~The Forbidden Fruit~

Chapter Forty

Andy pov.

The plan to pick Nick up from Natalie's house was derailed when I called him to let him know I was on my way. He told me he was at home already, that he left her house earlier. I thought nothing of it as I pulled into the driveway of my house with Drew still sat in the front seat.

While walking through the front door of my house with Drew in tow, I felt odd; partially because I hadn't ever willingly invited Drew into my home but mostly because I had just had Casey over the night before. He had dropped by sort of late and his lip was busted which really had me concerned; when he told me who had busted his lip, my gut wrenched. He and Jared had gotten into a fight over the fact that Casey and I were a thing. He'd found out about us somehow. I felt guilty for going to Drew the day after finding out the news. I really liked Casey but I also couldn't deny my feelings for Drew anymore, maybe it was selfish but I wasn't ready to let one or the other go yet.

"Nick!" I called out, jogging up the stairs to the second floor. He didn't answer me so I went straight for his room, "You could at least answer since you made me waste gas." I chided, passing through the threshold into his room. The lights were out and the curtains were drawn making the room fairly dark, I frowned.

My little brother was laying on his bed fully clothed, with his back to me, "Sorry about your gas." He mumbled, not bothering to face me.

I stepped deeper into the room and stopped beside his bed, staring down at his unmoving form. "I was just joking...Nick are you okay?"

He sighed lightly and curled into himself, "I'm fine Andy. Can you just leave me alone?"

In that moment I knew he was not fine, he never told me to leave him alone and he definitely didn't curl up into the fetal position unless he was hurting. I rounded the bed and tried to sit down, Nick quickly scrambled to turn over and his hand came up to cover to side of his face. Panic settled into my gut and I was determined to find out why he was trying to shield his face from me, I acted quickly and grabbed his arm to pull his hand away from his face.

"Andy stop!"

"What are you trying to hide?" I asked forcefully and wrestled with him for his arm, he was getting the better of me and was about to turn over again, so I did the only thing I could do. I scrambled on top of him and sat on his chest, pinning his arms to the bed to stop him from moving.

I couldn't make out much due to the lack of lighting in the room but I could see a distinct shadowing around Nick's eye. I gasped with a mixture of shock and pain but I couldn't react until I had a clear picture.

My brother struggled beneath me and breathed out desperately, "Andy please..."

I continued to gape down at him horrified, not believing my eyes, I needed to know for certain. "Drew!" I yelled out, barely noticing that he hadn't followed me upstairs. "Drew!" I yelled again when I didn't get a quick enough response. I heard his feet pounding up the stairs and down the hall until he popped into the room.

"What's wrong, what happened?" He asked hurriedly.