“Come upstairs,” Ben whispered, not wanting to wake his parents. “Ronnie hit you?” he asked once he had closed his bedroom door.

“No! My father!” The emotional dam finally broke and Allison dissolved into tears.

Ben wrapped an arm around her, examining her as he did so. Allison’s left jaw looked red and sore with early signs of swelling. “I’m so sorry,” he said as he held her, letting her cry it out without assaulting her with questions.

“He’s such an idiot,” she sobbed. “I had permission to go out with Ronnie and everything.”

“What set him off, then?” Ben asked, breaking away from her to grab some tissues.

“Thanks.” Allison blew her nose noisily. “He caught Ronnie kissing me goodnight. That’s it. He wasn’t feeling me up or anything. My dad just flew off the handle and shoved Ronnie away. I started screaming at him, and he punched me.” She held a trembling hand up to her jaw.

“Bastard,” Ben snarled, his own anger causing him to clench his teeth. “What did Ronnie do?”

“He was already gone.” Allison shook her head. “I’m not telling it right.”

“It’s okay. Just try to calm down.”

“I’m all right.” She took a deep breath. “After Dad shoved Ronnie I got in between them and told Ronnie to leave. After he was gone I started arguing with Dad, and that’s when he hit me and I ran straight over here. I didn’t know where else to go.”

“I’m glad you came,” Ben said. “You should stay the night here.”

“Thanks.” Allison sniffed and sighed. “What are we going to do about this?”

Ben chewed his lip thoughtfully while they considered the situation in silence. Allison didn’t have any other in-state relatives, and the idea of her moving far away was unbearable. But how could she endure living with such a monster? What was to stop something like this from happening again?

“I wish we were already in college,” he said wistfully.

“You and me both. Have you decided yet?”

That was another unhappy topic. Ben wanted to continue his vocal training at an arts college that specialized in music. Allison wanted to pursue a medical career at one of the more traditional colleges. The inevitable separation if they chose different schools was something neither of them liked to think of, and now wasn’t the time to discuss it further.

“I have no idea,” Ben replied. “It’s all so far away. You want your PJs?”

“Yeah.”

Allison had stayed the night so often that she had bought a pair of pajamas to keep in his room. It was a miracle that her father had never figured out that she was actually staying the night with him and not Karen. Their former friendship had been useful camouflage in that regard.

The next day was a school day, which presented an awkward situation. Ben decided to confide in his mother, who wasn’t nearly as sympathetic as he would have expected. The bruise on Allison’s face was twice as ugly now and left no room for doubt as to the truth of her story, but it was clear that his mother wasn’t willing to interfere with someone else’s parenting. There was no point in asking her if Allison could stay with them longer, but she at least granted him permission to skip school for the day.

In the afternoon they decided to go to Allison’s house so she could get a change of clothes, despite the possibility that Mr. Cross might be there when they arrived. He wasn’t, but the house was in more disarray than normal, with food left out on the counter, dirty dishes, and a broken drinking glass on the kitchen floor. Ben helped her clean up before they went to her room.

“You should go,” Allison said. “There’s no point in me leaving.”

Ben understood how she was feeling. As they surveyed her room, it hit home how hard it would be to leave it all behind. Where would she go? She didn’t have a job and wasn’t finished with school. All she owned was right in front of them, but suddenly it didn’t seem like much compared to what the real world demanded.

“I have to face him sooner or later, right?” Allison said. “I mean, he’s my dad. We’ll work it out, but you shouldn’t be here when he gets back.”

“Forget it, I’m staying,” Ben said. “I’m staying and I’m going to have a word with him.”

“You’re sweet, but that’s not a good idea. You being here is just going to upset him even more.”

“Yeah, yeah. I said the exact same thing last time you had a terrible idea, but I still went along with it,” Ben reminded her. “You owe me one. In fact, I think it’s best if you left me here alone.”

“What? You’re insane.”

“No, I mean it. I’ll talk to your dad, then I’ll meet you back at my place and I can tell you what he said.”

Allison was hesitant, but Ben managed to convince her. Only after she had gone was he free to question the soundness of his idea. Who did he think he was, an ambassador? What if Mr. Cross started beating the crap out of him? He could get killed!

The sound of the front door opening caused his stomach to churn. He should have at least left the house with Allison and returned to ring the doorbell. Now it looked like he was a burglar.

Ben left her room and walked to the head of the stairs. Mr. Cross was already looking upward, an expression of hope on his face that turned dark when he didn’t see his daughter.

“What the hell are you doing here?” he challenged.

“Allison and I came back to get her a change of clothes. She’s not here,” Ben added when Mr. Cross started up the stairs with a determined look on his face, “but she told me everything.”

Mr. Cross stopped, and for the briefest moment, there was shame in his eyes. It marked the end of Ben’s fear of the man. Ben walked down the stairs until he was face to face with Allison’s father.

“She told me everything, but she would never tell the police,” Ben continued. “I would though, and I won’t hesitate to if you ever lay a hand on her again.”

“You little brat.” Mr. Cross’s hand snatched out and grabbed Ben by the shirt.

Ben didn’t even flinch.

“Go ahead and hit me,” he suggested. “I’ll go to the police today, and you’ll never harm anyone again. Not me and not Allison.”

“They’d never believe you,” Mr. Cross shouted. “I’ll tell them that you hit her. How do you like that, you little faggot?”

“Not bad,” Ben shrugged. “I guess I would then tell the cops about all the times you made me suck you off.”

Mr. Cross let go of him instantly, as if he had just learned Ben had some horribly contagious disease.

“I never!” Mr. Cross spluttered. “You’re sick!”

“It doesn’t matter what you’ve actually done,” Ben said. “Society likes to believe the worst. They’ll eat the story up. The bigots and the homophobes will have a field day with it, but they’ll believe it in the end, so don’t try to threaten me.”

“Get out of my house, you little punk!”

“No. Not before I’ve had my say. Allison loves you, Mr. Cross. She would do anything to make you happy. I think you love her, too, but the way you try to protect her is doing more harm than good. You need to let her go. One more year and she’s going to be living on her own in a different city. You won’t be able to control her then. You can’t treat her like a bird in a cage. If you do, she’ll never come back to you once she’s free. She’ll be out of your life forever.”

Much to Ben’s amazement, Allison’s father seemed to be listening. The anger had drained from Mr. Cross face and he looked like he was about to cry. Ben had obviously hit upon his worst fears.

“I’m sorry you lost your wife, and I can’t even begin to imagine how much that must hurt, but you still have your daughter. She might be the only person left in the world who still loves you. If you destroy that, who will you be? What will be left of you then?”

Mr. Cross’s face crumpled as his tears began to flow.

Ben made his way to the front door, ignoring the sobbing behind him. “She’ll be home in a few hours,” he said. “Don’t screw it up.”