Author's note: TW: Violence and mention of self-harm. Stay safe!

As Haley rode the bus home, her phone pinged, alerting her to a text message. Glancing down, she spotted a text from Damien.

Damien: Why the fuck were you at the docks with Nathan Scott this morning?

Haley felt her heart fall into her stomach as she stared at the text. She was too nervous to actually type a reply back to him but knew if she ignored him, it would only mean trouble for her. She spent the entire bus ride trying to think of what to say back to him that would appease him and by the time she got to her stop, she hadn't compiled a new text together. Sighing, she picked up her bookbag and walked off the bus, heart sinking like a stone when she spotted Damien standing on the other side of the door, waiting for her. "Damien…"

"Save it, Haley," he snapped, going to grab her by the shoulder and jerking her forward. She winced, feeling his bruising grip as she tried to shift out of his hold; he just held on tighter.

"You're hurting me," she muttered.

"Shut up and get in the car," he replied, pushing her towards his Tahoe. She sighed but got in the car, shooting off a text to Brooke that she'd let her know about the time she could make it to cheer tryouts the next day. She didn't want anyone to know she was with Damien. Damien was snarling as he lurched his car away from the curb, squealing his tires down the road as he pressed on the gas. He was still shouting expletives. "Nathan fucking Scott!? Are you kidding me, Haley? The guy is a total jackass and you're not allowed to be around him!"

Haley scoffed, feeling tired of the way Damien always thought he was allowed to tell her what to do. She wasn't sure when she had signed over the rights to her life – especially to someone like Damien – but enough was enough. "Day, all we're doing is studying! I'm just tutoring him at Lucas's request."

"Fuck Lucas," Damien snapped and Haley saw red.

"Don't talk about him like that!" Haley cried, and Damien slammed her head into the window next to her, causing stars to burst before her eyes. She groaned, biting her lip hard enough to taste pennies so she didn't cry and plead with him to stop. Those days were gone. She blinked a couple of times, looking at him only to find him frowning in remorse.

"Haley…," Damien trailed off, and she grit her teeth together, knowing that he was at least somewhat apologetic. He always was whenever he got physical with her. "Baby, I'm – I'm sorry. I just need you to listen to me. Just listen to what I tell you to do and I wouldn't have to punish you."

Punish her? Is that what he though he was doing each time he raised his fists to her? She was careful not to massage her temple, a temple that was already bruising, because she knew that it made him more angry. Whenever she displayed what he did to her, he got angry. It's why she wore long-sleeves. Partially to cover the bruises and partially to keep him appeased. He knew about the cutting but didn't ask her to try and stop and they had reached an understanding about it. As long as she didn't draw attention to it, she was free to continue. He didn't ask her to stop and she didn't offer to, either. Clearing her throat, she spoke up in quiet tones the next moment. "I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry, too," he sighed, fingers drumming against the wheel. "I shouldn't have flown off the handle. I just need you to listen to me."

She blinked back the moisture that had gathered in her eyes – he hated when she cried – and nodded her head slowly. "If I leave the tutoring to the school center, can I keep doing it? Lucas is going to ask why I changed my mind."

Haley was very careful to not make it seem like he'd be at fault because if she wasn't careful, she'd end up with a fat lip that was harder to hide than fingerprints around her wrists. Damien glowered. "I hate that guy, Haley. Nathan Scott is nothing more than an arrogant dick who's ego is so inflated he can't fit his head through the door."

Haley thought Damien surely must be talking about himself but she was wise enough not to contradict him. She had dinner to get home to. She rolled her lower lip between her teeth, nodding a moment later. "I – I know you hate him so I promise to keep the studying to school hours. I won't meet him early or anything."

Damien was quiet for a few moments as he made turns every so often around their town. Eventually he conceded the point. "Okay, fine. But just keep it to school hours. You're not allowed to tutor him before or after school. Or anytime that could cut into us seeing each other."

Haley bit back the retort that was on the tip of her tongue; that he did things outside of his school hours that caused them not to see each other, but she swallowed down the words that crawled up her throat like bile. Instead, she smiled as much as she felt safe doing so. "I promise."

Damien looked at her, frowning at something – most likely a bruise – on her forehead. "Pull your hair forward to cover that. Don't want to worry your mom." His tone was low and authoritative and she automatically pulled some of her hair forward, covering the majority of where she could feel the bruise, and she looked at Damien.

"I'm sorry I upset you so much," she murmured, hating the fact that she was apologizing for something out of her control but she did it, nonetheless.

He sighed. "I'm sorry I reacted with anger. You know I hate having to teach you a lesson, baby."

Her eyes wanted to water because when had her life come to this? Haley was anything if not stubborn, however, and she refused to shed any tears over the fact that her boyfriend was abusive. It was what it was and there wasn't a damn thing she could do about it. She knew this. She knew this, so she no longer had hope that he'd control his temper. It was too much of a hope for her and there was no point in wishful thinking. Her life was what it was; she had to make do with it the best she could.

XXX

The next morning, Haley woke up with a dull throbbing in her head and she sighed. After Damien had dropped her off, she had gone to coat some concealer onto the bruise that had already popped up in the attempts to hide it from her mom and dad. She knew Lydia James would be infuriated if she caught wind of the fact that her daughter's boyfriend put his hands on her. She had texted Lucas, asking him to reach out to Nathan and let the other guy know that she could only tutor him at the school from now on. Of course, that raised questions with Lucas but she evaded them pretty well. Soon enough, she was catching the bus to her school. Damien never drove her – not that she minded – and she glanced in her compact mirror to make sure the makeup was still working.

Once at school, Haley headed into the tutoring center, keeping her head down as she walked. She knew that Nathan would already be there; he had told his brother he'd get there early with coffee and Haley was appreciative of that fact. She needed the good stuff due to her night of lackluster sleep. Walking into the tutoring center, she spotted Nathan looking over his notes and cleared her throat softly. He looked up with a smile that immediately fell off his lips.

"Haley, you look exhausted," he said in a worried tone.

She shrugged a shoulder and smiled tiredly. "Siblings in my house kept me up last night. I'm fine as long as I get one of those coffees you promised."

It felt harder to lie to Nathan but she knew she had to keep the charade up if she didn't want him finding out about what Damien did to her behind closed doors. Nathan passed off the coffee to her, frowning in troubling worry as he stared at her. "You sure everything is okay?"

"Its fine," she replied shortly, closing the topic as she set her bookbag down on the table. "Now come on, math isn't going to solve itself."

They worked on his math notes for the solid hour they had before class – she knew she was technically supposed to tutor him during school hours but she had worked around Damien's rule by showing up to the school. At least they weren't at the docks. It was quiet for a while before Nathan asked a question. "What's with Lucas texting me last night and telling me you can't tutor me outside of school?"

Haley sighed, wondering when this question would creep up. She knew that Nathan would be curious but there wasn't a whole lot she could say to him that would make her case solid. She shrugged a shoulder, taking a sip of her coffee to give herself something to do. Eventually, Haley found her voice enough to form an answer. "I just think it's best if we studied during school hours."

"You think that or your boyfriend thinks that?" Nathan challenged and Haley narrowed her eyes at him.

"Look, Nathan," she hissed, eyes flashing dangerously, "you don't know a damn thing about me or my boyfriend."

"Not true," Nathan replied quietly, looking at her sympathetically. "I know you're wearing more make up today than you have all week and I know that Damien is a dick who lets his anger speak for him."

"If you want to ask something," Haley began icily. "Then just ask it, Nathan."

He sighed softly. "Are you safe with Damien?"

"What happens between my boyfriend and I is no one's business but ours but to answer your question, yes I am safe."

"And the cuts I saw on your arm yesterday?" Nathan asked quietly.

Haley felt her heart stop. She knew he had seen those. She spoke up a moment later, lying through her teeth. "I have a cat at home. Nothing to worry about. Now if you're done pressing for information that's none of your business, I graded your last practice test. An eighty-seven. Good job."

She had successfully diverted his attention as he grinned in surprise. "An eighty-seven? Are you sure that was my quiz you were grading?"

Haley released a breath through her nose as she laughed. "Yeah, it was yours. I told you that you understand the material just fine. You just have to apply yourself."

Nathan's hues softened and he smiled at her, causing her to wonder what she did to deserve it. "Well, I can accept us tutoring during school hours but I'm going to give you my number in-case you ever need it, okay?"

"Nathan…," Haley trailed off with a sigh while he picked up her phone and put in his number into her contacts.

"I'll even save it as number twenty-three," he grinned. "That way Damien won't know. But Haley?"

She looked at him. "Yeah?"

"I want you to call me if you ever need something," he said quietly. "Or if you just want a friend to talk to."

"Are we friends, Nathan?" Haley asked softly, and he smiled at her gently.

"I'd like for us to be," he said honestly, and she felt her heart beat warmly inside of her chest cavity. Staring down at her phone, her thumbed traced his contact number as she nodded her head. She was definitely in trouble.