Not So Loved (West Coast Campus Book 2)

Chapter 9

Rhys - age 15

"Come here." I open my arms wide so she can step in between my legs while I sit on the edge of my bed.

She flinches when she stands from my desk chair, trudging over to me with a sad look on her face.

"Must have been some nasty hit." I mumble, but we both know the bruises on her legs and back aren't from soccer.

I know it's him.

I've known her for ten years. I know when she's lying and happy, or when she's sad and angry so I know that she's been lying about the bruises and welts since we were five.

The bruises aren't even the worst part. It's the slashes that look ancient and the skin so scarred it's still pink and raised up that haunts my fucking dreams.

If it was up to me, he would be six feet under.

He would be crushed under my foot while I hold him down and replicate all those scars on him after he thought touching my Nova would be okay.

It's. Fucking. Not.

"Please don't be mad."

Her little voice shatters my heart as she whispers it into my chest.

"Why would I be mad at you?" I almost break my jaw with how hard I'm clenching it but somehow my voice comes out soft.

"I-I don't know. I tried standing up to him, you know?"

God, do I ever.

She literally melts into my touch when I start rubbing her back, soft strokes up and down.

Up and down.

"I know. I know. And god, I'm so proud. I need you too to keep fighting though."

My parents are almost as worse as hers.

They've never laid a hand on me in that way but to them, I'm nothing.

I'm just a failed life to them.

So when I told them about Maeve, they laughed in my face and told me to get the hell away from them.

When I went to the school counsellors, they told me I was confused because Maeve's parents are nothing like that.

"But what if I have no fight left?" She sounds tired.

"Then I'll fight with you because I can't lose you."

There would be no point in living without my Nova who shines so bright even though she thinks she's dimmed.

She hums into my neck, her eyes drooping closed so I lay back on my bed, my knees bent at the end with her cradled to my chest.

We stay like that, the silence something we both cherish.

"I love you." I whisper.

"Even if the star doesn't shine?"

It's something she's been asking me for years but every time it makes my chest swell.

My hold tightens on her. "Especially then."

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Rhys - present

Why'd I choose hockey?

After an hour of weight room followed by a three hour practice, I'm actually dying.