A/N: This next chapter is a bit dark. So you don't get confused, the italics is a dream sequence but mixed in with a few facts but I thought it would be easier to italicize the whole thing. Anyhow, thanks for all of your feedback.

Chapter 8

She shut her eyes pretending to be asleep as he entered her room. This was beginning to be a nightly ritual and she hoped that sooner or later he would just go away. However, what she wanted and what she got were two different things.

As soon as he entered the room she could smell stale cigars and liquor and she knew that he had been to the bar again. He would go out after work with all of his buddies to the strip clubs and stay out until the wee hours of the morning. That was the only time that he would speak to her, if you could even call it that.

As he approached the bed she squeezed her eyes tighter hoping that somehow it would prevent him from seeing her. That maybe she would vanish into thin air. She felt his hand roam up her thigh and she felt like vomiting once again. Whenever she was in his presence she felt sick to her stomach.

"I know you are awake princess so why don't you just open your eyes and give "daddy" what he came for."

She cringed at the sound of his voice causing her to tremble with fear. He was a very large man, about 6' 6" and stocky. Any average man would fear him, let alone a tiny girl.

When her real father died, the physical abuse almost immediately began. She tried once to tell her mother but she wouldn't have any of it. She cast her aside and ignored her, telling her that she was making it all up. She was too busy fussing over his three girls to even care anyway. It was as if she didn't exist anymore. She was daddy's little girl and her mother always held a grudge. The day that she found out about his death was the day that her world was shattered.

Trish felt hopeless as she felt the bed sink down, indicating that the abuse was about to begin again. At first he only came once in a while. Then his visits became more frequent, maybe once or twice a week. Now it was a nightly ritual for him with no end in sight.

He warned her time and time again that if she told anyone, he would kill her. She knew that he was serious so she did whatever he told her to do. She learned the hard way after trying to tell her mother. She had ended up telling him and she got a good beating with the belt. Since then she didn't mum a word of it to anyone.

Trish felt the bile rising in her throat as he began. She didn't fight him any more like she did at first. He would cover her mouth and warn her about screaming but she had no fight left in her. He would do his thing and once he was done he would leave her bloody and bruised, leaving the room as quickly as he had entered.

Dave lied on the bed for a few hours just watching Trish sleep. He didn't want to close his eyes. He was afraid that if he fell asleep, he might wake up and she would be gone, like she didn't even exist.

He watched the features of her face change and he knew that she was having a bad dream. She began to thrash around on the bed helplessly as if she was trying to fight someone but losing the battle. At first he didn't know what to do. He didn't want to startle her by waking her up but once the tears started to flow freely down her cheeks he knew he had to do it.

He shook her a few times lightly but she wouldn't wake up. He tried again with a bit more force to no avail.

"Trish," he yelled. "Trish wake up."

She continued to cry, while beginning to fight him. She started to pound her fists relentlessly into his chest. He grabbed hold of her shoulders and began to shake her, trying his best to get her out of the state that she was in.

"Trish honey, wake up."

It broke his heart to watch her this way and he felt completely powerless. Nothing he was doing was working. But he did the only thing that he could think of that might snap her out of it. He didn't want to but he had no choice. He slapped her across the face.

The resounding smack echoed off of the walls and he immediately felt like an asshole for doing it. But it worked and right now that was all that mattered. He would deal with his conscience later on.

She opened up her eyes and glanced around the room as if she was trying to remember where she was. She rubbed her eyes a few times trying to adjust them to the light of the room.

Finally, she locked eyes with Dave and as soon as she had seen him, she broke down. He held her in his arms as she sobbed helplessly. Just like that first night that she had come to the Evolution locker room, he didn't say anything to her. When she was ready, she would talk. But until that time he just simply held her and consoled her.

Dave wasn't sure how long they remained like that on the bed but Trish eventually cried herself to sleep. Dave slid his legs forward a bit trying to get them situated more in a laying position so he could try and get some sleep. He wanted to at least get a few hours so if she needed to talk in the morning, he would be there for her. Once he was satisfied with his positioning, he laid his head back onto the pillow and with a protective arm around Trish, slowly drifted off to sleep himself.

The next morning Trish woke up at the crack of dawn. After everything that happened last night she felt closer with Dave than she had with any man ever in her life. The way he cared for her without even saying a word or asking any questions touched her in more ways than one. She wanted to show her appreciation by doing something nice for him. It wasn't much but they always say, a way to a man's heart is through his stomach and Dave certainly loved to eat.

Trish got showered and changed quickly and ordered her and Dave some room service. She was not to sure what he liked so she ordered a bit of everything. She had enough food to feed an army and she was pretty sure that Dave could eat like one. Come to think of it, she was starved herself and couldn't wait to put something into her stomach. Since breaking away from Christian last night her appetite had come back. However, after pigging out on Chinese Food afterwards she thought she would never eat again but her stomach was growling, indicating to her that she was definitely hungry.

Trish poured herself a cup of coffee, breathing in the aroma as it entered the cup. She couldn't function properly until she had at least two cups. She took a few sips of the hot liquid, savoring every drop. She set her cup down on the table and headed into the master bedroom to wake Dave up.

When she walked into the room she had just about choked on the strawberry that she popped into her mouth right before entering. Dave was lying there in the bed with a sheet barely covering him up. It was wrapped around his pelvis and had she not known that he had boxers on already, she would swear that he was naked. She couldn't take her eyes off of him. She drank in each and every detail of his taut chest and abs. The man had muscles on him that she didn't even know existed.

She suddenly got a visual of the two of them engaged in some very unusual positions as they made love to each other over and over. She immediately shook those thoughts out of her head and wondered what the hell was happening to her. She was becoming aroused by the thought and had she not been such a coward she might have attacked him right there on the spot. What woman would pass up being with a man like Dave? He was unbelievably kind and very protective of those he cared about. He was definitely not too bad on the eyes either but that was just the added bonus.

Unaware of the fact that Dave had been awake the whole time, Trish continued to ogle the fine specimen in front of her. Dave was actually getting a kick out of her facial expressions. He watched her with one eye open and one closed and from his positioning on the bed there was no way she would know whether or not he was awake. He wanted more than anything to ask her out on a real date but he didn't want to complicate the situation. Right now they were business partners and she was a member of Evolution. If they got into a relationship and it didn't work out it would make them both uncomfortable. However, the more he thought about, the more he wanted to go against his better judgment.

Trish finally managed to shake the wanton thoughts out of her head and made her way towards the bed to wake him up. He was resting so peacefully and she almost hated to wake him but their food was getting cold and there was nothing worse than cold eggs.

"Dave," she said softly. "Dave, come on its time to get up."

Dave played with her a bit more, rolling over and pulling the blankets over his head acting as if he didn't want to get up.

"Come on sleepyhead, I got breakfast for us and it is getting cold."

She pulled the blankets off of his body and was about to speak again when she noticed the smirk on his face. He had been playing her the whole time. She then jumped on him and started to wrestle with him.

"You jerk, you were awake the whole time," she said as she swatted him playfully.

Then it dawned on her that she had been checking him out that whole time and wondered if he knew what she was doing. She began to blush again not knowing how to react to the situation. Here she was straddling the man who was practically naked, other than a pair of boxers. Her breathing became unstable as she eyed his body once again, finding it harder and harder to deny her attraction to him.

Dave briefly caught the seductive glance she sent his way before she jumped off of him and off the bed.

"Well, why don't you get dressed Dave," she said flustered. "I ordered breakfast for us and it's going to get cold."

Once she was out of the bedroom she ran into the bathroom to splash cool water on her face. The man just managed to push all of her buttons, all of the erotic ones. That's all she had thought about since she woke up. The sexual tension between them was beginning to drive her nuts. All she knew was sooner or later the both of them were going to end up rolling around in a bed together doing everything imaginable with and to each other.

About five minutes later Trish and Dave sat at the table eating their breakfast. There was an uncomfortable silence between them and neither one of them knew what to say to the other.

Dave didn't want to mention anything about last night to Trish. He figured she would open up to him when she was ready. He knew that her problems went deeper than just Christian and last night all but proved it to him. Now what those problems were remained to be seen.

Trish watched Dave attentively, wondering what was going on inside that head of his. She knew that he had to have questions for her but he was just too damn sweet not to push her. She wanted to tell him but really didn't know where to begin. If she were going to open up to anyone, it would be him. Ric was a great guy as well and he was slowly becoming like a father figure to her but he wasn't Dave.

Finally after going over and over it in her head for what seemed like a billion times she decided that she was going to tell Dave. All of these years she had never trusted anyone enough to tell them, afraid of the consequences. But now that he was dead, she knew that he couldn't hurt her anymore.

"Dave," she began, "can we talk?"

Dave nodded, hoping that she was going to open up to him about last night. He didn't want to get his hopes up but by the look in her eyes, he knew that it was serious.

Dave grabbed her hand and led her over to the couch where they would be more comfortable. They both took a seat and Dave held onto her hand for reassurance.

Trish closed her eyes for a moment trying to figure out the best way to tell him everything without giving him all of the sordid details.

"Dave…I…you see…I." Trish had a hard time getting the words to come out of her mouth. Why was it so hard for her to do this?

"It's okay sweetie, take your time. I am not going anywhere."

Trish knew that he meant every word too. He would always be there for her. She knew that deep down inside. She let out another frustrated sigh before attempting again.

"Dave, when I was a little girl my daddy died. I was maybe 10 or 11 when it happened. Now almost immediately afterwards, my mom started to date. This new man came around more and more and before I knew it they were married."

Dave squeezed her hand for support, letting her know that he was there.

"My mom and me moved in with him and his 3 daughters and that is where it all began."

Dave was trying to figure out what it was but he wasn't understanding her."

"What began sweetie?"

"The abuse."

Dave felt his blood beginning to boil. There was nothing he hated more than a man that abused children or women.

"Did he hit you honey?"

Trish shook her head.

"Well, only once but that is not how he abused me."

Dave felt as if the life had been sucked out of him. The sadistic son of a bitch sexually abused her. He couldn't fathom why any human being would do that to anyone let alone a child.

Trish began to sob once again. She felt like a huge weight had been lifted off of her chest. She cried because she didn't know what else to do. She had so many emotions hidden away inside her subconscious that the tears just flowed. She had always kept things so bottled up inside. Even when he abused her, she tried to show him that she was strong. She had to be strong.

Dave held her in his arms tightly as she let all of her pain out. He knew what a big risk she had been taking by letting someone in. He was glad that she chose him because he wanted to help her in any way that he could. He stroked her hair and then her arms trying to comfort her as best as he could.

Trish suddenly felt an overwhelming feeling of anger and hatred for her so called father. She hated him so much and she only wished that he were still alive so she could kill him herself.

"Why Dave? Why?"

It wasn't really a question but more of a statement. Trish pulled at her own hair in frustration trying to grasp why he did that to her. She began punching Dave's chest over and over again, completely losing it.

"Why? Why Dave?"

Dave let her do whatever she needed to do. If he had to be her punching bag, he would. He would do anything for her and had the man still been alive, he would have kicked the living hell out of him. He was trying to control himself but the more he thought about what he did to her the more he wanted to lose it. However, he knew he had to be the strong one, for Trish.

"I don't know sweetie. I don't know."

Trish rested her head on Dave's chest and snuggled into him.

"Just hold me Dave. Just hold me and don't ever let go."

Dave kissed the top of her head and wrapped his arms around her tightly.

"I promise Trish, I will never let go."