Okay guys, IMPORTANT UPDATE. I know it literally has been a year since I updated this story and I apologize for keeping everyone waiting. Expect updates to be slower on this story because I've really been out of the Watch Dogs mood lately and I need to be in that mood in order to write good chapters. I just want to thank everyone for sticking around and having the patience for these chapters, plus I appreciate the feedback. Anyways, enjoy this chapter and hopefully if I'm in the right mood, I can update quicker in the future.

(Aiden's P.O.V.)

Well, it has approximately been one week since Clara and I kissed. She hasn't come to me with an answer and I respect her decision to think things through, but the more I waited, the more anxious I got. I was secretly hoping that she would say yes to us being together, but I often wondered about her saying no too.

Of course, if she did say no, I'd be disappointed, but I'd also understand. Still, a part of me doubts that she would say no. That kiss was all too passionate and she had to feel the same connection as I did with her. Ever since the kiss, I've tried to act as normally as I usually would with her at school and it seems to give her some sense of relief. I didn't want things to be tense between us, so I figured that was the least I could do.

Now, on to other things, it is currently Friday afternoon and I'm in the middle of doing my homework until...

SLAM!

I hear the front door loudly slam shut and a rough groan followed. That could only be one person, my sister. I stopped what I was working on and I exit my room to see what was going on. I enter the living room and see Nicky stomping towards her bedroom looking pissed.

"Nik?" I call out.

She spared me a glance, but didn't respond as she continued walking away. Before I could approach her, she slammed the door to her bedroom right in my face. I thought about knocking on her door, but then I thought of the possible scenario that would take place. She'd probably scream at me and tell me to go away, so I decided to let her cool off first.

After about an hour and a half, I heard her open her door. I listened to her footsteps approach the living room and that's when I left my room to talk to her. I enter the living room and I see her sitting on the couch while staring into the TV. I could tell she wasn't watching it and her mind was else where. I approach her from behind the couch and tap her shoulder. She jumped slightly at the sudden contact, but once she saw me, her frown was quickly back on her face.

"What's wrong?" I ask.

She was silent while crossing her arms before replying, "Nothing."

"Really?" I say, not believing her. "You slamming the door and stomping to your room looking like you're about to kill someone is considered nothing?"

She rolled her eyes, "Can you just leave?"

"Not until I find out what the hell has got you this upset."

"It's none of your business, Aiden!" She snapped suddenly.

"Nicky, I've never seen you this upset before, so it's definitely my business."

"My God, Aiden!" She abruptly stood up. "Just leave it alone, you're only going to make it worse!"

And with that, she stormed off again. Well that went exactly as I expected. Still, it didn't stop me from wondering what was up with her. It probably has something to do with that boy she had with her named Cody, who she said was her boyfriend. If it did have something to do with him, we may need to have a little talk, but I needed to be sure.

I sigh before returning to my room. I spent the next few hours texting Clara about the whole ordeal. She just advised that I leave Nicky alone and maybe she'll open up sooner or later. Mom came home after a few hours and Nicky wouldn't even talk to her. Whatever made Nik this upset must have been really bad. I'll bug her about it tomorrow and see if I can get anything out of her. Right now, she seems way to angry to talk to me, or anyone.

The next morning, I got up earlier than usual. I had checked the time and it was around 5:30am and I had to use the restroom. Sleepily, I got out of bed and I was headed towards the restroom until I stopped when I heard sobbing coming from Nicky's room. I went up closer to her locked door to investigate. All I heard was crying and this only made me more curious as to what was going on.

After about 30 seconds, the crying stopped and I heard footsteps from inside her room heading towards the door that my ear was leaned against. I instantly moved my head away from the door and I retreated to my room, which wasn't too far from her's. I hid behind my half opened door and I peeked out. I saw Nicky headed towards the kitchen.

I know I shouldn't, but I wanted to look through Nicky's phone and see if that would shed any light on why she was so upset. And I did just that. Staying as quiet as possible, I managed to sneak by Nicky, who was currently digging into some chocolates, and within seconds I was in her room. I spotted her phone, which was lit up, sitting on her bed. I heard constant notification sounds coming from the device which made me all the more curiouser.

I know it was wrong of me to intrude on her privacy, but Nicky was usually chipper and full of energy and to have her this upset was unsettling to me. I decided to say fuck it and I picked up her phone. It didn't take me very long to find several text messages from two unknown numbers which said things along the lines of, "Ur a cheating slut," and "Whore." Reading the messages caused my blood to boil. Now I knew this definitely had something to do with that Cody guy.

As if I wasn't already pissed enough from reading more messages, there was one that caught my attention. "Go kill yourself."

My heart sank knowing that Nicky had probably read this message and she was sobbing her eyes out because of it. There was no way that this wasn't my business anymore. I had to talk to Nicky about this whether if she liked it or not before something potentially bad could happen.

"What are you doing in here?" I hear Nicky's slightly shaken voice from a few feet behind me.

I turn to her and I could see that she had been crying because of her puffy red eyes and her tear stained cheeks. It wasn't too difficult for me to see it in the darkness of her room.

"Nicky..." I say softly before releasing a heavy sigh, "We need to talk."

"There's nothing to talk about, Aiden," she says sounding defensive as she stomps over to the bed and tries to get her phone back, but I held it back from her.

"Really?" I say with a cocked eyebrow before showing her the growing messages on her phone screen. "Explain this."

Nicky opens her mouth to say something but closes it it. She then opens her mouth once more to speak. "You shouldn't be looking through my phone," she says while making another attempt to grab it and she succeeds this time as she holds the phone close to her.

"Nik, I read those messages. I know I'm your brother and that I annoy you at times, but...you can talk to me about this. Really."

She was silent for a moment and she looked like she was contemplating whether if she should tell me or not.

She sighs, "Just...just get out of my room, Aiden."

I shake my head, "Not until you tell me what's going on," I say stubbornly. "This isn't right, Nicky, and you know it."

I watched her as she tried to keep a stern face, but eventually her lips started to quiver and she broke down crying.

"Hey," I said softly while standing up and placing a hand on her shoulder, "What happened, Nik? Talk to me."

She didn't say anything at first as she attempts to contain her tears by wiping them. I looked around and found a box of tissues near her bed. I picked it up and pulled out a tissue for her. Without saying anything she takes it and blows into it quite loudly. Normally I'd be grossed out, but right now I was concerned for my sister.

"I don't know...what I did wrong..." she stuttered. "I...don't know...why he...he did that."

I furrowed my brows wanting to press her further for answers, "Who did what?" I swear if Cody did something to her-

"I was at school," her shaken voice interrupts my violent thoughts. "Yesterday, I was at school and...people started asking me if I had cheated on Cody. I didn't know what they were talking about," I could hear an edge to her voice when she said the last sentence. "I never cheated on him."

I nodded along with what she was saying in understanding, making sure to listen to everything.

"So...I asked them what they were talking about and apparently Cody and his friends had spread rumors about me cheating on him all because I was talking to this one boy, but I wasn't even interested in him!" She begins to raise her voice a bit.

I sighed. I knew that Cody kid was up to no good. I watched her as her eyes began to look around the room as if she was trying not to look at me.

"And..." she tries to form her next sentence, but instead stays silent. She sounded like she was holding something back and she looked ashamed.

"Nik, look at me," I say softly and reluctantly, her eyes meet mine. "It's okay. You can tell me."

I make sure to give her shoulder a reassuring squeeze before she finally found the courage to speak.

"I...I..." Tears began to prick at her eyes which made me all the more worried for her, but I was also beginning to get more and more angry at this boy just by how distressed Nicky was.

I heard her breathing start to quicken and it looked like she was beginning to panic.

"Hey, Nik, you need to relax," I spoke worriedly. Now I definitely needed to know what this son of a bitch did. I then lowered my voice, "Did he hurt you?"

Juding by the way Nicky remained silent in response and how she was starting to cry again gave me more than enough information that I needed.

"I'm gonna kick his ass," I say hoarsely. Nobody hurts my sister. "Tell me where that asshole lives."

"Aiden, no," she rapidly shook her head while letting out a few sniffles. "You'll get in trouble and you know that."

"I don't care," I could feel my face heat up from anger. "If he has done anything to you he deserves it."

"I know, Aiden, but I need you to step back this time. You're four years older than him and you could get into serious trouble if he were to tell anyone that you hit him. Not only would we both get in trouble, but he would get away with it," her voice cracked as she started crying. "Just listen to me, Aiden, and stay out of it. Please..."

I held onto my anger for a few more seconds, but when I saw her torn expression, I decided to let it go for now. Deep down I knew she was right and it wouldn't be smart to beat up the kid. Besides, this situation wasn't about my feelings, it was about Nicky's and I needed to be here for her right now.

I gently pulled her toward me and I wrapped my arms around her with my chin resting on top of her golden blonde hair. I could hear her muffled sobs against my chest, her hands clentching my shirt. We held each other in an embrace for a few minutes before Nicky's weeping began to die down.

"I don't know what to do, Aiden," she mutters while pulling away. "The whole school thinks I'm some..." she groans knowing that she couldn't bring herself to say 'slut.'

I shake my head out of frustration. "Well we can't just sit around and do nothing. Have you told any of your teachers or principals about this?"

"I have," she sighs, "but they don't think it's a big deal and they don't take it serious."

"Of course they don't," I roll my eyes knowing all too well of my fair share of teachers who didn't give a shit about anyone's problems. I'm sure there were teachers out there that cared, but not any that I have encountered.

Suddenly, an idea occured to me.

"Maybe we could get him to confess that he lied," I say. "We could confront him and record everything he says. If this Cody kid is as much of a punk as you say he is then he seems like the type to brag right off the bat."

"Hmmmm, that doesn't seem like too bad of an idea, but if we do this, we'll have to do it at his neighborhood, and you have to promise not to do anything stupid."

I fell silent knowing that I couldn't exactly promise that I wouldn't try anything if Cody were to say anything snarky.

"Promise..." she says in a demanding way while narrowing her eyes at me.

I sigh defeatedly. "You have my word."

She eyes me skeptically before speaking. "Okay. I'll need you to use your phone to record, but make sure he doesn't see it. I'll address the situation to him and hopefully get something out of him. You think you can handle that?"

I lightly smile. "I can handle anything."

Nicky lowers her brows and quirks her lips up. "No, not always you goof," she nudges me on the shoulder.

A grin formed on my face feeling pleased knowing that I got Nicky to at least quirk somewhat of a smile.

About an hour later, when it was time to get ready for school, I asked Nicky if she needed me to stay home in case she needed me, but she assured me that she would manage and that we would confront Cody after school ended.

Throughout the majority of the day, I didn't pay much attention to what the teachers were talking about. In math class, I thought that I had to put up with Jordi, but he turned out to be surprisingly silent throughout the class period and he looked like he was pissed about something. Whatever his problem was, I'm glad it got him quiet for the day.

It wasn't long before fifth period came around and once I walked in and saw Clara, my heart couldn't help but beat quicker. She was giggling at something on her phone as she twirled her wavy locks of hair. Damn she's beautiful. Ever since that night at the party, I've had a different perspective of her. I found myself admiring her from time to time whenever she would rant to me about something, or when she would get bubbly or happy.

I've been trying to keep things normal with her during our everyday conversations since I didn't want things to be awkward between us. She seems to appreciate my patience with her and as much as I respect her wishes for me to allow her to think things through, the waiting would often get me anxious and it made me wonder if she would ever give me an answer.

I make my way over to my seat beside her and she didn't seem to notice me as I sat down. She looked to be preoccupied with looking at memes on her phone. I leaned towards her, my head nearly hovering over her shoulder as I looked at her phone.

"Whatcha laughing at?"

My question caused her to jump and let out a high pitched shriek.

"What in the hell?" I faintly hear T-Bone mutter from a distance once he heard her make that noise.

"Câlisse (Fuck) Aiden, you scared me," she says once she sees me. She places her hand on her heart as a way to calm herself down.

I laughed at her. Her reaction reminded me of Nicky's when I would try and scare her. "You get scared too easily."

Clara rolls her eyes in a playful manner. "Well I didn't know you were there."

I was still smirking playfully at her which caused her expression to change into a more serious one and her cheeks tinted a bright pink color. This made me grin even wider knowing that I had a certain affect on her.

"So did you get anywhere with Nicky?" She tries to shake it off.

As much as I wanted to start teasing her, I decided to let it go especially since I wanted to talk to her about what was happening with my sister. Maybe I'd do it some other time.

"Well lately she has been dating this boy named Cody," I say, my tone turning bitter upon saying his name, "and he's been starting rumors about her cheating on him. I'm not sure why he's doing that, but we're going to confront him after school about it and hopefully get him to confess about him lying . We're gonna try and record what he says too."

"Wow, it seems like you two have a plan going on."

"Yeah, and apparently he has done something to Nicky to hurt her and I'm damn well going to figure out what that is."

Her brows furrowed. "Your sister seems like a nice girl. I'm not sure why this guy would want to hurt her."

"Yeah, me neither," I said while trying to hold in my anger.

She seemed to have noticed my frustation and I felt her hand touch my shoulder.

"I'm sure you two will figure this out," she gives me a warm smile. "And besides, you might want to hold in your anger, or you might do something you'll regret."

I sighed knowing that she was right and I did my best to calm myself down. "Yeah, you're right."

After that, the rest of the class period consisted of us chatting from time to time about different subjects while we worked on paintings. The rest of the day felt agonizingly slow and it was probably because I was itching to meet this boy who happened to hurt my sister.

When I got home, Nicky had called for me to meet her in her room. Once I made my way into her room, she quickly shut the door.

"Okay," she says. "So Cody should be home by now and I haven't told mom that we're doing this. That's why I need you to tell her that we're going to the movies or something. Besides I don't think she'd likely approve of what we're planning to do and she would rather snap at the teachers who can't really do anything."

I nod. "Okay, then how about I say that we've decided to 'get along' and I'm taking you out to lunch. Sound good?"

"As long as she buys it."

As we got ourselves ready to leave, I made sure to have the record button ready on my phone before hiding it in my jacket pocket. I told mom where we were going and she seemed delighted that we were actually willing to spend time together, or maybe she just wanted to believe that. Regardless, my excuse worked because we were already in the car.

"You have his address?" I ask while starting up my car.

"Yeah," she pulls it up on Nudle maps.

"Okay, let's meet this asshole."

It took about 10 minutes to make it to Cody's house. Judging by how hip he dressed, I was half expecting him to live in some expensive home, but it turned out to be kind of the opposite. His house looked to be two stories and it looked like a generic home.

I decided to park somwhere next to the sidewalk not too far from his house. I turn to Nicky to see if she was ready, but when I looked at her she was biting her nails which was a nervous habit she had.

"You alright?" I ask.

Her eyes quickly shot over to mine as if she just realized she got caught. "Yeah, I just, didn't expect to be so...anxious."

"You need me to go down there and talk to him?"

"No, no," she shakes her head. "The plan is for me to talk to him and for you to record. We're sticking to that." She takes a deep breath before saying, "Let's go."

She opens her door and I was quick to the do the same. We both got out of the car and made our way over to his house. The driveway was empty which made me wonder if he was even home.

"It looks like his parents aren't home, but don't worry I know he's here," Nicky explained. "He updated his social media not too long ago inside his house so he should be here."

"Good."

We went up to the front door and Nicky was the one to knock. I made sure to turn the record button on while I stood there. We waited for a good thirty seconds until I spotted him through the window walking down the stairs. The door opened and that's when I was face to face with the kid for a second time. He was wearing a white tank top with baggy pants hanging way too low for my comfort. Both sides of his head were shaved and his dirty blonde hair was slicked back. He honestly looked like the typical fuck boy and I'm not sure what Nicky saw in this guy.

I watched him as he glanced back and forth at the two of us at first looking somewhat bemused, but then a smug smirk appeared on his face.

"Really? You brought your brother along?" He scoffed. "You couldn't just talk to me by yourself?"

"Cody..." she takes a deep breath, "Why...why did you tell people that I cheated on you?" Her voice came off kind of shaky as if she was struggling to find the right words.

"Uh, because you did," he crossed his arms with a cocked eyebrow. His smartass attitude was starting to piss me off, but for Nicky's sake, I decided to stay back and let the two talk.

"What do you mean I did? You know I didn't," she furrows her brows.

"Really? I saw the way you were looking at that guy you were talking to the other day."

"Cody, we were working on an assignment together," she says sounding exasperated. "Are you saying that you were jealous?"

There was a sensitive look on Cody's face for a brief second before it was covered up with his usual cocky demeanor.

He scoffs. "No, as your boyfriend it's my job to make sure you're not talking to other guys."

I clenched my teeth at the logic of this guy thinking he can dictate who Nicky can talk to. Who does he think he is?

Nicky shakes her head in disbelief. "Cody, since when was it considered cheating if I just simply talk to another guy?"

"Nicky, you knew exactly what you were doing. You give that same slutty look to every guy you talk to and you deserved what you got."

I don't think I could contain myself any longer. I promised Nicky I wouldn't do anything to this kid, but just listening to him made me want to slam his head into the dirt.

"What...?" she sounded like she was about to cry. "No, I didn't deserve all those rumors about me and it doesn't excuse you...touching me like that."

After hearing that, I was quick to look back over at him with a furious expression.

"You touched her?" I say in a low and threatening tone. I could feel my face heat up while trying to restrain myself, but it was getting more difficult by the second.

"Aiden..." I faintly hear Nicky pleading me to not do anything, but my thoughts were too clouded about ways to beat this guy's ass that I didn't fully register her voice.

Cody laughs. "Are you serious? You deserved that slap in the ass."

That's when I lost it.

I lunged toward him and grabbed a hold of his shirt not caring how old he was at this point. I pushed him into the door and I was ready to shove my fist in his face.

"Aiden, don't!" Nicky shouted while making her way over to me. "You know what'll happen if you do this!"

"He deserves it!"

I didn't fully process Nicky's hand landing on my shoulder until I heard her distressed voice.

"I know he does, but this doesn't make us look good at all!" She exclaims as she continues to try and pull me back. "Just let him go."

My eyes were still locked on Cody's, who looked almost afraid, but he was trying not to show it. If it weren't for Nicky, he would have already been on the ground, but deep down I knew this wasn't a good idea. The kid didn't say anything as he continued to breathe heavily. It took a lot of willpower, but I managed to bring myself to let go of him. I stepped back and Cody, now looking disheveled, was still hunched back against the door.

"You're fucking crazy," he says with a voice crack.

"We've been here long enough, Aiden. Let's go," Nicky says while continuing to pull me back by my arm.

"Yeah, take you and your stupid ass brother out of here!" He spat out, looking at me with disgust.

No less than a second later, Nicky stopped moving me away and her head snapped towards him.

"Did you just call my brother...stupid?" She asked in a slightly more confident tone than she had prior.

Cody was quiet for a second before replying, "Yeah because he is!"

I watched Nicky as her mouth gaped open and her brows furrowed.

"No," she shook her head. "You can say all you want about me, but...you don't get to make fun of my brother."

"Why not? He attacked me!"

"Believe me if he would have attacked you, you would look way worse than you already do now."

"Well he's a fucking retard for even putting his hands on me in the first place!"

A part of me wanted to laugh at the kid for the dumb shit that was coming out of his mouth, but seeing how visibly angry Nicky was getting, I held back.

"He is NOT a retard!" She boomed. "You don't get to call him or anyone for that matter a retard!" I could only watch as she began to approach him. Jesus, she thought I was something to worry about. "If anyone's a retard here, it's you!"

"Says the attention seeking whore that comes to her deadbeat brother when she gets called out!" He exclaimed.

No less than a second after he said that, the palm of Nicky's hand had made harsh contact with Cody's right cheek. I raise my eyebrows slightly in surpise from Nicky's swift action. That slap sounded like it hurt.

"You listen to me, Cody," she gritted her teeth while he held onto his now red cheek, "I'll make sure that you never hurt or touch another girl again because God knows of how many others that you've tricked."

As Nicky was blasting him, I noticed that tears were starting to form in Cody's eyes while he was still clutching onto his face. Was this kid serious?

"I'm telling my mom about this!" He whined. "She'll make sure that you never go back to school again!"

Nicky scoffed knowing full well that we were secretly recording him. "We'll see about that," she then turned to me while taking a deep breath. "Let's go, Aiden."

I grinned, feeling astonished but proud of my sister for standing up to this asshole. Although we'd probably have to cut some parts of the audio out before we turn it in to teachers at the school, I'm sure we have Clara and her tech friends for that.

We ignored Cody's threats of putting us in jail as we made our way back to my car.

"And you were worried about me hurting him," I chuckled as I stared down at her.

She let out a small laugh, "If anyone is going to make fun of you, it's going to be me. Not some punk who gropes women." Her frown suddenly faltered as if she had just realized something. "Wait a minute, that recorder picked up on you grabbing him."

"Don't worry," I say, still smiling. "Clara's friends will take care of that."

"How?" She cocked an eyebrow.

"Let's just say they're good with technology."

She sighs, "Okay, as long as they can take care of it."

We got in the car and on the way home, we mostly talked about how Nicky handled the situation. I had to hand it to her. She seemed scarier than me.

Once we got home, we were instantly greeted by mom.

She smiled at us sweetly, "So, how did it go?" She clasped her hands together.

Nicky and I both looked at each other and then back at mom.

"It went well," I say with a grin.

Not much else was said as we both made our way back to our rooms, or so I thought until I discovered that Nicky was following me into my room.

"Hey, Aiden?" She said my name as she walked in. "I just wanted to say...thanks. Thanks for being there with me," she says a bit awkwardly.

I smiled at her warmly. "Hey," I rest my hand on her shoulder, "It's my job to watch out for you and if you have any other problems with this guy, you let me know."

She smiles before wrapping her arms around me, holding me close to her. I was a little caught off guard considering that it was rare for me and Nicky to share heartfelt moments like this, but never the less I returned the gesture. He held each other for about five seconds until Nicky was the first to pull away.

"So, um..." she stood there staring at me, seeming like she didn't know what else to say. "I'm gonna go back to my room."

I nodded not wanting to make her feel awkward. "I'll have the audio taken care of and we'll turn them in to the teachers at your school as well as the text messages and get him suspended. Even though he deserves worse than that..."

"That's true, but what else can we do without us getting in trouble?"

"Good point."

We said our goodbyes after that and Nicky returned back to her room. I let out a long sigh. Although I sounded certain when I told Nicky that one of Clara's friends could sort out the audio, I was only just assuming that since Josh told me he was pretty good with that kind of stuff. I'm pretty sure he or somebody else in the group can.

Regardless I'd have to find out tomorrow.