I paced up and down my bedroom as I thought about the events earlier at school.

"Fuck sake Sam you just had to say it didn't you?" I muttered angrily to myself as I kicked the bedpost.

"Ow." I winced and sighed, sitting down on my bed.

Reece had been an amazing friend for me the last couple days without asking any questions and being there for me and I just and to fuck it up. It was none of my business to ask yet I did anyway. I was mad at myself for letting my curiosity over take me minding my own fucking business.

Noticing that sitting here dwelling on something that I can't change I decided to text him.

No reply.

It's not that I was expecting an instantly reply but Reece is the quickest replier I know as he always had his phone on him, so for nearly an hour to go by without a reply was weird.

I let out a heavy sigh and leaned into the head board. I glanced out the window and realised it was pissing it down with rain. I loved that feeling when you're tucked up in bed in the warm and its pouring rain outside. To take my mind off things, I had a bath and was just changing into my pyjamas when I heard a bang on the front door. Groaning, I speed changed into some pyjama shorts and a baggy t-shirt.

Attractive, I know.

I jogged down the stairs and peered through the door to see a male figure but I couldn't see clearly through the rain. "Who is it?" I yelled.

I wasn't about to be one of those dumb girls in every single horror movie who just lets a stranger in home alone.

"Let me in Sammy its fucking freezing."

I instantly opened the door at the sound of his voice and he burst in, shivering from the cold. Reece stood there wearing a red hoody with the hood up and black joggers. He was soaking wet from head to toe.

I raised an eye brow with a small smile. "Is it raining by any chance?"

He rolled his eyes and shivered. "One minute." I ran upstairs to grab some towels and the hoody of his that I kept from the night of Belle's party and a pair of joggers from my dad's room and came back down. I halted in place on the stairs when Reece stood there in just his underwear. My eyes slowly travelled down from his soaking we hair, which just flopped on his head to his extremely toned and tanned chest. My eyes travelled further and then I shook my head.

Snap out of it Sam.

I shook my head of all the dirty thoughts and walked over to him, passing him the towels and clothes. "Thanks." He murmured and I turned around as he dried himself off.

Reece chuckled lowly. "I'm not naked Sammy, you don't have to turn around."

I scoffed. "Sorry I'm not a perv."

He tapped me on the shoulder and spun me around. "Did you walk here or something?" I questioned, wondering why he didn't drive and why he was even here in the first place.

He shook his head. "I was on a run and then it started pissing it down."

I raised a brow. "On a run the other side of town from where you live?" I asked dryly.

"Well not exactly." He stared at the floor and then back at me. "I was jogging and then saw your text."

"Oh."

Reece shivered again and I rolled my eyes at him being a baby. I grabbed his hand and pulled him upstairs and laughed as he climbed into bed and pulled the covers up to his chin like a little kid. I'd slept in his bed and his slept in mine so it wasn't really weird anymore. I stood at the end of the end of the bed prancing between both feet.

Reece patted the space beside him and I walked to sit next to him. I also got under the covers as it was pretty cold and I held back the shiver as his leg touched mine.

"I'm sorry." I blurted out. "I know it was none of my business but I sort of got carried away with the game and asked something that had nothing to do with me."

"Sam-"

"I'm sorry if it upset you and-"

"Sammy shut up." Reece laughed and I was a little taken back. I assumed he was mad at me after walking, more like storming off.

I furrowed my brows at him. "So you aren't pissed at me?"

He shook his head and his hair flapped. "I was mad at that dickhead Adam." He paused, like he was deciding if he should tell me something or not as his eyebrows scrunched together. "My step brother Adam, well used to be step brother."

My eyes widened. "Step brother?!"

He nodded like he was ashamed. "I'm sorry I stormed off like that, I wanted to be the one to tell you not for him to give you some bullshit story."

"He didn't tell me any story. He turned up last night to say he had nothing to do with what his friends had done and then said that you're the reason his fathers in jail. I didn't even know his dad was in jail, he just told me he didn't know him when we were together."

Reece took a deep breath. "You know when I told you my mum dated an asshole after my dad died?" I nodded. "Well Peter, Adam's dad and my mum started dating during that time." He said his name with utter disgust. "At first, me and Adam got on really well, like brothers actually. For the first time in a long time my mum was actually happy since my dad passed. But after a while, Peter began to get more and more controlling over my mum. He never allowed her to see her friends and completely isolated her from everyone."

He looked down at the bed. "And then he started getting violent. It started with pushes and then he fully started beating her when he didn't get his own way. I was only 10 when I met him and this was before Ellie was born. At first, me and Adam had no idea this was going on until I began noticing the bruises on mum. She tried to cover them but I could always see when she wasn't happy. So one day I was sleeping in bed and I could hear crashing about in their bedroom. I jumped out of bed and saw my mum lying against the wall. The bastard had fucking threw her against the wall." Reece's throat clenched and I smiled softly, placing my hand on top of his and lightly squeezing it. He wrapped his fingers around mine in response.

"So I tried to grab my mum and take her somewhere else but he didn't let me. At this point, he had never laid a finger on me but I started to have a go at him. I told him to fuck off out of our life and to leave my mum alone but this really fucking angered him. From that night, he wouldn't just hit my mum but he would also beat me." I could hear the strain in his voice as he said this.

My heart felt like it was bursting out of my chest painfully as he said these words.

"Adam knew briefly about this but Peter never touched his son. My mum didn't know he was hurting me, she never did until the end. I used to anger him just so he would hurt me instead of her. I wanted him to get all of his anger out on me so he wouldn't feel the need to touch her but he still did. Peter was friends with the police so would always say if we ever called them he would instantly know and threatened to kill us. Adam had fucked off at this point to live with his mum and left us with that asshole. One day, when I was about 11 I came home from school and he had beaten my mum so bad she was unconscious and something within me snapped. I jumped him and hit him on the head with a lamp. I then called the police on him and they finally took him away."

"So yeah, I am the reason his dad is in jail but he fucking deserved time. He got sentenced to 7 years in prison."

"Oh my god." I murmured. Reece's eyes were slightly glossy and I knew it was difficult for him to bring it up.

I was lost for words. I never knew that Reece had suffered any of this. Instead of saying the same thing that everyone else would have said, I just hugged him. He stiffened at first but hugged me back. I leaned my head on his shoulder and we just stayed like that for a couple moments and it was peaceful.

"I'm so sorry you went through that; no kid should ever have to suffer something like that."

He didn't reply, instead he just hugged me back tighter. After a couple moments, I lifted off him but never removed my hand from his.

"Remember that day a few months ago when you picked me up after that fight?" I nodded. "Well that was with that dickheads brothers. They jumped me out of nowhere." He then gave a teasing smile. "I knocked them both out, but they put up a good fight."

I laughed lightly and remembered back to that night. That was the first night Reece had been in my room and had slept in my bed. Wow that seemed like a long time ago, when in reality it was nearly 2 months ago.

"Why does Adam hate you so much? I mean I understand why you'd hate him but why does he despise you?" I questioned and Reece sighed.

"He hated me for putting his dad away but he didn't understand what his dad was like. He only knew parts of it, never the full story. His dad would feed him with bullshit but I think even that shit bag knew what his dad was capable of, after all he did move out.

After Peter went away, I did some things I wasn't proud of. I started to get into fights with other kids and just got up to shit. That's how I became friends with El and Will."

I raised my eyes. "Really?"

He nodded and chuckled. "Why do you think your dad became my lawyer? He was the one who helped send him away in the first place and then constantly helped me stay out of Juvy." He paused and smiled lightly. "I owe him a lot."

Holy shit. That's why my dad always said he was a good kid and that he had been through a lot. He was very much right.

I smiled at him. "He likes you a lot you know."

Reece nodded. "He's a good man, and a fucking good lawyer."

We sat in a comfortable silence for a few minutes, neither of us feeling the need to say anything. I turned around and smiled to myself to see Reece softly snoring next to me. My hand was still attached to mine as he was holding mine tightly.

As I looked at him, I didn't see the delinquent that the whole town sees him as. I didn't see him as the player that the school saw him as.

To me, I saw him as just Reece. The boy who is an amazing son and big brother. The boy who my entire family and friends love and the boy who in the last couple months has become one of my best friends.

The boy who was always there for me, who always stuck up for me and who could make me feel better and forget about my issues at any time.

The boy who I was petrified of falling for.