My mom nodded. “Jake, he wants to get to know you two again. He says he’s sorry and that he’s changed. He wants you to give him another chance.”

“You mean he wants another chance to try and rape Amber?” Jake shouted. I flinched as the memories rushed back. Liam’s arm tightened around me, his hands clenching into fists.

My mom shook her head, looking at him pleadingly. “Jake, I don’t like this any more than you do, so please stop shouting at me! I hate that I’m the one to have to tell you this, but it’s not my fault,” she said, crying again now.

Jake sighed and shook his head, kneeling down in front of her pulling her into a hug. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t be taking this out on you,” he said, still sounding angry. I pressed my face into Liam’s shoulder, breathing him in. I felt him put his lips on my neck and I concentrated on the feel of his breath blowing reassuringly down my back, trying desperately not to freak out. After a minute of silence, Jake spoke. “Why has he come back? Why didn’t you just tell him we didn’t want to see him?” he asked.

She closed her eyes and smiled sadly. “He remarried. He has a son who’s one, he’s your half-brother. Apparently, the woman that he married has a son already. He’s seventeen. Your father wants you to get to know his new family,” she said, sneering slightly at the ‘new family’ bit at the end.

Holy shit, I had a little brother, and a step-brother?

Jake jumped up. “That fucker should have been castrated! He shouldn’t be allowed to have more kids!” he cried, gripping his hands in his hair tightly.

“I needed to come back today and speak to you because the elder boy, Johnny his name is; he’s going to be starting your school tomorrow. He knows about you two,” she said, looking at me apologetically.

Jake kicked the coffee table, hard, sending it flying over. Liam jumped up and stood in front of me protectively as Jake shouted profanities and kicked the table over and over again, probably hurting his foot. I stood up and pushed past Liam, batting off his hands as he tried to stop me going near my brother. I grabbed Jake’s arm, making him stop and look at me. His face was pure rage and I think if my father was here tight now, he’d be dead. That man really needed to stay the hell away from Jake. I wrapped my arms around him tightly, knowing I needed to calm him down before he hurt himself. The only way to calm Jake down when he went crazy like this was to make him think I was upset, that usually snapped him out of his rage pretty quickly.

“Jake, stop. You’re scaring me. Please?” I whispered, clinging to him for dear life.

He was shaking with anger as he wrapped his arms around me. “It’s OK. Shh, everything’s OK. I’m sorry,” he murmured, rubbing my back, his overprotective nature kicking in.

“I’m sorry,” my mom muttered, sobbing behind us.

I pulled out of Jake’s arms and went to sit next to her. “It’s OK, Mom. None of this is your fault. We’ll figure it out. Neither Jake or I want to see him, so we just won’t see him,” I stated, pretending it would be that easy.

“What about this boy, Johnny, your stepbrother? He’s going to be at your school tomorrow. He knows who you are but he doesn’t know about what happened back then. Your father told me that his new family thinks that you don’t want to see him because of the breakup of our marriage, nothing else,” she said shaking her head.

Jake laughed humourlessly. “Yeah, why would the spineless bastard tell his new wife that he beat the crap out of his old family for years before finally trying to rape his own daughter? Not something you can bring up in normal conversation is it?” he spat nastily. I flinched again. I hated the word rape, it was awful.

“Jake! Will you stop f**king saying that?” Liam cried, glaring at him angrily as he sat down in front of me, taking my hand.

“Sorry, Ambs, I didn’t think,” Jake mumbled apologetically.

I shook my head and faked a smile. “It’s fine, Jake, don’t worry.” I waved my hand dismissively, pretending that I was unaffected by this whole situation. “What’s the baby’s name?” I asked my mom, wanting to know about the little brother I now had.

She smiled sadly. “Matt.”

I smiled. Matt. It was cute, I liked it. I could feel the hysterics building inside me though and I knew I needed to be on my own. “Well, there’s not much we can do about it now, I guess. We’ll just have to see what this Johnny guy is like tomorrow. But I don’t want anything to do with that man ever again,” I stated matter-of-factly as I stood up. “I’m going to lay down. I have a headache,” I said as I started to walk off. I needed to get out of here before I had a meltdown in front of Jake - that would just make him crazy again.

Liam grabbed my hand. “Want some company?” he asked quietly, looking at me with the puppy dog face. The damn boy knew I couldn’t say no to that face.

“Yeah, OK.” I nodded slightly and started walking off towards my bedroom.

“I’ll just be a minute. I’m just going to help Jake clear up the table,” Liam said, nodding towards the broken wooden mess that used to be our coffee table.

I nodded and walked off quickly. I could hear them whispering behind me, I knew they were talking about me, but I just couldn’t bring myself to care. I curled into a ball on my bed and sobbed as I thought about it. My father was in this town and wanted to get to know us again. He had a new family. I couldn’t help but wonder if he treated them nicely and loved them, and if he did treat them nicely and love them, why the hell couldn’t he have done that to us? Why didn’t he love us?

A few minutes later Liam walked in, wrapping his body around mine, letting me sob on his chest until I fell asleep. The last thing that went through my brain was that I knew everything in my life was just too perfect. I knew I shouldn’t have got my hopes up for a happy ending. I’d never have a happy ending.

~ Liam ~

“What’s the baby’s name?” Amber asked her mom curiously. She was being so calm about it. I knew this was probably killing her inside but she was putting on an act - probably for Jake’s benefit. Her eyes were tight; her hand was holding mine a little too hard for her to be alright.

“Matt,” Margaret replied, looking sad.

Amber smiled. “Well there’s not much we can do about it now, I guess. We’ll just have to see what this Johnny guy is like tomorrow. But I don’t want anything to do with that man ever again,” she stated, as if it just didn’t matter that the man who beat her, sexually abused her for years, and finally tried to rape her, was coming back and wanted to see her again. She stood up and let go of my hand. I instinctively jumped up too. Jake was still really angry, I knew he wouldn’t ever hurt Amber on purpose but if he went off on one she could get hurt by accident, so I needed to be there just in case. “I’m going to lay down. I have a headache,” Amber mumbled, walking off without so much as a tear. This was bad; she seriously was going to freak out any minute I could tell by how her shoulders were hunched slightly.

I grabbed her hand. “Want some company?” I asked, praying that she wasn’t going to shut me out.

“Yeah, OK.” She nodded slightly and walked off without waiting for me.

I needed to speak to Jake first, make sure he wasn’t going to go around there without me or anything. “I’ll just be a minute. I’m just going to help Jake clear up the table,” I lied, nodding at the splinters of wood scattered across the floor. She nodded and walked off quickly. I watched her walk up the hallway before turning to Jake. “Don’t you dare go there on your own. I’m serious, Jake. If you want to go, then I’ll come with you,” I whispered to him warningly.

He frowned but nodded reluctantly. “I’m not going to go unless I need to. If he doesn’t come near us then I don’t want anything to do with him. If comes anywhere near her though, I’ll kill him,” he growled.

I nodded, I knew he would, I could tell by his face. Stephen Walker was in some deep shit, because if Jake didn’t kill him, then I would if he came anywhere near my Angel. “Listen, I need to go in there and make sure she’s alright. I’ll speak to you about this later. Don’t do anything rash, Jake,” I said sternly. He nodded and I practically ran down the hallway to her. I let myself in her room; she was curled into a ball on her bed, sobbing her heart out. I hated seeing her like this; it brought back memories when I used to see her like this every night since she was eight. The sight of it now was breaking my heart.

I laid down in front of her and wrapped my arms around her tightly, throwing my leg over hers, pulling her closer to me as I rested my chin on the top of her head. If he ever touched her again I was going to kill him. I won’t let her live her life afraid of a man. I didn't care if I ended up doing time for it - so long as she was safe, that was all I needed.

After about half an hour of her sobbing hysterically, her breathing became deeper. I pulled back slowly and looked down at her. She was sound asleep. Her face was red and puffy, it was stained with tears, but she still managed to look like the most beautiful girl in the world. I kissed her forehead gently and wiped her tears away, untangling myself from her as gently as I could.

I snuck out of her bedroom and found Jake sitting on the sofa; his mom was in the kitchen making dinner. I sat down next to Jake letting my eyes wander over his face. He looked so stressed; I hadn’t seen him like this for a couple of years. The last time I saw him like this was when his dad got in touch about two years ago, when we were sixteen. That was about a year after we had beaten the crap out of him and kicked him out. Apparently, Stephen had wanted to see them again to make amends, or so he said anyway. Jake had freaked out, just like earlier, and in no uncertain terms told his dad that if he ever came near Amber again, that he would rip him to pieces. It was just lucky that that conversation happened over the phone; otherwise that as**ole would be rotting in some unmarked grave right now.

“Alright, Jake?” I asked, gripping his shoulder, squeezing affectionately.

He sighed and nodded. “Is she OK?” he asked quietly.

I shook my head. “No,” I admitted sadly. I winced as his face turned harder; I hated to see Jake so angry. “She’s asleep now though.”

“You need to help me, Liam,” he mumbled, closing his eyes.

“Of course,” I agreed, nodding quickly. I’d do anything it took to keep my Angel safe, anything in the world.

“I don’t want her on her own. One of us needs to be with her at all times. Can you stay with her while I go to work during the week?” he asked, looking at me hopefully.

I smiled a little guiltily. “I always do, Jake. Don’t worry. Everything will be fine. She’ll be fine.” I smiled reassuringly. I would never let anything hurt her again. I’d let it go on when they were kids and I never forgave myself for that. I mean, if I’d just said something to my mom or dad, maybe it would have stopped before it got too far.

He nodded. “Yeah, I know. Listen, about tomorrow, I don’t know how she’s going to react to this Johnny kid. I know he doesn’t know anything, but what if he starts asking her why we don’t see him? He could upset her at school. She’d hate that. She’ll have years of this now,” he said sadly.

“Jake, we’ll just have to see how it plays.” I took a deep breath and decided to tell him what I had been thinking about since his mom first said that as**ole was back in town. I wasn’t sure how Jake would react to my suggestion though; hopefully he’d see that I was thinking about her. “You know I’m off to college in a couple of months. Well, I was going to turn down my scholarship to Boston and go to college closer to here so I could still stay with her, but if the worst comes to the worst, I’ll take her with me to Boston. She can transfer schools,” I suggested, shrugging, waiting for his reaction.

I’d been thinking about this a lot over the last few months, since I received my offer letter. That college was an awesome opportunity for my career, but I didn’t want to go. I didn’t want to leave Amber even before we got together, but I don’t even think I’d survive it now that I finally had her. I was thinking about either going to a local college, or asking her to come with me to Boston. The trouble was that Amber was only sixteen, so I was sure I was going to take the first option and stay here with her. Now that this situation had come about though, I was back to the asking her to come with me plan. I could take her away from it all; we could have a fresh start where she wouldn’t be reminded about him every day, where she wouldn’t have to worry about bumping into him every time she stepped out of the house.

I expected Jake to go crazy at me for even suggesting that I take her away from him; it surprised me when he didn’t. He just nodded. “Thanks, man,” he said sadly.

“I’m going to go and ask your mom if I can stay the night,” I said, standing up and heading to the kitchen. Margaret was still upset; her eyes were red from crying.

She smiled sadly when she saw me. “Is she OK, Liam?” she asked, looking towards the hallway as if expecting her to come out.

I nodded. “She’s upset, but she’s sleeping now. Margaret, do you think I could stay with Angel tonight? We won’t do anything, I swear. I just want to be there for her when she wakes up,” I pleaded. I would be staying in her room regardless; I just thought it would make things easier if everyone knew I was in there.

She came over and hugged me tightly. “You’re a good boy, Liam, you always have been,” she said with a tear in her eye.