Beverly Hills Brothers

Chapter 25

"I don't care. You are what matters most to me." Erik said as he laid on my floor, with his legs propped up against my bed, tossing a tennis ball at the ceiling. "Erik, you haven't been home in three days, your dad is going to be worried." I said, not wanting him to leave but knowing how strict his dad is and how much trouble he gets in if he's even an hour late for curfew. "Lyle is covering for me. He said I've been staying late at school for projects and going to more therapy sessions." "You do realize you can't stay here forever." I said, catching the ball before it got back down to him, forcing him to look at me. He sat up and sat next to me on my bed. "Sarah, when I drove you to the hospital that night and they took you away from me, screaming things about you losing too much blood and the puncture wound being too deep, I thought I had lost you. That killed me. I don't want to live without you." Erik said, looking down as a tear slid down his cheek. I held his hands and he looked up with tear-filled eyes. "Life is not worth living without you." "Oh Erik, you don't mean that." I said, squeezing his hands. "Sarah, if you weren't in my life, I would've been dead by now." he said and by his voice and the look in his eyes, I could truly tell how broken he was. "I love you." I said, kissing his lips and leaning into him. We laid on the bed and I was practically laying on top of him, but he didn't seem to mind. He tightly wrapped his arms around me and I fell asleep listening to his heartbeat. 

A few days had gone by and Erik had to go back home last night. I hoped everything was okay, but I wasn't so optimistic when he sat in the back seat of my car with his glasses on and a big sweatshirt. "I have a suit fitting this afternoon, so I can't hang out. Erik has practice, so I can ask Perry to stay with you tonight." Lyle said, since it was his mission to always have someone with me, so I couldn't get hurt again. "Lyle, it's really okay. I'll be fine." I said, giving him a quick smile as I pulled into my parking spot. "I'll check on you tonight, when I get home." Lyle said and I chuckled and shook my head. "It's quite alright. I've dealt with my dad for the past sixteen years, I can handle him tonight." I said, while we walked to our lockers. "No, you fucking can't Sarah! Just let me fucking help you!" Lyle yelled, causing a lot of people to stop what they were doing and stare at us. My eyes welled up at his outburst and I closed my locker before hurrying to class. He just didn't understand. He couldn't 'help' me. The only way to help me was to get rid of my father and thankfully I only had two years until I could go to college and never have to see him again. 

I was sitting at the dinner table, assuring my father that my 3.8 GPA would rise to a 4.0 by next year, so I could get lots of offers from schools across the country. My dad had never gone to college, but made his way without a degree. My mom went to USC, mainly for the greek life and to be honest I could not imagine my mom being carefree and getting drunk every weekend. My father wanted to give me what he couldn't have, which makes him sound like a nice guy. That's what he has everyone thinking. The doorbell rang and I excused myself to go answer it. I swear if Perry was on the other side of this door, I was going to kick Lyle's ass. I opened it, ready to send Perry home and reassure him I was fine, when I saw it was Lyle. "Hey." he said, rubbing his neck and unable to hold eye contact. "Hi." I breathed out and leaned against the door frame. "What are you doing here?" "Can we talk?" he asked, finally looking me in the eyes. "I'm eating dinner right now." I said, hoping to get rid of him, but when I saw his desperate eyes, I knew this was serious. "I'll meet you in the driveway in ten." I said, and closed the door. "Who was it honey?" my mom asked when I sat back down. "Just a guy from school, he had a question about the algebra homework, but he didn't have my number." I said, and my dad smiled. "Maybe he likes you. It would be nice for you to have a boyfriend. You know start hanging out with somebody other than those Menendez boys." he said, and I faked a smile. "Well, I'm pretty tired and I have a big test tomorrow, so I think I'm going to turn in early tonight." I said, standing up. "Thanks for dinner Mother." I said, kissing her head and bringing my plate to the dishwasher. 

I locked my bedroom door and walked out to my balcony. I reached out to the tree and slowly started making my way down. By the time I reached the driveway, Lyle was waiting for me and he looked like he was about to cry or vomit. I couldn't tell. "Can we go for a walk?" he asked and I nodded as we walked out through the gates and down the road. We walked for a block or two, before he spoke up. "I have to tell you something, that I should've told you a while ago, but I knew once I told you, it would become real and I didn't want that." he said and my pace slowed as I turned to look at him. "I'm not going to UCLA."