chasing angels ・❥・Brian O'Connor fic

seven ・❥・ ignite me, body and soul

・❥・

Lola's pov...

I had a nightmare last night.

Their breath, their hands, bruises, blood, screams. My nightmare was another memory I had tried to rid myself off of. I was never going to escape them- the monsters. The realisation that I couldn't run from them forever when I woke up had sent me running into the bathroom where I violently threw up.

The scars on my skin would forever ruin me, so would their voices- everything about them would haunt me for the rest of my life.

And there was nothing I could do about any of it.

・❥・

After the hellish night she had been through, the last thing Lola wanted was to pretend she was fine and make enough food to feed a football team- however, she did it anyway, without complaint, because that was who she was. 

With her hair in a ragged ponytail and a scowl on her face, she roughly slammed the door closed behind her as she stormed outside.

"Lola!" Her brother yelled. "The chickens dry-"

"Oh my god, give me a fucking break, Dom." Lola snarled back before lobbing the meat onto a plate. "Happy?"

With his eyes on his sister, Dom gave her a quizzical look as he studied her. "What the hell is up with you?"

"Nothing."

"Bullshit."

He could always call her out on her lies- almost all her lies. Whilst he could read her and most of her moods, he couldn't read her when she was spiralling in her past. It was a puzzle he had been trying to solve for years, however, it was a puzzle Lola had been determined to keep to herself.

The demons were for her to deal with and her only.

Glancing down at her hands, a frown stretched onto Dom's face as he looked at his sisters bruised and bloody fists. He had suspected that she hadn't slept much, and from the state of her skin, his suspicions had been right.

After the bathroom incident, she knew she couldn't go back to sleep, not when the terror of them was still so fresh in her veins. So she dragged her ass down to the garage and pulled out the punching bag, not stopping until her knuckles were raw red and the threat of physical exhaustion threatened to take over.

She didn't stop until she physically couldn't continue anymore.

"Brians here." Dom whispered in her ear as the boy pulled up.

Lola showed nothing as she flipped her ponytail to the side and dumped an inedible amount of chilli powder onto the chicken. She had schooled her features to perfection, not letting an ounce of a reaction slip at the news that he was here.

The night before at the club she had gotten jumpy, and she couldn't work out why. She wasn't afraid of alcohol or drunk people, and yet something last night had sent her spiralling.

Lola only stopped her destruction with chilli powder on the chicken when a shadow roamned over her, making her slightly tense as she lifted her head up. In front of her was him, an unreadable expression on his face.

Without a word, she held out the palm of her hand, and he slapped ten thousand dollars into it. Not a word slipped past her lips as she spun on her heel and walked away, leaving Brian staring after her.

"What did you do, Spilner?" Dom muttered with a knowing look on his face.

"I don't know." Brian shot back in a whisper, his eyes still on Lolas' retreating figure.