I notice a dark figure standing there, I'm ready to grab my bat and bash in his head when he turns to face me. It's only Daryl, so I push the window up.

"What are you doing?" I ask.

"Checking up on you." He looks around like he's waiting for someone to catch him.

"Why didn't you just knock on my door?" I ask.

"And have your stepfather know I'm going into your room? According to him you're off limits and I've already overstepped many boundaries when it comes to you," he says.

Unexpectedly I let out a laugh. I pick up the window so that he can get inside and go over to put the deadbolt lock on my door. He climbs over and nearly trips over some shoes on the floor. My room is still a disaster and I'm a little embarrassed. He closes the window behind him and walks towards the bed. I sit down and watch as he awkwardly paces back and forth.

"You have a deadbolt on your door?" he questions.

"Did you see the type of shit that went down today? I've had it on since." I stop myself not wanting to go into the reasoning behind it. I'm not comfortable going into detail about the first tenant who thought it was okay to sneak into my room in the middle of the night. He did get a nice kick in the balls, but came at me several times before Travis came in and beat him to the ground.

I look down at my bedspread and pick at the white string that's been bothering me for a while. I'm not sure what to say. My vision is starting to blur as I stare at the one spot. I've held myself together through this whole ordeal, but I'm beyond exhausted. I'm tired of fighting with my emotions, but I don't want to look weak. I will myself to not cry to ignore the lump in my throat, but it's not working. A sob escapes my lips and tears spill down my face. I could have lost Liam today and the thought of that scares me.

I throw a hand over my mouth and my whole body shakes with sadness. Daryl stands there for a few seconds unsure of what to do. His boots come into my view as he touches my shoulder. My body shudders at his touch. Without thinking I jump up and lace my arms around him.

"Thank you Daryl," I say in between sobs. "I can't thank you enough for doing what you did for me today. You saved his life, I don't know what I would have done..."

He stops me by tugging on my hair gently so that I look up at him. My arms stay around him as I look up into his eyes. In his eyes I see compassion, something I have yet to see from him. He hides all of his emotions so well, that it shocks me to see it.

His hand reaches around and rests on my cheek. I lean into his touch and the warming sensation takes over my whole body.

"It means so much to me that you..."

I don't get to finish my sentence because his lips slam into mine. I'm taken back for a second, but then fall into them. My tongue darts into his mouth as he pushes me back, I turn us and push him down onto the bed, and stand between his legs. I continue kissing him and comb my hands through his messy hair.

I sit down straddling his legs and kissing him with everything I've got. His soft moans are enough to make me quiver down there. I've never felt that with just a kiss. I think I've been afraid to feel it, after the incident with that awful man, but ever since I kissed Daryl that night in the bathroom something has woken inside of me.

I push him down on the bed and he lays back never breaking our kiss. I can feel him enjoying this kiss as much as I am. His hands rest on my hips as his fingertips just barely touch the skin under my raised shirt. I roll off of him and he follows and drapes his arm over my middle.

I'm not even sure how long we make out like horny teenagers, but by the time we are done I'm completely out of breath. We both lay on our backs staring up at the ceiling. My hand reaches over to grab his and he squeezes down as they connect. My heart is racing and part of me wants more from him. I'm not even sure where this is heading and honestly I don't care, I wouldn't mind just making out with him forever, I know that's childish but it makes me forget about all the stupid shit in my life.

"What the hell was that?" he questions.

I laugh and look over at him. His eyes find mine and I see a half a smile on his face. I let go of his hand and roll over onto my stomach to look at him, my feet still dangling off the bed.

"Hormones?" I ask.

He chuckles lightly and for the first time all day I feel at ease. Daryl runs a hand through his hair and then reaches for my face. I love when he rubs his calloused fingers across my face. I scoot closer and wrap my leg over him. A smirk plays on his lips. His lips, god I could kiss them all day. I pull him close to me as his hand reaches up my back. His movements are slow and I shiver as his finger rubs down my spine.

"What if we just did this?" I ask.

"What like a friends with benefits?"

"I mean I guess. I think I kind of like this. No strings just something fun to pass the time?"

If I didn't know any better I'd say I saw hurt cross his eyes as I said that. I shake the thought because just a few weeks ago he stood in the kitchen telling me that I would become his stalker if we went any further.

"We can't tell anyone." His voice is low and sexy.

"No, definitely not. Travis would probably hire a hitman to kill you," I joke.

"You got that right," he laughs.

"Okay, so we're doing this then?"

He shrugs, "Guess so."

"Guess so," I whisper.

We spent another half an hour or so just kissing and exploring each other without going too far. He's gentle and I've noticed him waiting and watching me as to ask for permission to do certain things. Part of me is screaming that this is not a good idea that it won't end well, then there's the part telling me that this could be good. Something to keep my mind off of all the stupid shit.

We stand at the window unable to pull away from each other. I push him away and laugh looking down at his boots.

"You joining us tomorrow for our so called "family thanksgiving"?"

"I won't pass up a good home cooked meal," he tells me.

"Good. My mom's supposed to cook, but it'll end up being me," I say.

"Well your food is pretty damn good. For years I lived off of canned spam or anything I could find in the cabinet expired or not," he tells me.

Did he just open up? Holy shit. I'm not sure what to say so I just nod.

"So, I'll see you tomorrow then," I say.

He does that grunting thing and I can't help but laugh. He gives me a look, but doesn't say anything. He kisses me one last time before hoping out the window and heading back into the basement.