'Forget about the things you think I know.'

Tyson stays outside with Charlie as I help Emily load the dishwasher, she didn't want me to but I insisted. It was just after twelve and we are all starting to get tired. "He is happy with you," Emily says as she passes me a plate.

"I'm happy with him too," I answer honestly.

"He has never brought a girl home to us before," she says as she rinses another plate.

I know that I am his first girlfriend so this doesn't really surprise me. "I had a serious relationship before this, over a year ago, but it's different with Tyson," I pause. "It's real with him, with my ex, things were great so long as they were great. It's almost like the hard stuff make Tyson and I stronger."

I had never thought of it this way until now. It's true though, the ugly parts of ourselves only bring us closer.

"I like that."

"He still hasn't told me everything about before you and Charlie," I say hesitantly.

Emily closes the dishwasher and leans back against the kitchen bench. "He struggles to talk about it, even with us; I have only ever had glimpses. Most of his past I learnt from his case file."

"Please tell me to shut up if this is too personal, but what made you decide to adopt Tyson?" I hope I haven't overstepped a boundary but Emily just smiles fondly.

"We actually had no intention of adopting an older kid, in fact Charlie and I both decided on five and under. We were going to meet some children to see if there were any we connected with when we accidently bumped into Tyson, he apologised quickly but we both just stared at him like idiots. Clearly the guilt was written over both of our faces over unintentionally interacting with one of the teenagers. So he said, 'don't worry, I'm too old for you.' Then gave us a giant smirk and continued walking on."

I smile at this, knowing how much it sounds like Tyson.

"We asked to see his file, saw he had been in the system since ten and it broke our hearts. I knew right then that there was no point looking any further and Charlie agreed."

"Thank you for telling me that...I felt such a quick connection with Tyson and it really does feel so homey here."

Emily gives my hand a tight squeeze. "You are welcome back here whenever you want," she smiles.

Tyson and Charlie come back inside, "ready?" He asks before pulling me to his side. I nod tiredly at him.

"Thanks for dinner," Tyson says before giving his mum a hug.

"Anytime darling," she squeezes him tightly.

"Love you guys," Tyson says with a contagious grin.

"Love you son, and we are so proud of you," Charlie says.

"Make sure you both come back soon!" Emily says before pulling me in for a hug.

"We will," I say.

As we head for the door, I notice the scattered photos on a cupboard against the wall. One of them grabs my attention, mainly because it doesn't fit in with the other's, it's small and the frame is different to the rest. There is a girl smiling, one hand is shading her eyes to stop the glare of the sun. Her hair is dark and long, I automatically pick the small picture up. "Scarlet," I whisper and then realise I spoke out loud. I quickly look up to Tyson who nods painfully. "She's beautiful," I whisper again.

The ride back to Tyson's feels longer than normal, something has shifted between us, not in a bad way; maybe just in an intense way. I know that as soon as we get back to his, he will tell me everything. I could feel the heaviness radiating from him, and squeeze my arms tighter around his waist. I close my eyes as the air caresses my body before rapidly brushing pass.

He unclasps my helmet and I flop down on the bed. Tyson stays standing, kind of in a wounded way. His bubbly, light-heartedness has disappeared, and his face creases with pain. I stand up and place my hand on his cheek. "No more secrets," I whisper.

He nods his head like he had already come to this conclusion. I think he has been mentally preparing to tell me all night.

He coughs and leads me back to the bed. "I'm sorry, it's never easy to talk about it, memories can spark a freak out; and talking about it- it's like letting all the memories back in."

I squeeze his hand. "I'll be right here if you do," I say reassuringly.

His leg starts bobbing up and down, and he reaches for his smokes in his back pocket. "I'm sure you have guessed by now that having a bikie father meant I didn't get your average childhood." He lights a smoke and takes a long drag before exhaling. "He was brutal- abusive to me and my mum," he pauses but his leg keeps moving up and down. "She tried to protect me as much as she could," he smiles sadly. "He was a drunk and eventually she would turn to drugs as an escape. I saw a lot and was forced to grow up way too fast, I learnt how to look after her high when I was seven."

I want to speak but I don't, not wanting to interrupt him. I squeeze his hand tighter to encourage him to keep going.

"Dad was with The Lost Souls one night; I always loved it best when it was just Mum and I. He came home drunk as fuck- I can't remember exactly what I did to set him off, it never really took much for him to put his hands on me. Dropping a glass, losing a race, saying the wrong thing at the wrong time...I had a mental list of all the things I needed to do right, but the list kept growing and his punches became more aggressive."

I inhale a sharp breath as Tyson releases a long one, before filling his lungs with more smoke. "He threw me over the kitchen counter before laying into me, I can remember thinking that I was going to die...that he wasn't going to stop this time." My eyes sting with tears as one slides down his cheek. "Mum knocked him across the head with a pan. She grabbed my face and told me to run and to not stop running."

He sniffs once as I wipe my eyes free so I can watch him tell me the rest, my heart doesn't want to hear; but my head knows that Tyson deserves my strength.

"I wish I did keep running," he says so softly. "But I hid in a cupboard, too afraid to leave her. I could see parts of them through the cracks, she immediately tried to calm him down, but he called her a fucking whore. Then he hit her so hard she went straight to the ground. He told her this was her fault before he wrapped his hands around her throat until her body stopped fighting him."

I look up and watch as he blinks away tears, his leg still bouncing and his hand trembles as he brings the cigarette back to his lips. "It was hard to comprehend time while I was in shock, but he stayed with her for a while. He wouldn't look at her but he sat beside her body as I fought not to scream and cry. Then he just got up and left, but I stayed in the cupboard; too frozen to move. I was found the following night."

Then his tears disappear momentarily as his face darkens. "Dad went to prison and I went to an orphanage."