"Shut up! Count your calories-" Beach Bunny was pouring out of my headphones as I was reading something for my English class.

The feeling of eyes on me caused me to abruptly look up. My mom stood in the doorway awkwardly.

"What's up?" I asked, pulling the headphones out and sitting upright on my bed.

"Nothing, your father and I are just going to run to the grocery store real quick." She smiled, leaning her head against the doorframe. "Is there anything you want?"

Great. I was being left home alone. It would only be for a little while though, so what could possibly go wrong? Never mind that thought. It sounded too much like foreshadowing.

"No, not that I can think of." I replied, waiting for her to leave.

She nodded her head. Mom always liked to look nice whenever going out into public, hence why she had her shoulder-length black hair curled softly. Even though she was just going to the grocery store.

"Alright, we'll be back soon." She walked off, leaving a wake of thoughts behind.

My first instinct was to run over to my window and peek out. The usual van wasn't parked anywhere on the street, as far as I could see. There were only normal cars in all of the nearby driveways. I watched as my parents pulled out of ours.

Why they insisted on doing things like that together, I had no idea. My father spent so much time either at work or watching football, that my mom forced him to go out and shop with her so that he didn't end up losing his sanity. Or at least, that was what she liked to say.

I felt a little better with the knowledge that I couldn't see anything suspicious. I wondered why they weren't there. They were almost always there.

Since they were usually far enough away from my house, my parents didn't even notice them. Which was a bit shocking in their part, given that my mom typically to noticed everything. Maybe they finally realized that my parents were always home on Tuesdays, and didn't even bother stalking me on those days.

After letting out a long breath, I began to walk back to my bed as my phone suddenly began to ring.

I would be lying if I said that I didn't practically shit myself at the suddenness. There was a pause in which I had to recover from the initial fright.

When I finally reached my phone, I knew that there must have been something going on immediately. The caller ID read:

Druggie Douche

I thought about changing the name, but decided against it. It was a memento to our rivalry. Shaking my head at my unimportant train of thought, I pressed the green button and brought the phone up to my ear.

"Sam?" I asked worriedly. It wasn't often that he would call me during the middle of the day. Especially when my parents were home. Something had to be up.

After a pause. "Sugar, do you mind if I drop by your house?"

I furrowed my brow. "Sam, what's going on? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, I just..." There was an abnormally long silence. "Um, I need your help with something. Is there a way I could avoid your parents?"

"You're really starting to freak me out, but you're lucky because my parents just left to go shopping." I said.

"Thank God. I'll be there in a few minutes."

He hung up before I could get another word in. What was going on? He was clearly trying to play it off, but I wasn't stupid. Something happened, and I wasn't going to let him get away with it.

I ran down the stairs, impatiently waiting for any sign of life outside of my window. After what felt like a century, which was actually only a few minutes just as he promised, his expensive car turned onto the street.

He was smart enough to park a little bit away from my house, so that if in the event that my parents came home sooner than expected, they won't know that someone was there.

The moment he exited, my jaw dropped. Sam's face was covered in blood and bruises all over again. I could hardly breathe as I watched him walk up my driveway. What the fuck happened?

I was at the front door before Sam even knocked, ripping the it open. Up close, it was even worse. Every time something like that happened, I could never tell just where the blood was coming from, or which bruise was centered around which area. I could tell that his nose was mostly to blame for the drying blood that traveled all the way down his chin and neck. But there was also the possibility of a good portion of it being from his lips.

"Oh, Sam." I breathed. I didn't know what to say. I lightly reached up to cup the far side of his cheek as to not accidentally hurt him.

He grimaced, casting those beautiful hazel eyes to the side. "I know."

I shook my head. "I don't understand. What happened? Who did this?"

Sam looked back at me. "They did."

Knowing that I was going to force him to fully explain, I stepped aside and let him in behind me. After locking the doors, I led him to the couch and sat him down.

"Your house is nice." He said.

"Shut up about my house." I snapped. "I'm going to grab some things from my bathroom. I'll be back in a moment."

I did as I promised, returning with arm fulls of anything I might have needed to help me clean him up. I sat next to him, reaching up to tilt his face towards mine so that I could get a better look at the damage.

"Please tell me." I murmured, using a hot washcloth to start cleaning the blood off of his neck and face.

He shrugged. "My mom asked me to go out and get some ingredients for dinner, so I did. Or at least, I was trying to. After I bought what I needed, I was stopped in the parking lot by them. They said that I couldn't forget the lesson they've been trying to teach. Now here I am."

I bit my cheek, trying to stop the whimper that was about to escape. It was all so fucked up. They controlled everything we did and there was nothing we could do about it. I didn't understand why they felt the need to just randomly attack everyone whenever they felt like it.

"It's not too late to go to the police." I whispered, bracing myself for his response, but it never came. I brought my gaze up to his eyes, noticing that he was staring at me as well. "What is it?"

"I've done all of this for my parents." He said. "I care about them so fucking much and I can't stand to see the look on their faces when they find out all that I've done. They'd hate me, Sawyer."

His voice broke as he said my name, causing me to gently wrap my arms around his neck, pulling him as close as I possibly could. I pressed my cheek into his hair, reveling in the feeling of his hot breath against my collarbone.

"They won't hate you, Sam." I told him. "They care more about your wellbeing."

"If I stop now, I'll have failed myself. I'm too far in to just give up."

"Okay." I rubbed his back soothingly, waiting for the sound of his breath becoming stable again. I knew he was crying, but I didn't make a big deal out of it.

Yes, I thought that we should have found a way to end all of it, but I loved him. I didn't want for him hate himself, or if he was right, have his parents hate him. I just had to pray that it would all end smoothly, and that none of us would get hurt much worse than we already had been. It broke my heart to know that he was crying. I had never seen him cry before. I wished that I could do more to help.

Sam finally pulled back, chuckling softly to himself. "I got blood on your shirt."

I looked down. Sure enough, there was a large blood stain on the collar of my shirt. "Who the hell cares?"

He laughed and I placed a tentative kiss to the corner of his jaw. After that, I went back to cleaning the blood off of his face. "The bruises aren't actually that bad, there was just so much blood that it made it look a lot more grotesque."

"Good." He breathed, squirming beneath my touch. "Thanks for doing this. For the first time in a while, my parents were home today. I didn't want them to see me in such a bad state."

"You know I don't mind helping you." I said. "But I do mind it when people hurt you."

"I know. It's over for the moment."

"I hope."

I continued cleaning him up, using peroxide to clean off a couple of small cuts he had gotten. I was in the middle of attempting to place a bandage on his jaw when he started to excessively move under my touch.

"Sam." I warned, knowing exactly where it was going.

A smile grew on his face. "But I-"

"Let me guess." I rolled my eyes, taking the opportunity to put the bandaid on. "You're trying to look at my face?"

"Precisely." He laughed, wrapping his arms around my waist and pulling me closer.

Déjà vu, anyone?

His lips felt rough against my own, and the subtle taste of blood filled my mouth. The kiss continued on for a bit longer than I had anticipated. He had managed to pull me into his lap, giving me the upper hand that I loved. There was always something fun about being taller than him in situations like those. I wove my fingers through his hair, loving how soft it felt. He brought his cold fingers under my shirt, gripping my hips, earning a moan from me.

I would have continued on for even longer, but I heard something that made my heart stop.

My eyes shot open and my lips ripped away.

I was face to face with something horrible.

My parents were both staring at us.

As in, staring at their only son making out with a boy. My hands were tangled in his blonde curls, and his hands were hanging pretty low around my waist, fingers dipping beneath my shirt. Not to mention the fact that I was literally in his lap. Sam's head was turned at an odd angle, looking over the back of the couch at my parents. Everything was silent.

The front door wasn't even closed. I didn't think that my parents even knew they didn't close it. Everyone's eyes were wide, including Sam's. I had never heard silence quiet like that. It was fucking deafening. Why didn't I think about my parents coming home? Why didn't I just bring him up to my room and help him out up there?

I couldn't even find it in me to move. I probably should have at least pulled myself out of Sam's lap, but I was too petrified to move a muscle. The moment I saw my father's jaw set, I collapsed in on myself.

"It's-"

"Don't say a word." He warned. My mom placed a tentative hand on his shoulder.

I took the opportunity to untangle myself from Sam and awkwardly stand. He followed suit, his tooth dug so deep into his lip, I thought for sure he was just going to end up opening the scabs again. Did my dad hate me? Was I finally too much of a disappointment? My face was beat red, and I could see a tint of pink coating Sam's as well.

Oh, shit. I forgot about Sam's appearance. Add that to the long list of things that my parents were processing. His face was more red and light purple tints, than the usual subtle tan that never seemed to fully go away. What did they think about that? There were also the two bandages he had, one on his jaw, and the other on his brow. Oh yeah, and I couldn't forget the large scabs on his lips. I was sure that really helped to sway their approval.

I was pretty sure life just butt-fucked me so fucking hard, that I would never be able to sit again.

My mom finally chose to speak up. "Are you Sawyer's boyfriend?"

I watched with wide eyes and a red face as Sam struggled to find his words. "Um, yeah. I'm sorry that you guys had to find out this way..." Hw trailed off.

"It's... alright." She tried, but failed. I couldn't help but notice that my father hadn't said anything else, and was instead watching us with a painfully blank expression. I didn't think that he was very happy.

Had I earned the right to cry yet?

When she didn't make an effort to say anything more, Sam did. "I'm Samson Warner. Even though this is not how I wanted this to go, I'm still glad to finally meet you guys."

He was polite about it. Too polite. That was the last thing my parents would be wanting to hear at a time like that. Or maybe they did? I didn't fucking know how parents worked. That was precisely why I was in such utter turmoil.

Thankfully, my mom played along, crossing the length of the room to shake his hand. "It's good to meet you too. I didn't know..."

"That your son had a boyfriend?" He finished when she didn't. I winced, waiting for what she was going to say.

"Well, yes." Mom nodded, but her mind seemed to be just as muddled as the rest of ours. "You're Lance's kid right?"

"Yeah." He nodded. Like I said before, everyone knew the Warner family.

"Aren't you, well, um..."

"Rich?" Sam said, causing my mother's face to flush.

"Well, yes." She admitted, before her thin black brows furrowed. "What happened to your face?"

As soon as I saw him bite his lip even harder than usual, I cut in. "Some crazy dude tried to mug him. Which is why he's here, so that I could help clean him up. He didn't want to scare his parents."

My mother vaguely nodded, before turning to my father. He hadn't moved. Hell, the front door was still open. When my mom noticed, she asked. "Could you close the door, dear?"

Dad did as he was asked, silently shutting the door, stopping anymore cold from seeping in. He still didn't say anything, just observing our conversation - if you could even call it that - without expression.

My mom sighed, turning to the both of us with a stern look. "Now that the formalities have been dealt with, come with me, we need to have a talk."

I glanced at Sam with a horrified look, which he soon returned. I was tempted to grab his hand and squeeze it, but I knew that would only make things worse.

She ended up sitting us on some of the dinning room chairs, shaking her head at the both of us. Dad was still not talking, which only made my heart race more than it already was. Did he hate me?

"Samson-"

"Sam." I corrected.

"Sam." She began. "I take it your parents aren't aware that you're here?"

His hazel eyes flickered towards mine before he spoke. "No, Mrs. Parson."

"Gwen." She corrected him. "As a mom, I can't imagine not knowing the whereabouts of my kid-" bullshit, she didn't even know that I had been at Sam's for literal weeks "-so I'm going to have you call your mom and tell her that you're here."

Sam nodded, but didn't say anything.

"Mom, come on-"

"I don't want to here it from you, Sawyer Jay." She snapped, causing me to sink into my seat. "I'm disappointed in you for not only having someone over without notifying us first, but for also keeping something as important as this a secret."

"I wasn't planning on keeping it a secret forever." I mumbled, pulling my feet onto the seat. It felt better to be sat comfortably.

"Well, how long?" She asked.

"How long, what?"

"How long has this been going on? And how long were you going to wait?"

I paused, looking over at Sam. His chair was pulled close to mine, which was shockingly not his doing. When my mom had pulled the two chairs out and turned them around, I didn't think she realized that they were so close. "We've only been dating for like... I don't know, honestly not very long."

"Really?" She asked.

"Why would I lie about that? Yes." I mentally rolled my eyes. Sam wasn't in the best state of my mind right then, and we both had to deal with my parents' bullshit on top of that.

He cried earlier. I had never seen him cry before. Even if it was brief, it happened. He didn't need to deal with my coming out to my parents right then. God only knew what was running through my father's head. This was a fucking nightmare.

"Alright, well how long were you planning on waiting before telling us?" Mom kept fucking going.

I shrugged, because I had no fucking idea. "I don't know, probably in a week or two."

"Sure." She caught the lie. As much as I was dying to tell people about Sam and I, my parents were at the bottom of the list. It wasn't that they were really around enough to find out, anyway. Or so I thought. "Sam, will you call your mom now and let her now where you are?" Sam reached into his pocket for his phone. "And you better tell both of your parents about you two soon. Secrets like these pull families apart."

Sam only nodded and I watched as he turned on his phone and went to his mother's contact. My eyes briefly landed on his home screen. It was a picture of me. I was asleep, my body curled into his side. You couldn't see my eyes, since my hair had fallen in front of them. I almost started scolding him for it right then and there, until I remembered the situation we were in.

The ringback tone went on for a little while, before it suddenly stopped and that same silky smooth voice from when I eavesdropped on him and his mom, spoke up. I couldn't really hear what she was saying, but Sam soon left the room so that he could speak with her.

When it was just me and my parents left in the room, I started to fidget with the bottom of my sweatshirt. "Is that Sam's sweatshirt?" Mom asked.

I kept my eyes trained to the floor. It still smelt like Sam, but not much since I had wore it so much. The red rose embroidered on the corner stared back at me. Truth be told, I had been wearing the fuck out of that shirt.

I halfheartedly nodded. How long was it going to take? I didn't think that I was built for that shit. As I expected, Mom didn't seem to care, but Dad on the other hand, only ever told me to stop talking. His cold eyes were really starting to make me nervous.

After what felt like an eternity, Sam finally reentered the room, saying that he spoke with his mom and explained what had happened. What he actually told her, I had no idea.

"Okay, well-" Mom started, but was suddenly cut off by Dad.

"I want to have a talk." Was all he said, before signaling for Sam to follow him.

I looked at Mom with wide eyes, hoping that she would do something to stop it. But she didn't. Instead, she just nodded her head and watched as they left the room. Welp, that was it. Sam was as good as dead.

"Fuck me." I breathed out, leaning back in my seat with a heavy sigh. It wasn't of relief.

"Watch your language." She hugged. After a moment, her features softened. "You know we'll always love you no matter what, right?"

I nodded. "But what about him?"

"He's probably just telling Sam that if he breaks your heart, he better fucking flee the country." She mumbled.

My face flushed and my jaw dropped. "Mom! You never swear."

"Yeah, well, I've never had to deal with my child being in a relationship." She shrugged.

I groaned, internally praying for Sam's safety. The poor guy was probably being mauled right then. My dad was like a lioness, prowling around it's victims.

When they finally reappeared in the doorway, they were laughing. What the actual fuck was going on? I was so fucking dizzy.

"Sam said that his mom is expecting him home soon." Dad said, the smile never fading.

My mom looked equally as confused. "Oh, alright, it was good to meet you. And don't be a stranger."

"I won't." Sam nodded, before looking at me.

I got up as quickly as I could, grabbing his wrist before my parents could make another comment. As I was pulling him away, I hissed out. "What the hell did you say to him?"

Sam chuckled. "I mentioned football, and I guess that made him forget any doubts."