It was much later when Ashley lying on her bed staring unseeing at the ceiling when she heard the doorbell.

She frowned. She wasn't expecting anyone and her mom wasn't supposed to be home until later.

She went downstairs and opened the door.

Maddox filled the doorway.

It was the suddenness of his presence that stopped her from shutting the door in his face.

"What do you want?" she asked, her voice laced with anger.

"What happened?" he asked. His features stoic.

"I don't know what you're talking about." She shrugged.

He pushed his way into her house and she was annoyed that he felt he could just come into her house expecting an explanation when he hadn't given her chance before this. She closed the door reluctantly.

"I thought you had it all figure out. Why would you need me to explain it to you?" She was playing coy but she was hurt, angry and tired.

"Tell me what happened," he commanded but she pressed her lips together.

She wasn't going to explain anything.

"Turn around," he told her.

"I don't know what you want Maddox but I want you to leave." She refused to do as he said.

"Just turn around."

"Will you leave if I do?" she asked, defiantly.

He nodded.

She turned her back to him. "You happy now?"

"Lift your shirt."

Her hands found the end of her shirt and held it. "No."

He knew, somehow he knew.

She was angry with him and she wanted him to hurt like he had hurt her but she couldn't justify pushing him to do something she knew he would live to regret.

"No."

"Lift it Rae." His voice was hard and filled with emotion.

He was angry, she could tell just by his voice.

This time it was harder to resist his request when he called her by her nickname.

She lifted the shirt slightly and he felt him move closer. He lifted the shirt higher and he swore. His fingers lightly touched the bruising Jim had left on her.

"I'm going to kill him," he vowed and she spun around.

"No." She reached for his hands. "I don't want you to do anything to him. He is a loser and I won't let him ruin your future."

"Right now the only thing I want to do is teach him a lesson he'll never forget." His eyes darkened.

"There are only a few weeks of school left. Is it really worth it?" Her eyes searched his.

"How can you ask me that? Of course you're worth it." The intensity of his eyes reached her and she let of his hands.

"You were quick to believe the worst." She stepped back, trying to put some distance between them.

"Because I believed if there had been any other explanation you would have told me."

He had a point. He had no idea she had kept quiet because she had been trying to protect him.

"So that's why you sent that message last night?" It was all starting to make so much sense.

"Do you know what it does to me to think he did this to you and you didn't say a word. Not one word." He ran his hand through his hair. "Not a fucking word. I sat next to the whole evening and I had no idea what he had tried to do."

He let out a shaky breath. "Did you hit your head?"

She didn't answer.

"That's why you had a headache and why you wanted to go home."

His jaw was tense.

"Nothing you do now will erase what happened." She shrugged.

"No but I can make sure he will never lift a finger to a girl again."

She stepped into his path to stop him but he put his hands to her shoulders and moved her gently out of the way.

"This is something I have to do."

And with that he left, slamming the front door behind her.

She had done everything she could and there was nothing she could do to stop him.

It was a big mess and she couldn't fix it.

But she felt she had to do something. She raced upstairs and found her phone. She searched her phone and found Jasper's number and called him.

She paced while she waited for him to answer. Just when she believed it was going to go to voicemail he answered.

"Jasper, it's Ashley. Maddox was here and he knows what Jim did. He is going after him and I don't know what to do," she tried to explain in one longwinded breath.

"Hang on Ash. You need to slow down."

"Mad is going after Jim. He said he is going to teach him a lesson."

"When did he leave?" She heard the urgency in his voice and she felt a real fear that Maddox was going to do something really bad.

"He just left my house." She sat down, feeling overwhelmed, that no matter what she tried to do she couldn't stop what was about to unfold. It was like pushing against a moving car and trying to make it stop. It was impossible.

"Shit. I'll try what I can."

He ended the call abruptly and all she could do was stare at the phone and hope that he reached Maddox before he could get ahold of Jim.

Did he even know where Jim lived?

Then she had an idea. She had no idea if it would even work but she had to try something.

She called Logan. It rang and rang. He didn't pick up.

She ended the call and tried immediately to call him again. He didn't answer so this time she decided to leave a voicemail.

"Logan. It's me. I need your help. Maddox is looking for Jim. He wants to teach him a lesson and I need you to stop it. Please. I need you to stop Maddox or at least make sure Mad doesn't find him." She ended the call and sat down on the bed again.

There she had tried her best and now she had to wait to see how it would unfold.

Her mom arrived home a little after that and then her phone began to ring. She was relieved to see Logan's caller Id.

"Hi," she said breathless and afraid at the same time.

"What's going on Ash?" he asked, using her shortened name like none of the past few weeks had happened.

"It's Maddox. He is really angry and he is looking for Jim." She paced her room, unable to deal with all the emotions she was experiencing.

"Why is he looking for Jim?" he asked. This time his tone was curt.

She paused for a few seconds trying to decide what to tell Logan. Deciding it was urgent and she didn't have time to waste she decided to tell Logan all of it. The whole truth.

"He hurt me." She felt an unexpected emotion stop her and she breathed through it. She had no idea it had affected her until now.

"He hurt you?" He sounded alarmed.

"He tried to kiss me. He has been trying to push Maddox to go after him again so he can get him expelled."

"Tell me what happened."

"When he tried to kiss me I bit him and he slammed me against the wall. I knocked my back and hit my head. It's nothing serious, I'll live. I'm just a little bruised."

There was silence.

And then unexpectedly the call ended and she was left staring at her phone, hoping she had done enough to stop the situation from escalating.

Another half an hour went by without any contact from anyone. She tried to call Maddox but he wasn't picking up. Then she tried Jasper but he wasn't answering either.

She had all this pent-up emotion and nothing she could do to expel it so she paced the length of her room hoping that Maddox hadn't got to Jim.

In a few weeks none of this would matter.

Her mom called her downstairs for dinner. They ate in silence. She was too preoccupied to make conversation.

"Your dad wants to see you this week. He wants to take you to dinner."

She nodded. "I'll call him."

And that was the extent of their interaction.

It was much later when she was lying on her bed she heard something hit her window. She sat up unsure if she had heard it or not. Something small like a stone hit the window. She raced to the window and pulled the curtains open to see Maddox below her window.

"I'll coming," she whispered harshly as not to wake her mom.

She hurried down stairs and opened the front door and closed it as quietly as she could.

"What happened?" she asked when she reached him.

Then she saw the blood on his fists and realised she hadn't been able to stop him. Her eyes found his.