Over twenty chapters already! That's kind of crazy! And over fifty reviews, that's even crazier! I am so excited to know that people are actually reading this story. All I can ask is that you keep reviewing and reading. Thanks a bunch! On to the story.

Chapter Twenty-One: Jessica's P.O.V.

As we finished up our dinner, Dave paid for the bill, despite all my protesting. We walked out of the restaurant into the cool, dark night. The stars and the moon shone brightly on the park across the street.

"It's so beautiful tonight," I commented to Dave as we continued walking to his car.

"Not nearly as beautiful as you," he smiled as I felt my cheeks warm from blushing. The whole night, he had nothing but shower me with compliments, something that I wasn't accustomed to hearing. "How would you like to take a walk in the park?"

"I don't know, Dave. It's getting late and it's kind of chilly out here," I told him.

"Here. Take this," he said and put his jacket over my shoulders.

"Are you sure? I don't want you to be cold."

"Don't worry about me. I can tough it out. Now, how about that walk?"

I had no choice but to give in as we walked across the street to the small park.

"Jess, do you mind if I ask you a personal question?" Dave asked after a few minutes of silence.

"Of course not. Go ahead."

"Okay. Tonight, at dinner you said something about not having a lot of people care about you and I was just wondering what or who you meant by that."

"I…I don't really like to talk about it."

"Come on, Jess. I could see the hurt in your eyes when you said that. I don't like to see you like that. You can talk to me about it and it'd probably make you feel better if you got it out in the open."

I could feel tears well up in my eyes as I sat down on a park bench. I wanted to tell him, but what made me think that he'd actually believe me? Would he be just like everyone else and blow me off?

"Please, tell me. I'm your friend, Jessie. You can tell me anything," he pleaded, sitting beside me.

"It's just so hard to… to bring up the past. Especially, if it's not a good one."

"I know how you feel on that one. The past can be a very difficult thing to talk about but you always feel better when you do."

I took in a deep breath of the cool night air. "Okay. Around my household, my mom was everyone's sanity. Mine, my brother's and my father's. Or so I thought. My dad was an alcoholic and a violent one at that. Well, my brother was everything in my dad's eyes as for me I was nothing. Every time my brother or I were supposed to do something and didn't I would get beat for it. But Mom, being the wonderful woman she was, took most of the beatings for me. Until one night, things got out of control. Mom had to be rushed to the hospital and…" I started to cry as Dave listened intently.

"I'm sorry, Jess. I shouldn't have asked you to do this. You don't have to go on if you don't want to," he told me.

"No, you were right. I need to get this out," I said, taking another deep breath. "That night, my mother was literally beat to death. So then every ounce of sanity and stability in our house was gone. Dad would come home from work and drink and yell. And since I could never do anything right in his eyes, all of his anger was directed at me. A lot of times it would result in some form of abuse. Mental, physical and even… even sexual."

"Oh my God, Jess! Did you tell anyone?" Dave questioned, standing up.

I nodded my head, tears still streaming down my face. "I told my brother but, being so close to my dad, he didn't believe me. I told the rest of my family. They just laughed in my face. So as soon as I was eighteen, I was out of that house and I never went back," I finished.

I could tell Dave had no clue what to say, that this was the last thing he expected to hear. "Come here," he finally spoke and wrapped his arms around me as I cried into his chest.

I don't know how long we sat there like that. All I knew was that I felt safe in his arms.

"Come on, I'll take you to your room," Dave said, and stood up.

We drove to the hotel in silence and he walked me up to my room. "Will you be okay? Would you like me to stay with you?" he asked me.

"Would you?" I responded, softly.

"Of course," he said, kissing me on the cheek and closed the door behind him.