Hi guys! So, this chapter is actually not a chapter – confusing, huh? This is just some Lilly thinking about stuff, I wanted you people to know a little more about her and her life in Miami. That's what came out. The real plot will be coming in the next real chapter.

This is just……….background information, I thought you might wanna know.

Have fun reading it, kay?

Backgrounds

Even though Lilly knew that toweling her hair dry would take a certain amount of time, she did it because of not wanting to search for a blow-dryer through each of the drawers of the three dressers in the middle-sized bathroom that belonged to her guest room. Yesterday evening, or more specifically, earlier this morning, she had been too distracted to even notice that there was a white wooden door leading into another room, the girl had spent her time searching for at least one bottle of alcohol, but in the end……….she had been quite happy when having opened the doors of the giant wardrobe, because there, she had found a whole bar on the midde shelf. Everything to occupy an alcoholic for at least a weekend. Sambuca, Tequilla, Bacardi, Jack Daniels, Scotch……….she had counted 18 bottles.

Nethertheless, before having searched in the wardrobe, the blonde had, of course, already looked into the dressers and the nightstands………and she had felt disgusted by what she had seen in one of them.

Lilly had opened the upper drawer and her eyes had widened in shock: there were some condoms, some lube – strawberry-flavoured lube – some handcuffs and other stuff the girl tried to forget as hard as she could. What kind of pervert had this Verone to be?!

That was why she wasn't willing to open any of the drawers in the bathroom, Lilly thought that she had already seen enough!

Fortunately, there were no windows in the middle-sized room, so that she was completely on her own.

She had locked the door and had taken a shower, a hot shower to get her head clear and to get Verone off her skin. The girl could still feel his breath on her neck and face, his lips on hers, his tongue………she shook her head. Don't think about that right now, just don't!

By now, she sat on the edge of the extra-large tub, a huge white towel wrapped around her body while she dried her hair with another one that had laid next to the tub.

It had been seven a.m. when she had woken up after having hardly slept for more than three hours this night.

Breakfast at ten, she thought, running a hand through her hair to feel if it was already dry. Playing with one of her blonde locks, she eyed it and remembered Brian saying that he wouldn't be talking to her anymore, if she ever dared cutting it off. Her brother loved her hair and the longer it got, the more he liked to tease her about it, but when she threatened to have it cut, his lips would form this tiny pout and he would tell her not to do it.

You're my baby, she heard him almost whining, I didn't mean it when I said you looked like a Barbie. I'm sorry, just don't cut it off, you can't cut my hair off, that's no fair.

Yes, it was his hair, even thought it wasn't on his head, it was his hair.

"I miss you, bro",Lilly whispered and while raising from the edge of the tub, the towel she had wrapped around herseld fell to the ground, but she didn't bother to pick it up, after all, there were no windows and she had locked the door, so she walked over to the dresser she had placed her clothes on. Next to the dresser, on the wall, was a full-length mirror and Lilly stopped to take a look at her reflection, Spike's husky voice in her ears.

"You're the effin' 'ottest 16-year-ol' I ever seen, Tiger",he had told her once when they had been shopping some new clothes and Lilly had walked up and down in the changing room to check, if the low ryders she had put on really fit.

"Already 5'7 tall, though you're still growin', curly blonde 'air down to your gorgeous tiny waist, flat belly wit' a slight six pack, wide 'ips shakin' when you walk, tight ass, endless muscular legs, full lips, 'igh cheekbones – like mine – beautiful ocean blue eyes and, o' course",he had smirked,"some decent c-cups."

That was Spike at his finest! Rotten to the core, but she loved him for being like that, because he was at least honest.

Someone's gotta tell you that you're 'ot, Tiger, you gotta build up some bloody self-confidence and that fuckin' brother o' yours doesn't seem to do that a lot, and Spike didn't like Brian, although they hadn't met, yet, and hopefully never would, otherwise, Lilly would be in lots of trouble.

Spike's real name was Raymond, the girl had met him the first time she had been dancing in "The Club" and they had been comfortable with each other immediately.

It had been at the beginning of February, when Lilly had still been fifteen, that she had seen Raymond sitting on a bench at the coast, crying and shouting at the people who dared so much than looking at him. The blonde had walked up to him and sat down on the bench as well. The man hadn't shouted at her, but, nonetheless, told her to "just leave him the fuck alone". And Lilly hadn't, instead, she had asked him what had happened.

"You wouldn't understand",he had said and shaken his head.

"Try me, I kow about lots of stuff",the girl had answered while looking him straight into the eye.

"Oh, yeah",Spike had snorted and reagarded her curiously,"you know 'bout losing friends?"

"Unfortunately, I do", and then, she had told him about Cathy, her best friend ever. How they had met, how they had refused to be girly, how they had drunk alcohol together when they had stayed at each other's over night, how they had smoked cigarettes and pot, how they had read books to each other………and how Cathy had died. Shot by some guy, accidently, but eventually, she had been dead. Lilly had never told anybody these things before, not even Brian, yet, with Raymond, she had had the feeling that she…………….that he had been the one she could tell.

"How'd you manage to get over it?"The man had asked her, his eyes showing deep respect for her.

"The last book Cathy an' I read was The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand",Lilly had swallowed down her tears at the memory," and there's this one part where the main character and his best friend are sitting on a boat and the friend says that the man is very cold and the man replies that if the boat were sinking, and there was only room in the lifeboat for one person, he would gladly give up his life for his best friend and then, he says something what I didn't understand before Cathy died. It was kinda like : I would die for you, but I won't live for you. That's how I managed it. My friend's dead, I can't change that, as much as I would love to, I just can't, yet, she's still a part of my life because I remember her, but………living for a dead person is no way to live, ya know?"

And Raymond had looked at her before embracing her, before thanking her over and over again. That was the day Raymond – Spike – had become her "best big surrogate brother ever".

"So did Will, Thomas and Mouse",Lilly smiled at the memory while putting on her bra,"my crazy lil' family, including Sugar and Nico, of course."

Each of them was special to her in a certain kind of way.

It had started with Raymond, but soon after she had gotten to know him a little better, he had told her that all of his friends called him Spike due to him having a strong resemblance to James Marsters who played the vampire named Spike in the TV show Buffy: The Vampire Slayer…….and due to Raymond cursing a lot, just like this blonde vampire. He had even dyed his dark blonde hair platinum blonde only to have fun with people mistaking him for the original.

Spike was 26 and had opened up a piercing and tattoo studio after having graduated from college in no time and was now living in a huge apartment together with Sugar, a black woman he had dated when they had still gone to highschool.

Sugar's real name was Jenyza, but she loved "the irony of life", so she wasn't called "Coacoa" but "Sugar". The 24-year-old woman was a lot like Spike: she was always honest and would listen to Lilly and her problems, she was just as blunt as her roommate – whenever Spike, Sugar and Lilly were together, they made the girl blush at least once – and very open-minded, bi-sexuell and she didn't judge people she had never met, unlike Spike. But the best thing about Sugar was that Lilly actually had a female person to talk to about guys and sex and other problems most 16-year-old girls had to sort out. She didn't know why she wouldn't trust Suki with this, it was just that………..the blonde feared that Suki wouldn't keep it to herself and tell Brian when there was a major problem. So, Sugar was like an older sister and best female friend to Lilly. The only thing disturbing was that the woman was not only a nurse but also a model and tried to get Lilly to model as well.

"Sugar, no",she had raised both her hands into th air,"I can't. Just think of my bro, no, really."

"If 'e really loved you, 'e'd let you do this bloody job",unless Sugar, Spike judged people without knowing them.

Then, there was Will. Lilly had found out a little later that he and Sugar were cousins but they behaved like brother and sister, because Sugar's parents used to beat her and her younger brother Julian – Mouse – so that their uncle and aunt – Will's parents – had gotten their custody rights when Sugar and Will had been fifteen and Mouse seven.

Will's parents owned this really cool beauty-salon where he worked during the day, while at night, he would go out dancing in clubs as a professional.

They all did, even Lilly.

Mouse aka Julian still went to school, he was in tenth grade like Lilly, so they had met way earlier than the others because his locker was right next to hers. In school, everybody called Mouse "Jul" and there was no doubt in the fact that he was the coolest guy in school, even the seniors respected him and Mouse had told her that Mike Anders had tried to become his friend ever since, but he considered him a jerk. The reason his true friends called Julian "Mouse" was obvious: due to him having been beaten by his parents, the boy had gone more and more silent. Of course, now, a couple of years later, he wasn't all that silent anymore, nonetheless, he kept a lot of things to himself – like Lilly. Maybe that was why they had bonded so well.

It had happened when Lilly had gotten detention for being too late for class, although it really hadn't been her fault, because it had been her first week at the new school and therefore, she hadn't known where the class room had been. So, she had gotten detention. That day, Mouse had gotten detention, too, for having started a fight – he had merely tried to separate two guys and ended up in the middle of a fight and the teacher had thought that the others had been lying when saying that it hadn't been Mouse's fault. It had been the two of them in this class room, the teacher hadn't showed up, and they had started talking. They had become friends, much better friends than Lilly and Shane were, but, in school, nobody knew, or maybe a few did know but kept silent.

"We got da same wavelength",Mouse had once said and really, they could be together without actually talking and they still talked.

"Do you read bloody mind or what?"Spike had asked and then smiled seducively. "Wanna read mine, Tiger?"

Thomas was Will's boyfriend and had been Spike's best friend since primary school. That was why Spike still worked in the "Falls" as a bartender every now and then, not because it was the hottest club in Miami, but because Thomas was the acting manager of it and so………Lilly got free access to the V.I.P. lounge whenever she came to party. She liked Thomas a lot for him reminding her of the 15-year-old guy that had lived next door when she had been separated from Brian. He had been her babysitter and taught her how to play the the fact that she had been merely nine years old back then, she couldn't actually play the drums, but Thomas was teaching her now. He and Spike had once had their own band and he was pretty good at hitting the drums. He was a brother as well, offering advice and help, asking her about her interests, supporting her when she needed it.

And then, there was Nico. Spike's younger brother. 19 years old. Coal black hair by nature, always short between one or two inches. Dark liquid brown eyes, like Guiness. High cheekbones like Spike's. Taller than his brother. 6'3. A "to die for" body. Damn intelligent, too. He had gratuaded from highschool last year and was now studying management while working as a bartender and a dancer to get some money in. Everybody in their little group told them that they were perfect for each other, they kept lecturing Lilly for not asking him out, because she really was in love with him but she had the feeling that he was playing in a much higher league than she did, that she wasn't good enough for him. It was strange when she was with Nico: they would shyly offer each other hints of smiles, blushes and compliments, they even held hands at times, but yet, they had never gotten out on a date before, they hadn't even danced with each other, yet. Lilly could understand that they didn't "get it going" because of her being like the stupid 16-year-old blonde and Nico being the 19-year-old god of sex. He and Spike did kick- and thai-boxing, Nico's body looked like it had been carved into pure bronze.

"Why would he want me?"Lilly was completely dressed and went to the sink to brush her teeth. "He's got so much to offer and I? Hi, I'm sixteen and I spray cars."

Spike had offered her to teach her how to do kick-and thai-boxing during the summer vacation and she was looking forward to it.

Summer's gonna be great.

Ever since Lilly started hanging out with her family, they had been showing her what Miami nightlife meant and by now, the girl had free access to almost every club in town due to her being a professional dancer.

Every now and then, managers would come by at "The Club" and search for new dancers for their clubs to animate and entertain the people. The system here in Miami was called "quit pro quo" – 2QP – it meant that the managers would walk up to the dancers they liked and ask them to dance in their clubs for a certain amount of money per hour but without such thing like a contract. So, the dancers danced and if they wanted to, they would get the money they had earned in one night cash, or the managers would put it "on the house". Then, they wouldn't get the money, but it would be saved for them by the owner. A computer regulated all of that, so, when a dancer decided to go party in that particular club, everything he drank or ate or smoked or took would be paid for with the money on this person's account.

Of course, when the dancers were really good, they got everything for free: access to the club, drinks, food and drugs……….because partying dancers would dance and therefore, entertain and animate the other people in the club.

Lilly smiled. She had "everything free" in 14 clubs by now – drinks, access to the V.I.P. lounges, food and drugs – quite good considering the fact that she had been in the system for merely a couple of months. However, there were only four clubs she went to regularly. The "Falls", the "V.I.P.e", the "X" and the "Phoenix".

Brian didn't know, of course. He would kill her, if he ever found out, but Lilly wasn't that stupid. Her brother raced at least three times a week. He would leave the apartment at ten or eleven p.m. and come home around three up to five a.m.. Enough time for Lilly to – quote Spike – "get all dirrty", with double r, not one, no, two r's.

Unfortunately, Brian had this nasty habit of checking out on her after having come home, so that he would actually walk into her room to see if she was sleeping, but Lilly just locked her door and when he had once asked her about it, she had answered him that she was always a little scared when he wasn't at home and he had indeed bought it!

A knock on the door made her jump.

"What's it?"She asked, still standing in front of the sink.

"I am bringing the clothes Mister Verone wishes you to wear",a male voice with a strong Spanish accent answered her.

He wishes me to what?!

"Just put them on the bed",the girl shrugged. She wasn't planning on wearing something he had chosen for her, although………..some fresh clothes would be……….Hell, no! Girl, what are you thinking?!

Lilly waited until the guy had left the room and then went to see what was lying on the bed.

"That's sick!"Actually, the clothes looked quite good, but it was something else that had caused her sudden outburst: there, next to the blouse and the capri pants, laid a bra and a thong!

"What kind of pervert is he to think that I'm gonna wear that!?"

A thong! And a bra! A damn thong!

She looked down at herself and eyed the items in front of her before looking down at herself again. The white capris weren't as tight as the black jeans she was wearing and the dark red blouse wouldn't reveal as much of her belly as her top did.

"No",the blonde said, shaking her head,"I………so maybe not the underwear……….no!"

Checking her watch, she saw that it was 9.42.

Maybe, I should, but I couldn't wear my panties underneath these capris. The bra he sent doesn't fit. I got some 36 c-cups, boy, not b-cups. How fucking sick is it to send your prisoner underwear?! So, perhaps by wearing the capris and th blouse, I could convince him that I'm not much of a threat to him, so that he wouldn't keep me watched……….nah, not gonna work. Wearing the clothes or not? Wearing my tight and kinda smelly clothes or his ones which are clean and wider? I must be going mad……….., she shook her head no and reached for the capris.

"I can wear panties underneath",Lilly eyed her reflection and was content that her red panties weren't shining through the white denim of the capris. She then pulled her top over her head and took the blouse still lying on the bed to put in on as well. Fortunately, it really was wider than her top and longer so that her belly was completely covered.

"Better not be trying anything like kissing me, boy",she murmured while putting on her high heels," this time, I'm gonna kick your balls with these."

Again, a knock on the door. Lilly got up and waited for a man she hadn't seen before to guide her out of the room.

Let the show begin, she thought while walking through the halls.

So, what do you think: chapter or not?