Growing Up ||josh richards||

Chapter 35: Austin

~Nicole's pov~
As I pulled into the driveway, I parked my car in my usual spot and got out to head inside.

I was still worried about this whole Jackson thing. Like, his family was so messed up. Jackson is a phsyco, his older brother Austin is just as bad but not as bad, his parents are the nicest people, then Brett. I don't know why I never got to meet him.

Probably because I was too busy getting beaten by Jackson. That son of a bitch. That god he's in jail now.

As I walked inside, everyone was cheering because I coached my first win. But, that quickly stopped when they saw my facial expression.

"Hey um Nik, you alright?" Josh asked while I sat next to him on the couch.

I nodded my head and said "yeah, I just found out something that actually made me happy but should worry me."

Everyone looked at me confused and I said "Brett. He's Jackson's younger brother. And before you boys do anything, I want you to listen to me. All of those horrible things jackson and Austin did to me, they tried to get Brett into it too, ofcourse at the time he was only 13 maybe so he said no. Jackson was getting aggressive with him so their parents sent Brett to live here with his aunt and uncle."

Totally ignoring the Brett thing, Tayler spoke in an angry voice saying "austin was involved in all of this too?! Nicole that guy is one of my best friends! How could you hide that!"

Shit. I forgot they didn't know about Austin.. only Charli does. Charlis eyes went wide as she looked the other way.

"Charli knew too?! Who else knows?!" Tayler said in his angry tone.

"N-no one else.. now everyone here does, but before that.. no one." I said looking down.

Tayler stood up from his seat and started walking out. I looked at bryce, then Charli and said "t-Tayler.. what are you doing..please don't do what I think your gonna do."

Tayler turned around and said "no! I'm done with this bullshit! I'm tired of letting people come after you and attack you and letting either josh or Jaden handle it. It's my turn to step up. Lucky for me, Austin is here looking at apartments."

Before I could even say anything, Tayler was gone. I was too ashamed to sit here with everyone since I didn't tell them this.

I stood up from the couch and went upstairs to the bedroom. Before laying down to drown myself in tears, I needed to shower, so that's what I did.

After showering, I put on a tshirt and shorts and just sat on the floor. I had my knees up to my chest, my arms around my legs, and my head in my knees.

I sat there crying for a good hour or two when I heard everyone downstairs.

"Omg Tayler!" One of them said.

~Taylers pov~
I went to the hotel Austin's told me he was staying at and knocked on his door. He opened it with a smile and said to me "tay! What's up bro!"

J pushed him into the room and said "don't what's up me. I know what you did to my sister."

He laughed at me and said "Tayler buddy, your ridiculous. I would never do that."

I scoffed and said "so your lying to me now, again. I never said what you did, but from what I hear, you already know what I mean."

I didnt let him respond. I punched him straight across the face and started a fight.

Yeah, I took some hits from him but I don't care. Once I felt like my time was done with him, I punched him one more time and left.

Getting back to the others at their house, everyone looked at me.

"Omg tayler!" Dixie said while her attention came to me.

"I'm fine. Where's Nicole." I said ignoring the pain.

"She went upstairs before.. we didn't want to bother her.." josh said. I nodded and went up the stairs, trying to find her.

"Nik?" I said while opening her bedroom door.

I heard crying so I went inside and peeked into the bathroom and saw her just sitting there.

"H-holy shit.. Tayler.." she said looking up at me. I looked in the mirror and saw how bad my face looked. That's not my concern right now though.

I sat down next to her and put my arm around her.

"Why didn't you tell us?" I asked while looking down.

"I-I didn't want to ruin your friendship with Austin.. you two were really close.." she said while wiping her eyes.

"Nicole, if you told me sooner, I could've fixed it. So what, I lose a friend. Big deal, I would rather you safe than him being my friend."

She smiled and said "thanks tay, but I'm tired.. I'm gonna go to bed."

I nodded and stood up while saying "no problem, goodnight."

"Goodnight." She said while laying down in her bed.