After getting me water to wash my mouth out, Jack pulled me into him with no protest from me. He holds me until I've finally started to calm down, no longer shaking. I unpeel myself from Jack, realizing that we're now sitting on Pritchett's bed and I was practically in his lap. Dylan is hovering by the door, standing there protectively. The room feels tiny with both of them here.

"Alondra?" Jack prods and I grab a tissue to clean up my face.

"Sorry I threw up. Must have eaten something bad this morning. I think I got snot on your shirt," I mumble, taking my coat off and dumping it on the floor. The room reeks of vomit and I open a window, feeling the cold air immediately.

He waves it off like it doesn't bother him. It should. It's really gross.

"Are you okay?" Dylan asks and I don't have it in me to come up with a convincing lie.

"No, but I will be. Thanks for coming."

Jack is staring at me, his eyes narrowed. "Did someone hit you?"

"No," I answer honestly.

"Your lip is bleeding," Dylan's voice is soft and I grab another tissue to pat my lip. Sure enough, my lip is bleeding.

I wipe my cheeks and blow my nose again. "I must have bitten my lip."

"Al, you don't have to lie, " Jack says.

"I'm fine. I'm fine." I say, my voice breaking on the second fine. "Thanks for coming, but you guys should go. It's all good. I need to clean before Pritchett gets back."

"You're not fine and it's not all good," Dylan says, giving me a sympathetic look. "Maybe we can help, but we have to talk about it to know."

I rub my temples and twist my hair back into a bun to keep it out of my face. I cringe at the thought of how Grady brushed my hair back. "He left. There's nothing more to it."

"Who left?" Jack's voice is low and sends shivers through me.

"Does it matter?" I ask, unable to help glancing at Dylan. I don't think I have a choice in the matter of telling Jack, but the way Dylan's looking at me—whether he knows it or not—is why I don't tell people about Grady.

Jack follows my gaze to Dylan and he wipes his hands on his thighs. "Dyl, can we have a few moments?"

"Uh sure," He agrees, "I'm sorry we didn't get here sooner. Can I take care of that?" Dylan asks, motioning to the trashcan.

"No, you don't have to do that," I try to insist, but Jack is already handing it to him. I didn't think it was possible to be even more embarrassed. Dylan steps out a moment later and I climb onto my bed, pulling my knees to my chest as if I can hide into myself.

"It was Grady, wasn't it?" Jack ask, cutting right to the chase. It confirms my suspicion that Grady was indeed the football player who approached Jack.

"Yeah. He was waiting for me to get back from class."

Jack tenses, "Fuck Al. What would you have done if you weren't on the phone with me?"

I don't even want to consider that possibility. I don't know what I would have done. I'm honestly surprised I didn't collapse into a puddle of tears in front of Grady.

I close my eyes, shutting them tightly because I don't think I can look at him when I say this. "We were together for a little less than a year. He would hit me where people couldn't see the marks it left. No matter how sick what Grady did was, I did love him. I wanted to be loved so desperately that I did whatever he asked because I thought it'd make him happy. Classic case of daddy issues," I whisper quietly.

Jack is silent for a long time, finally speaking after what feels like forever. "He thinks you're his." He struggles to get the words out.

"I know." I watch Jack carefully, noting the way his jaw clenches.

We're not over till I say we're over.

"Grady is why you don't skate anymore."

It feels stupid that I quit skating because of him. I love skating so much. It was never enough for my dad to be proud of me, but it eventually turned into something I did for myself. "The last time I skated before you saw me that morning was the July before my senior year. I had an event and I was doing well until Grady told me that it didn't matter how well I did, my dad was never going to put me over hockey. I tried telling him that he was wrong because I was a naive child, and then I took a hit to the ribs for talking back." I feel hot tears start to slip down my cheeks again. I'm really not proud of how I let him manipulate me. Of how long I stayed in that relationship, pushing away the people closest to me. "I think he just bruised them that time; they didn't feel broken. But it was enough for me to drop out of the competition. Grady was so apologetic, saying that he felt like he was going to lose me so I quit that night."

My hands are shaking as I wipe my tears. I look over at Jack hesitantly, but his face is unreadable. "It's stupid, I know." I say quietly.

Jack shakes his head, "No Al, it's not stupid. He was wrong. I-I wish I knew what to say, but all I want to do right now is kill him for laying a hand on you. No matter whatever kind of reasoning he might have, it's never okay to hit a girl."

"It's not worth it. Today was the first time I've talked to him since we broke up."

"That guy—Grady—thinks of you like a possession. I have a very hard time thinking that he's going to let you go easily."

Easily?

"He doesn't have a choice in the matter. I'm not his. I'm not anyone's property."

Jack leans forward to rest his elbows on his knees, "Does your dad know?"

I fall silent. I never told my parents. The night Grady and I broke up, he threw me out the door and pushed me down the stairs outside his house. I broke my leg and a couple of my ribs. I had hypothermia because I couldn't get up and move.

I called Pritchett and she and Margot came to get me. My parents believed me when I told them I slipped and fell as I was leaving because I was upset we broke up. It was after all icy that night.

"I'm fine Jack. I just..." I trail off, leaning against the wall.

"What did he want?"

"For me to stay away from you. He's threatened by you, I guess." Way more than just threatened if he was willing to come here to tell me himself.

He runs a hand through his hair, shaking his head. "Alondra..."

I shiver, grabbing a pillow to hug it to my chest. My blue painted nails are chipping on a few of my fingers. "I don't care. You're my friend. Grady's influenced enough of my decisions. It doesn't matter."

"I'm sorry," He says softly. "I'm so sorry."

"It's not your fault. I know exactly how Grady is."

The pillow in my arms still smells like Jack from last night. It's comforting.

Grady knows where my room is.

Jack gets up from Pritchett's bed and starts pacing, "You hung up the phone. I was so worried. I didn't know what was happening."

"Thank you for coming." I repeat. I handled it well with Grady. I didn't even know if Jack would come. "Dylan's probably sick of waiting outside. Especially after cleaning up my puke."

"Are you okay?" He asks, ignoring what I've said about Dylan.

"I'm fine. He's gone." I check my phone quickly, noting the time. I sniffle loudly, wiping my nose on my sleeve. "Don't you guys have practice to get to?"

"Fuck," He swears before looking at me with his intense gaze. A part of me feels relief that he knows about Grady. That someone knows other than Pritchett and Margot. "Get your stuff, you're not staying here."

"You're over exaggerating. I don't need a body guard. I can protect myself."

His face softens, "I know. It'd make me feel better about leaving you alone if you weren't here. Please, just come hangout at my place. I can get Dylan to call Ruby so you have someone to be with while we're at practice."

"I'm not going to hide from him this time." I insist and Jack steps forward until he's right in front of me. We're almost eye level because of how high the bed is lofted. It feels like it's been days since I took a nosedive off the side of it, but that was only this morning.

He gingerly pulls away the pillow I'm holding onto. Jack then pulls me into his chest again, "I'm not asking you to hide Al, I just want to know that you're safe so I can focus on something other than wanting to beat the shit out of your ex."

I relax into him, slowly wrapping my arms around his muscular torso. I was mad at Pritchett when I told her earlier that she pushed me into kissing Jack, but who knows where we'd be if she hadn't?

*********

Jack's been silent almost the entire time we've been studying. I'm working on homework for my sociology class.

In the last twenty-four hours, our friendship dynamic has changed tremendously. Woke up to an erection and then he came to rescue me from my ex. How do I act around him now?

I don't know what's going through his head. I don't even know what's going through my head. Telling him that Grady used to hit me was embarrassing. Admitting I let myself get into that situation in the first place is hard for me to think about.

At least I've started skating again. It's a step in the right direction for me.

I'm tapping my pencil against the table as I reread the same question for what feels like the tenth time. I'm having an absolute shit time, focusing on the events of today instead of this stupid assignment.

I haven't talked to Margot and Pritchett since lunch. Margot texted me earlier saying that I took what they were saying the wrong way. I guess I'm just not ready to admit that maybe they're right. Maybe saying I wanted to go out was me rushing into it.

"Al, just say whatever you're thinking about because you're driving me nuts with that pencil." Jack says without looking up from his reading.

"I don't want things to be weird."

He glances up at me, "Am I acting weird or something?"

I cross my arms and sink back into my chair, "No. I'm just...I'm embarrassed."

"Why?"

"Because you know about Grady. I'm worried you're going to start treating me differently."

Jack lets out a ragged breath, "Did you treat me differently after I told you about my dad being in prison?" I shake my head and he smiles kindly at me. "Then why would I treat you differently? We've all got our shit. My lips are sealed, darling."

His echo of the words I said to him after he told me about his dad cause me to relax a little bit. The weight on my chest somewhat lifts.

"Thanks," I say quietly.

"Would it make you feel better if I offered to kiss you?" He teases, trying to lighten the mood.

"Can you make it better than a two?" I taunt and his jaw drops. Jack nudges me with his foot.

"Whoa whoa whoa.What happened to the three I was given?"

I can't help but laugh because of course he remembers. "Guess it just wasn't that memorable. Three's are for winners."

Jack shakes his head at me, "Shut up Al. Three out of ten is still for losers and I promise you I'm not a loser."

"Prove it," I dare him and he raises an eyebrow at me.

"I think if I kissed you right now, you'd freak out about us going back to normal even more than you already are." He says and I shrug.

"Yeah, probably."

Jack looks back down and resumes his note taking. "I'm sure I'm overstepping here, but I do think you should consider telling your dad about Grady."

"Why? It's over with." I reply shortly, looking down at my assignment. Except I don't know if it is.

"Because he might be able to help. You don't have to; just a thought."

My grip on my pencil tightens, "Please don't tell him."

Jack's blue eyes look at me, "I wouldn't do that. Trust me, I'm very careful to keep my friendship with you and your dad as my coach separate. It's like church and state."

And then a question that's been nagging me in the two months since I met Jack. "Why did you come up to me at the bar?"

He flashes me a cocky grin, "Because you're hot. Dylan saw me watching you and dared me to go kiss you. You didn't seem to have a care in the world and it was nice that you weren't throwing yourself at my group of friends. The puck bunnies there are relentless."

"As if you don't eat that shit up." I retort, ignoring the butterflies that flutter in my stomach after hearing Jack call me hot.

"I don't actually. It gets old after a while."

I look at him in disbelief, "Tell that to your fan club in Calc and around campus. The number of dirty looks I get when I'm with you is astonishing."

"Please, being my friend is totally worth the dirty looks." Jack says smugly and I burst into laughter because of how sure he is.

"Sure, keep telling yourself that."

My smile grows as I realize that we can resume to normalcy. Or as normal as our friendship can be.

Grady might have controlled my life while we were together, but he can't anymore. This isn't up to him.

I'm not his.

"Do you want to go skating tomorrow morning?" I ask and Jack's smile is breathtaking.

"Fuck yeah. I can beat you at racing again."

I'm in control of my life.