Brooke closed her eyes and struggled not to remember what had happened, this had been the night from hell.

7 hours earlier

Feelings of impatience warred inside her, she'd been at home sitting in her room, bored out of her mind, and a rampant need to get out of her house had compelled her to sneak out of her house.

Young and sexy and nowhere to go, newly 16, her daddy had bought her a brand new silver VW beetle, his means of being a father, always through money.

He had recently married bimbo wife number four and they were coming home on the weekend so he could introduce her to her mommy.

Always home alone by herself, she consoled herself by going out to various clubs and making out with meaningless guys, her reputation implied that she was a slut. But what no one knew was that she was a virgin and was determined to maintain that secret until she found someone she loved enough to make love with.

It may seem like a stupid idea, but it was her wish to fall in love and to have someone like her for her and not her money or her body.

Rolling her eyes, she got into her car and drove off in the darkness. Flipping through the radio stations, she found a hard pounding metal song and rocked her head along with it. Ignoring the beeping of her cell phone, she turned up the music and kept going until she was crossing a bridge. Pulling over to the shoulder of the road after she'd crossed it, she dialed her messages and listened impatiently. Probably Peyton or some other girl wanting to go out.

She was surprised by a mechanical man's voice asking for Miss Davis to call him back ASAP.

Dialing the number, her hand shaking slightly, a dark sense of intuition scaring her.

After hearing what he'd had to say, she dropped the phone to the mud on the ground below. A roaring echoed throughout her ears. My father is dead, my father is dead, I'm supposed to go see the lawyer on Monday to hear his will, his new wife is also dead.

Brooke stood silent for a second in denial, then reality came crashing down.

Thrusting her arms out up to the heavens, she screamed out her pain, rage and anger. "Why?" was lost in the wind as it picked up. Rain pelted down from the heavens.

Falling to her knees in the dirt, Brooke touched her cheek, surprised by the coldness of it. "I'm all alone, why?" tears ran down her cheek. Wrapping her arms around herself, she didn't notice the car pulling up beside hers.

The headlights flashing at her. "Brooke is that you?" a masculine voice called out.

Brooke turned slightly, tears still running down her cheeks. Her fists clenched tightly in anger as she turned to confront him.

"Nathan what do you want? A piece of ass." Cynically laughing, she got to her feet and stumbled over to him.

"Brooke are you drunk?" Nathan asked quietly.

"No, happy slutty Brooke isn't drunk." Wrapping her hands around Nathan's neck, she leaned up to whisper in his ear. "I'm all alone in the world now, my daddy is dead, I just got the phone call, I get to go hear the will on Monday, I'm so lucky." Laughing hysterically, she spun away from Nathan and back into the pouring rain.

"I'm all alone, maybe I should kill myself, no one would care, no one would miss me, I would just be another statistic, another teen tragedy." Walking to the bridge, she hoisted herself up onto the railing, swinging a leg over, she looked down at the raging river below.

"Bye bye Nate," she turned to look at him, shocked to see tears running down his cheek.

"Am I that pathetic, that you have to cry for me. I won't have people cry for me, I'm a slut ask all your friends, since they like to brag about how easy a lay I am," jumping off the railing, she got up into Nathan's face.

"How about Nate, want to fuck me?" trying to shock him with her vulgarity, she cupped her breasts blatantly and rubbed herself against him.

Tears blinded her as she collapsed onto the cold cement of the bridge. "Why did he have to die? Why?" she moaned over and over to herself.

Nathan picked her up off the ground and cradled her in his arms. Carrying her to his car, he made sure her car was locked up and the lights were off.

Turning the ignition off, he looked over at Brooke and saw that she'd fallen into a deep sleep, mascara tears stained her cheeks.

Carrying her into the his beach house, he took her upstairs to his bed and removed her wet clothing leaving her clad in a bra and panties.

Removing his clothes except his boxers, he climbed into bed with her, body heat was the best way to get warm.

Brooke snuggled closer to him in her sleep.

Present

Brooke awoke slowly, looking over at the bright digits of the clock glaring at her, 4:23 a.m.!

Then she remembered what had happened, she looked over at Nathan, her heart turned over with warmth at the thought that he'd brought her somewhere to sleep without trying to have his way with her.

Brooke closed her eyes and struggled not to remember what had happened, this had been the night from hell. Finding out her father was dead was hell, now that she was alone. At least Nathan had been nice to her.

Sneaking out of the bed, she walked over to the window and watched the rain pour down, it almost soothed her, that the weather conveyed her feelings. An outpouring of emotion, she struggled to tear up, but she felt spent. Her emotions were drained for now.

Nathan woke up and saw Brooke standing there silhouetted by the light looking so lost and forlorn by the window. Slowly he got out of bed and padded over to behind her.

"Come back to bed, you need to rest," his hand lightly traced her arm. Brooke looked down at his hand and then up into his eyes, which she couldn't see because of the shadows in the room.

"Thank you for being so nice to me." Brooke arched up and kissed him softly on the cheek. Softly she padded back to the bed, waiting for him to join her. She nestled in his arms when he climbed back under the blankets.

The last thing she felt before she went to sleep was the comforting stroke of Nathan's hand on her hair.