We got home that night at about seven o'clock, after getting a bite to eat, and I was pretty pleased with how the day went. Everyone seemed to have a really good time.

      But my mind just wouldn't stop buzzing after my conversation with Blake.

      At around ten o'clock, Blake and Mason went off to the fighting club, which I hated, but I knew I couldn't do much about it. I tried to distract myself while they were gone, by calling my mom to check up on things again. I was happy to talk to her, but I couldn't stop thinking about what I wanted to tell Blake.

      As I looked back on my conversation with Aria, I kept thinking about what she said, "Just get straight to it, or you're not going to get anywhere with him."

What I wanted wasn't completely straight to it, but it was getting somewhere. Besides, I had to be getting somewhere. I hadn't seen Blake as comfortable with me since I've been here than today.

After calling my mom, I sighed in a room of silence. Sawyer went to bed at eight-thirty because of such a long day, so I was finding it hard to distract myself.

For the latter half an hour until they got here, I just sat on the couch in a pile of nerves. I tried to just sleep, because who knows how long they'd be, but I was completely awake. I knew I needed to talk to him.

But I was low-key terrified to, because I had never shared this story before.

I was so distracted, and Blake and Mason were being so quiet coming in the door, that I didn't even hear them. I was still on the couch, head in my lap, while my hands tugged at my hair in distress. I probably looked a mess.

"Hadley?" I raised my head up and looked at a curious Blake and Mason looking at me. God, I probably looked like a crazy person. At some point sitting there waiting, I started crying a bit thinking of the story, so my eyes were probably bloodshot, too. "Why are you still up?" Blake asked, looking very concerned.

I was honestly waiting for Mason to crack up a joke or something, but he really looked concerned as well. "I need to talk to you." I said to Blake.

He warily looked at me for a few moments, and then nodded. Mason just said, "Goodnight." And walked toward his room.

Blake sat down next to me and said, "What is it?" He looked worried.

I looked down, and started fiddling with my fingers. My stomach was in the biggest knot I'd ever felt. "I need to tell you about something."

I could see Blake tense up a bit in my peripheral vision, and he said, "Okay?"

      At first I didn't really know what to say, really. But after contemplating, I knew I shouldn't beat around the bush.

      I mean, Blake sure didn't, that's for sure.

      After a minute or so, I started, "So, about a year ago," I had to pause. My voice was shaky, and I could see my hands shaking.

But I kept going.

"About a year ago, on a Thursday, I had gotten home from school..." I paused again, and clenched my fists. "I was waiting for my parents to get home from work at five-thirty, like they always did."

I took a breath, and continued, "At six o'clock, neither one of them were home, which was pretty weird to me. They always got home at five-thirty." I could feel Blake tense up beside me, but I kept looking at my hands. He didn't object to anything I was saying, he just listened.

"Thirty minutes later, I had gotten a call from my mom. She said that..." I stopped and took a shaky breath. "She said that daddy was hurt, but that's literally all she told me. She was so shaken up that she wouldn't explain anything, so I drove my car to the hospital, like extremely fast. I was lucky I didn't get pulled over."

I remembered looking at the speedometer in that moment and watching it barely hit the 120 mark.

The next part really pained me to spit out. "He was already dead when I got to the hospital."

I heard Blake let out a shaky breath, and I felt tears running down my cheeks, but I continued, "Apparently, he had decided to drive a different way home that day, so that..." I paused, and took a breath. "so that he could get a birthday present for me, since it was a couple of days away." I wiped a few tears away, and looked at Blake. "The way that he went was downtown."

Everyone who was everyone who lived in Rachdale knew that downtown was a big no no to go to. It was full of gangs and theft, and everything in between. "When he stopped at the red light, a shooting broke out."

     When I looked over at Blake, he had a tear running down his cheek. I wished I could know what he was thinking, but he was staring so intensely at the wall that I knew I could never decipher it. And in that moment, I didn't really know what to say next, or if I even could. All I remembered next was my vision becoming blurry with tears.

I didn't really expect to break in that moment, but I did. It was like I was reliving those days all over again, and it shattered me to pieces.

Even though I could barely decipher anything through my tears, I soon enough found myself sobbing against Blake's chest. Deep down, a part of me was mad at him for not being there when it actually happened. I broke so hard in those days, my darkest days, and he wasn't there for me.

I may sound stupid, or just plain selfish, but it still hurt.

So I let him comfort me.

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A/N: Hey guys! I'm going to start off by saying I'm SO sorry for being so MIA on this book. Life's been crazy! But it's starting to calm down so I should be doing updates every week now!:) YAY!!

For those of you who still read this book, then I hope you enjoy and thanks so much for the support!

Last thing is that I published a new book! It's called "Heart in hand" Check it out!

Chapter 11 coming soon!

-Ella Rose