I swatted Noah on the chest playfully. "Ouch! I'm sore, aren't you meant to play nurse and tend to my wounds or something?" Noah asked as we sat on the basketball court of our local park. We followed the others here after the boxing ring and now that Joel and Noah have rekindled their friendship I haven't got a word in edge-ways.

"I guess I got downgraded from the best friend status pretty quick." I joked.

"I never liked that status on you anyway. I felt like you needed an upgrade." He placed his hand under my chin softly, leaning in close enough for me to feel his body heat. The chestnut tones to his eyes fell down to my lips and my breath hitched.

This kiss was going to be different than his others, they're all filled with passion and greed but he was leaning in slower this time, wanting to take his time and appreciate the sensation of our bodies becoming one. I closed my eyes because I wanted to really concentrate on feeling him in my heart.

"Noah!" Joel interrupted. Noah dropped his hand from my face and I felt the impact of his minty sigh across my cheek. "Come play." Joel said, oblivious to the moment he had just disrupted.

I watched them play basket ball from a distance as I sipped on my warm beer.

"You really ignited a change in him Mia. He's not only talking but he's talking to Joel, I'm shocked." I squirmed uncomfortably next to Abbey, feeling instantly cold and distant towards her.

"You filled Emily's head with junk." The words fell from my lips without thinking them through or rephrasing them better. Abigails eyebrows raised with surprise.

"No. I told Emily the truth." Abbey said slowly.

"At her parents funeral? She was four!" I exclaimed a little loudly. Abbeys eyes flicked to the guys who continued playing with the ball. Then she turned back to me.

"She was a brat, needed taking down a notch or two. You can choose not to believe me but Noah killed his parents. I know what happened, I was there that day. I seen everything. I think Emily deserved to know the person living under her roof. My only hope is that their uncle protects her from him." She flicked her dark hair over her shoulder with dramatized movements.

A burning pit of rage was bubbling up inside of me from within and I couldn't fight the urge to jump on her. I grabbed hold of her hair and tugged it as she screamed under me.

"She doesn't need protecting from him! He does everything for her! He takes care of her every day. Gave up everything for her. You have no idea the sacrifices he has made!" I felt two strong arms around my torso pulling me off her, she tried to get to me but Joel held her back.

"He's a murderer, Emily should know exactly what he's like you would've done the same. You know it, he knows it and now she knows it. He should be far away from her, rotting in jail." She spat out, throwing her limbs around trying to get free.

"You don't know what you're talking about. He's the sole reason she's so well cared for, he makes sure she has food and somewhere to stay, makes sure she's safe and feels comfortable always, he helps her with her homework and gets her to school on time." I screamed at her.

"Uhh Mia I think her guardian is responsible for that." My mouth fell open as I realized how much I had said. Everyone was watching me, waiting for me to fire back. Except Noah who looked completely betrayed and hurt.

"Yeah he does... but Noah helps." I said quietly. She scoffed, believing she had won the argument. Noah turned to walk away and I screwed my eyes closed, knowing I royally messed up.

"Noah!" I chased him but he continued walking towards the play park, it was abandoned thanks to it being so late at night. I grabbed his arm and forced him to face me. "Noah I'm sorry." I pleaded.

"What the fuck was that Mia? You're talking to people about Emily? To her." His voice was harsh and aggressive, the opposite to his usual calm manner.

I closed my eyes, soaking in everything that has just happened. When I re-opened them again I was ready to know what happened. I needed to. "Noah I need to know the truth." I said quietly.

Noah exhaled sharply and then took a seat on one of the swings. I followed him, sitting on the swing right beside him.

"You expect me to tell you the truth after you just betrayed my trust?" Even in the darkness his eyes lit the way, so warming and capable of giving love so deeply. They were powerful enough to make you fall, even if there was nobody there to catch you.

"They don't suspect anything Noah and that only happened because I didn't know all of the facts, I need to form my own opinions instead of just listening to hearsay. Please don't keep me out of this when everybody else seems to know."

He sighed, making his whole body rise and full with his rapid breath. He rested his head against the right chain that held up the swing and looked into the distance, remaining silent. For the longest time I didn't think he was going to say anything so I gave him a little encouragement.

"Did you kill your parents?" I whispered.

"Yes." He whispered back.

I exhaled sharply. Feeling disappointment run through my entire body. I wished, hoped and prayed that it wouldn't be true.

"Did you mean to kill your parents?" He turned to face me and I could see the regretful expression in his eyes.

"No, it was an accident." He admitted. "A stupid fucking accident." He added.

"What happened?" He turned to face away from me again, looking out to the distance of the darkness that lay before us.

"We got into a fight, we were always fighting about something. On this day it was because Abigail was round, they didn't really approve of her and they felt uncomfortable with me having girls in my room but I ignored them and took her upstairs anyway, locking the door so they couldn't get in. It was a dumb argument.

My dad he was relentlessly trying to get me to open the door, banging on it, screaming at the other side. I was such a dick to him, to them all. Then he took a hammer and broke it down. I could hear my mom and Emily shouting at him to stop but he just lost it. I really thought he was going to get through the door and then come at me with the hammer. But when he got through the door he grabbed my arm and dragged me down the stairs, forced me to tell Abigail to leave.

I was so mad that he had embarrassed me in front of my girlfriend, I remember feeling like I hated him and in that moment I wished I could kill him.

As a punishment he gave me this car piece he bought from some Chinese company. I worked at the automobile repair shop on the weekends so I could fit it no problem but I told him the piece didn't look right, it was cheap and smaller than it needed to be. But he just told me to stop fucking around and get the job done. He thought I was just being awkward because I didn't want to fit the piece for free.

So I fitted the piece.

I knew that piece wasn't safe but I fit it anyway just to shut his complaining up. A few hours later we were in the car on the way to one of his work dinners and I could hear the rattle from beneath, I told him to pull over but he started screaming at me because he knew I didn't want to go to this dinner in the first place. Just before he got to the bridge he started shouting that his breaks wouldn't work.

He kept telling me I had done something to his car, swearing at me as the car swiveled from side to side because he couldn't get control of it. My mom and Emily screamed and in the last moments I spent with my parents I was arguing, telling them how much I hated them and how I hoped they would die. That's when the car went into the water and everything went dark.

When they fished the car out of the lake it was too damaged to see if it had been tampered with so their deaths went down on paper as a tragic accident instead of a manslaughter and I made a conscious promise to do better. To be a better person, to take care of Emily and to always put her first, above anyone. I at least owed them that."

I reached over and took hold of his hand, he peered up at me looking a little stunned. Like he was surprised that I were still here.

"You don't hate me now?" He questioned skeptically.

"I don't think I could ever hate you." I told him honestly. "What happened was a tragic accident and you can't put the blame on yourself, it's too much."

"Come on." He stood up and tugged on my arm, wanting me to follow him, so I did.