About ten seconds later, the back door opened and my father beckoned for us to come in. “Bring the ball,” he hissed. His face was murderously angry, making me go cold. Jake grabbed my hand and forced me behind him as we walked in, picking up the ball in his other hand.

My father slammed the door, making me jump and whimper. Jake gripped my hand tighter. “Who kicked the ball?” my father asked nastily.

“I did. I’m sorry, Dad. It was an accident,” Jake whispered, looking at him apologetically.

My father took the ball from his hands and put it on the counter, and then punched Jake so hard in the stomach that he actually lifted off the floor slightly. I put my hands over my mouth to stifle the scream that was threatening to come out of me. He raised his fist to hit him again, so I grabbed his hand to stop him. He turned to me and slapped me, hard, sending me flying into the wall, hitting my head. I could feel something trickling down the side of my face; my vision was a little blurry.

He turned back to Jake, hitting him again. He didn’t just do it once, he punched him over and over, in the stomach and thighs until Jake was on the floor crying. I was begging for him to stop. He grabbed my arm and pulled me back up, grabbing a knife off of the counter. I couldn’t breathe. Jake screamed at him to leave me alone and got up off the floor, pain stretched across his face from the beating he’d just sustained.

My father punched him in the jaw, sending him to the floor again. “It’s OK. Cut me, do it. Just please don’t hit Jake anymore, please!” I begged, crying and looking at my father pleadingly.

Surprisingly, he put the knife in my hand. I had the urge to stab him with it, but he had hold of my wrist so I couldn’t. He grabbed Jake’s ball from the counter and held it still. “Burst it,” he ordered. I shook my head quickly. Jake loved this ball, it was his birthday present from me, I had saved my allowance for two months to buy it for him. “Burst it,” he repeated in his cold voice. I could smell the alcohol on his breath as it blew across my face; the smell of it turned my stomach.

He gripped my wrist and made me shove the knife deep into the leather ball. I sobbed. He let go of my hand, taking the knife and throwing it roughly into the sink before walking off into the living room to watch the rest of his game as if nothing had happened. I looked over at Jake; he was sitting on the floor barely able to breathe. He looked awful.

I ran to him and he sat up, grabbing a kitchen towel and pressing it to my head where I had banged it, biting his lip to stop his crying. “Ambs, I’m so sorry. Are you OK?” he croaked, his voice barely above a whisper. The stupid boy was struggling to draw breath and he was asking me if I was alright? Jeez, I really did have the best brother in the world!

I jerked awake. I was crying, crying so hard that I could barely breathe. I wiped my face with shaky hands as I looked at the clock; it was almost four thirty in the morning. I reached over to hug Liam, but he wasn’t there, he was at his own house. Oh God, I needed him! I grabbed my cellphone and snuck out of the room to the lounge.

‘R U Awake?’ I text him. Hopefully if he was asleep he wouldn’t hear it, I didn’t want to wake him up if he had actually managed to sleep tonight.

Almost immediately, my phone rang. “Angel, are you OK?” he asked as soon as I answered. I was still crying, I couldn’t slow my breathing, my hands were shaking violently.

“No,” I croaked.

“I’m coming over. Can I come in the front?” I could hear him sliding his window open and the wind blowing down the phone.

“Yes,” I sobbed. I went to the front door and opened it, standing there waiting for him. I was only there for a few seconds before he ran round the corner and grabbed me into a hug, lifting me off my feet as he stepped into the house. I wrapped my legs around his waist and gripped tight around his neck. He immediately pressed his lips to my neck, breathing down my back and shoulders until my body relaxed. He moved to the lounge and sat on the edge of the sofa, still holding me tight with his mouth on my neck. When I was calm I pulled back to look at his worried face.

“Zombies?” he asked, looking a little hopeful. I shook my head and his face fell, he looked so sad but that quickly changed to anger, he was so angry it looked like a vein in his temple would burst. I just hugged him again without speaking; he knew I’d dreamt of my father, he didn’t need to ask. “You want to talk about it?” he asked a couple of minutes later, stroking my back, soothingly.

“No.” My voice was husky from crying so much. He nodded and continued to rub my back. “Did I wake you up, Liam?” I asked, suddenly feeling guilty for making him come all the way over here at half past four in the morning.

“No, Angel. I couldn’t sleep,” he said quietly.

I giggled. “The kiss didn’t help then?” I joked, feeling better now that he was here.

“No, I knew that would have the opposite effect,” he replied, grinning.

I smiled sadly at him. “Want to stay with me for a little while? I could set my alarm on my phone. We could sleep on the couch,” I suggested. He grinned and laid us down side by side; I grabbed my cellphone and went through the menu screen until I came to the alarm function. “What time shall I set it for?” I asked, biting my lip, wondering what time Jake would get up, probably not before ten on a Sunday.

“How about seven thirty?” he suggested, pulling me towards him. I set the alarm and put the phone on the floor where I could reach it easily. He draped his leg over mine and wrapped his arms tightly around me, our noses were almost touching.

I smiled and kissed him lightly. “Goodnight, Liam.” I closed my eyes and sighed contentedly, feeling safe and secure in his arms.

“Goodnight, my beautiful girlfriend,” he whispered, kissing my nose. I smiled at how sweet that was, and fell into a dreamless sleep within minutes.

Chapter 8

I woke to the sound of my phone alarm. I looked around wondering why I was in the lounge, then I remembered the dream. Liam was still asleep; as usual, his arms and legs were all over me, pinning me down with his weight. I smiled and looked at him for a few minutes before I decided to wake him up nicely for a change. Usually, I just elbowed him or pushed him off of me, I thought today I would be a little more creative, he’d like that.

I moved forward, pushing on his shoulder. He rolled onto his back, not taking his arms off of me, so he dragged me to his side. I raised myself up onto my hands and knees and moved so that I was straddling him, before putting my weight back down on him. I stroked his handsome face a couple of times before I pressed my lips to his lightly. He sighed a little in his sleep so I kissed him again, a little harder and longer this time. He started to get aroused and I stifled a giggle. OK, I know I’m new to all this, but this boy seems to lust after me a lot! It was a little embarrassing, but also at the same time it made me feel wanted, needed, and attractive. I kissed him again and ran my hand up his chest. He started to stir, his arms tightening around me, clamping me to his chest even though he wasn’t even awake yet. I kissed him again and trailed my tongue along his lip. That caught his attention; he opened his eyes and looked at me, clearly shocked, but with a smile playing on the edge of his lips.

“I hope you’re going to wake me up like this from now on,” he said in his husky, sleep filled voice.

“Maybe, if you’re lucky,” I teased. He put one hand behind my head and pulled me back down to kiss him again. He nibbled on my bottom lip asking for entrance, but I pulled away instead, making him groan. “You need to go, Liam.” I pulled out of his grasp and sat up, still straddling him. I could feel his erection pressing against my core, making me yearn for him in ways I hadn’t even thought about until now.

He smiled and put his hands on my knees and just looked at me sitting on top of him. His eyes were so lustful that I was surprised he didn’t beg me for sex there and then. He didn’t even move; just laid there with a big contented grin on his face. This wasn’t really a good position to be sitting in; the feel of him under me was turning me on so badly it was actually maddening. I wondered what it would feel like to have him touch me, to run his hands down my body; I bit my lip as a wave of desire washed over me. The feelings were so confusing, so foreign to me. I’d never wanted to even kiss anyone before, let alone the thoughts that were starting to form in my head right now.

“What are you doing to me?” I whispered, confused that I could feel this way, to actually want someone when usually I shy away from all physical contact because of what my father used to make me do.

“What do you mean?” he asked, looking a little confused. I shook my head; I couldn’t explain it, especially not to him. I needed him to be able to wait for me, if I told him I was feeling like this, he would probably go full steam ahead and ruin everything. “Tell me what you mean, Angel. Please?” he begged; using his puppy dog face on me. Damn it! That has always worked and he knows it!

“I don’t want to, Liam.” I moved off of him and laid back down by his side.

“Please?” he whispered, looking at me with his begging eyes.

I sighed. “I don’t know what’s happening to me, one day I can’t even stand to have anyone touch me and the next day I….” I trailed off, unsure how to finish that sentence without giving him the wrong impression.

“The next day, what?” he prompted, leaning up on his elbow so he could look into my eyes.

“The next day you’re turning me on so badly that I can’t even help myself,” I admitted, blushing like crazy.

He laughed quietly, giving me his cocky grin. “You turn me on too.”

“Yeah, that’s half the problem,” I stated, glancing down to see the tent he was sporting in his pyjama shorts, blushing again that I had just looked and he would have seen me looking. Oh crap, that is so embarrassing!

“I’m sorry if me being turned on turns you on.” He smirked at me and I blushed harder, squirming at how uncomfortable this conversation was. I slapped his chest and giggled out of embarrassment; he caught my hand and held it tight just looking at me.

“It scares me,” I admitted, feeling stupid and childlike.

“I know it does, but I would never hurt you. If you ever felt like things are going too fast, you would only ever have to say, I promise.” I couldn’t doubt his sincerity; the truth of his words were clear across his face.

I leant forward and kissed him gently, before pulling away. “You really need to go. It’s almost eight now.”

He sighed and played with my fingers. “I really dislike your friend, it’s her fault I have to leave,” he mumbled, pretending to be annoyed. I laughed and got up off of the couch, pulling him up to his feet.

“You might want to calm down a little before you leave. What would the neighbours think if they saw you leaving my house like that?” I joked, nodding down towards his crotch, then blushing because I had just looked again.

He laughed. “They would think that I have an incredibly beautiful girlfriend, who has just kicked me out of her bed,” he stated, shrugging casually. I grinned as he rearranged himself in his shorts so it was less noticeable, before kissing me again and going out of the front door.

I snuck back to my room. Kate was still asleep so I crawled in my bed, but I didn’t go back to sleep, instead, I text Liam:

‘Glad you got at least 3 hours sleep last night’ I turned my phone onto silent so his reply didn’t wake Kate.

‘Me too. That couch is surprisingly comfy, better than my bed but that’s prob because U were there’ he replied, making me smile.

‘U could always stay over tonight. Maybe I could sneak out to the lounge after Kate’s asleep’ I text him back.

‘I like that idea! What R U doing today? Wanna do something?’ he asked.

‘Not sure, think I need to spend the day with Kate though seeing as she’s staying here’ I replied.

‘That girl is ruining everything, first I can’t stay over, now I can’t spend the day with you! Strong dislike coming from over here’ he text back, making me giggle.

We text each other back and forth for about an hour and I was glad that I decided to upgrade my phone package so that I got unlimited texts, otherwise this would be costing me a fortune.

I got up a couple of hours later, getting dressed and heading out to the kitchen. Liam was already over. I shouldn’t have been surprised really; he was hardly ever at his house. He spent most of the day here when he wasn’t at school, leaving around nine o’clock only to sneak back in through my window around ten thirty anyway. I smiled at him but quickly looked away because he was sitting next to Jake.

“Morning, Ambs. Where’s Kate? Did you talk to her about not touching me?” Jake asked, making me laugh at his serious expression.

“She’s in the shower. Anyway, you should be flattered that she likes you, though maybe she’ll move onto Liam today,” I teased, winking at him.

Liam groaned. “No way! I’m seeing someone,” he stated confidently. I blushed slightly and shifted uncomfortably on my feet because he’d just said that to Jake.

Jake’s face snapped in his direction. “You’re seeing someone? As in, like, seriously? You don’t do relationships,” he said, frowning and looking at him disbelievingly.

“I crazy about her,” Liam replied, shrugging. I made my way over to the fridge to get some milk for my cereal, trying to pretend I wasn’t there. My heart was crashing in my chest. Oh God he was going to do it! He was going to tell Jake!

“Crazy about her? As in, you’re not going to mess her around? She must be a really great screw,” Jake said, smirking and slapping him on the back proudly. I choked on my orange juice.