Heavy Wears The Crown

Thirteen

"And he's long gone when he's next to me, and I realize the blame is on me 'Cause I knew you were trouble when you walked in so shame on me now."

-------- I Knew You Were Trouble - We Came As Romans (Cover Taylor Swift) -------

"This one is nice." Nolan said casually.

"No freaking way Nolan. There is no freaking way."

"What other colors do you have this in?" He directed to a salesman.

"Nolan!" I yelled.

He whirled back around to face me and put his hands on my shoulders with a bemused smirk. "R-e-l-a-x."

"I-I can't do that, you're trying to kill me!"

"Babe."

"No."

"You're not allowed to say no."

"Funny I just did!"

"Then you forfeit."

"I...well, no, I mean, there has to be something in the rules-"

"No drugs, no sėx. Those were our rules. Either you forfeit or you're in. You pick."

I was suddenly aware of the fact that I was pouting. I couldn't forfeit. If I forfeited, well the consequences were obvious. Plus getting Nolan clean was a pretty big deal, I had to win for that. And quite frankly, I couldn't lose. Accepting my defeat he turned back around and pulled out his card.

"We'll take it in black. Right now."

"It's freezing out Nolan." I added in as he began signing papers.

"We'll get you nice jacket."

I let out a large huff. My phone rang and I looked to the caller ID. "It's your boss and mine." I showed him the caller ID with Ace's name.

"Ignore him."

"What? Nolan you're going to get me fired!"

"Ignore him." He said more sharply.

Very slowly I put the phone back into my back pocket. The next ten minutes went by far too quickly and suddenly we were outside again. I was already freezing cold, bouncing up and down trying to get warm knowing it was only going to get worse.

"It's December Nolan. This is hardly safe."

"It hasn't snowed once. It hasn't rained. The roads are fine." He ruffled my hair and I raised my chin to look him in the eye. "Carter." He said in a completely different tone. No longer smug, taunting, but reeking of sincerity and seriousness. "Trust me baby. I wouldn't do anything to hurt you, okay?" I swallowed hard, unsure if I believed that. I mean, Nolan had put me through a lot but with little choice, I nodded slowly. He plopped the helmet on my head and very slowly pushed the visor down over my eye. "Trust me Carter, for two hours, just trust me."

As if I had a choice. Nolan put his own helmet on and swung his leg over the motorcycle instantly kicking it on. I pushed the visor up quickly. "My uncle wrecked one." I blurted out loudly over the revving engine. "Almost lost a foot. I mean like the thing was practically severed he can't even walk without shoes now."