With panic rushing through my veins, I take in the scene in front of me. It's hard to grasp what's going on in that tangle of thrown fists and pushed bodies, but one person instantly catches my eye. The sight of him alone sends cold shivers down my spine.

"You fucking bastard!"

I watch with horror in my face as Zach dashes towards the furious group of fighting guys after Liam has taken a hard hit right on his temple.

Once they've noticed me, Abbey and the other girls come running with worried faces.

"What happened?" I ask.

"Jackson happened!" Nora growls and shakes her head with a sourly huff. "That fucker can't just leave me be!"

I look at Zach who just managed to pull Jackson off of Liam who's holding his bleeding nose. In an instant, Abbey rushes over and helps her boyfriend getting up before leading him to one of the benches. Sadie hurries over to the bar where she grabs a handful of paper towels before handing them to Liam.

"Why is he even here? And where do all those guys come from?" I face Nora again and notice she's trembling like a leaf. "Hey. It's okay. We're all here, honey!"

"Seems like he still hasn't accepted the fact that we're no longer together," Nora sighs and her eyes flutter. "He shows up here nearly every week. Usually, I manage to send him away, but tonight he brought a bunch of his beefy friends and when Liam and Ben told them to leave, they started a fight out of nowhere. The few other guests all did a runner after Jackson and the other fuckers had threatened them with a beating."

Startled by the fight in front of me, I hadn't even realized the bar is suddenly empty. I'm shocked Jackson and his minions were able to clear it.

"Oh shit!" I state and soothingly rub her back. "Did someone call the cops already?"

Nora just nods and I notice a single tear leaving the corner of her light blue eyes.

Before I can think of anything to comfort her, an agonized cry fills the air and I turn my head just in time to see Zach falling to the ground and Jackson straddling him, throwing punch after punch into his face.

"No!" I scream and run over to them. My hands wrap around Jackson's upper arms, and I try to pull him off Zach, but he's just too strong. With no effort he removes my hands, lunges out and hits me hard with his elbow right into my belly. The unexpected punch causes me to stumble back, and I bump right into one of Jackson's minions.

"Hello, sexy. Want to have some fun?" he groans with a smug smirk and pulls me close, pressing my back against his muscly chest. I feel his disgusting breath on my neck and his hands slide down my stomach. "I already have some dirty things in mind what to do with that hot body of yours!"

"Get your fucking hands off her!" Zach somehow manages to push Jackson off him. Blood is running out of his nose in an alarming amount and one of his eyes is already lightly swollen. He frees me out of that guy's grip and gently takes my face in his hands.

"Are you okay?"

With a deep frown I nod and worriedly eye Zach's demolished face. "You look terrible! I think we should see a doctor."

"No, I'm o..." Zach is interrupted by Jackson grabbing his shoulders from behind and forcefully throwing him to the ground.

I shriek when Zach's head hits the ground with a thud and his eyes roll back.

"Zach!"

The fact that he just passed out doesn't keep Jackson or the other guy from kicking into his stomach. At first, Zach still whimpers a little but after a few kicks his body turns completely limp, and no reaction is coming from him anymore.

"Get away from him!" I yell and desperately try to push them away from Zach. "Please, stop! You're going to kill him!"

Tears start streaming down my face when I realize I have no chance against them.

"Shut up bitch!" Jackson spits in between two kicks. "He deserves it. After all, that fucker beat me up first at Caleb's party."

Helplessly, I watch how Zach gets hit again and again. None of the other guys could help him at the moment since they are all trying to defend themselves against the other five hulks Jackson has brought.

"Jackson, leave him alone!" Nora's voice booms through the room, causing Jackson to turn around and facing her. "He already passed out. What a pussy move is that? Fighting an unconscious person. That's low, even for you!"

Jackson seems to be torn out of a trance or something, since he blinks in total confusion before rushing over to Nora.

Finally, the other guy stops kicking Zach as well, but blocks my way so I can't get through to him. From where I stand, I can see Zach's unconscious body on the floor and his head lying in a puddle of blood. My head starts spinning and I sink to the ground, whimpering and sobbing quietly.

"Nora, babe, please, can we talk?" Jackson tries to pull Nora close, but she pushes him away with all her strength and glares at him.

"Take your dirty hands off me!" she screams and slaps his face. "I want you to leave me alone, once and for all! I don't want anything to do with a guy who nearly raped one of my best friends."

Clenching his fists, Jackson's whole head turns red, and he narrows his eyes.

"You stupid bitch! You're going to regret that. I'll make your life a living hell."

The moment he storms towards Nora, the doors get pushed open and four policemen enter the bar. As soon as they see the fighting mass in the middle of the bar, they instantly intervene and bring the outraged guys under control in less than five minutes.

"This isn't over, you fucking whore!" Jackson roars like a madman and growls as the policeman behind him tightens his grip around his wrists. He is the only one out of all his friends who needs to be restrained by one of the cops.

"Remember my words you worthless piece of shit!" With a hateful gaze, he spits on the ground right in front of Nora's feet.

Nora doesn't respond and embraces herself with silent tears rolling down her cheeks. She looks utterly devastated and very thrown by all this.

"Boss, this one looks bad," one of the policemen states after crouching down next to Zach and checking his pulse and breathing. "I think we need an ambulance!"

"So, what are you waiting for, Jones? Call one!" the obvious patrol leader retorts harshly before turning towards his other two colleagues. "Make sure to keep those troublemakers quiet. I'll talk to the owner of the bar."

A few minutes later, the policemen have shoved Jackson and his five friends into the two police cars after Nora assured them that Liam, Ben, and the other guys had no intentions to start a fight and only defended themselves.

As soon as they have left, Sadie hurries over to Nora and pulls the sobbing woman into her embrace. Normally, Nora is one of the strongest and toughest women I've ever met, but the thing with Jackson seems to be wearing her out.

Meanwhile, I crawled over to Zach and now I'm holding his hand while we're waiting for the ambulance to show up. The policeman helped me place him in the recovery position to make sure he won't choke on his own blood.

"Hold on, Zach," I whisper close to his ear, a few of my tears trickling down on his face. "Help is on the way. Please, stay with me! I love you!"

My voice breaks at my last words as I have to fight my sobs. Seeing him in that terrible state makes me realize how much this man actually means to me. The fear of losing him threatens to eat me up and I feel like being choked in sorrow and desperate helplessness. He's been unconscious for more than ten minutes now, and despite my lack of medical knowledge, I know that this can't be good.

When finally the ambulance shows up, I feel relief washing over me and step back, so the paramedics can do their job. After quickly checking his vital signs and palpating his stomach, they stabilize Zach for the ride to the hospital.

"Can I come along?" I ask feebly as soon as Zach has been lifted into the ambulance.

"Yes, ma'am. You can take the seat beside him and hold his hand during the drive," one of the paramedics tells me with a sympathetic smile before getting into the vehicle herself.

An hour later

I'm sitting in the waiting area of the hospital and hope for a doctor to show up and give me an update about Zach's state. When we arrived at the emergency room, two nurses and the doctor on duty immediately took Zach for an ultrasound and X-ray and left me standing there, feeling completely lost and anxious. A very lovely nurse led me to the waiting area and promised me that a doctor will inform me about Zach's condition as soon as they know more.

Well, that was more than an hour ago, and I'm starting to get seriously worried. Zach looked terrible and he was unconscious for at least ten minutes before the ambulance showed up. During our ride to the hospital, he opened his eyes for a brief moment and looked at me with an expression of confusion before dozing off again.

"Please let him be okay!" I whisper with closed eyes and feel tears welling up again.

The longer I'm sitting here, the more horror scenarios are roaming in my head and slowly but surely I'm losing my mind.

"Are you Mr. Wood's girlfriend?"

My head shoots up and I look into a pair of warm, brown eyes.

"Yes," I jump up. "How is he?"

"I'm doctor Anderson." I take his outreached hand and powerlessly shake it. "Come on, let's sit down!"

The doc takes a seat beside me and with a worried frown I also sink down onto the bench again. If I remember correctly, it's always a bad sign if doctors ask you to sit down. At least I've seen that in movies and series.

"So, Miss..." Dr. Anderson shoots me a questioning look.

"Brooks."

"Alright, miss Brooks," he gives me a sympathetic smile. "Mr. Wood's condition is stable for now. As I already suspected, he has a ruptured spleen. Thankfully, we didn't need to operate, but he's in intense care at the moment and his circulatory system will be monitored carefully. The next few days will show if it heals on its own. Further, your boyfriend has three bruised rips, a broken nose, a bruised cheekbone, and a concussion which caused his unconsciousness."

I breathe a sigh of relief before asking Dr. Anderson, "Can I see him?"

"Of course. I'll have one of the nurses take you to him."

He gets up and smiles at me before vanishing through the swinging doors again.

A few minutes later, the friendly nurse from earlier approaches me again. After I answered no to her question if Zach has got any family to inform, she nods in understanding and leads me to the area where I need to use hand sanitizer and put on a gown and gloves.

When I finally step into the intensive care room, I gasp as my eyes land on Zach.

"Hey," he mutters and gives me a weak smile. "I've been waiting an eternity for you to show up!"

I stop right next to his bed and take in his banged-up face. One of his eyes is so swollen, he can't even open it and the skin beneath it is dark purple. He has a bandage on his nose and his lips are split. Altogether, he looks terrible.

"Hey." I carefully graze my knuckles over his undamaged cheek and bite my bottom lip to prevent my tears from falling.

"How do you feel?" I croak out.

"Well, I can't breathe through my nose and breathing in general hurts like fucking hell as well as my cheekbone, my stomach feels like a horse jumped on it, and I think my head is going to explode any minute, but besides that, I've never felt better," Zach laughs, but immediately contorts his face in pain. "Fuck, I guess I shouldn't be laughing for a while."

With an exhausted giggle, I sink into the stool next to his bed.

"How are you?" Zach gives me a worried look. "Are you okay?"

"Yea," I breathe and cover my mouth with my hand as my bottom lip starts quivering.

"Don't cry, honey!" Zach lifts his hand and strokes over my cheek, catching some of my tears with his thumb. "It's okay. I'm fine."

I wish I could just crawl into bed next to him and cuddle up in his strong arms, but right now Zach's recovery comes first, so I wipe away my tears for what it feels like the hundredth time today.

"You should get some rest," I point out and cautiously brush his wavy hair out of his forehead. The dampness in my eyes slowly fades away and leaves an extreme fatigue behind.

"Stay with me?" A sudden vulnerability flickers over Zach's face as he takes my hand in his. "Just until I fall asleep?"

"As long as I don't have to, I'm not leaving you anyway," I counter and rest my head on the mattress right next to Zach's.

"I love you so much, Zach," I breathe quietly, smiling warmly at him.

"Love you more!" Zach exhales deeply and closes his eyes with a gentle smile on his face.

With our hands intertwined and the feeling of having the other one close, the feeling we both need so much right now to find comfort and calm down, I watch Zach finally drifting off to sleep. While I gently stroke his cheek, his lips are slightly parted to let out his soft snores. Despite the very uncomfortable position, I sink into a deep, dreamless sleep just a few minutes after him.

*****

A rather short chapter but lots of shit happened here. What do you think of Jackson's appearance?

Please comment and vote.🦋

Katie🤍