Chapter 30

Ella's POV:

Declan's green orbs bore into mine with great intensity. His jaw clenches as his teeth grit together. I watch as his hand reaches for his chocolate brown hair, he glides his fingers roughly through each of the tendrils and suddenly I'm afraid he's going to pull it out.

"What did he do to you?" His voice comes out deathly calm but I know he's anything but.

I shake my head, "It doesn't matter, I-I...I can't let anybody get h-hurt." I say quietly as salty tears plague my face.

Declan's eyes visibly darken a shade. "It doesn't matter? It fucking matters to me, Ella my mother fucking abusive sorry excuse of a father is in your house and now he's threatening you!" He fumes.

I can't help but flinch at his choice of words. He doesn't usually swear around me and and he's noticeably, undoubtedly triggered. I don't like swearing especially when it's at me. A fresh set of waterworks blossom, blurring my once clear vision.

I'm not good in stressful situations and my stress levels are currently through the roof. I'm such a baby, I always cry when things get hard. I just want to roll up in a ball and hide.

Julian has invaded my home and has taken away my sense of safety. Declan's anger is unmistakable.

"I-I know," I whisper.

Declan's eyes close and his hand runs down his face. "I need to know what he did to you. So help me god Ella, I'm going to kill him."

My gaze falls and I watch my lap as I say, "H-he pushed me a-against the wall, covered my m-mouth,...and threatened to h-hurt me and everybody I l-love if I tell anyone." I say and cover my face with my hands. This is real, I can't believe this is real.

A loud bang reverberates throughout the car. My eyes fly open to see Declan just punched the steering wheel. My body trembles in his lap.

I dare look at his face, this is not my Declan. This is the Declan who's been through more pain then I can imagine, this is the Declan who's been downgraded and hurt by the one person who was supposed to love him the most. This is the Declan who too has flaws.

He was raging, he's mad that the person who has hurt him over and over again is now trying to hurt me too.

What he said next was, "He's a dead man."

Declan takes my face in his warm hands but I don't look at him, I can't I'm scared. I'm such a coward, what teenager is afraid of swearing? I know hitting the steering wheel isn't considered "violence", but it frightened me. I have never encountered a situation like this before. My mom and Thomas are always so careful around me because they think I'm fragile.

I try to calm myself down but my body still shakes. I love Declan, I'm not scared of him in any way. I know he would never hurt me, but seeing him angry like this wasn't exactly not scary. Like I said before, stress and violence aren't my thing.

"Ellie your shaking." He murmurs. "I'm such an idiot." I hear him mutter to himself.

His thumbs gently caress my cheeks. "Ella baby look at me."

I take a second and slowly bring my eyes to him. His anger is gone, he's back to being my normal Declan. One of his hands goes to my thigh and rubs it in attempts to comfort me.

His eyes are back to those beautiful forest green I love. "I'm sorry." His voice is sincere.

My trembling slackens immensely. His hand runs along my face, wiping the tears as they fall. His gentle touches spark my skin, his hot breathe makes me tingly. Little jolts course within me.

His lips light me up as they nip my neck. "I'm sorry I scared you." He repeats softly.

"It's okay," I mumble breathlessly.

He lifts his head back up to look at me. "You're staying with me, I need to know you're safe." He pauses as if thinking over what he said. "I need you to be safe."

A quick flash if what looks like vulnerability comes across his face but then is gone almost as quickly as it came.

I lift my cold hand to his tan cheek without thinking, "Okay." I murmur.

He stares at my hand and then glances at me. My cheeks burn as he grins, I remove my hand quickly and climb off his lap and back to the passenger seat. "W-we have school Declan, w-were going to be late."

"I don't mind being late." He smirks at me.

My cheeks burn brighter and he chuckles starting up the car again. Before he pulls back onto the road I see him send a text message to Wes. I have no clue what about because I didn't want to be nosy and look. His hand reaches over and takes mine entwining them together.

He squeezes my hand to reassure me, "You can't let Julian know I told you, or he-he..." I can't even finish without tears welling up.

"He won't hurt you, I won't let him," Declan promises, then rubs in circular motions on my hand

I take a deep breath. Now I have to conquer a whole day of school on top of this. Today is already going to be tremendously stressful.

*

Declan pulls into our school parking lot and proceeds to park. He still holds my hand as my heart goes crazy in my chest. I'm so nervous, school is a place I loathe. Crowded halls, scorching stares, and extreme anxiety combined are pretty much intolerable.

But having Declan with me makes it a bit more bearable, he has no idea how much I rely on him now. He's well...let's just say I need him, I have no idea what I would do without him.

He's like a shield who deflects the bad guys, and at the same time, he's the beautiful boy that I'm hopelessly and endlessly in love with. The boy I can't stand not to be around. The boy who I can never get out of my head.

Releasing my hand Declan opens his door and gets out. Knowing I can't hide forever I to get out and grab my bookbag.

Declan comes over and takes my book bag from me and swings it over his shoulder. He then reconnects our hands and walks us into school. I gaze up at him and send him a small smile which he returns.

His longs strides are no match for my small ones. I have to jog to keep up with his pace.

"You good Lil' one? I can practically smell your worry from here." He says opening the door for me.

I stare at the door for a second before taking a step inside. "Yeah sorry," I whisper sheepishly. My stomach clenches as I take in everybody clustered in different groups talking and laughing.

But as Declan walks in behind me the attention turns to us as we walk hand in hand to my locker. I stare at the ground in attempts to look nonexistent. But Declan stops and lifts my chin up so our eyes meet.

"Forget them, I want you to pay attention to me, I'm not leaving you." He says. I nod and he kisses my forehead before we carry on to my locker.

"You're beautiful Ellie, that's why they're staring." He whispers into my ear. My cheeks go hot as my eyes meet his. I don't know why, but when Declan calls me beautiful I get this feeling that I can't describe. He makes me feel so special. At this moment it's just me and him, he smirks and adds, "You're my girl, not theirs, they are jealous and they should be."

My breath catches in my throat, he legit has the ability to take my breath away. My body flickers with flames that don't exist, the heat I'm feeling is unreal. I swear I look like a swollen cherry that's about to explode.

We reach my locker and I turn my full attention to opening it. Except when I move the dial as my hand shakes terribly. I can't seem to get the code in, Declan's choice of words has made me jittery.

He watches me with that gorgeous grin that never seems to leave his equally gorgeous face. He takes my hand and removes it from the dial. "Allow me." He chuckles.

I just stare at him not able to form words let alone a sentence. He was perfect, from his pearly white teeth to his sharp jaw, not to mention his deep green eyes and slightly hollowed cheeks. A piece of hair falls across his eyes and without thinking I lift my arm and brush it away.

He clears his throat and looks at me with one eyebrow raised. I blush, taking a step back, "Sorry what?" I mumble as embarrassment takes over. I was just openly ogling over him as he was clearly trying to say something.

"Your locker combination?" He says, very amused.

"O-oh." So I tell him my combination and he opens it. Without glancing at him again afraid to fall into another trance, I take out my binders and he puts them into my backpack. When I'm done he shuts my locker and keeps my bookbag throwing it over his shoulder.

"You seem distracted Ellie, anything you'd like to tell me?" Declan ponders, he wants me to admit that he crumbles my composure making me a hot mess.

"N-no." I stutter. Uhhh why can't I just be normal and act confident?

He leans down his hot breath lingering on my neck. "You sure, so you weren't just appreciating my impeccable good looks."

I nervously twiddle my thumbs, "W-what? Of course not." I mutter.

"My girls such a liar." He accuses tracing my lips. He's right, but who would admit that? Not me, I'm already wallowing in embarrassment.

My lips tremble under his touch as a small gasp escapes.

"Ella thank the heavens you're here." I hear the voice of my best friend. Olivia walks right up to us and I can't be happier for her great timing. Declan takes a step back but keeps his green orbs on me, his smirk does not go unnoticed.

Taking a great amount of effort I pull my eyes away from Declan's and smile at Olivia. She stands right in front of me looking beautiful as always. Her long brown hair falls in waves down her back. Her caramel eyes sparkle in the light.

She wears a pair of black ripped jeans with a denim jean jacket. Vans sport her feet. She can dress so causal and still look stunning. I have to admit, sometimes I feel self-conscience standing next to her. How could I not, I was dull compared to her.

It makes me wonder what does Declan sees in me? I'm self-conscience, shy, awkward, and a nervous wreck most of the time.

"Am I interrupting something?" She asks looking between me and Declan.

"No." I blurt out.

She raises her eyes rows at me. My cheeks flush as I clarify, "No you're not interrupting anything." I say calmly this time. I see something twinkle in Declan's eye as I glance at him hoping he won't say anything.

He doesn't, he just stares at me. Olivia responds with, "Okay, well umm do you want to walk around?" I peek over at Declan to see him analyzing me waiting for my response, I usually walk with him but I need to cool off.

"Yeah sounds good," I say. She smiles and we're about to walk away but Declan grabs my arm.

"I'll be waiting for you after class." He says but before he lets go he whispers so just I can hear, "We'll finish our conversation later."

I go bright red as he kisses my cheek before letting my arm go. I scurry towards Olivia and don't look back.