𝙨𝙘𝙖𝙧𝙧𝙚𝙙 - e.d. [ completed ]

Nineteen

A/N: Fun fact; I've had this chapter written since the beginning of the story.

Ok, you may proceed.

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Ethan

Her grandma let us in. Seeing a crying Emma in my hands, she helped me get her to her bed. Now, only an hour later, we're sitting on her bed, Emma staring at her hands. She hasn't said a word since, and I there was tears stains going down her cheeks.

I don't know if I should say something or not. I don't want to cause an attack again, but she's going back to her old Emma. Those guys hurt her, and I can't help her, if she doesn't let me in.

Emma

"Who hurt you, Emma?" Ethan asks me, while I just stare at the floor, cheeks still wet with tears.

Ethan sits beside me on my bed, where he's sat more than a few times already, but this time it felt different.

"I can't talk about it, Ethan." I mumble, and glance down at his hands, knuckles slightly red, turning to purple.

"Emma, please, you need to talk to someone." he says. "You know you can trust me, right?" he assures me, his hand landing on mine. Usually I would pull away, but this time I don't. My finger grazes over his beat up knuckles, and he winces slightly.

I don't even know where I should start. I sigh and look towards Ethan, his eyes full of concern, wanting to help.

I look away again, and open my mouth to speak, my throat dry. I can already feel tears threatening to spill again, the memories flashing trough my mind, sending me back.

"It's a really fucked up story, Ethan. I don't know if you can handle it. You don't deserve this." I say, my eyebrows furrowing in sadness.

"Emma, talk to me. I am your friend, and I will never judge you, hurt you or leave you. You can trust me, I'm not leaving your side no matter what." he says, staring into my eyes, his every word laced with honesty.

I'm at a loss for words, not because of what Ethan just said, but mostly because I don't know where to start.

When I finally collect my thoughts, and open my mouth to start speaking, I close my eyes and begin.

"My mom, uh, she got pregnant with me at 16." I start. He watches me as I speak. "My father wasn't exactly pleased about it, but my mother didn't want to get an abortion." I continue. "They got married at 18, a year after I was born, only because my fathers family considered it inappropriate to have a child and not be married. Safe to say they were a bunch of controlling people, with too much money and time on their hands, and would always make it their life plan to put my mom trough hell. They didn't approve of me either, but they couldn't really do much about it. My father always hated my mother for it. He started drinking a lot, and he would sometimes beat mom. But that wasn't even the worst." I glance at him, to see the concentrated look on his face as he listens to me. "We moved out of New Jersey when I was three. My mom had faith if we move away from my fathers family, maybe he would change, learn to love this family, but it only turned for the worse. He wouldn't allow me or mom to visit my grandmother, or any other relatives or friends for that matter, back here in New Jersey. I'm pretty sure my grandma didn't even know where we lived. He would constantly drink and beat the crap out of mom-" I stop as a sob escapes my lips. Ethan hugs me across the shoulders. I collect myself and eventually continue. "I always knew he hated me, but I never knew how much he hated me until I was nine. I guess all the alcohol he drank really fried up his brain." I mutter. "He would-" more sobs escape my lips, and I start nearly choking on the ball of tears in my throat. Ethan pulls me closer and comforts me, telling me it's okay, until my breathing settles down again.

"You don't have to continue if you can't." he says into my hair and I shut my eyes tightly, heavy tears falling.

I need to finish this.

"No, I'm okay, I need to finish this now." I say, looking into his eyes. He nods and lets me continue. "Uh, he would come into my room in the middle of the night and tell me I'm a good girl-" I stop again, to take a breath, not sure if I'm ready to say this out loud for the first time. But I do anyway. "And then he would rape me and, uh, leave cigar burns on my wrist for each time he did it." I say, looking at Ethan.

"That sick bastard." He mutters, his lips pursing in anger. He looks mad and his eyes are glossy with tears.

"Sometimes he would beat me, but not as much as my mom." I look down at my arms. I take a breath before lifting my sweatshirt over my head, leaving me in my bra, exposed to Ethan in all of my scars - new and old. He looks beyond mad, his jaw clenching as tears escape his eyes. "25 on this arm, 13 on this and 4 on my left shoulder." I show him the cigar burns. "These just came along the way." I point to my left forearm, scattered with cuts in different lengths, ways, some old and faded, some fresh and still healing.

"What about this scar?" He traces his finger across the one on my face, his voice small and frail, as if he's breaking on the inside.

"Um, well, one day my father came home, he just got fired from his job at the firm, and I guess he snapped. He came home angry and drunk, and I was just the first target. He slashed me across the face with a kitchen knife yelling its all my fault, that I'm the reason for his sad excuse of a life. When I fell down, he started to kick me and managed to break like three of my ribs. But sadly I wasn't his only target." I stop.

I haven't talked about my mothers death to anyone other than the police, and all thought it has been almost three months since, it still feels foreign talking about it.

"Your mom?" he asks. I faintly nod.

"He killed her, Ethan. He killed my mom." I start crying again. He presses me against his chest and I fist his shirt into my hand.

"It's okay, no one is ever going to hurt you again. Ever. I'll make sure of it." he says, crying and pulling me closer to him.

Opening up to Ethan feels oddly good. I finally have someone other than myself who knows my story. Someone I can trust and count on.

Maybe mom was right.

"Thank you, Ethan." I mumble after countless of minutes of me crying, and us cuddling on the bed.

"For what?"

"For listening." I say, looking up at him. He wipes the stains of my tears off my face softly.

"Emma, I will always be here for you. No matter how hard it's going to get, know you can always count on me. " he says. "I didn't expected this to happen, you know?" He chuckles slightly to himself, before continuing. "When I sat down next to you in that cafe." he looks down at me, his finger brushing some hair off my face. "What I did know is that you are special. A rare find. And I didn't want to miss out on this. And I never regretted one bit of it. Cause in the end-" he stops, sniffling back the tears. "You became the most important thing in my life. You are the reason I wake up in the morning with a smile on my lips, and the last face I see before I fall asleep. I fell in love with you, Emma. Completely. With all of your scars, all of your flaws, you are the reason behind my happiness. I love you. I really do." he looks at me, his eyes concentrated on mine, full of love, warmth and desire.

This was the moment Ethan Dolan won me over completely. All of me, with all of my flaws and scars, just like he said, with every single imperfection I had, I was his.

So when his lips lowered and kissed mine, I didn't hesitate at all and kissed back.

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One chapter and an epilogue left, guys.