My head is killing me.

I look over my shoulder, Liam is asleep. He looks so peaceful. 

I leave my room without a sound, heading to the living room. There, Noah and Malakai are sitting around the kitchen counter. It looks like they had breakfast. 

“Hey, how are you feeling?,” asks Noah with a big smile.

“My head hurts,” I reply. I look at the time, it’s 11am already. “I’m sorry you guys had to see Liam and I like this.”

“Oh no don’t worry,” says Malakai, “it was fun to watch.”

I sit next to Noah, who hands me a big glass of water. “Adriel, can I ask you something?” I nod as I start drinking. “Are you and Liam having intercourse?”

I shot water through my nose. Malakai burst into laughter.

“What’s wrong?” Noah asks, confused.

“Noah, honey,” I pause and put my hand on his knee. I give him a serious look, “don’t ask me that ever again.”

He nods, not really understanding why. “Well, he definitely cares about you a lot.”

“How do you know that?” I ask, taking another sip of water.

“It’s the way he looks at you. It’s really cute,” he pauses. “Kai looks at me like that.”

I'm about to shoot water through my nose again, but I control myself and glance at Malakai. He’s red, his eyes wide open. Sometimes Noah just drops bombs without realizing it. 

He breaks the silence right away. “We should go now.” He grabs Noah’s arm, “I guess you’ll take care of Liam.” I nod and thank them for taking care of us yesterday.

To be honest, I could thank them for a lot of things. They’ve had my back for two years now. Sometimes I wonder - would we be friends if they knew who I was?

Probably not.

I move to the couch, thinking that the hard kitchen chair is hurting my butt. But as I stand up, it still hurts - did I fall last night?

I slouch on the couch, trying to remember everything that happened last night.

My eyes widen - I kissed Liam in his sleep. I put my face in my hands, cringing. Did it count as taking advantage of him? Because I kissed the guy without his consent? Am I a pervert? I hope he wasn’t pretending to sleep.

Also, Malakai admitted that his dad was violent. 

He isn’t the kind to let people treat him like shit. I’ve seen him threaten people with his bat - the one he uses for the university baseball team - for bad-mouthing Noah before. Malakai not standing up to his dad shows how scared he is.

I need to help him.

As I’m thinking of a way to help my friend, Liam comes out of my room, looking lost. He joins me on the couch.

“Gosh, I feel like shit,” he says.

His legs are spread, his knee touching mine. I get chills. 

What am I?, I think, a teenage girl?

“Your friends are really nice. I like Malakai, he’s fun.”

“He’s also a pain in the ass.”

He chuckles. “As if you weren’t one yourself.”

He’s got a point.

We stay here in silence for a few minutes when I remember what Noah told Malakai and I last night. “Do you know another Noah?” He frowns and I continue. “Noah said you called him yesterday, but that apparently he wasn’t the Noah you wanted.”

His eyes wander for a second, he looks puzzled. “I have no idea what you’re talking about,” he finally says, “I don’t know any Noah. I was just drunk.” 

I find his answer suspicious but I don’t have the strength to ask more. I just want to close my eyes and rest. Besides, it would seem like I’m jealous - which would be ridiculous.

One thing seems to be clear, he doesn’t remember yesterday’s kiss, otherwise, there would’ve been an awkward mood. I’m relieved. 

We both agree on making pasta with tomato sauce for brunch. While we eat, I tell him about Malakai.

“Don’t get yourself in trouble, Adriel.”

“I can’t just ignore it. I have to do something.”

Liam sighs, “I understand. Just - be careful.”

Liam is a very calm, compassionate, and understanding person. He’s also sweet, smart, and on top of that - hot. This guy is almost perfect. 

Almost.

He has the worst anger issues I have ever seen. He can’t control his rage. Once it takes over, it’s hard to reason with him. He is either calm or in a total state of rage. No in-between. I’ve witnessed him like this many times as a kid. It got better as he grew up, but it still happens. Holding him off is practically impossible. Once, they had to be four to stop him from beating some guy who had insulted one of his classmates. He got suspended for a month, and it was like the worst tragedy had happened. He hates this part of him so much.

****

The weekend went pretty smoothly. Liam and I just relaxed on Saturday, then went grocery shopping on Sunday.

When we go out, we try to stay unnoticed. We wear caps and sunglasses as if we were singing idols. We try to not be recognizable in case my brothers’ men see us.  

It’s now Monday morning and I meet Noah and Malakai in front of our next class. We can’t enter yet - seems like the teacher has lost his key. 

“Well, that’s perfect, I need to go to the bathroom,” says Noah as he starts to walk toward the restrooms. 

“Oh, me too!” I respond while I follow him, leaving Malakai looking all confused and lost.

Truthfully, I don’t need to pee but I must talk to Noah in private.

When we get to the restrooms, I grab Noah’s arm. He turns around and tilts his head. “Yes, Adriel?”

I take a deep breath, “I know about Malakai’s dad.”

He froze. He’s about to talk but I continue, “I want to get him out of that toxic house. He can move in with me and live in the guest room. I want to go to his house tonight, help him pack his stuff and leave. The problem is that I don’t know his address, nor if his parents will be there. I’m also pretty sure that if I don’t take him by surprise, he won’t come with me.”

Noah stays silent, thinking and looking at the floor as if he was searching for something.

He looks up to me again with a glow in his eyes that wasn’t there before. “I’ll join you and convince him. If we go after school, his stepmom won’t be there - but his dad will. No one is allowed to enter the house. I usually sneak in through Kai’s bedroom window. You just have to climb a bit. If we stay quiet, with the two of us helping him pack, this whole thing should take about ten minutes. He doesn’t own a lot of stuff.” I raise my brows. Damn, Noah can be badass sometimes. “Come at 7pm. I’ll send you the address. We can meet up in front of my house, then I’ll show you where to climb.” I did not see this coming. “Now,” he continues, “I really need to pee. But whoa, this is so exciting. ”

On that note, he claps his hands with a huge smile, then disappears into the restrooms.

I spend the day reviewing the plan in my head - it should go smoothly. 

Boy was I wrong.

****

I meet Noah in front of his house a 7pm. We both took an empty backpack to put Malakai’s things in. Noah leads me to Malakai’s house. It’s the one just next to his, separated by a tall and dirty white wall. They both have the same house, as the whole neighborhood was built on the same model. Although both of their houses look less… well kept.

Both their gardens are a mess and it looks like a few things here and there need renovations. They’re like the two ugly houses of the neighborhood, the ones that give shame to the whole area.

I expected it for Malakai’s home, as the only thing I know about his family is that his dad, a retired hospital nurse, is a drunk, and his stepmom is a lazy woman who barely works, or does chores. But I didn’t expect Noah to live in such conditions.

But again, what do I know about Noah? 

Malakai had once told me that Noah’s mother was depressed, but it didn’t seem that severe. I guess I truly don’t know anything about him, as he never talks about himself.

I feel like Noah and Malakai know everything about each other. When I look at them it’s like they’re alone in their world, as if they don’t need anyone else. In the beginning, Malakai was wary about me getting too close to them. Maybe they just wanted to stay just the two of them.

Or was there another reason?

Once we’re in front of Malakai’s window, I help Noah up. Since I’m taller, I don’t need anyone to back me up. 

When we both get inside, Malakai is on his bed, reading. He didn’t move when he saw Noah. I guess seeing him climb up his window is a regular thing.

But he jumped off his bed when he saw me.

His room is so depressing. Everything is tidy - which doesn’t surprise me, Malakai is pretty organized. It’s something that will become handy as he comes to live with me. I’m not a messy person, but I get very lazy to clean sometimes.

As I look around, I notice something - his room is empty. He only has one light on a little table next to his bed. A desk is against the wall, accompanied by a chair that looks barely stable. The brown-painted walls are mostly bare, save for a few guitar posters. I can see stains on the wall.

It looks like dry blood.

“What are you doing here?”

Noah gets closer to him and grabs his hands. “We’re getting you out. You’re going to live with Adriel.” Eyes and mouth wide open, Malakai stays silent.

“We need to pack up your things fast and in silence. Where are your clothes?” I ask, looking around his empty room. 

“I- I can’t,” he finally says “I don’t want to be a freeloader at your place!”

“You won’t be," I reply, "you’ll find a part-time job and pay for groceries. Now, where the f*ck are your clothes?”

Malakai points at a small cupboard behind me. I rush to it and open the drawers to empty them into my backpack.

“Noah, what about you?,” Malakai asks, “will you be okay with-”

“I’ll be okay. Don’t worry about me”

“And what about my little sister? And you?” He shakes his head. “I can’t leave you alone in that house, I-”

Noah cuts him again, “I can hear you from my room. I can hear him scream at you and slam things against the wall. I can hear you cry, scream at him to stop. And I’m just sitting in my room, unable to do anything.” He pauses and squeezes his hands. “And Jenna will be fine. You know she’s their whole world.”

I keep on packing random things around the room. Noah hands me his bag and continues, taking Malakai’s face between his hands. “Go. I need you to go. I want you to be safe.” Malakai stays silent, his eyes tearing up. “Now,” says Noah, brushing off Malakai’s tears, “please help us pack.”

Malakai nods in silence and starts helping us pack. After 5 minutes, we're ready to go. Noah gets down the window first. Malakai is about to do the same, with me right behind him. We both carry big bags.

Malakai is about to throw his baseball bat to Noah when we hear a loud sound behind us. The door was slammed open. 

We both turn around to see Malakai’s dad, a beer in his hand, looking at us with wide eyes.