“No, you aren’t dropping me off in the driveway,” Cassidy said firmly.  “I’m a big girl, I can walk like three feet all by myself.  But thank you.”

 

“Are you sure? If your mom gives you any crap…” he trailed off.

 

“She’s gonna give me more crap for making out with you in the driveway.  I appreciate it, but I promise I’ll be okay.”  She kissed him softly.

 

“Alright…but you *will* call me if anything happens, right?”

 

“Like I could actually condition myself not to?”  She smiled.  “My knight with a pistol and a black convertible?”

 

“Exactly.” Garrett said, kissing her once more.  “And now with you working for my father…he’d kill me if something happened to you.”

 

“Kinda funny that your parents like me better than my parents.”  She glanced at the clock.  “I’m gonna go… but you’ll be by later, right?”

 

“I’ll just be waiting for the call and I’ll come get you.”

 

She smiled at him as she got out of the car.  “I love you too.”  Cassidy walked the few feet down the street and up the driveway, then up the stairs and into the kitchen.

 

“Where the fuck were you?” Emily demanded, getting up from her spot at the table.

 

“Out,” Cassidy said simply.

 

“You know, if you get knocked up by that boy because you couldn’t keep your pants on, I’ll kill you.” Emily snarled, grabbing a chunk of Cassidy’s hair.

 

‘If I got knocked up by that boy as you put it, I’d be out of here in about thirty seconds and you’d *never* see me again,’ Cassidy thought to herself.  “Fuck you, let me go!”

 

“Why the hell should I?” Emily punched her daughter in the face.  “Tell me why I should let the dirty slut go.”

 

“Because she’ll kick your friggin’ ass if you don’t!”  Cassidy replied.  She kicked, hard, slamming her foot into her mother’s chin and suddenly grateful for the time Garrett had spent trying to teach her self-defense.

 

“You little bitch.” Emily said as blood started to drip from her chin.  She grabbed Cassidy by the neck and slammed her into the wall.

 

Cassidy managed to wriggle loose and dug her nails as deep into her mother’s arm as she could possibly manage, drawing blood once more, and still trying to kick her again.

 

Grace heard the noises from her mother beating up her sister.  She got up and went halfway down the stairs to make sure no sharp objects were involved.  Once in view of the kitchen, she saw Cassidy kick her mother in the face and went back up stairs and picked up the phone and dialed a number.

 

Emily grabbed Cassidy by the neck, digging her nails in as she strangled her daughter.

 

Cassidy managed a sharp kick to the gut.  “If I ever get ahold of a gun, I’ll fucking shoot you dead,” she snarled.

 

Gavin picked up the phone.  “Grace?  What’s wrong?  It’s like 3 AM.”

 

“How did you know it was me?” She asked.

 

Emily threw her daughter to the floor.  “You won’t have the chance, I’d kill you first.”

 

“Caller ID.  What’s wrong?”  Gavin repeated.

 

“Fuck you,” was all Cassidy said, trying to regain her breath.

 

Emily turned around and looked down at her daughter.  “You seem to like kicking people.  How does it feel?” Emily began kicking her daughter repeatedly in the gut while she was on the floor.

 

“Mom and Cassidy are trying to kill each other in the kitchen.” Grace told him.  “I know it’s late but….”

 

“I’ll be right there,” Gavin replied.

 

Cassidy grabbed her mother’s foot after several unsuccessful tries and pulled the woman to the floor.  Then she struggled to her own feet and ran for the stairs just as Grace was coming down them to leave.

 

Grace ran past her sister and out the door to wait on the front steps.

 

“YOU WANT TO BE A WHORE? THAT’S YOUR CHOICE!” Emily replied as she heard Cassidy’s door slam and the lock was turned.

 

Cassidy didn’t shout back, instead looking in her purse for her cell phone.  But suddenly something grabbed her from behind and the phone flew from her hand.

 

“Calling someone?” Aidan asked.  “That’s kinda rude, you having company and all.” He said, pulling her to the other side of the room.

 

“Get off me,” she snarled, struggling to get away, but Aidan was taller and stronger than her mother and she knew she had nowhere near the strength to fight him as she had done Emily.

 

“Don’t think so.  Your mom called me.  She explained the situation about how you wanted to be a whore and wanted me to show you how a whore is treated.” He replied sharply, throwing her on the bed.

 

Cassidy felt a moment of numbing fear as she realized exactly what he meant.  “No,” she finally managed.

 

“This was your choice, Cassidy.” He said before covering her mouth with his own.

 

She tried to kick, tried to scream, even tried to dive for her cell phone or the small knife in her purse, but he held her firmly down on the bed.  ‘What the hell have you got yourself into now, Cassidy?’ she asked herself.

 

Aidan smiled evilly as he pinned her down.  “Aww, what’s the matter?  From what I hear, this is just exactly how you like it.”

 

~*~*~*~

 

Cassidy was curled up numbly on the bed.  Aidan had just left the room.

 

There was silence, then a slight scratching sound, but she had no idea how much time had passed and didn’t frankly care if someone had crept in to try to kill her.  Let them come.  She might even welcome it.

 

“Cass?” Garrett whispered.  “Cassidy.” He slipped in through an open window.  “What happened to you? You never called…and your sister is with my brother…she said you and your mom were beating on each other….Cass?”

 

She looked up blankly, and it took a moment before she recognized him.  “Garrett…”  She trailed off, then tried again, but she simply began to cry.

 

Garrett got up on the bed.  “Cassidy…what happened?”

 

She tried to take slow breaths.  “I fought her back, I tried to fight her back, and I hurt her but she kicked the crap out of me too… and I ran upstairs to call you, I couldn’t stay, and he was up here and he tackled me and then… and then…”

 

Garrett pulled her to him, knowing exactly what she was trying to tell him.  “Who was it?”

 

“A-Aidan… he had to beat me too because I was trying to get away but I couldn’t… I’m sorry…”

 

“Don’t be sorry, you tried to fight, I’m proud of you.” He kissed her forehead.

 

“But…”  All that escaped her was a sob.  “I can’t stay here… I can’t… She’ll have him do it again… I know I’m not old enough to go yet but I’m scared…”

 

“Okay…where’s your suitcase?  I wouldn’t let you stay anyway.”

 

“In the closet… I know it’s less than a year now but I can’t… I don’t think I’m going to live that long if I stay.”

 

Garrett pulled the suitcase out of the closet.  “You were ready, weren’t you? It’s already packed.”

 

“It’s been packed for a really long time,” she replied.  “I must look like a mess…”

 

Garrett looked at her.  She was a mess.  Bruises were covering her neck and arms and she was bleeding at a few spots on her back.  It looked like maybe a few ribs could have been broken.  He grabbed some clothes out of the dresser.  “Put these on and we’ll go.” He told her, kissing her forehead.  “I won’t let her come near you again.”

 

“Thank you,” she said quietly, quickly getting dressed and letting him help her through the window and down this time.  It hurt to move. 

 

Managing to carry her suitcase in one hand, he picked her up and carried her to the car.  “We can put you on ice at my house.”

 

“I’ll be okay,” she said in the same quiet voice.  She had calmed down quite a bit from the moment they’d made it out of the house.  “I definitely hurt, but I’ll live.”

 

“Yeah, I know…you could’ve died.” He said, starting the car.  “Seriously.  You’ve got at least three cracked ribs from what I saw.”

 

“But I didn’t.  I could have died plenty of times, but I guess I lead a charmed existence.”

 

“That you do.” He agreed.

 

She managed a slight smile despite being exhausted.

 

 

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