Nate Jacobs always fell on his feet.

It was a hard lesson in life Lexi would learn, that the Nate's of the world always ended up on top. It was unfair, sure. Nate was a spoiled and arrogant prick who took by force what he wanted from others and then tossed them to the side.

In the aftermath of Easter at the Jacobs, Lexi had tried incessantly to call her sister. Needless to say, she was unsuccessful.

She texted, left voicemails, and tried to corner her at school. But Cassie wasn't budging.

Her texts went unanswered. Her voicemails were ignored. And at school, Cassie was glued to Nate's side all day.

Suze had better luck in speaking to her daughter and the future mom was adamant about not talking to Lexi.

"Lexi keeps trying to ruin my life." She whined at Suze's suggestion to speak to her sister. "That's not what a sister does, okay? I'm pregnant, I don't need this stress right now."

"Cass, she wasn't trying to ruin your fucking life. You can't just decide we're not your family anymore, it's important you girls stick together." Suze tried to argue, wanting nothing more than for her daughters to get along and for Cassie to come back home.

"No, mom. What's important right now is my relationship with Nate- but you guys clearly don't support that, so I need to do what's best for me."

And Suze would shout, and Cassie would shout, and Lexi would shout.

And Cassie would hear Lexi's voice and hang up.

"You know your sister, Lex." Suze would sigh while brushing Lexi's hair soothingly. "When she's in love, she doesn't see anything else."

Their mother was right, Cassie had a tendency to abandon herself completely to in order love and be loved. She also had a tendency to take out her misfortunes on Lexi and Suze. Sure, Lexi wished she had remained a little more level headed at lunch but Cassie dragging Fez's name into it had triggered her emotions in an unprecedented way.

It didn't help that Fezco had refused to see or talk to her, leaving Lexi completely crushed. She had finally convinced her mother to let her visit him in prison and managed to track down Faye to ask where he was being held. Faye had let her know that Fez didn't want her to see him and that he wished for her to move on with her life, rather than wait around.

Lexi's heart was broken beyond repair.

Fezco had been the only person to actually see her for her. He noticed her. He paid attention to her. He found her interesting. No other boy had done that before. She was always hidden in Cassie's shadow. Or labelled as Rue's nerdy friends. But Fezco? He made her feel on top of the world. His attention made her blossom.

So now, she had lost her love and she had lost her sister.

Truthfully, Lexi didn't feel guilty at all for what had transpired at that awful lunch. It wasn't her fault Mr Jacobs was outed by his own son, and he probably deserved it. She did feel some concern though that her actions may have resulted in harm caused to her sister. She knew Nate, she heard the rumours, she had witnessed his temper. What if her outburst had resulted in him hurting Cassie? All she wanted was to know her sister was okay.

Which was probably what gave her the courage to walk up to Nate Jacobs a few weekends later at a party. That and all the alcohol Maddy had shoved down her throat at their pre-drinks.

So when she saw Nate standing in the kitchen talking to some of his jock minions and some skanky blondes from another school, her feet carried her over to him without even realising. She saw the look in his eyes when he noticed her standing behind the girls. The tight line his lips formed. The hard glare from his eyes. No, Nate Jacobs was no fan of her's.

"Can we talk?" She asked confidently, arms crossed and hips jutted out. She felt strong and powerful. She was a warrior. She was not afraid of Nate.

With a sigh, Nate excused himself from his adoring crowd and followed Lexi out to the deck.

Okay, Lex. She thought to herself, Now is your time to shine.

"Shouldn't you be home with your pregnant girlfriend instead of talking to girls at a party?" She stood before him with a confidence he hadn't seen in her before. It was also true he had rarely paid the younger Howard much attention over the years.

Nate sighed as he went to rest his back against the deck railing. He had his back leaning on the bannister and legs slightly stretched out, like you would stand if you were catching a rest in the sun. He made it clear that despite his dislike for her, she posed no actual concern to him. It irked her.

"What do you want, Lexi? I think you already said more than enough." His tone was laced with annoyance.

"Believe me, the last thing I want to do is talk to you as well." He found it humorous that her rage towards him had suddenly transformed her into such a spitfire. Then again, he often had that effect on women. "But I'm worried about Cassie, she won't talk to me-"

"Your sister isn't talking to you because I told her not to." Nate interrupted her with nonchalance and watched as Lexi's jaw dropped at his admission. Was she surprised? Not completely. However, she was not expecting him to be so sincere.

"Why? Because you hate me? Your brother outed your dad, why are you punishing me?" Her confident demeanour is slightly shaken as she grapples to understand his admission.

"I'm not punishing anyone. If anything, I should be thanking you." He said with a smirk on his face. Lexi's face turned to confusion following his words. "My grandfather asked me to take over my dad's business once school is over." He pushed himself off the bannister and took a step closer to Lexi, his tall figure looming over her. "I only told Cassie not to talk to you because I could. You see, Lexi, I always get what I want so the sooner you realise and back the fuck off, the better for you."

"I'm not Cassie, you can't intimidate me into doing what you say." Nate snorted at Lexi's comment and took a sip of his drink. "You don't scare me." He nodded along to her comments.

"Look, whether you like me or not, Cassie is having my baby and she'll probably be my wife some day. So you can either be nice to me and be in your sister's life, or keep coming for me and make her hate you even more." He took one last swig of his beer before setting the bottle down. "Choice is yours."

"You are the most despicable human I have ever met in my life. Does Cassie even know about what you did to Maddy? And all that stuff with Jules?" Lexi's confidence had now been replaced with full blown rage, as she swung her arms around.

He gave her his signature sinister smile in return.

"Fact- you and I both know your sister is going to pick me over you." He dusted some imaginary lint off his trousers before stepping away from her. "You have a good night, Lexi."

With that, he walked away from the angry brunette and returned to the party where he was welcomed back like a god.

And your parents paid you through

You got a nice big house, nothing bothers you

Somebody cut out your eyes, you refuse to see

Somebody cut out your heart, you refuse to feel.