—

Shawn sipped on his coffee, remembering how she looked like yesterday. Her face was paler than before, she had bags under her pretty green eyes, she was dressed normally but still looked breathtaking.

But, something was off. She just looked nervous and not herself. The whole time, Shawn was talking to her, she was playing with her ring, sign that she was anxious or she would glance everywhere like she was looking for something or someone.

The old Shawn would have immediately reacted and obligated her to talk. This time...things were more delicate, he needed to think. He felt like it wasn't normal. The more he thought about it, the more it clicked in his mind.

The marks that he saw a few weeks ago, her way to react, her anxiousness, the way she was checking around like she was scared to be seen with me. She was scared to be seen with by him.

"Brian, man, do you know Phoebe's boyfriend?" He asked, waiting patiently for his answer.

Brian sighed and put his phone down. "Yeah, I met him once." He replied. "A cool guy."

Shawn scratched the back of his neck. "Is he good? To her?"

"At least, he's better than you." Answered Brian.

Shawn let out a gasp followed by a frown. "What if he is not better than me?" Talked the tall Canadian.

Brian let out a dry laugh. "I'm not following you, Shawn." Said the redhead. "What do you have in mind?"

Shawn bit his lower lip and sighed. "I think he is... violent with her."

Brian's eyes snapped wide open. "This is huge, man. Don't play with that only because you want her back!" He warned his best friend. "I won't react the same way than before."

"I'm really serious, dude!" Exclaimed Shawn. "Yesterday morning, I saw her. She wasn't herself."

"Probably a bad night."

The brunet shook his head. "I know her, Bri. Something is off." He argued. "Remember your party?" Brian hummed. "We talked, like really talked and then she went to the bathroom...When she came back, her neck had a huge purple mark."

The man frowned. "What did she say?"

"She said that she burnt herself with the straightener but, I don't believe her." He returned.

Brian ignored the last words of the sentence and, rubbed his eyes. "Maybe she really burnt herself."

Shawn groaned. "Christ, why are you so blind?" He questioned.

Brian laughed out loud, making Shawn frown. "You are so obsessed with getting her back that, you're inventing things."

"I am not! I really ca-" Shawn started but Brian cut him off.

"You lost the right to care about her a long time ago, Shawn!" He yelled. "If Phoebe is happy then she is! Why can't you accept the fact that she's happy, without you!" He added

Shawn turned pale, hearing those words. "Uh? Why can't you just let her be happy?"

"Because am not! And...I know her! I know she's not happy right now." Shawn whispered. "She used to shine with me. I know I can be better for her, for us." He muttered.

Brian let out a long sigh and stood up. "What if she doesn't love you anymore?" He spoke out loud.

"She still does. We almost had a child together." Shawn answered, grabbing his mug and put in the kitchen.

"Yeah but, you left her." Brian pointed out. "And, blamed everything on her."

Shawn looked away. "I know, I regret that a lot." He uttered. "But, I changed!"

"I get the fact that you want her back but...we can't always have what we want." Brian said to his best friend.

"I'm pretty sure that, Vince is violent with her." Shawn stated. "She looked so scared, yesterday. You have no idea."

"Listen man, we don't know nothing." Brian started. "And, if she wasn't happy she would tell us right?"

Shawn shrugged. "Maybe, she is scared. If-"

"There's no if, Shawn." Said Bri. "If Phoebe wasn't happy or was in trouble, she would talk to us!"

"You don't know nothing!" He yelled back. "Did you ever watch movies or documentaries? Women are scared to talk because they're pressured by someone! And that someone is Vince, Bri!" He yelled.

"Shawn..." His voice was tired of arguing with him. "Just—"

"No. He's not good for her!"

As soon as, he pronounced those words, the doorknob turned revealing Poppy and Phoebe, full of shopping bags. Their laughters echoed into the lobby but, stopped after hearing his words.

"Who's not good for who?" Phoebe queried putting down the bags.

—
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