Lost In You

T W E N T Y - T H R E E

I've never seen Tyler as worried as he was right now, the stress on his face was more concerning than the phone call. He was shaking and fidgeting, and kept murmuring things into the phone that I couldn't hear. I just kept my eyes on the road and focused on getting us to Cherry Blossom in one piece and as soon as possible.

"How far away are we?" He demanded, holding the phone away from his ear.

"Five minutes."

He repeated it into the phone, even though I still didn't know who, or what was waiting for us at Cherry Blossom Park.

The park came into view, looking ominous and dangerous under the streetlights. I scanned the side of the road for a person and saw a figure hunched over underneath the tree. Tyler obviously saw it too because he shouted for me to pull over and jumped out before I'd even stopped the car fully. I jumped out after him and sprinted across the road to catch up with him, but stopped in my tracks when I saw who it was.

Farrah was crouched on the ground, her clothes were bloodied and she had a growing bruise on her jaw, and another above her eyebrow. Her lip was bleeding and the fear and pain in her eyes when she looked up at us broke my heart.

Tyler skidded to a stop in front of her and crouched down, so he was eye level with her red-rimmed eyes. She nodded to something he'd said and moments later he'd gathered her in his arms, holding her shaking body tight against his. I was stuck to the spot, my heart beating erratically in my chest as I took in the scene in front of me.

What had happened to her?

Who'd done this to her?

A moment later, Tyler had stood up and had his arm wrapped protectively around Farrah's shaking shoulder.

For a fleeting moment, I wondered when they'd gotten this close, they had been friends when I'd left, we'd all been close, but this seemed different.

It seemed like brother and sister, but my I was jarred out of my thoughts by Tyler's harsh voice.

"Let's go," He ordered, his voice low and his eyes flashing in an anger I'd never seen before.

He looked ready to kill someone.

I hurried to the car and turned it on in a futile attempt to warm it up, but with the persistent chill of the winter air and my car's crappy air con system, the car was freezing. Tyler sat in the back with Farrah while I drove home, silently thanking whoever was listening that we had the house to ourselves this weekend. I wasn't sure how I would've explained this to Mum and Claire. When I pulled into the driveway 10 minutes later, Farrah still hadn't said anything and was instead staring out of the window, unmoving. I looked at Tyler and raised an eyebrow, hoping he would tell me what was going on. He shook his head and mouthed 'soon' to me before he turned back to Farrah.

❦

After Tyler had cleaned up Farrah's wounds and tucked her into my bed with a hot water bottle and a bucket next to the bed, considering she'd thrown up six times since we got home half an hour ago, I waited for him in the kitchen with a steaming mug of coffee. He finally came down with Farrah's bloody clothes in a bag and chucked them in the bin before taking a seat at the bench and taking a long sip of the hot chocolate I'd made for him.

"I'm so sorry," He said quietly, his eyes were tired and his voice was hoarse.

"What happened?" I demanded, trying to keep my voice down so that I didn't wake up Farrah, but all I could feel was guilt.

I should've done something when I suspected that bruise all those months ago, maybe something could've been done.

"Who did that?" I asked, when he didn't answer.

"Her step-father," He sighed, "She told me about it after you'd left for Paris, but she'd told me a few weeks ago that it hadn't happened in a long time. I believed her, stupidly. He got drunk tonight and he was waiting for her when she got home. That's all I know so far, she wouldn't tell me the rest of it."

"Tyler, it's not..." I started, but he cut me off.

"Don't say that." He snapped and stood up, stalking to the sink.

I followed him.

"You couldn't have stopped it," I murmured, tentatively reaching out to place a hand lightly on his shoulder.

"I should have gone and done something about it when she first told me about it," He growled and slammed his mug down on the bench. I jumped slightly, and he turned to face me then.

"I'm sorry," He whispered and turned to go but I grabbed his hand, pulling him back.

"You're a good person, Tyler. I promise."

Within seconds he'd grabbed my waist and pulled me tight against his body, his hot breath on my cheek. My breath caught in my throat as I looked up at him, the fire in his eyes, the tight line of his lips.

The intensity in his gaze.

This Tyler surprised me when he came out to play, the aggressive, rough Tyler, but I was never scared of him.

"I don't deserve you," He muttered into my hair. I pulled back and leant up to place a kiss on his cheek.

"Trust me, you deserve the world," I whispered before he lowered in his head and covered my lips in a tender kiss. A low moan escaped my mouth and his fingers dug deeper into my hips, I was certain I'd have bruises in the morning. All of a sudden, he pulled back and I could see the pain behind his dark eyes.

"Briar..." He groaned and leant his chin on the top of my head, his hands moving from my hips to encircle my shoulders.

"Yeah?"

"I'm gonna tell you about New York, I promise," He mumbled into my hair. I opened my mouth to tell him that he didn't have to, that I didn't care about his past anymore, but he cut me off before I could say anything.

"... But tonight, can we just sleep? Please," He nearly begged.

I nodded into his chest and pulled him upstairs silently, making sure Farrah was still asleep in my bed as I tugged him towards his room and we fell into bed together, not bothering to get changed out of our clothes. His arm snaked around my waist and he pulled me back against his solid chest, his scent filling my senses as he took a deep breath and faded into sleep.

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I have no idea when i'm going to finish this book, but are you excited to learn about why Tyler was sent away? and who Rose is?

Don't forget to vote/comment!

- k