Please listen to I Don't Wanna Live Forever - Zayn and Taylor Swift for this chapter.

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I blocked my ears and closed my eyes in panic as I let out a scream. I didn't want to see if he had shot Isaac or Jaxon, I don't think it was something I could handle. What I wasn't expecting though, was the pain piercing through the left side of my stomach.

It felt like everything was happening in slow motion. I looked down to place my hand there, when I removed it all I saw was blood. My hand started to shake the longer I stared at it, stared at the blood that now covered my fingers. The interesting thing though was how I suddenly felt relieved. Relieved that it was me and not them.

I looked up at Jaxon who was staring wide eyed at me in horror. I could feel my knees weakening on me.

"NOOOOO!" Jaxon pleaded, screaming in desperation when we had heard the gun shot go off, echoing through our ears. I fell to my knees just as he skidded to the floor to catch me and cradle me in his arms.

"Stay with her! I'm going after Noah!" Isaac yelled in anger. We watched as he sprinted after Noah. I didn't want him going after Noah, especially with Noah holding a gun but I was in no position to stop him.

"You're gonna be okay" Jaxon whispered in desperation. I could hear in his tone that he wasn't just trying to convince me, he was trying to convince the both of us.

"It hurts really bad" I cried out. I watched as Jaxon quickly took his shirt off to put the pressure in the bullet hole on my stomach. I felt my breathing was beginning to quicken, I was losing touch of reality as my eyes kept flickering to close.

I reached up to touch his cheek softly, "I'm sorry for everything" I whispered weakly, I allowed myself to close my eyes for a few seconds because I was getting tired.

"Hey hey hey! Wake up!" Jaxon raised his voice as he stroked my cheek. "Don't leave me, baby please" he whimpered at me.

"Open your eyes" his voice was shaking with fear as he said those words. I forced my eyes open, I tried to keep them open but it wasn't working, my body kept urging me to go to sleep.

"Stay with me. Just keep looking into my eyes" he said as he swept my hair back from my face. He leaned down and kissed me softly on my lips before placing his forehead against mine.

I was slowly losing my breath. I looked up at him, wanting to tell him so many things. I knew this wasn't going to end well for me. I could feel it tightening around my chest, my heartbeat slowing down.

"Please look after Alena for me. Don't --- let anyone break --- her heart." I struggled to form the sentence as I hastily whispered to him, ignoring the tears that started to fall down the sides of my face.

"No. You're going to look after her yourself! Don't give up on me baby" he said as he continued to lean his forehead against mine, slowly stroking my cheek wiping my tears away.

"I love you" he whispered against my lips. A cry of pain escaped my lips, I kissed him softly on the lips.

"I love you too."

I managed to get the words out before my body started to give up on the fight. I was blacking out, I tried to open my eyes as I heard Jaxon's cry, screaming my name at the top of his lungs. I was going in and out of consciousness so I could only make out a mumbled voice and a faint sound getting louder and louder the closer it got.

"Avery!? Wake up! Noo! Get up!"

My body shut down. Sleep finally took over, allowing me to forget what was happening around me.

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Jaxon:

I have no idea how long I've sat here, replaying the last three days in my head over and over again. My gut told me something was wrong when I had messaged her three times and she didn't respond. I should have followed my gut but instead I ignored it and made myself believe that she just didn't want to talk to me. I remember calling Isaac to vent because she didn't respond to my messages and wanted to know if she was just ignoring me or everyone.

It wasn't until Isaac called me back, yelling through the phone in panic about how Noah had her. The blood rushed to my head when he told me about the conversation they had, he warned that Noah did something to her while they were on the phone because she couldn't stop screaming in pain. Just thinking about it now makes me so angry, little did I know he was branding her.

I still can't get the image of her standing there looking completely defeated out of my head. The bruise that was already making its way on her face, her bloody arm; these images have been haunting me for three days now. The one image that keeps me up at night is her in my arms, bleeding away, dying slowly and there was nothing I could do about it. I felt so useless at that point.

When we got to the hospital, they had to operate on her immediately but warned us that there was little chance of her surviving this. I kept praying that she still had a little fight left in her.

"Hey man"

I looked up at Drew who walked up to me, handing me a cup of coffee, I took it without questions.

"Thanks man"

He sat down with a sigh, this is the first time we've seen each other since pizza night at his house. He had every right to know what had happened with Avery, I couldn't not tell him. It was a little awkward, I wasn't going to lie, he went from being my best friend to being Avery's brother. We both clearly wanted to say something but neither one wanted to go first.

"So, should I give you the big brother speech since you're dating my sister?" Drew mocked as he smirked at me. I couldn't help but let out a laugh as I shook my head. Just like that, I knew our friendship was okay.

"How long have you been wanting to say that to me?"

He tilted his head back as he laughed before admitting, "Since I found out about the girls"

Our laughs slowly died down and sadness started to wash over me again, "She'll wake up Jaxon. She's a tough girl"

"I dont know if she wants to wake up Drew"

He creased his eyebrows in confusion, "What do you mean?"

I let out a sigh as I leaned forward to place my forearms on my knees, "You didn't see the way she looked so defeated, even before she got shot. She gave up"

"She probably wasn't expecting anyone to save her, she probably gave up thinking she was going to die. She's just had major life threatening surgery. She'll wake up"

"Ms Avery Winters?"

We both quickly stood up at the same time, waiting for any kind of news.

"I'm sorry, family only are allowed to visit" the nurse said.

Before I could sit down Drew spoke up, "I'm her brother and he's her fiancé."

She looked between the two of us before letting out a sigh, agreeing for both of us to go see her. When she turned her back we gave each other a silent high five, before following her down the hall.

I was scared to see her, I feel like I let her down by not coming to help her sooner. I'm the reason she's in here. When we walked in I could feel my heart beating in my neck, I wasn't prepared to see her with all these machines stuck to her. I sat next to her, grabbing her hand before kissing it lightly. Hoping it would encourage her in some weird way to wake up.

Seeing her like this made me thank God that we kept Alena with my family. I didn't want her seeing her sister like this. We told her that Avery had a small accident so she was going to stay at our house for a few days.

Isaac had been working with the police for the last three days. Unfortunately Noah gave him the slip and managed to escape, we all agreed to not tell Avery right now because she needed to focus on her health, not worry about Noah.

I could see Drew slowly drifting off to sleep, we had been sitting with her for an hour or so. So I forced him out the door and told him I'd call him if anything changes. I sat there staring at her, I refused to blink away in case I missed out on some form of movement from her.

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The feeling of someone stroking my hair softly woke me up from my sleep, I tried to blink away the drowsiness, when I looked up I saw her smiling at me. Her smile made my heart skip a beat, I quickly leaned forward to hug her, reminding myself to be gentle.

"I'm so glad you're okay" I whispered.

I pressed the button so a nurse could come in, they needed to know that she was okay. I watched as she looked at her left forearm which was completely bandaged. What I didn't expect was for her to try to rip it off, I quickly grabbed her hand to stop her. It broke my heart to see the way she leaned back in frustration as silent tears well down the sides of her face. I went to wipe her tears away but she just looked away from me.

"Give me a minute please Jaxon?" She whispered in defeat

I had gotten a glimpse of what he did when the ambulance had arrived and started to clean up her wounds. It still angers me that he successfully printed his name on her arm. What I would do to have a few minutes alone with him.

I moved back into the hallway when the surgeon and the nurses had arrived, wanting to do some tests with her now that she was awake. I watched as Isaac walked in, he took one look at me and let out a sigh.

"You should go home"

"Why would I do that, she just woke up?" I asked in shock that he would even suggest that.

"It's about your dad's accident. They just left the station to go see your mum. You need to be there"

My heart sank when he said those words. What did they find out about my dad's accident? Has there been a new lead? I had all these questions swarming in my head as I looked between Avery's room and Isaac. He placed a hand on my shoulder before whispering, "Go, I'll stay here with her and tell her you had a family emergency"

I nodded slowly, I was still in a state of shock as I slowly started to walk towards the exit.

When I had gotten home, I saw the cop car was still at the front of our property. Slowly walking inside, I heard the muffled sound of a TV appearing from upstairs. My guess would be that Lisa had Jonathan and Alena there with her. I kept walking down the hallway until I heard whispered voices. I went straight towards those voices in the dining room. All eyes were on me when I came to view, I saw my mum with blood shot eyes and two policemen sitting next to her.

"Everything okay mum?"

She looked up at me before patting the empty seat next to her, "Sit down honey." I swallowed the lump in my throat as I did what I was told and waited for some kind of explanation.

"Remember how they found finger prints at the scene but they weren't in the system? Well, they have now found the guy who killed your dad"

One of the police cleared his throat as he explained how they found this information. They picked up fingerprints at a recent hold up, someone confirmed who they belonged to so when they ran those prints through the system it came back as a match to the ones from my dad's accident. They were now able to put a name to these prints

"Who is it? Do we know them?" I regrettably asked the question. I wasn't sure if I was ready to know this information. I watched as my mum shook her head in denial at my question and waited as they opened their file to show me a photo of the offender.

I couldn't believe my eyes though, I don't think anything could have prepared me for this information.

'Why the hell was I looking at a photo of Noah?'

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A/N: We are so close to the end guys! I'm so sad! One more chapter and then an Epilogue 😖
Don't forget to leave a like for this chapter! Xx

Next Chapter: Will Jaxon share this information with Avery?!

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