A/N: YAY! New chapter! I promise this one will be longer… I hope. Prepare yourself for some angst and drama in this one! Haha. Okay on with the story.

DISCLAIMER: I'm lazy read the previous one :p

XxX

Chapter 2: I Love You

JAMES POV.

Why wouldn't she leave me alone? I told her that I was fucking fine. She needs to leave me be before I hurt her.

I can't hurt her though. I love her. But no! She's too young for me! Or Kendall is always in the way! He would kill me if I even placed a finger on her in that way…

"James… I need to know." She finally whispered.

"Know what! That I'm sitting in the corner of my room, smoking weed, to keep life's troubles away! You don't understand, Katie… And you never will."

She looked at me with forgiving eyes. What did she have to be sorry about? I'm the one that messed up. I'm the one that is messed up.

"Look, tell me what I can do to help you. Please, James. Your scaring me." Katie sounded so regretful, so helpless. "Does…Who else knows?"

"Nobody. Please don't say anything Katie, please." I sounded so stupid! Like a whiny little bitch.

"Okay, I won't. But, how much have you had today?"

"Just, a li… not much… before you walked in, ha! I started like, sixty four, heh, eighty day minutes…"

"Your not making any sense! Are you sure you just had a little?" She sounded so terrified.

Everything began to blur. I knew I didn't have that much. I lit it when Carlos left our room this morning.

"James…?"

I turned my head and looked away from Katie at the alarm clock. The bright red numbers shone in through my eyes like a laser. I quickly blinked the feeling away and read the numbers.

It took me a while to process it but Carlos has been gone for three hours.

"James!" Katie shouted, snapping me out of my realization.

"What?" I knew it was an idiotic question, but I had no idea why she was screaming my name.

"James, how long has this been going on?" Her voice was beginning to calm down, yet she still sounded distant, when she was only inches from my face.

I couldn't speak. My throat felt clenched up, and my vision began to sway. Instead I held up three fingers.

She stared at my hand, and how I struggled to keep it steady. I saw tears start to form in her eyes as I looked in them.

She must have known I meant three hours and not three minutes. We've been together for ten minutes. Yet she couldn't even respond to the situation right now.

She had to know. But why won't the words come out? What would she think? What would anyone think?

I just want to feel secure. Feel safe. Why is one girl driving me to the edge?

My muscles felt like jell-o, and my body went numb.

KATIE POV.

Three hours? How could anyone not notice? Didn't Carlos suspect anything? What about my mom? How could nobody know?

I felt for him. His usually beautiful face was fixed in discomfort and pain. The look in his eyes showed me that something was troubling him. Why wouldn't he just tell me.

James continued to cry, holding the tube of weed, trying to resist the urge to smoke it. I wanted to help him so bad. I felt useless just watching my 'brother' do this to himself. I had to be strong. I had to do something.

I was about to stand up to get someone. Carlos, Logan, Kendall, anyone. But as I moved James' face relaxed, and he dropped the tube. He looked at me with such tearful, pleading eyes, I knew he wanted me to stay. I frantically rushed towards him when he tried to reach out to me. Crouching down next to him, I blew out the remainder of the drug and looked in his eyes.

His pupils, the size of a pin drop. His normally amazing hair, clumped in different section. His perfect lips, pulled in a tight frown.

I began to sob harder, as all he could do was stare at me. He almost seemed lifeless, brain dead, immune to the world.

I looked at his face again, and drew my arms out. He looked confused, until I wrapped my arms around him, and pulled him into a tight hug.

His body felt tense at first, but I whispered into his ear that it would be alright, and he immediately melted into my embrace. I felt his head slowly droop down to my shoulder, as he body began to shake with sobs.

Finally gaining some of his muscle control back, he flung his arms around me, like it was the only thing keeping him from drifting to the deep end.

We cried together, until I had no more tears left, and his breathing became more steady. A few whimpers still came from his lips and it made me realize that he had fallen asleep.

I gently got up and freed myself from his grip, laying his on the floor gently. I cleaned up any evidence from the weed, and coated the air with Febreze, just in time when Carlos came in.

"Oh my god, Katie!… I had no idea you were still in here. I… I'm sorry, um…" Carlos mumbling like an idiot only made me blush more.

He came into the room, straight from the shower, wearing only a towel wrapped around his waist.

I didn't have a thing for Carlos, but if I said that I wasn't turned on by his perfectly sculpted muscles, and rock hard, tan, abs, I would be lying.

"It's… it's fine. I was just…leaving!" I quickly mumbled feeling the heat rise in my cheeks.

"Wait. Why is James on the floor?" Although he sounded like he wanted to laugh, I could tell he was concerned.

Shit.

"Um, well when I came in here, he was lying down and… he said he had a bad headache. Uh, and then I asked him if he was okay, and he said yeah, and when he tried to get up to walk out of the room, he um, stumbled! And I tried to catch him, and he just sat on the floor…"

Think Katie. Think!

"Oh yeah! And then he started to doze off, saying that he didn't feel good, so I grabbed the blanket off of his bed and put it on him!" I said the last part fast, slurring my words on the way.

Carlos gave me a strange looked, but shrugged afterwards. Yes! I'm in the clear!

"Anyways, I don't think he should be going to rehearsal with you guys today… I know Gustavo's gonna get all mad, but he should sleep what he… I mean, he should sleep this feeling off!" I flashed my signature smile at him, getting a hint of a smile out of him.

"Oh god, Gustavo's going to shit himself… The tour is only two weeks away… But your right, James needs to rest. He's been acting different lately. I can't figure out what it is though." Carlos walked over to me and fluffed my hair with his hand.

"Ah! Carlos!" He began to walk away, still only in the towel. Wait! Why was I thinking about Carlos like that? … Stupid teen hormones!

He started to search the room for a shirt, bending down here and there…Really! Again I'm thinking like that.

I looked at him awkwardly and he walked back to my direction. I gazed at his abdominal muscles as he walked. Each step he took they tightened then released. He stopped right next to me, and draped his arm over my shoulder.

I found it so funny, how he's so short compared to me.

He looked up at my face, when I quickly turned away to hide the rosy color forming on my cheeks.

"Katie, are you… blushing?" Why did he sound amused?

"What! No… ew…" And why did I have to sound so awkward?

"Aw, it's okay Katie!" He let his arm fall, and he stood in front of me.

Next thing I knew, Carlos is formed in some type of Abercrombie pose.

"I know I'm sexy! James is just pretty! I got it all, Katie!" I stared at him like he had two heads, but hey, that's Carlos for ya'.

"Um… yeah about that… Anyways! Should I go tell the other guys that James won't be coming?" I was desperate to change the subject.

"Actually Kendall and Logan left, to go grab some smoothies before they headed to the studio. It's a good thing your mom went back to Minnesota for the week. She would freak if she knew one of us weren't feeling well, with the tour coming up."

"Oh. Well I'll be home all day, so I'll stay with James. I should leave so you could uh, get dressed." He glanced down and saw that he was still only wearing a towel, practically naked before his best friends sister.

I saw the look on his face and chuckled before I walked out, shutting the door gently behind me.

XxX

I heard Carlos leave a few hours ago, saying bye before he left. I didn't call anything back. I was too busy thinking about what happened in the past few hours.

Was James really doing drugs? But why? He's never shown any signs of leading to that path. James never seems unhappy. He loves his life here in L.A. We all do. Why would he be so upset?

I averted my gaze to the kitchen when I saw a figure walk by. James finally emerged from his room, and stood at the sink, leaning on the ledge.

He looked a little better at least. I got up from the couch and walked his way stopping behind him.

"James." He jumped at the sound of my voice, and quickly turned around to face me.

"How are you feeling? Are you still.. High?" I asked.

"I don't know, Katie. My head is pounding. Everything is so loud. I mean I guess I'm not as bad as before…" He sounded so sad.

I sighed. What is bothering him? It's killing me not to know. "You know we need to talk about it, right?"

"Yeah… Can we talk about it now?"

"Maybe you should eat something first. I mean, it might help your hea-"

"No. I want to talk about it now!… Sorry. Just, please?" He asked me in that sad tone again.

"Alright, come on." I took hold of his wrist and brought him over to the couch. I sat down first motioning for him to sit next to me. Once he sat, I started my interrogation.

"What's going on James? Why were you smoking?"

"I… I don't know. I just did. I thought it would help…"

"Help what? What's wrong!" I pleaded.

"The problem is Kendall!" He shouted. I flinched at his tone, backing up just a bit.

"Kendall? What did he do?" Now I was really confused. What did my brother have to do with this? Did he sell the weed to James? Did he smoke it with him?

"You too, Katie!"

"Wait, what? James what are you talking about? I didn't do anything!"

"It's not what you did! It's what you do to me… You drive me crazy Katie." He paused trying to think of what to say next.

What did he mean by crazy?

"I don't understan-"

"Let me finish." He cut me off.

"Okay, sorry." I whispered.

"Katie, I… I… You mean everything to me. Do you know that?… What I'm trying to say is that I love you, Katie." He let out a sigh, like a huge weight was lifted off his shoulders.

"What?" I squeaked out. He placed a hand over mine, leaning in closer.

"Yes… I love you so much. But Kendall…Always in the way!… He'd kill me if he found out I loved you. You're his little sister. I understand that, but I want to be with you so bad. He just won't let me. And I, … I didn't know what to do."

This was news to me. I couldn't believe that James loved me. How long has he been feeling this way?

I mean, James, he was a great looking guy. Any girl would be lucky to have him. He's so special. He knows how to treat a girl. But I don't deserve him. James is too good a person for me to let something happen between us. I couldn't hurt James like that.

"But why did you do drugs, James?" I still needed to know the answer to that.

"Because the more I did drugs, the happier I felt. I didn't care if I loved you. I didn't care that it would be complicated. I didn't care what anyone thought… Katie I need you to understand how strong my love is for you."

Where was all this coming from? Is it possible that he still could be that high? He didn't sound it, or look that bad…

"James, I understand. Don't get me wrong, you're a beautiful man. But it's too risky. You said it yourself! Kendall, would hate you. He would hate me, his own sister. We can't put a long term friendship in jeopardy…"

"Katie… please. I need you to be with me. Tell me." He pleaded.

"Tell you what?"

"Tell me that you love me." He fidgeted, placing his other hand on my thigh.

"James, I…"

I turned my head, looking away from him. Heat began to rise in my cheeks for the third time today. I desperately tried to hide it with my hair.

James caught sight of my blushing, and let go of my hand, and lifted my chin up. My hair fell back into it's normal place, leaving me staring into his gorgeous hazel eyes.

I closed my eyes, taking a deep breath. I opened my mouth to tell him that it wouldn't be right, when he leaned in and captured my lips on his. He was gentle, being careful not to go too far.

I found myself going along with it. It suddenly felt right to have James' lips on mine. He began rubbing my thigh, which caused a slight whimper from my lips. I slowly parted them, and James wasted no time before he dove into my mouth with his tongue, deepening the kiss.

I lifted my hands to his shirt, and took fist full amounts of the thin cotton into my hand and pulled him impossibly closer. He sensed I wanted to go further, but he still was going slow.

James gently pushed my on my back, straddling my hips, as he continued to kiss me. His tongue explored my mouth, and my hands unbuttoned his shirt.

Sliding the shirt off without breaking the kiss, I opened my eyes to see the beauty before me. His smooth tan skin, rippled with muscle, shone in the sunlight coming from the window. He looked so perfect. All of today's events flew out of my mind.

He was perfect. And so was this moment.

XxX

A/N: So there ends chapter 2! I had so much fun writing this chapter. And now I guess you see how this is inching its way to the rated M mark! And the end, yes I know… James. Maslow. Shirtless. SEXXAY! Oh and the part with Carlos in just a towel… well interpret that any way you like xD CAUSE HE SEXAY TOO!

Anyways, review?