save me

•5•

I'm not going to lie, I seriously trust the boys more than anything. It's only been two weeks since I've met them, but I have a different connection with them than I do with any other people. I feel like I've known them for years and they are my absolute best friends. I'm so glad that they took me in.

"So who is your lane?" Nick asks as we drive down the streets of LA. I can't go out anywhere because I'm too embarrassed for people to see my body, so we take late night drives instead. It's actually a lot of fun.

"Really?" I ask, "Do I have to answer this?"

Edwin laughs, "Well duh. Now spill the tea." We always play the game of spill the tea when we take drives, so we have to answer whatever anyone asks.

I roll my eyes, "Fine. It's Zion."

Zion's face gets all red and I smile. "Ooooo," all the boys yell besides Zion.

"Shut up," I say as feel my face heat up. This is why I didn't want to tell these idiots.

"So why Zion?" Brandon asks.

"Ugh!" I groan. "Why must you guys ask questions that will just embarrass me?"

Austin chimes in, "Because it's funny."

I roll my eyes once again, "I don't know," I say shyly, "He's just really funny and nice. And a major crackhead and I love that. He's passionate about music and I can tell. Also, he's the cutest out of all of you ugly asses."

All four of them gasp and Zion starts laughing, "How could you say that?" Nick yells. "I thought we were friends."

I start laughing, "We are, but you are gross."

"I feel so hurt," Brandon says while holding onto his chest.

"Y'all are cute, okay?" I say rolling my eyes again, "Happy now?"

"Very," Edwin says.

***

When we get back to the house I start to put some of my folded clothes away. The boys went shopping for me last week. I told them to just get whatever for me and they didn't do bad at getting it all. I actually love most of it. I'm sure Edwin and Brandon did most of the shopping while the other three just complained the whole time.

Zion and I have been sharing his room now because I feel bad that he has to sleep on the couch. I sleep on the bed and he takes the floor. He won't let me sleep anywhere else but the bed. Honestly I feel so safe when he sleeps in the same room as me.

I'm always terrified that Justin is going to come back, but I feel safer with Zion in here every night. He keeps me at peace and I just feel 100% better when he's here with me.

There is a small knock on the door, "Come in." The door opens and Zion walks in with two bowls and two Cokes.

"Hi," he says while shutting the door.

"Hey," I say while putting my last shirt in the drawer, "What are you doing?"

He lays down on the bed and smiles, "We are going to have a movie night."

I smile, "I'm down for that."

I sit down next to him and he grabs his laptop that is sitting on the end table. He hands me a bowl of ice cream and a Coke. "Thank you."

He smiles and nods his head. Honestly Zion drives me insane. He is so damn hot and just so perfect. Like fuck. I wish I could have him all for myself.

"What do you want to watch?" He ask snapping me out of my thoughts.

"I don't care," I say.

He smiles and playfully rolls his eyes, "I'll put on the romantic shit."

I laugh lightly, "You know me too damn well."

He goes to Netflix and he turns the "Notebook" on. I smile and I rest my head against the wall as he uses his hand to support his head up.

We watch the movie in silence for awhile until a kissing scene comes on. I look away for a second and I look back at it. Well this isn't awkward or anything. Zion clears his throat and then looks up at me.

We stare each other in the eyes and then he leans in to me. Our lips touch together and they start to move in sync. It's a very gentle kiss and I love it.

After like twenty seconds I pull away because all I can think about is Justin's nasty lips on mine. I don't want to think like that, but it's just so hard not to.

I move away from Zion and I sit on the edge of the bed, my back facing him. I hear him sit up, but he doesn't come sit next to me.

"I'm sorry," he says, "I shouldn't have done that. I'm sorry, Ivy."

"No, it's okay," I say looking back him. "I wanted it, but I just couldn't keep thinking about him."

He scoots to the edge of the bed and his shoulder touches mine as we both look ahead of us. "Who is him?"

I sigh. I guess it's about time to tell him what really happened to me and why I'm so scared of everything.

"The ex I moved here with," I say. "Do you remember me telling you about him?"

He nods his head yes and looks at me, but I keep my eye contact on the ground.

"Well when we moved here he was so amazing to me. He loved me and I loved him. It was perfect, but after about two months of living with him it all went downhill from there. His mom died of cancer and he basically went crazy. He wouldn't talk to me for days and he would yell at me all the time for the most inconvenient things. He just took all of his anger out on me every single day of our lives."

I pause for a second and I continue to look at the ground. Zion is still looking at me and I love how he cares so much to just listen to me. I've never really had someone that is willing to listen to what I have to say.

"Well eventually he started to get physical. He would hit me all the time and cut me," I lifted my shirt so he could see my back. He touches my skin and I shiver as he touches them. "Whip lashes."

"You don't deserve this," he says as his fingers gently rub up and down my scars. I put my shirt down and I face towards him, so I can look him in his eyes.

"I wouldn't be able to go to work because I looked so bad and I couldn't leave. He threatened to kill me, my mom, and my dad. There was no way out of it," I sigh, "Soon he started raping me. He always wanted sex and I didn't. I hated him at this point for everything he was doing to me, so I fell out of love with him and I didn't want that way. He forced me to have sex with him all the time and the only thing I could do was cry, but I would just get hit for crying."

Zion takes my face into his hands and wipes my tears off my cheeks with his thumbs. I didn't even know I was crying until he did that. I guess I'm just used to crying all of the time.

He wraps his arms gently around me and rests his chin on top of my head. He is so gentle with me. It's like he thinks he will break me any second.

"I'm so sorry you had to go through all of that, but you are safe now. I'm not going anywhere. None of us are."

I smile again his chest, "I know that."

"And I'm willing to wait for you. I really like you, Ivy. I know you can't just get over this in the blink of an eyes," he says, "I want to try to make us work and I'll wait for that. Whenever you are ready."

"I don't deserve someone like you," I say. I never thought Zion would be like this. I always thought he was so tough and he didn't have that much of a soft side. I was so wrong though because he has a huge ass soft spot and he is one of the kindest people I know.

He starts to rub my back very slowly, "No, I don't deserve someone as beautiful as you."

And after he says that he lays back on the bed and brings me down with him. I lay my head on his chest and he covers us both up with the blankets.

I listen to his heartbeat as he starts humming a song. I don't even know what song it is, but before I know it I'm out like a light in Zion's arms.