My Hero

Chapter 17

 "Hello Phoenix. Did you have a nice day at school?" I looked up at Emily and smiled.

"Yes I did thank you. How was yours?" She smiled at me.

"Fine. But I did overhear something." I cocked my head at her.

"What?"

"Someone in this house likes you." She said with a grin. I tried to hide my smile and was doing pretty good at it until that person walked in the room, shirtless.

"Oh geez." I mumbled and tried to walk out but he smushed a note into my hand just as I walked out.

Go to my room. 5. I looked at the clock. 4:55. I sprinted up stairs to fix my hair and grab my phone. I made a headband with my hair by braiding it and gathering it in a low bun, then got my phone, looked in the mirror and heard his door shut.

That was my cue.

I took a deep breath and stepped out of the room and walked across the hall. I opened the door and found Nico on his bed, texting. I shut the door quietly and walked over to his bed and lay next to him, closely. I took this time to look at his face. I took notice of a scar from his jaw to his ear and a cute freckle on his jaw and one next to his ear. He finished his text and turned his head towards me, smiling down at me. I let out a deep breath and gave him a grin.

"You look cute." He whispered to only me, even though I was the only one in the room.

"Thank you." I let my eyes travel down to his toned stomach and took extreme notice of the six pack in place. He chuckled.

"I have a question." I nodded my head.

"Why do you like me and Dylan?" I sighed, knowing that this question would come eventually.

"I like Dylan because everything feels natural with him. I don't have to try and I can be myself. And he cares for me and only me when I'm around. He doesn't talk about other things. My dad even talked to him. I like you... because you treat me like a princess. I like feeling like a princess, it doesn't happen a lot. And plus with you or Dylan we'd make cute babies." He laughed at that.

"That's true. What do you mean I treat you like a princess?"

"You care about me and you care for me and you hug me when I cry and you're there when I need a friend because I can't talk to my dad. I don't know, I guess you treat me better then most guys have." I shrugged sitting up and looking down at my lap, avoiding his eyes.

He sits up and sits in front of me, covering my folded hands with his. "What do--"

"I lied to you." I still don't look up. "I'm not a virgin." His grip on my hands loosens.

"What?" He asks, breathlessly. I swallow whatever is in my mouth.

"When I was 13, I got my first "real" boyfriend," My hands start to tremble as I tell the story for the first time. "We dated for about 4 months before things started getting pushing and weird. One day he asked me to come over so we could study at his house. Alone. He treated me amazingly. He made sure I had everything I wanted, he made sure I was always happy, he made sure I was like a princess. But when I went over to his house things happened." I whispered.

"You don't have to tell me Phoenix." I shook my head.

"I want to. I need to." I whispered. Squeezing my eyes shut and trying to get my trembling hands to calm down. Nico took notice of this and placed his hands over mine again and the trembling stopped instantly.

"We started off studying, then he touched my knee then he kept going, thinking it was ok. He told me it was ok to do things like this. Told me that if I did this that I would really cool and people would love me at school. That's all I wanted. To be accepted. To have friends. He raped me. I told him no but he wouldn't stop. He duct taped my mouth shut so no one could hear my screams." Nico was trembling now, with anger. "He took me home and told me if I told anyone he'd kill me. So I didn't. For 3 years. I kept my mouth shut. Until now."