THEA

Chapter Twenty-Five

*This chapter talks about trauma, so if you wish to skip that part, I will put asterisks  around the part so you can skip it.*

He moves slowly, making me nervous at what he was going to do. His large hand comes to my cheek, holding my face in his hand as he dips down and captures my lips with his. He kisses me with such passion and urgency, and it feels as if I can feel his emotions. Sparks sizzle between our lips, and it's as if a stampede of animals are trampolining my stomach. I rest my hands on his arms, still so shocked by his actions.

What does this mean now? Is he going to try to deal with my past, or is this a goodbye? My hearts hopes for the first, but in all reality it is probably the ladder. He pulls away, and his eyes are emotionless, giving me the impression that is saying goodbye. My heart starts to shatter at the thought of letting the only person I allowed in my broken and cold heart, to leave. But what else should I have expected?

"That was one heck of a goodbye kiss," I say forlornly, and he gives me a weird look, shaking his head.

"That was not a goodbye kiss, it was saying how much you mean to me and how I'm not letting your past define our future." I soar to cloud nine at his words, and I wrap my arms around him.

I hold onto him as if this was a dream and he was messing with me. He chuckles, his laugh vibrating my body because of our close proximity. He holds me tightly, and I feel at home in his arms, like I belong here. A sigh comes from the side of the room, and we turn to Benny who looks at us dreamily. What a weirdo.

"This is too cute," he laughs, and I give him a hard glare.

"What will be cute is when I throw this chair in your face," my snappy response makes Lucca laugh, and Benny frown, putting his arms up in defense and backing away, leaving Lucca and I alone. I turn to him, and grab my belongings before grabbing his hand and heading out of the door.

"We're going back to your place to talk or watch a movie, I just want to spend some time with you," Lucca says, the look on his face giving me no room to deny his demand. I nod and we walk hand and hand out the door to his beautiful car. I run around it so he can't open the door for me, and in return he glares at me. He gets in the car anyway and drives off to my home.

When we arrive he throws the car and park and like he has lightning speed, sprints around to open the door for and grabs my hand, pulling my body to his so I'm right against him. My face gets flush and he smiles at me before letting me go and walking hand and hand with me. I can't help the large grin that plasters my face all the way to my apartment. I fish the keys out of my pocket and unlock it, shoving the door open. I chuck the keys in the container and switch on the lights.

My mother's red hair is draping in the couch and I hear sniffles from her, and I race over to her. I put my hands on her shoulders and look her in her red and swollen eyes. She has pain evident all over her face and set my hands on her face, pulling it up so she looks me in the eye. Tears stream down her face, and soft hiccups come from her mouth.

"He's back, he's back," she keeps whispering and I growl in anger. She wouldn't know if he's back unless she saw him, or someone told her.

"I know, I know he's back. Let's get you to bed, it's late momma. You need some rest." She nods and I help her up, and lead her to the guest room, opening the door, and pulling the covers off. I help her lay down and tuck her in just as she would do when I was a child. I kiss her on the head before shutting the door, her hiccups turning into small snores. I sneak out, not wanting to wake her up, and see Lucca on the couch, determination evident on his face.

He turns to me, and his eyes lock in on mine. I feel as if he's staring into my soul, and I feel exposed. He points to the seat next to him, so I sit on the chair right next to the couch. He puts a finger up silencing me for a second.

"Carter told me you anemia and that you went through a trauma during your treatment, but that's all he said. He didn't say what trauma because he left that for you to tell me." I nod, surprised Carter told him that, but I guess that makes it easier for me, less things for me to explain.

*

"Well, as a child I did have aplastic anemia, but my family couldn't pay for the treatment. They tried to scrape up as much money as possible, Carter doing odd jobs, my mom working extra shifts and she even got another job on the side." I smile at the memory, my mother and Carter are such amazing people, giving up their lives to try to save mine.

"B-but my father..." I stop speaking because even thinking of that man makes me sick to my stomach. The things he did to me, I just want to vomit at the thought. Lucca grabs my hand and squeezes it in comfort.

"He didn't get another job. He talked to his best friend, Frank. Frank was always nice to my family, our families good friends. He had kids, a wife, he was normal. But he talked to my father about paying for my medical bills if I worked for him."

"I thought he meant clean his overly large home, o-or be a maid or cook, but I was so wrong. He would tie me up and molest me or rape me. The worst thing was I couldn't tell anyone. He said he would hurt my family, he would do what he was doing to me to Carter, or beat my mother to a pulp. I was scared because one time I saw his wife was beaten unconscious when he had his way with me."

*

Lucca was livid to say the least. His hand is squeezing mine really hard, but I massage his hand in comfort. He starts to calm down, but I can tell it is still bothering him.

"My father knew about it the whole time. He pressured me to just deal with it so I could live, his excuse was he 'couldn't see his daughter dead'. But in all honesty, I was dead inside. I felt so used and I tried to get out of it. I was going to tell my mother or someone. But Frank had Carter come over, and he told me how much he would enjoy his time with him. I got so scared I ran over there and told him to I wouldn't say anything."

"So as long as the treatment went on, so did whatever Frank was doing with me. I-I felt so used, and I still haven't told anyone. Bri and Damon know they used to hurt me, but I never told them what those evil men did to me. My father may not have ever touched me but he ruined my childhood, my life, my innocence."

Lucca grabs both my hands, kissing my knuckles because my hands are now in fists just thinking about what those crazy men did to me. I still saw red as I thought about them.

"I fought him tonight. The man I fought, It's was Frank, the man who ruined my life."