Learning To Love Him

Twelve

Nora's POV
As I walk away from him he grabs my arm and forces me to turn back, when I do I realise he is on his knees with his head down and hands flat on his knees.

"I'll do anything." He says, "Just don't leave me."

I stare at him, "What are you doing?" I ask.

"Giving you all of me." He grabs my hand and puts it on his heart so I can feel his heartbeat. "No one has ever stood up for me or cared the way you do, I know I don't deserve you but I want you anyway."

I stare at him, he was never the kind of person to surrender and put himself in the defenceless position. He was strong and never showed emotions before, not like this. I join him on the floor but his head stays down, I take his hands and squeeze them. "Talk to me Isaac. Tell me how I can help you." I feel tears welling up in my eyes.

"I can't go back ever. He'll hurt me."

"Who'll hurt you."

"My father."

I feel my heart skip a beat and my throat tighten, I know where this is going. Isaac must have ran away and the threat of going home scares him. I pull him into a hug and the two of us stay there on the floor for a longtime.

"I won't let that happen." I say.

"You can't stop him, not even I can. He's a man full of rage because Mum left him. He took it all out on me." He pulls his shirt off and I see it.

Deep poorly healed wounds all over his chest, scars that look like whip marks, ridged and raised to the touch. There are more on his back, I run my fingers over them wishing I could make them disappear. He still refuses to look at me.

"Why are you ashamed?" I lift his face up to meet his eyes. "You are so brave and strong, you survived and you escaped. You're safe now." I pull him into a tighter hug and his strong arms hug me right into his chest against the scars of his childhood. I cry as I feel them against my face and imagine the pain he would have felt.

"I'm sorry I was a jerk and a dickhead. I thought I had to be powerful and in charge of everyone because I was always powerless."

"Never apologise for that. You were in a bad place." I say.

"That doesn't justify my shitty behaviour toward you and Victoria."

"Victoria will get over it eventually once she knows the truth." I say still talking into his chest.

"Please don't tell her yet. She'll freak out and so will Mum."

I sigh, "Okay I won't."

~~~~~~~~

Isaac's POV

I no longer give a fuck about being cool and powerful. I used to hate the control she had over me, the way she made me feel soft and fragile. But now I felt like I truly mattered to someone, like my existence meant something.

She is still crying into my chest and I know she is hurt by the scars. I also know that she would have put two and two together and figured out how they were put there and what had put them there. I couldn't explain how it felt to have her here with me, this feeling of warmth and light that radiated off her and into me. I believed her when she said I was safe because I wanted so badly to be safe.

"So I guess you figured out how to get my cold, dead heart to beat again." I say trying to make her smile.

"What cold, dead heart? I knew you had one you just loved to hide it in there so it couldn't get hurt." She looks at me her eyes glistening with tears.

"How could he do this to you?" She asks running her fingers over the scars on my skin.

"He was an alcoholic and a loose cannon. He never recovered from Mum leaving and having another child and another life. Knowing that there was another child and that he or she was living a better life than me was what kept me going I guess. I felt like I had saved someone."

"Victoria." She says quietly.

"Being a dick was my facade, no one likes a dickhead and I figured if no one liked me, no one would want to get close to me and then therefore no one would ever find out about this." I gesture to my chest. "But you, I didn't plan for you at all."

"Am I more than you bargained for?" She asks.

"Yeah so damn persistent, I couldn't shake you. You were always on my mind and it annoyed me. But then I realised maybe I did want to be close to someone and there you were."

She looks at her hands and I know she's blushing like crazy. I put my hand on her cheek and feel the warmth radiating from it in my hand.  "I knew you were stealing my heart too and there was nothing I could do about it." I say, "Not that I wanted to stop you I just thought I would ruin you with all this." I gesture back at my scars.

"No you'll never lose me. I want to help you and I'm afraid you have stolen my heart too. I just don't know what to say to Jayden, he's like a brother to me. I love him but as a brother not anything else." She looks at me and I can see the pain in her eyes.

"I'll take care of Jayden, I'll talk to him one on one and tell him what the deal is and hopefully he won't punch my lights out." I try to make her laugh.

"Well he might, he sort of thinks you are crazy." She says,  "So maybe I should come to protect you."

I laugh at her cute smile and realise I've never really looked at her before. Beyond those dark gorgeous eyes and long wavy hair. It's like I can see her soul for the first time. I can see the love in her heart and the will in her gaze. She looks back at me and I try to take more of her in, she was the light to my darkness and I knew that from this moment I would do anything for her. Anything. I trusted her more than I had ever trusted anyone. 

She finally stands and pulls me up with her. "Hot chocolate?" She asks and I wouldn't be able to think of a better thing right now than hot chocolate and her company. She sits me on the couch and disappears into the kitchen. Her cat jumps onto my lap and I feel better not being feared by everyone and everything. I stroke the cat and stare at a photo of Nora on the wall. She has always been beautiful I decide  as she strolls back in with hot chocolate and strawberries.

Why the fuck would anyone want to be hated, when you could be loved, especially by someone like Nora.