The Bad Boys Saw Me Naked

(10)

I slowly bring my hand to my head, wanting the throbbing to stop. My eyes flutter open, and I try to sit up. 

"No, honey lie down." I hear my mothers voice, as she rushes up. I look around to see that I'm in my bed. What happened. Oh my god.

"Where's Dad?" I rush.

"It's ok." She says calmly, sitting down next to me. "It's all ok." 

"What-" I'm cut off, by Alex, who waltzes into the room.

"I've put him in the basement, he'll be up in a couple of hours." He sees me, and smiles. "You're awake."

"What's going on?" I ask, confused. 

"I heard screaming." Alex says. "I came in, you were unconscious, so... I kind of punched your Dad."

"What?" I yell.

"Honey." My Mom reassures. "He was just trying to help."

"He's made it all worse." I say. I look at him, and scream. "You've made it all worse!" 

"He was hurting you!" He shouts back, obviously confused.

"Now he's even more mad!" I spit. "I know what to do. I wait until he finishes, I don't fight back, and then he's not mad anymore! You've fu**ed it up! He's going to kill me!"

"Babe, calm down." My mom says. "Alex and I have discussed this. You're father was really hurting you. If he didn't stop him, he could have hurt you much worse." She turns to Alex. "Thank you."

He nods, still not taking his eyes off me. 

"You can leave now." I tell him. "Go." Alex and my mom make eye contact, and I frown. "What?"

"Harper, I need you to go with Alex." My Mom says carefully.

"What?" I ask confused. "Where?"

"To stay at his house for a couple of days." She says quickly. "Just to give your father some time to calm down-"

"No way!" I yell. "I'm not leaving you here alone with him!" 

"I'll be fine." She reassures me. "You know I can keep your father happy if I'm careful. That way, you can come back, and he won't be mad anymore."

"I won't leave you." I say bitterly.

"There's no time to argue." My mom says simply. "I've packed you a bag. Get up." She walks out, and I stare at Alex, angry.

"This is your fault." I growl. He sighs, and shakes his head.

"I'm not apologising for saving you again!" He says. "You're Mom can make her own decisions, she's an adult. I'm just helping you out. Do it for your Mom. She doesn't want you hurt." He leaves the room, and I have no choice but to follow him. As much as I hate it, he's right. I need to do it for her. Otherwise, all the effort she'll put in is worthless. I enter the kitchen, to see my Mom, Alex, Cole, Jake and Zane. Great.

"Wonderful." I sigh. "You all know now?" I look at Alex, annoyed. "There was a reason I didn't tell people."

"Your father is strong!" He protests. "I could only keep him down for a little while. They brought over a sedative." I look at Mom, giving up.

"It's Monday today. I come back Wednesday." I say firmly. 

"Saturday." She argues.

"Friday." I bargain. She smiles softly, and hugs me. 

"Fine." She says. "I love you Harper." 

"I love you to." I say, picking up my bag, and leave the kitchen, furiously wiping away the tears I was holding back for a long time. I can hear the boys following, and I stop at their truck. Cole chucks my bag in the tray, and I slide into the backseat, joined by Zane and Jake. Alex hops into the passenger seat, and Cole starts to drive. I stay silent, along with everyone else.

"Why haven't you told anyone Harper?" Cole suddenly asks seriously. I sigh.

"My friend Bianca knows." I say. "I don't want to talk about it."

"Why wouldn't your Mom suggest for you to stay with Bianca?" Alex asks. I snort. 

"Bianca's family is heavily religious." I say. "Her father believes girls sleeping in the same room, encourages them to become lesbians. And I'm so sorry for being an inconvenience." I sneer.

"I never said you were." He says. "I was just asking a question." I falter slightly, and the car fell back into silence. We pull up into their driveway, and we get out. I go to grab my bag, but Cole beats me to it.

"Don't worry about it." He smiles. I thank him quietly, and follow him up the path. We walk into the house, and immediately I'm hit by noise. Screaming, music, video games. Cole looks around, confused.

"Hey!" He yells. Almost immediately, the noise stops. "Get down here now!" Cole shouts. A rumbling sound of footsteps come from everywhere. Suddenly there are boys, coming from the stairs, the kitchen, and the living room. They halt in the entrance, in front of us.

"Sup Harper?" Hayden smirks. 

"We left you in charge Hayden." Cole growls. "What's happening?" 

"Nothing." He mumbles, realising he's in trouble. 

"We'll talk later." Cole says. He looks around at the others. "So." He says, looking at me. "Harper's going to be staying here for awhile. Anyone got a problem?" He asks. Everyone shakes their heads, and he nods. "Scat." They all scramble up the stairs, and we're left in silence. 

"You didn't have to do that." I say, feeling a little bad. "It didn't bother me."

"It wasn't because of you." He says simply. "They were supposed to be doing their homework. If I'm not strict with them, who will be?" I slowly nod, getting it. It must be hard for him. 

"There's a spare room you can use." Jake says. "I can show you."

"I got it." Alex grumbles, grabbing my bag, heading up the stairs. "I'm going that way anyway." I look at Jake who shrugs, and I run to catch up with him. He leads me to a hallway, and opens a door. It's a nice room, with a window seat and a desk. Plain, but nice. 

"Bathroom's two doors down to the left." He says. "If you need anything, my room is right across from yours. Dinner's in an hour." He turns to leave, and I sigh, already hating myself for what I'm about to do.

"Hey." I say reluctantly. He turns around, and looks at me.

"What?" He asks. I sigh.

"Thank you." I say quietly. He smiles a little, covering it up with a cough.

"Whatever."