I pause on the second to last step, feeling my breath escape my body, as the nerves of what is about to happen, take over. I don't get long to dwell on it as I hear small feet come running over to me. I smile down at Sophie who is staring up at me, a smile on her face.

"Mummy, come and see what I did with Stormy's mummy," she says, extending her small hand up to me. I forget about every anxious thought as I take in my daughter, and just focus my attention on her.

"I'd love to see, sweetie." I walk down the remaining steps and meet her at the bottom, taking her small hand in mine. She tugs me forward, towards the sofas and where most of the boys are sitting. I look at them, feeling embarrassment and guilt at them knowing I have been keeping things from them. I know that technically I don't need to tell them anything, but part of me, although it may be deep down, wants to. I want someone that I can confide in and share my worries with. Someone to tell me that everything is going to be alright.

I smile slightly in greeting when they look to me from the TV. They turn the sound down slightly, as I feel Sophie let go of my hand and walk off to find whatever she wanted to show me. I sit down on the sofa, bringing my legs up to sit cross-legged.

"How are you feeling?" Ashton asks.

I gnaw on my lip slightly. "Better," I say honestly with a smile. Better than what, and on what thing, I don't clarify. Yes, I feel better on the tiredness front, but everything else that was there before I fell asleep is still there.

Sophie comes running back over to the sofas holding a piece of paper. When she gets to me, she tries to pull herself onto my lap. I lift her up, placing her on my lap facing the TV, so I can see what she wants to show me. I look down and see that the paper is covered in dried pasta in the shape of a flower.

"Wow, Soph, that's amazing," I tell her, holding the piece of paper with her.

"They said they're going to put it on the fridge," she tells me, a huge grin on her face. I wonder who 'they' are for a moment, but Trystan supplies the answer for me,

"Yeah, Sophie was going to put it on our fridge for us, after she showed you. We can admire it every day then. I think we've got a little Brody in the making."

My heart melts at how Trystan and Ryder are wanting to have Sophie's art on their fridge. I would try and put her artwork on our fridge at home, here and in England, but somehow, I don't know if it would be my Mum's boyfriends or maybe even my mum, but it would either end up in the rubbish or ruined. I would yell at my mum about it, but it continued to happen.

"Why don't we go and put it on the fridge now," Trystan suggests. Sophie pushes herself off my lap and runs towards the kitchen, Trystan following behind her at a slower pace chuckling slightly.

Jesse slides towards me on the sofa.

"You sure you're alright? Ashton said you seemed like you didn't want to go back to the hotel."

Without Sophie here I have no way to avoid the question, without doing it obviously.

"I... I just didn't like being there anymore."

"Why not?" Ryder asks having come back into the living room and hearing our conversation. I turn and see that he's holding some paper and a bunch of colouring pens and pencils.

I sigh, deciding to go for the less complicated answer first. It seems like I always have to do that these days, why can't I just have one thing to worry about.

"I don't want to rely on you guys too much. For money. You're paying for my accommodation. I don't even have enough money for my rent, so even if I wanted to, I can't go back to my apartment without the risk of getting kicked out. I don't know how I'm surviving to be honest." I leave out the relying on them for taking care of my problems, and everything else.

"That's what's keeping you up at night?" Ashton asks.

I nod. "Uh, yeah. I've been trying to look for jobs, to help me not rely on you so much."

Ryder comes around the sofa and places the things in his hands on the table in front of us, before sitting down in an armchair.

"Bambi, we wouldn't be spending money on you if we didn't want to. You're not relying on us too much, we want to help you, but if you will feel better earning your own money, then we understand and won't stop you, but that doesn't mean we will leave you to fend for yourself until you are able to get by. However, if you want us to stop, we will, we just thought that you had enough to worry about. We wanted to take the worry about money away."

Part of me wants to tell them to stop and tell them that I'll pay for myself, but what they say has some merit. Would I be able to look after myself until I got a job? I fiddle with a thread coming out of the seam of my shirt as I answer, "I'm grateful, don't get me wrong, I would probably be living on the street if it wasn't for you. I'm going to some interviews for jobs this week, so as soon as I have some money, I will start to pay you back and live on the money I earn."

Trystan and Sophie come back in, halting the conversation for a moment. Sophie sees the paper and colouring pens that Ryder came back with, and runs up to me, reaching for the paper and pens. She then turns to me, trying to clamber back onto my lap. I reach down and lift her up, resting my hands on the couch next to my thighs. I watch as Sophie begins to draw on the paper.

"What are you drawing sweetie?"

"Something else for Trystan and Ryder's fridge," she mumbles as she concentrates on her drawing. I smile slightly turning back to the guys when they ask another question.

"Is that it?"

I let out a noise, almost as if I'm thinking, as I wrap my arms around Sophie, still allowing her to draw, resting my chin on her head, focusing on what she's drawing.

"Maybe something when you went to visit your mom?"

"Hm?" I ask, looking up at them quizzically.

"You seemed... off when you came back, and it was really since then that you've been running yourself ragged."

I refocus on Sophie's drawing, watching as she begins to draw figures.

"Well..." I pause, not knowing quite how to phrase what I want to say. Do I tell them everything, about what my mum told Tanner, about seeing Tanner, about being kept up at night with flashbacks of Terry as well? I decide that it's better to be as honest as I can because they've shown that they will know that I'm lying. "My mum just told me some things that I knew that she thought, but she had never actually said out loud."

"Is that it? Because you sounded fine after you came out of the hospital, but when you came back here you were pale and shaken."

"No. Not really," I close my eyes and hold Sophie a bit tighter, and this gives me the confidence to say the next thing. I don't look at them as I do, only concentrating on what Sophie is doing. "She didn't tell only me these things... Tanner went to visit, and she said these things to him as well." Everything else seems to also come spilling out without my consent, at the dam being broken. I start to babble not allowing the guys to get a word in. "And then when I came out of the hospital he was there, letting me know he was watching me. To make things even worse he broke into our room in the hotel, just to let me know he could. I've not been able to sleep in fear that he would come back and do whatever he wanted, and in fear of the flashbacks of what Terry and Jack did that come whenever I close my eyes." I leave out Tanner taking the letter, feeling guilty about losing it. It's silent, but that's obliterated within seconds.

There is a surge of movement from the guys. Someone lunges forward to cover Sophie's ears and I look up to see who, as profanities fill the room. Brody's eyes meet mine and I can see that he's holding back his own anger. I jolt my head away from him when I hear the door to the balcony slam. Storm is outside, breathing heavily, his hands clenched into fists by his thighs as he paces. He lashes out at the closest thing, which happens to be a tall lamp, and it goes crashing to the floor. The loud sound causes the guys to whip around to look at the cause. The crash seems to have jolted them all out of their anger, but Storm continues to pace.

"I think I should go and calm Storm down before he destroys the whole balcony," Trystan says as he gets up. Brody retracts his hands slowly, as if ready to recover Sophie's ears again if needs be. He straightens and falls back into his seat, his own head going between his hands.

I return my gaze to Storm out on the balcony and see that he and Trystan are talking agitatedly and it seems to be getting more heated as it continues. The door blocks out the words, but the sounds of the voices make their way to us in the living room. My fear of causing more friction between them seems to be coming true.

"Mummy, who's Tanner?" Sophie asks craning her neck to look at me. I squeeze her in a hug, still looking out at the balcony.

"No-one you need to worry about sweetie, just a not very nice man."

"Like Granny's friends?" I smile slightly, but not in happiness.

"Yeah, but like them, he'll go soon," I say, hoping that saying it aloud will make it true. I know that my hopes are misplaced, however. I move my hands down to her hips and lift her off my lap as I see that Trystan and Storm aren't calming down. If anything Storm looks like he wants to punch something, and I'm afraid that something will be Trystan if someone doesn't intervene. I know deep down that Storm would never intentionally hurt one of the other guys, but if he's blinded by anger would he be so picky about the thing he's taking his anger out on?

It looks like the guys have the same idea as Jesse gets up and walks to the door to the balcony. He's closely followed by Ashton. I pause in my actions of getting up, watching the balcony for a moment, wondering whether Storm will calm down.

He doesn't. He turns his back on the guys, and walks to the railing, clutching onto it, his shoulders hunched. The guys outside turn back to us and shrug their shoulders as they walk back inside.

"I got him to stop destroying our things," Trystan says to Ryder, "but he's still pretty angry."

I stand up, Sophie wanting to follow.

"Sweetie, why don't you go and sit with Levi for a moment," I say, looking to him as I say his name. He seems to be the most upset out of them all, excluding Storm. I guess he feels he can do the least, being stuck in a wheelchair. Sophie looks to me and then to Levi, running over to him. He bends forward, lifting her up onto the sofa with him, talking to her about her picture she's drawing.

I walk to the door leading onto the balcony but am stopped with Ashton's hand on my arm.

"He's angry, not at you, but it means that he might say and do things that he wouldn't normally. He would never hurt you, but just... be careful."

I falter for a moment, taking in what he said. The side of Storm I have seen is caring and calm. I've seen him angry a couple of times, like when he saved me from Terry, but his anger was all directed at Terry who was there in front of him.

I shake it off, knowing, deep down, that Ashton is right and he would never hurt me. I pull the door open and step out into the warm air. I can hear the traffic moving below us, and the lights from the buildings around us cause the dark sky to brighten slightly. The lights on the balcony, one of which is now lying broken on the floor, have turned on and are lighting the space.

I move to the lamp lying on the floor, righting it. The bulb has smashed, but at least when Trystan and Ryder's parents arrive home it won't look so bad.

"I told you, I wan..." Storm says angrily as he turns and looks to me, stopping short when he sees me. He returns to looking over the city. I hesitantly walk up next to him, not wanting to encroach on him if I'm not welcome.

"Hey," I say slowly, looking at him. His eyes slide to me, and I place my hand on his arm, it feeling the right thing to do. His white knuckles slowly regain their colour, as his eyes soften slightly, the anger in them being dampened.

"Why didn't you tell us, bella ragazza?" he asks, his voice pained.

"I guess I was partly worried of this reaction – I didn't want to place another wedge between you all by giving you another problem to solve,"

"Bella, we're tight. One of your problems wouldn't cause us to lose that. We could have helped keep him away..."

"How?"

"I don't know," he says turning back to look at the skyline. "I should have got rid of him when I got the chance. Why did you think that it would cause a wedge between us?"

I pause, joining him in looking out at the night sky.

"I don't know. I thought that you were all staying around me because I was keeping you there. You felt obligated to stay, to help me with my problems. I didn't want that to happen, and then for us to get to a stage where you finally got rid of the problem and then for you all to get bored of me. I thought if I stopped giving you problems you would eventually stop sooner, and save me more pain. But then I was confused and scared as well because I was growing to like you all, and I thought you were too. I had kissed Trystan and Brody, and then when I was told about your secret, Jesse and you fought. I could see that I was causing friction between you all, and I didn't want to be the cause of your friendship breaking. So, if I didn't allow those feelings of dependency, and everything else, to develop any further then that wouldn't happen. I only told you today because you could see something was up, and I knew I couldn't lie anymore." I knew I was rambling, spilling everything that I had been keeping inside, so I cut myself off before I could say what I was really thinking – I didn't want them to break my heart when they found other girlfriends, and I was stuck alone. I couldn't have any of them, because I feared the others would get jealous or angry. And, anyway, I don't think I could pick.

Storm stays silent, and when I eventually look at him, his eyes are trained on me, ablaze with something. He looks through the doors behind us before he grabs me by the hips and walks me back into one of the walls. I gasp, looking around and see that we are covered from the view of the guys. My heart starts to beat faster. His hands come to my face, cradling it, his eyes meeting mine.

"Bella ragazza, our friendship works because we care deeply about each other. People who care deeply about each other sometimes fight, but that doesn't mean we are no longer friends. You could never break us... if anything you're bringing us closer together, if that's even possible. We would never leave you, and fuck, if you want to depend on me for anything, I am at your beck and call. Whatever the time."

I clutch onto his chest and look away from his eyes, finding them too intense.

"You don't mean that; everyone leaves me at some point."

"Bella, what do I have to do to show you I'm not going to leave you?" My eyes involuntarily move to his lips. He leans forward, his forehead resting on mine.

"Bella ragazza," he lets out in an almost whisper. His lips meet mine. His kiss is forceful and full of the pent up anger inside of him. He pushes me back into the wall behind me, and I clutch tighter to his chest.

I let my eyelids slide shut, and almost as soon as I do I regret it. Instead of Storm, I see Terry trying to kiss me. I know deep down somewhere, that it's Storm and he would never hurt me, but I immediately start to thrash against him, crying out. As soon as I do Storm staggers back. I eventually open my eyes when my irrational brain allows the rational part to take back control. I open my eyes and see a hurt Storm stood in front of me. I go to say something but he turns on his heel and almost runs back to the apartment. I stand there stunned for a moment, my hand going up to my lips. I want to kick myself for reacting like that, some part of me wanted to do the total opposite and reciprocate, the consequences be damned. I didn't care that I had just told him that I wanted them to keep their distance after kissing two of them, I didn't care that it could make me have deeper feelings for them – Storm was there in front of me, and he had been there ever since I met him, they all had. Would I do the same for them all? What does that make me?

I shake the thoughts off, knowing that I can think about my problems and reflect on them later. I have to make things right with Storm first. I run after him. I enter the living room and look around desperately.

"Where's Storm?" I ask, feeling a ball of emotion building in my throat when I don't see him.

"He went home... we tried to stop him and ask what happened but he pushed us off. Did something happen? Did he hurt you? We heard you cry out..."

I run over to the lift and press the call button, repeatedly, wanting to go down after him.

"No, he... I..." I say, the breath escaping me as panic takes over my body. I fall back against the wall beside the lift. I slide down it as tears start to leak out of my eyes. "He said he wouldn't leave me. He said..." I choke out between sobs. I groan, wiping the tears away, not wanting to cry anymore.

The guys hover over me, not quite sure what to do. Sophie comes running toward me, and falls beside me, burrowing her head under my arms. She wraps her small arms around me in a hug. I lift a hand up to her hair, trying to reassure her that I'm ok. I can hear the lift whirring beside me, causing my heart to lift, in hope that Storm's on his way back up. I stand up ready to apologise to him as soon as he steps out of the doors, however when the lift finally stops and the doors slide back, they reveal Trystan and Ryder's parents. I feel my shoulders sag with the disappointment.

"Oh," their mother says in surprise as she exits the lift and sees us all, me with tears running down my face. I calculate for a moment and push past them, leaving Sophie with the guys. She looks like she wants to follow, and part of me says to take her with me so we don't impose on Trystan and Ryder any longer, especially with their parents back, but another knows that in the event that I find Storm, which I feel will be unlikely but I want to try, I should really be alone. I don't want to seem like I'm assuming that I'm relying on the guys to look after her, but that's the only choice I have right now.

"Sophie, sweetie, stay with the guys. I'll be back in a moment," I say with a forced smile. I press the button for the ground floor and see Brody is stepping forward.

"Should I come-?"

"Thanks, but I'll be fine." I push the part that's telling me that Tanner could be outside and try to take advantage of me being alone to the side, and just focus on trying to make amends with Storm right now.

"Do you boys know what's wrong with Storm? He ran past us-" The doors close, meaning that the end of her sentence and the response she gets are cut off.

The ride down to the lobby seems to take forever. I tap my foot impatiently as I watch the numbers tick down. When the doors finally open I run out, searching the people in the lobby for Storm. I call his name as I run out of the doors when I don't see him.

"Storm!" I call again, as I halt just outside the doors on the pavement. I garner a few strange looks, and I bite my lip as I see them staring. I don't want to go too far from the apartment building, just in case tanner is nearby and tries something again, but I don't want Storm to think that it was his fault and I didn't want the kiss. I take my phone out and open the contacts, needing some comfort and safety measure in case Tanner is around. I walk for a bit both ways, but with no luck. Storm has obviously driven off. I begin to walk back to the apartment building, pressing Storm's contact as I go. He may not want to talk to me now, but when he's ready to listen to me, I don't want him to think that I haven't tried and that it's his fault.

I pace outside of the doors, as I listen to the phone ringing. I'm not expecting him to pick up, but I urge him to under my breath. When the ringing finally stops and I hear Storm's voice telling me that I have reached his voicemail, my heart sinks a bit, however, I try and keep it out of my voice as I leave Storm a message.

"Storm, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to cry out and push you away. I didn't want to do that. I guess I just wasn't expecting it, or Terry and Jack have affected me more..." I trail off, knowing that it's probably not what he wants to hear right now. It's not what I want to hear. I don't want the past, and everything that happened there, to affect my future. "Please call me back." I hang up the phone and go to pull the door open, only to be met with resistance. Once I remember I need to get Trystan or Ryder to let me in, I move to the panel and key in their apartment number. A moment later a buzzer sounds and a male voice comes through the speaker.

"Yes?" it asks sharply. It takes me a second to recognise it as their father.

"Hi, I'm Bambi, we met a couple of nights ago. I ran out earlier..."

"And?"

"Can you let me back in, please?"

I hear Trystan faintly in the background.

"That's Bambi, right? Let her in."

The sound of their father's voice gets fainter, but I can still make out the words, like with Trystan

"You can't let people just come and go, especially..."

"Dad! You're hardly here, I think we have a bit more say on who can and can't come here than you..." Trystan's voice gets louder with each word, not because he's shouting, because he's getting closer to the microphone. His words are cut off and are followed by a buzz of the doors opening. I pull the doors open slowly, not wanting to cause problems between Trystan, Ryder and their parents.

Hi guys! I apologise (again!) for the long wait. I have been working a bit harder on the parts, meaning that they take a bit longer (not that I wasn't working hard on them before). So, I have a question for you, do you prefer the longer chapters that will take a bit longer, or do you prefer the shorter ones? I would still put in the same effort for both, it's just the length I'm wondering on. I also have somewhat of a routine now, and will be going on vacation in a couple of weeks, allowing me to get a lot more writing done.

I hope you enjoyed the part!

Bambi's opened up to the guys about what she's going through. How will the boys react?

We had a bit of Storm and Bambi action in this chapter, but it didn't really end as we wanted. What was your reaction? (If you can, why not say it in emojis?)

Is Storm angry at Bambi?

What did you think?

What will happen next?

Thanks for reading, voting, commenting, sharing and following!

CC ;)