Knightly in Shining Armor

Lourdes

           

I had been haggling with the bouncer for the past 15 minutes. He wouldn't budge on not letting me in since I wasn't quite 21.

          "Look," I sighed. "Somehow, my dumbass rich kid friend managed to get in and he's aged 19. I need to get him home before he does something stupid. Please just let me in, I'll be out in 10 minutes, I swear."

          "What's the name of this friend?" The bouncer grunted.

          "Lukas Emrys. He's got light brown hair, green-blue eyes, he's tall?" I described, hoping to get through to this guy.

          "Nice try. Lukas Emrys is a billionaire. What would he be doing with... with you?" He snorted.

          "Look, I'll prove it, okay? You can even send me in with security, I don't care. I need to get him home." I pleaded. The bouncer rolled his eyes.

          "Fine. 10 minutes." He spoke into his walkie-talkie, calling a security officer over. When they arrived, he explained the situation. I was led in by security but couldn't have cared less. I scanned the bar and the tables, searching for this bloody idiot. He couldn't have gotten drunk yet, right?

          I turned my gaze over to the end of the bar and saw Lukas nursing a bottle of... was that bourbon? I rolled my eyes and led my officer over to the bar. Lukas took a swig of the mostly empty bottle. I tapped his shoulder. He spun around on his stool.

          "Lourdes!" He slurred.

          "How in the BLOODY HELL did you manage to get in here and drunk so fast?" I asked. He giggled and waved his wallet.

          "Money, silly," He drawled. "I can do anything I want." I snatched his wallet and pocketed the thing. I called for Lukas's tab and scanned the receipt.

          "How did you drink $60 worth of liquor in 20 fucking minutes?" I groaned, sliding the bartender Lukas's card. No way in hell was I paying the tab for him. I pried the bourbon away from Lukas and threw his arm over my shoulder. "Come on, we're going home."

          "Nooo," He whined. "You're just gonna yell at me." His speech was slurred as I lead him outside. "You yell at me just like my father."

          "Thank you," I said to the officer. She shook her head at Lukas and wished me luck. I went to thank the bouncer. "Told you," I sighed. "Thank you for letting me fetch him." I left the bouncer to pry his jaw off the ground and brought Lukas to the car.

          "You're no fun," Lukas pouted. "Dad does the same stuff you do. 'Cept he hits me sometimes." I froze in the middle of putting my seatbelt on.

          "When does he do that?" I asked.

          "Whenever I do something he doesn't like. Which is a lot. I only bruise sometimes, but it still hurts," He rambled. "Sometimes I think he hits mum and my siblings but I don't know." I started to drive the car. "He and mum always argue. They hate each other. But they don't want to ruin their image so they take it out on me. That's why they sent me away. Because they blame me.

          "I miss my siblings though. I miss Louis. He's my youngest brother. I'm scared he's gonna get hurt because he's a little like me. I don't want him to get hurt. I hope Bradly will protect him. I wanna go home and be with them."

          I listened to Lukas's ramblings and pitied him more and more. I was worried about him. He never shares this much, and he certainly never even told me why he came to stay with me.