Chapter Two

It was a few hours later, the whole time I'd been helping Roman pack for his trip. He co-owns this technology place, they're hoping to sell this new piece of tech which if I'm being honest, I have no idea what it does. Him and his business partner are going to have a bunch of interviews with a long list of companies all over the world, hoping a few of them will invest in his idea.

He asked if I wanted to join him but I knew I couldn't take that much time off work, so as much as it's gonna hurt to be away from him for two months. It will all be worth it when he's able to get the right funds to make his new invention, even if I still have no idea what it does.

"Make sure you don't forget to wear a tie in every interview, I won't be there to drop one off for you" I tell him whilst zipping up his suitcase, the amount of times I've had to sprint to an office on the opposite side of town just to give him a tie.

"I'll try not to" he laughs as the front door opens and closes, this tells us Austin is back from paying off his debt to the bar owner.

"Payton!" He shouts his voice like always echoing through the house. "Can you come in here please, I'm in the bathroom, only you!" He shouts which does make me look up at Roman, who was also sending a confused look to the door.

I shrug my shoulders making my journey out of the bedroom and towards the bathroom, while Roman stayed behind packing the rest of his things away. I walk up to the door knocking twice, for some reason the bathroom door was locked. The door soon unlocks where Austin's face pops out, when he was satisfied that Roman didn't join me, he takes me by the arm and pulls me into the little bathroom. I stand there totally confused as he locks the door behind us, why is he being so secretive?

"What are doing?" I ask as he turns and shows me his blood soaked arm, my eyes immediately go wide as I stare down at the huge gash. "What happened?" I ask moving closer but didn't take ahold of his arm, I didn't want to hurt him as it already looked like he was in so much pain already.

"The man at the bar didn't like that I was ten minutes late paying my bill, he grabbed ahold of a glass and smashed it over my arm" he explains whilst whining slightly, what kind of owner would treat his customers like this?! "I can't tell Roman because then he'll get worried and won't leave for his trip, he really needs this break and I can't take that from him" he whines leaning up against the counter, blood now dripping onto the floor.

"I can take you to the hospital-" I suggest but he was quick to cut me off immediately, wouldn't he want that to get professionally cleaned up?!

“We can't! Please Payton, I know we don't see eye to eye but I really need your help" he pleads with me, I take a look at his face which held so many emotions that I've never seen on Austin's face ever.

"Okay, I'll help you as best as I can" I say giving in to helping him, but I knew I was gonna need some first aid things that I don't think we have. "I'm gonna have to head out to get some bandages and things" I say about to walk out the bathroom, but he takes my hand stopping me from opening the door.

"You can't leave me in here, Roman will come and ask what's going on" Austin whisper yells like Roman was hiding behind the door or something, but I knew Roman wasn't like that.

"Than how do you expect me to help you Austin! You want me to help you but you don't want me to leave to get the things I'll need to help you! Do you know how backwards that sounds?!" I ask now also whisper yelling, I get why Austin doesn't want Roman to find out because Roman does need to go on this trip, but I didn't know what the dude wants from me!

"I'll drive you there, you can head in the shop while I wait in the car" he says opening up one of the draws pulling piece of cloth out and wrapping it around his arm, where is that even from?

"Are you sure you're going to be able to drive with one hand?" I ask while he whines in pain pulling that cloth tightly, that might make the gash worse.

He just nods his head before unlocking the door, but he doesn't fully leave yet and begins to look both ways. Once I guess the coast was clear, he bolts out of the bathroom and over to the front door. When that man wants to run, he can run! I roll my eyes leaving the bathroom, just as Roman walks out the bedroom sending me a confused look.

"What's going on, why's he left in such a rush?" He asks confused looking around, where he soon spots the front door wide open.

"Austin is just having one of his many crisis but it's nothing that you need to worry about, this will help me deal with the many others that will follow while you're away, just focus on packing" I tell him placing a kiss on his lips, I don't like lying to him but Austin does need help. "On the way back I'll grab some pizza, happy packing" I smile picking up my purse before walking out the door before he could question me.

Our apartment is a complex, when you walk out the door it's all open plan with a bunch of staircases, we're on the top floor. As I walk down the stairs, Austin pulls up right in front of the entrance which tells me I need to hurry up. I run down the steps and over to the passenger side of the door, as I climb in Austin was clutching onto the steering while while his other was in his lap. Before I had time to question if this was safe, we were already driving down the road and towards the local pharmacy.

I leave the shop with my bag full of things to patch his arm up, the woman on the desk asked me what this was for where I had to lie and tell her I was stocking up my first aid kit. Once I climb in the car, I see Austin just cradling his arm. I open up the bag whilst telling him to give me his arm, I honestly didn't know what I was doing but I knew I needed to try.

His whole arm was covered in blood that I couldn't actually see where the cut started and ended, I reach in the bag and pull some antiseptic wipes out. I apologise in advance before cleaning around the cut, he would punch the car door a few times when the wipe would go over the cut. Once the area was fully cleaned I could actually see what I was dealing with, he had quite a huge cut running down his forearm.

"I'm no doctor, but this might been stickers" I tell him looking at how deep the cut looked, but he shook his head telling me he wasn't going to hospital. "Okay, I'll wrap it up but we'll need to check on it tomorrow" I say digging into the bag once more pulling out a square of a bandage.

I place it over where the cut was before picking up at bandage, where I begin to wrap it around his arm making sure it was tight so the bleeding would stop. I lastly, get a little plaster and stick that to the end so it wouldn't fall off.

"Thank you so much Payton, not just for helping me but also not telling Roman" he smiles as I clean everything away and putting it all in the bag, people are going to think we killed someone with all this blood.

"Don't mention it, now Roman's gonna be away for two months we're gonna need to stick together" I smile nudging him slightly as he pulls the car away. "Oh I told Roman we'll get pizza for dinner, so on the way we need to stop and I'll get some" I say pulling out my phone to see where the closest one was, it would look suspicious if we arrived home without the pizza.

"I'll get it, I mean you've done enough for me today" he smiles before he turns back to the road, I smile too looking out the window.

Maybe Austin isn't too bad after all.