I woke up that morning on the couch with a blanket laid over me. Judging by the lack of sun coming through the windows, it was very early in the morning. The one problem was that Austin wasn't there. I didn't feel safe without him.

"Austin?" I whispered, but no answer. I called a few more times before deciding to take a look around the house. I was starving, and I needed to head home as soon as possible. No Austin or kitchen, what I found instead was not pleasant.

"Hello baby, how was the nap? Did the princess enjoy her beauty sleep?" It was Alex. I was definitely not in the mood to deal with him that early in the morning. I decided to try and get rid of him.

"Go away Alex, no one asked for you." I tried to turn away but he grabbed me by the wrist, again. He could sense the fear in my eyes. I tried to wiggle myself free, but his grip was strong.

"Come on, don't be like that, baby. You know I can land a kiss better than my stupid younger brother. Come on, just one shot at the best ride of your life." That smile made me want to punch him. Not a soft playful slap, but one that would make all of his pretty little teeth fall out. I looked at his arm. It was all wrapped up. The sight of his broken arm gave me an energy boost and I broke free from his grasp.

"Not today idiot. I need to find your brother, so that I could go back home. To where you can not bother me anymore. I got to go." I flipped my hair in his face and started to walk away. But for the third time in twenty-four hours he grabbed my wrist when I turned.

"I can give you a ride home. I can give you an ever better ride on..." I cut him off immediately.

"Stop! Bye I have to go. Don't touch me or I'll break your other good for nothing arm." His left arm was bruised above his sling. Normally I would have been trying to contain my smile, but now, he was really freaking me out.

"Okay, baby. I guess I can't stop you. He's in that room." He raised both his arms in the air and pointed his good one at a room farthest down the hall. "I'll be here and ready when you want me, Emily Cosden." His smile was unsettling. How did he know my name? He turned around slowly and started back to where he came from. I got out of there as fast as I could.

"Thanks for nothing bozo." I whispered under my breath as I made my way down the hall. I couldn't get to Austin's room soon enough.

When I opened the door, it seemed like any normal teenage boy's room. Music posters covered the walls and there were dirty clothes everywhere. I found Austin under a pile of his sheets on the bed. I didn't want to wake him. I didn't want to go back to the couch and decided I could just walk home if I needed to, but when I tried to leave he woke up.

"Emily?" He called from his bed. He was hidden under sheets and dirty laundry. It was pretty nasty.

"Yea, it's me, Austin." I gave him a slight smile even though I knew that he couldn't see me.

"Damn, I didn't want you to see my bedroom like this, or even me like this." He gave a tired half smile and ruffled his hair.

"It's okay. I honestly didn't expect much better." That was the truth. He was still just a teenager after all.

He patted the bed as an indicator for me to sit down. "What can I do for you?"

"I was just going to ask for a ride home, if you were awake, but you can go back to sleep." I waved towards his mattress in an attempt to let him know it was okay for him to go back to sleep.

"Only if you stay with me." He gave me another half smile and patted the bed again. I was tempted to just walk out of there, but I was still pretty tired and it would probably be safer in his room then out in the open on his couch.

"Won't the dress bother you?" My dress was still on and also a bit poofy, but I knew he wouldn't care.

"Nothing about you will bother me." I gave in and laid down beside him. He pulled the covers up to our chins. It was nice. "Are you going to tell me what happened last night?" He questioned when I had finally gotten comfortable.

We were face to face, so I whispered, "You know what happened, you were there." I knew what he meant, but I didn't want to talk about it. I didn't want to ruin a practically perfect moment.

"I mean when you were at the bathroom. Was it my brother?" His face dropped. I wondered how he knew.

"No, of course not," I lied. I was still afraid to tell him the truth, but my heart started to race. I guess he felt it.

"I don't believe you, but if it really wasn't then I guess you should know that Alex has never really kept a girlfriend for that long."

"Why would I need to know that?" It seemed like pretty useless information. Some people are just bad at having long term relationships, it doesn't mean anything to me.

"Because he is different than the rest of us and I try to keep him out of the media as much as possible. I think he might have some problems with... females. Specifically, showing a neurotic behavior toward them. I guess that's one way to explain it. We can't tell if it's an attraction or if he views women as more of a scientific experiment. It's becoming an awful habit of his. I think he doesn't even know that what he's doing is wrong." As he told me this I felt his muscles relax.

"What is he doing to these girls that he 'shows neurotic behavior towards'?" I asked not wanting to know the answer, but also not wanting to hide from the truth.

"Well, every girl is different. The first one he just scared off with a couple of threatening notes. Nothing too serious, until his most recent girlfriend," He paused as if he were deciding whether or not to tell me. I let him continue, "He went completely ballistic when she broke up with him. Something seemed to snap within him and he picked up a letter opener that was nearby and stabbed her in the leg." He was acting as if he had just told me a story about something useless, not about this.

I tensed, "That's awful. Why wouldn't you let me know beforehand?" I sat up, "Didn't I deserve to know something like this before I came into your house?" He sat up too and held my hand. it was as if he could sense something was off, his grip tightened as if he was trying to protect me from something I couldn't see.

"I had no idea he would be here. He was supposed to be out of town. But, just so you know, I will never let anything bad to you happen, ever. Do you hear me? If anything happens just give me a call or a yell and I will be there as soon as possible." is voice was very soothing as if he was used to speaking that way. He knew just how to calm me.

"I understand." My eyes started to tear up and I had no idea why. Okay, I knew why, but I didn't understand why. My issue occurred a couple of years ago, why is it still bothering me?

"Good. Now let's try to get some sleep." He kissed the side of my neck before turning off the light to fall back asleep. He fell asleep with ease, but it took me a little longer to. How could I be in a relationship with Austin when his brother might be a danger my friends or me?