Does he really care?

Apologies

------- The end of school -------
< Dakotas POV >

The final bell rings and I rush to my locker trying my best to avoid everyone. Once I was done getting everything put back into the little metal cubical I was assigned I'm finally able to walk out to the parking lot to head home. I see Luke with some girl all over him, I look a little closer and see it's Isabella. I didn't think I cared about him that much until I realized I couldn't stop staring at him in pure disbelief, he knew Isabella was the reason for most of the bruises I got today and still, he was all over her. Luke quickly realizes I'm looking and tries to call my name Isabella turns around and glares at me. Not wanting to deal with either of those two I quickly walk away and head home.

I approach my house and see my dad is home. I open the door quietly and find my dad on the couch watching TV, freezing in my steps I close the door gently. My dad's head snaps directly toward me, I swiftly check the time and I realize I was an hour late. I mentally facepalm and question where the hell the time went while preparing myself for what's about to happen.

"Why are you so late" My dad growls.

"I uh h-had to uh w-work on a project" I stutter quietly.

He gets off the couch and storms over to me. He slaps me right in the face, which causes me to stumble backward and trip over a barstool. I'm now on the ground and he's hovering over me. He starts to kick me repeatedly and soon enough I'm coughing up blood. He beats me until the sun went down and the street lights outside turned on. It was dark outside by the time I stood up but I needed to get out of the house, disregarding the fact that it was dark I grabbed my phone and a jacket before escaping out the front door. 

I check my phone and see I have a bunch of missed text messages from Luke.

'Dakota I'm sorry.'

'It's not what it looked like.'

'Please let me explain.'

'Please respond.'

'I meant what I said earlier.'

I quickly put my phone away and head outside. It doesn't help that Luke lives two houses down from my house. I notice his light is still in his room I see a black figure look out the window and quickly run away.

'Probably just Luke' I think.

I make my way down to the beach and just cry. I sit there for about 3 minutes and cry sitting in the sand. I feel a hand on my shoulder it was harsh and stiff, I knew it wasn't Luke or anyone that I knew, turning around I am met by an older man probably in his late 30s. 

"Hey, beautiful," the man says with a smirk.

"W-what do you want" I stuttered in between sniffles.

"I want you," He says while breathing down my neck.

I froze my eyes sunk in as I realize what could happen, realizing how leaving home in the dark was a really bad idea. He slid his cold rough hands down the back of my shirt which caused me to freeze.

"Get your hands off her!" A familiar voice yells from the distance.

"No I like this one," the man says with an odd smile on his face.

I see Luke come up to the man and shove him off me. I now realize I still have bruises, cuts, and blood all over my body. I wasn't even thinking before I ran out of my house to cover up my body, and now this random boy from my school was about to see it all. Luke finishes the guy and he goes off running, he looks at me and immediately comes over. I'm sitting with my knees to my chest crying not wanting anyone to see me like this, but unfortunately, I feel a pair of arms wrap around me and I scream.

"Hey, hey calm down it's just me Luke."

I sigh and relax a little bit. I allow his arms to wrap around me, I feel his breath on my head. He breaks away from the hug and sits next to me in the sand.

"Hey Dakota I'm sorry about earlier, Isabella forced herself onto me I swear I pushed her away."

"It's ok I would get it if you didn't push her away," I say while looking into the ocean.

"Hey don't say that I would never want Isabella, I would much rather hang around you, remember our conversation earlier?" Luke says while looking at me. He then notices all the bruises and cuts on my face.

"Hey what happened to your face?" Luke asks while rubbing around my bruises and checking them out.

"Ouch!" I flinch

Luke jumped back, "Sorry." 

"What happened to you" he repeats.

"Oh nothing I just uh fell" I lie

I wanted to tell someone what had been going on at home, I knew that it wasn't ok. I didn't necessarily want to tell Luke of all people but he was the only one in my life at the moment that is kind of getting the vibe that something is wrong. The two of us sit in the sand for a few minutes after the big fuss until I start to get tired. 

< Lucas POV >

We continue to sit and stare at the water, I periodically glance over at Dakota. She leans her head on my shoulder and I wrap my arm around her, we sit like this for about an hour and then I realize that she has fallen asleep on my shoulder. I pick her up bridal style and carry her to my car. We got into our neighborhood and I carried her into my house and up to my room, I know that I shouldn't be doing this but I put her down in my bed and crawl in with her. I wrap my arms around her waist and I drift off to sleep.