A/N – thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chapter, it made writing this one so much easier. Hopefully this will answer some of the questions raised at the end of the last chapter.
As always I do not own OTH or any of the characters.
"No way... not a chance in hell," resounded around the room, coming primarily from Nathan and Peyton, but she could have sworn that Lucas muttered some profanity in her ear. Stepping out of his arms or Lucas let go of her she couldn't quite be sure; she rounded on Nathan just as he opened his mouth again.
"I can't marry you!"
"Ah, thanks for the compliment Nate," Peyton retorted, punching his shoulder. "I can't marry you either. You're like my brother."
"Hold on," Lucas' voice cut through the room, instantly silencing the bickering and they both turned to look at him. "I think the most important question here is why?" he reasoned, his gaze fixed on Brooke, who had been watching the argument with wide eyes.
"I'm not good with all of the legal stuff," Brooke muttered, glancing around the group who were waiting for a better answer. "Basically, what I understand is that Ellie's business has to merge with Dan's through the marriage of Ellie's daughter into the Scott family, otherwise company is broken down for the investors and various charities until there is nothing left. It was a clause that was slyly added by the lawyer when the business first formed."
"I'll give my last dollar that the lawyer was working for Dan at the time," Lucas muttered, striding across the room and randomly producing a sponge and a bar of saddle soap, before attacking one of the leather girths littered around the room. "He enjoys screwing people over."
Nobody could really argue with that statement, but eventually Peyton decided to break the silence. "Well there is nothing more that we can do tonight," she reasoned, running her hands through her limp curls. "Why don't we get some sleep and start again in the morning? Brooke you want to stay in my room?"
Nodding her head in response, Brooke started for the door with Nathan quickly catching up with her, before he glanced over his shoulder at the two blondes. "You go on up, I'll follow you once I've put my shoes back on," Peyton gestured down to her bandaged feet, but knowing that Nathan wanted to spend a moment alone with Brooke.
Crouching down, she gathered her heels into one hand and holding the stable rug in place with the other. Turning towards Lucas, she noticed that the girth in his hands was now looking like new, and he shifted to place it carefully over the seat of one of the saddles.
"We will sort this out, I promise," he whispered, still with his back towards her but Peyton heard every word. Spinning around to lock his eyes onto her, she smiled when he raked his hands through his hair, leaving soap residue in the messy spikes.
"I'll see you in the morning for a riding lesson?" she questioned hopefully.
"As always," his eyes studied hers for a moment before the corner of his lips raised in a half smile. "Night Peyt. I'll be seeing you."
"Night Luke," she replied, forcing her feet out of the tack room and down the stable yard. Pushing her toes into the heels, she hurried across the gravel towards the front door before pulling them off again. Marissa appeared automatically, looking nervous before her eyes located Peyton and she relaxed, giving Peyton the information that she was waiting on Mr. Scott's return before she could go to bed. Waving her fingers in acknowledgment, she glanced up the stairs before disappearing back through the door into the kitchen, and Peyton sighed.
Following Marissa glance up the stairs, she saw Brooke wrapped in Nathan's arms to the right of the big window overlooking the gardens. They both turned as her foot landed on the bottom step, and she smiled apologetically.
"I'm going to wash my hair out," she stated, turning to the left and continuing up the stairs once they had nodded in response. Entering her bedroom, Peyton was glad for the silence as she dumped her heels, wrap and the rug in a pile on the floor before looking down to her feet. The bandages prevented her having a shower as she didn't want to wreak Lucas' hard work, and for the first time she noticed the mud caking the hem of her dress, hoping desperately that she hadn't left a trail through the house.
Pulling the zipper down at the side, she wiggled out of the material without un-doing the ribbons at the back, and allowed it to drop into a pile, knowing full well that the skirts would not come clean.
Padding into the bathroom, and wrapping one of the fluffy robes from the back of the door around her, Peyton caught a glance of herself in the mirror, noticing the black stains down her cheeks and her smudged eyeliner. Wiping away the evidence of her tears, she moved to turn the shower attachment on over the large bath, tipping her curls over the side to wash out the effects of the wind before applying copious amounts of conditioner.
On hearing the bedroom door click shut, Peyton wrapped her hair up in a towel before emerging from the bathroom. Brooke had already changed into one of Peyton's tank tops that she usually wore in bed, and was curled up with her chin resting on her knees on the edge of the bed.
"Hey," Peyton breathed, breaking through Brooke's thoughts and causing her to glance in her direction. Gone was the usual cheery brunette, which was unsettling for Peyton, and her chocolate brown eyes were filling with tears.
"I'm sorry, P. Sawyer," she whispered, just as the first of the tears spilled over and Peyton sat down on the bed next to her confused. "I should have put two and two together faster, and told you about my suspicions."
"B. Davis, stop being silly," Peyton scolded gently, wrapping her arms around Brooke's shoulders as she sniffed back her tears. "You're something you know that. I get adopted, and yet you're the one who needs consoling," she joked, shaking her head slightly and causing Brooke to laugh gently.
"Sorry," she smiled shakily, pulling back slightly as Peyton moved to unwrap her damp hair. "Let me French plait your hair up all pretty, to make up for it."
Not having the heart to stop her as she jumped off the bed to grab a comb and some hair bands, Peyton smiled that the cheery girl was about 90% back, and she allowed Brooke to twist her hair into an intricate design down the back of her head, leaving a couple unruly curls loose at the front.
Waking with a start a couple of hours later, it took Peyton a full thirty seconds to work out that it was Brooke curled up on the other side of the bed, snoring softly. The moonlight was filtering through the curtains, rippling off Brooke's glossy hair which was spread across the pillow.
Suddenly feeling suffocated, the dream that woke her came rushing back. She had been standing in front of a full length mirror, her green eyes flashing in panic over the reams of white material wrapped around her body. She was aware that Mr. Scott was stood behind her, the feeling of suffocation was increasing with each passing second, and she realized that he was pulling the corset ribbons in far too tight, causing her breath to come out in small gasps. In the reflection of the mirror she watched as his hands moved to grasp the bare skin of her shoulders and his face appeared close to her left ear.
"There's no running away now," his deep voice rasped in her ear, sending a shiver down her back and she realized she was wearing a wedding dress.
Swinging her legs out from under the covers and quickly locating a pair of jeans, her leather jacket and sliding her feet into her Converse without looking, the need to escape from the house was interrupted for a split second when she paused to grab the stable rug off the floor on her way out of the door. Treading gently down the stairs, she cringed as the front door creaked open and she held her breath for a full ten seconds before realizing that the rest of the house was sound asleep.
Feeling inexplicably drawn back to the yard, Peyton slipped inside Storm's warm stable, her eyes quickly adjusting to the darkness as he stepped closer, allowing her fingers to run down his soft neck as he snuffled her hair.
"Hey boy, sorry it's early," she whispered, stepping through the straw closer to him and smoothing out his forelock. His muzzle burrowed against her neck, sending waves of warm breath down her shoulder. "Oh I must smell like Prince," she realized, rubbing her palm gently between his eyes before swiping her hand against her neck and not caring about her appearance.
Wrapping the stable rug back around her shoulders, she smiled apologetically. "I borrowed your new rug," she ran her fingers down his neck, watching his dark brown eyes blink in response to her words. "Lucas said... Luke..." she breathed, ducking under his neck and sitting down in the corner, burrowing into the deep bankings. Her mind was running at a thousand miles an hour as Storm lowered his body down into the straw, between Peyton and the door, resting his head down next to her feet.
"Peyt? Peyton?" the sound of her name broke through her dreams, causing her eyes to flutter open. The newly dawned sun was filtering through the open stable door making her squint towards the sound of the voice. Without warning Storm scrambled back onto his feet, causing his shadow to fall across her and blocking off the view of the intruder. "Hey boy," his deep voice rumbled, and Peyton watched as he held out his hand towards him, whispering something before his voice returned to the normal volume. "Here's your haynet," he turned with his back towards her to secure the full net up high, before removing the empty one and ducking under his neck.
"What time is it?" she mumbled, her mind still foggy with sleep and she moved her hand to run over her eyes.
"Oh it's still early," Lucas stepped through the straw and crouched down in front of her. "I couldn't sleep, and I assume you couldn't either, being here and all."
"Yeah well," Peyton shrugged off, moving into a sitting position and wincing when her muscles protested. "I just felt... suffocated inside that house. I just needed..." she tailed off, unsure what the ended of that sentence was. Flicking her eyes up to meet his deep blue ones, seeing understanding in the depths. A ghost of a smile played across his lips and he reached forwards to remove a stray piece of straw from her plaits.
"I see Brooke got to you," the smile quickly turned into a smirk as he lowered himself down into the straw next to her and pulled off his Stetson.
"Yeah, I didn't have the heart to tell her no last night," Peyton couldn't help the smile that played across her lips, and her eyes flashed up to his.
"I can imagine. Nobody is safe from Brooke Davis," Lucas' eyes never left her face, and she felt a spark of electricity shoot up her leg when his hand gently rested against her knee. "I spent most of last night on the internet doing research, and I think I might have found a solution to your problem." Peyton dropped her eyes down to the curve of his lips as he continued talking. "I need to talk to a lawyer first, but I need to know..." he tailed off, and her eyes flashed back up to his, causing her breath to catch in her throat. "Do you still trust me?"
"Yes," she whispered in reply, and she held her breath as his eyes searched hers for a moment, before nodding his head. She watched as his eyes flickered down to her lips for a split second, and the magnetic pull became too strong to resist as she closed the final few inches separating them.
Without thinking, she pressed her lips gently against his and she felt his fingers curl around her knee as she brushed her lips against the curve of his bottom lip. Pausing long enough to breathe her name, Lucas' fingers quickly slid around the curve of her neck, pulling her closer and fusing their lips together once more, before moving back slightly to rest his forehead against hers.
"Whoa," he breathed, and Peyton's eyes fluttered open. "That just made things..."
"More complicated?" she finished for him, jumping backwards as Storm began rubbing his head against her shoulder. Grateful for the distraction, Peyton uncurled her long legs, dislodging Lucas' fingers, before climbing to her feet. "Hey boy, you ready for your ride now?" she asked, speaking directly to Storm as she ran her fingers through his forelock.
"I'll go and get his tack," Lucas said, climbing to his feet and placing his Stetson on top of her French plaits. "The sun is going to be strong today," he explained, stepping around Storm and disappearing out of the stable.
"As if my life wasn't already a mess," she grumbled to herself, touching the brim of the hat to settle it more comfortably on the back of her head and sighing to herself.