Chapter Forty

[Selena's POV]

I pace back and forth in the living room as I nervously chew on my thumb nail. It's been over a half hour and I still haven't heard any news from Alfredo on how Justin is doing. When Louis dragged me downstairs all we heard for the next ten minutes was Justin's screams. I don't know what was going on or what Alfredo was doing to him, but what ever happened must have helped Justin because the screaming stopped after a while.

"What is taking so long?" I say.

Louis shrugs. "I don't know."

My head snaps up when I hear footsteps coming down the stairs. I run over to the stairs and I see Alfredo. I look at his hands and they're covered in Justin's blood. My heart drops into my stomach.

"He's fine," Alfredo says before I'm able to say anything. "He'll be okay."

I let out a sigh of relief. "Why did he start coughing up blood though?" I ask.

"I'm not sure. But his stomach is definitely empty now after all the throwing up he did. He shouldn't throw up anymore for the rest of the night, but if he does you call me, okay?" Alfredo looks down at his hands. "A few of his stitches came out, so I had to stitch him back up. He's going to be sore for a couple days, so make sure he doesn't move too much. Other than that, he should be okay in a week or so."

"Thank you, Alfredo." I say.

"Yup." he simply replies before he walks off to the kitchen.

I race up the stairs and head into Justin's bedroom. His eyes are closed and he looks paler than he did before. I quietly close the door then make my way over to the side of the bed. I kneel down on the floor and take Justin's hand in mine. I bring it up to my lips and kiss his knuckles. I look up at him and his eyes slowly flutter open. He turns his head to the side and looks at me.

"Hey, you okay?" I ask, although I know it's a stupid question to ask.

"I-I feel like I'm dying." Justin replies.

I knew he wasn't feeling in the best condition, but I wasn't expecting his answer to be that.

"You're going to be okay, Justin. Alfredo, your parents, and me are all going to take care of you. You'll be better soon, I promise." I say as my thumb brushes along his knuckles.

Justin stares at me for a moment before he says anything. "What did those bastards do to you?" he asks, changing the subject.

I shake my head. "I don't want to talk about it right now." I say.

"Tell me what they did to you, Selena." Even though his voice is weak, it's still intimidating.

I stand to my feet and walk over to the other side of the bed. I climb onto of the comforter and sit myself back up against the headboard. Justin's eyes stay on me the entire time.

"The first two days after they took your parents and you back here," I start. "Liam and Ryan abused me. They threw punches at me and kicked me around. They barely fed me or gave me water to drink. I was basically trash to them." I stare down at my hands in my lap, too scared to look Justin in the eyes. "On the third day, I tried to make an escape. L-Liam and Ryan were going to try and-" I bite my lip.

"What were they going to try and do to you?" Justin pushes for me to continue.

"T-They were going to try and rape me..." I say, my voice cracking. "And I wasn't going to let them do that to me. And that's when I tried to escape. But Ryan, he stopped me and we were on the stairs. All I remember is that he pushed me and I fell down a flight of stairs and ended up hitting my head on the floor which knocked me out." I shake my head as I feel my eyes beginning to water. "I woke up the next day when Ryan woke me up. He dragged me into Liam's room, and I saw him on the phone." I close my eyes to try and hold back the tears. "I didn't know he was on the phone with you until I heard your voice shouting on the other end of the line. I remember yelling out for you then Liam telling you to say goodbye. Then before I knew it, Liam put the phone on speaker phone and he pulled out his gun. He shot at me, but the bullet hit just above my head. The last thing I heard was you scream my name before Liam ended the call." A few tears slip down my face at the painful memory. "He told me he faked my death because he knew you'd come back to the warehouse to try and kill him. And he was going to take the opportunity to kill you. So they put me in the basement to keep me out of the way." I slowly turn my head and finally make eye contact with Justin. "I-I heard a gunshot go off later that night and I thought they killed you. I thought I-I had lost you."

Justin shakes his head. "It was Louis' gun that went off. He tried taking a shot at me, but I pushed his gun away from me at the last minute and the gun shot off in the air." he explains.

I nod my head. "But then you came down to the basement, and it was a mistake. Liam had Ryan down there with me in case you would somehow sneak in the warehouse without Liam knowing. And when you were trying to help me, I was trying to tell you that Ryan was right behind you, but I had that damn duct tape over my mouth and it was muffling everything I said!" I take the back of my hand and wipe some of the tears away, but they quick get replaced with more tears. "And n-now you're hurt even worse then you were before and it's my fault."

"Hey, hey," Justin says, and his arm reaches out for me. "C'mere." I move myself to where I'm now underneath the covers and I lay my head down on Justin's chest. I decide not to put my arm around his stomach because I know how sore he is right now. "Nothing is your fault, Selena."

"But you're hurt." I say.

"I'm alive though, aren't I?" he says.

"If it wasn't for Louis, you'd be dead." I point out.

"Louis?" he questions.

I nod my head. "Ryan had his gun pressed against your temple and with that pocket knife in your side. You were losing a lot of blood and you basically just gave up. Y-you mouthed to me that you loved me and then the gun fired off." I explain. "But it was Louis' gun that went off. He shot Ryan in the arm and then his leg before he was able to kill you." I close my eyes and clutch a handful of Justin's t-shirt in my hand as more tears fall. "Louis got all of us out of the warehouse. He even shot Liam in his shoulder to buy us time to escape. After he saved your life, I told him he could come back here with us."

"Why would you let him come back here? He abused you Selena!" Justin suddenly raises his voice.

"He didn't abuse me. Only Ryan and Lam did. I never saw Louis at the warehouse and he didn't lay a hand on me the entire time. And he saved your life, Justin. You owe him, and so do I." I say, tilting my head back to look at him.

"How do I know he won't try and kill you?" he asks.

"He won't." I say.

"How do you know, though, Selena?" he pushes.

"I trust him, Justin. With you hurt and if Liam or Ryan would try to come here and hurt me, I need someone to protect me. I have Alfredo and Louis to protect me, and once you're better than I'll have you to protect me as well." I explain.

"So you're trusting two guys where one of them totally stabbed me in the back and decided to go work with Liam while the other one has been working with Liam from the beginning? Yeah, fuck them. I don't want them near you, especially Louis." Justin says angrily.

I sit up. "You can't tell me what to do."

"Obviously because you went off and made a fucking death wish with Liam behind my back and now look what has happened to you and me." he snaps.

"I know all of this is my fault, but you don't have to rub it in." I go to climb out of the bed when Justin grabs my wrist and stops me. "Let go of me," I snap and jerk my wrist free from his hold. I climb out of bed and head to the door. "I've been through enough shit by now to know who I can and who I can't trust. And I know I can trust Alfredo and Louis. They're going to help keep me safe whether you like it or not because you don't have any say in this."

"Selena-" Justin goes to say something, but I'm quick to cut him off.

"Goodnight, Justin." I say.

With that, I walk out of the bedroom and close the door behind me before I head downstairs.

****

"Are you going to explain what the hell happened between Justin and you a few hours ago or am I going to have to try and read your mind?" Louis asks, taking a seat across from me in the recliner in the living room.

I sigh and turn my head towards him. "We got into a fight, that's all." I say.

"I can see he's back to the same old Justin now." Louis remarks. "That didn't take very long."

"Justin doesn't trust Alfredo or you." I say, sitting up in the couch as I hold the blanket that I have around me closer to my body.

"He knows both Alfredo and I both just kind of saved his life, right?" he questions.

I nod. "I told him what you did back at the warehouse. He thinks you will try to kill me when we all least expect it. That's why he doesn't trust you. And he doesn't trust Alfredo since he went and worked for Liam." I explain.

"Well, I'm not going to kill you. If I was, I would have done it hours ago. I wouldn't wait until Justin healed because then he'd have my ass killed before I could even have the chance to kill you. Plus, I wouldn't have did what I did back at the warehouse if I was going to end up killing you or even Justin later on." he points out.

"Explain that to Justin because he thinks I'm crazy for trusting you." I sigh.

"You can't blame him though. After everything that's been going on lately he's probably scared about anyone getting anywhere near you. He's paranoid now that everyone will hurt you." Louis says.

I shrug. "I guess."

"Justin, what the fuck are you doing?" Alfredo says from a different part of the room.

Louis looks at me as I look at him. In a blink of an eye I'm on my feet and heading to where I heard Alfredo's voice. I head in by the staircase and see Justin has made it all the way down the stairs. He's grasping onto his wounded side with one hand while his other hand holds onto the railing for dear life. Alfredo is by his side and has one arm wrapped around Justin's lower back to keep him from falling.

"Justin, what are you doing?" I say. "You're not supposed to be moving. You could hurt yourself even more!"

Justin looks at me then pushes Alfredo off of him. He lets go of the railing and starts limping over to me. His legs give out from underneath him and he about falls onto the floor, but my arms are there to catch him.

"You need to get back upstairs and stay in bed before you make your wound even worse then it is." Alfredo warns him.

"Selena, I'm sorry." Justin says as his hands grasp onto my shirt to keep himself from falling.

"For what?" I ask.

"For what happened earlier and what I said." he says and I frown. "Nothing that has happened to me and you is your fault. Everything is Liam's fault. He's caused all of this."

"Justin-" I go to say something, but he cuts me off.

"I trust you that you know what you're doing. I know that you're smart enough to know who to trust and who not to. I know that. So if you really trust Louis and Alfredo, then I trust them too." he says. "And I had to come down here and tell you this because I don't want you to be pissed at me. I didn't mean for us to have a fight." Justin's eyes water and a tear slips down his cheek. "I can't have you hate me because I just got you back and I don't want to lose you again, Selena. I can't lose you. Please, I'm sorry..."

I cup his cheek in my hand and brush my thumb under his eye to wipe away his tears. "I don't hate you, Justin. And you're never going to lose me, okay? Everything's going to okay, I promise." I reassure him.

"I'm so sorry," Justin cries.

"It's okay," I say. "Sh, stop crying."

Justin slowly nods his head. "O-okay."

"C'mon, let's get him back upstairs." Louis says.

Alfredo and Louis both put one of their arms under each of Justin's arms to hold him up. I stay behind them as they slowly limp Justin over to the stairs. I put a hand on Justin's lower back as we all help Justin limp slowly up the stairs. Once we make it upstairs, Alfredo and Louis help carry Justin back into his bedroom and carefully lay him back in his bed.

"Wait," Justin says, grabbing Louis' wrist to stop him just as he's about to turn for the door. "I'm trusting you that you'll keep Selena safe until I get better. If you break my trust, I won't hesitate to kill you. Got it?"

"I won't let anything happen to her, I promise." Louis replies.

Justin nods and lets go of Louis' wrist. Louis looks at me then back at Justin before he exits the room. I walk over to the side of the bed and grab the comforter. I bring it over Justin's body then lean down and kiss his forehead.

"No more getting up, okay? I don't want you to hurt yourself even more." I stress to him. "Now I'll be downstairs. If you need anything, just yell for me."

"You're not staying here with me?" Justin asks.

"I was going to go down and talk to Louis." I say.

Justin shakes his head. "No, I want you to stay here with me. Please."

I bite my lip then nod my head. I walk over and climb into the bed, bringing the comforter over my body as well. Justin puts his arm around me and pulls me over next to his side. I lay my head down on his chest and he kisses the top of my head.

"Get some rest," I say.

"Okay," he says. "I love you."

"I love you too." I reply, and I'm not able to hold back the small smile that forms on my face.

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~ Author's Notes ~

I really hope this chapter was somewhat interesting for you guys and better than the last chapter. :)

It looks like Justin is going to be okay. But what do you guys think about Selena trusting Louis in keeping her safe? Do you guys think Louis will end up trying to hurt her, or will he keep his promise at keeping Selena safe?

(P.S. - please make sure you vote for this chapter and please leave your comments/thoughts/opinions for me! love you guys lots xo <3)