After about ten minutes of trying to think of anything other than my father, we pulled into my drive. I burst out of the car and ran for the house, praying that Liam was still over. I threw the door open and spotted him sitting on the sofa playing PlayStation with Jake.

They both glanced up as I came in. Liam grinned at me happily before his face fell. He jumped up from the sofa as I ran to him. “What the hell?” he shouted angrily, glaring at Johnny who came in behind me. I threw myself at him, sobbing. Jeez, I needed him; he was the only thing that kept me sane when my world started to fall apart. He wrapped me tightly in his arms, turning me away from Johnny, his whole body tense and stressed.

“What the hell is going on?” Jake shouted, stepping towards Johnny, looking really angry.

“I don’t know. I was getting changed then she just freaked out and started crying. Jake, I didn’t do anything!” Johnny cried sounding a little scared.

Jake grabbed my arm, pulling me away from Liam. “Has he hurt you, Amber?” he asked fiercely, pointing at Johnny accusingly.

I shook my head, trying to speak. They thought Johnny had hurt me? “I went to his house. He wasn’t supposed to be there,” I sobbed, my legs gave out from under me. Liam grabbed my waist before I slumped to the floor and picked me up quickly, he sat down, pulling me onto his lap, rubbing my hair away from my face and kissing my cheek.

“Shh it’s alright, Angel. Everything’s OK,” he cooed.

“Who wasn’t supposed to be there? Someone needs to tell me what the hell happened, RIGHT NOW!” Jake shouted getting angrier and angrier.

“Dad,” I croaked.

Jakes eyes went wide his hands clenched into fists, his jaw clamped tight. I felt Liam’s arms get tighter around me. “You saw him?” Jake asked, his voice sounding truly menacing. I nodded and watched him glare at Johnny again as if this was somehow is fault. “You took her to your house and let that as**ole near her?” Jake growled, making Johnny flinch.

“I didn’t know he was there! He wasn’t supposed to be there. They came home early while I was in the shower,” he protested, holding his hands up innocently as Jake looked like he wanted to murder him there and then. If looks could kill Johnny would be dead right now.

“What did he do, Angel?” Liam whispered, pulling my face around to look at him. I shook my head. Could I tell them? If they found out I had no doubt that they would be going round there in the very, very near future, and then they’d get in trouble. “Tell me,” Liam ordered.

I hugged him tightly, I couldn’t lie to him. “He….he grabbed my arm. He said I… I looked beautiful, just like my mom at my age, and that I was a f…fucking p…peach,” I whispered, barely able to get the words out, my voice hitching and catching through my sobs. Liam’s arms tightened around me, so tight that it was actually starting to hurt my ribs. “Liam, you’re hurting me,” I whined, gripping my hands into his hair. His arms loosed instantly but his whole body was so tense that he was probably giving himself an ulcer.

Jake grabbed his keys off of the side. “I’m going. You coming, Liam?” Jake asked, heading for the door. Oh hell no! I couldn’t let them get in trouble!

Liam lifted me off of his lap and sat me on the sofa. “Watch her,” he said to Johnny sternly, as he stood up to leave.

“No!” I screamed, grabbing Liam’s hand. “Jake, no!” I begged.

“I won’t let him hurt you again,” Jake growled.

“He won’t. He won’t come near me. It was my fault; I shouldn’t have gone to Johnny’s. I shouldn’t have taken the risk. Please, please don’t. I can’t see you get in trouble. I need you. I need both of you. Please don’t leave me on my own,” I begged. I squeezed Liam’s hand for emphasis. “Please,” I begged pulling him closer to me again.

He sighed and looked at Jake. “She’s right, Jake. We can’t go without him doing anything first. He’ll just get away with everything, and we’ll be the ones in trouble,” Liam reasoned.

I relaxed. Liam was seeing sense; he always thought things through, not like Jake. “What do you mean by, hurt her again?” Johnny asked quietly.

All three of us looked at him. Jake spoke first. “Nothing. I think you should go, Johnny.” He nodded at the door, signalling for him to leave.

Johnny shook his head. “No. Amber, you promised you’d tell me what this was about,” he stated, looking at me pleadingly.

He’s right, I did say that. Jake looked at me, letting me make the decision. “I did say that,” I confirmed, nodding and closing my eyes, pressing myself to Liam again. Jeez, this was going to be so damn hard!

~ Liam ~

I pulled her back onto my lap, wanting her close to me. My heart still hadn’t returned to normal from seeing her sobbing like that. I was so angry that my jaw was aching where I was clenching my teeth together so tightly, trying to stay in control. I wanted to go around there and beat him until there was nothing left of him, but she was right, we’d be the ones getting in trouble then and she didn’t need any more stress right now.

Jake motioned for Johnny to sit on the couch opposite us, and he sat down next to him. Both of them looked stressed. Amber curled herself up into a ball on my lap, pulling her knees up and tucking her face into the side of my neck. I rocked her gently as I listened to Jake telling Johnny about the abuse when they were kids, how their father had tried to attack Amber, and how we’d kicked him out three years ago. He left out the sexual abuse that no one really knew very much about because she refused to talk about it. The whole time Johnny just sat there, playing with his hands. Why didn’t he look shocked at all of this? If someone sat there and told me that their father had abused them for years, I think I’d at least be a little shocked, wouldn’t I?

After about ten minutes I glanced down at Amber to see she was asleep in my arms. She looked so sad and vulnerable; her face was still red from crying. I’d never let anything hurt her again. I waved to Jake to get his attention. “I’m going to put her to bed,” I whispered, standing up and trying to keep her still as I carried her to her room, laying her on her bed. She whimpered and snuggled closer to me, so I laid down with her for a couple of minutes until she was back in a deep sleep. I kissed her forehead and went back to the lounge

Johnny had his head in his hands. Jake looked really angry again. “What’s wrong?” I asked, looking between the two of them. Jake looked at me, he looked really stressed and worried. I didn’t see Jake like this very often, he was always so strong and it actually made me feel a little sick to see him like that now.

“He’s doing it again. He’s hit Johnny and his mom a few times,” Jake growled, looking disgusted. Damn it! I told Jake we should have called the police instead of just kicking him out, but he insisted he didn’t want Amber to go through that. And now he was doing it to someone else!

“My mom was talking about leaving him last year. Then we moved here instead. She said it was a fresh start and that we should all start over, but it hasn’t helped,” Johnny said sadly. I knelt down next to him and put my hand on his shoulder. I didn’t really know him that well, he was more Angel’s friend than mine, but I knew he was a good kid.

“Johnny, does your mom still want to leave him?” I asked, looking at Jake, who looked like he was ready to explode any minute. I’d have to keep a close eye on him. If the time came then I’d be there at his side, but we couldn’t go rushing into anything, it would need to look like self-defence.

Johnny shrugged. “I haven’t spoken to her about it since we moved here, so I don’t know. I know that she’s scared for Matt. He hasn’t hit him yet, but he’s only a year old,” he replied, his voice breaking.

I squeezed his shoulder supportively. That as**ole was a real sick piece of work. Jake sat down next to him and patted his back awkwardly. As guys, we weren’t really too good at support. Angel would be perfect for this; she was so damn loving and kind.

“Johnny, you need to tell your mom that he’s done this before. It could be the push that she needs to leave him before he does anything to Matt,” Jake said kindly.

Johnny nodded, standing up. “I’ll go home and speak to her when I can.”

“Johnny, if you ever need help you call me. Day or night, understand? And if you need a place to stay for a few days, your mom and brother too, then you can stay here,” Jake said fiercely. He meant it, Jake was a great guy and he would never let anyone hurt his family or friends, I guess technically Johnny was his family too.

“Thanks. I’ll wait until he’s not there, and then I’ll talk to her.” Johnny nodded, looking really sad, and a little scared.

“Call me and let me know how it goes. And I’m serious about the place to stay, my mom won’t mind, and she’s not even due home for another two weeks,” Jake stated, walking Johnny to the door. He put his arm around his shoulder. “Everything’s going to be fine,” Jake assured him. Johnny looked like a little lost boy, he didn’t look ready for this at all, but I guess he’d need to man up quickly like Jake did when he was younger.

“I don’t think you should tell Amber any of this stuff. She doesn’t really need anything else to worry about, and I don’t even know what my mom’s going to say about it all,” Johnny muttered, frowning.

I nodded. That was probably a good idea. If Angel knew any of this she would be getting herself all worked up, worrying about Johnny and Matt, and for all we knew his mom might not even want to leave him in the first place. We could tell her when the time comes. “Yeah, good idea,” I agreed, nodding.

“OK thanks. See ya.” He smiled sadly and headed out of the house.

Jake shut the door and pressed his forehead against it. “Liam, you need to give me one good reason why I shouldn’t go round there and slit his throat,” he growled, his whole body stiff.

“Because then you’d be in jail, and Angel wouldn’t have her big brother here to protect her,” I said quickly, knowing that Amber was the one thing that would keep him calm and restrained.

Jake turned to me and did something I’d never seen him do in his life; he slumped down against the door, pulled his knees up to his chest, and cried. I felt my insides squirm at the sight of it. I was so angry again that I needed to remind myself of the exact same reason I couldn’t go around there and slit his throat. I sat down next to Jake and put my arm around his shoulder while he cried. I don’t think he’d ever had a proper release before.

~ Amber ~

Things had been really strained for the last week between me and Johnny. I knew that he knew about what my father had done to us, well, some of it anyway. Jake assured me that he didn’t tell him too much about me because he knew I wouldn't want people knowing about it. I’d told Johnny that I didn’t want to talk about any of it, which he respected. He seemed to hang out with Jake and Liam more than he did me and Kate at the moment. They were always off talking in hushed whispers, and would stop whenever I went near them. I wondered if they were talking about me, but to be honest I really didn’t want to know. I didn’t want to talk about that man ever again, so if they were happy to talk about me and leave me out of it, then good.

When I woke up on Friday morning, Liam was already up and getting dressed quietly. “Hey, are you doing the walk of shame?” I teased, wondering why he was sneaking out of my room. He never woke up before me.

He laughed and pulled his t-shirt on before climbing back in the bed. I hooked my fingers in his belt loops, pulling him closer to me. “The only shame I have is that I have to get out of your bed. I would happily stay in bed with you forever, but I have something I need to do today so I’ve got to go.” He kissed me softly, causing the usual little flutters in my stomach that his kissing evoked in me.

Something he’s got to do? What’s that about? “What have you got to do, lover boy?” I asked, pulling him closer to me, stopping him from getting up.

He smiled and rolled onto his back, pulling me on top of him. “Nothing interesting. I just need to sort something out for college that’s all,” he replied, looking uncomfortable. Was he lying to me? I looked at his face, his eyes were a little tight, he was definitely looking uncomfortable about something.

“Liam, is something wrong?” I asked worriedly. Oh crap, is he seeing someone else or something?

He smiled and tangled his fingers into my hair. “Nothing’s wrong. Don’t worry your pretty little head about anything. It’s just a couple of scouts want to meet with me, and this is the only time they could come,” he explained, still looking uncomfortable.

I nodded, he obviously had something he was trying to keep from me, he’d tell me eventually. I trusted him. I was sure that he wouldn’t cheat on me - that had just been a stupid spur of the moment thought. I knew he loved me. I bent forward and kissed him, pulling away to bite his chin, he loved it when I did that. His hands tightened on my waist as his breathing started to speed; I smiled and bit his earlobe.

He groaned. “Angel, I need to go. Don’t tease me,” he whined.

I smiled against his neck and sat up, pouting, deciding to have some fun with him before he left. I sighed dramatically. “OK, well I guess I’ll just have to shower alone then.”

He groaned again. “Angel, don’t do that to me, it’s not fair you know,” he grumbled, frowning.

I couldn’t help but laugh at his lustful expression as I climbed off of him. “Well, have fun with your scouts. Go impress them with your awesome talents, lover boy,” I instructed, kissing him again softly.