My mouth was frozen shut.

"Lilly, is this the truth?" Clara asked me, her voice one level away from a shriek.

"Wait, Rome, he hits her? Like he physically hits her?" Samuel asked, just one second after Clara spoke.

Roman's eyes were glued to mine, and I wasn't sure what he was trying to say with them. He looked like he realized he had just made a serious decision, telling Clara and Samuel the whole story, but he didn't necessarily look like he had made a mistake.

"No, no... fuck, no. I need to go right now, I need to go kill him," Clara said, starting to walk to the door.

"You knew this and he's still walking?" Samuel asked Roman, holding out a hand to stop Clara from leaving.

"I don't know the specifics. She didn't tell me, I just put two and two together," Roman explained, breaking eye contact with me and shaking his head.

"Lilly," Clara rushed towards me, "are you okay? When did this happen? Was it this weekend when he was mad at you?"

I lowered my head, covering it with my hands. This is exactly what I didn't want. I didn't want these questions, I didn't want the look in Clara's eyes that I knew she would wear. If I had to tell her, I had to relive it, I had to make it real. If I didn't say anything, if it was only my secret, it's like it never happened.

Isn't it?

"I think it's been happening for longer than that," Roman let out, coming back to the bed I was still laying in.

I looked up when I felt him sit on then bed, and the anger took over. I raised both my hands, pushing against his chest as hard as I could. I barely noticed the stabbing pain that shot through the wounds on my hands, the burning sensation that ripped through them.

"You said I could trust you!" I spat at him. How could he?

"Lilac..." Roman started, but Clara interrupted him.

"Lilly, you can't be mad at him. He was right to tell us. You can' be around him, especially not when he realizes you know that he doesn't have anything on you," Clara said, making me even angrier.

"You're taking his side?" I gasped at her.

"Yes, babe, I am," Clara grabbed my hands, holding me around the wrist. "You could have told me. Oh my god, all the times I left you alone with him. He's a monster."

I looked back to Roman, who had stood up. Even though my push didn't have enough force to actually move him, I guess he got the hint.

"Rome, why are we standing here? Let's do what we were supposed to do weeks ago, and go put an end to these guys. They fucking deserve it! He put his hands on your girl!" Samuel was speaking only to Roman, acting as if Clara and I were no longer here. "On your girl, Rome. You can't let that go."

My breath hitched at the use of his words. Your girl, I wasn't Roman's girl... was I?

Roman sighed, he turned back to me, that same fire in his eyes that I've learned to know from him. Though, it wasn't like the fire in Jesse's eyes. If the fire in Jesse's eyes made me scared to be burned, the fire in Roman's eyes was the opposite. It was like seeing a fire in the middle of winter, it made me want to stick my hands close to it, and steal the warmth for myself.

He didn't speak for a beat, but I could see the way his jaw was tensing.

He turned back to Samuel, "you don't think that's what I want? You don't think I've been dying to beat him ever since I found out? You don't think my fist is aching for the feel of his chin? Of course I want to. She doesn't want me to, for whatever reason. I can't do it unless she wants me to. I've done enough messing up her life already."

"Lilly," Clara pulled me back to focus on her. "When did this happen?"

I kept my mouth shut. I've been so desperate to keep this secret for years. I couldn't just freely speak about it now. I couldn't tell her what she wanted to know.

"Lilly, you have to tell me. Was it just once?" Clara urged me. When I still didn't speak, she continued. "Okay, okay. Can you nod, or shake your head? Was it just once?"

I looked into her eyes, the way they were desperate for truth persuaded me to try, for her. I shook my head.

Clara sighed, as if it was the news she was determined not to hear. "Since when? Since after the boating accident?"

I took a deep breath, before shaking my head again.

"Fuck," Clara muttered. "Lilly, I'm so mad at him. I'm so fucking mad at him, I swear to god. We need to tell someone, we should call the police."

"The police?" I finally spoke. "You want to go to Brett's dad, with what evidence?"

When everyone was silent, I tutted. "That's what I thought. And you two," I looked towards Roman and Samuel, "you can't do whatever you're planning on doing to them. You can't assault the chief of police's son."

"Why not?" Samuel asked.

"You'll end up in jail." I said simply.

"We don't care, babe," Roman answered for them. "I'll gladly take a charge to teach them a lesson."

"Me too, both of those pieces of shit need to get what's coming for them. I don't care if I have to do time to give it to them," Samuel added, shrugging his shoulders.

"I care if you're in jail," Clara spoke next, shaking her head.

I noticed the pain in my hands begin to increase, my flesh was starting to throb underneath the bandages. I winced, staring down at them.

"Lilac, are you okay?" Roman seemed to instantly notice my change in expression.

"My hands hurt," I said faintly, frowning.

Roman came back to my side, looking around my nightstand as if he was searching for something. He found it, I guess, in the form of my painkillers. He picked them up, unscrewed the bottle and handed me two of the white pills. With his other hand, he gave me my water bottle.

As I took the pills, everyone was quiet. Everyone seemed to realize the same thing I had been thinking for hours now. We needed a plan, of course, but that plan could simply not be Roman and Samuel giving them the justice they deserved.

"What do we need to do?" Samuel finally asked, glancing at Clara first, then me.

"We need them to leave us alone. We need them to realize that not only do they not have anything on us, but that they won't ever have anything on us ever again." Clara answered first.

"And that we're done with them, completely," I added. It felt like a tall order, one that I wasn't sure was possible. With Brett, maybe, but Jesse? I knew he wasn't going to let me go so easily.

"So, you need something on them?" Roman asked, and his hand returned to my wrist. His touch was so soft on me, so gentle. Like he had been reminded of that fact I was easily broken.

Clara's head titled, like what Roman said had struck a cord. "Like, if we blackmail them?"

"Well, not actively blackmail. But, if you had something that made sure they would leave you guys alone. If not, whatever that something is gets let out," Samuel explained.

"Brett and Jesse are smarter than that," I argued.

"But, maybe not," Clara muttered. "What if the answer is right in front of us?"

"What do you mean?" I asked, not understanding what she meant.

"Well, what if we just get them to admit what they did? We record them admitting that they lied and tried to blackmail us into staying with them. We get Jesse to admit that he put his hands on you?" Clara explained, and I let her digest her words in my mind.

She was right, it could work. The only problem...

"Lilac isn't going to be alone with him," Roman saw the problem instantly.

"I don't like it as much you, but it might be the easiest way," Clara looked sideways at me, her eyes looked they were regretting the words as she said them.

"I can do it," I assured them. "Just... we have to do it somewhere I can get away from him. Once he realizes what I've done, that I'm finally going to leave him for good..." I let my voice trail off, the fear of what Jesse might do sinking in.

"Hey," Roman whispered instantly, "no, you don't have to do this. We can think of another way."

"Rome, we'll be right there. We'll be close, he won't touch her again." Samuel assured him.

Roman didn't look convinced, he raised his hand to my face, gently stroking my cheek before sliding one his thumbs down my lips. "I don't like it."

"Me neither," Clara added, "but..."

"It's the quickest way to freedom." I told them.