I don't own VM or any of its franchise…sadly…
A/N So I know it's taken me a loooong time to update, but to be honest, I'm more interested in some of my other stories lately and this keeps taking the backseat. I'm sorry for those of you who've been with me from the start, but let's be honest; it's better that I have you wait and post something that's detailed and decent than something that's just put together and then posted without care. That said this chapter contains another dose of foulmouthyness (and violence) – they really do tend to swear a lot these hot tempered people…
So, I hope you'll all enjoy the update. This story is different for me in the sense that my LoVe isn't going to be the major fact in this story. It'll have its place don't worry, but it's not the main event so to speak. Having Veronica settle into Neptune is. Please don't lose hope or whatever, I will still finish this story. I always finish my stories, don't you worry: )
This is an unbetaed chapter, if you find any glaring mistakes, please let me know so I can correct them!Chapter Ten: Two Blondes And An Actor Equals Trouble
"You're hiding something," the smug voice interrupted Veronica's quiet study time in the quad. Veronica had been sitting and enjoying a rare moment of solitude while doing some of her hated homework.
She didn't bother looking up when Lilly's shadow fell over her; instead she turned a page in her book and ignored the rich blonde.
Lilly didn't quite hiss in annoyance, but it was close. She leaned down and whispered into Veronica's ear, "I said, I know you're hiding something and I also know what that something is."
Immediately, Veronica leapt to her feet and grabbed hold of Lilly's arm, dragging her to a more secluded area to continue the conversation.
On the inside, Veronica was fuming and her heart was racing with a rare case of fear, If she knows the truth, she's gonna blabber it around. That girl can't keep a secret to save her life when it's got potential to take down one of her enemies. What do I do? Do I take her out? Veronica dismissed the thought as soon as it entered her mind, no it would be too much of a hassle and Nicole probably would be devastated. And Keith would somehow figure out the truth, I just know it. I can't do anything to disrupt the calm we've got going on right now; he doesn't know the truth but something tells me that he's close to sniffing something out…
"Excuse me, I don't particularly enjoy your touch so let me the hell go."
Lilly's voice brought Veronica's mind back to the present and she squeezed Lilly's arm a little harder before letting her go. "Whoops, sometimes I don't know my own strength. Now," Veronica's voice turned deadly, "what is it that you think you know, Miss Kane."
Lilly's face turned back into that smug visage she'd shown just moments earlier, but there was a brief flash of something in her eyes that warned Veronica not to believe everything that came out of the other girl's mouth.
"Well, I guess I should start by saying that my bodyguard of sorts used to work with a certain uncle of yours."
Veronica had never been more thankful for her acting abilities than in that moment, she simply raised an eyebrow nonchalantly, "Oh? My uncle worked with a lot of people in his life. Why should I worry about this one person?"
Lilly lost a bit of the sparkle in her eyes, but she soldiered on despite Veronica's lack of emotions, "Well, C.W worked in the CIA before he decided to get a better paying job. Not that I think he uses the cash for anything, I mean the man rarely wears anything than boring suits and-"
"I see," Veronica interjected coolly, finally allowing her heart rate to slow down a bit and she let out an inwardly sigh of relief. There was no way that this so called bodyguard would say anything about her uncle or Veronica. Veronica knew this because three years ago, she'd helped save his life when he'd been on a freelance job that just so happened to land him in the middle of a big pile of trouble that Veronica and her uncle were involved in.
"You see? Is that all you have to say?" Lilly copied Veronica's raised brow and leaned forward a bit, "I know your uncle worked for the CIA and that's probably not something you want publicized or whatever."
Veronica actually laughed at this, "really, Kane? That's all you got? I don't care if people find out that my uncle died for his country," she stressed the last part a little bit and continued, "besides I don't see why that would be so interesting to you anyway? I bet your C.W didn't tell you diddily squat and you're just bluffing, hoping to get me to say stuff that really is none of your business."
Lilly's eyes lost their twinkle entirely and Veronica knew she'd hit the jackpot. She glanced around, making sure they were truly alone and leaned forward herself to whisper coldly, "Now that the shoe is on the other foot so to speak, I want something from you and believe me," Veronica sent Lilly a chilled smile, "I'm not bluffing when I say that I know something too…"
0o0o0o0
A few hours later, Lilly Kane was seething in her car. She had just pulled into the Echolls' parking lot where she was about to do something that she hadn't planned on doing for a little while yet. And it's all because of that stupid blonde, Lilly grumbled silently.
And it had all started as such a great day, Lilly reminisced. After her talk with C.W where he'd disappointed her by refusing to tell her anything other than he'd worked with Veronica's uncle and that she should stay out of Veronica's way for her own safety, Lilly had decided to try and shake up the irritating girl no matter the consequences.
At first it had seemed to work perfectly, there had been a brief moment where Veronica's entire tiny body stiffened in what Lilly only hoped was fear, before she slammed a blank mask over her face and regained her iron control.
"And that's when it all turned bad," Lilly muttered and started rummaging through her beloved Vuitton bag for her smaller, but equally as pricy purse.
Veronica had not only threatened to destroy her reputation by showing everyone in school a tape of her and Aaron going at it in the Grande, but Veronica had taken things a step further and promised to make her life more than a living hell if she didn't stop laying into Nicole.
It's not like I even enjoyed making fun of Nikki, Lilly defended herself as she finally got out of her car, but she just had to see that suddenly turning her allegiance away from me is just not acceptable.
Thoughts of her best friend's sad eyes suddenly wanted to overtake Lilly's rarely used sense of guilt and she quickly refocused on Veronica's demands. One of which she was on her way to fulfill right now.
Breaking things off with Aaron Echolls. With my own little twist to it, of course, Lilly added mentally and smirked as she rang the doorbell.
The door opened only a few seconds later, revealing the old woman that Lilly vaguely recalled was Eli's grandmother. Sending the Latina a condescending look she patted her on the arm, "I'm just gonna go talk with the master of the house; you go back down to the kitchens or whatever hidey hole you have, okay?"
Without caring if the maid understood her, and especially without listening to that Nicole sounding voice inside her that scolded her for her rudeness, Lilly continued into the room she knew was Aaron's private office.
"Hey, you," she greeted with a flirtatious smile at the older actor sitting going over yet another script for yet another B listed movie. "Got a sec'?"
Aaron's eyes, that Logan had inherited, lit up with lust as they trailed down her body. "For you, always. We can go to the pool house and get more comfortable if you so desire."
Lilly watched in silence as the actor gracefully got to his feet and started making his way over to her. She put up a hand to stop him from reaching her completely and smiled coldly, "Not happening, Mr. Echolls. I'm actually here to talk business. But you're right; we do need to be somewhere more secluded."
Lilly turned and started walking outside where she sat down in one of the chaise lounges at the edge of the pool. The sun was warming her skin nicely and Lilly felt confident as she waited for her now ex-lover to sit down beside her.
When Aaron had placed himself a bit too closely to her, Lilly smiled again and burst out with her agenda, "We're done. You're boring me and oh, I'm kindda on a tight leash lately at home due to something or other with me using too much money so, I'm gonna need cash from you to stop me from going public with our little trusts."
As soon as she'd finished her thinly veiled threat, Lilly knew she was in danger and started inching slowly backwards. The air was heavy with dangerous tension. Aaron's hand snapped out and grabbed her wrist tightly without breaking that cold stare of his once. "Really? You come into my house and threaten me, girl? You really are dumber than I ever gave you credit for."
A painful twist and Lilly could practically feel the bones creak in her wrist and she groaned softly at the pain. "Let go of me," she got out through her gritted teeth, but her tormenter simply smirked and squeezed harder.
"Let's get a few things straightened out," Aaron's eyes had turned dark and there was a glint of something pure evil that made Lilly's heart beat faster – and not in the good way. "We're done when I say we're done and you are going to submit to me because you're just a little bitch in heat that needs to learn her place!"
Aaron stood up, pulling Lilly's smaller frame with him. He wrapped his free hand into her long golden locks and tore her head back viciously before planting his lips upon her violently. A few seconds later, he pulled back with an almost inhuman snarl on his now bleeding bottom lip.
Lilly barely had time to be smug before the man in front of her had twisted his arm free and slapped her hard on her cheek. "You annoying little harlot!"
Lilly swallowed the whimper of pain that wanted to escape from her mouth before sneering in her best "better than you", tone of voice, "I said, let go of me."'
The actor had the audacity to laugh and Lilly used her one free hand to reciprocate the slap. Then she wished that she hadn't done anything; that she'd just ended things without ever trying to threaten money out of the now clearly insane star.
The moment her hand connected with Aaron's cheek, his entire face transformed into something truly ugly. "Stupid girl," he hissed and then the beating started.
This time Lilly couldn't reign in her whimpers of pain and it didn't take long before she was lying on the ground, curled up in an attempt to protect herself from the more heavy hits that continued to fall on her. She was crying and screaming for mercy with a voice that didn't even sound like hers.
"Shut up! I'll stop as soon as I've beaten some respect into you, girl!" Lilly moaned as a particular nasty hit connected with her sore skin, but only seconds later, she prayed for more because Aaron's attention suddenly turned sexual and he'd thrown himself down on her body and she could feel him push her panties aside while opening up his pants.
"Please, please, I'll be good," Lilly begged, "I do whatever you want, please just stop, stop, please!"
Aaron chuckled darkly in her ear, "Why wait for you to give when I can just as easily take? Now shut up and let me enjoy myself." He ended the order with grabbing her head and slamming it into the tiles.
Lilly's head pounded in pain and her vision was blurry. She could taste blood in her mouth and briefly wondered if her tongue had been bit in two before losing her train of thoughts. Aaron's touches, touches that she used to love, now made her sick and she felt bile grow in her mouth. I'll change, she prayed, I'll be different, just please let me black out so I won't remember this…
Lilly didn't dare hope for any kind of rescue, in fact she barely held onto any hope of genuine survival once Aaron was through with her; she just wished for darkness and sweet bliss of unconsciousness. She should've known that no one was listening…or maybe something was, because suddenly Aaron's heavy body was all but torn away from her and Lilly was free.
Lilly watched through tear filled eyes as the most unlikely person in the world came to her rescue. Veronica something Mars.
The small blonde stood with her back facing Lilly, her position indicated that she was clearly knowledgeable in the arts of self-defense. She didn't look frightened at all and Lilly blinked in confusion, ignoring both the pain and the tears trailing down her cheeks.
Aaron didn't stay out of function for long; he got to his feet quickly and made his way over to Veronica. He opened his mouth, no doubt about to threaten the tiny female into capitulation, but before he even got one syllable out, Veronica was on him.
Lilly watched in awe and with no amount of fear, how Veronica simply beat Aaron to the ground. The much larger man was cowering with his, much deserved, pain as Veronica kicked, punched and just pure abused him. It was a frightening sight to behold and Lilly's swimming vision loved every second of it.
"What the hell are you doing?" An unexpected voice suddenly rang out into the pool area and Lilly dizzily recognized it as belonging to Logan. "Get the hell off my father!"
Lilly observed how Logan roughly pushed Veronica off the moaning Aaron, sending her into the pool. He ignored his surroundings, focusing on his dad. "Dad, here are your keys – if you can drive, go to Dr. Jenkins, I'll call him as soon as I'm done with that crazy bitch, okay?"
Aaron was helped to his feet and then he stumbled off towards his car. Lilly wanted to scream obscenities, warn Logan what a terrible mistake he'd just made, but her tongue wouldn't cooperate.
Fortunately for Lilly, Veronica's mouth didn't lack in power. In that moment, she jumped out of the pool, soaked to the bone and she was cursing in multiple languages at the equally as furious Echolls Junior.
Veronica was interrupted in her cursing when she moved to block Logan's would be push in her shoulder. She promptly kicked out with her leg and sent the tall teen to the ground with a small bang. "You should really know all the facts before you butt into things that aren't any of your damn business," Veronica sneered and turned to walk over to Lilly.
"You're such a little know it all weirdo, I can't believe I ever wanted to…You just go fuck yourself!"
As Veronica crouched next to Lilly, acting like Logan's words didn't affect her at all; she started pulling the hurt girl to her feet, Lilly spotted the exact moment when Logan became aware of her being there. "Lils? What the-? What happened?"
Veronica slung Lilly's arm over her shoulder and took a gentle hold of her waist at the same time as she answered the confused Logan coldly, "Your beloved Daddy happened, Echolls. I came here just in time to pull him off her. By any chance, did you notice that your daddy's fly was open? Wonder what he intended to use his dingdong for?"
Logan paled and Lilly knew he was slowly connecting dots that she'd rather he didn't. Veronica didn't seem to care about Lilly's unspoken wishes or Logan's sensibility because she continued on ruthlessly, "Your dad's a psycho, Logan and Lilly's paying the price for her stupidity."
"V-Veronica," Lilly managed to get through her lips, "don't…he hasn't done anything wrong."
"Except from letting that lunatic escape," Veronica countered and started making her way to her car. Logan followed silently.
"I don't understand anything." He quietly said, his earlier rage oozing out of him, but not entirely forgotten as his eyes landed on the still dripping vet Veronica.
Veronica helped Lilly into her car and turned to Logan. She muttered something that Lilly couldn't hear, but judging from the shocked, betrayed and renewed angry look in Logan's eyes, she was willing to bet her inheritance that Veronica had filled him in on just what Lilly was doing in the Echolls Mansion in the first place.
A few minutes later, Veronica had left the fuming Logan to himself and was driving away without a second glance. Lilly did think that Veronica's eyes glinted with something akin to remorse when she glanced in the rear-view mirror at Logan before he vanished from her sight.
The two young women didn't speak, Lilly simply didn't know what to say and her aches were big enough to remind her that her mouth had gotten her into trouble in the first place and that she didn't need any more pain to go along with it.
It wasn't until she noticed that Veronica wasn't driving towards the hospital that Lilly finally took a deep breath and spoke. "You missed the exit for the hospital."
Veronica shrugged and turned left into a part of town that Lilly didn't recognize. "We're not going to any hospital, Kane. I'm thinking that taking you there would pose too many issues that I'm not willing to deal with right now. Especially since I want my involvement to remain a secret in all of this mess. I'm taking you somewhere safe."
A few miles later, Veronica stopped the car next to an apartment building that, in Lilly's opinion, didn't seem like much, "What is this place?" she asked hoarsely.
Veronica didn't answer and simply helped Lilly inside into a small apartment. The first thing Lilly noticed once she was inside was the punching bag that was hanging in the living room. The second thing she noticed was a couple of deadly looking knives lying on a small table in the middle of the room. Lilly looked briefly at the silent Veronica and decided that maybe C.W.'s warning hadn't been entirely without reason.
Veronica helped Lilly into the only comfortable looking armchair in the whole room and disappeared for a moment, coming back with a wet towel and some bandages. Twenty minutes later, Veronica had cleaned both herself and Lilly up, given her some painkillers and the two girls were now sitting in an uncomfortable silence together.
Finally, Lilly took the plunge, "I…err, Thank you for helping me."
Veronica met her gaze, "It was your own fault that it escalated to the point that it did, but seeing as I was the originator of the whole thing, I guess I should accept gracefully."
Lilly smiled, "So what happens now? Judging from your earlier words, I can't really see myself being allowed to press charges or anything."
Veronica smirked evilly and for the first time, Lilly realized that the girl in front of her was more like herself than she'd previously thought, "I have a plan. It'll mean that your reputation gets shot to hell, but Aaron Echolls will get a dose of what he deserves. You in?"
Lilly grinned again, ignoring the pain in her ribs the movement caused her. "Oh you bet I am."
0o0o0o0
The next day, Lilly was limping into the school next to Duncan. She ignored the looks and even managed to send a semi polite smile to Luke, who she'd called and broken things off with the night before in the gentlest way she'd ever broken up with anyone before.
Besides, she thought with a wry inwardly smile, it's not likely that he's even gonna want to be seen with me after today.
People looked at her limping form oddly, but due to no small amount of makeup to hide any visible bruises, Lilly's schoolmates lost interest pretty quickly.
Of course, it returned tenfold during the last class before lunch. Lilly was sitting in the back with some of her friendlier frenemies when the screen on the wall next to the blackboard inexplicably turned on and a dark form with a muffled voice stated ominously, "Aaron Echolls, take one."
Scenes of their rump in the Grande flashed by and Lilly held her head up high in defiance. After all, she'd agreed to publicize the tapes that Veronica somehow had managed to get her hands on. Then Lilly's stoic mask faltered a bit when the dark form that only she knew belonged to Veronica showed up again and said coldly, "Aaron Echolls, take two."
Lilly watched in growing horror as the images of Aaron's loss of control was shown to the entire school. She watched in silence, how her own form cowered on the ground in a ball of trembling fear. Fortunately for Lilly's last piece of pride, there was no sound so no one would be able to hear how she'd begged for mercy, especially as the footage of Aaron's attempted rape flashed by.
The video ended abruptly the second before Veronica had pulled him off of Lilly and the clouded form on the screen returned for the final time, "Aaron Echolls, I'm coming for you…"
Damn that girl is good, Lilly felt the pinch of admiration clearly, but she put it away to ponder over later. Instead, she gathered her things and made her way outside to the quad. This time people didn't just send her odd looks, they whispered and pointed at her. She was pretty sure the word 'slut' came up a few times.
Just as she started to sit down on her regular seat, one of the other seniors, a girl named, Carol something, crossed her arms in a would be condescending manner. "And why do you think you have any right to sit here, home wrecker?"
"Because," the most unexpected of voices sounded in the sudden stillness, "she owns the damn thing so shut up."
Lilly swallowed a lump of trepidation and looked up into Logan's eyes. He was the one that she truly regretted having hurt in all of this, but like Veronica had pointed out, it had been necessary to go public with the video as a way to get Aaron into some major problems with the press.
"Hi Logan," she greeted quietly. "I'm sorry about-"
"No," Logan interrupted and sat down next to her, "You're aware that what you did was a shitty thing to do, but no one deserves what you went through so we're even or whatever."
And that was that, after Logan's support no one dared to make fun or otherwise belittle the Kane girl. Lilly actually caught herself thinking as Duncan and Logan reignited their friendship tentatively, that things were better this way.
Out of the corner of her eyes, Lilly spotted Veronica and Nicole walking with Weevil to their usual table. Veronica nodded to Lilly once before looking away and refocusing on Weevil. Nicole didn't even look in Lilly's direction and Lilly amended her earlier thoughts.
Maybe there were a few things that weren't all that good…
Lilly cast a look at Logan and noticed that his eyes trailed Veronica's form in much the same way that her own had just done Nicole's. Maybe I'm not the only one that has some apologizing to do…
0o0o0o0
The gurgling of the coffee machine was the only sound in the big office that Keith Mars owned. He was sitting at his desk, the door ajar to make sure he didn't miss either of his daughters coming in to do their work after school.
He was deeply engrossed in a report from Vinnie Van Lowe (say what you want about the guy, but he sure knew how to write some interesting reports and his detailed narrative style often reminded Keith just why he kept the less than honorable detective on the payroll.).
Suddenly, a sound interrupted Keith's reading and he looked up while his free hand was already grasping the handle of his hidden revolver under the desk drawer. Then he deflated slightly when he recognized the unexpected visitor.
"Mr. Wiedman, what can I do for you?"
The impeccably dressed head of security at the Kane estate nodded with a polite smile and sat down in the chair that Keith gestured towards. Then he took a deep breath and turned serious. "Well, Mr. Mars, I came to talk to you about your daughter, Veronica. I think there are some things that you need to know about her and her past."
Keith's face lost all emotion and he leaned back in his chair, linking his fingers together as he listened attentively. "I see…Well in that case, would you mind closing the door?"
TBC…
A/N So…heh…not much to say really. Only this: If you ever wonder how long it's gonna take for an update, check out my profile page. I post my update progress there so this way my readers can see if I'm close or not to updating: ) Please leave a review to let me know what you're thinking:)
Until Next Time
Ditte Mai