A/N: Thanks for your wonderful reviews.

I've been writing this story a lot recently and neglecting everything else. I promise you that atm this is my favourite of all my stories. This story (In my humble opinion) is going to kick ass. I've totally had this story planned out for months and every so often something clicks that makes it work all the more better. So stick around, these chapters are going to be long… you might need a snack… a pee break before you read… a glass of water… maybe even a tissue… so come prepared… I bring goodies in chapter 17 ;)

xo

Chapter 17 – Tijuana Lady

"Mom! Dad!" he hollered through the house, his car keys in his hand as he wandered around the house looking for the only two people that could help him at this time, "Are you home?"

He had been home eight hours after that long haul flight from Heathrow to LAX after the concert. He hadn't even bothered doing anything but packing his bag once the show had been over. Since her accusations had been thrown at him, he'd had a point he needed to prove. He had something that he needed to do and it just so happened that now was the perfect time to do it. Now his bag was repacked, back in the car and he was preparing for that short drive to the place he'd been told she'd ran away to.

He found his parents in the kitchen nursing that morning's paper with yet another story and another lot of rumours. Selena had already been dead once this week according to TMZ and he wasn't sure how many more times she was going to die before the truth came out and blew up all over the media. He was working on borrowed time. Each new story took them a step away from discovering the truth about what had happened. It gave him longer to find her and kick the ass of the boy that was ruining her life.

"I need to take Big Rob somewhere for the night…" he said clearly as he stepped towards them. He was going to be a man. He was going to start saving others instead of his own neck. He was going to prove himself… he'd promised himself that he would prove himself to her. He was better than this… he was better than what she thought he was.

"Excuse me?" His father asked with a laugh.

Nick sighed and sat down next to his parents with an exhausted sigh, "I need to take Rob and I need to go somewhere for the night…" he repeated before pausing, "I'm not doing anything I shouldn't be… but I can't tell you what it is that I'm doing because I need to do it on my own and Rob won't interfere. I need you to trust me to do this… because I think I can make everything better…"

His father gulped down some coffee and narrowed his eyes at his son, "Can you give us a clue to what this is about?"

Nick shook his head.

"Can you assure us that you'll call us every hour on the hour up until the moment that we know that you're safe?" his mother asked as she stood up and walked around to stand by him.

He nodded, "Sure… I might even be back before tonight…" he shrugged, "It depends…"

His mother looked at him before looking at his father, before they began doing that weird thing that they did when they wouldn't talk to each other, they would just converse with their eyes.

"Okay…" his mother said, "Fine… one phone call… every hour…"

"Come on…" he said as he held his cell phone out the window attempting to get some kind of service. In Mexico, it was apparently impossible for him to have any contact with the ones he loved. He was secluded from the world and in his own little bubble trying to save the world he had built up around him before he let it fall and dissolve around him until he was alone. He was attempting to be the makeshift glue of a world that didn't want to be stuck together.

"Have you called her yet?"

"Yes… she hasn't picked up the phone!"

Nick groaned and looked down at the phone. No messages, no missed calls, no emails… no instant messages… nothing. She wasn't answering. She wasn't returning his calls. She just left it ringing and ringing until her voicemail message kicked in and for a moment he thought she'd answered him instead of the computerized recorded message that had been changed since the time he first attempted to call her in London. All she said was that she was busy and she couldn't come to the phone for a while. It used to ask to leave her a message. Now it seemed she didn't care what people had to say.

Rob shook his head, "I was talking bout Momma J."

Nick blushed and quickly he nodded, "Oh… right… Yeah…" He closed his eyes forcing himself to remember what his mother had said, "she said to make sure I keep calling or I'm grounded…"

He sighed and unfastened his seatbelt, pushing his body out of the car window as he searched for service. But before he could even look to see, his body had been hauled back into the car, his seatbelt fastened in place as he blew his curls from his eyes.

"Just because your folks ain't here doesn't mean that you can act like a idiot," Rob said as he pulled over to the side of the road, "How 'bout now?"

Nick sighed and looked down at the screen of his phone trying to seem like the fact he was being treated like a child wasn't bothering him. But considering the fact that when he began jumping up and down in his seat he looked like a child, he decided not to mention it. He had service and it was quite enough to call her and leave her a message. One of the very many he'd left her over the past few days that he'd been attempting to look for her. He had decided that it would be best just to bombard her with over-whelming attention in order to scare her. But that hadn't worked. At the end of each night the inbox of her phone was full and by the time he woke up, it was empty again. She was ignoring them.

So he decided that he would use the only other thing that could scare her.

"It's me." He began just like he'd done the dozens of other messages he'd left her, "So I'm tired of this and I'm not going to give up trying to get you to talk to me." He sighed and placed his hand tiredly over his eyes, "Either you call me and tell me where you are or I call your mom and mention to her that I know you're in Mexico. Your mother is scared and I don't even think you know what that means. She thinks you've been kidnapped or that you've been murdered. When she finds out that you've just been fooling around in Tijuana with a guy five years older than you I don't think she's going to be very happy about it. I always thought that orange would suit that guy… I guess he's going to be wearing it for the next few years of his life…" He lashed out, hitting the dash of the car, "You've got two hours Lena… then I'm calling your Mom and the LAPD."

He hung up the phone angrily and looked out of the window over at the dry fields. He wiped his face and felt the skin relax exhausted against his hands for the milliseconds that it was there. He sighed loudly and shook his head as he leant forward. The sound of Rob's hand falling onto his back to pat it in comfort echoed around the metal shell and Nick shook his head in defeat.

He was tired and he was angry… and for so many different reasons.

His head was filled with the memories of all the many conversations she'd one-sidedly had with him, making it widely known what she really thought of him. She hated him, it was his fault and she had pretty much explained how she wished he'd never even entered her life. She'd kissed him and for a few moments he thought he'd been given his last chance. But then, quicker than her lips were on his, they were shouting at him, telling him that he had ruined everything and that he was going to ruin everything if he didn't fix himself. All he could seem to do was fail to attempt to block out those comments and those reminders and concentrate on finding and fixing all his mistakes. He hadn't slept for hours and he didn't want. There were so many things to be done.

"Hello?" he said when, forty minutes after he had called her, she had finally called him back. He knew that she couldn't fail to notice that he of all people did not screw with anyone unless he really had to. He was ruthless, brutal and unlike any other person she knew when it came time for him to do something. He always relentless never gave up trying.

"Hi…"

He let a laugh escape him as his spare hand let his fingers rub his tired temples, "Where are you? I'm coming to get you."

"You can't come get me!" she jumped on his words before he had barely spoke them, her breathing shallow and nervous. Her voice was quiet. She was hiding.

Nick felt the anger bubble in him. If he'd laid a finger on her… he'd kill him.

"Where is he?"

"He's gone to the store along the street for some food…" she admitted in a whisper, "You can't come and get us."

Nick laughed, "I'm not coming to get both of you… I only want you and that's it. He can burn in hell for all I care."

She took a deep breath and he could hear her brain working a mile a minute to try and figure out what on earth she could say that would make this all seem okay. She was trying to find a way to justify her acting like an idiot and believing some guy who she hardly knew at all. In Nick's opinion, this was all more proof that Miley was nothing like Lena. Miley would never fall for such crap as this. She thought she might of, but she wouldn't. She was ten times smarter than any of them and he would admit it in a heartbeat.

"It's not how you think…" she whispered.

"Yes it is…" he cut through her in an instant and she whimpered at his snappy remarks, "It's exactly how I think… so tell me where you are and I promise you that I'll not call the police the minute he gets on US soil and tell them that he kidnapped you."

"You wouldn't."

He paused and let his breaths steady. He was about to have a heart attack or something. He needed to calm himself before he screamed at her.

"Test me…"

He waited patiently. He knew that she was going to tell him eventually and he didn't care how long it took. She was going to tell him, even if he had to force her. He was angry… something he hardly ever experienced at any other human being that wasn't Miley. But he wasn't just any kind of angry… he was looking for someone to take this all out on that wasn't himself. He had ruined everything and he didn't know how to fix it anymore except to carry on with everything that he'd started.

"Fine…" she whispered, "I'll tell you…"

"What are you doing here!?"

Selena screamed as Justin yelled, the sound of the Nick's shirt ripping echoed around the room as Justin made a grab for it, pulling him towards him by his collar. She screamed louder as Nick's companion walked into the room and pulled the man off the boy and threw him against the wall with a crash. She was screaming, yelling, begging them to stop and leave him alone because this was her fault to, but the visitors and saviours ignored her wishes as they did their best to keep the man on the floor away from her and away from hurting them.

He was writhing in pain, clutching at Rob as he tried to get to Nick. His hands were extended and grasping for him in a way that no other person had tried to, like he wanted to prove a point. His face was red with anger unlike he'd seen when he'd left him and Miley talking about what had happened backstage at the concert for Hope. But there was one thing that he could notice in his face that he hadn't realised before when he'd ruined everything for him and Miley… when he'd saved her from this fate...

It was disappointment.

Justin wanted to punish him for ruining his plan… for ruining the life he'd attempted to build for himself.

He obviously didn't realise that he'd done just that all on his own.

Nick, in a burst of anger, let his fists rain down upon him. He wanted his nose to be broken just like his had been. He wanted his shoulders to ache and for his cheeks to sting with the pain of the women and people he'd hurt. He wanted him to feel the pain that he had felt over the past few weeks. He wanted Justin to know what it really felt like to be him… to really love the two women he had attempted to break… how much it really hurt to see them scared, afraid… sad. He had always wanted to protect Miley and Lena. He'd always needed to see them safe at his hand… but he'd never ever got to show it to them.

He wanted the world to know that if you messed with them, if you broke or damaged them… then you would have him to answer to.

His own hands were covered in the blood of his own split knuckles mixed with that of his enemies by the time he had punched and kicked him until he was crying on the floor like a small child, begging for help. He flicked it onto the floor staining it red and shook his head disgusted. He still felt no better than before. He was still revolted.

His eyes turned to look at her, silently crying, sitting in her small underwear and the pale blue sheet of the bed. He had never been more ashamed and disgusted with himself and with her. She was meant to be the good one. She was meant to make everything better again. Instead, she'd just… made everything slip into a place he had never thought he would have to go. He saw the hurt in her eyes and he knew that he should have been kinder. But so many things could have happened if she'd never done this… so many great things could have happened for all of them…

He shook his head slightly, "Get your things… we're leaving…" He stepped away and took out his wallet as he stood over the whimpering fully grown male lying on the floor. He took out the usual wad of cash he kept in there and let it litter down on him, "Here…" he mumbled, "Something to help you pay for what you've done…"

Justin laughed holding his ribs, "You know, buddy… you're trying to make me out to be the bad guy right now… but you fail to realise that you're the only person who's broken those two girl's hearts!"

He wheezed with laugher and Nick smiled with him, teeth grit and menacing. Nick bent down to him and grabbed a handful of his hair with a shake of his head. He smiled as he pulled his face close to his so that he could whisper, "You're disgusting." He nodded, "You're revolting… and I may have made some mistakes… but at least I care about those girls and I want to protect them…" he muttered as Justin's eyes looked up at him terrified. What a real man he was…

"Don't come near either of them…" Nick warned letting his head fall back onto the floor with an echo, "Not one step in their direction… or I will hurt you…"

"Are you going to tell everyone?" she asked sheepishly.

Nick shook his head avoiding her eyes still, "No."

"The police?" she whispered.

Nick looked over at her, hands clasped in her lap as Rob drove them home, and he knew what she had done. She'd done everything that the group of them had always said they would never do until they were completely sure. She'd known Justin a week and he knew that she'd given it away… she'd relinquished the last of her virtue to a boy that would use it for a story in the press rather than as a way to get closer and more emotionally involved with someone. If it would have been him, he would have worried more about her than anything else on the planet at that moment. But he knew that the only thing that had been on his mind when he'd ruined her would have been… and it wasn't of the welfare of the girl lying with him.

"It depends, Lena…" he smiled weakly, "What have you done that I could possibly call the cops for?"

Her face dropped and she looked down at her bare knees, her fingers playing at the hem of her dress that rose half way up her thighs. It looked like she'd been wearing it a few days.

"He didn't force me…" she whispered tearfully, "If that's what you're thinking…"

Nick shook his head looking out of the window. He thought when she admitted to it, he'd feel something… jealousy… or anger… But instead he still felt the same shame and anger he'd been feeling since the moment he'd seen his friend acting like the sun shined out of that guy's ass. Even more, he felt ashamed of himself because he was unable to understand what she was going through…

"Not at all… not at all…" he muttered, uncomfortably breathless, "I'm just thinking that you've broken the law… you've broken you're promises… and you've broken many, many hearts by doing this…"

She grit her teeth and shook her head, "Then why are you here?! What else do you want other than to tell me how much of an idiot you think I am and look like me like I'm something you just stood in?!"

"Because you're my friend!"

She shook her head, "Are you jealous?"

Nick's mouth dropped in disbelief, "No!"

"Then why are you here?! You're my ex­-boyfriend!"

"I was your friend first…" he breathed out exasperated, "Can't a friend help another friend out when he thinks that they're about to completely ruin their life?!"

Selena smiled, her eyes filled with menace and annoyance, "Not when it's you…"

He narrowed his eyes and looked at her questioningly, "What's that supposed to mean?"

She smiled and sighed.

"You're Nick… since before I even knew you I knew you as the guy that kept out of everyone's way and kept himself to himself…" she shook her head, "You don't drive for hours to a hotel on the beach in Tijuana just to help someone. You wait and let someone learn and do something their self and find out the hard way on their own like an asshole…" she paused and shrugged, "So here's a question…

"Who's letting you learn?"

Nick smiled and shook his head. She had him. She knew him almost as well as his best friends. But no one would ever know him as good as her though… she had seen all of his different sides… she had seen his many faces. She knew every good and every bad part of him that there was. She had seen everything she needed to see to know that she didn't want him.

He gulped, "I'm trying to prove myself…"

"To who?"

A blush flushed across his cheeks just thinking about that one person and his eyes glazed over, "Miley…" nerves bubbled within him and he looked down at his hands just like she'd done. He coughed and spoke up, repeating himself, "Miley…" He nodded, "She told me she hates me… and that everything's my fault…"

Selena nodded in realisation her mouthing forming and "oh".

"You still love her huh?"

Nick didn't answer. He just stared at her, but by the intensity of his gaze, she knew what it meant. He had told her he wanted to break up with her because he didn't want her to be stuck in a relationship where her boyfriend would be constantly on tour and unable to speak to her. Now he was just confirming that she hadn't been enough for him and he still wanted the one thing that he could have. He would never learn.

He was surprised and relieved when all Selena did, as they pulled into her driveway, was lean towards him and kiss him on the cheek and wrap her arms around him, her mouth settled by his ear so that Rob couldn't hear her.

"You don't need to prove yourself…" she whispered to him, "You just need to tell the truth…"

He smiled at her as she loosened her grip from around his neck and opened the door. She slid out of the car and looked back to smile at him. He watched her carefully as she slowly walked towards her house, off to fight what remained of the battle he would not be able to continue to fight for her. Instead he would just have to keep moving slowly along with his own.

A/N: I only like/am attracted/want Nick when I write him… Is that bad of me…?

So… what did you guys think? Any good? I kinda liked it…

DEAL: Ten Reviews = new chapter

At least I know that 10 people like it hahah

Much love B xo