Love? Maybe! Lust? Definitely!

Chapter-21: The Confrontation

"Eaargh!", came a strangled yell and a dark shape pounced past me and launched itself at Pike. "Enough! You jerk! You jealous, controlling asshole!". Punches were thrown and most of them found their mark on Pike's face. There was utter confusion. Someone held me back from the fight. Through blurry eyes, I saw Christian try to untangle the two fighting bodies. Someone held me tighter and steered me away from the sight. I sobbed into their shoulder. "Ssh! Its okay! You don't need to see this." They whispered in my ear, leading me away.

We were going somewhere safer, the person said. I don't know what happened, I couldn't see past my tears. "You're safe with me. Don't worry. You'll be mine!"
"Huh? What?"
"I said, you'll be fine!" I was getting paranoid. Pike... My head reeled. Pike was behind the whole thing! But...why? I was already his girlfriend. What more did he want? Maybe he knew... About Chris. What if he tried to hurt Chris? I have to go back! I have to keep him safe. I pulled away suddenly, from the arms that held me safe and ran towards the living room. I still couldn't see clearly and slipped and slid everywhere, but the wounds didn't matter. I have to keep Chris safe. "Lea! Where are you going? Come back here. Its not safe there right now. Pike is going to hurt you!" They called after me. But I ran. I HAVE to keep Chris safe. I love him.

I ran into the living room and I saw Chris standing there, chest heaving and blood on his shirt. I launched myself at him and kissed him all over. "Are you hurt? Did he hurt you?" I asked frantically checking his body for wounds. "No Lea, I'm fine. I'm okay." I looked around and saw that it had been my brother who had hit Pike and seemed to have broken his nose.

"LEA! Don't go there! He'll hurt you!! Come back! Please. We have to keep you safe from Pike. He's mad!" I turned and found Radhika running at me, hair wild and eyes scared.

"Oh. Mad am I? I wasn't the one who hit myself. You did! You whacked me on the head. I may have blacked out, but I definitely saw you standing over me with a branch before I became unconscious. You wanted Lea. You hurt Hershey! You have always hated me. Everyone knows that. You did everything you could to get Lea to want you and trust you more than anyone. Even now, she willingly came with you. That's what you wanted right? That she stop trusting everyone in this room. Everyone, except you, the perfect best friend." Pike raged at Radhika.

"Stay.away.from.her!" Radhika retorted, gritting her teeth. "You're dangerous and you will eventually end up killing her."
She turned to me. "I was only trying to protect you from him. He is bipolar. I didn't mean to hurt Hershey. But I didn't know how else to get you to realise how much you needed me. How much you trust me! But when everything went to hell, you trusted me without a doubt. I knew then, that you love me as well! I'm in love with you, Lea. Brandon was just an excuse to get closer to you, spend more time here with you. It JUST wasn't enough." She was yelling by this time, hands waving wildly and tears flowing down her cheeks. She looked almost insane. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Chris move closer to me and everyone looked shocked at Radhika. No one uttered a word. I don't think we'd even know what to say, if we could speak. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean any of this to happen. But I got sick of watching you be with Pike, talk about being in love with Chris." I heard a slight gasp from him at that. "And thinking that Charlie too was in love with you. You saw them all. You confided everything in me, yet you never saw how much I loved you. More than any of them. That I was the only one for you! You're mine! You always will be." She broke down and sobbed.