Chapter 12

Flash back

Unconsciously, her lips arched upwards in and a smile.

"You know, you are even more beautiful when you smile Skaii. You should do it more often. And not one of your infamous 'I don't give a shit about anything' smiles."

She didn't reply but her smile widened. She then turned back to face the fireplace and leaned onto his shoulder. And absentmindedly, he began to stroke her hair.

She didn't know what had changed between them, but right now, there was no place in the world that she'd rather be.

"Here," Nicholas said as he placed a bowl of Peanut butter Captain Crunch cereal in front of her.

"Thanks, I absolutely love a guy that can cook. You can be my personal chef." She said sarcastically.

"Look, I don't do breakfast, so that's all I can offer." Nicholas joined her around the table and started to sip his coffee.

"So," she cleared her throat. "Is Matthew a close friend of yours? Or do you guys just hang out together?"

"No, not really. We're both sportspersons, him basketball and me, football. I might see him at the club, we have a couple drinks or if he's with one of my friends, why did you ask?" He tilted his head to the side to look at her.

"It's nothing, I just wanted to know." She ate some of the cereal from her spoon.

He stared at her questionably for a while, then nodded and said "Okay."

"Your shoulder seemed bad last night, is it better now?" He asked as he reached over and touched her shoulder.

She bit down on her bottom lip and furrowed her brows as the wound on her shoulder started to throb again.

"Let me see it, did you fall?" He began shifting away the neck of her blouse to look at her shoulder.

"It's fine," she said pulling away, that made the blouse drew further apart, revealing the circular heated flesh.

Nicholas froze as he looked down at it. His face hardened, his teeth gritted and he fisted his hands.

"You were burned." He said, stating the obvious. She silently pushed the bowl away from her and stared blankly at him.

She opened her mouth to speak but the shrill ring of the doorbell cut her off.

Nicholas got up to answer the door.

Matthew was standing on the other side, fidgeting in his spot. He ran his hand through his blonde curls and blew sharply through his mouth.

"Hey Matt, what's up?" Nicholas asked, but he had a good notion of why Matthew was there.

"Hey, Nick have you seen Skaii around. I have a feeling that she could be hurt. When I came home, I didn't see her and I'm worried about her." Matthew said in a concerned tone.

Nicholas thought about it for a while. He became angry again. He didn't understand why he was so infuriated at Skaii, but he was.

Even though it was not really his business, he couldn't help but think that Skaii was a fool.

He pushed her from his thoughts and opened the door wider for Matthew step in.

"She's in there, just go straight ahead." He said and went up the stairs as Matthew walked in and closed the door.

Matthew waited until Nicholas was out of sight, before he slowly walked to the kitchen.

"Who was that?" Skaii asked without looking up from her plate.

"Your worst nightmare, you f*cking whore." Matthew yelled.

"Matthew," the spoon fell from Skaii's hand and her head snapped upwards.

He smirked and folded his arms. "I bet you did him real good last night."

"Why-"

"Shut your mouth!" He said, cutting her off. "I see the way he looks at you, the way you look at him. I figured sooner or later you'd give him a quick f*ck. But not me, no, instead I got kneed in the balls. Now why is that Skaii?" He slowly walked closer to her.

"Maybe because you're f*cked in the head." He rose his hand to smack her. "Ah, ah ah, touch me and I'll scream, remember you're not in your house."

He drew back, just once, but went towards her again. The stinging strike on her cheek symbolised the uncaring nature of him.

"Think twice before you choose to threaten me. I'm not easily scared." He said pointing his finger at her. "I know exactly where your father and your brother lives. They are just a phone call away from being put on ice. You know what we're capable of doing. Now will you be a good little bitch and do as I say?"

The thought of Matthew touching her hurt, but the thought of him and anyone for him, being anywhere near her family hurt even more.

"Don't even think about going anywhere near them." she gritted out.

"Or what? What can you do? You have no one, just an ex cop for a father and a brother living in his shadow." He shouted.

"You did that to both of them, you and your father." Matthew grabbed her hand and started to pull her towards the front door.

"Leave me alone, you piece of sh-" suddenly Nicholas appeared in the hallway, dressed in a different shirt and blue jeans. He glanced at them, his expression hard.

Skaii was looking to him with pleading eyes. But he avoided her gaze.

"Lock the door on your way out okay." He said and turned away.

Skaii watched in disbelief as he walked away.

The one person she felt she was able to trust was just leaving her behind, without a second look back.

Matthew smiled, feeling triumphant. Tears rolled from her eyes, why did she feel as if she had lost him?

How could you lose something you didn't even have?