The Queen of England

Chapter 14 Past

"Cody!" I scream.

Kate and I both end up cowering back as Cody beats the hell out of his brother.

He is terrifying me. What is he going to do to me if we get into a big fight? Is he going to hit me this hard?

No. He wouldn't hurt me.

I'm still scared.

"Prince Cody!" someone yells. "Lord Lucian!"

And then Collin is there, and he is pulling Cody off of Lucian.

"Prince Cody stop!" he yells.

Cody doesn't seem to hear him as he punches his brother again.

"Cody stop you're scaring Brittany!"

I'm not sure who yells it, but Cody freezes and looks at me.

I stare back at him, my eyes wide. "Britt," he murmurs, stepping towards me.

"Lucian!" Kate gasps as she rushes to her husband.

I have no idea what she sees in him.

"Brittany, I'm sorry. I know I told you that I wouldn't-I just couldn't stop myself. He was saying all those things about you and it just drove me crazy. I'm...im sorry I scared you." He says.

I can't seem to say a word. I can't even breathe.

"Say something." he begs.

But I can't. So i do what I do best.

I run.

****

Brittany runs out the door without a word.

Shit, I've lost her.

How many times has she run away from me? How many times has it ended badly?

I remember finding her on the river bank that night.

No.

Not again.

I'm not letting her go this time.

I rush after her, knowing my longer legs will catch up to her quickly.

"Brittany wait!" I cry.

She stops in a doorway that leads into in outside garden. I've seen her in it many times over the past two weeks. She must find it peaceful.

I catch up to her. "Britt, please. Don't run away from me again. It never ends well. For either of us." I say.

She stares at me.

"Please, baby. I'm sorry. I know I promised I wouldn't fight him but you have to admit the wanker deserved it." I say.

"I know." she whispers.

I put my hands on her shoulders and lean closer.

"You know you don't have to be scared, Britt." I whisper.

"How can I not be?" she breathes. "That's your brother, Cody. If you would do that to him...well, what would you do to me?"

I am appalled. "Brittany! I would never hurt you! Not ever!" I exclaim, sickened by the thought.

"I've heard that before." She whispers.

Suddenly I feel sick.

"Have you ever done this before?" I asked.

"I-it was only once." She said.

"Brittany, did...did someone hurt you?" I ask gently.

She looks up at me, her green eyes full of tears. "I was fifteen." She says.

"Oh baby," I whisper. The pet name is still foreign to my lips, but I ignore that as I take her into my arms.

"He-he used to yell at me a lot. And he would be really possessive and any time someone would look at me he would ask me who it was and if I was screwing him. And then he would jump on them and attack them and beat them up." She says into my chest.

"Basically what I just did to my brother." I say, feeling sick with myself.

She doesn't answer.

"Britt, I wasn't jealous of him. He was being as arse-you heard what he was calling you." I say.

"You were protecting me." she whispers.

"Yes. I was. I'm sorry I scared you."

"It's alright. You didn't mean to." She says.

"I feel like we've had this conversation before." I say.

"That's because we have." She says.

"Wait," I say.

"What?"