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Something for her to hold onto during all this. Rachel pushes back her hair, releasing a shuddering sigh. “I’ve been staying over at Josh’s place.” She sniffs and her face crumples as if she’s about to break all over the couch.

She dabs at her eyes with the blanket while Hunter asks, “Who’s Josh?”

I also don’t know who this Josh is, but Lucas’s gaze has turned dark. Even for him, he looks like he’s going to smash his fists into the TV. “Four-eyes,” he mutters.

“What?” Hunter breathes.

I scowl down at the floor while I remember that wormy little bastard. I knew something wasn’t right about him. I knew he was lurking around her too much. My hands fist at my side and I feel something boil deep within me as I imagine him smacking her, grabbing her legs and pulling him back to him as she screamed.

“We were watching some movie on TV,” she says in a high pitched voice before she swallows other sob. She’s sniffing and dabbing at her eyes again. “And then he… he…”

Rachel doesn’t say anymore and she doesn’t have to. I already know exactly what he did.

“We should call the police,” I hear Lucas, but I ignore him as I stomp over to the entranceway and shove on my shoes. Or maybe they’re Hunter’s. I don’t care. I open the door and hear Hunter shouting, “Where are you going?”

I don’t bother turning around as I say, “I’m going to beat that mother fucker’s face in.”

I slam the door and run down the stairs. I hear footsteps behind me.

“Seth,” calls Lucas.

I don’t stop. I can’t stop. It’s freezing and I was stupid enough to not grab my coat. Did Rachel run in this weather without her coat on? God. That mother fucking bastard is really going to eat my fist.

“Seth, stop!” Lucas shouts.

I feel something tugging at my shoulder and raise my fist, about to slam it into Lucas’s face. Anyone’s face. So long as it stops this feeling from surfacing. I see Hunter and not Lucas standing right behind me, tugging my shoulder. I can’t be taking this anger out on my bros. They didn’t do anything. I lower my hand with a sigh, my gaze going heavenward.

“Come back inside,” says Hunter while tugging me back to Lucas, who is waiting on the sidewalk. “We’ll figure it out together.”

“I just can’t stand it!” I shout while Lucas slings an arm around me. “That the mother-“

“I hate it, too,” says Lucas calmly. “But we can’t just go in there swinging our fists around. Four-eyes can say we attacked him and how will that help Rachel?”

My shoulders slump. “It won’t.”

“She can’t go back,” says Hunter while we walk up the steps.

“Well, obviously she’s staying here,” I say irritably. “Alone,” I add while glancing between Lucas and Hunter.

Lucas scoffs. “I doubt she wants any male attention after tonight.”

“We’ll get her things tomorrow,” says Hunter and before I can say anything the door swings open and I see Rachel cradling herself on the couch, sleeping soundly.

I stride towards her. Lucas and Hunter sidle up to me and we watch her sleep for a moment. My hand strokes the side of her face where the bruise is and once again I am hit with that need to pummel four-eyes until he isn’t recognizable.

“Yeah,” I say. “We’ll get her things tomorrow.”

***

Josh’s place is such a shit hole. I have no clue how she lived in this place for a week. It’s teeny tiny with two bedrooms that remind me of closets and a living area that is pretty much unlivable. The so called couch she was sleeping on is really a crappy version of a futon with a blue blanket thrown over it in order to make it look more welcoming than it actually is.

Thankfully, the bastard doesn’t put up much of a fight as all three of us bros plus Rachel enter inside the cramped space and begin grabbing her things. Even more wonderful is that she’s been living out of her suitcase anyway so packing goes quickly and I don’t have to stay around this mother fucker any more than necessary.

Four-eyes watches us from his bedroom doorway with arms crossed as he leans against the frame. In particular, he watches Rachel with a dark look. I inhale deeply and count to ten. Don’t punch him, I tell myself. He’s not worth it.

I gaze back at Rachel, sitting on her suitcase while she zips it. Her bruises are darker than last night and she hangs her head, avoiding her attacker. I didn’t want her to go. In fact I recommended highly against it. But I guess Rachel wanted to face her harasser as some sort of power move. I really wish she would go to the police about him. What if he does this to someone else? Someone sweet and innocent just like her who can’t see through this guy’s good guy mask.

But Rachel doesn’t think it would help.

I’m hoping I can convince her otherwise. Eventually.

She should at least warn her girlfriends.

“Is this it?” Asks Lucas while carrying out a large bag filled with God knows what.

Rachel takes the bag and shoves it in the top of her other suitcase, which barely zips. How the hell did she get all this stuff here? “I guess so,” she says while looking around. Her gaze lands on four-eyes and I watch her step towards him while I and Lucas grab her suitcases.

“Thank you for the couch,” she says while looking down at her feet.

I can’t believe she’s fucking thanking him. For this place? It wouldn’t have happened if you hadn’t kicked her out, a voice whispers in the back of my head, making me feel immediately guilty.

It’s my fault she had to go through this.

“I can’t believe you are making a big deal out of nothing,” says four-eyes, scowling down at her as if she were nothing more than a pesky little ant on his floor.

Rachel’s gaze pops up and she scowls back