That night when my dad came home we talked all night about Marissa and Nick. Jax and I thought it was best to tell him about what was going on. That and we couldn't really explain the broken vase and blood on the wall we didn't clean off.

He explained it wasn't an easy case and there would be nothing against Nick without Marissa testifying against him; which she wouldn't do.

"How is there nothing we can do? Couldn't she get a restraining order?" Jax asks my dad.

My dad shrugs. "She needs to get a lawyer involved, tell her family, get a court hearing, it's a whole process."

"What if we get her to change her mind? Then can we get one?" I ask.

"Even if she does it all depends on the evidence. You said his dad has the resources to bail him out of whatever, then best of luck to her. It's the judges decision in the end not ours. Stuff like this isn't easy especially if she doesn't want to get the cops involved."

"Man," Hunter slams his hand on the table. "This is fucked up. How could they just let him get away with this? He abused her for fucks sake and he shoved Emma!"

"I'm not saying it's right but this is how it is for many cases, some even have it worse. I suggest making sure this boy is far away from Marissa. If he tries to contact her again you let me know and I'll see what I can do." My dad gets up from the stool and scratches his head.

"Okay, thanks dad." I say.

He nods, drinking his last bit of coffee before excusing himself. Jax, Hunter and I stay quiet, lost of words as we try to think of any possible solution.

"I could kill him." Hunter clenches his jaw.

"I'll help." Jax speaks.

"You aren't killing anyone." I respond.

"Are you going to talk to Marissa?" Hunter asks.

"I promised her I wouldn't say anything." I shrug. "She's going to hate me."

"She's not going to hate you. Sure, she'll be mad but she's your best friend, she knows we just want the best for her."

I nod, running a hand through my hair and I get up from my seat. "I'm going to go shower and then go to bed."

"Don't wake Marissa up." Hunter says.

After my shower I threw extra blankets on the floor and pillows for Jax and I to sleep on. There was no way we'd be going to school tomorrow.

I was fixing the sheets when Jax came in. "Why don't you sleep with her on your bed?" He asks. "I'll take the floor."

I shake my head. "I want to let her sleep. Plus, she kicks a lot."

Hunter walks in with a blanket in hand and a pillow under his arm. He throws it on the floor and sits down besides me.

"What are you doing?" I furrow my eyebrows.

"Going to sleep."

"Go sleep in your room."

"No, I'm fine here. You can sleep there if you want." He tells me.

"Is it because of Jax and I beca-"

"No," he cuts me off. "It's not you. It's her." He looks at Marissa. "I just want to make sure she's okay."

"Hey, man you got some drool right over here." Jax points to his face as he chuckles.

"Shut the fuck u-"

"Both of you idiots shut up before you wake her up." I scowl at them.

"Too late." Marissa speaks from the bed.

We bring our attention to her as she turns to face us and smiles at Hunter. Jax comes to sit down and we all gather together.

"So, listen," I begin. "I know you said you didn't want the police involved but-"

"She told her dad didn't she?" She looks at Jax with a blank expression. He nods, followed by Marissa groaning and sitting up on the bed. "Of course she did."

"I know and I'm sorry but what else were we supposed to do?"

"Nothing. You were supposed to do nothing, I told you I wanted to leave this situation alone." She responds.

"You can't just ignore it and hope it goes away, Nick can always come back. He'll go to your house and your school. For fucks sake Marissa, think logically."

"This is the way I'm choosing to deal with it I don't understand why you can't accept that. It's my problem, not yours, mine. If I need help I'll be sure to let you know." She gets up from the bed and walks around the bed sheets, storming out of the room.

"I'm going to talk to her." I say, getting up.

"No, let me." Hunter says, standing.

I sit back down and watch as he walks over the blankets to leaves my room. I could hear their muffled voices through the hallway as they spoke.

Jax comes my way and wraps his arms around me. "She'll be fine. Don't worry so much, she knows how to handle herself."

"I know, but I'm scared for her. You never know when Nick will show up at her house or follow her around. We've know Nick since middle school he's never been one to hurt a fly."

"I guess you never really know someone." Jax says. I stay quiet under his touch and wonder what my future would be like with Jax in it. "You know, I'd never hurt you."

"I know." I nod.

"Physically or emotionally. I'll never hurt you, Emma."

I turn to face him. "I know, Jax."

"I never want to be that person who breaks your heart." He tells me. "That's why...that's why I wanted to talk about Hopkins."

I sigh, moving back from him but he only pulls me forward. "Don't, not now please. We already discussed this and it's final, you're going."

"What if I don't?"

"What?" I furrow my eyebrows. "Don't be stupid. This is your life we're talking about."

"My life is with you."

"Jax," I let out a breath. "Be serious."

"I am being serious."

"You can't just give up going to college because you want to stay with me. As much as I want you to stay, you have to go." I fix my position and cross my legs as I stare at him fiddle with his hands.

"I'm not giving up college. I'll just go to one here, somewhere closer." His voice comes out low.

"Hopkins is a really good school." I respond.

"So is the one in Newton."

I shake my head, not knowing how to respond. He shifts over to me and unwraps my legs, coming closer to me and lays his hands on my thighs.

"Marry me."

My eyes go wide as those words left his mouth. I could feel my body go cold and shivers go down my back as he stared at me waiting for an answer.

Jax just asked me to marry him.

A thousand things were running through my head. We were so young. I was still in high school and he was getting ready to leave for college.

This would ruin so many things. What if as time goes on he realizes he made a mistake?

"Emma?" He waves his hand in front of my face. "Say something."

"Uhm," I let out. "I-I, uhm...what?"

He presses his lips together, and looks at me with a sincere expression. "Marry me." He repeats.

"Jax, I...I can't." I shake my head.

"Look," he sighs. "Just think about it, we love each other and if I stay things are going to be so good for us and we don't have to get married right away just-"

"Jax, stop." I shake my head. "You can't just ask me to marry you out of the blue and think I'll just say ye-"

I stop myself as Jax takes out a small black box from his pocket with the words pandora carved and opens it. The shiny crystal shines back at me as I look down at it and my eyes begin to tear.

"I bought it a couple of days ago." He says, looking up at me. "I know it's not much but I'm going to replace it as soon as I can with a better one. I wanted to take you out to dinner and I was going to propose, do a whole big thing." He chuckles, tears forming in his eyes. "I'm not asking you to marry me just because of the college thing. I want to be with you and build a life with you."

"I get that but we have our whole lives ahead of us. Why can't we be together and stop rushing everything, just enjoy the time we have." I say as a tear rolls down my cheek.

He closes the box and slowly begins to put it away but I stop him. I reach for it and hold it in my hands, opening it.

"I'm not saying no." I tell him and a shine of hope flashes in his eyes. "I'm just saying that we should wait. It doesn't mean I don't want to marry you."

"I don't get what the point of waiting is if we're going to keep being together. It's going to happen either way, we're getting married." He assures me.

"I know, baby. I know, we are." I take the ring out of the box and put it on my finger. I smile as I stare at it and lean in to kiss him.

"Just say yes." He says against my lips.

"Jax." I pull back, cupping his cheek.

"Emma." He smirks.

I sigh, looking between his lips and eyes. "If I say yes, no one can know. Not Hunter, not my dad or your mom. No one."

"It'll be our little secret." He smiles wide.

"Then yes," I kiss him. "I'll marry you."