"Rose! Rose! Scarlett rose wake up darling! I have something important to tell you." I hear as I wake up, feeling myself being gently shaken.

"M up, I'm up." I mumble. I sleepily squint at the alarm clock to realize my mother had woken me at 7 on a Saturday. I mentally groan, but listen to her as she excitedly babbles on about a new guy shed met while I rub my eyes and yawn, sitting up in bed.

"Congrats mom. So... Why'd you wake me up at 7 to tell me this?" I say as I give her a playful smile. I really am happy for her. My dad left us when I was just little. The only memories I have of him are glimpse and flashes of what he put her through- of cowering in cabinets and closets and under tables, covering my ears so I wouldn't have to hear his yelling and her crying. Squeezing my eyes shut so I wouldn't see his fists making contact with her much smaller and frailer body.

"Oh! I'm going out with him most of the day today, and Daniels waiting downstairs for you."

I shiver at the mention of his name. Daniel is my babysitter. He's been my babysitter since my grandma- who used to take care of me when my mom would work or go out, died.

I... hate Daniel.

At first things were fine, for the first year or two even, he was fun. He'd give me candy, and gifts. He'd play with me, take me fun places... but slowly, he just... changed. Now, he likes to get drunk a lot, and when he's drunk, he's not nice to me. He tries to make me do... weird things, and then he gets really upset with me when I don't want to. He's yelled and called me names,  pulled me to my room by my hair and locked me in there, he's even shoved me, and one time he slapped me. I can barely bring myself to think about the times he hasn't taken no as an answer... but I prefer the hitting.

I'm seventeen, I don't think I need a babysitter, but my mom has always been protective, and I can't blame her considering what she's been through. I know she only wants to keep me safe, and she thinks me having supervision is what's safe for me. It would kill her to know the truth, she would blame herself, and I'm worried about what that might bring her to do. Beyond that, I don't know if I could ever even get the words out to her. I hate myself for what he does to me.

So I do what I can to just... avoid being here when he is.

And by avoid being here, I mean I go hang out with Gray.

My mom doesn't seem to notice my sigh, and I give her a small smile and an 'ok.' She leaves me to change, and I put on a fairly short black skater skirt, a pink t shirt, and some cute frilly ankle socks.  I rush through my usual light makeup routine, leaving my hair natural and just brushing it out.

I quietly make my way downstairs, feeling my heart begin to race, and glance out the window by the front door to see my mom getting in a black Range Rover. I'm surprised by the car, and I try to get a look, but all I saw of the guy she was with was some blonde hair before he drove away. She's never dated someone with money before.

I sigh, gathering the courage to walk the last few steps into the kitchen, where I see Daniel- and an empty shot glass by the sink that I know wasn't there last night, as my mom doesn't drink.

The second she left, at 7:30 am. Classy. I think to myself, and try to contain my eye roll.

"Uhm... I'm gonna go to a friends house." I call shyly to Daniel, then immediately turn back to the door a few steps behind me and run out, shutting it and not giving him a chance to argue. My heart beat returns to a normal pace as I walk over to Graysons's house, texting him that I'm on my way.

Before I even knock Grey opens the door and pulls me in, giving me a side hug and laying a gentle kiss on top of my head.

"Hi."

"Hi."

"Are your parents and little brother home?" I ask.

"They're all on vacation in Yakima, visiting family. I was supposed to go but I couldn't,  cuz I'm sick." He fake coughs twice. I smile.

"Boo, you whore." I quote and laugh. I'm not supposed to cuss, but I only do it when Im with Grayson.

"You love me." He chuckles, picking me up and throwing me on the couch in his living room. He sits next to me and puts his arm over the back of the couch behind me, grabbing the remote as I relax into him. He notices the way I snuggle in close, needing the comfort after the near panic attack that always comes with having to face Daniel. He notices and gives me a comforting smile before blowing some of my hair into my face.

"That tickles." I giggle.

"Oh really? Does this?" Suddenly I'm being pinned to the couch while he lifts my shirt and blows raspberries on my stomach amd I burst into laughter, yelling at him to stop between breaths. Soon he relents, pulling my shirt back down and patting my belly as if to apologize, but I know he's not sorry. He knows making me laugh will always make me feel better.

He helps me sit back up into our previous position, turning on a movie my mom would never allow me to watch as I tell him how mean he is.

Suddenly my phone rings. My eyes widen, wondering who it could be as Gray pulls away and grabs it from my little purse, and hands it to me. It's my mom. I glare at Grayson as he refuses to turn the tv off, and in retaliation he starts tickling me as I answer.

"Hey mom, what's up?" I say, my voice strained, trying not to laugh.

"Are you ok?" She asks. "By the way, you're on speaker phone. I'm with Luke and Daniel." Oh joy. Gray laughs, having heard my mom say so. I take note mentally... so the new guys name is Luke.

"Fine just uh, a little busy."

"Oh well, we came back because I forgot my purse and you weren't here, and Daniel says you just said you were going to a friends, so I was curious as to what friends house you're at." I struggle and try not to pant as she talks, trying to silently wrestle Grayson's hands away from me while still   focusing on what she's saying. I hear Daniels voice, and another man- whose voice I can't place, although it somehow sounds familiar-in the background.

I squeak as Gray unexpectedly tickles my very sensitive thigh, muting myself immediately to smack him in the chest and give him a mean glare. He's unabashed.

"What was that?" My mom asks.

"Oh, a uh, sorry. A spider scared me." Grayson laughs quietly again at my flustered response. "Anyway, I'm at Kimberley's house." I roll my eyes as I continue to try to pry Grays hands off me with my free hand. My mom doesn't like me having guy friends, she says I'm too young and boys only want one thing, but greys my best friend. I trust him.

"Ok, well don't be gone too late, you still need to do your weekend home work." My mother reminds. I roll my eyes. Like every other teenager, I hate homework and think it's the stupidest most nonsensical thing ever created.

"Mmmmmhhmmmm." I respond. "K, bye, love you mom!" I say before I hang up on her.

"Ughhhh Gray!" I growl, giggling as he continues to refuse to stop digging his fingers into my sides, with even more intensity now, not letting me wrestle him away.

"Cramp! Stop!"

Fun fact, I originally wrote this as her and Grayson were fuck buddies and in this scene he was like fucking her while she was on the phone but then I changed my mind and didn't want her to have had sex before so I changed it to this lol

"Grayson!" I scream as he raspberrys my neck one last time before setting me down on the couch. We finish the movie and then play video games and watch Netflix until around 2, when we run out of things to do. I go home, managing to sneak past Daniel due to his lack of sobriety we, do my homework, then sit in my room reading Luke Hemmings fanfics because daaaaammmnnnn he's hot. Tbh, he is daddy af.

I write another chapter for one of my stories- which I never want anyone finding out about- and publish it. Soon, I hear Daniels foot steps coming up the stairs. I quickly slam my laptop shut and look at him as he enters my room.

He doesn't say anything as he approaches the bed, and I can't feel like a piece of meat with the way he's looking at me, heart pounding and breathing becoming labored as we sit in silence for a few moments, as he just stares me down.

Suddenly, he's reaching for my arm, trying to drag me off the bed and onto the floor, onto my knees.

"No! I don't want to!" I cry, feeling myself start to really hyperventilate and tears begin streaming down my face.

He just laughs at me. "Like I care what you want." He spits back, trying to grab me by the hair as I try to thrash out of his hold. "I didn't like that little stunt you pulled earlier, running out on me..." he growls. "Stop fucking moving or I'm gonna make it hurt." I squeeze my eyes shut as he starts to unbutton and unzip his pants. I keep trying to struggle away and he seems to get frustrated, shoving my face into his member, which is now only covered by boxers.

I don't know what comes over me, or if I have a death wish, but I open my mouth and bite down.

Suddenly a pain erupts across my stomach and I'm pushed to my back by the force of the kick I was just blown, and he starts screaming. I try my best to curl into a tight ball and protect myself as an onslaught of rage comes against me.

"YOU FUCKING WHORE! GET BACK ON YOUR FUCKING KNEES!"

"HELP!" I start screaming, over and over, at the top of my lungs, sobbing. He kicks me wherever his foot can reach until he's interrupted by a deep, loud yell.

"GET THE HELL AWAY FROM HER!"  Daniel freezes, looking back with wide eyes and mumbles profanities.

"Luke- calm down- I-"

"GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE!" I scramble to my hands and knees and crawl as fast as I can in my injured state to the corner of the room, curling up again to cover my ears to escape the terrifying sounds of yelling.

I hear no more words, but a flurry of grunts getting further away, down the stairs, and then the front door slamming. Footsteps run back up the stairs to my room and I cower even harder, trying to disappear into the walls behind me. My sobs are interrupted by a shriek as I feel hands on my arms, flinching hard.

"No! Please! Help!" I yell through my sobs.

"Shhh, shh, im not gonna hurt you, I'm not gonna hurt you." A soft, but panicked sounding male voice tries to comfort. I try to look at the figure but can barely see through my bleary eyes from tears.

Hands grab around my waist and I instinctively push them away. "Shhh, it's ok honey, it's okay. You're safe now." The hands grab my waist again and I'm pulled into a chest. The voice seems familiar somehow, and it definitely feels comforting, so I give in. My hands desperately fist whatever material they find, which happens to be this mans shirt, to try to stop my sobs. I cover my eyes, not wanting this man, whom I know is my mom's boyfriend, but is practically a stranger, to see the make up running down my face.

I don't know how long we sit there, him rocking me and shushing me and muttering comforting words until I can finally bring myself to start breathing normally again, and my tears slow down and eventually stop. He gently scoots me back a little to try to look at me, but I keep my head down, feeling mortified as I realize what's just happened.

"Are you okay? How long has this been going on? Does your mom know?" Hes immediately bombarding me with questions that make my head spin. It already hurts from the crying and I squeeze my eyes shut, rubbing my face with my hands and likely smearing mascara everywhere.

"I'm fine." I mumble in a weak voice, scooting myself away from the guy further.

"Are you sure?" He poses. His voice is filled with concern and disbelief.

"Positive." I try to say confidently, but it still comes out shaky. We sit silently for a moment, before I feel my heart drop in realization. "Speaking of my mom... where is she?"

What did she see? What did she hear? How can I ever face her again?

"Uhh, she got called in for a meeting so I dropped her off and she asked me to check on you. She said Daniel was supposed to have left an hour ago. It's good I did..." he says, and I breath a sigh of relief. "Cmon, let's get you cleaned up." I sigh and gently nod. He goes to pick me up and carry me to the bathroom, but I push him away, standing up on my own- although admittedly on very shaky legs- never looking up at him. I'm too nervous to.

I feel pain wrack my body as I move it so much, but try to cover any reaction.

I quickly walk to the bathroom, hoping he'll let me close myself in forever and never face him again, but instead he's right behind me, following me in before I have the chance to stop him and beginning to dig through cupboards to find whatever he's looking for.

While I have the opportunity to, while he's not looking at me, I take a glance at him, and once again feel my heart drop.

"Holy shit." I accidentally let slip. He looks at me alarmed, pausing his search to attend to me.

"What's wrong? And don't curse!" My eyes are wide.

Everything inside me feels wrong. This feels like literally the worst, most embarrassing thing that could've ever happened to me, and I feel like I'm in too much shock to even process it.

My mom is dating Luke Hemmings. My mom is dating my biggest celebrity crush, the boy I've fam girled over and wrote stories about and dreamed of since I was like, 12. Luke Hemmings just saw me being...

"I-I hadn't, um, looked at you yet, and um, well, you ar-arent exactly what I was expecting." I stutter out nervously. He smiles in a warm, comforting way.

I have some pics to delete from my phone, some post notifications to turn off, and some passwords to set on my phone and computer, in case Luke ever gets ahold of any of it.

"What do you mean?" He asked.

"What do you mean, 'what do I mean?' I'm a teenage girl in Australia, I know who Luke Hemmings is. And well... you're not the first person I expect my mother to be dating. I don't think any teenage girl expects their mother to be dating their- the lead singer of a band they love." I rant. I feel my heart beat hard in my chest again, nervous this time.

He laughs a bit. I began laughing too just a tad, then quickly stop as my ribs begin to hurt. I cringe at the pain and Luke gives a sympathetic smile. He grabs out a first aid kit and directs me to sit on the counter.

"It's fine I can do it myself." He gives me a raised eyebrow, silently telling me to just obey, and, reluctantly, I do. He gets out rubbing alcohol and cotton swabs. I wince as he cleans out the few small cuts Daniel made. He feels over my ribs, making me lift my shirt a bit to check the bruises, and make sure nothing is broken.

"We should probably take you to the hospital." He mumbles, frowning.

"No, my mom can't afford it." I respond quickly. He kind of laughs and shakes his head.

"Well, I can."

"Nuh uh, no, I'll be fine." I assure. I grab the ibuprofen off the shelf and shake it. "Fixes everything."

He sighs, laying a comforting hand on top of mine. "If you're sure. But we still need to talk." I groan quietly, rubbing my face with the other hand to try to make the heat caused by knowing Luke fucking Hemmings is alone with me in my bathroom touching my hand.

"This is serious, Scarlett Rose! That was abuse! That was illegal! And I heard the get on your knees part. How long has he been doing that?" He asked me incredulously. I frown, covering my face with my hands. I do not want to talk about this. Not to him, not to anyone.

"This- this was the first time." I try to lie, it Luke's face immediately tells me he's not convinced.

"He didn't just all the sudden ask for a blow job and beat the crap out you when you refused." I'm shocked by his bluntness and frown, opening my mouth slightly in shock before trying to defend myself.

"Yes! he did! He's usually fine. I don't know what happened." I spit out quickly, flustered. "He- just- he doesn't usually drink, but for some reason I- I guess he did today. And I guess that just how he gets when he's drunk." I try to say convincingly with wide innocent eyes, but I feel tears touching them again.

"Bull. Tell me now, the truth this time. Now, Scarlett rose." He demands in a soft but stern tone. The tears start to well over as I try to stutter out a response.

"Uh, uhm, errrrrr... I-" it's obvious he doesn't believe my lies. I don't know what else to say. He sighs, giving me a warm and concerned look. Suddenly I'm wrapped in a hug and his comforting voice is in my ear.

"I just wanna help you, honey. That wasn't okay. You didn't deserve that." I feel something in me crack at that but resist the urge to just sob into his chest for another half hour, sniffling as I gently push him away and wipe the little wet streams from my cheeks, hoping he didn't notice.

"You're 21 right?" I decide to try to distract. He sighs at my question, but nods his head.

"That means my moms, what, 14 years older than you?" He again, raises a stern eyebrow, but nods.

"Stop stalling. How long has he been doing this."

"Isn't that a little-"

"God damnit Scarlett rose, now." He cuts me off, raising a hand to run through his hair, and I hope he doesn't notice the way the movement made me flinch.

"Umm... i- okay. He started babysitting me when I was 12. Everything was fine, and I liked him for the first... year? Two? He'd give me junk food, and toys and stuff, and play with me and take me places. but slowly, he just... changed. He started drinking around me, and then being mean, and then pushing me around, and then... when I was like, 14 the uh..."

"It's ok, you don't have to say it." He assures.

"Yea... that all started. After that I mostly just stayed out of the house when he was around." I mumbled.

"God Scarlett ro-"

"Please, just rose, or Scarlett, people only call me that when they're yelling at me." I draw my eyebrows together, the full name giving me anxiety.

He nods. "Rose?" I prefer that over Scarlett. Scarlett sounds like blood. I like the way it came off Luke's tongue too. I mean, how could I not. He's the man I've dreamed of for almost two years. And here he is, dating my mom.

Screw my life.