The Darkest Night

I sat on the kitchen counter, watching my mom make pasta bake; she was panicking slightly and kept glancing at the clock every couple of minutes. I knew why she did this, my dad was due home in exactly sixteen minutes and he liked dinner to be on the table as soon as he got in.

Jake wandered in, playing with his Spider-Man figures. "Mom, can I go play at Liam's?" he asked, giving her the puppy dog look.

She glanced at the clock again and shook her head quickly. "Not right now, Jakey. Dinner won't be long and we need to eat as a family." She flinched slightly as she spoke.

Jake's face fell, but he nodded and came to sit next to me. I immediately snatched the little man out of his hands and laughed as he gasped and snatched it back, smiling and rolling his eyes at me. He was a cute kid, with blond hair and grey eyes with brown flecks in them. He was my big brother, and as big brothers went, he was the best. He always looked after me at home and at school, made sure no one picked on me. The only one allowed to pick on me, as far as he was concerned, was him, and to a lesser extent his best friend Liam, who happened to live next door.

"So, Ambs, you need help with your homework?" he asked, nudging his shoulder into mine. Jake was ten, and was two years older than me, so he always helped with my school work.

"Nope. I didn't get any." I smiled, swinging my legs as they dangled off of the counter.

"OK, kids, go set the table for me. You know how. Exactly right, OK?" Mom asked, sprinkling cheese on the pasta and putting it into the oven. Jake and I jumped down from the counter and grabbed the stuff, heading to the dining room.

My dad was very particular about everything, if everything wasn't exactly right, he got angry and no one ever wanted that. My mom always said that my dad had a stressful job. He always got easily annoyed if we did anything wrong. If you had heard of that saying 'Children should be seen and not heard', well, my dad took that to another extreme. Instead, he liked 'Children shouldn't be seen or heard'. At five thirty everyday he would come home, we would eat dinner straight away, and then Jake and I would be sent to our bedrooms, where we played quietly until seven thirty when we would have to go to bed.

I hated this time every day. Everything was fine until he came home, and then we all changed. Jake always went quiet and didn't smile. My mom got this look on her face, like fear or worry, and she would start rushing around plumping up the cushions on the sofa. I always just stood there and silently wished I could hide in my room and never come out.

Jake and I set the table quietly, and then sat down in silence, waiting for the click of the door to signal that he was home. I could feel my stomach fluttering, my hands starting to sweat as I prayed in my head that he'd had a good day and he would be normal tonight.

Sometimes, he would be in a really good mood and would hug and kiss me. Telling me what a special little girl I was, and how much he loved me. That was usually on a Sunday. My mom and Jake would go to hockey practice and I would be left home with my father. Those Sundays were the worst, but I didn't ever tell anyone about those times, or how he touched me and told me how pretty I was. I hated those days, and wished the weekends would never come. I would much rather it be a school day when we would only see him for dinnertime. I definitely preferred it when he looked at me with the angry eyes, than when he looks at me with the soft eyes. I don't like that at all, it made me feel uncomfortable, it always made my hands shake. Thankfully though, today was only Monday so I had almost a week before I would have to worry about that again.

A couple of minutes later he walked in. Jake shot me a look that told me to behave and he held my hand under the table. My father had blond hair, the same colour as Jake's. He had brown eyes, and was always frowning.

"Hello, kids," he said in his loud deep voice. A shudder tickled down my spine as he spoke. He set his briefcase on the side and took his seat at the head of the table. I tried not to show any reaction to him; actually, I tried not to move at all. It always seemed to be me that got everyone in trouble or that did something wrong. It always seemed to be me that made things worse for everyone. It never used to be like this, I used to be daddy's little girl, but since he started his job, three years ago, he changed. Our relationship with him changed completely. He still favoured me over Jake, but when he came home from work, it was like he wanted to pretend like Jake and I weren't there. The way he looked at Jake sometimes was like he was wishing he didn't exist, it made my stomach hurt to see him look at my brother like that.

"Hello, Dad," we both replied at the same time. Just then my mom came in carrying the pasta and a plate of garlic bread.

"This looks nice, Margaret," he said, giving her a smile. We all started eating in silence and I tried not to shift on my seat uncomfortably. "So, how was school, Jake?" he asked my brother.

Jake looked up nervously. "It was good, thank you. I tried out for the ice hockey team and Liam and I were," he started, but my father nodded, not listening.

"That's great, son," he interjected. "What about you, Amber?" he asked, turning his gaze on me.

Oh God! OK, be polite, don't ramble. "Good, thank you," I replied quietly.

"Speak up child!" he shouted.

I flinched at his tone, wondering if he was going to hit me, or maybe send me to bed with no dinner. "It was good, thank you," I repeated a little louder.

He frowned at me and then turned to my mom who was nervously wringing her hands together. "So, Margaret, what have you been doing today?" he asked, eating his food.

"Well, I went to the supermarket and I got that shampoo that you like, and then I did some ironing," my mom answered quickly. It sounded like a prepared answer, she always did that, had her answers ready so that she wouldn't say anything inappropriate to make him mad.

I reached out my hand for my drink, but I wasn't watching properly and knocked it over, spilling the contents over the table. Everyone's eyes snapped to my father, who jumped up from his chair. "Shit! Amber, you stupid little bitch!" he growled, grabbing the top of my arm and pulling me roughly from the table. Suddenly my back hit the wall, pain shot down my back and I bit my lip to stop from crying. Crying made it worse, he hated crying, he said only weak people cried. I saw him draw back his hand; he was going to hit me. I held my breath waiting for the blow, knowing that there was nothing I could do but take it, the same as always.

My brother jumped from his chair and threw himself at me, wrapping his arms around me tightly, covering me. His was back to our father as he protected me. "Get the hell off of her, Jake! She needs to learn to be more careful!" my father shouted, grabbing hold of Jake by his clothes and throwing him to the floor. He slapped me across the face, sending me to the floor, then he turned to Jake and kicked him in the leg, making him moan. "You don't ever get in my way again, you little shit!" he shouted at Jake, while he was curled into a ball on the floor.

Silent tears were flowing down my face. I couldn't stand to see him hurt my brother; he was only trying to protect me. Jake always did that. Whenever I got into trouble, he would provoke my father so that he would take it out on him instead.

My father picked up his plate and drink and stormed into the lounge to finish his food, muttering something about us being 'the worst kids in the world' and 'how the hell did he get stuck with this life'.

I crawled over to my brother and wrapped my arms around him tightly, clinging to him as if my life depended on it. He groaned and pushed himself up to sitting, hugging me back, rubbing his hand across my stinging cheek, hissing through his teeth.

"I'm so sorry, Jake. I'm so sorry," I mumbled quietly, crying onto his shoulder.

He shook his head. "It's alright, Ambs. It's not your fault," he croaked, giving me a small smile and trying to get to his feet, groaning. I jumped to my feet and helped him up. I could hear movement so I glanced up to see that my mother was frantically clearing the table.

"Take your dinner to your rooms and eat, OK?" she instructed, kissing us both on the cheek. She needed to go to my father and do damage control, he would be in a temper in there from my mistake and she needed to calm him down before anything else happened. "I'll see you tomorrow morning. I love you both. Please be quiet, and whatever happens, stay in your rooms," she ordered, quickly kissing us again and handing us our half eaten dinners, before pushing us towards the back hallway.

We had a nice house, four bedrooms and it was all on one level. My father earned good money so we lived in a nice area, but I would rather the house was smaller so he wouldn't have to work in his job. Maybe then he would be like the old dad, taking us to the park and buying me toys and candy. Jake came to my room and we ate in silence, sitting on the floor near my bed. He held my hand tightly when we heard my father shouting at my mother from the lounge, something smashed, and I winced. This was entirely my fault.

I started to sob so Jake wrapped his arm around my shoulder, squeezing gently. He always seemed so much older than me; he was so much more mature than I was. "It's OK. Everything's OK, Ambs. Don't worry," he cooed, stroking my hair. Once I had calmed down, and the shouting had stopped, we played snap cards for a little while.

When we were in the middle of the game, we heard stomping coming up the hallway, Jake stiffened as the footsteps went past my door. They didn't stop though, thank God. I let out the breath I didn't realise I was holding and looked at Jake, who smiled a small smile. "I'd better go to my room, it's after seven," he said looking at my alarm clock. "Lock your door. I'll see you in the morning," he said with a wink. He left the room and I watched him creep across the hall to his room, he turned back to me. "Lock your door, Ambs," he whispered, waiting there, watching me.

I shut my door and locked it quickly as he told me to. Putting my ear to the wood, I listened to make sure that Jake did the same to his. I ran back over to my bed and threw myself on it, crying silently. I couldn't stop, I was sobbing and sobbing. I had been stupid tonight and I got my brother hurt again! And probably my mother too, by the sound of the noises from the lounge.

Suddenly, there was a scratching, tapping noise on my window. I snapped my eyes up to see Liam outside, looking at me sadly. I got up and ran to the window unlocked it and slid it up quietly wondering what on earth he was doing here. Shouldn't he be at home?

"Liam, what are you doing here? You need to go, now!" I whisper yelled at him, shaking my head fiercely. But the stupid boy just climbed into my room through the window, closing it silently behind him.

I held my breath, looking at my door with wide eyes. If my father caught him here he would go crazy, he didn't like Liam to come over and play at our house, he always said he was too noisy. "Liam, get out!" I whispered, desperately trying to push him back towards the window. I winced, wondering what my dad would do if he had heard my window open and knew that Liam was here. Liam didn't budge; he just wrapped his arms around me tightly, and pulled me against his chest. I tried to push him away but he just held me tighter.

"It's OK," he whispered, stroking my hair. I started to cry again into his chest; thoughts of Jake being hurt earlier flooded my brain.

Liam was tall for his age; he was ten, the same as Jake. They were best friends, and had been since we moved in four years ago. He had chocolate brown hair, which he usually spiked up with too much gel, and light blue eyes that were like windows to his soul. When Liam looked at you it made you feel like you could fly. He was very cute; all my friends had crushes on him for some reason. Liam and I didn't get on at all though. He teased me all the time, he trips me, pulls my hair, and he has this annoying habit of calling me Angel for some reason, he's called me it since the moment he met me and it really makes me mad.

What on earth was he doing here now? And why was he hugging me? Maybe he thought this was Jake's room, maybe he went to the wrong window – but that couldn't be right, because Jake's room was on the other side of the hallway, his window faced onto the backyard.

I pulled back to look at him. For some reason he looked so sad; he had tears in his eyes as he just continued to hold me. He knew about my father, Jake had been covered in bruises once and had blurted out the truth to him. Jake and I had both begged him not to say anything though, and he never has.

"What are you doing here, Liam?" I whispered, wiping my face, but the tears continued to fall.

He pulled me onto the bed, rocking me gently, just like Jake always did when I cried. I looked at his chest and realised he was in Power Rangers shorts and t-shirt. I frowned, a little confused as to why he would be wearing that, it was freezing outside. Then it dawned on me that he was wearing his pyjamas. I looked at the clock to see it was almost half past eight. I'd been crying for over an hour.

"I saw you through the window. I just wanted to come and make sure you were alright," he whispered back, still hugging me tightly.

I looked back at the window. Liam's room was directly opposite mine and I could see into his room, which meant that he could see into mine. I bit my lip, oh God he'd seen me crying, I must look so weak to him. The only people I ever cried in front of were my mother and Jake.

"I'm OK. You need to go," I whispered, pushing him again, trying to get him off of my bed.

He just shook his head. "I'm not leaving until you stop crying," he stated, pulling me down so that we were now laying on my bed, facing each other. He had his arms wrapped around me so tightly that I couldn't even squirm away. I felt safe and warm. I scooted even closer to him, pressing my whole body into his and sobbed on his chest.

__

I woke in the morning, still tightly wrapped in his arms; I gasped and looked at the clock 6:20 a.m. "Liam!" I whispered, shaking him.

"Ahh, what, Mom?" he asked with his eyes shut.

"Shhhh!" I hissed, quickly covering his mouth before he spoke again. I can't believe we fell asleep, this is so bad.

His eyes snapped open and he looked at me, shocked, then looked around my room. "Oh no, did I fall asleep?" he whispered, sitting up and rubbing his hand through his hair, which was sticking up everywhere but actually looked better than when he has all that yucky gel in it.

"You need to go home, Liam. Quick!" I hissed, pushing him towards the window. He opened it and started to climb out but I grabbed his hand making him stop. He looked up at me a confused expression on his face. "Thanks," I whispered, smiling gratefully at him. I really needed that hug last night, that was probably the nicest thing Liam had ever done for me.

He smiled back. "You're welcome, Angel," he replied, smiling and climbing out.

I watched as he went through the hole in the fence and climbed back into his own window. He closed it and waved at me, I waved back and then went to go get dressed.

The thought of Liam sneaking over here and being in the house when he wasn't allowed, made my stomach hurt. We were so lucky not to have gotten caught. I dreaded to think what would have happened if his parents had gone into his room in the night and saw his bed empty, or what would have happened if I hadn't have woken up early.

I shuddered at the thought of what my father would do if he had walked in here to find Liam in the house at night-time.

~ 8 years later ~

I woke to the familiar sensation of being crushed; I wriggled, pushing my shoulder backwards. Liam shifted his weight off of me slightly. He was spooning me from behind, breathing deeply into the back of my hair. His heavy arm was draped over me, pinning my arms to my chest, he was holding my hand tightly, our fingers interlaced, his leg was slung casually over mine. I could feel the usual 'morning glory' pushing against the small of my back.

I quickly silenced my phone alarm and elbowed him in the stomach. "Six o'clock," I mumbled sleepily, closing my eyes.

"Ten more minutes, Angel. I'm still tired," he murmured, pulling me tighter to his chest.

"Nope, no ten more minutes. Last time it turned into another hour, and Jake nearly caught you in here," I mumbled, elbowing him in the stomach again.

He moved his arm and pinned my hands down to the bed near my head, in a praying position. "Just ten more minutes, Angel," he whined. I sighed and closed my eyes again. There was no arguing with him when he was like this, I just didn't have the energy this time of the morning to get into a fight with him. We both drifted back to sleep, instantly.

"Amber, you had better already be up!" my brother shouted, banging on the door. I jerked up and so did Liam, it was almost half past seven.

"Er.... yeah I'm up already, Jake," I shouted back, glancing at Liam who was rubbing his face, looking a bit dazed.

"Good. I'm going to have breakfast. Hurry up will you. Liam's driving today so be ready to leave in thirty minutes," Jake called through the door, before stomping off down the hall.

"Jeez, Angel, why didn't you wake me up?" Liam accused, frowning.

I looked at him warningly and gave him my best death glare. "I did, you jerk! You said 'ten more minutes' then pinned me to the bed to stop me from elbowing you!" I growled sarcastically, doing a bad impression of his voice.

He chuckled and pushed me back down on the bed, pinning my hands above my head and rolling on top of me. "Pinned you to the bed? Were you dreaming about me again, Angel? I could make that dream come true for you," he mocked, with his face inches from mine.

"Yeah, you wish! Now get the hell off me, Liam, and go get ready. You're driving today, apparently," I hissed, nodding to the window. He sighed and pushed himself off me, pulling on his jeans and t-shirt. He climbed out of the window, silently, sliding it back down after him. I walked over and locked it before heading in for the quickest shower ever.

Exactly twenty-six minutes later, I trudged into the kitchen with a frown, Liam was there leaning casually against the counter, eating my cereal. Damn it, every morning! His brown hair was messy in his usual just got out of bed look, which to be honest he did get out of bed and it looked just like that. All he ever did was run his hands through it a few times and add a bit of wax.

He looked the same as he did every morning, like a freaking supermodel. He wore low slung ripped jeans that showed his boxers a little, and always made the girls swoon. Today he wore a white t-shirt that showed off his perfect sculpted body, and an orange and grey checked short sleeve shirt over it, which he wore completely unbuttoned. His blue eyes were glittering with amusement as he looked at me.

"Running late this morning, Angel?" he asked with a smirk.

I gave him a drop dead look, making him chuckle. "Shut up, Liam! Why the hell are you eating my cereal again? Don't you have any food at home?" I asked, snatching the bowl from his hands and eating the contents. He just watched me with an amused smile.

Jake threw me a juice box. "You do look a little harassed this morning, Ambs. Everything OK?" he asked, looking at me a little concerned.

I glared at Liam again as he started to laugh. Of course I looked harassed, I had half an hour to get showered and dressed. "Slept in," I muttered with a defeated sigh.

Jake had no idea that Liam slept in my room with me every night, if he did he would go crazy. Jake was very protective of me, he always had been, but he had gotten worse since my dad had left when I was thirteen. Well, I say left, but in reality Jake and Liam came home early from hockey one day to see that my father had beaten me senseless, and was trying to rape me.

Jake had finally snapped, and he and Liam had beaten the crap out of him, almost killing him in the process. They had thrown him out of the house and told him that if he ever came back, they would kill him. He never came back though, that was three years ago.

A little while after that, my mom got a job with a huge electronics firm, she was the PA to the director and so she travelled a lot. She was gone twice as much as she was here, so we only saw her for about one week a month, if that. Jake was my only supervision, although at times it was more like I was the one taking care of him.

Liam was also very protective of me, but we still didn't get on - even though he had literally spent every single night wrapped around me in my bed for the last eight years. He had snuck back into my room the following night after seeing me crying again and we had ended up falling asleep again.

After two weeks it had just became a regular thing. It wasn't something that we ever talked about, I just left my window unlocked and he let himself in once his parents had checked in on him to make sure he was asleep.

We had never once been caught in eight years. We'd come close a couple of times though. A couple of years ago, Liam's mom had found his bed empty, but he took the hit and lied, saying he'd snuck out to a party and stayed at a friend's. No one suspected he was next door with me.

He still teased me like crazy and annoyed the life out of me just as much as he did when we were kids, but I always knew he would be there for me if I needed him. It was like he had a split personality. By day he would annoy me, making me crazy and angry all the time, and by night he would be the sweetest boy in the world and would cuddle me, making me feel safe and secure.

"You're looking hot today, Angel," Liam stated, with his trademark smirk, looking me up and down slowly, making me squirm.

Yeah, right! My brown hair was still damp because I didn't have time to dry it because of his stupid 'ten more minutes' so I had pulled it back into a messy bun. I had thrown on my dark blue skinny jeans and red V-neck top and pulled a black hoodie and black converse.

I had added the bare minimum make up, as usual, just a little mascara to make my grey-green eyes stand out, and some clear lip gloss. I did not look hot. Freaking asshole! I gave him the finger and walked out to his car. Leaning against it, angrily, waiting for them to grace me with their presence.

The drive to school was the same as usual, they sat in the front talking about football and parties, and I sat in the back listening to my iPod, trying to ignore Liam smirking at me in the mirror.

We pulled into the school and the car was immediately swamped by people, the same as every morning. Liam and Jake were considered 'hot players' at our school. They were seniors and every girl's dream, the boys wanted to be friends with them, and the girls wanted to sleep with them.

Liam laughed as I cringed getting out of the car, trying to avoid the horde of skanks that banged into me because they were trying to throw themselves at him. One girl elbowed me on purpose. I looked at her in her tiny skirt that looked more like a belt and her top that showed her stomach, and grimaced. Jeez, she is such a ho!

"Holy crap, Jessica, did you know you left your skirt at home?" I asked with mock horror.

She scowled at me and I heard Liam and Jake laugh. "Whatev's, you do know that the emo look doesn't work for you, right?" she spat back.

I just laughed and walked off. It was usual for Jessica and I to have these sort of comments for each other. She had dated Liam for a little while, well, if by dating you mean ha**ng s*x a few times, and then getting dropped. She still wasn't over it and wanted him back, much to his disgust.

"That wasn't nice, Angel." Liam laughed, as he caught up with me and threw an arm around my shoulder. He bent his head close to mine. "Sorry about this morning," he breathed in my ear, sending shivers down my spine. I elbowed him in the ribs making him chuckle and pull back. "And ignore Jessica, I think you rock the emo look," he added, with a flirty wink.

Jake slapped him on the back of the head. "Dude, that's my little sister!" he scolded angrily, pulling him off me. Liam just laughed and winked at me again, making me roll my eyes. Liam pulled away and walked straight up to what looked like his newest lay. He smiled at her seductively and she blushed as he immediately started flirting with her.

I found my friends who were practically eye shagging Jake and Liam with dreamy expressions. "Hey, Kate, Sean, Sarah," I chirped as I walked up to them.

"Hey, Ambs, did you ride in with hot piece of ass one and two again today?" Kate asked, staring after my brother as he walked off.

I laughed and shook my head. "Nope, just plain old Jake and Liam same as usual."

Kate sighed. "How the hell can you be unaffected by how freaking hot they are? I mean, you're so lucky to live with Jake! I would love to watch his hot ass walk around all day," she purred, fanning her face.

I pretended to gag. "Kate, that's my brother and his as**ole friend! How on earth can you get past the man-whore behaviour? Both of them are jerks." I shrugged. I didn't get why, but every single girl in this school was in love with them. Jake was a great person, but he treated girls like objects, and Liam, well Liam was just an all-round jerk.

"They are the two best players on the hockey team and look like sex gods, and I wish I could get past it," she said suggestively, waggling her eyebrows with a grin, making me laugh. She hooked her arm through mine and pulled me towards our first class.

School was good, as usual; I was quite popular due to the fact that my brother and his best friend were the most wanted boys there. They looked after me of sorts, which basically meant that they warned all the guys to stay away from me, which actually suited me fine because I didn't want to date. Most of the girls wanted to be my friends so that they could get closer to my brother. The girlfriend wannabe's were pretty easy to see through though, mostly you could tell if they wanted an introduction, by what kind of clothes they were wearing - if they weren't wearing much then they were after my brother or Liam.

I loved my classes, I was quite popular amongst the teachers too because my grades never went below a B. I always did my homework, and was never tardy; I prided myself on it, though I wasn't a nerd. At lunchtime I was sat with my friends when I heard the usual whispers and giggles. Girls started checking their hair and fixing their make-up so I knew that my brother and his friends were arriving in the canteen. I sighed as Kate and Sarah started lusting over them as usual.

"Oh yay, hot piece of ass number one is coming over!" Sarah giggled, elbowing Kate in the ribs.

I rolled my eyes as a hand shot out from behind me stealing a handful of my fries. "Hey, Angel," Liam breathed down my neck.

I slapped his hand as he went to steal some more. "Liam, for goodness sake! Go buy your own food, you tight ass," I ranted, annoyed.

He laughed. "Oh you know you want to share with me," he replied, plopping down next to me on the bench, shoving me over with his hip.

"Liam, what do you want?" I asked with a sigh, moving my plate away from him.

He threw his arm around my shoulder. "I just wanted to visit with my girl. I know you've been missing me not seeing me all morning, and all," he said cockily.

My friends all sighed and stared at him longingly. "Will you get your man-whore arm off me, Liam, for goodness sake; I don't want to catch anything!" I scolded, shrugging him off.

He chuckled again. "Don't be like that, Angel. I just wanted to let you know I'll be driving you home today. Your brother has a date, so...." he trailed off, smirking at me.

Great, just great! He was driving me home. Fantastic. He always made the drive home as long as possible just to annoy the life out of me. Then, he insisted on waiting at my house until my brother came home, which meant that I had to cook for him too. Damn it, he is so annoying!

"That's great, Liam. Run along now, I'm sure you have some more STD's to spread around," I said, waving my hand in a buzz off gesture.

He laughed and kissed me on the cheek as he stood up. "Pretend all you want, Angel, we both know you'll be wanting me to sleep with you tonight." He winked at me slyly, giving what he said a double meaning, and I prayed no one else picked up on it.

"Of course I will, Liam, because I'm so in love with you." I sighed, rolling my eyes and rubbing my cheek where he kissed me.

"I love you, too." He smirked at me as he walked off to the same girl from this morning. He slipped his arm around her shoulder, his dirty, slutty lips lowered onto hers. I frowned and looked away back to my friends when he started making out with her in the middle of the canteen.

Kate and Sarah and half the girls in the canteen were staring after him lustfully. "Jeez, that guy is so freaking annoying! Why couldn't my brother choose a nice best friend, someone who isn't an arrogant, self-obsessed, asshole?" I ranted, throwing my hands up.

"Oh stop whining! Liam James just had his arm round you and kissed you on the cheek, I would give anything for those sweet lips to be on me," Sarah said dreamily, making me laugh.

"Whatever. Come on, let's get to our next class," I suggested as we picked up our trays and headed out.

After school I reluctantly made my way to the parking lot, where a smirking Liam was leaning against his car waiting for me. "Hey, beautiful." He winked at me flirtily and opened my door for me.

"Hello, Liam." I climbed into his car, already annoyed with his flirty ass, if Jake was here he would have slapped him for that one.

He climbed in next to me. "So then, Angel, I just need to stop by the store on the way back." He put the car into drive and pulled out of the parking lot.

"Great," I mumbled. I decided to look out of my window and ignore him; I was still annoyed with him for the whole 'ten more minutes' thing this morning.

He pulled into the parking lot of the store a few minutes later. "Come on, Angel," he said, getting out. I just sat there and crossed my arms over my chest refusing to leave the car. He walked around the car and opened my door for me. "Come on, Angel," he repeated, holding his hand out for me.

"It doesn't take two of us to go in, Liam. I'll wait here," I countered. He reached into the car and picked me up easily, slinging me over his shoulder, laughing. He kicked the door shut and started walking towards the store. "Put me the hell down, asshole!" I shouted, slapping on his back.

He just laughed at my meager attempts to get down, and continued walking. Once we were in the store he finally set me on my feet. I looked around, embarrassed, checking to see if anyone saw that, but it appeared that they didn't. He reached out his hand and tucked some of my loose hair behind my ear, his fingers lingering on my cheek.

I slapped his hand away from my face and gave him and looked at him angrily. "That was so embarrassing!" I hissed.

"What's the problem? Most girls would love for me to do that to them," he replied, shrugging and walking off towards the magazines.

I stomped my foot, then blushed because I had just stomped like a child; thankfully Liam wasn't watching otherwise I would never hear the end of it. He grabbed a sports magazine and a bar of chocolate and stalked off towards the counter to pay.

I was happily flicking through Teen Vogue when two boys walked over to me. I stiffened. "Well hello there," one of them purred. I nodded in acknowledgement, and put the magazine back, walking off quickly to find Liam.

"Hey, where you going?" the other guy asked, grabbing my hand.

My heart started to race as I looked around, frantically. "I'm looking for my boyfriend," I lied, trying to sound confident.

"Boyfriend? I don't see a boyfriend," the other guy said, sneering at me. "How about we go somewhere and get to know each other better?" the boy who was holding my hand offered, pulling me towards him slightly.

I felt sick. Oh God, Liam, help me please! I know I'm pathetic but I just hate confrontation and I hate people touching me, especially people I don't know.

"Hey, Angel," Liam said, slinging his arm around my shoulder and glaring at the two guys who immediately dropped my hand and took a step back. I moved closer to Liam's side and pressed into him so hard that it actually hurt. "I hope you guys weren't hitting on my girl," he said casually, but I could hear the anger in the tone of his voice. Liam has always been protective of me; one time a boy pushed me over into a puddle when I was seven, and Liam went straight round to the boy's house and punched him in the face.

"No way, man. We were just talking, that's all," the guy lied, holding up his hands innocently.

"That's good. Come on then, Angel, let's get you home," Liam said, guiding me towards the door. Once we were outside, he turned to look at me. "You OK?" he asked, looking at me concerned. I was OK; my heart had stopped trying to break out of my chest as soon as I heard his voice.

I nodded and smiled at him gratefully. "Thanks," I muttered. He opened the car door and waited for me to climb in, before going around to his side again. Once he was in he tossed something into my lap, I looked down it was a bar of my favourite chocolate, I couldn't help but smile. "Thanks, Liam." He was always doing sweet things like buying me candy, it was just a shame he was such a man-whore jerk, otherwise he would probably be a nice guy.

When I got to my house, I went straight to work making a lasagne for dinner. Liam hovered around the kitchen behind me, making me feel violated as he stared at my body. "For goodness sake, Liam, my eyes are up here!" I cried angrily, pointing to my face.

He laughed. "Wow, you really are in a bad mood with me today, huh?" he teased, smirking.

"Yeah I am. I can't believe you this morning. I hate rushing around; I've looked and felt like shit all day," I cried acidly.

"I think you've looked hot all day," he countered, shrugging.

"Ugh, can you just stop talking to me? I'm not in the mood." I threw the food in the oven and started to chop up some salad.

"Fine, whatever." He shrugged again and came to stand next to me, helping me chop up the salad stuff. He was standing so close to me that I could feel the heat radiating from his body to mine, it was strangely calming.

"I'm gonna go start my homework. That lasagne will be done in half an hour; I suppose you're staying for dinner," I stated. It wasn't a question, I knew he would. I'm not sure whether Jake asked him to stay with me when he was out, but Liam always did anyway.

"Sure, seeing as you asked me so nicely." He smirked.

"I wasn't asking," I growled sarcastically as I turned to walk off.

He grabbed my hand and stepped closer to me, he was so close my chest was touching his, I could feel his breath blowing across my face. "Angel, I'm sorry about this morning, I am. Please stop being all bitchy to me, it doesn't suit you," he said quietly.

I took a deep breath and sighed. "OK, yeah, I'm sorry too. I guess I have been a bitch to you," I admitted, trying to look away from his beautiful sky blue eyes that felt like they were seeing my soul.

"So, am I forgiven?" he asked, smiling.

I liked this Liam, he was the one that looked after me, he was different when we were on our own. He gave me his adorable puppy dog face that I just couldn't say no to, and I felt my will to hate him crumble.

I laughed and rolled my eyes. "Whatever. I'm going to do my homework before dinner." I pulled out of his hold and walked away quickly.

That felt weird being close to him like that, I could still feel the tingles of electricity flowing through my hand where he had held it, I could still smell his sweet breath that had blown across my face. I had no idea what this weird atmosphere was in the kitchen; it was all just too confusing. I shook my head and pulled out my calculus homework, making a start on it at least.

After we had eaten dinner in silence, I finished my homework. It was only eight thirty so Liam decided to put on a movie. He put on The Final Destination and we sat on the couch watching it. I felt a little uncomfortable for some reason but I couldn't work out why. I was just sitting there the same as usual, but something felt off. I kept sneaking little glances in his direction; he was sitting there watching the movie, one leg folded over the other, his arm casually slung over the back of my chair.

Neither of us moved until the movie finished. I stifled a yawn. "I think I'm gonna go to bed, Liam, I'm pretty tired," I murmured, getting up and stretching like a cat. When I looked back to him, I noticed that he was watching me intently. I cleared my throat because he was still staring at me with a strange expression on his face.

"Oh right, yeah OK. I'll just shoot home then and I'll be back in like thirty minutes," he said, standing up to leave.

I followed him out and locked the door behind him, a little puzzled. Why was everything so tense and strange between us tonight? It's was probably just because I was so pissed off at him this morning it's made things a little awkward.

I changed quickly into a tank top and shorts, brushed my teeth and hair, then slipped into my bed. The bed felt cold and too big, just like it did every night. After about twenty minutes or so, I heard my window slide open and then closed again. Clothes dropped to the floor and then the bed dipped behind me.

"Hey, you asleep?" he whispered.

"No, not yet," I mumbled.

I lifted my head so he could put one of his arms under my neck. He pressed his chest right up against my back and wrapped his other arm around me, throwing his leg over mine. I heard him sigh as I wriggled to get closer to him, I loved Liam sleeping in with me, the bed didn't feel right without him there.

"What's wrong?" I asked, pulling his arms tighter around me and pressing my face into his arm, smelling his beautiful scent that was like nothing else in the world.

"Nothing, Angel. I'm just tired, that's all," he mumbled against the back of my head, pressing his lips into my hair.

"OK. Goodnight, Liam," I whispered, kissing his arm.

"Goodnight, Angel," he replied, kissing the back of my head.