"Rubes, talk to me?" Sterling pleaded, resting his head in his hands and I bore a hole in his head with my eyes. I felt completely numb of my feelings since last night. Sterling insisted on sleeping in my room to comfort me but what he didn't know is that all I needed was Hunter. I craved to be in his warm arms and feel completely safe. "Just tell me what I need to do."

"Leave." I quickly pushed out of my mouth. I needed him to go, to leave me alone. Heartbreak was evident in the look he gave me as he slowly stood up and slugged to the door. Exiting out of my room, he looked my direction one last time with guilt written on his face. Closing the door, I was enveloped in darkness and the one beam of light from the window facing Hunter's house.

I sat on my bed for what felt like hours until a weak-willed knock sounded behind me. Glancing towards the direction of the window, Hunter's face was shielded by the hood of his jacket as he climbed inside the room. "I thought he'd never leave." He chuckled, turning on my bedside lamp.

His jacket and jeans were drenched from the downpour outside. Pushing the hood off his head, I could see his hair was down and mostly wet from the rain water soaking through his clothes. He striped down to his boxers and went to my closet to find some clothes he always supplied here in case of emergencies. He emerged in green basketball shorts and a black tank.

"How are you doing, love?" He asked looking at the mirror hanging on my closet door, fixing his hair and ignoring my obvious hurt. I stay silent, feeling a lump in my throat. Confused by the silence, he looks towards me and his grey eyes pierce my heart.

In seconds he was by my side, engulfing me in a big bear hug. We said nothing, the silence speaking louder than any words could. I leaned into his chest as quiet tears fell down my cheeks onto his tank top. "What did he do." Hunter growled, making his words a statement, not a question. It was what he said every night, 'what did he do.' or 'what did she do.' It wasn't a question anymore because we both knew there wasn't much explaining needed.

Looking up at him, I felt like my throat was going to close. My limbs felt numb and I felt like giving up. Assuming the worst, he shot up off of the bed and began to pace. "I'm calling the cops."

"No!" I cry, crumpling into a ball of hysterics. Tears flooded out of my eyes and my breaths were getting shorter.

"He raped you Ruby! He can't get away with it! I've let it all slide because you begged me to but this is too far." Hunter's voice broke at the last two words, my heart breaking into a million pieces at the sound.

"He didn't rape me." I softly say, trying to compose myself. "He forced me to... to give him oral. That's it."

"It's still assault, Ruby." He said stone coldly. Standing in place, he bowed his head down so I couldn't see his face. "Stop making excuses for them. Please."

I got off my bed for the first time in what seemed like a day and walked over to him. Looking all the way up, I noticed the tear going down his face and the low sniffles coming from him. "I'm sorry." I closed my eyes, feeling all the events from yesterday come back to me. Leaning my head forward until it hit his chest, I inhale deeply, smelling his scent- cinnamon like. I knew he wouldn't call the police unless I told him but I also knew it pained him not to.

"I'll call them." I lied.

_____________________________________

"Could you be anymore annoying?" Sterling rolled his eyes, looking at Hunter with disgust. Hunter came to pick me up and bring me to the doctor to get checked out. I agreed to go to put his mind at ease.

"Depends, is being a ten on a hotness scale considered disgusting?" Hunter counteracted. I chuckled at his rebuttal which earned me a glare from my fraternal twin.

Mom came downstairs and was in surprise to see Hunter standing in our living room. "Hunter, dear!" She squealed, going in for a hug from him. He reluctantly accepted it and coldly embraced her. "I haven't seen you in our house in years. How's your mother doing?"

"She's good. She's in remission right now and the doctors are saying it won't be coming back." He shrugged, a bored expression was placed on his face when he talked about his mother. She had lung cancer from all the smoking she did before she had Hunter, he claimed she deserved it.

"I have a great idea." Mom perkily said, looking absolutely ecstatic. "Why don't you and your parents come over and have dinner tonight, like in the old days." He eyes lazily roamed over Sterling, daring him to object. Hunter was about to decline when she grabbed his forearm forcefully. "I insist."

"Okay." He ends their conversation, then looked toward me. "Ready?" He asked, pleading me with his eyes to say yes. I nod, following him out of the house to his sports car- his parents are rich. Emphasis on the rich.

"You're mom is the definition of forceful." Hunter tells me, starting the car and driving off. The speed limit in town was 40 mph, Hunter didn't go the speed limit. Whenever I was in the car with him, I held on for dear life because I questioned if I would make it to our destination.

"Can you go slower?" My lips quiver as he makes a sharp turn. I'm glad that we lived in such a low populated town because there were barley any cars on the road.

"I am going slow, doll face." He chuckles, the acceleration of the car increasing as we go on a straight road. I was going to die in this car today, I'm sure of it. After thirteen more terrifying minutes and eight more sharp turns, we made it to the doctor. I flung the door open and fell to the ground, praying I never had to get in that car again. "It wasn't that bad."

"You almost killed us several times!" I yelled, picking myself off the ground. We headed into the doctor and checked in, sitting in the waiting room. "I hate doctors."

"I know. But you promised you would do this." He reminded me, patting the top of my hand with his. I was about to object when the nurse called me. Hunter followed me while I followed the nurse into a room and got my vitals. Once she was gone, I let out a heavy breath I didn't know I was holding.

After a few more minutes, another nurse comes in and draws some blood which I wasn't happy about. We waited a bit until the doctor came in, his face looking grim. "Ruby Jewel and...?"

"I'm her friend Hunter." Hunter tells the doctor.

"Dr. Jacoby." The man shook Hunter's hand and turned to me, a sad expression washed on his face. "Where do I begin?"

"At the part where you say I'm fine and I can go home?" I mumble, feeling nervous as ever.

"Dehydration, malnourishment, your iron level is awful." He begins. "Just looking at you, I can see you're in bad health."

He goes into a cabinet on the other side of the room and pulls out a paper gown. "Change into this and I'll be back in a few minutes. We'll do a full body exam next."

_____________________________________

"It's only a matter of time." Sterling chuckles, stuffing his face with butter noodles. We were sitting at the dinning room table for dinner, all four of our 'family'. "Once I'm 18, the scouts said they'll start sending brochures and letters home from the colleges."

"That's great, make sure you don't screw it up." Mom encourages him, spooning more noodles on her plate. "What did you do with the rich boy today, Ruby?"

"We took a drive." I piped up. Mom was angry Hunter and his parents didn't come to dinner tonight. She set the room up and cleaned, too.

"I'll tell you, you better screw that boy soon and get pregnant. Do you know how much you could get in child support?" Lance chimes in, taking a swig of his seventh bottle of Heineken.

"Enough to keep her out of trouble at home with you." Mom laughs, almost spitting out her dinner. "Ah, but he'd never go for something so childlike. I've seen him eye me before, main I should get him into bed. Seducing him wouldn't be hard, look at me!"

Yeah, look at her. 38 year old mother of two teenagers. Drinks all day, shoots heroine all night. You can see her ribcage and bones. Her face is aged twice as much as it should be and her hair is sickly and thin. Yes, look at her. The definition of seduction.