"It took a little longer dropping the boxes off then I assumed it would," I lie into my phone. "Do you still want me to come over to finish the project?"

"Of course," Nate says. His voice is deep and smooth in my ear and it calms my anxiety over the situation.

"Okay, I'll be there in--" I slam on my breaks when I reach my driveway. "What the hell?"

"Kelly, what's wrong? Did you hit a deer?" For the first time ever, my mind manages to zone Nate's voice out.

My hands turn white from my grip on the steering wheel. I look like a deer in headlights as I stare at the truck parked in my driveway. What makes me feel like I was hit by a car is the person leaning against said truck speaking to my mother.

"Kelly? Kelly!" Nate's voice has grown panicked and it pulls me out of my foggy brain.

"I have to go," I manage to say and cut the call with Nate.

I get out of my car and slam the door shut behind me. This catches the attention of our guest and my mother.

"Look, dear," my mother says watching me as I make my way to her. "Daniel decided to stop by."

"Yes," I say through gritted teeth. "I see that."

"Hello, babe," Danny says, a charming smile on his handsome face. He leans forward and kisses my cheek. I don't pull back because I'm afraid that if I do, I will clock him in his clean shaven jaw.

"What are you doing here?" I look between him and my mother who is gazing up lovingly at my ex boyfriend. I have yet to let her know that he and I broke up because it would break her heart to know that her only child would not be marrying into the Greyson fortune anytime soon, as in never.

"I wanted to speak to you about something and I bumped into your mother while waiting. Where have you been?"

That's none of your damn business, I want to sneer at him but I sculpt my face to look like the calm, collected, fake that I am.

"Coffee with Alyssa. Should we get to it? I have things to do."

"Yes," my mother interrupts. She is practically jumping up and down in her pink dress, her pearls bouncing along with her. "I will start dinner. Daniel," she says turning back around. "Would you like to stay for dinner?"

"No," I say at the same time he says, "Yes." He looks down at me, a corrupt smirk on his lips as he does so.

"We're going out for dinner," I lie and grab hold of his elbow. He doesn't fight to get out of it.

"That's a shame. Maybe next time." My mother turns back to the house but before entering she calls over her shoulder, "send your parents my love."

"Will do, Mrs. Henderson." He looks back down at me, the good boy glow gone, his voice lowering. "Will do."

"What are you really doing here, Dan?" I have to keep my temper in check. I wasn't about to cause a scene in my driveway.

"To speak to you. Like I said."

"What about? We have broken up. What more is there to say?" My eyes keep darting a few houses down to Nate's, who happens to be waiting for me.

"Still seeing your lab partner?" His voice is dripping with venom but he shows no remorse as he speaks. He is good at masking his emotions unlike me. I remember him driving by Nate and me on our walk this morning and my guards instantly go up.

"Are you going to admit beating him up?" My fists clench at my sides.

His answer is another smirk and my fingernails dig into my palms. But I welcome the sting of pain because it takes my mind off hurting him. I want to hurt him the way he hurt Nate. But he is twice my size and I know the law. I wasn't about to get arrested for assault and battery and corrupt my future for this asshole.

"Why?" My throat squeezes as if someone hands are choking me. "Nate has done nothing to you! He hasn't gone to the police about anything of that night. He has moved on. Why can't you?"

"Because he now has what is mine!" Danny's face is now red with anger and it makes me take a step back.

"I am not your property, Dan. Now get back in your car and drive to hell like you deserve."

He laughs a laugh that makes my hairs stand on end. "Do you know what your little stunt has made me look like, Kelly? A fool! You breaking up with me publically and then showing up with him..." He laughs again and I step farther away from him. "Wrong move, sweetheart."

I am now pressed up against his truck as he looms over me. Where was my mother when I actually needed her? But the thing is, though I should be scared of Danny, I know that he would never actually physically hurt me. He never does his dirty work himself. He might be a grade A jerk but he wasn't an abuser.

Even in his unsteady state now, I know this to be true. That's why my jumbled brain can't seem to keep my mouth shut.

"What are you going to do? Tell him?" I laugh this time, a sound that sounds so unnatural. "Go ahead. Lay it all on the table. Maybe then this can be done, good and for all."

Danny's eyes roam over my body and I want to squirm away but don't, standing my ground like the strong woman I like to believe that I am. His smile stretches over his perfect white teeth and his blue eyes darken.

"No," he says pushing off his truck with one hand and staggers away from me. "I may look stupid to you but I'm not as stupid as to bring us all down. You will do that on your own. Then all this will be on you. It's your word against ours."

I glare at him. I'm sure the crescent moons on my palms were gleaming red as I press harder, holding myself back.

Oh, screw this.

I wind back and punch him straight in the nose. Danny yelps and jumps back, his hands cupping his nose as blood runs through the cracks of his fingers.

"Stay away from me and stay far away from Nate. Got it?" I step close to him. "And if you ever lay a hand on him again, I will go straight to the police and tell him everything that I saw that night. You can say bye bye to college ball, Danny. Don't test me."

I am fuming. I am seeing red and it isn't from the blood because Danny wasn't bleeding that much. My breathing is harsh and I pray that the neighbors aren't looking out their windows to see all this go down. I can only imagine the can of worms that would open.

"You're crazy!"

Why is it that men call women crazy when they want to pass blame? When they know that they pushed and pushed and gave them reasons to act crazy? A female finally cracks under their ridicule and BOOM. Crazy.

He cautiously skirts rounds me as I stand to the side of the driveway, breathing harshly and trying not to cry. I have never hit anyone before and even though Danny deserved it, I still felt bad.

I hate him. How can you go from claiming to love someone to hating them? Guess that shows that I never loved him to begin with. I hate to think that the crack in my heart is result that maybe he never loved me either.

Danny knew just how to play people. I always blamed it on the charm that he portrayed. I'm the fool. He has manipulated me and everyone else that he has ever spoken to. He has the whole school wrapped around his finger. He manipulated me and all our friends into keeping our mouth shut about the explosion. He manipulates everyone he comes in contact with because he can and he's good at it. Hell, he just did so to my mother.

"Oh and Danny--" He turns around in a hast to get his truck door open. "Give my love to your parents." My mother's words ring clear in the air and all they represent.

He may be a a big shot at our school but it's all because his parents have the money to give him everything he wants to be so.

The Greyson's loved me. They once told me I was their son's ticket to a good life. They were also rich asshats who didn't know the difference between giving their opinion and being bigots.

Danny shakes his head and disappears into his truck. I sure hope it's the last time I have to worry about feeling his unwelcomed eyes on me. I never want to see this stupid truck again.

Before my mother can look out the kitchen window, her phone pressed to her ear as she orders takeout because, let's be honest, my mother does not cook, I take off towards Nate's house.

I am more late than what I told him I would be and his front door opens before I manage to knock.

"I was so worried," he says and he takes my hand and drags me into the house. "What was that all about? Are you bleeding again?"

The tears have finally started to flow and I hiccup to keep them down. His hands find my cheeks and I rest my face into them, relishing that comfort his touch always brings.

"It's not my blood."

Nate doesn't say anything but his brows scrunch low over his eyes and two lines form between them in worry. I want to reach out and smooth them but don't because the tears soon blur my vision and I can no longer see.

"Kelly what is going on?" His voice has grown stern and through the ups and downs of today, my vulnerable body is affected by the tone. I am almost disgusted with myself. Even in the worst moments I want Nate.

"I lied to you." My breath hitches and my grip on his hands tighten, afraid that he will let go.

"About what?" Nate's voice softens to a siren lull that makes me sway towards him. His thumbs carass both my cheeks, rubbing back and forth in a way that makes my eyes close.

I am fighting a one woman battle and I am losing. I need to tell him before things progress between us. If I was him, I would want to know that the person I am seeing is ⅕ the reason that I am blind.

"Babe, tell me."

My eyes snap open and a giggle bubbles up in my chest. "Did you just call me, babe?"

Nate smiles sheepishly, a steady blush settling on his cheeks. "Thought I might try it out."

"I love it." My tears instantly dry up. I sniffle to erase any evidence that I was crying in the first place.

"Okay, babe," his smile broadens. "What are you lying about?" His thumbs continue to graze my skin, back and forth, until I have to fight to keep my eyes open.

I grab his hands and remove them from my face. I keep my grip on both of his and replace his rubbing thumbs with mine over his knuckles.

"I punched Danny." I hold my breath as I wait for Nate to react. He becomes motionless and I watch his chest until it starts to move again.

"You punched Daniel Greyson."

"In the nose."

Nate's smile has dropped into something that could only be portrayed as shock. "Wow, my very own Rocky."

A single sound of laughter leaves my tight throat. Hot pain radiates through my body that I didn't say what I should have said. "You're not mad?"

"Why would I be mad?" There is humor in Nate's voice as he plays with my fingers.

I sniffle again. "You told me not to go after him. I-I didn't. But still. I'm sorry."

Nate's smile drops. "Did you have a reason to hit him?"

Man, oh, man did I have a reason. Even though I feel a tiny bit bad about doing so, I would gladly do it again. "In the mindset that I was in at the time, yes."

"Then let's go take care of those knuckles of yours." He leads me up the stairs and into his bathroom. Nate's sister rounds the banister and smiles when she sees me sitting on the edge of their bathtub.

"Hey guys, what's up?" She asks with a pep in her step as she nears us. "Hi, Kelly," she says with a smile.

"Not now, Charlie," Nate replies as his hands roam inside the medicine cabinet.

"Hey, Charlotte." I try to smile and manage to do so when I see her roll her eyes at her big brother.

Nate lets out a sudden growl that makes me and Charlotte both jump. "Do you know where the band aids are?" It's as if the situation is finally dawning in him and he is now apprehensive. I wish he could see my hand to know that it isn't bad at all. I think Danny's tooth sunk into the skin between my knuckles as my fist sunk into the bridge of his nose.

"What happened?" Charlotte asks. She fully enters the bathroom and shifts Nate aside with an innocent push.

He stands off to the side like a reprimanded child, a pout on his face and arms crossed over his chest. I find myself smiling more prominently.

"Kelly punched someone," Nate shocks me by saying. I gasp and send him a look.

"Cool," Charlotte praises. While stepping on a stool, she manages to reach the cabinet and pulls out a box of bandaids and medical tape. She hands them to her brother and he snatches them away.

I grab his free hand that is hanging by his side and guide him to me. Nate kneels down in front of me and my heart softens as he washes my cracked knuckles off with a washcloth and bandages me up.

Charlotte has disappeared back down the hall and when she is gone, I touch Nate. I push his hair off his forehead, my fingers scraping against his scalp as I do so. An appreciative hum vibrates through him. His hair is much longer than when I first met him and the new style has him looking older. Though I liked his cropped hair, the grown length has made little curls curve around his forehead and ears which is very attractive.

His eyes close momentarily and he braces himself against my knees, his large hands fanning out against my jean cladded thighs. Another hum of appreciation climbs out his chest and it makes me forget about the pain in my hand. What a lovely sound.

"Seems all we do is fix each other up," I comment while he finishes up his handy work. I can't hide the sadness behind my words.

"Almost done," is all he says back.

When he's done, I inspect my now wrapped up hand and I'm pleasantly surprised how good it looks. "Nice work," I say and press my lips to his cheek, letting them linger there in appreciation. "Thank you."

When we get back to Nate's room, I head right to his bed and pull him down with me, too mentally exhausted to finish our project right now.

Nate doesn't fight me as I lay my head on his chest. One arm bends behind his head and the other one wraps itself around my waist.

"I just want to lay here for a minute, okay? Then we can get to work." My eyes feel heavy as I say this, the feeling of Nate's chest rising up and down, lulling me to dreamland. The adrenaline that I had felt in Danny's presence has taken its toll on me.

Nate rubs my back until my eyes fully close and my breathing evens out. Just before I am claimed by sleep Nate's voice kisses my ear.

His words pull at my heart in a way that is so painful yet so pleasurable and sweet. "You've fixed me in more ways than one, Kelly."

My body snuggles closer to him in my dreamlike state. I don't know how late it was when I woke back up, but when I do, Nate's face is pressed into the crook of my neck and our legs are tangled together on top of his bedspread.

His breathing is slow, alluring, against my chest. Before I can think of his parents walking in or my own wondering where I am at, I fall back asleep, pulling him closer to me until I can feel his lips hovering against my skin and his breath tattooing my collarbone.