Never Letting Go

Melony's POV

I had to think of something quick. Just as soon as I was about to respond, Dan called my name. I raised my head to look over at him, but Matt blocked my view. "Don't look at him. Tell me the truth. I won't let anyone hurt you, Mel." He said gently.

Tears were filling up in my eyes, and I was scared to tell Matt. Zack grabbed my hand, "It'll be okay. Just tell us who's hurting you, and we'll get you away from here."

That was the reassurance I needed, so I took in a shaky breath before looking up at Matt. "Dan beats me." The water works started again and Matt tensed up. He did not like my answer.

"Zack, take Melony upstairs. Pack her shit up, and take her to my house." Matt said calmly.

He turned to Dan who was glaring at me, he then looked up at Matt. "She's lying to you. She's just pissed of that you never see her, so she's making up a sob story to stay with you."

"My Sister isn't a liar." Matt said as he approached Dan. "You're a fucking dick head! Why the fuck would you beat a innocent girl, huh?" I was cringing, I didn't want to hear this.

Zack seemed to notice, so he jumped up out of the pool. He knelled down and wrapped a towel around me. He helped me to my feet, and we headed for the patio door. Dan smirked at me, "She deserved it." I tensed up and Matt lunged at him, "You mother fucker!"

Zack rushed me inside, and we walked up the stairs. Once we got into my room, I sat on the bed. I was scared. Matt could get hurt, because I spilled my guts. Zack pulled out a couple suitcases and started emptying all of my clothes out of my drawers into them.

Once he finished that he zipped them up. "Anything else you need to take?"

I shook my head while looking at the floor. Zack sat down next to me, "Hey. What's the matter? You're going to be safe now."

"Matt could get hurt because of me." I said, feeling guilty for even telling them.

He chuckled, "Wow, Matt would be pissed if he heard you say this. Matt is a tough guy, Melony. Dan is probably knocked out now." He said, and I tried to believe that.

Zack lead me back downstairs, and out the front door. Once we were outside, I could hear yelling from the backyard. I tried to block it out as I got into Zack's car. He got in on the driver's side, and started the engine up.

As he drove away from the house, I started to feel safe.

Once we got to Matt's house, I was still in wet clothes, so when we entered I went right up to the bathroom to change. As I took my shirt off, I examined the bruises on my ribs. They were a dark purple. I earned them from not going downstairs yesterday when Dan called me.

A sigh escaped my lips as I changed into some sweats and a Metallica t shirt. They were my comfy clothes. I tossed my clothes into the hamper, and walked back downstairs. I walked into the living room to see Matt's girlfriend, Val.

She gave me a comforting smile, "I'm so sorry, Melony." Zack must of told her, so I just shrugged. I really wasn't in the mood to talk. I almost drowned today. I sat on the couch, and pulled my legs up to my chest. Zack walked in, with a fresh set of clothes on.

There was a knock at the door, and Zack went to get it. "Zack!" I heard her squeaky ass voice, and grimaced. It was his dumb girlfriend, Cassie. I hated her, she always made fun of me. She never liked me, and well the feeling was mutual.

Val sent a apologetic smile my way. She always knew I didn't like her.

Zack walked back in with it attached to his waist. I avoided eye contact with both them.

Cassie scoffed, "What's she doing here?"

I was about to tell her off, but Val cut me off. "It's Matt house, his Sister is allowed to be here whenever she wants. I think the better question is why are you here?" Val asked politely.

That was thing I could never understand about Val, she always was so polite and nice about things. Cassie looked up at Zack, "I heard he was back in town, so I wanted to see my boyfriend." She smiled, which made me wanna gag.

Zack half smiled, "I was going to surprise you tonight."

I couldn't listen to them any longer. I got off of the couch, and made my way around the 'love birds' and walked up the stairs. I went into my room. The room Matt made for me, as soon as he bought this house. I laid on the bed, and faced the wall.

A couple minutes later, I heard the door open.

"Melony?"

I sat straight up to see Matt standing there. I noticed his black eye, and freaked out. "Oh my god. I should of never said anything. God, I'm so stupid.." I kept rambling on, and soon tears fell from my eyes.

Matt pulled me into his arms in a quick motion. He rubbed my back in a soothing way. "Melony, I'm fine. It's just a black eye. Mom is at the hospital with Dan right now. I told her everything, and she started yelling at me for knocking him out." He scoffed.

I raised my head to look up at him, "She doesn't care about me, she knew he beat me. She even watched him do it sometimes." I said while wiping my eyes.

He shook his head in disbelief, "I never thought I would see the day that our own Mother doesn't even care that her husband is hurting her daughter. Melony, I'm so sorry for all this shit you've been going through. How long has it been going on?" He asked gently.

I gulped before saying, "Since last year."

Matt tensed up, but then relaxed. "Mel, why didn't you say anything?"

"Dan said he would kill me, and he threatened to hurt you." I whimpered.

He pulled back into an embrace, "You don't have to worry about him now. You're safe with me."

I shrugged, "Yeah, until Mom comes to get me. She isn't going to let me stay with you." She never let me stay with him. I barely even got to come to his house.

Matt pulled away, "It's already taken care of. Mom's signing custody over to me, tomorrow we're going to get the rest of your stuff at the house."

This surprised me. "How?" Was all I could ask.

He sighed, "Well.. I told Mom I wouldn't go to child services and report him if she signed custody over. She agreed to it on an instant." I tensed up knowing that he wouldn't be going to jail, and he could find me to hurt me.

Matt noticed and cupped my face. "Hey, he's not going to come anywhere near you. After knocking him out, I think he'll be a little too scared to step foot on my property."

I nodded, "Okay."

He kissed my forehead, "Alright. I'm going to cook some spaghetti, do you want to help, or do you wanna just lay down?" He asked curiously.

I was still a little tired from today's events, so I shook my head. "I just want to lay down."

Matt nodded, "Okay, that's fine. I'll bring you a bowl up when it's done." He said and got off of my bed. He grabbed the remote to the TV, and handed it to me. I mumbled a 'thanks' and he left my room.

Minutes later my door opened again, but this time Zack walked in. I took a deep breath to steady myself, and sat on the edge of my bed, "How you doing?"

"Fine." I lied.

He, of course, noticed. "Liar." He smirked. That smirk.

I shrugged my shoulders, "I just don't feel like talking about it."

"Do you want me to leave?" He asked, gesturing to the door.

I shook my head, "No! I mean.. No, it's fine. I don't care." I was mentally kicking myself for sounding like an idiot, but Zack just smiled. "Good, because I wasn't going to leave even if you wanted me to." He then laid next to me, and his arm was touching my arm.

The tattoos on his arms always fascinated me, they just looked so amazing on him.

"What are you watching?" Zack asked with a laugh.

I thought he was talking about me looking at his arm, but I remembered I had the TV on. I looked up to see that one of those kid shows were on. I grabbed the remote, "I didn't even know that was on." I changed the channel, and CSI was on.

We laid there for a while watching CSI. I was kind of sleepy, but I don't think there was any way I could fall asleep with Zack laying next to me. My door opened, and Cassie walked in.

"Zack, I was looking for you! Why the fuck are you laying with her?" She asked in disgust.

He rolled his eyes, "I was just making sure she was okay, I told you what happened."

Cassie put her hand on her hip, "Yeah. She almost drowned, whatever. What 15 year old is scared of water?" She laughed, "Freak." I was so tempted to get up and punch her in the face, but I had no energy to.

Zack, of course, didn't stick up for me. He never does. I always wait patiently for him to say something, but nothing comes out of his mouth. Cassie looked at him, "C'mon, you have to take me to the mall." She walked back out of my room.

He got out of my bed, "See ya later, kid."

Kid.

That's all I was to him was a kid, just a kid.