Asher's POV

I was worried about Lily. She was wincing and stumbling all day. The idiots never realized anything and kept hugging her. I could feel Cole becoming as suspicious as me but Ryan and Jason were totally oblivious. My suspicions were confirmed when she took off her hoodie. I also felt...uhm... other things happening to me, but they would happen to any guy. Anyways, we all decided to clean her wounds. When I saw her crying, I hugged her. For some reason, I could feel these weird fluttery things in my stomach when I held her. Like...... butterflies. I wanted to shout at them and tell them to go back to the zoo or something but I would probably look like a mad man.

I held her as she cried and could feel my heart breaking. By the expressions of the other guys, I knew that they were also horrified by what had happened. She didn't deserve this. I knew that it wasn't any gang business because they would have killed her, not let her go. I was now completely sure that she was being abused. Why anyone would do such a thing, I had no idea. But this wasn't the first time that I had known that an innocent person was getting abused. I didn't plan on staying oblivious like I did the last time.

I decided to help her as much as I could. I just needed to get rid of these butterflies who had taken over my stomach as their personal green house. She fell asleep on Cole's stomach and I could feel a tingle of jealousy overtaking me. Holy sh*t! Was I starting to have feelings for this girl? No, of course not.

I was continuing my internal battle as Ryan and Jason fell asleep. Suddenly, I felt a hand on my shoulder and looked up to see Cole standing behind me with a sleeping Lily clinging on to his neck. He said,

"Let's go talk on the balcony."

I nodded and got up to follow him outside. He sat down and so did I. We stayed in silence for a bit and I could see him stroking Lily's hair from the corner of my eyes. I decided to break the silence and said,

"I'm pretty sure that you know something is wrong. I also feel like there's something going on. I have a feeling that I know what it is."

He nodded, telling me that he wanted me to continue and that he was also suspicious. I took a deep breath and said,

"She's getting abused. It definitely wasn't a gang because she would have been killed straight away. She shows all the signs. She's quiet, hides away from people and has bruises on her body often. I have seen some on her arms but always thought that it was just because she got hurt in other ways. We need to help her. We can't let her go through the same thing as..... you know who."

He looked at me with concern and said,

"I agree with you. She definitely seems like she's getting abused and we have to help her. We may not have known her for long but I already feel like she's my best friend. Plus, I'm pretty sure you have some other relationships in mind."

He smirked as he said that and I glared at him. He then stood up with Lily still in his lap and said,

"I need to go sleep. Hold your future girlfriend for me, will you? "

I glared at him again but took her from his arms anyway. He walked inside and I stared at her sleeping form. She was so pretty and looked so peaceful. I started to stroke her hair and pushed my face into her neck. She smelled like strawberries. I then got up, walked inside, sat on the sofa and resumed our previous position. Soon enough, I could feel my eyes closing.

*******

I woke up to laughter and a warm pillow on my chest. I opened my eyes and squinted as the sun shone through the window. I groaned and shuffled around. When my eyes finally adjusted to the light, I saw three smirking idiots standing in front of me with their arms crossed across their chests. I looked at them, confused, when I realized that a sleeping Lily was curled up against my chest. I glared at them and sat up. Ryan looked at her and said,

"I totally respect the fact that she is yours but she is so hot."

Cole and Jason nodded their heads in agreement and I shot them all a glare. They laughed as I did. I gently held her from either side of her bare waist and pulled her up along with me. She was very light. I started to shake her a bit and said,

"Lily, wake up."

At the first few tries, she groaned and mumbled words that sounded like,

"Leave me alone!"

After a few more tries, her eyes opened and she looked at me. She then screamed, ran halfway across the room and stared at me with wide eyes. I burst out laughing and so did the rest of the guys. She then looked down to see herself in a sports bra and shorts. She turned a light shade of pink, probably realizing that she was half naked in daylight, and covered herself with a blanket. I was thankful because she was turning everyone on last night without even noticing it. Me included.

I continued to laugh and decided to go make some pancakes. I first used the bathroom and brushed my teeth. So did the other boys. Lily was in the room doing god knows what while we were making pancakes. Eventually, she came downstairs, fully clothed and looked at us as if we were aliens. She then said,

"Don't tell me you guys cook too! What can you not do?"

I smirked and said,

"We're multitalented kings."

She rolled her eyes and stared at the plate of pancakes. Suddenly, her face paled and she looked a little uncomfortable. I asked,

"Are you okay?"

She nodded and said,

"Yeah, I'm fine."

Her face went back to it's normal color and she dug into her plate. Me and Cole analyzed her as she ate while Jason and Ryan just made small talk. When she was done, she got up with her bag, came towards us and said,

"Thank you for last night. Um...... I'm gonna.... leave now."

I looked at Cole and a silent agreement passed between us. He grabbed her by the arm and said,

"You can't go! We made plans to go to the.... uhhh.... the amusement park with you."

Ryan and Jason looked at each other in confusion and said,

"We did?"

in unison. I nodded at them. They shrugged and went along with the plan for which I was grateful. Cole and I had to tell them what was going on soon. One, so that they could help us and two, because we never kept secrets from each other. These were my best buds since we were in diapers and the one time I had not told them something, it ended in us almost breaking apart. That was an experience that I did not want to go through again.

I sighed as Lily said,

"Ok? I guess we're going to the amusement park?"

This was going to be interesting.

Finito! If you liked it, please comment share and vote. It would honestly mean SO much. Love you guys! Peace out!

Strawberries or blueberries?