*not edited*

We left off this where Liya is taking a shortcut to class to get away from Jackson after Carner pointed out to her that he was staring.

Uh,oh. I think Liya is in for some trouble.... who's with me?

Nataliya (6 years ago)-

I could hear the soft sound of my boots padding against the carpeted floor of the hallway as I tried to get to class as quick as possible without running into anyone who might like to... delay me.

Pulling my bag higher upon my shoulder I peered around just behind me, my eyes scanning for any sign of movement.

"Nat, did your parents not tell you that it's rude to turn your back on someone talking to you?"

I tensed, ever so slowly raising my head to a face that I hoped I would have long forgotten by now.

"Jackson." To my surprise my voice came out cool and clean, not a hint of the shakiness or fear that I had expected to give away. 

The corner of his lip twitched up. Not in a good way, the beginnings of the malicious smile that I had become so accustomed to. 

His hand immediately reached out grabbing my forearm in a vice grip. His huge hand swallowing all the visibility of my pale skin. Yanking me from the hall he pulled me up the stairs to the janitors closet connecting the two flights of stairs.

I immediately tried to pull away. Key word; tried. He slammed me hard against the wall, my head cracking off the hard material as pain shot through my skull. 

He lowered his mouth down to my head, I could feel his warm breath against my ear as he whispered.

"Remember this."

His hand dwelled underneath my loose sweater that was more than 3 sizes too big. Both my hands immediately shot out, pushing against his chest. He ignored my signs of protest, grabbing my hands and pulling them over my head, using one hand to prevent any movement from me. 

I froze completely as his hand just passed my ribs, feeling the bones portruding against my skin. Pushing against my old bruises. 

Jackson's hand reached up and squeezed my breast, my eyes widened. I started struggling, wanting nothing more than to get away from him. Get away from his disgusting touch.

"Shhh, shhh, Nat, now's not the time to start."

I paid no heed, trying harder to push him away.

Jackson snapped.

He growled, yanking open the janitor's door and threw me in. My head bouncing off the cabinets as I grabbed one of the levels to steady myself.

I glared at him, all traces of fear gone, "Your sick." 

He roared, slamming me against the wall ten times harder then before, my head bouncing off as I felt the cool wetness of blood running down the back of my neck. I slammed my fist in his face as hard as I could. I ran to the janitor's door, turning the knob as hard as I could.

It didn't budge.

The fucker. He locked it.

I head a laugh behind me. A sick laugh, before a shadow lunged at me, slamming me onto the floor. He grabbed my ankle and twisted it back.

I couldn't hold back the dry scream that ripped out from my mouth as I heard the sickening crack of my ankle snapping.

"Bitches get what they deserve, and this is nothing even close to what you do. Count yourself lucky." Jackson sneered, turning the lock and shutting the janitor's door behind him before I heard the click of the lock.

I was in too much pain to process what he did. All I could hear was the pants of my breath as it wafted through the air. All I could feel was stabbing pain of my ankle.

I didn't how long it had been until I decided I wasn't going to sit here like a dead rock. Using my arms I managed to get up into a sitting position, gritting my teeth at the movement of my ankle.

My bag weighed heavily down on me as my muscles tensed from pulling myself up, my uninjured leg was shaking  so badly from holding all my weight. I groaned as my ankle turned from the movement. I leaned against the wall, gasping for breath, reaching out I ran my hand along the wall, looking for something, anything that could hold me up.

My hand scraped across what felt to be a mop, pulling it out I used it as some sort of crutch to make my way to the door. My ankle screamed with every move I made, I gritted my teeth together, ignoring the pain. Taking deep breaths

Suddenly the door burst open, with a loud bang, revealing a startled looking janitor. My eyes widened, "I'm so sorry, I just- I got locked in and- Oh, forget it, it doesn't matter. I'm really sorry." I said, trying to look apologetic.

As fast as I could, I hobbled out of the closet, leaving the janitor wide eyed and shocked, while I managed to take the staff lift back down. Where I decided that I would skip the rest of my classes, now, was the matter of actually getting home.

I stumbled out onto the grey gravel of the parking lot, the mop still squeezing tightly in my hand. The rough wood scratching against my bare palm. I froze, realising that I had ridden my bike to school, I was saving up for what I guess could be called a motorbike, cars were too expensive. 

But for now I had to make do with a bike, and there was no way in hell that I was going to be able to ride back in this state. I didn't want to hobble all the way home, and I will still reeling from Jackson's assault. 

Tears pricked my eyes, just when everything was starting to look up he had to come in and ruin it. Every single fucking day. I didn't want to deal with this, I just wanted to live my teenage years in bliss without all of this. 

"Liya?"

I turned, well, as much as I could without lightning shooting up my leg. "Alex?"

I narrowed my eyes at his muscular frame approaching, his brown hair toussled in the wind, and his eyes alight with worry.

"Why are you using a mop as a crutch?" He paused in front of me, reaching out to grab my arm to steady me. 

I waved him off, "Oh, this old thing? You see it's a funny story, I'll tell you later." I nodded, plastering a huge smile across my face.

He raised his brows and shook his head, "No, I've got time, tell me now. And I think, I might just take that mop."

Immediately, I tried to skitter out of his reaching. Only resulting in me, losing my balance and my booted feet slipping across the gravel. Warm arms encased my waist, as the mop tumbled to the ground, only to be caught by a tan hand.

"Liya, why is your foot twisted?" His brows creased together as he stared down at me, his arm still wrapped tightly around my waist, as he leaned the broom up against a car.

"Well, uh, you see..." I trailed off, trying to come up with a believable story.

He waited expectantly.

"You see, I was walking dow- up the stairs and I sort of slipped, and well, I was right beside the janitor's closet and was all like, 'hey, there should be something in there I can use to hold myself up' so I opened the closet, got the mop took the staff lift and here I am?" It sounded more like a question than a statement. 

"Liya, don't lie to me." 

"I'm not."

"Yes you are."

"Am not."

"Are too."

"Am not."

"Yes, you are."

"No I'm- You know what, screw it, I'm just going home." I pushed myself out of his arms, only to end up tumbling against a car, crying out as my foot twisted.

"Liya." He grabbed me and pulled me up, "Tell me, please." The raw feeling in his eyes that showed what he was going to do if someone had hurt me, got to me. It got to me big time, but there was nothing I could do. I couldn't tell him, I couldn't let Jackson get to me again. The last time I had tried to tell someone had been the worst night of my life, I wouldn't let something like that happen again.

"I- I'm sorry, Alex, I can't." Tears were threatening to fall, and Alex must have realised the state I was in at that moment.

"Come on." He said, wrapping one arm underneath my knees and one on my lower back, pulling me up against his chest.

"Wha- ALEX! I can walk on my own. I don't need help, I'm perfectly fine! Put me down!" My hands came to push his rock hard chest out of the way.

"No can do, sweetheart."

"Alex!"

"Did you not see yourself back there, where you so gracefully almost came to kiss the car."

I shut up, ignoring the soft rumble of his laughs that came from his chest, surprisingly igniting a burst of happiness in my chest, as I tucked myself closer to his leather clad one. 

Pulling open the door of his SUV, I winced as my foot came in contact with the seat.

"Fuck, Liya, I'm taking you to the hospital."

I shot up, "No, Alex, no. Hospital visits cost and my father... He wouldn't care, we have some bandages at home, I'll just use those. Your mother barely has enough to support herself. Please."

He froze at that, his hand trailing down the line of my jaw. "Fine." He said, a muscle ticking in his jaw, "But I'm coming."

I didn't argue.

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Hey, guys. I'm really sorry for not updating earlier. But by now I guess you already know I'm a slow updater. 

But I do hope that this is one of those books for you where the author is really slow at updating, but when updates do come, you're super happy.

I have a few books that are like that for me, and I hope you guys think this one to be one of them. 

But what I think i'm gonna do now, is, first I'm not sure who is reading my book and who isn't, I can see the reads on my profile but without a comment I'm not even sure if people like my book. 

Because it takes so much longer for me to write these chapters than it take you to read them, so please let me know if my hard work is paying off.

So to all you ghost readers out there, I am so happy that you chose my book to read but I would love it if you guys could drop a comment from time to time, just to let me know if your enjoying it or not.

So I will need comments to update. If there aren't any comments don't expect an update any time soon, I will continue to update as I do now... Whenever I have the time.

So please guys make yourselves known, comment, vote, anything.

As always, Thank You.

- Treetop_s