What Happened?

My head was killing me and it felt like it was filled with cotton wool, I couldn’t remember what happened the night before. All I wanted to do was go back to sleep in hopes of my hungover going away.

“Tay…?” I heard a very quiet voice that sounded very much like Emily’s but she was worried.

“Go away Em.” I complained before rolling over but when I buried my face in the pillow it hurt like a bitch and I had to pull away.

“Tay please look at me,” there goes her voice again, what happened last night?”

“What are you doing….” I started questioning but when I opened my eyes I realised I wasn’t in her guest room, it looked vaguely like a hospital room.

“Really? I should question why you are in a hospital room. Do you remember what happened?” she frowned at me and I shook my head.

“The last thing I remember is being out with Sarah and Penny.”

“You don’t remember talking with Dom?”

Dom, what the hell did Dom have to do with this. There was no way he would do this right? I know sometimes things got rough when we had sex but we both agreed to it and it was within our comfort zone.

“No…did he?”

“No one knows what happened, you were all drunk. I’m going to get the doctor, just rest and don’t stress over what could have happened alright?” I nodded as she walked over and gave me a hug before leaving me alone.

I sat up and shifted on the bed and winced at the pain in my head as I moved, I just hoped it wasn’t a bad thing that I was in this much pain, but there was a part of me that wanted to desperately to know what happened. To know how exactly I ended up in here and what the hell happened with Dom.

There must have been a reason as to why Emily told me that I was talking with Dom, was there something I needed to know before I left the hospital.

The longer I sat there alone, the more increasingly worried I became over what could have happened in the moments I don’t remember, how much don’t I remember anyway?

“Glad to see you are awake Taylor, how are you feeling?” I turned my head and winced again before facing the doctor and I was disappointed to see Emily wasn’t with him.

“My head hurts, really bad.”

“That was to be predicted, you have a concussion and a pretty nasty bruise on your face. If the rest of your vitals are normal you will be able to leave in a couple of hours, we just need to continue to monitor you before you can leave.” I nodded, unsure of what else I can say. “Do you have any questions?”

“Just one, do you know what happened?”

“I’m sure your friends will explain everything, I should be going. I will come by and check on you in a couple of hours.”

I didn’t say anything as the doctor turned and left, it was then I realised something. He said I had a bruise on my face, I climbed out of the bed and headed towards the bathroom and I was shocked. I had a massive black eye and half of my face was swollen, I was lucky I could still see it out if perfectly fine.

“Right in here now!” I heard Emily snap and when I walked out I saw both Jake and Dom standing there, looking guilty about something.

“Emily what’s going?” I questioned wearily as I walked back towards the bed, both Jake and Dom’s eyes followed me both staring at my face.

They both looked horrible, their faces were red with some bruising. What happened to the two of them?

“Go on tell her,” Emily demanded while I continued to stare at the boys.

“I’m sorry I hit you,” they both said at once and my jaw dropped opened.

“You both hit me?” it came out a whisper and they both hung their heads.

“Tay, everyone was drunk. No one could tell me what happened, all I could get out of them was what the two of them were fighting, you attempted to stop them from fighting and one of them hit you in the process.” Emily spoke and I continued to stare at the boys, what the hell happened for those two to fight like that.

“What were you two fighting about?” I questioned carefully and it was then I noticed the look Jake gave Dom, it wasn’t a friendly look either. Jake was pissed about something.

“You and I were talking and Jake overheard us mentioning about how we had sex a couple of weeks back, that caused an argument and then we starting throwing punches.” Dom spoke and I was shocked, there had to be more to the conversation then that.

I nodded before turning away from both of them, I didn’t want to deal with this anymore. The two guys that were fighting over me, were literally fighting and I ended up in hospital because of it.

“Come on Dom,”

“I’m not leaving her alone in here with him,” Dom complained but I didn’t turn around to see what was happening.

It wasn’t until there was a dip in the bed that I turned and found Jake sitting there watching me carefully.

“What are you doing here Jake?” I whispered.

“I have no idea which one of us punched you, but I regret fighting with Dom. I never wanted you to get hurt, I hate that you’re in here because of something we did.”

“I don’t get why you were both fighting over me? I get it, you two are incredibly competitive but I’m not a prize Jake. You two can’t punch it out and the winner gets me to themselves, it doesn’t work like that. You don’t get to choose who gets me because I do, I’m not excusing myself of what I did in our relationship but if you wanted me so badly why did you cheat? Why couldn’t you tell me you weren’t happy because I sure as hell did, I tried to talk to you on numerous occasions what I preferred when having sex but you wouldn’t even consider it, you just shut me down every single time!” I yelled at him as my eyes welled up.

“I didn’t even know I was in competition with Dom when it came to you, I was telling myself that we were working on fixing what happened between us. I had no idea I was in competition with someone else, not even my best friend.” He spoke and I could tell he was hurt, but was it my place to tell him that Dom was interested in having a relationship with me or was that Dom’s place?

“I know we were fixing things but it doesn’t mean I’m truly yours, we’re back to square one. It’s not my place to tell you who is interested in me and how do you know that I knew Dom was interested in me, how do you know that us having sex didn’t involve alcohol and we were drunk?” I questioned and he hung his head before scratching the back of his neck.

“Jake you and Dom are best friends, you shouldn’t fight over a girl. It doesn’t matter who it is, I don’t know what’s going on or what I exactly want. Don’t lose your friends over a girl because you don’t know what’s going to happen, especially after this because one of you hit me.”

“I know, I’m sorry and I love you Tay.” I nodded at Jake as he leaned over and softly kissed my forehead.

I pushed back my tears as Jake left the room, there will always be a part of me that will love Jake but I wasn’t completely happy with Jake and I still can’t decide if sex is something I can comprise on with him.

“Tay?”

“God what now?” I complained before turning and facing Dom who was standing in my doorway. “You’re an idiot, you know that.” I narrowed my eyes at him, he pouted at me before coming over and sitting at the end of my bed. God I hated how cute he looked like that.

“What did Jake have to say?”

“What makes you think you deserve to know, for all I know you were the one that hit me,” I snapped at him and his face fell for a moment before he moved further up the bed.

Neither of us said anything, he just reached out and lightly ran his fingers over my bruised cheek and I winced in pain. “Sorry,” he whispered.

“Why am I always more willingly to talk to you instead of Jake?” I questioned.

“Because you still hate that he completely shut you down on the whole pain for pleasure during sex, where as I have always heard you out.”

I took a deep breath and pulled my head away from his out stretched fingers, “He’s annoyed because he didn’t realise he was in competition with anyone, especially you.”

“You then proceeded to tell him you aren’t a prize,” I raised an eyebrow at him and he laughed softly. “Tay believe it or not, you are a prize. Not like what you think, what we are trying to do is win you over. He might not have known that he was in competition with me but there is a competition and you are the prize, I know you hate it but it’s not the type of prize you are thinking off. Tay I want to be able to show you off on my arm, I want everyone to be jealous over the fact that I have the most beautiful women inside and out on my arm and by myside. Yes I want to win but I also don’t want to belittle you either.”

I stared at Dom, unsure as to what to say. The one thing I did know was that this was too much, one of them hit me. I didn’t want to deal with any of them anymore.

“Get out,” I demanded before turning away ignoring the look of pain that appeared on his face.

“I really am sorry Tay, I didn’t want you to get hurt like this.” he kissed the top of my head before I felt him get off the bed.

I couldn’t hold the tears back anymore, they fell freely and I felt another dip in the bed but this time I knew it wasn’t one of the boys. The smell was too girly and I knew it had to be Emily as she wrapped her arms around me and I happily leaned against her.

Terrified (Emily's POV)

Have you ever had a hysteric drunk girl ring you and tell you your best friend was on their way to the hospital?

No?

Well I have, it is completely terrifying because the drunk girl can’t calm down enough to tell what happened or if she’s alright.

I was terrified the moment Penny said in between sobs that Taylor was on her way to the hospital. After I hung up I stared at Nate I had no words to explain what I was told. My only thought and concern was surrounding Taylor and if she was alright.

I didn’t say anything, I just stood up from the bench where we were sitting and rushed towards my car, he followed me before grabbing my arm.

“Em I will take you anywhere you want, just give me the keys.” He spoke sternly and it was then I noticed how blurry my vision was, I nodded and dropped the keys in his hand climbing into the car.

When I entered the emergency I found Penny and Sarah sitting off to the side looking horrible with their tear stained faces, Dom and Jake were pacing the room and there were many of our other friends sitting around the room and something told me, something big happened and everyone was here.

The girls finally noticed me and they burst into tears again, I knew they wouldn’t be of any help so instead I headed to where Jake and Dom were.

“Emily!” Jake spoke first in shock at noticing me standing looking incredibly pissed off.

“What are you doing here?” Dom spoke next and it was then I noticed the look that past between the two of them and it wasn’t friendly and I was damn well curious as to what the hell happened.

“That’s a funny question you two,” I placed my hands on my hips and glared at them both. I knew they were afraid of me, there were reasons for that and maybe it was my black belt and knowing that despite my height I could still kick their arses.

“I received a phone call from a very drunk hysterical Penny interrupting my date and telling me my best friend was on the way to the hospital. What the hell happened!” I screeched at them as I felt Nate wrap an arm around my waist in hopes of calming me down.

Nate and I hadn’t been dating long, it definitely wasn’t long enough to know I would do anything to protect my best friend and if that included beating the day lights out of this two idiots then I would.

“That’s just it, no one knows what happened. We’re all drunk…” Dom started but Jake cut him off.

“Well it started with you flirting with my girlfriend!”

“Ex-girlfriend and you’ve got to learn to accept that.” Jake glared at Dom but didn’t say anything in response. “Oh whatever, you’re just pissed off that I had sex with her.” I looked over at Dom in complete shock, I couldn’t believe it had come out already but Dom shook his head at me. There was something I didn’t know.

“You’re damn right I am!”

“She was fair game the minute she walked in on you and the slut!”

“She was my girlfriend and I loved her!”

“Some love, you were cheating on her and plus I loved her first. If she was mine, I wouldn’t be cheating on her every chance I got like you were!”

I couldn’t take their yelling anymore, in fact I don’t think the hospital staff could either. I pulled away from Nate and stood in between them and placed a hand on each chest. “Stop, both of you. What happened?” I questioned, hoping someone would speak.

“The two of them were fighting, Taylor tried to break it up but then one of them hit her and she fell back hitting her head on the floor, hard.” Alex spoke beside me and I stared at Jake and Dom not believing the words I just heard.

“YOU MEAN TO TELL ME THAT ONE OF YOU FUCKING HIT MY BEST FRIEND!” I yelled at them both and they took a step back from me.

“Em, is that necessary?” Nate questioned but I ignored him as I saw a doctor walk our way.

“Are you Taylor Innocenti’s family?”

“Yes I am but those two aren’t, they aren’t allowed to see her.” I glared at them both and they nodded.

“Very well, if you follow me I can inform you on what her condition is like and you can see her.” I nodded at him before facing Nate.

Nate just kissed my cheek before giving me a reassuring smile, I returned it before following the doctor.

“Is she alright? She’s the only family I have left, I can’t lose her.”

“She will be just fine, she has a nasty bruise on her face, she will have a concussion but other than that there is no damage.” I let out a sigh of relief.

“Thank you, you said I can see her?”

“Of course, she is just in here.” He pointed to a door and I opened the door to walk in and make sure for myself that she was okay.

The doctor was right, there was a nasty bruise already beginning to show on her face and whoever hit her would pay, I knew that for sure. I couldn’t believe that Jake and Dom were fighting like this and the fact that they both put Taylor’s health at risk was enough to piss me off.

I pulled the chair close to the bed and grabbed her hand, hoping she would wake up. I need her to be alright and be awake again.

Is This How It Ends?

I ended up taking Dom’s advice and took a holiday with the girls, but it turns out Sarah and Penny couldn’t join us but Emily, well let’s just say she used that as the excuse she’s been needing to tell her boss to shove it up their ass.

Emily and I didn’t end up going far, only a couple of states over. It was enough that I was away from everyone and not tempted to rush back anytime soon, it was where Emily and I wanted to go. We used to come out here all the time when we were younger and always had fun, we had hoped reliving childhood memories would help both of us come to know as to what we want the most.

We did have fun, so much that come the end of the two weeks I didn’t want to actually return to work and return to my problems at home.

I wasn’t actually able to take my holidays until almost a month after my conversation with Dom, he understood why I backed off since he was the one that talked me into the holiday but Jake was harder.

Jake couldn’t understand what was wrong, just like he thought everything was fine between us because it was normal. I assumed Jake was happy because he got what he missed the most in our relationship, he was chasing me. Whereas me? I just wasn’t happy anymore, with anything and I was terrified that maybe 6 weeks was too long.

“Home sweet home,” Emily sung cheerfully before rushing up to her room to get ready for her date. I couldn’t help but laugh at her antics.

I was happy for her, incredibly happy it was all beyond words at this point. I can’t remember the last time I saw Emily this happy over a guy, she was all for the holiday away from boys. She said she was beginning to panic when it came to Nate, she was worried she was going to ruin things. She was terrified she was going to get hurt in the end, she saw what happened to me when I found Jake having sex with another girl in our bed.

I ended up having to convince her that the risk is worth it, if it all works out in the end. That was when the conversation turned on me, she begun bugging me on what I wanted, who I wanted to pick. Of course after six weeks of nothing from either of them Emily was still completely on team Dom.

“Okay, I’m leaving. Why don’t you ring Sarah and Penny and see if they are up for something tonight? Just tell them I have a date and wouldn’t tell you anything, you know those two as well as I do and they will just shrug before jumping on the whole you/Jake/Dom/mystery guy blah blah.” She laughed before giving me a hug and rushing out.

She literally did not give me two seconds to say anything, I sat there dumbfound over what just happened but then I realised, this was truly my best friend. When she was happy she rushed through everything like a goddamn tornado knocking everything over in its path.

So here I am, three hours later just a couple of drinks shy of being completely wasted with Sarah and Penny. Truth to Emily’s words, they didn’t really ask questions about Emily and her date. The girls were well used to Emily keeping quiet on her dates, I had a feeling they understood what she was doing with her dates but since no one brought up the topic there could be no more arguments between us when it comes to Emily and her unorthodox relationships.

“Okay so surely by now you have made up your mind as to who you want to be with?” Penny questioned as we were heading back to our table after getting another round.

“She’s right, it’s been forever and plus, I honestly believe you and Dom should give it another shot.” Sarah joined in and I was shocked. This was the first time these two had even mentioned to me their opinion, I know Emily stated they thought what was between Dom and I were different but I had no idea.

“Why?” I questioned, wishing I had ordered a shot instead of my Vodka, lime and soda.

They both shared a look before looking at me and shrugging. “We’ve all seen the way you two act around each other, it doesn’t matter if you were with Jake or not. There is just a way about the two of you that is electrifying.”

“I agree with Sarah, seeing you and Dom together makes me believe that maybe we do have soul mates out there and when and if we are lucky to find them that is how things are….” Penny trailed off and I was worried, both girls looked terrified at the something and I had no idea what was going on.

“Really tell me more?” the sound of the husky voice shot through me, both of the girls looked a little embarrassed and when I turned my head I found Dom sitting in the spot next to me. How I didn’t realise he sat down beside me, I will never know, maybe I will just blame the alcohol.

“Dom?” I choked out and he finally looked at me flashing me a smile and my god did the sight of that make me wet, it has been six weeks too long since I last had sex.

“Yes Tay? You know you look absolutely beautiful tonight.” I shook my head, it was then I realised he had been drinking as well. I looked back across the table to where Sarah and Penny were meant to be sitting but yet they weren’t, those bitches had taken off leaving me alone with a drunk Dom.

“You know you’ve been ignoring me for six weeks, six weeks is an incredibly long time.” He frowned before moving his chair closer to mine.

“Dom what are you doing?” I whispered but all he did was grin at me before leaning forward and my breath hitched at feeling his warm breath on my neck.

“I seem to remember a time when you were a lot more submissive when you were drunk,” his voice was low and husky as he whispered in my ear, it was such a turn on and him nibbling on my ear did not help at all.

It took a lot of self-control to pull away from him, he must have realised what he was doing and he frowned at me. “I’m sorry Tay, I don’t know what came over me.”

“Six weeks came over you, unless you’ve had sex with someone else.” I spoke softly before turning around to actually have a look at who Dom was here, it was then I finally spotted where Sarah and Penny had gone, they were talking to the guys Dom was here with.

That was when dread filled me, if Dom was here with the guys, where was Jake? He had to be here as well right? I looked at Dom and he must have realised what I was doing and he looked a little worried.

“You were screwing him?” all the blood left my body as I slowly turned around at the sound of Jake’s anger filled voice and I found him standing there incredibly angry.

“Jake…”

“What Tay? I just heard your conversation, you both weren’t as quiet as you thought you were. To begin with I thought the asshole was just hitting on you but then you said something about six weeks. You two had sex after we broke up, so you break up with me and ditch whoever the other guy was and jump straight into his bed.” He snapped at me and quietly I was a little relieved, he just thinks we were having sex after we broke up.

“Come on Jake, you’re drunk. Let’s just get you home and then we can talk about this tomorrow when we are all sober.” Dom tried to reason with Jake but it didn’t work and I was unsure of what was going to happen next.

“No, the only girl I was in love with leaves me because I fucked up and you find it as the perfect time to have sex with her. What the hell man, I thought we were friends.”

“So did I Jake or did you forget that I had her first? I loved her first!” I stared at Dom and the rest of their conversation became silent as I was trying to process what Dom just said.

He just said he loved me, that word never once came to the light of day when we were dating. He told me that things had changed for him and he wanted to try dating again but nothing about love.

I was standing there in shock when I saw Jake throw himself across the table at Dom and the next thing I knew those two were on the ground throwing punches at each other.

I couldn’t be the reason as to why those two start fighting, I couldn’t be the reason I ruined a friendship, but hadn’t I already?

“Guys stop!” I screeched as I ran over to them hoping to stop one of them from throwing punches but instead I felt a sharp pain before everything went black