Nora

"No! That's not what happened, stupid." Harper muttered under her breath. "You fell on top of me."

"Shut the fuck up." Hunter grumbled. "You did."

"You."

"No, you."

"Yo-"

"Shut up." I slapped my hands on the table in front of me, making them jump up. "It doesn't even matter who did."

Harper glared at her twin as he narrowed his eyes at her. They both looked exactly same, blond hair, brown eyes, olive skin. The shape of their nose was the same, the structure of their jaw was the same, but their personalities was hundred worlds apart. Polar opposites.

"Hi guys!" I heard an extra squeaky voice behind me, and my face instantly turned into a scowl. "Nora, surprise seeing you here."

"Back at you. I'd thought you'd be too busy doing god knows what." I muttered.

"Making money." She smiled smugly at me. "I'm busy making money."

I smiled back at her. "Sure. It's a pity money can't buy you a personality, Ash."

Ashley scowled, and opened her mouth to say something back to me, but when my mother made our way over to us, she stopped herself. Mom smiled at all of us, then told us dinner was served. I got up, and she stopped me. "Where's Nicolas?"

"I thought he was with you?" I asked. I winced at how bad of a host I was being. "I'll look for him."

I knew he wasn't inside the house. So when I went outside and looked at the bare fields, I started to worry. Then by instinct my eyes went over to the shed, and my feet carried me over to there. I didn't know how, but I knew he was there.

Nicolas was sitting alone in front of Silver, brushing his white hair using his fingers. As if he sensed me, he lifted up his head and gave me a small smile. "Hi."

I knew something was wrong then. He didn't say 'hi'. He always said my name as a greeting.

"What's wrong?" I made my way over to him.

"I thought I could handle it, but- but I can't." He looked down again. "I don't know how to do families, Nora."

I sat down beside him. "What do you mean?"

"My parents sucked. That's how I remember them. And I don't know why I'd been expecting yours to suck as well. They don't. I don't know how to handle that."

"You wanted my parents to suck?" I asked slowly. "Um, why?"

"Because they're being nice to me and I don't know how to fucking react!" He gritted his teeth. "I expected them to be formal, cautious. Why are they not being assertive to me?"

"Because they trust my judgement." I said. "Because they know I can take care of myself. Nicolas-"

"But they don't fucking know me." He snapped. "Fuck, I shouldn't have come."

My nerves prickled with anger. "What?"

When he didn't say anything, I got up and walked towards the door, clenching my fists tightly. Him saying that hurt. If he didn't want to come he shouldn't have said yes. He shouldn't have given me hope, given my family hope.

"Get back here." He hissed from behind me.

"You made yourself pretty clear, Nicolas." I flipped him off.

My neck was suddenly grabbed from the back and he roughly turned me around, slamming his lips on mine. He conveyed his anger through his mouth, what he was angry about, I didn't know. I fist my fingers in his shirt, biting his lip hard enough to hurt, denying his tongue any access to enter my mouth. 

He pushed me against the wall, his hands tearing off the shirt from my chest, the buttons scattering everywhere. He held both of my wrists behind my back, pushing away the bra from my breast and taking a nipple into his mouth.

"Fuck you." I gritted out.

"That's the plan." 

He cupped my heat through my pants, making me hiss out. I was angry, furious, and very horny. But I was still in my senses. So when his grip on my wrists loosened, I used all my strength to push him away. "Stop."

He exhaled harshly.

I flung my bra back in its place, picking up my torn shirt from the floor. "Sex doesn't solve everything."

"You don't understand-"

"Help me understand then." I stated. "You want me to tell you things that bother me when you can't? How is that fair?"

"I don't want to burden you with my problems, alright?" He said, running a hand through his hair. "I'm used to being in control, Nora. I take care of my things-"

"Well I do too." I snapped. "But relationship needs compromises, from both the sides. I can't just cross the entire damn bridge on my own. You need to meet me halfway."

"You think I'm not fucking compromising?" He spat out. 

"Not enough, apparently." I waved my hands in the air. "If you don't want my parents to like you, be an asshole in front of them. Like you're being right now. Then they'll fucking dislike you and tell me you're not good for me and then I'll have no choice but to breakup with you and maybe then you'll-"

He grabbed my head and smashed his lips on mine, gripping my hair tightly. "Don't. I'm not letting you breakup with me."

"I was happy my parents liked you. I thought you'd be happy as well."

"I don't know how to." He said with force. "I'm used to criticism from parents. I-"

"Why don't you understand there's a first time for everything? Listen to me, I don't know what happened with your parents, and I'm sorry you had to go through whatever you did. But not every parent is like them. My parents like you, not because you're my boyfriend, but because you're worth liking. You showed them you care for me, and that's what they want."

"I cared for my parents as well." He said. "They didn't care."

My face softened. "Nicolas-"

"Why did they abandon me?" He shouted, slapping his palms on the wall beside him, making me flinch. He'd never shouted. He never raised his voice. "Why did they- why wasn't I good enough for them? Why-"

"Nico," I moved towards him, cupping his face, drawing him in the circle of my arms. He clung on tightly, burying his face in my neck, holding me so tight I was afraid it'd hurt, but it didn't. "Shh."

"Why couldn't they be like your parents? Why didn't they care?" He whimpered.

I rubbed his back, running my fingers in his hair. And that night, as I held him while he cried for someone he never had, I realised I'd already fallen for him.

~~

My mother knew something wasn't fine, so she didn't bother us the whole night. She also didn't let others bother us, for which I was grateful. My cousins had planned something different today, but I just wasn't in the mood. 

"Nora," Nicolas whispered from beside me. "I'm sorry. I didn't want to ruin this for you. This is important to you-"

"You're important as well." I murmured, turning around to face him. I draped a leg around his waist, and pushed myself closer to him. "And you need to stop bottling up emotions and start talking. If not to me, someone else then."

"I don't trust anybody as much as I do you." 

"Then stop pushing me away-"

"I was five when my parents left me at an orphanage." He closed his eyes, which were still shining with tears that hadn't fallen previously. "I was small and didn't even understand what that meant. But I knew they were leaving me. I begged them not to, but they didn't even care."

I stroked his cheek, letting him know I was here. That I was not going anywhere. That he wasn't alone.

"I spent an year hoping they'd come back. I wrote them letters, telling them I'd do anything, change everything if they wanted me to. I didn't get any replies. And then one year later-" His voice broke off. "N-Nicole came."

"To the orphanage?" I asked.

He shut his eyes again. "They left her as well. She was an year old. I was hurt when they left me, but when I saw my sister sleeping in a crib, not knowing her parents had just abandoned her, I was furious. But I was still a child, I felt helpless. I didn't know what to do."

"What happened then?" My voice was soft.

"The director of the orphanage knew we were siblings, and she felt awful. So she made sure we were together when we were placed in foster care."

"You were in foster care?"

"I had three foster homes. Two of them I had her. One was where she was placed in the custody of someone else, and it tore me apart. I was supposed to take care of her. I was- I was her parent. The day I turned eighteen, I took over legal guardianship for her. It was difficult, because I was still not fully developed, but Mary, the orphanage director, helped me. She is the reason why Nicole is still with me."

"Are you still in touch with her? Mary?" I asked him.

"She died a couple years back. I was in touch with her till then."

My heart clenched when I thought of a five year child, confused and distraught upon being left behind by his parents in an unknown world. It called out to him. "Nico, baby, you're so brave."

He opened his eyes. They were still shining.

"I always knew you were. But you're so much more than I thought. I can't even imagine what that must have been like."

He clutched my waist. "I hate my parents."

I pressed a soft kiss to his jaw. "You're allowed to. If they were in front of me now, I'd kill them. I mean it."

His gaze lightened. "You'd do that? For me?"

"I'd bend the world for you." I whispered. "Anything you need."

He brushed his thumb on my bottom lip. "Being wanted by you is all I need right now."

I smiled softly, tightening my leg around his waist and pressing my lips to his. These were the best nights, when it was just him and I, curled up against each other, protecting each other. He'd promised to keep me safe, and I'd fight anyone for him. He'd promised to take care of me, but he needed care just as much, and I'd make sure he never felt alone.

"If tomorrow, I lose everything, my money, my reputation." He gazed in my eyes. "If I become just...Nicolas. Would you stay with me?"

"The feelings that I have for you, they are for Nicolas, not for his money or his reputation." I murmured to him. "Yeah but, if you lose your body, we're gonna have a problem."

He chuckled. "I knew you were with me only for my sexiness."

"Thank you." I whispered after a while. "For telling me."

"I didn't think I could. But then I looked at you, and I thought if anyone, it had to be you. And you'll tell me when you're comfortable." He finished. "I know you will."

We laid in silence after that, looking at each other, saying nothing. But it was the nothing that meant everything. To me, and to him. Both of us had demons of our own, and now we would battle them together. 

*

Um...I feel they're both going too soft lmao. That's not who they really are. They're hard and rough and wild, but everyone deserves a bit softness once in a while. When I started writing them, I'd decided to keep their relationship passionate, wild, hot. Cute or soft wasn't a part of the picture. But that's my weakness haha. I tend to write at least one soft thing in each chapter.

Anyway, don't forget to vote and comment!