Emily's POV*
Grayson pulled up at his apartment building and parked the car. We both got out and began walking towards the main entrance.
I was a nervous wreck.
As if Grayson read my mind he grabbed my hand and entangled our fingers together instantly calming me down.
I looked down at our hands and he rubbed his thumb over my knuckles in a comforting way making butterflies erupt in my stomach.
I smiled and we kept walking hand in hand down the long halls.
We reached the door and it was already unlocked. Ethan and Madison must be home.
I heard music playing once we entered the apartment. One Direction I might add. We walked into the kitchen to see Madison and Ethan jumping around to Best Song Ever.
I looked over and Grayson and he looked at me. We both immediately burst out laughing.
"Oh god" we both said in unison making us laugh even more.
They must have noticed because Maddie grabbed her phone and paused the music. She looked down at our hands and gave me a confused look along with a smirk.
Ethan just smiled at us. "Why are you guys interrupting our dance party?" He asked.
"We need to talk to you guys" I said nervously.
"Who's we?" Ethan said.
"Um me and Mads" I said looking at Madison with a serious face. She gave me a panicked look. "What?" She mouthed.
"We were going to have to tell them at some point Mads" I said and nodded her head.
"Yeah your right" she said looking at her feet.
"What are you guys talking about?" Ethan said confused.
"Let's go sit down in the living room" Grayson said and we all followed him into the living room.
I took and seat next to Maddie and Ethan and Grayson sat opposite us. I looked and Madison and she nodded her head.
I took a shaky breath. "Brianna made me break up with Grayson" I said and Ethan immediately stood up.
"WHAT!?" He yelled clenching his fists tight that they were beginning to turn white. "That bit-"
"Ethan. Calm down and let her finish" Grayson said pulling him down, back onto the seat.
He heavily sighed and nodded his head. "Okay" he mumbled.
"S-She said that if I didn't she would..."
"Tell you guys about our old life" Madison said for me.
Ethan and Grayson's eyebrows both furrowed. "What do you mean 'old life' " Grayson said.
"Before we moved here" I said and they still were confused. "Let me tell you the whole story"
"Me and Madison are originally from Denver, Colorado. We've lived next door to each other for as long as we can remember and have been best friends all our lives" I started.
"We never really fitted in as kids. Sure we had other friends but it all really changed when we got to middle school. That's when things got worse" Madison said.
"Our parents never really got along, which is weird considering the amount of things they had in common" Madison said with pure hatred in her eyes.
*Warning! Contains sensitive content*
My mom left me and my dad when I was 11 and Maddies mom left when she was 8. After that my dad when ballistic. He began drinking and drinking and eventually it became like a hobby or something to him" I said as tears brimmed in my eyes.
Ethan and Grayson both gave simpathetic look.
"I consider myself lucky because my dads really only hit me once. This wasn't the case for Madison" I said and glanced at her. She was staring at the ground.
"Is why you had bruises all over your arms and that blood on your face the first time we met?" Ethan asked her.
She just nodded her head. "Yeah the blood was from him throwing a bottle at me".
"Maddie got abused every day. It was horrible. I've often whiteness it. I could hear her screams and cries through the walls" I said as a few tears fell down my face.
"It's okay. You don't need to cry" she said and gently placed my hand in hers.
"As I was saying, as soon as we got to middle school people began to notice the bruises and scars on my body. They called me a 'freak with daddy issues'. It kept getting worse and worse to the point where people began telling us to kill ourselves and that were worthless and we should just die already" Madison said as she sniffed.
"Gemma Marshal, the most popular girl in school was the worst to us. She would physically shove us into lockers or hit us or kick us. And nobody seemed to care.
No one stood up for us. Eventually the word got out about Madisons dad hitting her and my dad being an alcoholic that it all went down hill from there" I said wiping my tears.
"Then a few days after summer vacation had started and I was just after coming home from Mads, my-my dad hit me. I-I thought he was going to r-rape me" I said as the tears fell freely down my face.
"Me and Em always planned on getting away from our parents. And when she called me that night saying her dad hit her I couldn't take it. To make matters worse my mom showed up after leaving us almost 10 years. My dad went crazy and lashed it all out on me, hence the new set of bruises and why my head was bleeding" She said pulling up her sleeves revealing some bruise marks.
"We decided to just get the fuck out of there. So we packed up all our things and Em grabbed her dads car keys and we stole his car. We drove all night and eventually we reached LA" she said smiling a bit.
"And then we met the two you two."
I say as my smile gets wider.
"And you helped us forget about the past. You made us feel like ourselves again. You made us feel like we haven't in a long time" I said smiling at the two of them.
Their sad faces replaced with a smile from ear to ear. "But things never go our way. Just when things start to get better, someone aka Brianna end up ruining it" I said making them both frown again.
"Brianna contacted Gemma Marshal and she told her everything. She threatened to tell you guys if Em didn't break up with Gray" Maddie explained.
"That bitch!" Grayson yelled. He stood up and began pacing around the room. He pulled out his phone.
"W-What are you doing?!" I said rushing over to him.
"Calling Brianna!"
