I'm hot. And sweaty. Austin is the definition of warmth, his body always radiating heat like a furnace. His words, his touch, hell, his entire demeanor, constantly singeing my body, heart, and soul.

It's hours after our.. ahem, activities, and we're both still wide awake. We lay wrapped together, tangled in the sheets. The moon casts dim lighting through the slits of the blinds, covering us in its white hue. Austin's palm strokes my back and his quiet, deep chuckle vibrates in his chest beneath my cheek.

"Nah, I was a nerd in high school. Braces, glasses, the whole nine yards," He says.

I tilt my head back and meet his eyes, my brow raised in amusement. "I have a very hard time believing that. I mean... look at you."

Austin's lip twitches. "Are you flirting with me?"

I roll my eyes. "Please, you know you're hot as hell. That ego on the other hand..."

"Yeah, that was nonexistent back then, too," He snorts.

"That's too bad."

"Careful," Austin pinches my waist. I twist his nipple in return, laughing when he lets out a sharp hiss.

When we both have our hands to ourselves, he asks, "What about you? What were you like in school?"

I sigh and mull it over. "Unapproachable, maybe? I don't know, I guess I was a loner. I didn't have friends, more like acquaintances that I'd drink with at parties. And even then it's not like we'd swap life stories."

"Was it hard? Keeping up with classes while shit was so unstable at home?"

"Yeah," I whisper. "I kind of gave up towards the end. I slowly started to realize that Dad's addiction was getting worse and since that affected him keeping a job, it was time for me to step up and be the one to help out with bills and stuff."

Austin's hand slides up my back and rests on the base of my neck. I sigh when his fingers slowly massage my scalp. "You shouldn't have had to do that. I'm sorry."

I shrug. "That's why I'm so hard on Savannah about school, ya know? I don't want her to follow in mine or our parents' footsteps. I want her to actually finish school and go to college. To get out of this town and make something out of herself."

Quietly he asks, "And what about you?"

I roll over and splay myself across his body, my elbow resting on his chest with my head in my hand. "What about me?"

His eyes search mine curiously. "Have you ever thought about going back to school? Getting your G.E.D? Taking a few classes at the community college?"

For a moment, I'm stunned. The thought had never

even crossed my mind. But then again, that's how my brain had always operated; I usually tended to put myself and my wants last, and had never thought twice about it.

"Uh oh, the wheels are turning," He teases. "Talk to me, what's going on in that pretty head of yours?"

I'm quiet for a second, my thoughts running a mile a minute. And then I lean forward and place a chaste kiss on Austin's lips.

"You make me feel like I can do anything," I tell him honestly.

"Because you can," He says immediately, reverently. "You just have to want it bad enough."

When Austin and I finally drift off to sleep hours later, I dream of a future that's more brighter and hopeful than the one that I had originally painted for myself.

One that includes him.

——

I wake to a soft kiss being placed on my lips. My eyes flutter open sleepily, stinging with the tell-tale sign of sleep deprivation. When my vision comes into focus, Austin appears, sitting on the edge of the bed, fully clothed.

"How are you awake right now?" I mumble, nuzzling my face into his open palm when he brushes my hair from my face.

He lets out a deep chuckle. "I forgot I set a meeting with the assistant manager for whenever I got back. Gotta head up to Vice and go over the report he made while I was gone."

His words wash over me like a bucket of freezing cold water. At the mention of Scott my body involuntarily tenses. The panic that I'd felt after my run-in with him, as well as the paranoia that I experienced yesterday well-up inside me, feeling me with dread.

"Hey, hey, what's wrong?" Austin asks, his hand turning my cheek towards him. His eyebrows are furrowed in concern and his face is tinged with questions.

Questions that I absolutely do not have the answers to.

"Nothing," I say. My mouth feels dry and my throat feels tight.

"Baby, you're shaking," Austin points out.

I blink. I hadn't even realized.

I sit up, clutching the sheets to my naked chest. "I'm fine, but Scott..."

"Aria," Austin warns when I trail off.

"He... the security cameras probably got some of it, but-"

"Did he touch you?" He grits out, his words sharp like knives.

I swallow. "No, he just.. he was an asshole, and then he cornered me in the storage room and-"

"I'll take care of him," Austin says, jumping to his feet.

I watch as pulls out his phone, fires off a text, and grabs his car keys that he left on my nightstand.

"Wait, what are you gonna do?" I ask.

"First I'm gonna fire him, and then I'm gonna kick his fucking ass in the parking lot," He grunts, shoving his phone in his pocket.

"I.. uh- okay? But-"

Austin cuts me off, kissing me. "I'll be back later. Lock the door behind me."

And then he's gone.

"Fuck, the drama never seems to end," I mutter.

——

A few hours later, my phone pings with a text.

I release a deep sigh.

I snort and roll my eyes.

Shaking my head, I set my phone down with a smile before turning to the manila folder laid out on the counter in front of me.

The mortgage papers Dad had delivered stare up at me as I try to decode the big words that I don't understand in order to find some sort of loophole that will denounce his warning.

Surely he has to be bluffing, right?

What man with a criminal record as long as my father's would willingly walk into a police precinct and have an eviction notice drawn up?

"Probably the same one who called the cops on himself because he was high out of his mind and thought someone was breaking into the house," I mutter to myself.

Yeah.. on second thought, I'm not taking any chances.

I'm taking a sip of water when suddenly, the front door is abruptly pushed open, but it gets caught on the chain holding it closed.

"What the hell?" I ask, and another voice echoes the same sentiment.

I nearly drop the glass when Mom's face appears in the open gap between the door and the doorframe.

"Aria? What the hell, let me in, dammit," She grumbles.

Pulse racing, I shakily stumble to the door and slide the chain, barely stepping back in time before my mom pushes into the house, a big duffel bag in her arms. Dina follows in behind her, a cigarette hanging from her mouth and a suitcase in hand.

"Mom-" I start, but she cuts me off.

"Where is he?"

She tosses the duffel bag on couch and brings her leg up, hopping as she tries to keep her balance and unzip the riding boot on her foot. My eyes rake over her disheveled frame, her hair frizzy, but brushed, eyes wide and alert as her gaze darts around the house. She wears a tight, long-sleeved v-neck, sans bra, and faded jeans.

Dina plops in the recliner, blowing a flume of smoke into the air. Clearly she didn't feel the need to get as dressed up as mom, if her sweatsuit is anything to go by.

I roam my eyes over mom's frame again, and then it dawns on me. "Are you sober?" I blurt out.

Mom ignores me. "Where's Mark? I didn't see a car out front."

My brain doesn't even register her words. "Where have you been?" I ask.

"I thought you said he was here, Aria. Is he down at that damn casino again? Dammit, Dina, we gotta load up again."

"We just got here! Let me rest my damn legs for a minute," She complains.

Mom smacks her with her boot. "Get up you lazy bitch. If we don't go now, he'll be four-whiskeys deep into Blackjack, gambling all his damn money away."

Dina groans, Mom kicks her, and I just stand there watching it all. Gravel crunches outside, and at the sound of a car pulling into the driveway, Mom instantly perks up and runs to the door.

I follow her, my movements almost robotic. I watch in horror as she flings the door open and Austin's Jeep comes into view. Savannah jumps from the passenger seat once he's in park, her backpack swinging from one shoulder. He must have picked her up from school so she wouldn't have to ride the bus.

"That ain't Mark! Who the hell is that?" Mom shrieks.

Savannah stops in her tracks. "Mom?"

Austin's door slams shut and he approaches the front porch warily. "Aria? What's going on?"

"I don't have time for this. Dina, get your fat ass up and let's go," Mom yells.

"Fuck you, Maeve! I'm tired of you and your shit. Drive your damn self," Dina hollers from the living room.

Anxiety rushes up my chest. My eyes dart from Mom, to Sav, to Austin. To Dina flicking cigarette ashes into the carpet. To the mortgage papers on the counter.

Overwhelmed, I stumble backwards. My throat tightens as panic wells up inside me. As the lies that I've been keeping secret unfold in front of me. As the truth that the only time my parents have ever both been sober at the same time in their entire damn lives is when they both aren't around their children, and instead focused on other things.

It all just becomes too damn much.

Tears sting my eyes, and I gasp for air.

"Aria," Austin calls. Black spots dance across my vision, his stature blurry as he bolts up the stairs and knocks my mom out of the way. I tune out her griping and reach forward, clutching at the hem of his sweatshirt.

Austin backs me into the house and sets me in a chair at the table before dropping to his knees in front of me. "Breathe, baby. C'mon take a deep breath, and let it out slow."

I do as he says, closing my eyes briefly.

"Eyes on me. Hey, c'mon. You're okay, alright? Breathe," He soothes, brushing my hair back.

"I'm sorry," I choke out. "I don't- I don't know what-"

He shushes me. "Hey, look at me. You're okay. I've got you, alright? Block everything else out, it's just you and me right now," He says quietly.

I do as he says, tuning out the sound of Savannah yelling at Mom that she needs to leave.

"You're okay," Austin continues. "Everything's gonna be okay."

I release a shaky breath and pray to God that he's right.

Especially after I finally explain what the hell's going on.

——