"Who's Greg?"

Tension rolled throughout my body, claiming it in a stiff stance at the mention of his name.

"Nope," I said shaking my head. "I don't like that question. Ask another." I faced away from him and kept walking, trying physically to get away from the interrogation which would lead to an ultimate explanation and recalling of the most frightening and miserable day of my life.

"Fine," Nathan said as he caught up to me. "Why did you scream out his name when I grabbed you?" My feet stopped moving as frustration and anger shot through my veins.

"That's the same fucking question!" His eyes widened at the fury that came out of my mouth with those words. My chest was heaving up and down hastily now. My nostrils were flaring with what anyone else would conceive as anger but if you looked deep enough, you'd know that it was genuine terror causing my reactions.

"Okay, well then why won't you answer it?" He raised his voice. Frustration was registered clearly on his flawless face.

"Because if I answer that, then I have to answer everything! He is the reason for everything!" My hands drew up into my hair and squeezed at the strands that they claimed in their grasp. I shut my eyes. My hands came down to cover them, blocking out any sunlight from my vision.

"You can trust me, Alex." He spoke softly. A humorless laugh left my lips. I let my hands fall to my sides and sighed deeply while looking down the side walk at the strangers who were blissfully unaware of the conversation happening just a few feet from where they stood.

"That's what he said too."

Out of my peripheral vision, I saw Nathan take a hesitant step towards me. I didn't try and stop him this time. He continued until he was directly in front of me. His warm fingers touched the bottom of my chin and brought my face back forward. Our heads were mere inches apart, our lips even closer. His eyes were locked onto mine in a determined manner.

"I'm not him, Alex. I will never be him. I don't know exactly what he did but I can tell it was bad," I cast my stare down to the ground, dreaming of it swallowing me whole to escape this wretched situation. His fingers brush up against my cheek and beckon me to look back up at him. His eyes captured mine instantly with the profound look fixed in his gaze.

"I will never hurt you, Alex."

His words struck me with more weight than I thought they would. Whether it was the look rooted in his sapphire eyes or the proximity of his body to mine, I didn't know, but I did know that I believed him. I felt surrounded with his compassion and secure by his side. I may regret the decision later on but for the time being, I trusted him. Trusted him enough to bring him into the slim circle of people who are aware of what happened my senior year; of what he did.

"Let's go for a walk, I stated softly, my anger from before nowhere to be found. I reached my hand out pointedly and laced my fingers through his. His hand accepted mine at once and felt large and slightly calloused but right all at the same time.

We started walking down the sidewalk, past dozens of small town shops with their own personal styles peeping out through their different architectural designs. The wind picked up and whipped through my hair, reminding me that we were heading towards the large lake that was homed nearby.

We walked in silence, clutching each other's hands like we had done it a thousand times before. It felt so natural and yet exciting to be doing so in public. They idea of being caught was...liberating to say the least. I was still standing my ground about the 'no date rule' when it came to Nathan but I decided I was no longer able to deny that I had feelings for him; all sorts of fun, dizzying feelings that kept me up at night.

We walked a bit longer before I finally spoke.

"Emily and I were best friend in high school. We met freshman year in drama class and were pretty much inseparable from then on."

"Really?" Nathan seemed more than just a bit surprised. "I honestly never would have guessed."

"Yeah, she never used to be like that. She was one of the kindest, most thoughtful people I had ever met." I nodded my head while smiling sorrowfully as I remembered the old Emily; how happy she used to be. "She had every reason to act the way she did, I stated blankly.

"No, she didn't. No one has the right to treat you that way, Alex. You should never let someone-"

"Nathan," I cut him off. "If you let me finish the story, then you'll be able to see her reasoning." I glanced over his way with a small smirk playing on my lips. 

"Patience is a virtue, Professor."

He swept his eyes over to mine and smiled a perfectly adorable, lopsided smile. "Yes, ma'am."

A genuine chuckle escaped my throat and I was truly glad for the moment of lighthearted banter before things had to take a turn towards serious once again.

"Anyways, she and I were incredibly close all throughout high school. Junior year, when I finally turned 17, I was allowed to start staying over at friends' houses overnight. Which was a huge deal since I had never been allowed to stay the night unless my parents were tight with the other family. Emily and I were obviously stoked and I started staying at her house almost every other weekend and she would stay at mine the other two weekends in the month." Memories of our late night talks and pizza binges ran through my mind and my chest tightened painfully with the memories.

"Her mom was always home but her dad had an odd job where he was gone a lot and I hadn't met him yet, even a few months into junior year. When I finally met him sometime after Thanksgiving, he turned out to be just as awesome as her mom. He was funny, handsome, kind. We would banter back and forth constantly," An odd thought suddenly struck me. "Now that I think about it, he's what really initially brought out my super sarcastic side."

The thought brought on a short bout of silence from me, stirring over the thought in my mind. We had walked far enough now where the lake had started to come into view. Up ahead, there was a playground filled with kids running and laughing, playing with their parents and each other gleefully. A handful of park benches scattered across the lake side. Generously sized oak trees loomed over areas of the lakeside park. We made our way across the street and towards the largest one.

"In any case, I loved her family and spent all of my free time with them. Her dad started coming around more, which Emily and her mom loved. Christmas past by and I spent the day after with them and all of their family members. I was so blissfully happy that I didn't notice when things started to change."

Nathan squeezed my hand that was cradled in his. I feel like it was meant to be supportive but it only reminded me that we were in an area that people could see us again. I turned my gaze to him and reluctantly pulled my hand out of his, giving him a sorrowful look. He returned my look and directed us towards the largest Oak tree in sight which was providing a decent amount of shade.

I rested my back on the tree trunk once we had arrived to the shaded area. Nathan planted himself right in front of me, close enough to where I could reach out and touch him but not enough so that it would cause an onlooker to seconds guess our relationship.

I found interest in the vines and roots that danced around the trees base while I continued on with the story.

"I feel like such a complete idiot for not seeing it now. It was so obvious..." I shook my head frustratingly at my own absurd blindness. "The prolonged looks...always finding reasons to touch me. All of the unnecessary compliments."

I tore my gaze from the ground to find Nathan's worrisome and confused eyes staring down at me. He didn't get it yet. I sighed deeply and pushed away all of the sirens going off in my head to stop before I say too much; to stop before I was forced to relive that day over again in my mind, ripping open all of those wounds that never fully healed themselves. I stared directly into Nathan's beautiful eyes and spoke.

"Greg," The name tasted vile on my tongue as I spoke it. "Emily's dads name is Greg."

Those beautiful eyes of his suddenly turned and flickered through so many emotions I couldn't identify them all. His lips curved downward into a grimace. Nathans eyes tightened at the corners while his mouth popped open but he couldn't quite seem to get the words out yet. His entire body had tensed so tightly that I was afraid he was going to be sore in the morning.

Moments went by with nothing being said, so I just continued.

"It turned out that, "I paused, and forced my tongue to speak his name. "Greg had some serious issues that no one knew about from his past. He was a minor when the charges were filled and through some horrid bout of luck for him, all of his records were expunged from his childhood." I cast my eyes back towards the dirt, memorizing the pattern of the vines that rest on it. "There was no way anyone could have known."

"Alex, you don't have to continue if you don't want to," Nathan finally spoke in a fast paced, slightly bewildered tone. "If this story is going anywhere like I have a feeling it might be, you don't have to continue." The urgency and strain in his voice had me ignoring the patterns on the ground and looking up to find his troubled eyes staring right back at me.

"I hope that I'm completely wrong and going off on a horrible tangent though." He took a step closer to me and his eyes pleaded with mine in hopeful disbelief. "Please tell me I'm wrong, Alex."

"Hope always has a funny way of letting you down, doesn't it?" I attempted a smile at my witty comment but the crushing horror swimming in his eyes stunted any uplift of my lips.

"Things didn't start getting really bad until my senior year. I got a boyfriend and we were semi-serious. Greg suddenly started ignoring me whenever I was in the room. He was distant from everyone for a while. It was pretty obvious that he and his wife were having problems too. He would storm out of the room whenever Emily and I would start talking about Josh, my boyfriend at the time. He would throw in snide remarks about him into random conversation. I, of course, didn't think anything more of it at the time other than him being protective." A soft scoff makes its way out of my mouth. "Little did I know"

"It was a few months into Josh and I's relationship and I was sleeping over at Emily's house once again and we were having girl talk and I let it slip that Josh and I had slept together." A low grumble erupted from Nathan. I titled my head to the side with an incredulous look planted in my eyes.

"He was my first. It was years ago. Calm down, Incredible Hulk."

His sapphire eyes lightened up a bit at the nickname but his mouth remained in a firm frown.

"Anyways, it wasn't 10 seconds after I said that about Josh and I when Greg stormed into Emily's room furiously, claiming that he had heard what I had said through the door and proceeded to lecture me on waiting for the right person. He kept repeating that over and over again, ignoring everything a normal parent would say when giving the birds and the bees talk. All he focused on what how wrong it was of me to sleep with him and how I should of saved myself for the right person." A familiar nauseous feeling washes through my body at thinking of who he thought the right person was for me.

"It wasn't but a few days later, as I was driving to school in the morning when I got a call from Josh. He was in the hospital."

"What happened?" An inquisitive Nathan rang out immediately.

"He said he had been mugged. The guy who did it didn't take anything of Josh's though. He said the guy pulled a knife on him and tried to stab him a few times, which he ended up getting Josh in the leg and then just kicked him over and over again until he lost consciousness."

"Holy shit," Nathan breathed harshly, his eyes wide with shock.

"Yeah." I nodded my head as my eyes scanned over the murky bluish colored lake just next to us. "The only thing Josh said he remembered about his attack was that just before he lost consciousness he heard his attacker tell him to 'Stay away from her, or next time I won't be so gentle'."

I turned my gaze back towards Nathan, whose entire demeanor was awe-struck. His chiseled face was creased in distress. His eyes were intent on mine, soaking up every word I uttered in my traumatizing story.

"Obviously Josh broke up with me shortly after, claiming that he didn't feel safe around me anymore. Understandably so," I muttered under my breath.

"I was on edge every day since his attack. I had no clue who would of done it or why. It wasn't until the week after, when I received a note in my locker, that I really knew how serious things were."

"What did it say?" Nathan asked quietly, almost threateningly, as if the person who wrote it was standing right in front of him.

"It said I was welcomed," I spat out sarcastically. "The note said I wouldn't have to worry about Josh coming around anymore. That he was out of the way and wouldn't be a distraction. It also said that if any other guys came into my life, that same fate would be waiting for them."

"Did you go to the police?" Nathan asked impatiently, his eyes beaming with fret.

"Not right away, which was stupid, I know!" I held up my hands in front of my chest, surrendering to my own stupidity all those years back. "I went to Emily's to show her the note but instead found her dad. Alone."

"I don't like where this is going," Nathan grumbled and ran a shaky hand through his thick hair.

"I knew something was off the moment I walked in. He hadn't spoken to me for a couple months really and then suddenly he lit up like a Christmas tree when I walked in this time. He came over to me and hugged me tightly, longer than normal too. But when I went to pull away because I was starting to feel a little uncomfortable, he held on. He wouldn't let me move. He pulled his head back just enough so that I could see his face. Then he kissed me." A shiver ran throughout my body as I remembered the feel of his lips against mine; chapped, too thin, repulsive.

"I pushed back after the initial shock wore off. He let me go but didn't let me get too far. He cornered me in the dining room. He told me how long he had waited to do that." I shook my head at the memory of his face when he finally did kiss me. Genuine happiness stretched across his entire middle aged face.

"I was so confused and stunned that all of my instincts were on lock-down. I just stood there and listened as he told me about how when he heard that I had a boyfriend is when he knew he couldn't wait any longer. He said within the first couple times of meeting me, he knew he had to have me. That without me his life was unbearably bland. He told me how upset I had made him but that it was all better now that Josh was out of the picture. He said he did it for me. For us." My lips formed into a snarl as I spat those last words of his.

"I ran out of that house as fast as I could once my instincts kicked back into gear. I went to the police and gave them the note, told them everything that had just happened. They looked up the school surveillance videos and there it was, clear as day."

"Greg put that note in your locker," Nathan stated more than asked. I nodded curtly at him and laid my head back against the tree in exhaustion.

"He beat the shit out of your boyfriend and stabbed him because he was jealous?" he asked astonishingly.

I raised my head back up off the tree and connected my troubled gaze to his. "You don't even know the half of it yet." I sighed deeply before sliding down the base of the tree and planting myself on the cold ground. I tilted my head up towards Nathan and silently beckoned him to get on my level. He sat down on the frigid dirt without question, bringing our legs up against each other's. The sensation of his legs pressed up against mine filled me with a warmth that I desperately needed and pressed into.

"The police filled a restraining order against him," I scoffed. "All the good that did. He would still text me around the clock telling me how much he wanted to see me; even though I ignored every message. He still would show up outside of our school saying he was there to pick Emily up but would always try and talk to me, bring me presents. My parents were terrified and started driving and picking me up from school as well. Emily was furious with me at the time. Claiming that I made the whole thing up just to tear her family apart. I would try and talk to her and text her everyday but nothing was really working. So when I got a text message from her on my 18th birthday saying that she forgave me and had a surprise waiting for me at my house, I didn't think twice about it and instantly got out of class and drove home."

My hands began to shake uncontrollably as I inched closer and closer to reliving that infamous day in my mind. I clasped them together over my knees to try and calm down their movements.

"When I got home, I walked inside and was greeted by an empty space. I called out to Emily and walked further into the house. I saw a note laying on the kitchen table that told me that my present was waiting for me upstairs. I ran up to the second floor and noticed my bedroom door was closed." A sorrowful sob chocked my words as the harrowing heartbreak of a lost friendship clouded my thoughts. "I was so happy to finally have my best friend back..."

I hadn't realized I had began crying again.

A warm hand placed itself over my clasped ones tenderly. No words needed to be said. The action was enough. Nathan was here for me and wasn't planning on leaving me anytime soon. The action gave me enough strength to finish the story.

"Instead of seeing my best friend when I walked into my bedroom, I received a chloroformed towel to the face."

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Nathans grip on my hands tightened, he sprung up off the tree to sit forward, and his voice raised a few octaves. I shook my head.

"I wish I was."

"Alex..." His voice was dejected and filled with worry. I quickly cut him off. The need to finish the story now that I had started was almost desperate. I didn't understand why but now that I had started, I couldn't stop the words from flowing.

"When I woke up I was laying on my bed in different clothes. Greg was on my floor with a couple suitcases open that he was throwing all of my clothes and belongings into. I was still really weak and out of it from the chloroform so I wasn't able to run or anything. He noticed that I was awake and came right over to the bed and started kissing me and saying he was so happy that we could be together now, since I was 18 and all."

"Fuckin' pervert!" Nathan exclaimed suddenly. He rested his elbows on his knees and ran his hands through his hair multiple times, breathing deeply.

"Did he..." He paused and growled deeply in his throat, audibly huffing out spurts of frustration.

"Did he violate you?" He finally spoke, strain coursing through his voice.

"He never had sex with me if that's what you mean. He...groped me but that was as far as he got."

"This guy better hope we never meet because I swear I would fuck his shit up." I had to laugh internally at his wording. Nathan really did become quite vulgar when he was angry.

"Well, that will never happen due to the fact that he's rotting in prison"

Nathans eyes widened as I continued. "While he was droning on about our new life together, he ran out of the room for a moment when he remembered something he wanted to show me. When he left I realized that he forgot to take my phone. I took it out and typed a message to my mom as fast as I could telling her to call 911. When he came back in the room, he had three things in his hands. Two passports and divorce papers."

"He left his wife?" Nathan asked as his eyebrows rose in astonishment.

"Yea, he did." I nodded solemnly. "I told him he was crazy and that I didn't have any feelings towards him and he should call his wife and get back together with her. He didn't like that..." The images of his attack flashed through my mind. Him, ripping me off the bed and throwing me up against the wall. The blood slowly trickling down the back on my head. His once handsome face distorted into that of a monsters, one that has haunted me ever since.

I hadn't realized I had zoned out into my own miserable world until I felt a hand on my check, enveloping it in its warmth. My eyes shot up to meet Nathans sorrowful stare. His thumb brushed across my cheek to wipe the stray tears away. I leaned into his touch, soaking up everything he was giving me in that moment. A deep, content sigh drifted through my lips as I prepared to finish up my story.

"He did some damage to my head but I managed my way downstairs and got a knife out of the drawer in the kitchen. He followed behind me and stalked me into the living room. I was able to fight him off long enough for the cops to arrive and they arrested him on the spot. It turned out that he had been obsessed with me for far longer than anybody realized. Once they took him in, they searched Emily's house and found cameras inside her bedroom. He had been listening and watching us for over a year the police assumed."

"How did nobody suspect this guy until he went off the deep end? I don't see how that's possible," Nathan interrupted.

"He was completely normal on the outside. No one ever suspected anything because there was nothing to suspect until he let everyone see it. He was the master of deceit." I sighed deeply while trying to make him understand how everyone missed what was right in front of them for years. It wasn't something easy to grasp.

"So where is he now?"

"He got 5 years in prison for stalking and attempted kidnapping. He got the minimum time for attempted kidnapping that a person can get and the max for stalking. I think he went to a psych ward for a bit to be rehabilitated. He's still there now."

"Good. Fucker can rot in there forever for all I care," Nathan spat out, fury still laced in his words.

A few moments passed in silence. I think Nathan was still digesting everything I had just told him. The realization that my biggest, darkest secret was out in the open with no turning back finally started to sink in. I had cried, lashed out, and poured my heart out to my professor.

Suddenly, I felt extremely awkward.

"So yea...that's the story of me," I stated lamely, trying to add a light air back into our conversation. Nathan nodded his head slowly.

"Yeah, that is...nothing like I thought it was going to be. Now I understand why you don't sleep in your old bedroom."

"Yup," I said, popping the 'p' at the end. I tried to think of something, anything to say next but apparently after revealing the most traumatic event in my life for the first time in over a year to someone, my brain was on 'shutdown' mode.

"I'm sure you hear it all the time, but I'm so sorry you had to go through that, Alex. No one should ever have to go through anything like that." He paused for a moment and out of curiosity I glanced up to see why.

My breath was choked back into the back of my throat at the profound look encased in Nathans eyes. His proximity to me had drifted closer than just a mere moments ago, his lips almost brushing mine as he opened them to speak.

"Especially you."

"Oh, "I laughed lightly, nervously. "I'm not nearly special enough to be singled out like that."

"The fact that you don't even realize how special you are," His eyes drifted down to my parted lips for a moment and then back up to meet my gaze. "Well, that just makes you all the more special."

"Maybe that's what got me in trouble in the first place. Maybe I should be more ordinary," I said dejectedly while letting my own gaze fall down to his soft, pink lips.

"No," he replied intently and shifted even closer to me, forcing me to tear my gaze off of his lips and back up to his awaiting eyes.

"Don't ever think like that. He's already taken so much away from you, Alex. Don't let him change the things about you that make you stand out. They make you unique and even more beautiful." Suddenly, I felt his hand wander up, tracing the outlines of my neck all the way up to my lips. His smooth thumb reached out and slid gently across my bottom lip.

"They're what made you stand out to me."

His words echoed through my mind and were sent directly to my heart, making it jump and writhe in need to be closer to this man; to cross that final line that we had teetered over so many times.

My breathing intensified as his palm caressed the side of my face. His fingers laced back behind my neck tenderly. Our eyes danced with each other's in a yearning Tango; down to the lips, back up to the eyes, and repeat.

I reached out hesitantly and placed my hand on his knee, bringing my face inches closer to his. His breath fanned across my lips, making it an almost impossible act to back out now.

So do I give into this forbidden desire once and for all? Giving into the possibility of letting myself fall helplessly, madly in love with this man?

Let's see what fate has in store.

And there is it! A HUGE look into Alex's past and why she is the way she is. I was kind of worried that it would be a bit too cruel and creepy and if you think so please say so! I had quite a hard time writing this chapter and need all of the opinions I can get! Thank you guys so much for reading! As always if you liked it please vote/comment. The next chapter will be a long awaited one... ;) Until next time!