“What the hell do you want?” I ask as I walk into my father’s room after he called me to tell me it's urgent. I stop in my tracks when I see Hazel, my ex-girlfriend and the only girl I’ve ever cared about, in bed with my father. They are kissing, ignoring me completely, and when my father moves away, and she sees me, she covers her naked body up with a sheet.

“What the fuck, Hazel?” I ask her, and she nervously looks at my father and me.

“This is my new girlfriend, and she is moving in here,” Father says. I walk out of the room, ignoring the pain shooting through my chest. I expected it from him, but not her. Not the first girl I’ve ever slept with, the first girl I actually cared about. I run down the stairs and out of the house, and just keep running through the trees, having no idea where I’m going. I trip on a rock and slam onto the ground, just as it starts raining. Half of me wants to stand up and keep running, but the other half of me knows I can’t do that. I can’t take my brothers with me; I would never get custody at seventeen. I lift myself up off the ground and tighten my jaw as I look up at the dark clouds.

Only a few more years, and we can all leave this shit-hole town, and our heartless father with it.

“Hey, what are you doing in here?” Tilly asks me, snapping me out of my memories of a night I’d rather forget. Hazel was my father’s girlfriend until he was killed, and she never left me alone the entire time. She played on my feelings, making me hate women until recently. Until Tilly who understands me with one look. She doesn’t push me, she doesn’t hurt me. I turn around and see her standing at the entrance to her bedroom. She walks in and places her laptop on the bed, as she must have been working all day on editing a new book she was sent last night. Tilly looks way too beautiful today, she seems even more stunning every day, and it’s so difficult to stay away from her. Not to kiss her, to take off the tight clothes she has on that show off her amazing body. Not to finally run my fingers through her soft hair.

“The roses in the garden needed cutting, I thought you might like some,” I say, moving to the side, so she can see the massive vase full of at least twenty red roses. I hate cutting them, but sometimes you have to cut the beauty away from something to let it bloom.

“Oh, Harley, they are stunning,” she says, coming over and touching the flowers petals. I look down at her, at the same time she stares up at me, and there’s an awkward silence between us.

“They aren’t the only thing in the room that is stunning,” I say, and she laughs.

“You have a high opinion of yourself, Harley King, “she says, moving away as I laugh.

“That could have been a romantic moment between us, and there you go . . .,” I say, both of us still laughing.

“Damn, totally ruined it,” she chuckles. I go to sit down next to her on the bed and move a book I find. It’s a children’s fairy tale; The Princess and the Pea.

“It was my favourite growing up. I used to get scared my dad would go back to prison and I would wake up crying, and my mum always read this book to me. It was the only story I would fall asleep to,” she tells me. I didn’t know her dad went to jail.

“Why did your dad go to jail? If you don’t mind me asking?” I ask her.

She sits and crosses her legs, her little bump showing through her tight, white top. “My dad wasn’t always a good guy, he is now, but as much as my mum tried to hide his past from us as children, it didn’t work. Can you remember that as I tell you everything?” she asks gently, and I nod.

“He was one of the five leaders of a major drug and illegal weapons company. Basically, they moved things from Africa and other countries, into Europe. My dad told me that his father and his grandfather ran the business before him and he was born into it. That’s not an excuse, but it’s hard to escape what you’re born into.”

“If anyone understands that, it’s me,” I say quietly. “What changed?”

“My mum; he met my mum, and she gave him a choice. Her or his work,” she says, her voice quiet.

“And, he chose her?” I respond.

“Yes, he did. He only served a year because he gave evidence in the trails of all his business partners and told the police where to find everything. Then he and my mother were given a new identity and last name,” she explains. I guess it makes some sense, the police would have done anything for the information her father gave them and then the identity as a reward.

“Fox?” I say, and she nods.

“And then, they started having kids, and lived happily ever after,” she chuckles, but it’s almost sad.

“Does he ever speak about his old life? Did he easily manage to move on?” I ask, knowing my own past haunts me. I don’t think I will ever be able to put the Cage behind me, or what our father did and manage to sleep at night without my nightmares haunting me.

“He did, with my mum at his side. He says that she chases away his darkness,” she tells me, and I know she means more than just her dad, now, as she stares back at me. Her blue eyes seem to search my face for a long time, looking for something I don’t know how to give her. For feelings, I’ve stopped myself having since Hazel, but I can’t stop the way I look back at her. I can’t stop how I feel for her, the siren is working her way into my heart whether I like it all or not.

“Maybe some darkness can’t be kept away.”

“All darkness can be kept away, you just need to find your light,” she says and stands up, leaning over and kissing me on the cheek. I watch as she walks out of the room, leaving the door open, and I watch, wondering if Tilly could be that light for me. I wonder if she could be the one to stop the darkness of my past from haunting me.