Under the V.E.I.L:Book 1

Lena:

William woke me up to the most terrifying call. He told me to come to his house with medical supplies. I grabbed everything and ran out the house.
It was probably 6 a.m and I was exhausted. When I got there I rang the doorbell multiple times. The door opened and William stood there. Perfectly fine.
"Who got hurt? Why did you call me here?"He pursed his lips.

"Come inside Lena. The incident is inside."He lets me in and when I walk into the living room I lose my senses. I forget everything. I stop walking.
"Lena. He's injured. Can you help him?"William stands behind me. I know he set this up. I don't even know how to feel about this situation.
I don't know whether to feel mad that he's here or relieved that he's safe.

"I can."I nod. I walk over to him.I examine him. It hurts so bad to see him in such a position. He had cuts everywhere on his face and arms.
"Where are you hurt?" I say keeping a straight face and trying not to go insane.He has a guilty look on his face and keeps quiet.

"I have a bullet in my leg."My heart hurts from hearing that.I open my bag and lay out everything I will need.
I pull up his joggers and see the ugly wound on his shinbone. I take a deep breath before taking the tweezers.

I slowly ease the tweezers into the wound. He clenched his fists tightly.I could hear him wincing in pain but not expressing it properly.
With a slight pull I manage to grip the bullet and lift it carefully. He hisses to the pain.I could feel that he was in so much pain but he wouldn't let it out.

Within seconds the bullet finally came out. I drop it into a tissue and grab the roll of bandages.I wrap the wound tightly with the bandages.
After I finish I pull his joggers back down I grab the things that I would need next. I stand up and finally face him.

"I need to see your arm."He doesn't say anything and shows me his arm.I take a close look at the wounds. I apply antiseptic on the wounds, apply the ointment and use bandages to cover it. I work swiftly on that arm and start working on the other arm.

"I'm sorry."I freeze in my position. "I'm sorry about everything Lena. I truly am."I continue to examine for wounds and infections despite the sudden apology. It was so hard to focus when he hit me with an apology and I had nothing to say. Nothing to reply with. I lift the sleeve of his shirt and see a bandage around his bicep.

"What's this?"He looks at his shoulder and looks back at me.
"A tattoo."He didn't seem like the type to get a tattoo. Looks like he had lots of fun.
"Can I remove the bandage?"He nods.I remove it and see something really intriguing.It was a heartbeat that ended with the letter L. All in black.

I try not to get my hopes up and think it's not about me.
"Looks like you had fun."I mutter under my breath.
"Can you say something?Please."I sigh. My eyes start to sting but I blink the tears away before they can come out.

"I have nothing to say."I have lots to say. But if I start, I won't stop.The silence reminded me of what I felt before the accident.
"Please talk to me. I know I messed up."

"Why should I talk to you? You clearly wanted nothing to do with me."
"That not true."

"Well it sure felt like it."I continue to avoid looking at him. Even looking at him will make me break.
"That can never be true. You should know that?" I was suppressing the emotional volcano that was about to erupt so hard. It was so hard to keep it all in.

"I wasn't even expecting you to come visit me. A text would've done the job."I put the last of the bandages and start packing everything. I start walking towards the door when he starts speaking.
"Lena. Please I-"
"I don't want to hear it Liam."I open the door to step out but he starts talking. Again.

"I need you to hear me out. It doesn't make up for what I did but I want you to forgive me."I turn around slowly to face him.
"Help me understand why you left me alone when I needed you? Do you understand the guilt I felt when you were off in Spain having the time of your life, getting tattoos? Do you understand how shit I felt? I was worried about what the accident had done to you. I blamed myself for it all. The second I said yes you got hurt. I was so damn afraid. I wanted nothing more than to see you and make sure you were fine. So tell me Liam. Help me understand why you left me."I said it in the calmest tone possible.Tears started spilling over.

"Lena... I-I never knew you felt like that. If I had known I would've..."He stops speaking. His eyes turned glossy.
"You would've done what? What would you have done?" He sits down and runs a hand through his hair.
"Liam. Answer me. What would you have done?"

"I would've stayed. I would've stayed with you through it all. I would've slept on the hospital floors next to your bed if I had known you would feel like that. I would've done anything you'd wanted me to do. And that trip to Spain. I would've cancelled it on the spot."His voice wobbled as he said every word.

"When I found out what happened to you...That you were in surgery because of the accident, I spent days blaming myself. Even when they told me you had woken up I couldn't face you after what I had done. And then I got assigned and I didn't have the guts to even text you. I never had the guts to press that damn send button."His head is in his hands.

"You should've done it. I had nightmares of you dead Liam. I needed you. I needed you to be there with me."
"I wish I had known how you were feeling. I wish I thought about it all before. All I did was think about you yet it didn't occur to me that you would feel like that."I let out a shaky sigh. There was a pause before I started the conversation again.

"It seemed like you believed what everyone had thought about me and stopped caring about me."He stands up suddenly.
"You thought I stopped caring about you? Lena you were all I ever wanted.You rule my brain.I could never ever believe what those idiots have said about you. I don't care who they are or why they think it. To me you're the whole world. You're always a blessing, Never a curse."I break down into more tears.

"I didn't blame you for anything that happened. Even before I knew it was planned. Why would you think that I would blame you?"He wipes his cheek.
"It wasn't even the idea of you blaming me. It was me spending days in that hospital bed,blaming myself. Hurting myself. Tormenting myself. I was wishing shit upon myself. Saying that I didn't deserve you. I didn't deserve the happiness you gave me. I couldn't bear to see what I had done to you."Hearing him saying how he did that to himself hurt me. How he was wishing negativity towards himself.I rush over to him and hug him. I sobbed into his shoulder.

"Don't ever do that to yourself Liam. Don't ever wish those bad things upon yourself. You deserve everything. You deserve to be happy. And if you want to be with me,"I pull apart and look at him. "You should be with me. I've never wanted anything more than this."He smiles but cries. I pull him back into a hug. His hands wrap around me tightly.

"I swear I'll never leave you like that. No matter what the situation is."His voice was raw with emotion. I pull apart and cup his face with my hands.
"Promise?"I whisper looking at him for an answer.
"Promise." He says as he wipes a tear falling from my eye.