Ethan held me as I was crying. I stayed in his arms for what seemed to be an eternity. I finally calmed down after a while. I wiped the tears away. "Ethan I'm so sorry. It's your birthday." I said sitting upright on the bed.

"Paige. Please my birthday is the least of my worries" he said.

I stood up. "No I had something special planned out for you" I said standing front the bed.

"Paige please. That's not important right now." He said standing from the bed.

"Yes it is. Let me wash my face and let's head downstairs. We can talk about this later." I said.

"No Paige. We need to talk. You need to go to the police" he insisted standing in front of me.

"Ethan, I'm not pressing charges. I can't talk about this right now, give me some time" I said. "Please Ethan" I whispered. I just couldn't face this right now. I know. I'm a coward.

He sighed "ok fine" he said.

"Let me go ahead and fix myself up and let's head downstairs to make sure Sara is ok " I said. He didn't say anything he simply nodded.

I walked into the bathroom and looked at myself in the mirror. I was a mess. My shirt was ripped, I had a huge bruise on my face along with a busted lip, my hair was a mess, I had bruises on my arms and on my torso. Then I fixed my hair and I applied makeup on my face so Sara wouldn't get scared. Then I walked out and went into the closet and grabbed a long sleeve shirt and jeans.

Ethan simply sat on the bed and looked at me as I got ready. "Ok I'm ready" I said. "Let's go downstairs". He held my hand and led me downstairs.

Scarlet and Sara were in the couch. Sara saw me and jumped out of the couch and ran to me and hugged me.

"Paige are you ok?" She asked me. I couldn't help it, I flinched when she hugged me, but I rubbed it of as best I could.

"Of course I am. Why wouldn't I be?" I asked her.

"Because Scarlet and I heard screaming when we got home. I wanted to check on you but Scarlet didn't let me" she said looking up at me.

"I'm fine Sara, I just fell but I'm ok. Your brother helped me" I said.

"Is that why your lips is swollen and it has a cut on it?" She asked looking at me.

"Exactly. I'm all better now." I said.

"Why don't we have an early dinner and head off to bed" Scarlet said.

"Yes. Sounds like a good idea" Ethan said.

"Ethan, it's your birthday." I said sadly.

"I know but we can celebrate tomorrow" he said.

"Exactly!" Scarlet said.

We had dinner in silence. Then we watched a bit of tv with Sara and thankful she fell asleep early. Ethan carried her to her room and then he grabbed my hand and headed to his bedroom. Scarlet was right behind us.

Scarlet hugged me as soon as we entered the room and I flinched once again. "Opps sorry Paige. That asshole. A friend of mine told me Neil harassed her but I thought she just wanted his money" Scarlet said.

"You knew about Neil and didn't say anything?" Ethan asked angrily.

"Ethan it's not her fault" I said sitting on a couch.

"You're right. Sorry Scarlet" Ethan said. Scarlet sat in front of me and Ethan sat next to me.

"Paige what happened?" Scarlet asked.

I looked down and sighed. "Ever since I met Neil I had the feeling he didn't like me. He said Ethan's relationship with me would end soon, that Ethan didn't like me and would soon leave me." I said. Ethan punched the couch and mutter profanities. "He attacked me last week. He said if I said anything nobody would believe me" I said with tears in my eyes.

"The time I found you on the floor?" Ethan asked with rage. I nodded crying. "Paige why didn't you say anything." He stood up mad. "No i should of seen it. It was so obvious. I'm going to kill him" he said punching the wall.

I stood up. "It's ok Ethan. He won't hurt me now" I said touching his shoulder.

"Paige you should press charges. What he did was wrong and all I want to do is punch the shit out of him and kill him with my bare hands" Ethan said.

"No Ethan, that won't solve anything. You scared him away. I'm sure he won't come after me again" I said.

"But Paige..." Ethan said.

"No Ethan I don't want to press charges." I said.

"Ok. It's you're choice but I still think you should give the little rat what he deserves" Ethan said.

"Ethan let it go. I want Paige to do the same but it's her choice. We have to respect that" Scarlet said. "I'm going to bed goodnight you guys" she said as she walked out the door.

"Come on let's go to bed" I said grabbing Ethan's hand and heading to bed. He followed and laid down on the bed and pulled me to his chest. He wrapped his arms around me and made me feel safe.