It was Christmas day and all around my house it smelt of burnt cookies and chicken. Dad was resting while Jax, Hunter and I took care of the food, but it wasn't going as well as we had planned.

"Emma, take out the cookies!" Jax yelps.

"You were supposed to be watching them!" I yell back feeling stressed.

"Hunter check on the chicken make sure it's not burning and take the cookies out!" I cried out.

He rushed over to the oven, taking out the cookies and trying to blow the smoke away.

"We should probably start ordering food." Hunter says, looking down at the cookies.

"How's the chicken?" Jax asks.

"Uh, look for yourself."

I peer my head over as I'm cutting the tomatoes for the salad and gasp as I see the chicken covered in black spots.

"That's it, we're eating salad for dinner." I sigh.

"I'm definitely not eating that. I'll order the pizza." Hunter says.

"Jax, put the other batch of cookies in the oven and let's pray they don't burn." I tell him.

"What about the chicken?" Hunter asks.

"Uhm," I analyze it. "Throw it out?"

"We can't just throw it out." Jax says.

"Then you eat it." Hunter says.

Sighing, Jax grabs aluminum foil from the cupboard and wraps the chicken in it. He shoves it back into the oven and closes it, making sure it's off.

"I'll take it home later. I'm sure my mom is going to eat it if I tell her I made it." Jax laughs.

"Don't torture her." I joke.

After our cooking disaster, we ordered two pies of pizza and my dad, Hunter and I all dived in, devouring it.

"Anyone want cookies?" Jax came in with a tray of cookies. "It's the only batch that didn't come out bad."

"Mhm, sure I'll have one." My dad reaches for one.

He takes a bite from it and I could practically hear his teeth breaking as he chews on it. "What the hell?" He scrunches his nose.

"What? Is it bad?" Jax picked up a cookie. He bit into it, chewing on it and he makes a face of disgust. "Okay, so maybe not the best batch."

We all sat around talking and sharing stories of the past when Jax got up from his seat and walked towards the kitchen.

Excusing myself, I followed after him. "Jax," he turns around, smiling. "Hey, you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm more than okay." He brings me to his chest, wrapping his arms around me. He leans down, bringing his lips to mine and teases me before finally giving in.

"I love you." He mutters under his breath.

Pulling away, I look into his eyes and grin. He moves back and reaches into his jacket, pulling out a box.

With my eyes wide, I look at Jax and back at the box.

"I got this for you a while ago I was just waiting for the perfect time to give it to you. Now seems like the best time." He tells me.

Opening the box, I gasp at how the necklace shined back at me, crystals dancing under the light.

"Jax." I let out.

I knew these were real crystals shining back at me. The question was, what did he have to do to get this? His dad came into mind and I shook my head at him in shock.

"H-How did y-"

"Don't say anything," he stops me, "Here, just put it on." He takes it from my hands, putting the empty box down and goes behind me.

I get goosebumps under his touch as he clips on the necklace and I smile to myself.

"Please tell me your dad has nothing to do with how you got this necklace." I say to him once I face him.

He shakes his head. "Nah, it wasn't him."

"Did you steal it? If you did you know I wouldn't really care." I joke.

He rolls his eyes, a smirk appearing on his face. "Why can't you just accept the necklace and say thank you?"

"Thank you." I smile. "I just know you don't have this kind of money lying around and-"

"Emma."

"Okay, okay sorry." I let it go. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." He pecks my lips. "Merry Christmas, Emma."

- -

I stared back at my reflection making sure my dress was the best I could do. The blue bodycon dress had a crisscross cutout in the center and it's spaghetti straps made me feel exposed.

I was wearing black pumps to go with the dress and my hair was in waves over my shoulders.

"You ready?" Marissa comes to my door.

I nod, turning away from the mirror and smiling as I look her down. She was wearing a black dress that had a cut down the middle and wore black heels.

"You look cute." I say.

"Look at you." She whistles, grabbing my hand and giving me a spin. "Jax is definitely ripping that off tonight."

"Marissa!" I shriek. My cheeks burn hot as I turn away and she steps into my room.

"What? Not like it hasn't already happened." She shrugs. I stay quiet, not daring to look at her. She took my silence as an answer. "No way, you're such a liar."

I shrug, looking at the floor. Jax and I have gone as far as physically touching each other but we never went all the way.

"You're telling me you two...you haven't..." She trails off and I shake my head. "You haven't let him take a trip down town?"

"Marissa!" I face palm myself, hiding my face. "'No, no we haven't."

"Why?"

"Because," I turn to fix my makeup, ignoring her glance. "It just hasn't happened."

"But you did with Alex, right?" She asks.

"Yeah, I told you. Just not with Jax."

"But..why?"

I sigh, looking over at her. "With Alex it was all sex and I just don't want it to be like that with Jax. It's different with him, I don't want to mess it up."

"Well, at this rate, trust me you won't mess it up." She chuckles. She comes next to me and grabs a lipstick from my makeup drawer and begins applying it.

Just as I was about to look away something caught my eye. I squint my eyes, looking at the purple spot on her arm just under her armpit.

"That looks pretty bad." I wince as I look at it.

She catches my stare and moves away. "Yeah, you know me, clumsy Marissa." She chuckles.

"You girls ready to go?" Hunter appears at the door. He stops in his track and looks at Marissa, eyeing her up and down.

"Woah there, buddy. You lost something?" I wave my hand in front of Hunter's face.

"Huh?" Hunter shakes his head. "Nothing let's go."

Marissa and I look at each other, furrowing our eyebrows and brushing it off as we walk out of my room.

The sound of our heels hitting the floor makes Jax turn around. We lock eyes immediately and he smiles at me, bringing me into his arms.

"You look stunning." He whispers in my ear.

"And you look very handsome." I tell him.

"Dad!" Hunter calls out for him. "We're leaving now!" His footsteps are heard down the stairs.

"Wow, you all look amazing." My dad says, reaching into his pocket. "Come on, let me take some pictures."

Groaning, Hunter shakes his head. "We're already running late, dad."

"Stop whining. Emma, Marissa, get in."

We all huddle up together and smile as the camera flashes multiple times.

"Okay, that's enough. Let's get going." Hunter demands.

"Bye, Mr. Delgado." Jax says. "Happy New Year."

Marissa walks to him saying her goodbyes. I give him a hug and kiss his cheek. "Happy New Year, dad."

When we arrived at the party everyone was already wasted off their minds. We all headed to the kitchen to get ourselves drinks and I immediately spot Nick.

"Hey." I smile, giving him a hug.

Marissa walks to him and he wraps his arms around her. She squirms under his touch and moves away, grabbing a beer. "How's the party?" She asks him.

"It's not bad, glad you're here." Nick says. He moves to her and kisses her cheek.

"I need a drink." Hunter mutters from next to me.

"You okay?" I ask him. He seemed distracted.

"Yeah, I'm good." He pours himself a drink. He looks over at Jax who's to my right and calls out for him. "Backyard?"

Jax nods. "You got it?"

"Yeah, come on."

"We'll be back." Jax says to me.

"Can I come?" I ask Hunter.

"Nah, we'll be back just stay here."

Hunter moves away and walks out of the kitchen. Jax notices how confused I looked and kisses my cheek.

"We're just going to smoke. We'll be back." He assures me.

I nod, kissing him and let him wander off. I pour myself a shot and chug it down, scrunching my nose as I feel a burning sensation in my throat.

"Let's go dance!" Marissa grabs my arm, leaving Nick's side and drags me out of the kitchen.

"What about Nick?" I ask. She shrugs, not answering. We get to the living room where everyone was scattered around dancing.

Moving my hips to the music, Marissa dances around me, losing herself in the rhythm. My feet were starting to ache as I danced around and I was already starting to feel my makeup drip off.

We danced around for another twenty minutes before Marissa ran off to get us drinks. I was currently dancing, lost in my own world when I felt a pair of hands wrap themselves around my waist.

"Drunk are we?" Jax's voice sends chills down my back as he whispers in my ear. I could smell a familiar scent on him.

"Not even close!" I shout.

We sway to the music, grinding against each other and I smile to myself as I get filled with happiness to have Jax here with me.

I turn to him, wrapping my arms around his neck and we continue to dance. His eyes were droopy and red as we locked eyes, staring deeply into each other.

He brings me closer and my eyes drift over to see Marissa with tears running down her face and Nick chasing after her.

"Give me a minute, I'll be back." I tell Jax, pushing myself off of him and rushing off in the direction that I saw Marissa and Nick go.

I go down the stairs and let the harsh cold air hit my exposed skin. Chattering my teeth, I spot Marissa and Nick arguing down a couple of houses from where the party is.

I walk to them in pain as my feet dip into my heels and as I get closer I can hear their loud voices as they scream into each other's faces.

I've never seen them fight before. They always seem like the perfect couple and Marissa likes keeping her relationship private, even from me.

As they see me approach them they immediately stop yelling and Marissa smiles at me with tears running down her face.

I could see the pain lingering around her eyes. "Hey, what's going on?" I fill the silence.

"Nothing," Nick speaks harshly. "Go back to the party and mind your business."

Marissa looks behind me and suddenly Jax appears at my side.

"Don't talk to her like that." Jax demands.

"Look man I don't want any problems, just back off." Nick responds. "I'm talking to my girlfriend."

"It's okay, Emma. You guys go in, I'll be there in a bit." She tells me with a smile that doesn't quite reach her eyes.

"No, it's not okay." I step forward. "Come on, Marissa let's go back in." I grab her arm only to have Nick shove me back and step in front of her.

If Jax wasn't there to catch my fall I would have went crashing down to the floor in seconds. Jax moves away from me and grabs Nick by the collar, shoving him against a tree.

"Jax!" I yelled.

"IF YOU LAY HANDS ON EMMA AGAIN I SWEAR YOU WON'T LIVE TO SEE TOMORROW!" Jax's voice roars as he shouts into Nick's face with rage.

One side of me was proud to see Jax stand up for me and the other feared for Nick. Jax brings his fist and connects it with his face, earning a shrieking noise from Marissa.

I bring Marissa into my arms and hug her tightly before pulling away and interlocking our hands.

"Jax, enough come on!" I shout as he continues to hit Nick.

Nick coughs in pain, spitting on the floor as blood spills out from his mouth and nose. He rushes to our side and immediately cups my cheek.

"Are you okay?" He asks me.

"Am I okay?" I scoff. "Are you okay?" I look at his bruised knuckles.

He shrugs. "Don't worry about me." He looks at Marissa and furrows his eyebrows with worry all over his face. "What'd he do?"

She only shakes her head, looking down at the floor and stays quiet. I look at Jax with a worried expression and press my lips together.

"We should go home," I tell Jax. "Call Hunter and let him k-"

"No." Marissa speaks. "Let's stay. We came to celebrate, that's what we're doing." She wipes her face and shrugs my hand off. Walking ahead, I look over at Jax.

"What about him?" I look at Nick. He was sitting on the ground trying to stop his nose from bleeding

"Leave him there. The garbage truck should pass by soon." Jax says.

Chuckling, we walk back to the party and I spot Marissa sitting down by herself. I let Jax know I was going to go talk to her and he tells me he'll be in the basement where his friends were.

"Hey!" I shout over the music. Of course she chose to sit right next to the speakers. She stays frozen in spot, completely zoned out. "Let's go upstairs!"

I grab her hand and guide us up the stairs. We excuse ourselves as we walk past people who were sitting on the stairs and reach the top.

Spotting the bathroom, I lead us in and lock the door behind us.

"Don't worry, I'm not gonna kill you." I joke. She stays quiet, looking off into the distance.

It was strange seeing her so off balance with herself. It was like she shut the off button and turned herself off.

"You want to talk about what happened?" I ask.

Her lip quivers and within seconds she's bawling her eyes out, covering her face as she gasps for air.

"Shh, it's okay just breathe. It's okay." I rub her back as she sits on the toilet.

"It hurts so bad." She finally speaks.

From downstairs I can hear shouting and everyone begins counting down.

"I hate him so much!" She cried.

My heart clenched as I watched her break down in front of me and her body shook.

Ten I hear everyone shout from below us.

"Gosh, he disgusts me." Marissa cries. "I don't even know why I put up with it."

Nine.

"Marissa what did he do?" I questioned.

Eight. They continue.

She shook her head and looked up at me with her mascara all over her cheeks and her eyes stained with pain.

Seven.

"It doesn't matter."

Six.

"It does," I nod. "It matters so much."

Five.

Her dress lifts up as she squirms around on the seat and a bright purple bruise on her thigh immediately caught my attention.

"Marissa..." I trail off.

Four.

"D-Did he...did he hurt you?" My eyes began to water.

She stays quiet, not moving once again.

Three.

"Marissa answer the question. Has he ever hurt you before?"

Two.

"Marissa, please tell me. Did he hit you?"

One.

"Yes."