Reliving the Nightmare

♡BRIAN'S POV♡

I shoved my keys into the ignition of my beloved car and gestured for Zacky to get in. He opened the door and settled himself into the seat beside me, drawing the seat belt over himself hurriedly. I pulled out of the driveway and set off in the direction of Arin's house. It was only a five minute drive from here, which was just enough time to think about what I would say to kick El out of his life for good.

A thought came to me and I turned to Zack with a frown pulling at my mouth. "Zack, you might want to lie low here. You were the one that El cheated on Arin with after all."

He slicked back his dishevelled hair, seemingly not bothered as he looked in the side mirror to smooth down a few flyaway hairs.

"I was off my face on god knows what that night," he admitted. "I won't be surprised if Arin is angry at me but really he should be blaming El. She wasn't even drunk and she was willing to fuck me."

A bolt of disgust ran through me at the thought of that skank going behind Arin's back with Zacky. She made Arin believe that she was besotted with him, she made sure that he was so obsessed with her that he didn't even see other girls, then she threw it all away for a quickie with Zack when he was too out of it to realise what he was doing. I couldn't even describe the anger I was feeling; it coursed through me and sharpened my focus. This bitch was going down.

My only concerns were that Arin might be pissed at Zack and me. Zacky dared to touch his girl and for my own selfish reasons, I didn't tell Arin. I put my own needs of keeping Lola ahead of my best friend's needs. But now that Lola was lost to me for now, I could finally expose El as the true whore she was.

"You alright man?" Zacky's concern brought me out of my rage and I noticed he was looking worriedly at my white knuckles clenching the steering wheel for dear life.


I sighed, letting all of the tension leak out. "Yeah, I guess."

"You fucked everything up with Lola and now you're shitting it that she won't forgive you," Zacky stated and I marvelled at how this man could read my mind.

"Do you know what fucking sucks?" I spat, keeping my eyes on the road ahead. Zacky stayed silent, letting me vent my frustrations to him. "It sucks that I know she won't ever forgive me and I know that I deserve that."

"Dude, you don't know that, she might-" he started but I interrupted him.

"No Zacky, you don't understand," I shook my head and let out a dark chuckle. "She will never forgive me. She will never let me back into her life again because she herself realises that I'm a deadbeat drug addict and she is leagues above me. She knows that I would only drag her down and she's smart enough to leave me so she can live her life and be the perfect person she is. I am nothing compared to her and it's my fault I didn't get that before I let it get this far," my emotions rushed out in a torrent of self loathing and bitter hate for my own destructive habits.

Zacky sat back with a thump at my passionate rant. I breathed heavily in and out of my nose, that being the only sound in this suddenly heavy atmosphere.

"I'm not going to lie to you Brian, you fucked up bad," Zacky finally broke the silence tentatively. "But I can see how much you like Lola and I've never seen you like this with a girl before. You went behind her back and broke her trust, but you're a good guy and if she doesn't realise that then she's ultimately going to lose out."

I slammed my hands down violently on the steering wheel and growled at him, "How can I be a good guy when I'm a druggie and I lied to her on purpose? I'm a fucking disgrace."

"You had your reasons," Zacky said quietly. "Brian, you're a great guy and I don't think you should give up on her that easily. Once we're done here with El, we'll go to Matt's and calmly talk it over with both of them."

"I'll talk to Lola but I'm not uttering a word to Matt. He's a dick and can rot in hell," I cursed him.

We both went quiet as I pulled into the neighbourly street that Arin lived in. I drove along the street, being careful to go slow because of the children playing on their bikes. I parked outside Arin's quaint house and took the keys out of the ignition. I breathed in to steady myself then got out of the car, following Zacky to the front door. As we walked past the drive I noticed that it wasn't Arin's usual car that filled the driveway. Then it hit me who's it was.

"That's Matt's fucking car. What the fuck is he doing here?" I shouted, as Zacky rang the doorbell. He turned and glanced at the red car in the drive and his expression fell as he too recognised it as Matt's car.

He grabbed me by the arm as I started fidgeting as my anger returned. "Calm the fuck down. Don't start anything here. Let's do what we come to do then leave because I'm sick of breaking up fights between my brothers. Focus, Brian."

I looked into his tired eyes and guilt filled my stomach. Zacky was never the one to start the fights but somehow he always ended up getting hurt in them. I would try my best to avoid punching Matt's lights out, but I wasn't promising anything.

The front door was opened and Arin's face peered out then tensed when he saw that it was us. His eyes flickered to me and narrowed and I knew straight away that Matt had told him all of the details of last night. Bastard.

"Can we come in?" I asked after he made no effort to greet us.

He glanced behind him and then back to us, his face tight. "Dude, I don't know. Matt and Lola are here because Lola wanted to see El but she made it really clear she didn't want to see you," he told this to us with his head down as if he didn't want to get in the middle of our fight. I didn't blame him.

My heart leaped when he said Lola's name. I should have figured that she would want to speak to her best friend after our fight. It was just a shame that I was going to have to kick her best friend out. What a shame.

"I'm not here to see Matt or Lola," my voice caught a bit when I said her name. "I'm actually here to tell you something important. Can I come in?"

This time when I asked he simply widened the gap between the door and the frame, allowing us entrance. I quickly went in, lest he change his mind, patting him on his shoulder as I passed. I kicked off my shoes and Zacky did the same as Arin closed the door behind us. Voices in the living room floated through to me and my ears pricked when I heard Lola's melodical voice.

Arin led us through to the living room. My heart was thumping madly in my chest in anticipation of seeing Lola and also fear of how she would react to me. Would she completely ignore me? Or worse, would she start crying? My chest tightened and I felt like I was going to throw up. I'd never been this nervous over a girl.

I walked through the doorframe into the room and my breath caught when my eyes flashed to her beautiful frame perched on the edge of a sofa. She was wearing a simple black top and skinny jeans and she had her long blond hair pulled back in a sexy high pony tail. She made my heart ache. She didn't look up when we all walked in, keeping her eyes trained on El's sneaky face. Here was why I was here. She was nestled deeply into the middle of the sofa, not even half as lovely as Lola but twice as malicious. She sneered at me and Zacky and it pissed me off to see how comfortable she'd made herself. It was all based on a lie.

Matt was standing with his hands shoved in his pockets and his shoulders hunched up, clearly uncomfortable with our sudden intervention. My fists curled up when I saw his fucking face but I schooled my expression into a neutral one and uncurled my eager fists.

Arin strolled in behind us then went to sit beside El. He didn't offer us a seat and we didn't try to take one.

"What is it you want?" Arin blurted out, wanting to get this over with as fast as possible. I looked over at Zacky and his calm, steady face gave me strength.

"Arin, I wanted to- to- tell you that-" I stuttered over my words and my hands were shaking behind my back. Damn Brian, get it together. "Arin I wanted to tell you something that is going to really piss you off but you need to know."

He frowned and wrung his hands nervously together, before gesturing for me to continue. I noticed El was staring at me murderously, but that just made me more certain of myself.
"Arin, El cheated on you," I gushed out. As soon as the words came tumbling out of my mouth I felt a huge weight being lifted off my shoulders and then chaos erupted.

El jumped off the sofa and began yelling obscenities at me, screaming that I was a worthless piece of shit and all that jazz. Arin stared at the floor, unmoving. Lola finally looked at me, horror written plainly on her lovely face. Zacky started defending me to El, but I placed a hand on his shoulder and pulled him back.

"Don't let another word fall out of those poisonous lips," I hissed at her, stepping towards her. She curled her lip back but shut up.

"Arin, do you believe me?" I asked him gently. He raised his head up and stared past me, those blank eyes refusing to focus on me.

"When?" He whispered.

"It was at the party back in Scotland," Zacky interjected and I shot him a warning glare. I didn't want Arin attacking him when he found it that it was Zacky who cheated with his girl.

"Fuck," Arin muttered softly, staring at his clasped hands. El stood quivering, her rage palpable. They were both messes and it gave me no satisfaction to reduce them both to this (maybe a little with El) but Arin needed to know the truth.

"Why, El?" He murmured, not looking at her.

"Arin, I didn't mean to, please forgive me. I love you and only you," she threw herself on him and turned on the tears, providing an excellent and deceiving show for Arin. But Arin's eyes had finally been opened to her tricks.

He stood up, shoving her to one side and began pacing up and down the room. His jaw was clenched tight and his hands were fists. Matt and Lola were now standing together, silently watching the events unfold with sadness written on their faces. If I wasn't so focused on El I would have been mad at how Matt had his hand round Lola in a protective manner. I would sort that out in a moment.

"Don't fucking lie to me. I know you're lying to me!" Arin shouted at her, his voice raw with pain. She watched him with disbelief, as if she never thought he would shout at her.

Suddenly her formerly distraught face twisted into that of bitterness and hate. "Well why don't you ask Brian who I had sex with? I'm sure him and Zacky would love to tell you who had me writhing with pleasure," she sounded triumphant like she knew that Arin would flip at Zacky when he found out.


Arin looked at me and Zacky questioningly, his hurt filled eyes begging me to tell him. I shuffled my feet nervously and scrubbed he back of my neck. Fuck.

"It was me. I was high and I had no idea what I was doing and she came to me and I was just looking for an easy fuck. Man I'm so sorry. I understand if you hate me, I'm so fucking sorry," Zacky burst out, the guilt in his voice apparant. El looked smug at his confession and she smiled at me evilly.

Arin walked over to Zacky with a blank expression. My muscles tensed as I readied myself to jump in and split them up if Arin wanted to fight Zack. We all waited tensely as they squared off. Then Arin did the most unbelievable thing.

He reached out his arms and clasped Zack in a hug, clapping him on the back. "I forgive you man. You're my brother and would never do anything bad to me on purpose."

Zack clutched him closer and they hugged it out. My mouth quirked up at the corner watching them and I looked at El who had her mouth open in disbelief. That's right bitch, bros before hoes.

Arin let got of Zacky then spun round with a glare on his normally placid face, aimed at El. "What are you still doing here?" his voice was low and deadly and I was glad I wasn't at the receiving end of it.

"But why are you only telling Arin this now?" Matt asked, his tone confused. I swore internally. Why the fuck did he have to bring that up? Now I was going to have to tell the fucking truth and crush Lola even more.

"I didn't tell Arin because I walked in on Zacky and El having sex and El said she would tell Lola about my drug use if I told Arin about her cheating," I mumbled this dejectedly.

"You fucking bitch," Zacky swore at her, sounding absolutely disgusted at her treachery.

"Oh Brian," Lola whispered unhappily, the first words I heard her say since I had arrived. She was twisting her hands in front of her as if she wanted to reach out for me but knew she shouldn't.

"So you've been lying to Lola about your drug use since then?" Matt sounded incredulous and the urge to punch him was strong.

"It's none of your fucking business," I spat at him. My voice turned pleading as I switched my attention back to Lola. "Lola please believe me when I say that I'm sorry and I want you back so I can prove that I'm better than this."

The whole room was silent as we all waited in anticipation for Lola's response. A tear spilled out of her blue eye and she rubbed at it with her shaking hand. I stepped closer to her and held out my own shaking hands.

"Brian, I can't, " she sobbed. I nearly collapsed at the heartbreak in her voice that I had caused.

"Lola please. I can change for you and I want to. Just come back to me and we can go back to what it was before. Me and you baby," I begged her. My voice was strangled and the words were getting more difficult say.

She gave a cry and wrapped her hands round her stomach. She looked so vulnerable and I just wanted to scoop her up and take her away from all of these people.

"No Brian. I'm not going to put myself through that hurt again and watch you destroy yourself."

Her resolution made me panic, "Lola, baby don't do this," I lunged forward, reaching for her.

Matt stepped in front of her protectively, blocking me from her. This fucking pissed me off so much, fucking acting as if he owned her.

"Step aside Matt," I spoke through gritted teeth.

"She's made it quite clear that she doesn't want to speak to you, she's too good for you, you drugged up mess," Matt insulted me.

"Matt," Lola gasped in abject horror.

My whole body went numb at the realisation that he was right. I was a fucking mess and she would always be too good for me. At that moment I felt completely useless and the numbing pain that washed through me nearly had me on my knees. God, I needed to feel something. So I did the obvious thing and said something to Matt that I knew would make him want to kill me.

"Bold words for a guy whose old girlfriend died of a drug overdose."

It was over the line and it was a horrible thing to say. Matt hated his painful past being brought up but I knew that it would make him go for me. I was right.

He grabbed me and flung me to the floor and my head hit the hard ground with a sickening crack and I knew immediently that I would have a concussion. I could have fought back and maybe beaten him off me if I wanted to, but I welcomed the agonising punches like old friends. He laid into me like I was a punch bag, as he rained blows all over my body from my head to my stomach. I lay on the floor unmoving and I heard screams from Lola and shouts from Arin and Zacky. They were trying to get him off of me but he was like a machine; he couldn't be stopped. I eventually passed out after multiple punches to the head but I came around quickly to more punches. It seemed to go on forever and the pain was a mercy to my dead soul. My body felt like a ragdoll and I wondered if it would ever stop.

After what seemed like forever Arin and Zacky managed to pull him off of me. My eyes were closed and I kept my body limp as I lay still on the floor. It felt like I was floating in a pool of acid as the pain beat down relentlessly on my body. Lola was crying above my head and yelling that she was going to call an ambulance because my face was unrecognisable. He must have done a good job beating me up if my face was that fucked up. I groaned as I felt someone touch my chest, laying their hand gently on me.

"Brian? Oh shit Brian," Zacky's panicked voice joined in with Lola's as he stared down on me. I tried to reassure him that I was ok but all that came out of my lips was a pained moan.

"Fuck, I'll take him to the hospital myself. Shit Matt I think you've killed him this time," Zacky sounded beyond desperate and for a moment I felt guilty that I'd put him in this position again. I knew as soon as I'd said those words to Matt that he'd be pissed off at me but I'd said them anyway. And now everyone had to suffer.

"Brian, you're going to be ok. Please be ok," Lola's sweet voice carried into my ears and warm tears splashed down on my face. "I love you Brian. I love you so much."

Those beautiful words were followed by one of the worst pains I'd ever felt in my life. Zacky and Arin picked my up by slinging an arm round each of their shoulders and the lightning bolts of pain that shot through me had me screaming. My shrieks sounded animalistic and I couldn't stop them as they tore out of my mouth in a frenzy. Matt had really fucked me up badly.

They dragged me out as carefully as they could to my car before placing me across the back seats. I felt like I was burning up and moans escaped my mouth every so often.

"Wait let me see him a moment," I heard Lola shout before Zacky could shut the door.

"Make it quick, he's in pain," Zack barked.

"Brian. Why did you do that Brian? Oh god, I'm so sorry. Please just get better because I love you," Lola was crying heavily but she sounded genuine as she professed her love to me for a second time.

"Love you too," I managed to groan out before the pain became too much and I fell unconscious.

Notes

A nice long chapter!:):):)
Any thoughts? Is El really out of the picture or will she manage to sneak back in? Did Matt take it too far and will Lola realise that she loves Brian and needs him?
Ooh it's all so dramatic!!!! Please leave comments and if you haven't already rated or subscribed then please do!!!!:):):)
Thank you!!!:):):)