A/N: As always, thanks to all the readers and especially the reviewers. You're all awesome. I hope you enjoy this chapter.
Disclaimer: I do not own One Tree Hill or any of its characters.
Nathan stood rooted to his spot on the top stair, gripping the railing tightly. He'd been taken off guard by Peyton's question. When she'd said she had a question for him, he'd figured it would revolve around the fact that his visit was clearly sex related, even though it hadn't started that way. He truly had come to see how she'd enjoyed the concert, but, as usual, his body had responded to her nearness and so he'd reacted accordingly.
He didn't understand why she felt offended by it. Just a few weeks ago she was worrying that he thought their sex life was boring, but when he shows her how much she turns him on, she gets mad about that too. She really needed to make up her mind. But since she couldn't, he'd assumed her question would be somewhere along the line of 'is sex all you're interested in?' He couldn't count the number of times he'd heard that. Or 'off to see one of your hoes now?' That one wouldn't have surprised him either. But, 'did you assault Lucas?' Now that was unexpected.
How the hell did she even know anything about it? The only explanation was that Lucas was running off his mouth. Nathan sure hadn't told anyone, except his father, and yet people knew. First Whitey, and now Peyton. Nathan's hand balled into a fist as it hit him that Peyton and Lucas must still be in contact. How else would she know? Apparently he hadn't been clear enough to the bastard. Maybe it was time for round two.
In the meantime, as Peyton stared expectantly for a reply, he considered how she'd react if he told her the truth. Furious. She'd be furious – maybe even enough to break up with him. With that in mind, he went with the only other option available to him. "I didn't touch him."
Peyton watched his expression in wonder; searching for a sign that would tell her he spoke truthfully, because honestly she'd known he'd deny it, guilty or innocent. It irritated her that she couldn't tell. Maybe he was being honest, but then again lying had become second nature to him. He was too good at it.
Nathan grew increasingly uncomfortable under her intense scrutiny. What was she looking for? He needn't ask. He knew the answer. "You don't believe me," he accused bitingly.
"I want to," Peyton admitted. "But I can think of a dozen reasons why I shouldn't."
"And none of them matter, Peyton, because I didn't do it."
"Well, someone did."
Nathan shrugged his shoulders carelessly. "Well, it wasn't me. I guess someone hates him even more than I do."
"I wonder if his reasons are as ridiculous as yours," Peyton bit back.
Nathan rolled his eyes and sneered at his girlfriend, extremely aggravated by how she always stuck up for Lucas. "You know, I'm starting to think you're like, into this guy," he accused irritably.
Now Peyton rolled her eyes. "Why? Because I hate that you treat him like he's dirt under your shoe?"
"Whatever," Nathan replied irately, unable to really refute her claim. "My apologies to the dirt."
Peyton shook her head. This was going nowhere. "Ok, we're not having this argument again." She didn't need to hear, yet another time, how much he hated his brother.
"You're the one who brought it up," Nathan pointed out snidely.
"Only to ask if you beat on him, not to listen to you rant about how superior you are to him."
"Well, like I said, I didn't touch him," he repeated gruffly. "Ok?"
She sighed in resignation, silently acknowledging that he may be telling the truth, that she may just be reading too much into the signs and circumstances that pointed the blame at him. The least she could do is give him the benefit of the doubt. She nodded her head. "Ok," she finally responded.
A satisfied smile spread across Nathan's face. She believed him. Relieved, he took the few steps that separated them, put his hands around her waist and pressed his lips softly to hers. This time his hands didn't stray.
Peyton lost herself in his kiss, any remaining doubt fleeing her mind as her arms encircled his neck, drawing him closer.
When he left ten minutes later, Peyton lay down on her bed beside Haley. Without Nathan's distracting presence, her doubts came creeping back. She tried to shake them off, telling herself to just trust him, but it was becoming increasingly more difficult to do. Luckily sleep quickly overtook her, temporarily putting her troubled mind at ease.
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During the jog back home, Nathan mulled over his situation. He was glad Peyton had bought his story, but he really needed to find a way to shut Lucas up and keep him the hell away from Peyton. Clearly the guy had more nerve than Nathan had anticipated. Every other guy he'd bullied away from Peyton had done exactly what he demanded, completely intimidated by the king of Tree Hill High. But Lucas, it seemed, needed a refresher course.
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Keith and Karen stood in the hospital's finance department at 10am, in complete astonishment. Over the weekend they'd managed to come up with a payment plan that each could afford without sacrificing their living expenses. Today they'd brought forth their proposal in hopes that the hospital would accept this in lieu of the full amount owing in one lump sum.
The middle-aged lady they spoke to was extremely pleasant and understanding of Karen's financial situation. She brought up the file and that's when she spoke the words that had stunned the other two into silence.
"Are you sure?" Karen asked after several seconds. "You must have the wrong file."
"Lucas Scott? Next of kin, Karen Roe," the woman asked, glancing at her computer screen.
"That's right," Karen said.
"Then yes. It's been taken care of. Payment was made in full," she checked the screen again, "at 8:47 this morning. All in cash."
"By who?" Keith asked.
"It doesn't say."
"Well, what did the person look like?" Karen asked, curious to know who would pay her son's hospital bill.
"Sorry, can't help you there. My shift started at 9:00. But I'm guessing whoever it was, is someone who really cares about you and your boy," the nurse said sweetly, leaving Karen even more confused than she already was.
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Nathan found the opportunity he'd been waiting for at lunch time when he noticed Lucas, and the girl he'd come to assume was his girlfriend, entering the tutor center and seconds later the girl exiting.
Lucas sat alone at one of the desks in the tutor center as he awaited Haley's return with their lunch. She had suggested they eat in here to avoid the hustle and bustle of the lunch crowd and he'd readily agreed. He'd found out today that when people were in a hurry, they really didn't care who they pushed around, even if that person was obviously already hurt. Haley, sweetheart that she was, had pretty much played servant to him all day, carrying his books to his classes and making the runs to his locker, and now lunch. He was grateful to her, because even though he was much better than he'd been the previous week, some things were still difficult to do.
"You forget something?" he joked, as he heard the door open and assumed it to be his best friend.
Meanwhile
"Whoa, you've got an armful there," Peyton said, laughing at everything Haley was trying to balance. "You need a hand?"
"Sure thanks," Haley accepted, glad to see that Peyton was being friendly at school. She had to admit she'd wondered about that, considering how she'd snubbed Luke on several occasions. She explained to her where she was taking the food and why.
"Ok," Peyton said. "I'll go with."
"Are you sure, cause I can just grab a tray."
"No, it's fine. I can't find Nathan anyway. He's probably in the weight room or the gym."
Haley nodded, silently accepting Peyton's help.
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"No, I think you're the one who's forgetting something," Nathan said spitefully. "Like staying away from Peyton for example."
Lucas looked up to see Nathan towering over him and groaned. What was his problem now? "What do you want, Nathan?"
"You know," the younger Scott said, "for a guy who's supposed to be so smart, you're really kinda dense."
"Is that right? Well, I'm not the one in need of a tutor, now am I?" He knew it wasn't a wise move to egg the guy on considering his current state, but he'd had enough of Nathan's bullshit.
"You'll be in need of a fucking coroner if you don't leave Peyton alone," Nathan threatened viciously.
"Right, you're gonna kill me," Lucas scoffed.
"Or at least make you wish I had."
Lucas rolled his eyes, despite the fact that Nathan was at a clear advantage. "You do that and Whitey would suspend you for the season."
"Not if I wired your mouth shut," Nathan responded. "Besides it might be worth it."
They stared each other down, neither of them noticing the two girls who had just appeared in the doorway and now stood silently watching the scene before them.
"I never told Whitey a damn thing," they heard Lucas say. "In fact, I haven't told anyone."
Nathan laughed non-humorously. "Yeah, that's funny," he scoffed. "I guess everyone just figured it out on their own, huh?"
"If they know you, it wouldn't be too hard."
"What? You think you know me?"
"Better than you think I do."
"Whatever, man," Nathan replied with a deep scowl. "You don't know anything about me."
"I know you act all tough to hide how insecure you are."
Nathan's hands balled into tight fists at his sides. "Shut the fuck up before I make you."
"What are you gonna do? Break the other arm? Crack a few more ribs?"
"You're fucking lucky that's all I did," Nathan thundered. "But hey, maybe if you'd had enough balls to actually fight back, you wouldn't have gotten so hurt."
"YOU SON OF A BITCH!" an angry female voice echoed through the room, causing both boys to look in her direction.
Nathan's eyes met his girlfriend's and he muttered a silent oath under his breath. One look at her and it was clear to see she was absolutely livid.
Peyton dropped the items she'd been carrying onto a nearby desk as Haley made her way to stand beside Lucas.
"Oh no, I didn't touch him," Peyton mocked furiously as she stood directly in front of Nathan. "I knew it! I knew you were just feeding me some bullshit line!"
"Peyton, listen…"
"No, you listen," she demanded, pushing at his chest. "When the hell are you going to grow up and quit being such a damn asshole? Oh right, that would be never!"
He opened his mouth to speak, but she cut him off sharply. "You're gonna wanna shut up right now," she warned him. "You know, I should have known something was up last week, that you wouldn't all of a sudden be fine with me talking to your brother!"
"He's not my brother!" Nathan shot back, instantly as enraged as she was. "You know I hate it when you call him that!"
"And I hate when you act like a controlling jackass, but that hasn't stopped you. Like I told you last week, you can't dictate who my friends will be."
"Friends?" he scoffed. "Trust me, Lucas doesn't want to be your friend."
"Trust you!?" she exclaimed in amazement. "You can actually say that with a straight face? Oh, what am I saying? Of course you can."
"Peyton, come on. You're overreacting."
Peyton's jaw dropped at his comment. She didn't think anything he could say would surprise her at this point, but she was wrong. "I'm overreacting? Have you seen what you did to your own brother?"
She'd said it again. Rage coursed through his veins as he let out a frustrated growl and flipped over one of the desks in a heated display of temper.
Haley flinched in fear, drawing closer to Lucas and clutching his arm tightly.
Peyton, however, seemed unfazed by the display of temper. "Yeah, take it out on the desk," she said sarcastically. "That'll help."
Nathan had begun pacing now, his fists clenched so tightly that his knuckles were turning white. "You rather I take it out on Lucas?"
"You already did."
"He fucking deserved it, ok? All I want is for him to crawl back under whatever hole he came from and stay the hell away from us! I'm sick of hearing how great he is, how smart he is, how much fucking better he is!"
"What are you talking about? No one is saying those things."
"Bullshit, Peyton! You said it yourself!"
"No I didn't."
"Yes you did!"
"When?"
"Last week, at the café. You said 'I thought you were better than them.' To Lucas. But you meant me, right? That he's better than me?"
"I was referring to the fight. I didn't think he…"
"Look, whatever. It doesn't even matter," he cut her off, realizing he'd revealed too much actual emotion in his last statement. "What I'm mostly tired of is how he's always staring at you with that pathetic dreamy look on his face. Do you know how many times I've caught him checking your ass out? Or your legs? Or…"
Peyton shook her head in irritation. "Oh, you think I don't get tired of all the girls that check you out? Should I go beat every one of them up? Because if I did, there'd be a lot of them down for the count. We might as well turn this into a boys' school."
"Why are you making jokes?" Nathan asked angrily.
"I'm not," Peyton thundered back. Turning around, she grabbed a pen from one of the desks and ripped out a sheet of paper from a booklet. On it she began scribbling something. When she finished, she took the sheet and shoved it hard into Nathan's chest, causing him to stumble back slightly. "Here."
Nathan looked over the sheet, his brows creasing in confusion. 'Brad, Jeff, Jake, Tim…' There were about twenty names listed. Nathan glanced back at Peyton, blue eyes silently questioning what this was about.
"It's people to add to your hit list," she explained. "It's all the guys that have either talked to me or looked at me this morning. I figure they deserve to be next on the beat downs because, you know, how dare they?"
"Peyton, this is stupid…"
"Oh, and Brandon, he brushed up against my arm so make sure your work him over double. He blamed the narrow hallway if you can believe that, but he even smiled at me when he apologized so he most definitely wants to get with me."
"Peyt…"
"And Chad, he gave me a gum in English class and he so did it on purpose to touch my fingers with his. You got to get him good too."
"Peyton, come on…"
"Oh wait! I forgot someone," she exclaimed, snatching the paper from his hand.
"Anna?" he read aloud when she gave it back to him.
"Yeah," Peyton said, nodding her head. "I can't believe I missed her. She's bisexual and she was totally checking me out in gym. Just cause she's a girl, that's no reason to go easy on her. I know she wants me so she shouldn't be exempt from punishment."
Nathan rolled his eyes as the ridiculousness continued. "Look, let's just talk about this later, ok."
Peyton threw him a scornful look. "Why? So you have time to formulate your next lie?" she asked.
"No, so we can have a conversation that actually makes sense," he countered.
"Hey, you started this," she told him. "Don't get mad at me for keeping it going. Come see me after school. I'm sure I'll have more victims for you by then. She turned to look toward the other two in the room. "Lucas, I'm really sorry about this." To Haley she said, "I'll see ya later." Then she stormed out of the room in a fury.
Nathan watched her go and shook his head in frustration. This is why he'd lied to her. He threw down the sheet of paper she'd given him and without a word to Lucas and Haley, stalked out just as furiously as Peyton had.
"You ok?" Lucas asked Haley, knowing how she'd tensed in fear over Nathan's outburst.
"Yeah," she said, breathing a sigh of relief. "That was scary," she could now joke.
"Well, Peyton said he had a temper."
Haley nodded. "Are you ok?"
"I'm fine."
"Are you sure? Nathan said some pretty hateful things."
Lucas had to laugh at her. "Nothing he hasn't said before."
"I know, but still, it's got to hurt. I know how much you wanted to be brothers."
Lucas shook his head. "You know what? I don't care anymore."
"Liar," Haley teased.
Lucas smiled back at her. She knew him too well. "Well, I've given up on that," he admitted.
"Why didn't you tell me he's the one who assaulted you?"
He shrugged his shoulders. He didn't really have an answer for her.
"I already knew, you know?"
"I know."
"Peyton did too. She told me she suspected him, but I think deep down she knew."
"Oh don't we know everything about her now after one evening with her," Lucas joked.
"No, not everything, but she's different than I thought she would be. You know?"
"Yeah, I know."
"And one thing we learned just now is that we can safely rule out all your suspicions that she's even remotely afraid of Nathan. Agreed?"
Lucas chuckled at her comment. "Agreed. She's definitely not afraid of him."
A/N: So how many of you were disappointed at the beginning when you thought Peyton was letting him away with it? LOL.