A Love Lost

Ana

Nicholas was so sweet. Like his older brother, I felt I could trust him. We were about the same age, but he seemed as if he were older than me and Gabriel. We made conversation the entire morning. Small topics, but each allowed us to know the other better. It wasn't annoying. However, it was obvious that there were some questions he wanted to ask me, but he wouldn't. After about an hour of him starting to ask the questions but cutting himself off, I got to the point.

"Nicholas. Is something the matter? If you have questions to ask me, ask them." I smiled.

He smiled and came into the water. I didn't notice, the entire time, that we were on separate sides of the cove. As he drew closer, I positioned myself further away so he couldn't see the bruises.

"I do have questions. But Gabriel told me not to mention certain things."

What! Why would he do that? Why in the world would Gabriel think he had any right to do that?

"I'm sorry. He did what?" I was still in shock.

Then, almost as if my body sensed him, I turned to see Gabriel, looking like a Spanish Adonis, standing on the far side of the cove. His hair was windblown and wet. The mixture of the sunlight and the water made his perfectly defined chest appear even more perfect. I knew he was attractive, but seeing him like this, in his element, flipped a switch in my brain that I wish would revert to being off.

"Hello, little sister. Hello, Nicholas." he greeted us as if nothing was wrong. As if he did nothing wrong. He turned around to drop the towel he carried onto the sand.

He looked at me, piercingly. I turned to Nicholas. I knew he was my step-brother, but I wanted to make Gabriel pay for what he did. It was an irrational trade-off, but I wasn't happy. Nicholas was there and wanted something to happen. He sat right next to me, so it wasn't hard to reach around his neck and pull him to me.

I wasn't gentle. I needed to get my anger out. He wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me onto his lap. He wasn't bad. I ignored the spasms of pain.

As I parted my lips further to allow his tongue access to mine, I felt Gabriel's gaze on us. It burned. I knew he was the one I wanted to kiss, but I was still unhappy with him. I wanted to make him jealous. I tightened my grip on Nicholas' hair. He reached up to pull my hair.

Eventually, enough became enough. We separated from each other. I didn't care at this point if Nicholas saw my bruises. I pushed hard on the sand, stood, and walked away, purposely robbing my shoulder to Gabriel's forearm. As our bodies collided, heat arose across my collarbone, starting at the shoulder. We looked at each other.

"Asshole," I muttered and walked back to the house. I would spend the remainder of the day by the pool.

When I got back to the house, I ran into my mother.

"Hi, sweetheart. I thought you were going to be down at the beach all day." She was smiling and her cheeks were rosy.

"That was the plan, but now I just want some alone time by the pool with Romeo and Juliet." I named the star-crossed lovers not as the title of the play, but as companions. I felt bad. I didn't want to ruin her mood. It wasn't a lie, but I avoided the details of why.

I got two hours of perfect silence and alone time before it was interrupted by the handsome devil himself. As I reached the tomb scene, the sun disappeared, blocked by a tall figure. I refused to look up, knowing who it was who stood in front of me. Here we go. How am I going to avoid losing my mind with him? How could I maintain control?

"What do you want, Gabriel?" I asked harshly, still refusing to make eye contact.

He tore the book out of my hands, forcing me to look at him. The look on his face was somewhere between pissed off and emotionally hurt. He took a deep breath, his shoulders rising, further defining his chest and abdomen. "I'm going to ignore your hurtfulness." he retorted. "I came to see if you were okay." he sounded genuinely concerned. He looked me over, his eyes scanning every inch of my body.

The way he cared if I was okay destroyed any will I had to snap at him for even mentioning the night before. Instead, I moved my legs, making space for him to sit at the edge of the lounger. He took my invitation.

"How noticeable are they?" I felt overly self-conscious about him seeing my bruises.

"The truth?" he asked.

"Always."

"It's pretty bad," he noted. I looked down at my arms and then up at his face. It was then that I noticed he had a busted lip.

"What happened to you?" I needed to change the subject. I placed my hand on his cheek, my thumb caressing the cut. He didn't wince. He just stared at me. I continued the motion over and over again.

"Nicholas beat me up," he said without any emotion, still not removing my hand or breaking eye contact

"Why the hell would he do that?" I raised my voice slightly.

"He thought that I had done that to you. That I had given you those bruises." He cast his eyes to the small space between us.

I hated seeing him upset. As mad as I was, it physically hurt me to see him hurt and upset.

I tilted his chin up, returning his gaze to mine, and shifted closer, so that our thighs rested against one another. As our eyes locked and our skin touched, a fire ignited throughout my body. Just being close to him caused every nerve to awaken. I had only one solution to cheer him up. There was only one thing I wanted to do.

I shifted so I sat on his lap, wrapped my legs around his waist, one arm went around his neck, and stroke his cheek with my other hand, lifting his face to face mine.

"Don't move. Don't freak out." I lay a soft kiss on one corner of his lips, then the other.

As I was about to lay a kiss on his lips, "What are you doing?" he asked me. I answered him by laying a tender kiss on his lips.

I could kiss him forever. He was different than his brother. The moment that our lips met, he took control feverishly.