Chapter 6

+ Lucy +

Josh entered in my room. He had in his hand one of Dad's old ties. He was staring in distaste at the god awful colour. For some unknown reason, Dad used to buy the most ridiculously coloured ties. Yet his eyes didn't only hold diastase, there was even a hint of nostalgia. I remembered how excited Josh would get when Dad asked him to pick a tie for him. At eleven years old, we both thought that Dad's ties were the latest trends. It was that side of him that gave me hope, that made me hesitate to join the Drake's and leave him to his own destiny.

I swallowed as he diverted his attention from the tie and looked up. His eyes instantly met Nick's. At first he was confused, obviously he didn't recognise Nick, they had met maybe two, three times tops. But Nick's hateful glare soon wiped off all confusion on my brother's face and he returned the look. No one had spoken so the tension in the room was quite high. I could almost feel the levels of testosterone rising in the room.

My brother finally broke the silence.

"Who the fuck are you?" he asked Nick. Nick smiled humourlessly. "Maybe I should jog your memory a little."

I knew what was going to happen. I felt a great sense of déjà vu and a memory played in my mind like a flashback.

I was twelve years old. I was sitting alone in the playground which was just a few blocks down our street. I was waiting for Solange to come. She said that her mother would bring her and maybe some of her brothers later. I felt depressed at home so I preferred to wait there rather than spend the next hour or so looking at the clock as it slowly ticked away.

My brother came, along with his 'gang'. They came up to me and stopped. "What the fuck are you doing here, bitch? Get your ugly ass face at home, brace face." he said to me. Within a year of our father's disappearance be had turned into a delinquent. He swore all the time, was a hopeless drunk and smoked cigarettes and pot. I had tried to be gentle, but I'm a quick learner. He would just push me over if I didn't stand up to him, and so, if he swore at me, I swore back.

"You're not the boss of me. If you don't like my face perhaps you should be the one getting out of the fucking way!" I retorted. Some of his friends snickered behind his back.

"Bitch! I'll show you!" and with that he charged at me, tackling me off the swing and onto the ground. I tried to restrain him but he was just so strong. He kept punching me. Of course, I punched back and caught him off guard; I switched our position with myself on top of him. I continued scratching at his face and trying to knock him out cold but it wasn't easy. To make matters worse two of his friends started kicking me. I heard a girl scream which I instantly recognised as Solange. Suddenly somebody lifted me off my brother non too gently to replace me. I wiped the blood which was running down my nose and looked at me saviour.

"Don't you dare hit her! Don't you dare fuckin' touch her ever again or I'll kill you." It was him. Nick had saved me from my brother's fury and started beating the crap out of him. My brother had landed a hit on him of two but that didn't discourage him. He kept going on, his fist never giving my brother's face a break.

None of my brother's so-called friends helped him, so reluctantly I had to pull Nick away. Thankfully Solange and Logan came to my aid.

But today...

Neither Solange nor Logan where here to help me if things got rough.

"No, Nick, please." I took a hold of his hand, which after a few seconds relaxed.

"It still doesn't answer my question. Lucy, what the fuck is this guy doing in your room?"

"He's... um..." I started stuttering. Why was he really here, anyways?

"I'm her date to the wedding." Nick said, and much to my surprise grabbed me and put an arm round my waist.

"Date? Lucy never told me that she had a date." Josh said as he stared at Nick's hand around my waist.

Nick laughed humourlessly. "We both discovered new things about Lucy recently. Do you want to know what I discovered?" he asked, and without even giving Josh the time to answer he said, "I found out that she's being beaten up by her brother." Josh's eyes widened. In one of his quick, vampiric movements, Nick left my side and grabbed Josh by the throat.

"And that makes me extremely angry. I warned you four years ago. You little shit covered her body in bruises. I should kill you." I watched with wide eyes as Nick struggled to restrain his fangs from elongating. His violent side was on the verge of taking over him. I could feel it.

"What are you saying? There's not a single bruise on her body." Josh defended himself.

Nick growled, "That's because she had to cover them up with makeup! Apologise to her!"

Nick then looked at me, giving me a bewildered stare. After what seemed like an eternity he mumbled an apology.

"And if you ever hit her again. I'll make your life so miserable that you'll beg me to kill you." Nick said to him in a whisper which made the threat sound even more menacing. When he finally let go of my brother, the latter looked at me, a mixture of confusion, bewilderment and accusation in his eyes. I had never seen Josh so quiet, defenceless, at least not in the past three years.

I felt too surprised to say anything. Nick's over-protective attitude had caught me off guard. When both their glances fell on me, I felt the need to speak. "Uh, I think that the blue one is in the top left drawer, on the right." I said to Josh who was rubbing his neck nodded and left. This left me alone in the room with Nick once more.

"I hope that teaches him a lesson." Nick said as he glared at the spot Josh had been a few seconds ago. "You were too hard on him." I scolded. Josh was already a violent person and exposing him to more violence sure as hell wasn't helpful. Though it was touching and very significant to me, the way Nick got all protective over me, to Josh it must have been humiliating.

"Hard? Your face looked like a rainbow with all those purplish blue fading bruises." Nick said. I sighed. Even if he was trying to be helpful, he'd never realise how much Josh was fragile. The front he put up was tough, alright, but I could see right through it.

After a few moments of awkward silence, Nick finally decided to speak up. He sat the bed across of me. He was clever; he knew that in the position he was he could gaze into my eyes which were lowered down. "Look, I'm sorry if I sounded harsh but I meant every world I said." he said softly, yet somehow still managing to sound determined.

For the first time in my life since I've known Nick, I was left without a smart ass comeback. And that scared me more than my brother ever did. Usually I would insult him, tell him he's going all soft and mushy but I couldn't bring myself to do it today. Could it be possible that I actually liked having normal conversations with him? No that was impossible. I lost all of my childhood the day my dad left and only Solange's friendship and Nicky's constant bickering kept me from becoming a delinquent myself.

Who was I trying to kid? Hadn't it been for the Drake's I don't know where I'd be. Probably in some mental hospital driven crazy by my mum and Josh or some delinquent school. Probably the white scar I had on my wrist would be more than just one...

I sighed. I wanted an answer to one question. What the fuck was happening to me?Yeah, I swore, that's just how messed up I was feeling. I used to tell Solange that the day I'd see Nick other than a jerk would be the day that hell broke loose. Solange had sighed, Nick had called me a bitch which is why his mother grounded him and Sol's brothers hadn't agreed with me, no, they actually said, "Oh, young Lucy, the day you stop calling him a jerk will be the day you two end up together." That day I was revolted at that, Nick attacked his brothers, which earned him another grounding. His face after their mother had pulled him away from Logan's face had been priceless. I chucked.

"What are you smiling about?" Nick asked me, yet I could see the lopsided grin forming on his lips. "Nothing. I was just remembering that time I said that the day I'd see you other than a jerk would be the day hell broke loose, and your brothers corrected me and said that it would be the day we started dating. Your face was priceless!" I said bursting out laughing. I went to sit next to him and I could feel the vibrations of laughter he sent across the bed. "I don't remember smiling about it though. I got grounded for two weeks." I don't know why but I stuck my tongue out at him.

"You little-" and he interrupted himself as he started a tickle war with me. Though it was a really bad idea in this dress, I didn't mind. I let my pumps fall to the ground and I started tickling him back. Somehow he always won, probably because of the speed. We had ended up, I outstretched on the bed and Nick sitting on me, his legs at each of my side, tickling my scarf covered neck. "Okay, I give!" I said breathlessly. "I thought so." he answered me, grinning. "So what's my reward?"

I thought about it, "Well, what would you want?" he smiled up at me.

"Close your eyes." and so I did. I felt his fingers trail all across my face. Until finally, his lips meet mine. It was a normal kiss, yet to me it meant the world.

"Lucy, I apologise for calling you a bitch." he said softly in my ear. I smiled at his confession.

"And I apologise for calling you a jerk... even though you are one."

"Hey!"

"Kidding!"

"You'd better be!" and with that he started tickling me again.

Just at that moment the door opened. My mum stood in the door, wearing her bride's dress. I looked at her with wide eyes. Then I realised how awkward and misleading the position Nick and I were in was. I quickly pushed him off me and tried to sit up straight. Nick's hair looked a little dishevelled and I didn't even want to look at the state that my hair was in. "Look, mum it's not what you think." I started. Weirdly enough she started... smiling.

"Josh, come see! Phil was wrong; your sister's not a lesbian!"

"MOM!" I groaned the moment Nick burst out laughing.

"I have no intention of watching my sister getting laid!" he said loud enough so that everybody in the whole damn neighbourhood could hear him.

My mom suddenly rushed over to us and hugged Nick, who remained speechless giving me a what-the-fuck look. "Thank you! You young man, have saved me a lot of pondering. I was thinking about getting her into therapy. She had never shown any sexual attraction to any boy before, so naturally I was beginning to worry..."

"Mum! Out of the room." I said before she gave him enough details to haunt me for the rest of my days.

She sighed. "See! Her behaviour is so misleading! Can I at least get to know your name?"

"Nicholas Drake" he answered politely as ever. My mums looked deep in thought. "Drake... where have I heard that name before?" I sighed. She was hopeless.

"Mum, he's Solange's brother."

"Oh, your best friend? You're dating your best friend's brother? Does she know about it?"

"That's it, mum. Out." And with that I made her leave the room and forced the door behind her.

I went in front of the mirror and surprisingly my hair survived. I brushed it and it appeared good as new. I had to say Sol was a genius.

Reluctantly, I turned to the direction Nick was. He was lying on my bed comfortably, the picture of ease. He had a grin that split his face in half.

When he was about to open his mouth, I interrupted him. "Don't you even dare!" I warned him. He chuckled and spoke anyways. "So, Lucy, I hear that you're sexually attracted to me?"

I sighed.

Oh God, this was going to be a long ass night!

XXX

Hey Guys! This was really an early upload considering that I have exams in two weeks and thirteen subjects needing studying which I haven't started even one of them! But I got a pm from AussieGirl16 and she made me realise that I really left last chap in a cliffy so… you should thank her :D

Thanks again for ALL of your support! I'm happy you like the story! I really made en effort to update so please don't hesitate to review! C'mon…. you know you want to :P