Never, Always (Nicholas Hoult)

Chapter 20: Rain

I stood up on my toes and kissed his cheek and he chuckled, releasing me. I looked up at the sky, seeing big puffy clouds floating through and a gray sky poking through, creating the rays of light that I had always loved. I turned to Nicholas with a giant smile on my face, handing him my camera and portfolio. I turned to run through the trees and flopped down on the grass. It wasn't sunny, but it wasn't...horrible. I loved this type of weather. It was kind of like me. It was calm in a dark and gloomy way. Well I wasn't really calm, but to others I looked that way.

I was sat underneath a huge willow tree, it's branches hanging so close to the ground. I smiled; I had always loved willow trees. Nicholas called my name and I sat up on my elbows. I saw the camera in his hands and I started laughed. "Nicholas!" I laughed, and he snapped another picture before walking over to me, his long legs making it easy to reach me in seconds. He was slipping the pictures into my portfolio folder as he sat down. he then took my hands and kissed me.

"Hello my love." He murmured, and I blushed. He kissed my cheeks and I turned away.

"Oh stop it you. Let me see those pictures."

"You look beautiful."

"Just let me see them." He handed me the developing pictures, and I shuffled through them. In the first one, my hands were on my stomach, head turned to the side and my hair was spread around my head. My legs were propped up and my knees were leaning together. "Nicholas, why aren't you a photographer?" I asked, looking up and kissing him.

He shrugged. "I just saw you and I knew it would be an amazing picture. And it is." I bit my lip and continued scrolling, seeing the one of me propped up on my elbows. My eyes were bright and my cheeks were a light pink. Did I always look that way when I looked at Nicholas? The next was one of me laughing. Did I always look that way when I laughed? I hoped so. It was one time where I looked actually quite nice.

I looked up at him and I smiled softly. "These are really nice, babe."

"I am pretty great." He stood up and pulled me up after him, and kissed me quickly. I heard the snap of a camera and I gasped, pulling away. "Nicholas!" I laughed, giving him the 'I can't believe you just did that' look. He grinned sheepishly. I took the camera and pulled out the developing picture, waiting to see it and knowing my cheeks were flushed red. The picture really was adorable, but it was still embarrassing.

I looked up at him and noticed his eyes were already on me, soft and hovering on my lips. "I like that picture." he murmured, making me blush into a deep red. He quickly kissed me, and ran back to his car and put the camera and folder in the passenger seat.

He came back and wrapped his arms around me, his left hand went to rest behind my neck and his right rested on my hip. My hands uncurled to rest on his chest, and our faces were barely an inch apart. Our eyes locked and they didn't leave each others for a few moments.

"Nicholas..."

"Yes love?" he breathed and my eyes fluttered closed.

"Shit." I muttered, and I could tell he was thinking the same thing. My breathing quickened and so did his, and I finally grabbed his shirt and pulled him closer, kissing him. It wasn't rough, it was slow and tantalizing and it drove me insane. My arms slid around his neck and his fell to rest at my waist, pulling me closer. His lips worked against mine, perfectly synchronized yet somehow sweet and innocent. He backed me up into the trunk of a tree, makings sure he put a hand out to hit the tree first so my head didn't smack into the wood. The bark scratching at my back hurt a little but I couldn't care less. His arms slid down to my legs and he picked me up, my legs moving to straddle his waist. I sucked in a breath and pulled away, and his lips slowly trailing down my neck. Suddenly he stopped, and I moaned a little. "W-what?" I gasped, and he pulled away, eyes glued to my neck, an emotion I couldn't identify burning in his eyes.

"Your neck. There's a mark." He said, not really asking.

"Uh...w-what do you mean?" I stuttered, my thoughts flying to Rob.

He pulled me off him and set me down, taking a few steps back. "There's a mark...on your neck. From...someone."

"Nicholas, let me explain-" I quickly tried to calm him down, but his eyebrows furrowed and he shook his head.

"No, last night, you had someone over? When I left, someone came over? You cheated on me, didn't you?!"

"No, please listen, R-"

"I don't want to hear your excuses. I'm leaving." He turned away from me, and started walking.

"You can't, just listen to me!" I begged, following him.

He surprised me by quickly turning around and demanding "Was it him? Was it your ex-boyfriend? Or was it some guy you picked up on the street? I never thought you would be the one to do this."

"Listen!" I shrieked, tears streaming down my face. I could tell he didn't know if he should feel sympathetic or pissed. I didn't blame him. "Rob. He came over last night."

"I fucking knew it!" he yelled, throwing his hands in the air, and I flinched before continuing.

"No, you don't know! He was drunk. Really drunk. And, and," I collapsed on the ground, my legs giving way, unable to complete my thoughts. I felt like the weight of the world was on my shoulders. Nicholas was going to leave me because Rob had assaulted me. This wasn't my fault.

Nicholas let me sit there for a while until he came over to me and helped me up. "What did he do?" he asked, eyes unreadable as he tucked hair out of my face and behind my ear.

"He...I can't talk about it."

"Why?"

"He made me swear not to."

"If you don't tell me I'm leaving, Alexandria." he threatened, and I turned away from him.

"He just...he assaulted me." I said, my voice cracking.

"What the hell are you talking about?" he demanded and I flinched again.

"He hurt me. He made me do things, and he did things to me."

"Why didn't you tell me?" His voice was angered yet he didn't try to mask it with a sweet side.

"Because he said if I told anybody, he would kill me!" I shrieked, and I started walking away from him. I couldn't deal with this anymore.

To my dismay, Nicholas didn't call after me. I didn't turn around, but he didn't run after me or comfort me. It hurt that he did, but I suppose that I would have told him to leave me alone if he did. I found a tree and I sat down underneath it, my heart aching. I heard thunder roaring, seeing lightning flash across the sky. Little rain pellets hit my back, but I couldn't feel it. Everything was numb.

If Nicholas left me because of this, I didn't know what I would do. It wasn't my fault, I was the victim. And he was my ride home. I stood up, my arms crossed over my chest. "FUCK!" I screamed, and I was stranded here. He had my camera and portfolio. Not only that, but I was fucking lost too. Whatever. How horribly cliché was that? Not only was I physically lost, I was mentally screwed too.

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heyo

I'm finally online, how exciting is that?! I used to only be able to update on my phone, so they were all short and stuff. They had a bunch of errors too. Whateves.

Anyways, 7K READS?! That's incredible? And nearly 200 likes?! Damn, you fabulous bitchachos work fast. I'm so excited to start the next chapter. I'll see you flowers next time, but for now comment what you think I should do! Please? I need some inspiration, tell me what you liked about this chapter and what you didn't like. Fanks dawg.

Dani