"With Samson," Leo began as he strolled into the councillors cabin that morning, "I told you I wanted to be tapped the fuck in. I thought we had an agreement and you, once again, betrayed me, man."
Marley smiled, turning in the barstool to watch Leo approach and sit beside her. He would never directly be concerned, but what he just said was glaring proof that he cared and he was sorry for what she went through.
"Oh, so I should've fucking stood there and said, can I use a time out, I've got to make a call? Dumbass," Aiden said from beneath her - she was sitting on his lap and he had his chin on her right shoulder, arms around her torso.
Leo's green eyes narrowed, "I would've liked a turn with the fucker, alright?"
"Wouldn't we all."
Marley jumped at the sound of her best friend's voice, and the smell quickly followed, "Waffles?"
"Waffles."
Gabby strode in, the screen door swinging behind her, blonde hair still damp from her shower with the bag of their food from a breakfast place in the city.
"Thanks bestie," Marley piped up in appreciation as she set the bag down in front of her on the counter.
"Thank Postmates," she joked, sitting down on Marley's other side as she slipped boxes out of the bag.
"Oh! And Aiden, I got you what they said was the healthiest thing on the menu. Some egg white, multigrain, seed sandwich or something."
Aiden's chest rumbled against Marley's back, "Thank you, Gabby."
"If someone else says thank you I'm going to throw myself out the window," Leo complained with a growl, "Did you get me anything?"
"A breakfast sandwich with sausage, bacon, and a side of clogged arteries."
Marley found what Gabby was referring to and passed it off to Leo, who was grinning widely, "You know me well, blondie."
Her mouth was watering when she flipped open the lid and laid eyes on the thick, fluffy stack of Belgian waffles. Aiden circled his arms around her body to reach for his own relatively boring breakfast, while she flicked off the lid of the syrup cup and dumped its contents, doing the same with the butter.
Which was warm - the best part of takeout is that while it's in the bag, it warms up until it's soft and creamy. The best butter.
"Coffees?" Aiden asked Gabby, who was digging into her yogurt parfait.
"The girls are bringing them. Apparently the coffee sucks at the breakfast place."
"He," Marley jutted her thumb towards her boyfriend, "only drinks it black. I can imagine it tastes either like gasoline or petrol."
"Same thing." Leo grunted.
Gabby shook her head while Marley rebutted, "Gasoline is blended from natural gas and petroleum."
"Jesus fuck what don't you two Einstein's know?"
Marley and Gabby frowned, turning to look at each other.
"Well, we're all hypocognitive," Gabby replied with an answer that Marley nodded to in agreement.
"Hypo-what?"
"Hypocognitive," Marley explained causally, "It's basically not having a word or an understanding of a concept. For example, if someone doesn't know what being guilty is, they'll assume they're sick instead. So technically, we don't know what we don't know."
Aiden leaned in to kiss her cheek, "You're going to blow up his brain, spitfire."
And Leo did look fried, his brows furrowed and his entire face scrunched up. She just shrugged and got back to slicing up her waffles, "Not possible without an external pressure. Implosion maybe, under sea level, but he'll be fine."
"Now I'm wondering if there's something you don't know," he murmured thoughtfully, leaning back to dig into his sandwich.
"Fire away," she challenged through a full mouth.
"Average dick size," Leo blurted unceremoniously, "I bet you know nothing about that."
"Kahn shut your fuc-"
"5.57 inches," Marley replied automatically.
She wants to be a doctor. She could talk about anatomy fairly clinically in this manner. Numbers and facts soothed her.
But it seemed like her reply stunned Leo and Aiden into total silence.
"Why does Leo look like he's seen a ghost?" Tristan came through the door next, bringing along the pleasant aroma of coffee.
Bree, Kelly, Sarah and Tristan had all came in at the same time, equally confused at where they entered in the conversation.
Marley took a bite of her waffle but spoke through it anyway, "Leo asked me if there's anything I don't know. I told him to ask away and his question was the length of the average peni-" she was muffled by Aiden's finger pressing over her lips.
His were at her ear, "Please stop talking about dicks when you're sitting on mine."
Marley blushed as he dropped his hand, leaning away to take another bite nonchalantly...while she was now acutely aware of his...
She squirmed on his lap, still blushing, but his hand flew to her hip and dug in to hold her in place. Oh boy.
"That being Leo's first question when he could've asked about literally anything else doesn't surprise me, to be honest." Bree circled the counter with the other girls while Tristan set the tray of coffees down for Marley, Gabby, Leo and Aiden.
"In our defence, Mar and I do a lot of reading in the library and at home, and we're both into biology and science. We bonded over our love for learning." Gabby turned to smile at Marley, who smiled back happily recalling their years of friendship.
When nobody responded otherwise, Marley looked away from Gabby to see the girls were all glancing at each other nervously, shoving elbows.
"Guys," Marley exhaled, lowering her fork and knitting her hands together, "you don't have to be nervous about asking anything."
Aiden had finished his sandwich, so he tossed the wrapper on the counter and circled his arms around her torso, resting his chin on her shoulder again. They spent all night like that, wrapped up in each other while he spoke soothing words until she fell asleep.
"Like what the fuck?" Sarah burst, "I mean the dude is an absolute fucking psycho!"
Kelly whacked Sarah's arm, "Stop it!"
"He pushed you into the ditch, didn't he?" Gabby realized quietly, causing every pair of eyes to turn to Marley and narrow.
"Not technically," Marley admitted, "Just by proxy"
Aiden's body tensed, "Proxy?"
She winced. She hadn't exactly told him this part of the truth yet.
"Look, okay, here's what happened. Some guy is sitting on the edge of the field to be tapped back in the dodgeball game. I went up to him, and he pushed me into the ditch because Jordan wanted me somewhere alone that Aiden wouldn't dream of being in-"
"The showers," Bree breathed out.
"Exactly," Marley elaborated calmly, finding it easier to retell the story with Aiden's body against her, providing her safety and warmth, "so that he could tell me he wanted me to convince Elena to get an abortion."
There were a few gasps of shock.
"What did..." Tristan trailed off. Marley winced.
"What did he do?" Sarah blurted, earning an elbow from Kelly.
"I'm sorry," she apologized for Sarah quickly, "that was rude. You don't have to say."
Marley looked down at her hands, feeling weak, but thankfully no tears seemed to be on the horizon. She drained herself of crying yesterday.
"It was just trying to scare me. It wasn't..." she exhaled shakily while Aiden kissed her hair, "it wasn't for the purpose of anything else but wanting to use my influence over Elena."
"This has happened to you twice now, Marley. You don't deserve it."
Aiden's body sagged, "And I was right fucking outside the door for both of them."
"Aiden-"
"First of all, who would assume anything of a meeting between a teacher and student enough to need to stay in the room? Second of all, no guy would go into the girls' shower room in general. If I were in your shoes I'd legitimately think nothing of waiting outside, while she goes and showers - while everyone else is supposed to be in class and accounted for. This was bad luck, not you failing to protect her."
Gabby's statement was everything Marley was about to say, too. She turned to sit sideways on his lap, running a hand through his silky bed head. His eyes were closed, but he leaned into her touch, "She's right. No one in your shoes would've done anything differently. I don't blame you. Never have. Never will."
"Well," Leo boomed, "the good news is I still have the chance to put these fists to use. The kid that pushed you into the ditch is about to be pushed into a coma."
Aiden's eyes flew open, the blue blazing immediately, "We're going to school today. Just for a quick scan of the class, point him out and we're good."
Marley narrowed her eyes, "Nice try, Aiden. But no. You know I'm not going to do that."
"You're allowing someone like that to get away with it?" Bree asked incredulously, so Marley turned away from Aiden to look at her.
"I'm going to tell the councillors and they'll deal with it the right way. Yesterday was necessary violence, I understand Aiden. But today is where we break that cycle."
"Beat assholes we will, Yoda," Leo shot back, "No more wisdom, voice of reason. Sometimes, you've got to be karma's bitch."
It went quiet for a while. Marley frowned and thought over Leo's statement.
"Karma's bitch could mean being made Karma's bitch or being Karma's bitch as in 'friend'," Gabby muttered to herself, "I'm thinking he meant the latter?"
"Leo never knows what he means," Aiden replied breezily, "Just get used to it now."
"Hey guys."
The councillors were next to arrive, and when Marley turned she instantly felt bad at the relief on their faces as they flooded in, looking tired and aged. While the others went towards their beds or headed for the bathroom, Jay and Conner headed for Marley and their friends.
"Morning Marley," Jay greeted calmly, cautiously, "How are you feeling?"
She felt Aiden kiss her shoulder and her eyes moved between Jay and Conner. Jay seemed totally unaffected by the fact that she was sitting on his lap, but Conner's brown eyes were narrowed and tight, his jaw locked and his expression blank.
Once again, Marley was stunned by his behaviour. It's been weeks since Alec told her the truth about what happened that night, but with everything going on finding out the truth has been put on the back burner.
Mostly because what is it that they could do exactly? Confront him at the risk of him being dangerous? Right now if he is, he's keeping it a secret for the sake of protecting his job. If he knew that they knew Conner was somehow tangled in this gang war - all bets would probably be off.
Right now, silence is the best option. Maybe until they speak with Dalton or Alec. But the latter won't be possible again, not with what happened between Marley, Alec, and Aiden.
Aiden clearly noticed Conner's attitude too, by the way he had said "Conner" in a chilling voice.
"I just..." she focused back on Jay again, "I'm glad it's over. I'm glad he's gone."
"For good." Jay finished, leaning against the counter and appearing ready to speak about something, clearing his throat.
Marley tensed, so Aiden grabbed her hand in his laced their fingers together, rubbing soothing circles with his thumb to show his support.
"Well, Jordan went off to the ambulance. He's still in the hospital." Marley watched Jay visibly flinch at the memory of seeing Jordan post Aiden's rage, which made her sick to her stomach.
"He's under police custody there, and has been arrested for assault-"
"But I never made a statement," Marley cut in with confusion, "The police haven't even seen me."
Jay turned to Conner, who finally peeled his eyes away from Marley and Aiden, "You didn't have to, because Trish did."
Marley's stomach fell to the ground, her heart beginning to race at the memory of Trish being right there, leaning against the wall while Jordan backed her into a corner, shoved his hand over her mouth...
"Aiden," she choked out, curling up in his chest and hiding from the world. He wrapped his arms around her and rubbed her back.
"It's okay. I'm here. You're okay, baby. You're safe now," he soothed quietly into her hair before placing a kiss there.
"She was there, wasn't she?" Gabby asked from beside Aiden while Marley's breathing began to calm.
She curled Aiden's shirt up in her fists, "Yes," her voice was muffled into his shirt, her eyes squeezed shut, "Sh-she watched as he go-got close to me. As I st-struggled. When he put his hand over my mou-"
She cut herself off, Aiden's body becoming more rigid and his hand on her back halting for a brief few seconds.
"That bitch better pay," Tristan growled lowly, "Who the fuck just stands there and does nothing?"
"Someone whose also being abused."
Marley's head shot up from Aiden's chest immediately, eyes wide on Jay who was looking grim. He ran a tired hand over his eyes.
"She said that you and her were in the shower room and Jordan had been hiding. He came out and grabbed her first, and she showed them the purple bruise on her arm and other evidence of being shoved to the ground. He went for you next, taking off your shirt and pinning-pinning you against the wall and covering your mouth. She tried to grab him but he refused to move, so you bit his hand, kneed him in the crotch and started to run for the doors, screaming. Jordan was running after you, and when Aiden ran in Jordan was ready to grab you again. So he fought Jordan in self defence, and is in the clear without charges."
Marley sat back, stunned into silence. Trish saved Aiden. That was the entire basis of her story. That Jordan would've kept attacking, and there would be nothing he could do but fight.
"The police will be coming by after dinner. You and Aiden are already excused from class for the day, since they're going to ask you both some questions. I'm telling you the story in detail so-"
"We can validate it," Marley breathed, "She had a bruise on her arm?"
"This isn't about helping you," Aiden growled out, "This is about playing the victim card and getting off scot free with sympathy to boot. I'm telling the real story, I get in trouble, fi-"
"No, Aiden," she cut him off sternly, her voice wavering, "You're not going back there. I can't...you're not going back there."
He moved his hand to grab hers again, tangling them together and sighing, "She doesn't deserve to be the other victim. She wasn't."
"In a way," Jay began, resting his laced fingers under his chin and elbows on the counter, "she was. There were bruises on her body in a few places and the handprint on her bicep. Fresh. She was a victim at some point, and maybe she went with Jordan thinking it'd be better to watch and know than leave him to his own devices. If Jordan was there alone, she wouldn't have been a witness. She went to the station and gave them her story almost immediately, and they believed her and will once you validate everything, too."
"Trish was assaulted?" Gabby asked quietly, the only one who spoke up while the others kept silent out of respect.
Marley pursed her lips while Jay responded, "Definitely. Maybe not for long but at least once, she was."
"Then we'll validate her story. We'll go with it."
"Marley-"
"This isn't up for discussion, Aiden," she interrupted coolly, her voice flat and demanding, earning a few surprised looks.
He could feel her breathing becoming choppy, so he rubbed his thumb over her hand, "Then I will. I'll say whatever you want me to, spitfire. Okay?"
She felt herself relax again, relieved at how Aiden wouldn't be in trouble and leave her again. All she felt when he was gone was this cold chill, this fear that Jordan would come back out of the shadows again.
Marley nodded while Jay leaned off the counter, "You can keep the key to the cabin and come shower here as long as you need to. We understand if you aren't comfortable in the public showers anymore."
Marley never even thought of that, but was insanely glad Jay did, "Thank you. I just don't want to be a hassle-"
Conner spoke for the first time, "It's not a hassle. But from here on out you're back in your room, and cabin rules apply."
Marley watched him glance between her and Aiden and felt instant shame as her cheeks warmed. She moved to get off his lap but he held her in place stiffly.
"Fucking have something to say after she was assaulted yesterday? Was scared to fall asleep last night? Fucking say it, Conner," he hissed, his arms tightening around her.
Marley placed a hand on his arm while Conner looked away, his eyes changing from guilt to frustration in seconds. Jay sighed from beside him, "You do have to sleep in your respective cabins, but if necessary you can sit in either of the common rooms."
"If only tweetle dee shared the same sentient." Aiden was still peeved, but his shoulders had relaxed.
"Yeah, you need to back the fuck off, Conner. Matthews may not do something about it but I will," Leo growled.
"-thank you. Yes, absolutely. I'm planning to head to the station today and speak to them myself. Make sure it all runs smoothly-"
Marley gasped at the familiar voice, quickly turning around with eyes already welling up. Detective Bryan walked through the screen door with one of the female councillors, "Bryan?"
His head shot up to her and his eyes took her in with love and worry, "Marley."
Aiden let her leave his lap but she knew it wouldn't be that easy. He stood between them when Bryan tried to approach, his arm holding her behind his back. Marley took a deep breath and grabbed his hand, "Aiden. I promise you he won't hurt me. You can stay right here. Please trust me."
Bryan looked between them, something in his eyes seeming to soften instead of being annoyed by his reaction, "I'm guessing you're Aiden? Her boyfriend?"
"Yeah. And I'm guessing you're the cop that lets her sleep over?"
"Aiden," Marley scolded, "Stop it."
"It's okay, Marley. I understand his reluctance. He doesn't know what our dynamic is yet. When she 'sleeps over' it's at a house with my wife and my young son. Her guest room has a lock on the door that can only be opened from the inside. I'm her legal guardian and was approved through having no criminal history and my years of service. I've been around since she was twelve, and the only reason I haven't fought for full custody was because there was no way I could. There were never signs of abuse-"
"Because he never abused me," Marley added, quietly, so her friends wouldn't hear.
Aiden still didn't move.
Bryan didn't appear at all surprised by that, "I respect how you've helped someone I consider my daughter. She's spoken to me about you and said all good things, and as her legal guardian I will be in her life. You're going to have to trust her when she says that I can be trusted."
"It's...it's more complicated than that" Marley tried, leaning her head on his shoulder and wrapping her arm around his.
Bryan looked between them and seemed to have a new understanding, "Alright. I'm going to speak to the officers and go to the station myself. I wanted to discuss with the councillors about better safety measures considering anyone can walk in the showers at any time. There needs to be more effort to stop this."
"Just to be clear," Jay began defensively, "This has never happened before. No kind of violence or abuse. We only open the showers for morning and night at certain hours, but made an exception because she needed one from being in the muddy ditch. The man who runs this camp is flying in to speak to us, and also be briefed about possible new safety measures with the principal of the school to approve funding."
"Come on, Aiden. Come to the couch. Come on," she urged quietly while Bryan continued to speak.
"There is a kind of opening that follows an attack like this. Others may see it as a new precedent. It's important to understand that."
Aiden sat down with Marley between his legs, back against the armrest with his arms around her. He was calmer now, but she had a feeling he'd feel a lot more protective than the usual for a while. This would remind him a lot of Violet's situation.
"Precedent?"
"They'll see what Jordan got away with and think it means they could, too."
Bryan knows what he's talking about given his years of experience as a police officer, so Marley hoped they'd take his word seriously.
"Busses leave in ten. You guys still have to attend class, so head on out. We've got it from here."
Marley heard Conner say to her friends, who all agreed and made their way out, shooting Marley supportive glances while Gabby came up to Marley and squeezed her shoulder before leaving too. Jay and Bryan took seats on respective couches across from Marley and Aiden.
Bryan's eyes fell to Aiden's hands on her torso, or more specifically, the bandages over his knuckles, "You protected her. I appreciate that," he said sincerely to Aiden, resting his forearms on his thighs.
Aiden's arms tightened around her while Marley lightly caressed the bandages with her index finger, "I'll always protect her."
"We need to change these," Marley pointed out quietly, "or else they'll get infected."
Jay turned his head to see that the bathroom door was closed, "Once we're done here you can use the facilities-"
"Aiden, you should go back to your cabin and shower as well. I'll re-wrap your hands after."
He leaned into her left ear, his voice deep and even, "I'm not leaving you alone."
She sighed in frustration, "I'm in a cabin full of councillors and a police officer. I'm sure I'm in good hands. Go get cleaned up."
"Aiden," Jay began sincerely, "no harm will come to her here. We're all adults and Bryan is a police officer."
It was quiet for a second as Aiden deliberated. She knew it would be a compromise more than an agreement to do as they ask.
"Marley comes with me back to my room, I grab what I need, shower here. Door cracked open."
She gave Jay a look to say this is the best it's going to get, lifting from the couch. Jay nodded in agreement and Marley shot Bryan a small smile as Aiden grabbed her hand and intertwined their fingers, leading the both of them out the door. He opened it for her, and she winced at the brightness of the day around her.
It was always quiet around the councillors cabin, and it was especially so because the busses had already left for school. Aiden led them down the main trail, his thumb rubbing her hand as if to reassure himself that she was there.
Her eyes widened when she remembered something, "Jess and Larissa! We totally bailed on them, Aiden!"
He shot her a dry look, "After everything you're worried about standing up people for dinner?"
Marley blushed and looked back at the trail in front of them, "I'm sure Gabby took care of i-"
She paused, her eyes wide as she laid eyes on someone sitting on the middle step of the porch at the boy's cabin. She was dressed in wrinkled clothes, her blonde hair in a haphazard ponytail. Her blue eyes locked on Marley as she looked up.
"Trish?"
***