Today will be my day.

Chapter19

I woke up the next morning surrounded by Nath. I felt dehydrated, exhausted and emotionally broken. After three years of keeping my dirty little secret, I couldn't believe that I had told so many people without even thinking twice. I hope they don't tell anyone else. Oh fuck, what have I done?

"Lo, are you okay?" Nath asked without even opening his eyes.

"How did you know I was awake? You didn't even open your eyes." I questioned.

"I don't need to open my eyes to know what's going on with you when you're right next to me, Lo."

"I need to get a drink."

"Stay there. I'll get it for you sweetheart." Nath went to throw himself out of the bed but I stopped him.

"No." I sighed, getting up. "I don't want pity. I don't want you all to tiptoe around me. I don't want any of you to feel sorry for me." I sighed in frustration.

"Nath, I want to pretend that last night never happened. I don't want any of you to treat me differently, I don't want any of you to tell anyone and I do not want any of you to have a pop at Nick; it's not his fault and Ash almost killed him last night when he found me in the state I was in. Do you understand Nath?"

"But, Lo..." He started but I stopped him.

"No. Nothing happened, okay?" He eyed me, unsure. "Nathaniel, promise me!"

"Okay, I promise. Just let me look after you." His eyes were pleading with me silently.

"No. I've always looked after myself, I can look after myself." He shook his head in defeat but didn't argue with me.

I walked into my room, closing the door and sliding down it. I stood back up quickly once I recognised the two sleeping shapes on my bed. Ash and Jj. Jj must have came back after I left last night. I walked to the bed to wake them up.

"Lola, do you even know what time it is?" Ash growled at me, after he had checked his phone.

"Nope, I just woke up and I needed to talk to you."

"Less talking, more sleeping." Ash growled again.

"Ashley, shut up. Lola had a rough night remember." Jj scolded his older cousin.

"No, Jj. That's kind of what I wanted to talk to you both about." I paused and both boys had sat up on my bed, now listening intently to what I was going to say next.

"I want to pretend that last night never happened. I want you to pretend that you never found out anything from my past. I want you to treat me the same as you always have- don't feel sorry for me, don't pity me and don't tiptoe around me. Just treat me the same as you have since I got here. I do not want anyone else to know about any of this. Okay?"

"Lola, we can't jus..." Jj started at the same time as Ash started something along the same lines.

"No." I said firmly. "Don't make me have this argument with you as well. I've already been through that with Nath. Please just respect what I want." They both nodded, unsure of whether they should really agree or not.

"Promise me." I looked expectantly at the boys, who looked at each other. They slightly nodded at each other, silently communicating.

"We promise, Lola." I sighed in relief.

"Thank you. And no one goes near Nick, let me handle him. Okay?"

"Okay." They both muttered at the same time. I nodded and turned to leave.

I headed down to the kitchen to get a drink and some breakfast. I noticed it's only ten minutes until Barney, Brad, Nath and myself would have to get up to leave for first call anyway so I put the kettle on and made four coffees, whilst chugging a glass of water and preparing my own breakfast at the same time.

The four of us jumped out of the truck and headed in our own directions. Once Brad and Barney were far enough away, I grabbed Nath and stopped him.

"Remember what you promised me?" I asked.

"Yeah but Lo, he really upset you. Please let me do something." He pleaded with me.

"No. Nath, please let me sort this on my own. I can handle Nick."

"Fine but if he upsets you like that again, then I will not be responsible for my actions and I take absolutely no responsibility for my brothers and cousins."

"Don't be so dramatic, Nath." I rolled my eyes and started walking off.

"Lola. We all care about you. A lot." By this time I had stopped and walked back so I was face to face with him. "We all care about a lot and not one of us will just stand back and let anyone hurt you. You're safe with us, I promise." His smouldering gaze broke down all my walls. I lunged at him and wrapped my arms tightly around him. He cupped my face and pulled it up to meet his. It was a sweet kiss, full of hidden emotion, full of passion, full of sincerity.

"Let's go, get this party started." I winked at him and took off towards my stable block. I could hear him chuckle behind me and start running to catch up to me.

"How's my favourite boy today?" I cooed. "You are looking very handsome."

"Well thanks, always knew you had a thing for me." An arrogant voice sounded form the door of Rogues stable. Rogue tensed and visibly became angry.

"Whitmore, don't flatter yourself. The only remotely positive thing I could ever say about you is that you are sometimes not a complete prick. Only sometimes though and even then you are still being a prick in some way so really, I guess that doesn't even count." I smiled innocently, even though I was being a complete bitch.

"Look here, little girl. Yesterday, I had complete power over you and it was in the top ten best moments of my life. Now that it's happened once, I want it to be that way all the time. Any and every chance I get, you had better believe I will crush you. I will turn you into the quivering mess that you were in yesterday and the entire time, I will have the biggest smile on my face because no one has ever beaten me in anything. And I will not have a ratty, little, wannabe like you be the first." He sneered viciously at me.

"1) you will never speak to me like that again, if you wish to leave the conversation completely intact. 2) if I let go of this horse, he wouldn't think twice about killing you and right now, neither would I really. 3) I never lose." I winked at his fuming face and turned to calm Rogue.

"And 4) if you ever look at her again, I will ruin you." A very masculine voice sounded. I turned back around to see Josh and Nick, face to face, both of them with their fists clenched.

"And 5) If you ever upset Lola like you did last night, I can definitely find somewhere to dig you a very deep grave where you will never be found again. Watch your step." Nath was now joining in. A crowd had gathered around the three guys.

Other Parker guys were pushing their way through the crowd to get in on the action. I stepped out of Rogues stable, bolting the door behind me.

"Enough." I demanded. "That is enough. I will not stand for this behaviour in my stable block." I put emphasise on 'my' and looked directly into Nicks eyes before continuing. "You either all grow up and learn to work together without all the aggression or you leave now. I will not have three members of my team having a fist fight before 9am. It's pathetic. I understand that some parties are trying to stand up for me but I'm a big girl now. I can handle myself and honestly, I can handle all of this better than any of you can. That is clearly why I'm in charge and the rest of you aren't. All of you get back to work. Now."

As the crowd dispersed, I was faced with Mike, Barney and Robin. All of them sent me proud smiles and thumbs up before turning to carry on with their day.