Becker's POV...

"I found her."

I back away from him, waiting for the blow to come. I barely made it up the stairs before he bombards me. As usual I have no clue what Jack's talking about. He's stone sober for once with a full bottle of vodka in his hand which scares me even more now.

"Found who," I ask him, though it's probably a bad idea to engage in this conversation.

"Your whore of a mother. She thought she could leave me and that I wouldn't find her. Well guess what? I did and I'm going to get her and bring her back here."

What the hell! I'm not sure if I should stand here and listen to what he has to say or if I should run before he decides to slam that bottle into my head while I'm two inches from falling down a flight of stairs.

"I don't understand," my voice shakes.

He pulls out a piece of paper from his front pocket and waves it around in the air. "I know you've seen this."

I'm so confused.

"Your adoption paper. You think I'm a monster! Your real father is the monster. Your mother knew it and his father knew it and wanted to hide you from him."

I haven't had a conversation with this guy without him physically abusing me for the last six years, and now when I do, he decides to tell me this! What the fuck!

"Where do you think all this money came from to pay for all this?"

"Your football career? I don't know."

"That's nothing compared to what your grandfather paid me to adopt you and when you turned 18, no more payments came in. So now what? This is your fault! Your mother left me because of you and just expected me to take care of you! Alec, sure because he is my son... But you!!" He's now screaming in my face and I've gone numb. I probably won't even feel him hit me at this point.

That's why he's always left Alec alone, he's been safe all along. Thank God for that.

"You didn't take care of me. You beat the shit out of me! I was a kid and I've grown up afraid that people will hurt me because of you!" I'm yelling now too I think, I don't know anymore.

"Why would my grandfather pay you to adopt me?" I have so many questions.

"Your grandfather is a wealthy and prominent businessman and his son, your father, is bad news. A violent drug lord in Chicago. Your mother somehow got herself knocked up by him and then asked his father to hide her and her baby. She met me and when you turned 2 and she was about to have Alec, we made a deal with your grandfather that he'd pay me every month until you were 18 if I pretended you were mine." He removes the cap from the bottle and it's only a matter of time before things spiral.

I send Greya a quick text so she won't worry or come here looking for me. I then watch Jack down half the bottle and prepare myself for what comes next.

I know I need to keep him talking while he still has a few minutes of clarity.

"Why would mom leave us? Why is that my fault?" I've waited for the answer to this for almost six years.

"She was delusional, thinking your father found her. She thought he was coming for her and you, so she ran. She ran from me and left you here. Because of you I lost my wife!" He throws the now empty bottle at the wall and I watch all the pieces shatter around us.

I'm frozen. Caught in the space between what's real and what's not. I almost wish Jack would finally end my misery, if it wasn't for Greya and Alec, Cohen and Declan, I'd made sure he'd done it already. My mother left because she thought she was protecting me. She didn't realize she left me with someone just as bad as the person she was protecting me from.

"I'm leaving," he says. I try to focus on what he says next.

"I'm going across country to get my wife and bring her home. Tell Alec I'm bringing his mother home." He quickly moves towards me and I try and back away but I trip down the stairs and twist my ankle when I grab the railing to keep myself from tumbling further.

Jack leaves me hanging as he walks past me down the rest of the stairs. "She's my mother too," I whisper to myself.

My ankle hurts like hell when I try to put pressure on it, so I decide to sit on the step and wait for Jack to leave the house.

I send Greya another quick text. What I really need is to hear her sweet voice and feel her soft hands comforting me.

After he leaves, I ice my ankle and make sure Alec comes home safely before retiring to my room. I'm certainly not sleeping. So, texting Greya random messages is the only thing that gets me through the night.

Now that it's morning, I feel bad I kept Greya up all night with me. We both have games today and I know she's not used to playing on no sleep.

My ankle's clearly still bothering me, there's no hiding my limp from her unless I hide out in the music room all day. So that's what I do. Skip classes and play the piano. That is until Greya figures out I'm in here.

She silently walks up next to the piano and watches me. Her smile puts a smile on my face too.

"That was beautiful, you can keep playing," she says.

Her compliments are comforting. She always makes everything better for me. Someday, when I'm not so messed up, I'll be able to do the same for her.

I want to hug her but my body is back to reacting in it's usual fucked up way. Last night did a number on my sanity.

I push over so she can sit by me. She's worried about me and so careful with me at the same time, my heart flutters erratically by how wonderful she treats me. I'm not used the feelings she creates inside me.

"Talk to me Beck. You've been in here all morning." She reaches for my hand and I jerk away from her like the idiot I am.

"Shit! I'm sorry," I grab her hand and bring her palm up to my cheek and lean into her touch. I need to get it together, she doesn't deserve this. I don't deserve her. Just thinking about that brings tears to my eyes.

"Tell me what happened. Did he hurt you?"

"No he didn't hurt me. I found out a lot of things about my life last night and I don't know how to process it all, that's why I'm in here."

"You can tell me, I can help you."

"I know and I will tonight, if you'll let me come over after my game."

"Of course you can come over, Alec too if you need."

I lower her hand but keep hold of it, reminding myself how normal it is to hold the hand of someone you care about.

"I'm sorry I flinched, I feel so stupid for doing that to you. I'm supposed to be trying harder for you, I don't know what happened."

"You have a lot on your mind, I understand Beck. It's okay to not be okay with me sometimes, just talk to me about it, I'm always here for you."

The tears fall and I don't want to look so weak in front of her.

"Can you give me a hug?" I ask her. I need her arms around me.

I instinctively hold my breath when she touches me and quickly realize how much I crave her. The heart fluttering and the butterflies rapidly spreading throughout my body tell me this is real, she is real.

"Is this what love should feel like?" I ask her because I don't know what else this could be. I've also forgotten what love is.

"Yes, Beck it is. And I'll show you everyday what it means and I'll wait for you, as long as it takes for you to realize you are capable of so much love."

"You're my safe haven, Grey. It's only ever been you, even if I back away sometimes, I know I'm okay with you. Please don't give up on me."

"Never." She kisses my cheek.

She tells me about her decision to talk to guidance about UCLA and I'm so happy for her. She wants to talk to her brother about it too, which I know will be hard.

I offer her any help she might need from me, and then she unexpectedly gets up from the bench, startling me. God, why can't I be normal? I want her to stay here with me and wasn't prepared for her to leave right after getting used to her by my side.

"Fuck! Sorry...I don't like the feeling of you being away from me." I attempt to explain myself and by the look on her face, I only made it worse. She smiles at me though.

I smile with her this time. "Want to wager on a hat trick tonight?" I tease.

"You bet," she teases back before walking out of the room.

I stare at the piano again wondering how I was born into the situation I've had to live through. I wonder why Greya's had to suffer so much too. She's so strong and resilient and I'm scared to death of ruining any good that we have together.

I won't be able to hide my limp from her tonight and she'll be upset I didn't tell her about it sooner. I'll also be trying to explain to her everything Jack revealed to me about my life. If that doesn't make her run from me afterwards, then I must be the luckiest bastard in the world.