Yeah…this chapters a bit…not happy. But it will be happier eventually. :) Thanks for all the reviews! You guys are absolutely amazing!

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Chapter Seven – No One Will Know

The tension was thick and Eli was fuming. He hadn't seen this woman in years, ever since she abandoned her daughter, and now here she was sitting in the kitchen with the girl who made him forget. It was uncanny. While he tried to escape his life, it just kept coming to haunt him.

Helen Edwards' friend that helped her after her divorce was Marlena Page. Marlena Page was Julia Page's mother. Julia Page was Eli's dead ex-girlfriend.

This circle of relations had to be the biggest mindfuck of all.

"I did leave with an explanation," Marlena spoke after a long silence. "I wasn't happy, I couldn't stay."

"I hope you know how much Julia suffered when you left," Eli spat, his hand pointing in anger. "That woman your ex husband married after you was the worst person I have ever witnessed in my life. Julia couldn't handle her, she stayed at my house most nights because she made her life miserable."

"That's not—"

"Were you at the funeral?"

Eli still remembered that day when they had a funeral for Julia. It was closed casket, her body was not even close to being seen properly from her accident, and all of her relatives and friends came. But the one person Eli knew that Julia would've wanted to have there was her mother. He waited and waited to see an appearance by her but it never happened.

Eli even waited at the church steps after the entire thing and nothing.

"I visit her grave as often as I can."

Marlena's words made Eli scoff. "So why did you leave exactly? Was it because of Clare's mom? Really?"

"Yes," Marlena sighed. "She is my oldest friend and she really needed me. Plus I was separated from Julia's father anyways and I thought that it would be the best. I didn't know what would happen after I left."

"She couldn't trust me," Eli's voice was breaking and he was on the verge of tears. "You left when you promised her you would always be there for her and then you left her and she never trusted me."

"You're cheating on me!"

"Julia, stop, you're being unreasonable."

"Am I?" Julia took the closest thing at reach, a shoe, and chucked it at Eli who narrowly dodged it. "I saw pictures! You two were together!"

"When?" Eli shouted. He was trying not to be angry, since Julia always had angry bursts like this, but this was the angriest she's ever gotten. "I'm with you all of the time!"

"Stop lying to me!" She was throwing a giant tantrum now, knocking over everything in sight in her bedroom, and Eli just tried to dodge everything that kept coming his way. "I thought you loved me!"

"I do!" How could she question his love for her? He'd loved her ever since the first time they met, when they were both eight years old. "I've barely even spoken to her, how could you think I've been seeing her behind your back?"

"Look at her! She's fucking gorgeous, that's why! When she first moved here you were the first to notice her and she definitely noticed you."

Eli rolled his eyes and said, "Technically Adam was the first to recognize her."

"It's not funny!" A pillow came at Eli's head and he was happy it was soft because he didn't see it coming.

"I'm telling you the truth Jules. I have never even spent time with her, the only time I talked to her was at school when she wanted my notes."

"So you've talked to her?"

"For. School." Eli was getting angry now. Why couldn't she just trust him? Why couldn't she believe him?

"Did you help her study too? Bet you had a lot of study sessions at her house!"

As Julia was throwing things from her dresser onto the floor, Eli grabbed her and turned her around and pressed her to the dresser to stop her from moving. "How many times do I have to tell you that I did not cheat on you? Why the fuck won't you believe me? Why the hell are you so damn insecure? I'm with you all the damn time, even when I don't want to be, so it's not like you've left me enough space to do anything and even if you did leave me alone for a second, I would still want to spend it with you so get it through your mind that I have not nor will I ever cheat on you."

He didn't want it to sound harsh or mean but the look on Julia's face…he knew he broke her. She was on the verge of tears and he went to give her a hug but he was harshly pushed away and she ran out of the room.

Eli took around the surroundings, everything that usually had its place was now on the floor, and then he heard the front door slamming. He ran both hands through his hair and sighed, closing his eyes, and tried to relax. They did fight often, since they spent every second together and the proximity was challenging, but it was never this bad. She had never stormed out before or trashed her room before.

Pictures? What pictures? What made her think that he was cheating on her with Imogen, a girl he barely knew? All he knew about her was that she dressed…eccentric and definitely wasn't one to conform. That was it. Imogen seemed rather flirty though, since that first day she moved into their neighborhood, but Eli didn't really care. He had Julia, he had happiness and didn't think about some strange girl.

"I didn't even think about another girl when I was with Julia and yet, when I kept trying to tell her the truth, she couldn't trust me. You know when that started? When you left!"

"Don't make me bring up your problems," Marlena threatened angrily. They were both standing up now, facing off in the kitchen. "Like when you were thirteen and you—"

"Don't," Eli angrily said but also scared. His voice much less loud now. "Don't you dare."

"Oh how your parents were ready to send you—"

"Stop!"

"Julia was so worried for you, she—"

Eli slammed his fists down on the counter, the sound roaring and echoing, and he shouted, "STOP!"

"How long has this been going on?"

"Get away from me!"

"Elijah! Get back here!"

"Fuck off!"

"Our son would have never talked this way! The drugs are killing you!"

"They're only helping!"

The memories of having Cece and Bullfrog catch his deepest secret at thirteen was making Eli's heart and mind race. He stormed out of the kitchen and grabbed his keys, which were located at the reception area, and he started out the door until he felt an arm grab him back.

"What are you doing?" Clare demanded to know. "Come on, stay please, you're angry and—"

"I can't stay here if she is," Eli growled, his face too close to Clare's. "That woman changed everything for me and I can't see her without wanting to tear her head off."

"Then where are you going?" Clare asked timidly. Eli saw the familiar look on Julia's face when he yelled at her. Clare was scared of him but she wasn't running away.

Oh God. I'm just going to hurt her.

"Don't worry about it," Eli went to his car and drove off, keeping his eyes away from Clare as she stood by the inn, arms crossed over her chest.

You'll only hurt her. You'll drive her away. You'll terrify her.

Eli tried to get rid of that voice in his mind but he knew it had to be true. He didn't even know Clare that well and yet there he was, intimidating and scaring her just by his past. How could she handle his entire past when she had her own difficult one? What he told her was only the most recent things. He was a bad kid, he did too much, he knew too much, then getting with Julia made him better. But his true nature was always there, his anger management never worked, and he was too much. He knew that and he wanted to change, but he never could.

"Where did you get them Elijah? You're only thirteen."

"School."

"Who in school?"

"I don't know."

"Like hell you don't."

"I don't."

"I thought we raised you better than this. Drugs? Did you really think that they were a good idea?"

"They helped."

"You got into a car crash while a guy in his twenties was driving and he didn't look any better than you. They certainly did help."

"You know nothing about me."

"That's right. We don't. Not anymore."

Eli ended up driving until he found a sketchy looking bar off the highway, hours later as it was already dark. He decided to walk in anyways and with his fake ID he was able to get some alcohol in his system. He sat alone at the bar, staring at his cold glass of whatever it was he was drinking, and his mind was so foggy he couldn't even think.

Good. Better that way.

It was late and there weren't that many people there. Eli cancelled out the chatter around him and closed his eyes, wanting to forget his past permanently and start fresh.

But his past will always be there haunting him.

Eli was on his third drink when he heard an arguing couple at the end of the bar and their voices were higher in volume in his own mind so he stepped outside in the humid air and took in the breeze, trying to calm his mind. He was barely thinking but now everything around him was magnified.

"They're always fighting."

Eli jumped at the voice and saw some girl, a server from the bar, an unlit cigarette in her mouth. "They come in once a week maybe and whenever they're here, they fight. Fucking annoying."

"Yeah," he replied. "Do you have another?" He pointed at the cigarette and the girl smirked.

She took another out and kept both between her lips and lit them both. She took one out from between her lips and handed it to him and he breathed in, feeling his body relax instantly. That move she made with the cigarettes was weird, Eli thought, he felt like she had inadvertently kissed him.

"What's your name?" she asked him, blowing smoke into the humid air.

"Eli," he answered. He studied her voice a bit and figured she was probably in her early to mid twenties. She sounded mature.

"I'm Skye," she smirked at him.

Raina. Skye. Does anyone have normal names anymore?

"What brings you here?" Skye asked, turning her head to blow out the smoke.

"My past," Eli said, staring at his cigarette and wondering what the hell he was doing. Last time he smoked was a while ago and he promised himself he wouldn't anymore.

"Common answer," Skye replied. "Family? A girl?"

"Both."

"I could take your mind off of it, you know." She reached out and touched the side of his face with her finger and Eli shivered. "You're really cute, I'd love to help."

Skye was pulling his head towards her but he jerked back, dropped his cigarette, and crushed it with his shoe. "I…I have to…" he stuttered terribly and went back into the bar and found the bathroom. He splashed water on his face, trying to make the spinning in his mind stop so he'd be awake enough to drive back, but it wasn't working.

He looked at himself in the mirror, baggy eyes and drunk expression. He was a mess. His hands gripped the sink tightly and he held his head down, eyes closed, and just wanted to take back this stupid mistake of drowning his sorrows in alcohol, because he felt like it would take forever for him to be sober enough to drive home.

You had a lot of practice with drinking. Why is it that you're still a terrible drunk?

His mind and body were so gone that he didn't feel someone approach him from behind, hands touching his stomach. Before he could even register what was going on, he was pushed to a wall and a tongue slithered into his mouth. He kissed back out of reflex, his hands touching their waist, and he smelled a mixture of perfume and alcohol.

"Wha—" he pulled out of the kiss but was only kissed again. He briefly saw the girl kissing him, the one from before, and he couldn't even remember her name. The kiss was aggressive and fast and he complied to it, feeling a little turned on.

But then he felt her unbuttoning his jeans and her hand slowly going down it and he pushed her back harshly. "No," he gasped out and fixed himself.

"I want to help," she said seductively, walking back to him.

He held out his arm. "No…no, I can't."

"No one will know," she whispered and pressed her body to his again.

But by this point, Eli was sober enough now. "I have to go." He ran out of the bathroom and quickly paid his tab, and bolted to his car. The bartender was shouting at him, Eli wasn't sure if he was angry or concerned, but he drove away.

He drove as slowly as he could, keeping his eyes on the road and trying to be aware of his surroundings. It took him two hours to get back to the inn and by that time, it was already 2 in the morning.

When he walked inside, everything was dark. Except for one lamp in the living room. He found Clare sleeping on a lounge chair, a book over her stomach. She'd fallen asleep waiting for him to get home and Eli immediately felt bad. He knelt down beside the chair and gently shook her awake.

She stirred awake and looked at him, first smiling and then frowning. "You smell terrible."

"I know," Eli held his head in shame. "I…"

"You got drunk," Clare finished for him. "Nice to see how you deal with problems."

"Clare, that's not—"

Clare got up from the couch and started leaving the living room. "Marlena's in one of the rooms. Try not to be too loud."

"Clare, please."

"Not tonight Eli." She stormed upstairs and Eli didn't have any energy to walk to the stairs, much less walk up it, so he made himself as comfortable as he could on the couch and fell asleep there.