah, let's do it," I said, getting a grip on myself.
We swapped the numbers and fibbed a text chain with Lucas asking his 'mom' how Seattle was and how she was doing in rehab. Karen's replies were short and vague but assuring that she was actually in a rehab facility out there.
It was planned that when Dan would show up, Lucas' phone that was to be placed on his bedside would chime with a message that Karen was booking him a flight to Seattle to escape Dan. I used my credit card to get him a ticket on his name for a week later, when he was scheduled to be discharged from the hospital.
When we were nearly finished, a shrill cry came from the room. Haley had walked in with Nathan and laid eyes on Lucas' beaten up face.
"Who could be so monstrous as to do this!" she yelled walking towards the bed. The three of us looked awkwardly at her, not knowing how to console her.
An awkward silence followed for the next hour. Peyton and I sat on the couch in his room, Haley took the chair beside the bed and Nathan paced around until finally slumping on the couch with us.
"So, are we all just planning to wait here all night?" Nathan asked, being the first to break the silence. Peyton looked at me, trying to look for an answer and Haley just looked as clueless as a newborn.
"You guys should leave. It's really late," I said to the three in the room.
"You are coming too, Penelope. You and Peyton can stay over at mine if you want. I dare say, it can't be easy to go home alone after what you girls encountered. I still want to crush those guys into midgets!" Nathan said, his fingers tracing a mark on my cheek.
"Easy boy, look where it got the other Scott! But really, I want to stay. He saved my life, I want to be able to thank him when he wakes up," I tried to convince him. "Besides, a hospital is a very safe place."
"Fine. But keep Peyton's car with you," he instructed. "And call me if there's even the slightest hint of worry or if you want me to come and get you just because."
"Yes, hot shot, I will!" I acqueized.
"Peyton, do you want to stay over?" He asked again. "And I mean, Haley, you too. Uh, I mean I know you weren't the one who was attacked, but if you need it, you could crash for the night too."
Both of them visibly blushed. Peyton and I looked at each other, talking with our eyes. There were certainly sparks there. We so had to get those two together.
The two girls nodded their heads before following Nathan out of the whitewashed sterile room. I went back to my seat at Lucas' side holding his hand. I did not even realise when I fell asleep on that chair but felt a nudge a while later.
"Getting up completely alert in the lookout for Dan, I shot up ready to swing at him if I found him in front of me. However, to my delight, I was greeted by Lucas' baby blue orbs!
"Oh my God! You're away, let me go call the doctor!" I said happily.
"No wait! I need to talk to you first, Brooke! What in the world made you think that it was okay for you to show up at my house like that! Have you lost your damn mind! Don't you have any bloody idea the harm you stupidly put yourself in! He could have killed you Brooke! He could have hurt you so much that even the thought of it scares the life out of me! Why did you come there, Brooke! Now Dan knows who you are and that you mean something to me! He is not going to let this slide. He will find you and try to hurt you, what will I do then? I won't ever be able to forgive myself if something happened to you, especially because of me. He knows that you know his secret! Oh my God! He-he-oh God!" Lucas started hyperventilating. The machines that he was hooked onto started ringing loudly, every single one of them singing their own alarming melody. A couple of nurses ran into the room, pushing me out of the way. They put an oxygen mask around him and gave him a sedative. It was quick in its action and I saw Lucas fall unconscious on the bed again.
I stood there in the corner watching everything. Oh dear God, how was I going to fix it all?
