CHAPTER NINE

Tate spent almost every night with me in my room. We would mostly just lay there and talk about each other's pasts, and occasionally we would make out. My father made himself scarce at home, but when he was home he would bring Jennifer and she would boss me around like she was my mother, but she was young enough to be my sister. Ever since my mother's death and he started seeing Jennifer, my father has been a lot more violent. At first it started with little accidents, where he let his anger get the best of him. But then he would do it even when I hadn't spoken a word to him.

It was another hard day for me since my father let his anger consume him again. I was left with these fresh bruises on my stomach and back. Tate was lying beside me on my bed, holding my hand tight in his. He hated seeing what my father did to me.

"You can't keep letting him do this to you." Tate said touching a burning bruise on my arm.

"I know that Tate, but I have no idea what to do about it." He nodded knowing that I was right.

He could tell the bruises and cuts were bothering me, "You should go take a soothing bath. It will help to ease the pain."

"Okay." I mumbled liking that suggestion. He helped me up and left me to it.

Tate was right when he said it would ease the pain, I thought as I laid back shutting my eyes.

"Is it helping?" I heard him ask, and I opened my eyes to find him sitting next to the tub.

"Yeah." I wasn't really bothered by the fact that he was in here. He and I conversed, and he grabbed my hand making me relax even more. Tate always made me feel better, I really wish I would have known him when he was alive.

"Can you tell me about your life? Before you moved into this house." I wanted to get my mind off the pain I was feeling.

"Alright, what would you like to know?" He asked while tracing the tattoo on my wrist.

"Did you have the dark thoughts back then?"

He looked around the room before answering, "Well yes I did, but nothing compared to when we moved in here. The house intensified my feelings." Then he looked like he had thought of something, "Have you ever had dark thoughts like that?" He seemed worried.

"Once or twice, but way before I moved into this house." This was all very true.

"Good." He looked relieved, but I suddenly remembered something and he could see that, "What is it?"

"Ever since I can remember, my father has had to go to therapy. My mom once told me that before I was born, he had some kind of psychotic break down and kept saying he was going to kill this guy he worked with." At that Tate tensed up.

"Fuck, it's not you I have to worry about. It's that physcho you live with. Lily you have to do your best to stay away from him and if you do, try not to make him mad. He might snap." He said holding my hand tighter.

That was all good except he snaps at everything lately, "You know how he gets mad if I walk down the stairs the wrong way. No matter what he is going to be angry with me."

"I know, but try your best. I can't have anything happen to you." He said kissing my hand as I nodded.

No matter where I went in the house, Tate was always with me. He would tell me when my father was about to come home, so I could take refuge in my room. Not that it really helps since he stills comes in and uses his anger on me, and no matter what Tate couldn't help me.

"I wish I could do something to stop it." Tate said holding me close while we laid together in my bed.

"No matter what he won't stop, even if someone knew he was doing it." I said because I had been through it all before.

"You say that like you have had that happen." He noticed.

"That's because I have. When my mom would go away on business trips, she would leave Kimmy and I with him. That's when it all started, and our neighbor caught him one day and threatened to call the police. He just simply threatened to kill her and then he moved us away from there. It stopped when I was 8 because he started to get help for it, but as you see he's at it again." I explained something that I tried to forget from my past.

"That's horrible." He said and I just shrugged.

"You know growing up I never knew who my father was, but I assumed he was either dead or in jail. My mother has never once spoke about him, until the day I died. Right before the police shot me, she yelled that I was just like my father. All those assumptions I ever made about him were right." Tate stopped and looked conflicted.

"Tate are you alright?"

"Lily the reason I said that is because I believe your father is like mine in many ways, the only difference is that you had to live through it all. I think if my father was still with my mom when I was alive, he would have done the same thing yours is doing. So I think that it is fate that you're in this house, fate that you met me so that I could help you get through it." I smiled hugging Tate realizing how cheesy he just sounded, but I loved it and I was pretty sure I was in love with him.

"What are you thinking about?" He asked grabbing my hand.

"I don't really want to talk about it." I said a little embarrassed to finally understand what I was feeling for Tate.

"Whatever it is you can tell me." He reassured me.

"Uhh okay, promise me you won't get freaked out or laugh at me?"

"Yes I promise, now what is it?" he asked and I got nervous all over again.

"Okay well I was thinking that uh, god this is embarrassing, but I think I might actually love you." I didn't dare to look up at his face.

When I did I saw a very happy expression on his face, "Really? Because I love you too!" He said really delighted, so pulled me in for a kiss. "See, was it that hard to tell me that?"

"Yeah it really was, because I had no idea whether it was weird to fall in love with someone so fast." This is when it dawned on me that I was just like Violet. I had fallen for a dead boy, but I didn't really care about that. My feelings for Tate went way deeper than I ever thought possible. Before I met him, I felt like I was missing a piece of me, but he seemed to fill that missing piece.

"I know what you mean. The minute I saw you, I fell hard for you which is weird because I have never felt this way about anyone." That means he didn't like Violet as much as I thought, and that made me feel so much better.