Eddie's long fingers tighten over hers and he squeezes her hands. "Carrie, you can't go back there," he says, as gently as he can manage, despite the rising frustration in his chest. He's not frustrated with Carrie, but with the fact that she doesn't know that this isn't normal. That no one's ever told her that their parents don't beat them or lock them up. "Not if she's going to hurt you again."

He exhales deeply at Carrie's counter point, knowing that she's probably right. Carrie not coming home would feed right into her mom's worst nightmare. Worse, it'll be Eddie's word against hers. If it was any of the other guys maybe they'd stand a chance, but Eddie lives in the trailer park and has a history of causing trouble. All he'll end up doing is getting himself in deep shit and probably giving Carrie's mom and excuse to mistreat her even more. "I'll figure something out. Somewhere you can go until you're ready. Somewhere safe."

Eddie's chest tightens painfully at her words. "I'm not the only one," he assures her. "You have people who care about you. People who want to protect you like I do. I know Hellfire will help me." He presses his fingers into her hands. "That's not good enough, Carrie. I don't know what happened where you came from, but they sound like a bunch of assholes. If they knew what was happening, they should've stopped it. They should've done something."

"I'm not saying you're never going to be treated like trash here, you're a freak just like the rest of us. But that's okay, because we've got each other's backs. We look out for one another. This is me looking out for you."