Jasper drove her home. She was quiet for the drive. She really had believed she had the upper hand, enough to push Jim to drop the charges so it was difficult to accept that no matter what she had tried to do, nothing was going to change what was happening.

When they got to her house Jasper switched off the car and turned to her.

"You tried Ash, even if it didn't work."

"That doesn't make me feel any better." She let out a heavy sigh. "I made this mess and I can't fix it."

Her eyes lifted to his.

"You didn't make this mess. Jim did. There was no way Mad was going to let that slide. His behaviour wasn't acceptable and he had to know that. All this other crap is irrelevant. Yes. Mad got arrested but we both know he did the right thing."

He was trying to make her feel better but it wasn't working.

"Thanks for your help. I really appreciated it."

"Anytime Ash."

She got out and waved him off.

She was tired and she went indoors. Her phone started to ring. It was her father.

"Hi Dad," she answered, trying to sound happier than she felt.

She missed him and while she felt so tired she spent half an hour talking to him about a little of everything. He was getting excited about his new job and it made her nervousness that he would be so far away. She had always gotten on better with him, he had always been easier to deal with than her mom. Perhaps it was because they were so similar.

After she ended the call she noticed a note on the fridge. Her mother had left some food inside the fridge. She had a late meeting so she wouldn't be home until later.

She knew her mom was secretly seeing someone. All the late night meetings and coming home late wasn't because of her work. But she had to let her mom figure out when it was the right time to come clean.

She wondered it if was time to tell her parents about Maddox.

For so long she had wished for quiet, but the emptiness of her house was lonely, especially when she was feeling so low.

She went upstairs to her room and tried to get through some homework before she got ready for bed.

It was later when she was sitting in her bed contemplating what had happened today she tried to call Maddox again but it went straight to voicemail.

The silence on his part was difficult to deal with. Why hadn't he returned her call? She reminded herself that he had a lot on his plate and she needed to be patient.

She went downstairs and tried to eat something but she was too worked up.

The was a knock. She found herself at the front door and she slowly opened.

Maddox stood on her doorstep. He smiled.

"You're here," she murmured, like she wasn't sure she was sleeping and dreaming this.

"I'm here." He reached for her hand.

"But you got arrested. What happened?"

He rubbed the back of his neck. "It's over."

"I don't understand." Realising they were having this conversation on her door step she invited him and closed the door. "What happened?"

"From what I understand, it was because of you."

"You're not making any sense. What happened?" she questioned. She was tired and he wasn't making any sense.

"Jasper said you made him help you confront Jim"

She nodded. "But it didn't work."

"It did, they dropped the charges."

Had she heard him right? They had dropped the charges?

"How? Jim said he wasn't going to drop them. What happened?"

"Logan."

"What does he have to do with this?" She was still annoyed with him and how he had stuck by his friend. She had been deeply disappointed him.

"He was the only witness to the assault, he was also the only reason they were able to press charges."

"So why did they drop them?" She felt like she was having to drag every detail out of him.

"Logan went to the cops this afternoon. He told them Jim threw the first punch. It means I was within my right to defend myself."

"But that's not how it happened." The only bloodied part of Maddox she had seen had been his fists.

He shook his head. "Jim never had a chance to throw a punch."

"But I don't get it. Why would Logan lie?"

"I don't know. All I know is that after you went to talk to Jim he went straight to the cops afterward and lied."

She scratched her head trying to figure out why he would do that? He had said nothing during the whole interaction with Jim. He had been difficult to read but no matter how much she tried to think back she couldn't figure out what had changed his mind.

"But the main thing is they aren't pressing charges and that means I get to go to prom and graduate."

She smiled and hugged him. His hands gently rested on her back.

"I'm scared to touch your back."

"The bruises will heal. It's not that bad." But she knew that if they had been in a bedroom away from other people, things might have ended differently.

"Are you sure? Its okay if you're not."

She released him. "I don't want to make it a big thing. He tried to kiss me and when I made it clear I wasn't going along with it he pushed me. End of story. Let's not make this bigger than it is."

But the truth was it had affected her more than she had initially realised. She didn't want Jim to have any power of her so she needed to let go of the feeling of helplessness and hold onto the power she had felt momentarily when she had confronted him over it.

While she might not have gone to the cops and made a whole legal deal over it, people would know what he did to her. It would follow him and maybe that would be enough to keep him line.

He cradled her face and studied her. "I hate that he put his hands on you."

She covered his hands with hers. "I'm fine."

He kissed her and she let him. Her mouth opened and he thrust his tongue against hers. Their kiss deepened and she moved her hands to his biceps.

Then he sighed as he moved his mouth from hers.

"Why did you stop?" she asked softly.

"Because I can't stay long. I have to get home. Even though the charges have been dropped my parents are not happy with me." He ran a hand through his hair. "I'll see you are school tomorrow."

Did they know she was the reason behind it? She already had the feeling his mom didn't like her much and if she knew that she was responsible for this it wouldn't only make things worse.

"We still need to talk about how quickly you believed I would betray you."

He nodded. "I have a lot to make up for."

"You do." She nodded. "And I'm going to enjoy every moment of it."

The feeling that spread thought her chest when he smiled left no doubt that she was well and truly in love with him.

"I'll call you later," he said, pressing his lips to hers before he headed to the door.

"Mad," she said.

He stopped and looked back at her. He had never looked more handsome than he did in that moment.

She swallowed the words on the tip of her tongue. "Don't forget to think about all the ways you are going to make it up to me."

"I wont." He winked and left.

Her heart stuttered and restarted. She put her hand out to the wall to steady herself, her knees suddenly felt weak.

She was learning how powerful love was but in that same thought she understood the devastation that would be left without it. Taking a deep breath she exhaled trying to stave off the panic that this intense thing she shared with Maddox had a time limit on it. Soon he would leave and she would be left behind.

The fear is what kept her from facing it head on. If she pretended it wasn't looming in their future she could enjoy whatever time she had left with him. She wanted to prolong this feeling of euphoria for as long as she could.