Ocean Of Lies

The troublemaker brother

We continue to walk through the crowd and out through the back door, I instantly see Jay and want to turn around. I go to pull my hand away from George, but he grips onto it and leans down to whisper into my ear.

"Everything will be okay, I'm here with you. Just ignore Jay." I smile up at him and walk towards the tent. Jay instantly spots me, and his eyes go to mine and Georges interlocked arms.

"Good to finally see you join the party Lise. I see George has found you as well." I roll my eyes and unlink my arm from his, too quick for him this time. I walk to the other side of the garden and sit down on a bench; I feel someone sit down beside me and I roll my eyes.

"Seriously George, I just want to be alone." I look up to see Alex sitting there smirking.

"I see you met my brother then. He can be very persistent when he wants something or someone." I sigh and look down at my hands, fiddling with my rings.

"He's a great person but I just wanted to be left alone right now. I guess its harder for me to adjust to this new place then I thought."

"It's always going to be difficult. You will always compare the people and the memories back home to the ones that you could create here. You just need to give yourself time to adjust and don't rush into anything." I place my head on his shoulder, completely content with his company. I close my eyes and we just sit in silence for a moment.

I lift my head and properly take him in. He's wearing a white shirt that has a couple of the top buttons undone. I see a rope necklace underneath. I go to touch it, but he moves away from me.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to cross any boundaries; I was just curious." He shakes his head and he goes to fiddle with it himself.

"No, its fine honestly, it just has a lot of sentimental value and I'm scared one day that it is going to get more broken than it already is." I nod and place my head back onto his shoulder. He kisses the top of my head and then gently places his on top of mine.

We sit there together for hours. Talking about everything and anything, our plans, the 'past', and everything in-between. The music had dulled down by now, it was visibly getting late so we both stand up from the bench. Alex places his arm around my shoulders and walk us back to the tent, as we enter, I see Jay talking to the bunch of guys he roped in to helping put the tent up. That includes George. We walk up to the guys and I stand beside Jay, shrugging Alex's arm from my shoulder I try to make it casual.

To my surprise this just motivated him to put his arm around my waist instead. Jay looks down at his hand and then back up to my face, I give him a small smile trying to reassure him but unfortunately, he still kicks off.

"I think you need to remove the hand mate." Alex looks straight at Jay and smiles.

"I think you need to chill mate. If Annalise didn't want the arm there, she would tell me." I see the anger in Jays face now, I step forward and place my hands on his shoulders trying to push him away. He grabs Alex's wrist and yanks him forward, and stupid little me stepped in the way just as Alex throws the first punch. It lands right on my jaw and I hear a slight crack, I fall back at the force and find myself being lifted. I suddenly go all dizzy and I black out.

I wake up to a cold ice pack being held to my face and two shouting men in the background. I look up to see that Jay was with me in my room, I lay my head back down and listen to the shouting.

"How long has that been going on?" Jay glances down at me and sighs.

"Since you blacked out and George had to carry you up here." I let out a small sigh and close my eyes.

"He didn't mean it Jay; it was my own fault." He shakes his head and stands, removing the ice pack.

"He threw that punch, not bothering to make sure you were out of the way and safe. He is dangerous Lise and I don't want you spending anymore time with him." I nod and sit up straight in bed. The shouting had stopped, and I hear a small knock on the door. Jay opens it to a weak smiling George; he motions for him to come in and he walks straight up to me.

Sitting down he moves my face to examine my obviously very bruised jawline and cheek bone. "Ouch lise, are you okay?" I shrug.

"I've never felt better." He lets out a small chuckle.

"I am so incredibly sorry for what Alex did. Off the record I'll tell ya that dad is a very angry man right now. Even threatening to send him to military school." He adds a wink. I stare wide eyed at him.

"Honestly it is no big deal." After all the pain I've caused Derek this is the least I deserve but I don't say that to him. "Alex really didn't mean this; I was the one that stepped in the middle of them" He nods and kisses me on the cheek.

"You better rest, wouldn't want that pretty little head of yours to be tired tomorrow." I look at Jay who is staring off into the distance, clenching his jaw.

"And why is that?" I continue to watch Jay as George talks again.

"We are having you over for an apology dinner." I watch as Jays face fills with relief and he glances at me. Smiling he leaves the room.

"I guess we can be there." I add a little wink. He pulls me into a hug.

"And then I'm going to take you to the movies. Don't tell your brother though." He pulls away and I can see him smirking. He's picked up on his overprotective behaviour. Great. I give a small smile and get up from the bed, following him to the front door I give him a little wave as I watch him cross the road and walk through his front door. I smile to myself as I close the door and walk through to the kitchen.