Wretched.

"D…"

"Don't say it," Daryl pleaded quietly, as he kicked off his sneakers and stripped down to his boxers. "Please. I'm so tired, Dolly. I can't talk because if I talk, I'll fight, and I can't fight anymore. I've got nothing left in me tonight."

Helpless, I could do nothing but push back the covers and welcome him into the sanctuary of my bed.

Desperate to shield him from the world, I waited for him to climb into my bed before curling my body around his.

"I hate him so fucking much," he finally broke the silence by saying. "Fuck." A deep shudder racked through his too-still body, and then his arms were pulling me closer. "Fuck!"

"Why do you stay there, D?" I strangled out, wrapping my arms around him. "With him? You're eighteen now. You can leave. He can't stop you –"

"Yeah, he can," he choked out, burying his face in my neck. "He's got power over me, Molls. Too much fucking power. I can't count the number of part-time jobs that bastard stole from underneath me. One word from the town sheriff and I'm unemployable. He keeps me down so I can't finance a way out from under his roof. And even if I could, I'm too fucking scared of risking him messing with my scholarship to leave."

My heart broke for him.

"Jesus Christ, I want out of here so damn bad –" His voice cracked and he pulled me so close that my lips pressed against the bare skin of his chest. "One day soon, I'm getting out of this town, and I ain't never coming the fuck back."

Clenching my eyes shut, I tightened my arms around his back, feeling his heart beat wildly in his chest, as we both drowned in his pain. I'd heard his helpless vow on countless occasions down through the years.

"Don't leave without me, 'kay?" I whispered.

Daryl pulled me closer and pressed a lingering kiss to the top of my head. "I won't."

16 Molly

"So, what's happening with you and Daryl?" Mercy asked, as she rummaged around in my closet.

It was the Wednesday before homecoming and we were tearing my bedroom apart, looking for something for her to wear.

"When I told him that I was driving you home from school today, he looked like he wanted to throttle me."

I felt my face heat up at the mention of his name. I hadn't told Mercy about what happened between me and Daryl.

Several weeks had passed, and I still couldn't acknowledge it to myself let alone tell another person.

"Nothing," I replied with a dismissive shrug. "He just wanted to hang out is all."

"He just wanted to hang out? When don't you guys hang out?"

"It's not like that."

"It's not?" she quipped. "Seriously, does he even go home anymore? Or does he live here now?"

"What? Of course he doesn't live here."

"Then what's his duffel bag doing in the corner of your room?"