Veronica's POV

Louis and I immediately arrive at Nicole's house and we don't even bother to knock as we burst in looking for her.

We yell her name but she doesn't reply so we go searching in every room.

We have no idea what happened but when we finally find her in the bathroom, an awful smell of vomit invades the room and we see her kneeled near the toilet, throwing up.

This gives me flashbacks from that party when I ended up drinking too much because I was sick of Nicole going back to James, and Derek helped me, again.

I bet this is happening because of James. He is the center of her problems.

We kneel near her, gently grabbing her hair up while she keeps throwing up.

She finally looks at us and her always perfect makeup is horribly smudged and her red lipstick is mostly on her chin now.

"What happened to you?!" I lift her chin with my hand and she fails to stop the tears.

"I- I caught Olivia with James. They- they were kissing right in front of his house." She cries harder and we both mentally roll our eyes but choose to not show it.

I can feel Louis tense up right next to me.

This is how sick we are of James, but she doesn't seem to understand this.

Then it hits me... I already knew about Olivia being with James, I saw them that night when they lied to me about Derek sleeping with Nicole. The night he kissed me still gives me butterflies, but this isn't the right time to think about that.

I just didn't know they were still a thing but I should have told her either way, I just got so busy...

I pull her in for a hug and she gently pushes me away.

"No. No- I feel like throwing up again. I drank vodka with some random pills..." she admits and Louis and I both look at each other extremely concerned. What?!

"Which pills did you take?!" Louis slightly raises his tone and she flinches.

"I don't know!" She keeps shaking her head and I go to grab her a glass of water.

I look at her arms and bare legs, she is bruised all over and then I glance at Louis. He doesn't seem surprised. He knows.

"You knew?" I yell at him and shove Louis.

"She t- told me yesterday but-"

"You fucking idiot," I yell while standing up.

"He did this to you?" I try to calm down but I fail and Nicolle cries harder.

I kneel again and I feel disgusted by Louis. No matter what we always promised to protect each other, what he did is unacceptable. That jerk hit her.

"Nicole. Reply to me," I speak through gritted teeth and she nods.

I stand up again, horrified and disgusted. Not only he mentally abuses her, but he also hits her. He isn't a man. He is a monster. He is just like my rapist.

I'm mad at myself, I'm mad at Louis. I need to do something about it.

No one could protect me but I'd never let any girl, especially my friend go through this.

~

A few days later

I tried to find James for several days and I'm going to keep trying until I find him.

That fucking idiot. I'm going to end him and I will force him to stop hanging out with her. He is a piece of shit. He is ruining Nicole.

I call a cab and I still remember his address so without any hesitation I tell the driver to stop there.

Flashbacks from when he tried to take advantage of me flood my mind but I try to push them back. Not now.

I knock sharply on his door without even stopping for a second.

I keep on knocking for a few minutes and he finally opens the door.

"Oh, little-"

Before he even gets to talk I push his bare chest and he slightly loses balance while I enter his house without any invitation.

It's a stupid decision but I don't care, I won't let him hurt my friend anymore. Despite everything, I will always care for her.

He is scared of Derek hurting him so he will have to obey.

"Calm down, Ronnie," he mocks me and I shove past him.

"I'm not going to be friendly with you," I hiss at him and he laughs, stepping forward.

"You are adorable when you try to look tough, but who buys into this act?" He chuckles and I ignore his words as I'm only focusing on what I want to tell him and my heart is racing.

"How dare you hurt her?" I step forward, closer to him as I try to intimidate him but he just laughs which annoys me further.

"Aww. Cute," he continues teasing me as I can almost feel his shitty breath on my face.

"Leave. her. alone," I spit, emphasizing every word and he stands there in silence while staring into my eyes.

"Or what? Are you going to shove me?" He bursts into an annoying laugh as I give him the death stare.

"Oh, I get it, you are feeling brave because you have your little dog defending you," James says and I immediately know he is talking about Derek. He only talks like this about him.

"Did you understand? Stay away from her," I repeat myself ignoring his previous reply.

I harshly shove him as I walk towards the door but he snatches my arm which hurts my wounds. They cannot recover if I keep on opening them.

He pulls me towards him and I try to free myself from his hold but it hurts more so I relax my arm.

"You fucking idi-"

He presses his lips against mine and I try to push him in disgust but he doesn't even flinch.

He cups my face with his hands and I turn my cheek the other way to stop him from kissing me.

James turns my face back to him and I lift my knee, I hit him in the groin as hard as I can and he finally lets go of me and falls to the floor in pain.

"You disgust me!" I yell at him.

"Slut. You f- fucking slut," he yells in pain while I run to the door, not even bothering to close it behind me.

My heart races so fast but I don't stop running, I keep running away from his house so I can find a safe spot to call a cab. He won't be down for a lot.

I'm grossed out, he tried to force me into kissing him and if I think about it I know I'm going to get flashbacks from that morning.

I need to be strong, it's not the right moment. I need to get home safe.

I dial Derek. I know I shouldn't bring him into this but I'm terrified, I need him.

He picks up right away and my previously racing heart slows down.

"Derek, I'm so sorry-"

"What's wrong?" he asks panicked and I can only feel relieved by hearing the sound of his sweet voice.

"Can you please come to get me? I need to talk." I hear him sigh. I will tell him about James, not because of what he did to me but because of what he is doing to Nicole.

"Where are you?"

I look around trying to understand where I am, not very far from James' house and he might be looking for me.

"I'm... near James' house."

The silence is killing me.

"Okay," he finally says and hangs up.

I cross the street again, to see from which side Derek comes and if James is outside but as I look at James' house, I notice his door is closed and his car is gone. I'm safe.

I don't think he would have picked his car to go looking for me. Maybe I just hurt him badly.

I notice a glimpse of a car far away and my heart races again. What if it's James?!

I wait for a few more moments and it's a blue car. it's Derek.

He pulls up near me and I enter the car, relieved by his presence. I have never felt safer in my entire life.

"Thank you so much for coming, I'm so-" He cuts me off.

"What happened?" he questions me and I let my head down, trying my best to push back the tears. I can't do it anymore. I'm scared of the flashbacks.

I keep putting myself in dangerous situations and I hate myself for it, but what kind of friend doesn't defend their friends?

No matter what happened in the past.

Derek lays a hand on my shoulder, comforting me and a few tears slip away.

"Why are you crying? You are worrying me," he asks coming closer to me.

I don't stop the tears anymore and a few others roll down my cheeks. It's pathetic how much I have been crying lately. This is exactly why I isolate myself with drugs and alcohol only.

"James-"

"What did he do to you?!" he asks and I can feel his body tense up as he slightly puts more pressure on my shoulder and then releases it when he realizes.

"He-" I wipe away the tears and continue, "he hit Nicolle and I went to his house to confront him and-"

I take a breath and a few flashbacks flood my mind before I can even continue.

——

Thank you so much for reading! Please don't forget to vote and comment. I love you!