The following morning I woke up on the floor of my room with Hunter and Jax next to me. Marissa was comfortably sleeping on my bed and I got to wake up with back pain.

We all fell asleep watching TV last night trying to avoid the horrific event that occurred with Nick and Marissa.

Jax filled Hunter in on what happened and he was furious he wasn't there to jump in on the action.

I woke up with my head hurting from all the crying I did last night. After Marissa confessed what Nick had done to her we left the topic alone and continued our night.

She made it clear she didn't want to talk about it. She wanted to have a good time but all night I knew her mind was else where.

I stood up off the floor and walked out into the kitchen. Yawning, I opened the fridge and took out the milk. My stomach growled when my eyes landed on the box of cereal.

Spilling it into the bowl, I pour the milk and put it away before I start to eat it.

I sat on the stool lost in my thoughts when Marissa came into the kitchen scratching her head.

"Good morning." She yawns.

"Hey." I give her a small smile. I stay quiet watching as she pours herself cereal. She throws out the empty box of milk and sits down across from me.

We eat in silence, tension building up between us. She looks up at me from time to time, chewing on her cereal.

"You're being weird." She speaks.

"What?" I stare at her.

"I said you're being weird." She says again. "Since last night, why?"

"Uhm," I swallow. "I'm not being weird."

"You are." She nods. "It's weird."

"I'm not weird, nothing is weird." I shrug, continuing to eat my cereal.

"It's the whole Nick thing." She looks at me with a blank expression. "It's fine, we can talk about it."

"We don't have to." I tell her. "I mean, if you aren't ready or you don't want to talk about it, I understand."

"Do you, though?" She questions. "Do you really understand?"

I shrug, putting my spoon down. "No, not really. I mean, why? Why did you stay with him? How long has this been happening? Are you okay? Do your parents know? I have so many questions, I feel like you've been hiding this huge secret from me."

"I know it's a lot." She nods, tucking her hair behind her ear. "And I'll answer everything, just, I feel like I owe Jax and your brother an explanation too. Can we wait until they wake up?"

I nod. She finishes her cereal and gets off the stool, putting the bowl in the sink. Before she walks away I call after her. "Were you happy? With Nick, I mean, were you ever happy with him?"

She stays quiet, thinking of what to say before looking up at me with tears in her eyes.

"Yes," she nods. "At first."

- -

[There should be a GIF or video here. Update the app now to see it.]

"I feel like I owe you guys an explanation about last night, especially to you Jax. You didn't have to jump in." Marissa say as we're all gathered around.

"You don't owe us anything." Jax tells her. "I jumped in because he had no right to touch Emma and I would have done the same for you." He stops and looks at me. "If you aren't comfortable talking about what happened we get it."

She nods, taking a deep breath and fiddles with bracelets. As she tries to find the right words to say, I take the opportunity to say something.

"Did he hurt you last night?"

She shakes her head. "No, uhm, the bruises you saw are old."

"How old?" I look at Hunter and see him clenching his jaw. "Because it's clearly not that old if they're still visible."

"Hunter." My voice comes out harsh.

"It's okay, Emma." She looks at me and I give her a sad smile. "Uhm, he was never really physically with me. Our relationship has always been great but I guess I started noticing his behavior change about two months ago."

"Change how?" Hunter asks.

"He became aggressive with his words and then he started hitting me. He'd only hit me when he drank though and it started slowly. It would be a shove here and there and then he started pushing me against walls. He would slap, punch, kick me. I tried telling my parents a bunch of times but he threatened to kill me if I ever told anyone."

"Did you believe him?" I ask. "About hurting you if you told anyone?"

She nods, wiping her eyes. "Yeah, I was terrified."

"If he didn't hurt you last night then what happened?" Jax asks.

"He gave me a ring." She takes it out from the sweatpants I had let her borrow. She holds up the ring Nick had showed me on our trip to New York. "I only really wear it around him but I didn't want to wear it last night. He noticed I didn't have it on and he got angry. He was already drinking even before we got there so you can imagine how he reacted." She chuckles nervously.

We stayed quiet, letting her continue to talk and we watched carefully as she moved around in her seat when his name came out of her mouth.

The way her hands shook as she talked and she let tears out as she recalled moments of the past where he had hit her.

"You could have told me." I was a sobbing mess by the time she finished speaking. I felt a stinging sensation in my throat as I spoke. My vision blurred as tears trickled down my cheeks and splattered on my chest. "I was always a phone call away or any time you were with him that you were scared, I was always here for you."

"I know," she cries. "But you don't get it when he was sober he was the best boyfriend that I could think of even having. He was the guy I met in middle school and promised to love forever. It was when he was drunk that I was scared of him."

"You shouldn't be afraid of the people you love." Hunter says. They look at each other completely out of zone with the world and focused on each other's glance.

"I should probably talk to my dad." I speak.

"No." Marissa is quick to say. "You can't get the police involved, or anyone else for that matter. Promise me you won't tell anyone."

"Marissa I-"

"No, Emma. Even if we go to the police and they believe me his dad will just bail him out and cover his ass." She tells me. "You can't tell anyone, please."

"I-"

"Promise me."

"Okay," I nod. "I promise."

Night came soon enough and Marissa laid on the couch with her eyes shut, surrounded by a blissful sleep. Jax had already went home and Hunter was sitting across from Marissa, watching her sleep.

I found it strange as he just sat there, zoned out, completely trapped in his own thoughts as he watched over her.

"Hunter?" I call out for him. He blinks and looks at me, snapping out of his trance. "You can go sleep if you want. It's late and dad should be home soon."

"Where is he?" He asks, yawning.

"Dinner with Joyce." I say.

He nods, scratching his neck and he gets up from his seat. "I'm going to make coffee, you want some?"

I shake my head. "I'm okay, thanks. Why don't you go sleep?"

"I'm good, you should go rest. I'll watch her." He tells me. He seemed distracted as he talked to me, like he had so much to say but didn't know how.

"Are you okay?"

"Huh?" He asks.

"I asked if you're okay. I know today was a lot and thank you for being here for Marissa."

"Yeah, no problem." He turns on the coffee machine. "I...I feel terrible. She doesn't deserve this."

There was a knock at the door that made me jump five feet into the air. Startled, I was about to speak when another loud bang shook me to the core.

"I'll get it." I say. Hunter shakes his head and grabs my arm. He brings his finger to his lips and turns off the stove. "What are you going? What if it's dad?"

"Shh!" He orders. "Dad has his keys."

My heart starting racing as he guides me to the living room and we see a startled Marissa sitting on the couch, her body shaking.

"I-It's him." She cries.

"EMMA! I KNOW SHE'S IN THERE!" He pounds on the door. "OPEN THE DOOR YOU BITCH!"

"Take Marissa to your room." Hunter demands.

"Wha-"

"Go! I'm right behind you." He says getting frustrated as Nick continues to bang on the door.

"What about you?" Marissa cries. I get her by the hand and pulled her towards my room.

"I'll be fine, just stay with Emma."

We reach my room and I lock the door, pressing my body against it, trying to control my breathing. Marissa's cries echoes loudly throughout my room, her hands shaking as she sits on my bed.

"It's okay, just stay quiet." I try to assure her. She takes long deep breaths, nodding her head at me.

I could hear Nick's loud screams, shouting profanities as he called out for Marissa. I move away from the door and sit by Marissa, holding her hand in my grasp.

"IF YOU COME OUT NOW I PROMISE I WON'T BE MAD!" He yelled out.

"Shut the fuck up and keep your voice down. You're in my house now, I suggest you relax!" Hunter raises his voice but not nearly as loud as Nick's.

In a swift motion, Marissa moves away from me and stands up, rushing to the door and unlocks it.

"What the hell are you doing?" I push against the door before she could open it.

"Let me out, Emma! If I just go with him he'll leave you guys alone." She tries pushing me out of the way but I hold my grip on the handle.

"I'm not letting you go with him!"

"Please, Emma." She cried, tears running down her face. "It's not your problem, please just let me go." Her body gave up and she came crashing down.

Her body connected to the floor and she laid there, clutching herself as she sobbed. Going down to her level, I cried as I saw how broken she was.

She was used to living like this probably going through this every night. I wouldn't know but as I saw her crying her heart out and having her tears all over me, I knew her heart was in pain. She was physically and mentally in pain.

"Marissa, Marissa," I try catching her attention. "Listen to me, okay, you are so strong. You're going to get through this I swear but you can't go out there and you can't give in to him. Okay? You hear me, you're strong."

"No, no I'm not!" She said between sobs. "I hate this so much. He's never going to leave me alone."

A thumping nose came from the distance and I flinched, bringing Marissa into my arms. I tried ignoring the way the floor shook and the sounds of fists clashing together traveled throughout the house.

Suddenly, everything went silence. Marissa has stopped sobbing loudly and held in her breath to stop herself from crying. There was no longer the sound of a struggle going on and the front door slammed shut.

Footsteps echoed through the house and my heart began pounding in my chest as they got closer. The knob turned, shaking rapidly as whoever tried coming in pushed against the door.

"Emma," His voice travels through the door. "Open up, it's me, Hunter."

Letting out a breath, I reach for the door and unlock it, letting a bloody and bruised up Hunter in.

"Fuck, Hunter." I gasp. His nose was dripping with blood and his lip was starting to swell up. Marissa moved away from me and got up, looking at Hunter's face.

She reached her hand up to touch his wounds and he winces under her touch, barely moving away.

"I'm sorry." She wipes her face. I stand up, watching the two of them from behind Marissa.

He chuckles, shrugging. "You should see the other guy."

Marissa let's out a laugh, the first I've heard since yesterday. I frantically grabbed a couple of wet towels and the bottle of rubbing alcohol and lead Marissa and Hunter to the bathroom.

While she was in the bathroom with him cleaning his wounds I took the time to finish preparing the coffee Hunter was making before.

I wipe any fallen tears and take my phone out of my pocket. I wait for the line to ring and just when I hear him pick up the phone I give in, crying all over agin.

"J-Jax." I cried.

"Emma? What happened? Are you okay?" He frantically says.

"It's Marissa," I swallow. "Nick came by and, ugh, it was a mess. Hunter got hurt pretty bad and Marissa's helping him."

"Is Nick still there?"

I shake my head, holding the phone up to my ear. "No, no he left but I just hate seeing Marissa like this, and Hunter," I wipe my nose. "I-It was so bad."

"I'm coming," I hear movement on the other line.

"Okay," I nod. "I love you, text me when you're here."

When Jax finally got here we stayed in my room sipping on coffee and talking as Marissa and Hunter were still in the bathroom.

"Do you think if you talked to your dad maybe he can do something?" Jax asks, his voice coming out hushed.

I shrug. "She doesn't want the police involved."

"Okay, but someone needs to know. She needs help Emma not just with Nick but imagine what's going on in her mind. She's not okay, she's hurting."

"I know," I sigh. "I know." I get up from the bed and put down my coffee. "I'm going to check on Hunter."

Jax follows after me and we go to the bathroom and stand outside the door. Marissa was softly caressing his wounds. Most of the blood was gone now and he was starting to swell around his nose and lips.

"You look like a pucker fish." Jax laughs.

"Hey!" Marissa pouts, giving Jax a glare. Hunter only gives him the finger and goes back to looking at Marissa.

"Who do they remind you of?" I ask, smiling as I look at Jax. I watch them carefully, Hunter gazing into Marissa's eyes.

"Huh?" Jax looks at me.

"Look at them," I point, making sure to keep my voice low. "Don't they remind you of a certain couple?"

He smirks, glancing over at them. "Us?"

"Yeah," I nod. "They remind me of us."

~

The following morning I woke up on the floor of my room with Hunter and Jax next to me. Marissa was comfortably sleeping on my bed and I got to wake up with back pain.

We all fell asleep watching TV last night trying to avoid the horrific event that occurred with Nick and Marissa.

Jax filled Hunter in on what happened and he was furious he wasn't there to jump in on the action.

I woke up with my head hurting from all the crying I did last night. After Marissa confessed what Nick had done to her we left the topic alone and continued our night.

She made it clear she didn't want to talk about it. She wanted to have a good time but all night I knew her mind was else where.

I stood up off the floor and walked out into the kitchen. Yawning, I opened the fridge and took out the milk. My stomach growled when my eyes landed on the box of cereal.

Spilling it into the bowl, I pour the milk and put it away before I start to eat it.

I sat on the stool lost in my thoughts when Marissa came into the kitchen scratching her head.

"Good morning." She yawns.

"Hey." I give her a small smile. I stay quiet watching as she pours herself cereal. She throws out the empty box of milk and sits down across from me.

We eat in silence, tension building up between us. She looks up at me from time to time, chewing on her cereal.

"You're being weird." She speaks.

"What?" I stare at her.

"I said you're being weird." She says again. "Since last night, why?"

"Uhm," I swallow. "I'm not being weird."

"You are." She nods. "It's weird."

"I'm not weird, nothing is weird." I shrug, continuing to eat my cereal.

"It's the whole Nick thing." She looks at me with a blank expression. "It's fine, we can talk about it."

"We don't have to." I tell her. "I mean, if you aren't ready or you don't want to talk about it, I understand."

"Do you, though?" She questions. "Do you really understand?"

I shrug, putting my spoon down. "No, not really. I mean, why? Why did you stay with him? How long has this been happening? Are you okay? Do your parents know? I have so many questions, I feel like you've been hiding this huge secret from me."

"I know it's a lot." She nods, tucking her hair behind her ear. "And I'll answer everything, just, I feel like I owe Jax and your brother an explanation too. Can we wait until they wake up?"

I nod. She finishes her cereal and gets off the stool, putting the bowl in the sink. Before she walks away I call after her. "Were you happy? With Nick, I mean, were you ever happy with him?"

She stays quiet, thinking of what to say before looking up at me with tears in her eyes.

"Yes," she nods. "At first."

- -

"I feel like I owe you guys an explanation about last night, especially to you Jax. You didn't have to jump in." Marissa say as we're all gathered around.

"You don't owe us anything." Jax tells her. "I jumped in because he had no right to touch Emma and I would have done the same for you." He stops and looks at me. "If you aren't comfortable talking about what happened we get it."

She nods, taking a deep breath and fiddles with bracelets. As she tries to find the right words to say, I take the opportunity to say something.

"Did he hurt you last night?"

She shakes her head. "No, uhm, the bruises you saw are old."

"How old?" I look at Hunter and see him clenching his jaw. "Because it's clearly not that old if they're still visible."

"Hunter." My voice comes out harsh.

"It's okay, Emma." She looks at me and I give her a sad smile. "Uhm, he was never really physically with me. Our relationship has always been great but I guess I started noticing his behavior change about two months ago."

"Change how?" Hunter asks.

"He became aggressive with his words and then he started hitting me. He'd only hit me when he drank though and it started slowly. It would be a shove here and there and then he started pushing me against walls. He would slap, punch, kick me. I tried telling my parents a bunch of times but he threatened to kill me if I ever told anyone."

"Did you believe him?" I ask. "About hurting you if you told anyone?"

She nods, wiping her eyes. "Yeah, I was terrified."

"If he didn't hurt you last night then what happened?" Jax asks.

"He gave me a ring." She takes it out from the sweatpants I had let her borrow. She holds up the ring Nick had showed me on our trip to New York. "I only really wear it around him but I didn't want to wear it last night. He noticed I didn't have it on and he got angry. He was already drinking even before we got there so you can imagine how he reacted." She chuckles nervously.

We stayed quiet, letting her continue to talk and we watched carefully as she moved around in her seat when his name came out of her mouth.

The way her hands shook as she talked and she let tears out as she recalled moments of the past where he had hit her.

"You could have told me." I was a sobbing mess by the time she finished speaking. I felt a stinging sensation in my throat as I spoke. My vision blurred as tears trickled down my cheeks and splattered on my chest. "I was always a phone call away or any time you were with him that you were scared, I was always here for you."