Where Love Blooms
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Riley knew from the very beginning it was dangerous for Lucas to even agree to ride Tombstone, and seeing the bull for the first time in person convinced her of it. As she stood outside the ring and watched as the riders flapped on the bull's back, she couldn't understand why bull riding was even a thing. It was even more difficult for her to understand why Lucas would even do it in the first place.
As soon as the riders fell off the bull, they ran like hell to make it out. Although they mostly did, they were seconds away from getting killed.
The anxiety this was causing Riley made her cover her eyes for the most part. She was scared to let Lucas go because she felt like he'd get hurt if she loosened her grip on him.
Lena was standing right beside them with a discordant facial expression. She disliked the sport and she never understood why her cousins obsessed over it. She felt it was a way for foolish men to try and prove they could mount a beast and nearly lose their lives because of it.
It was Alfred's turn to finally ride the bull and after his turn, it was Lucas'.
"Lucas," Riley said to him. He was nervous and she could tell he was. She figured it was safe for her to try and change his mind. "This is dangerous and you know it. He's been doing this for God knows how long and you haven't. What if you get hurt?"
"I don't know, Riley. Just, please, don't make me any more nervous than I already am."
After a few more seconds of talking, their conversation ended shortly when the bull was released with Alfred on top. He held on as the bull tried to buck him off.
Lucas watched for the seconds he remained on the bull and it reminded him of the times they were younger. He always liked to prove that he was better and that he could do anything Lucas couldn't. But today was going to be different, he wasn't going to let him get what he wanted.
...4...5...6...7...
He fell. The bullfighters immediately began to run around the bull in hopes of ushering it back into its chute. Once it was safe, the crowd began to chant and Alfred stepped back onto the ring.
"Holy … he just tied with McCullough's record!" the announcer said in disbelief. "Ladies and gentlemen for the first time since 1970, someone has tied with McCullough!"
Lucas clenched his jaw as he watched Alfred absorb all the attention he was getting. It made him angry that someone so stuck up and mean could be receiving all that praise.
"Lucas - " Riley turned to him but he had already started walking towards the bull, his helmet on.
"Oh my God, he can be so stubborn," Riley complained.
"I know. It's like he gets it from me or something," Lena knew there were times where it was okay to do strictly what one wanted, but this was not the time for Lucas to be doing so.
"Guys, there's someone I want you to meet," Aaron said from behind them. When Riley turned around she was face to face with a brunette who was near her height. She had a light complexion with a pleasant smile. "This is my girlfriend...Missy."
Lena and Riley stared at each other, surprised. "It's nice to meet you, Missy," Riley extended her hand and Missy shook it. She found it a little weird that Aaron rarely talked about having a girlfriend in the time she knew him, but she didn't prolong the thought. She was searching for Lucas. When she spotted him, his eyes were already on hers. He took a deep breath and in a matter of seconds, the bull was released.
It bucked and kicked in any possible direction, but Lucas held on tight. Everything around him began to move slowly and he concentrated on his grip, the way the bull spun underneath him, and the good memories he had with Riley.
...3...4...5...6...
He started to sweat from his forehead and he could feel himself panic, but he took deep breaths. Lucas brought his arm out as a way to balance himself on the bull, it was how he started to steady himself.
...7...8...9...10
When he slid off the bull, the crowd began to cheer louder than before. Lucas was in disbelief of his own accomplishment. He had passed McCullough's record and was now the first to reach ten seconds. As he stepped out the ring, they all jumped at the opportunity to hug him. He was smiling, wide and all he could do was kiss Riley. He was overwhelmed with joy and relieved that he didn't get hurt.
As he pulled away, he noticed that there was someone standing behind Lena and Aaron. It was a girl.
"This is my girlfriend," Aaron introduced. "You know, Missy. Remember?"
He nodded and there was a silence.
"It's good to see you again, Lucas," she smiled.
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He was staring out the window into the night sky. It was the stars he was looking at or the moon, but his thoughts weren't on how bright they were, it was on how happy and proud he felt. He heard a knock on the door and when he turned around he saw Riley. Immediately his smile grew.
"I didn't want to disturb you, but I couldn't wait any longer."
Lucas wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close. He kissed her many times.
"You're happy," she said with joy.
"That's because I did something I never imagined myself doing. Riley, I felt unstoppable," he moved a strand of hair behind her ear and kissed her nose. "I know you probably hated me for acting so tough and stubborn, but I had to do this."
She shook her head, "I didn't hate you, Lucas. I was just scared, I didn't want you to get hurt. I care about you, a lot. And I don't want anything bad to happen to you."
He kissed her again. And this time he began to slide off his shirt.
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The next morning, Riley felt a hand over her mouth. When her eyes shot open the first thing she saw was a strand of curly hair, Lena's hair. She quickly brought a finger to her lips, signaling for her to remain quiet and calm. She then gestured for her to get out of bed and follow her.
Riley finally had the chance to understand that it was morning and Lucas was still sleeping beside her. He looked peaceful and warm. She brought her feet out of bed and slid into her slippers, on her way out the door she put on her robe. "A simple budge would've worked, you didn't have to scare me." She informed.
"I didn't want to wake, Lucas," she said. "Look, I need to tell you something important."
"What is it?"
"It's about Missy," she began. Aaron's girlfriend. "You can't trust her. She may seem nice on the outside but she's not, okay? She's manipulative and she always gets what she wants."
"You just don't want me to make any friends around here - "
"Oh my God," she sighed, "Riley," her voice was stern now. "Missy and Lucas used to date back in the seventh grade. And she was crazy about him. She would always follow him and look through his phone, she used to feed him lies about us so that he could become more dependent on her. She faked being sick and hurt all the time so he could see her, she was crazy."
Riley had a hard time believing what Lena was saying. She met Missy a day ago and she was really nice to her, nicer than Lena had ever been. "Why should I believe you?"
"Because," she looked around the hallway to make sure it was still empty. "Missy wasn't dating Aaron before Lucas came back to Texas."
She furrowed her brows. When Lucas first saw Missy, Riley noticed his reaction. He knew her, that was certain. But he was also caught off guard like there was business between them he wasn't ready to face. "That still doesn't mean anything."
"You don't need to believe me, Riley," Lena said. "Just keep an eye on her when she's near him. You don't want her disrespecting you by going after him again." Riley figured their talk was over and she turned her back to go into the room, but Lena stopped her. "One more thing...do you want to come with me to a party today?"
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"So, when will you be back?" Lucas asked. She was doing her makeup in the bathroom and he was brushing his teeth since he had just woken up.
"Sometime before ten," Riley answered. "She knows I don't want to be there for long."
He smiled, "I'm glad she's finally starting to ease up on you. I feel like you two will be close by the end of the week. She's like that, it just takes time to get to know her and patience to put up with her personality."
Riley gave him a faint smile. She was still thinking about what Lena had said to her about Missy. "What are you doing tonight?"
"My parents will be home tonight, I'll just be spending time with them. Maybe Aaron and I will do something, I don't really know."
"Is Missy gonna be with you guys?"
He froze for a second and Riley noticed, "I have no clue. Hey, I'm gonna go get breakfast. You want me to bring you a plate?"
She watched as he completely changed from being calm and quiet to nervous and turbulent. "I'm good, not really hungry."
"Okay," he nodded before walking out the bathroom.
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On their way to the party, Riley realized that she could never get tired of them. They were elegant and important and having the chance to even go to one made her feel sophisticated and fashionable because she got to wear a dress.
As they neared the mansion, Lena set her champagne down and looked at the brunette. "Since people are gonna know you're with me, absolutely do not talk to older people. They're off limits. Stick to me and my friends, I'm sure you'll find someone who can tolerate you."
"Why can't I talk to older people - ?" Riley asked. She wasn't planning onto, but she wanted to know why they were off limits.
"Because nine out ten the chances are that they are powerful people you don't wanna be associated with," Lena answered. "And they're only interested in sex."
Riley still wanted to know more but that thought faded as she began to see the roof of the house. The closer they got to it the bigger it got and the greener the plants and trees around it became. It was even more elaborate than she expected. A white stucco mansion with an enormous backyard, overlooking the bay. The French windows adding a nice touch.
When the car pulled up in front of the main doors, both Lena and Riley stepped out in ankle length dresses. Lena wore a nice Chiffon gray dress with a deep V-neck while Riley wore a light purple dress that exposed her back and had criss cross straps, she felt like a princess in it.
There was a man standing in the front door. He was stern and had a scar running through his left eye, she didn't know why they would put such an intimidating man to guard a simple door. "Password," his deep voice said.
Riley turned to Lena, she didn't know that most house parties hosted by the rich and famous were password protected.
"H.L.C," she calmly said to the man and he nodded. He gestured for them to enter.
"Why H.L.C?" Riley asked, she knew it must've been an abbreviation for something.
"For Human Life Charities duh," she closed the door behind them and immediately Riley noticed the nicely dressed people. They were drinking wine and standing all around the first floor, live music was playing from the sounds of the violins, and there was chatter in every possible direction.
"Lena, over here," a girl called out. She was standing near the piano with a group of people.
"Chelsea," she smiled and gave her friend a kiss on the cheek. This was the first time Riley had seen her smile. "Chanel, is that a new nose?" They laughed it off and hugged, she did this with three other friends as well. All of which had names that started with a C.
"Who's this?" Cathy, a short, dark skinned woman asked.
"This is Riley, my cousin's girlfriend."
"Which cousin?"
"Lucas," she responded and took two glasses from the man who was walking around with a tray filled with them. She handed one to Riley.
"Girl, I saw a picture of him the other day..." Cathy made a gesture that Riley could assume was a compliment. "The jaw, the muscles, the eyes, the smile...tell us, is he big?"
"Ill," Lena interrupted. "No, that's gross. He's my cousin I don't need to hear any of that"
Riley wasn't going to answer that even though she knew. The next few minutes were taken up by their interest in Lucas and how he's been the past few years, she didn't know a lot of people were interested in what he had been doing since he told her he didn't have a lot of friends. After the talk about him passed, Lena and the rest of her friends decided they should get more drinks. Riley decided to wait for them since they were travelling in groups of six.
After waiting for a couple of minutes, she noticed that a guy from the corner of the room she was in kept stealing glances in her direction. He'd look at her and she'd look away, he'd look away and she'd stare at him. This continued for a few more seconds before he mustered up the courage to talk to her.
He was cute, had dark hair that was pulled back and blue eyes. His tuxedo fit him well and his skin looked extremely smooth. "Wesley Pieterse," he introduced himself. Even his name sounded rich.
"Riley Matthews," she shook his hand and he sat down next to her.
"Why are you all alone?"
"I was with a friend who has friends," Riley said as she traced the outside of her glass. "They went to get a drink."
"Not a drinker?"
"Not really no, every once in a while yes, but not as common as everybody does," she felt comfortable speaking to him even though he was a complete stranger and she only knew his name. "What about you?"
"I'm definitely a crazy drinker," he answered. "Yeah, I'm that one friend you need to look out for when I'm drunk."
"How old are you Wesley?"
"Twenty-four," he smiled at her nod. "You?"
"Twenty-six," she noticed he seemed a little surprised by her age. It was a pleasant reaction and not one where she would be offended in any way.
"You got a boyfriend, Riley?"
"I do," she answered him.
He was polite and understanding.
"How long have you had that problem for?" he smiled. It was clear he was joking to get a laugh out of her and it worked. She could tell that he also wanted to know how long she's been with him.
"Good question," she joked too. "...but three years."
"Three years, damn. Those aren't common anymore."
They weren't. Especially now when relationships seemed to come and go faster than light itself. "When you're in a good relationship the years just pass by. It feels like just yesterday Lucas and I went on our first date."
"Wait, Lucas? As in Friar? Lucas Friar?"
"Uh...yeah. Why? Do you know him?" she didn't think he would but considering he knew Lucas' name, there's must've been history between them.
"Yeah, of course I did. We used to hang out all the time. He was older so we didn't see each other much in school but outside the four of us were together all the time."
Seeing him smile meant that there were good memories between them and not bad ones like Alfred. "So you two were friends?"
"No, no, we were best friends. Yeah, the four of us we were like glue. We went everywhere together."
Riley furrowed her brows, Lucas told her that he didn't have any friends in Texas. Why would he lie to her?
"Who were the other two - ?"
"Ladies and gentlemen," a much older man said, immediately catching everyone's attention. "The reason you guys are all here has finally begun. If you can find your way down the stairs and into the right, I think that you guys will be very pleased."
Lena had found her way back to Riley. She didn't know what was going on so she decided to follow everyone as well. When they made it to the room, Riley noticed that everyone had taken a seat. They decided to sit down as well.
"What is this?" Riley asked.
"I have no clue," she turned around to try and find her friends but she didn't. They weren't anywhere to be found. "What is that?"
The brunette followed her gaze, "It looks like a boxing ring."
The lights dimmed except for the ones above the ring. As soon as this happened a man stepped onto it and slid off his robe, he was shirtless and built but looked tired and exhausted. Another man stepped from the opposite side wearing the same thing, only he had a dragon tattoo running from the front of his neck. A whistle blew and that's when Riley began to understand what was going on.
They were gonna fight.
People around them began to cheer and she couldn't believe that this was happening. It was hysteria and madness mixed, people yelled out the craziest things she had ever heard. Shouting for the man to kill the other. Demanding to see blood and bruises.
She didn't know that much about boxing but she knew that kicking and beating someone in such a violent manner when they were down was not the right way to play the sport. She turned away when she saw one of the men get on top of the other in order to strangle them.
"What the hell is this?"
Lena turned to look at the door they entered through. It was blocked by two men in suits. Bodyguards, she assumed. "Okay, listen to me. If you wanna leave, stay close to me and do not, do not," she added that second part for emphasis. "...look like you're scared. They'll kill us both," Lena said to her a very serious tone that sent chills up and down her back.
They waited for the right moment to get up and leave. On the outside Riley was excited as everyone else was on the inside she was terrified and anxious.
"Where are you two going?" the man asked them as they approached the door.
Lena was quick to answer in a collected tone, "We need to run. My sister and I here are on a last minute flight to Cabo and although this is just as fun, we need to hurry. Can you move out of our way?"
The man stared them down but finally obliged. When they made it to Lena's car and out of their property, Riley dropped her facade and began to panic. "What the fuck was that?"
"Just keep your mouth shut...I'll explain everything later."
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A last minute call sent Daniel and Isabella back to work, leaving Lucas and Aaron home alone for the night. The maid and butler were released early because their jobs were done and it was just supposed to be them four...until plans changed.
After a few hours of playing video games, Aaron and Lucas sat in the kitchen serving themselves ice cream because that's all they knew how to do and they were hungry. They had all the possible ingredients to make themselves the perfect banana split or root beer float. "I heard McCullough wasn't happy you broke his record," Aaron spoke.
All Lucas could do was smirk because it made him happy that he felt that way. "I was time somebody broke that stupid record."
Aaron nodded, it really wasn't that big a deal once he really thought about it. "I'm sorry I doubted you. I shouldn't have tried to change your mind if it was something you wanted to do."
"No, don't worry about it. Your head was in the right place and you didn't want me to get hurt." There was a silence between them and Lucas grew curious about his relationship with Missy. He wanted to know how it started and how long it's been going on. "So...you and Missy?"
"Oh, yeah," he laughed. "It just happened. One second I was single the next...I wasn't. We were talking a few days before you came, something about 'she wanted to see me.'"
"She wanted to see you?" Lucas questioned. "What for?"
"Just," he answered. "She's hasn't really had the time for friends because of work."
"I was surprised when you said that she was your girlfriend," he placed a spoonful of ice cream in his mouth.
"It felt right. She wasn't doing good and I felt like I could help her out of it. In doing so I started to catch feelings and it happened," Aaron spoke about her like he really cared for her.
If only he knew how Missy was really like.
Lucas didn't want Missy to be in the same place as Riley and him, but he didn't want to be the one to tell Aaron. He figured all he could do for the meantime was eat his ice cream.
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Lena parked her car outside the house after a few minutes of driving. They both sat there in silence for a couple of minutes, taking deep breaths and trying to calm down before they walked in. "You can't tell anybody about tonight," it was gonna be hard for her to do the same. "If word gets out that we've been telling people about what we saw, we will piss off the wrong people, Riley. It can't be reported to the police. It's too dangerous and no one can know."
"I don't even know what that was," she told Lena. "All I know was that they were killing themselves and everyone cheered because of it. "
"I don't know a lot either. I just know that you can't tell anybody. Not even Lucas or my aunt and uncle. You can get them into serious problems if you do."
She was starting to grow nervous because of the tone she was using."What people," she asked.
"What are you talking about?"
"You said I'll piss of the wrong people if I tell someone about this. What do you mean by that?"
She looked towards the back of the car to see if they hadn't been followed. "Aside from being rich, the people in there didn't just get their money from owning a huge company..."
"Then what do they do then?"
"They get people to do their dirty work and they profit from it. They get into drug-related crime, they hire hitmen to kill people, they kidnap people - "
"Kidnap people?" she asked. "Is that why so many people go missing - ?"
"It could be related, just..." she took a deep breath. "Please, don't tell a single person."
The seriousness in the silence the car was filled was frightening to Riley. She had never known something that could kill her if she told people about it. She took a deep breath and nodded before stepping out of the car, about to pretend she had the best night of her life.
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