The House of Angels

Feel the warmth

"That's why you didn't want to tell me how you got rid of him, right? You never got rid of him." Josh muttered under his breath, gritting his teeth.

Moon didn't answer, she just kept staring at her feet. Once again, she'd been weak.

She let Josh and Daniel fight her own battle and she didn't even cooperate, running to Clayton for fear of his possible reaction.

"Moon...?" Daniel asked, confusion and concern evident in his voice. She lift her eyes to meet his, making him flinch because of the emptiness he could see in them. He pulled her closer, and took her face betweem her hands.

"Moon, look at me..."

"I'm fine. Let's go inside." She said in a dull voice, her face devoid of emotions, as she walked toward the entrance door.

"What the f**k was that, Josh?" Daniel whispered to him, while following Moon.

"I'll explain later. Be careful not to piss her off. We need to take care of her right now. She may not feel well." He said, entering the house behind the girl.

"I'll go take some glasses from the kitchen. You two make yourself comfortable, I'll be right back." She said, taking off her shoes, and disappearing behind a door.

"So?" Daniel asked sternly.

"So..." Josh was at loss for words, how was he going to explain all that to him? Besides, was really his place to tell this story?

"Josh, I swear I'm gonna lose my f*****g mind if you don't tell me what the hell happened outside!" Daniel's nostrils flared, Josh had never lied to him before, and he didn't like it at all. He wasn't an i***t, he had an idea of what had happened, but he was hoping he'd misunderstand the situation. He was scared to know the truth, but he needed to know it.

He needed to know if Moon was alright.

"I think you should ask her." Josh muttered, frowning.

"What the f**k, man? Since when are you hiding things from me?" He whisper-yelled, afraid Moon could hear them from the kitchen.

"I'm not hiding things from you, D! f**k, you need to calm down! This is something personal, she trusted me with the truth and I won't betray her trust. Not even for you!" He whisper-yelled back.

"f**k you, Josh! He clearly said he was going to keep this thing going, if I have to do anything about it, I need the truth." Daniel had lost his patience, why did Josh have to act in such a reckless way?

Josh was torn. He knew Daniel was right but Moon was going to get pissed at him. Maybe it was inevitable. But she would be safe.

"That was the man who's been raping and stalking her for the last two years." Josh said in a bitter voice, his jaw clenched so hard he thought he was going to break his teeth.

Daniel jerked his head back, his eyes wide, his anger boiling. He couldn't even think about anything to say.

Moon, however, came back into the living room where they were seating on a big couch.

"I'll put some music on." She said, feigning a smile as she handed the glasses over Daniel.

"Moon... can we smoke here?" He asked.

He was nervously running a trembling hand over his hair, to avoid being overwhelmed by anger, he needed alcohol and some more.

"Please, Daniel... my father smoked crack here all the time. That's why I changed all the furniture when they left. Well, I couldn't have done it without the help of my boss who gave me all her old stuff, but I like how it turned out." She said absently, trying to talk about anything but Clay reappearing in her life.

"So, you're not going to say anything about that?" Josh asked, taking a shot of rum.

"Josh, please, don't." She said dryly.

"No, Moon. He's dangerous and you're the one who told me that!" Josh growled out of frustration. Daniel took two shots and offered one to Moon, who was now seated between the two of them. He wasn't going to say anything, he didn't even know what to say, he was just shocked, angry and sad for her. He felt the need to hold and protect her, to tell her he would kill that bastard and she would be fine. That he was going to stay, and Josh too. That she wouldn't be alone anymore.

"I said drop it!" She snapped at him.

"No!"

"Fine. What do you want me to say, then? I just know he disappeared when my father left. It's the first time I've seen him in months." She spat angrily, taking her shot, then reached for the bottle to refill the glass. She was starting to panick now. She'd been so stupid to think Clay would leave her alone, that he'd got tired of her. What was she going to do, now? He would wait for the right occasion to find and r**e her like old times, and she could do nothing about it, not even Josh or Daniel.

"So why coming back now?" Daniel whispered to himself.

"I don't know. I just want to forget about him and get drunk." She grimaced, taking the cigarette from Daniel's lips and taking a drag before giving it back to him.

"What?! Didn't you hear him? He won't leave you alone, we need to do something!" Josh frowned, anger overwhelmed him. He felt so useless right now.

"We can do nothing. He is evil. And he will have no qualms about hurting you, he's not afraid to end up in jail again. So you two will stay out of it. I'll find a way, don't worry." She took another shot and then another, hoping to get wasted to stop thinking.

"The hell we'll stay out of it." Daniel snapped at her, atanding abruptly, exasperated by her attitude.

Why couldn't she f*****g understand they were trying to protect her? He didn't care to get hurt. He was used to that and Josh was too.

"Whatever." She shrugged, taking another shot.

"Moon..." he turned to face her, cradling her face between his gentle hands. Her eyes were dull and glossy, she was looking at him but it was like she wasn't there. "Moon, we're gonna help you, whether you want it or not. But tonight we're just going to get wasted and help you release some tension. We'll think about Carlton tomorrow." He stroked her cheeks while staring at her with longing eyes.

Suddenly Moon burst out laughing so hard her body was shaking violently. Daniel and Josh exchanged questioning glances, wearing confused frowns.

"Who is this Carlton? It's Clayton!" She said, laughing harder.

The guys thought it wasn't so funny, Daniel just got the name wrong, despite that her laughter was so contagious they burst out laughing too thanks to the rum.

Then, suddenly, Moon started crying between laughters, that little by little turned into violent sobs.

That shattered their hearts into tiny pieces. Daniel took her in his arms and held her tightly, while Josh stroked kindly her shaking back and her soft hair.

She tried to fight what she thought was their pity toward a pathetic, weak girl, trying to push them away and stop crying, her body stiff.

"It's ok, Moon... let it go." Daniel whispered tenderly stroking her nape in a soothing way.

"It's ok to cry. We're here for you." Josh cooed, leaning on her shoulders so that now she was crushed between their warm arms.

She felt her body relaxing: she felt protected between them even though she'd known them for such a short time. Soon her sobs stopped and her breating became regular again.

"I'm sorry..." she mumbled.

"Don't be. You did nothing wrong." Josh whispered.

"Now, why don't we get wasted as you promised?" She asked Daniel, leaning back a little to look at him with a tentative smile.

Daniel couldn't help but look at her swollen lips and think about kissing her pain away.

"Whatever you want, little brat..." he smiled back, using his thumb to wipe a tear from her cheek.

"Then I want to try that." She said, pointing at a small envelope that had fallen from Daniel's pockets when he turned to hug her.

Josh and Daniel looked at the floor and found out what she was talking about. Their eyes widened.

"No way, babe. We discussed this yesterday. You're bot gonna touch that shit." Josh said, glaring at Daniel for his recklessness. He shouldn't have brought that s**t there, he knew Moon was curious about it and that wasn't really the case.

"Daniel? You said whatever I wanted..." she whined.

"Why would you want something like that?" He frowned in confusion, while placing the envelope back into his pocket.

"And you? Why do you use it?" She said defiantly.

"Here. Take another shot, and shut your pretty, little mouth." He laughed, pouring some more rum inside her glass.