the secret

•6•

"Is he in his room?" I ask as I walk into the big house.

"Yes," Brandon says.

"Thanks," I say.

I start to walk upstairs, but before I can go any farther Brandon stops me. "Are you coming tonight?"

"Probably not," I whisper back.

"You better," he says. "They are already talking about kicking you out of everything. Your parents hate you. I think you need to go."

"They don't have the balls to kick their own daughter out of their house," I say.

"Yet they had the balls to beat their own daughter," he says bluntly. "I see no difference in that."

He then walks away from me and leaves me there feeling like a dumb ass. He's right though. If they beat me then they will kick me out too. They don't give a fuck about me.

I walk up the stairs and I go straight to Zion's bedroom. I don't knock. I just walk in.

He is laying on his bed with his pillows and blankets wrapped tightly around him. He hasn't talked to me all day. He went straight home and hasn't said a word to me. I didn't think this whole thing would affect him so much.

"Zion," I close the door quietly and I rest my back against it.

"What?"

"Please talk to me," I say.

"No."

I step away from the door and I walk to his bed. I sit down next to his body, "Why not? Why are you so mad at me?"

"Just leave it alone, Daniela." Zion is the only one that I let call me by my real name. He's the only one that I can actually trust these days. I mean I do trust Lilac, but she's always busy with Austin. And I guess I'm always busy with Zion.

"Zion, just talk to me," I say. "I want to know how you're feeling."

He turns over so he is facing me now. His eyes are red and puffy, so I know he's been crying for awhile now. I don't understand why he's taking this so serious. It's not like he loves me yet or anything. We just started dating.

"My sister was beat by my dad," he says with no emotion. "That's why they don't live together. He still comes to visit my mom, but Kekeli always leaves with friends. My mom won't turn him in because she doesn't want the drama. I've wanted to turn him in my whole life, but I was never able to. That's part of the reason I left that place. I couldn't watch him hit her anymore and I couldn't stand to look at my mom. Eventually he took Elom and they left." He takes a deep breath, "This would be why I'm taking this so serious. I've been through this before, Danny. I don't want the same shit to happen to you."

"I'm sorry," I whisper.

He lifts up the blanket and I lay down next to him, so my back is against the front of his body. He puts the blanket over the both of us and he wraps his arms around me.

"You don't have to apologize," he says. "I'm sorry that this happened to you."

"It's okay," I whisper.

"Has he done this to you before?"

"Once when I was very little," I say. "He got super mad about something at work and hit me."

"Stay with me," he says.

"What?"

"Move out," he says. "I don't want you living there anymore. He will just keep hitting you."

"He will kill you if I move in," I say.

"Danny, why do you keep acting like your dad is some mafia king or some shit? I'm not scared of him."