I spit the blood from my mouth and wiped my now bruised lip. I smiled at Xavier and returned the punch soon after, causing my fist to collide with the side of his fat cheek.

He layed on the floor knocked out cold and I inspected my knuckles to see how they turned a dark red and purple color.

"I suggest next time you think twice before trying to even touch me." I spit in Xavier's face then wiped my bloody hand on his white shirt.

I walked out of the abandoned house and started to walk to a local bar. I really needed a drink after all this.

I rub my hand and gently touch my bruised lip. I curse under my breath once my phone started to ring.

I take it out of my pocket and see my dad's phone number flashing.

A part of me wants to ignore it but then again I really don't want a lecture for it when I get home.

"What do you want?" I question irritated through the phone and continued to walk to the bar that was now only a few steps away from me.

"Royce, where the hell are you? I told you to be home two hours ago!." my father yelled, causing me to take the cellphone off my ear.

"I told you I had to meet a friend." I lied and stood outside the empty bar.

I looked inside and smiled when I saw Frankie working today. He'll let me drink without caring about my age unlike the other bartenders.

"Don't you dare take me as a fool, Royce. Get back here before I go and pick you up! Your moth-"

"Don't even think about calling that woman my mother. You know I want nothing to do with her." I interrupted my dad before he could finish his sentence.

I heard him deeply sigh from the other line causing me to just hang up.

I entered the quiet bar and sat down in the front where Frankie was serving. I sat down on the stool and rubbed my face a couple of times in frustration.

"What's wrong with you?" I heard Frankie's deep voice question.

I looked up at him and shrugged. "Just tired." I lied and was then handed a shot of whiskey.

"Thanks." I mumbled and drank the alcohol in one swallow. It burned my throat but it made me feel better.

"You should cover your busted lip or else your dad is going to come interegate me again." Frankie chuckled.

I touched my swollen lip and ran my tongue over it. "I can care less what he thinks." I reply.

"Well, I can see you're in a bad mood so I'm only letting you have one more." Frankie told me seriously before pouring the clear liquid into my glass cup.

I quickly drank it and thanked him before I left. I walked to my house and was not surprised to see the annoying brat on the couch.

I walked into the kitchen and saw that there was a plate of food for me. My dad knew I hated the whole cliche 'family dinner time' idea so I always avoided it.

I headed for the fridge and saw a sticky note.

'Royce, since you love to hang up on me there is no point in calling you. So I'm leaving this note to tell you that Pablo went camping with friends and Chris will be staying with you for a couple of days. I on the other hand went to visit your aunt Vicky with Angela so we will be gone for awhile.'

I threw the note in the trash and grabbed a water bottle from the fridge. I left the kitchen and glared at the sleeping boy on the couch.

He was suppose to be my 'new brother' but all he was to me was another pain in the ass. His presence alone bothered me.

I headed upstairs then stopped when I glanced at the front door. If I fell asleep and somebody decided to break in, I would be the one to get in trouble if something happened to sleeping beauty on the couch.

So I walked back to the door and locked it before going back upstairs.

I closed my door and decided to shower before I went to sleep. I scrubbed the dirt from my hair and skin with so much force it felt like I was scratching off my own skin.

Sometimes I just felt really dirty.

Once I was clean, I put on some new Calvin Klein boxer briefs and got into bed. I layed still for awhile and enjoyed how quiet the house was.

I rolled on to my side and closed my tired eyes to finally get some sleep. When I was almost in a deep slumber a sudden echo of lighting erupted through the empty house.

A smile quickly made its way to my face at hearing heavy raindrops hit the ceiling. This was what I liked about having a room upstairs. I could hear the rain better.

I got comfortable again and was about to close my eyes until I heard a small knock on my door. For a moment I thought it was a ghost until I remembered the annoying brat was also here.

"What do you want!" I yelled in annoyance and tugged my soft blankets closer to my face.

I heard Chris mumble something behind the door causing me to just ignore him. Another bolt of lighting sounded through the house making me smile again.

But my smile soon faded when I heard a whimper from the door.

Don't tell me the stupid brat is scared of thunder. That is just embarrassing.

I laughed to myself and turned the other way to ignore Chris's voice. I closed my eyes as another loud crack sounded and I was caught off guard when I suddenly felt arms around me.

I quickly turned around and saw my door wide open with a trembling boy attached to my torso. "Let go of me! What did I tell you about touching me?!" I yelled and tried to get Chris off of me.

"P-Please let me s-sleep with you!" he begged and hid his face in my chest once the loud thunder continued outside.

I looked down at him and I knew I was going to hate myself for this in the morning but I felt sympathy for the kid.

"Fine! Just let go of me already. Go close the door then stay on the far side of the bed. I don't want you touching me." I instructed, making Chris nod his head and doing what I asked.

I couldn't help but watch as he quickly got up and closed the door. His hair was messy and his lips were a bright red from biting on them so much.

He made his way back to the bed and stood beside it for awhile not knowing what to do.

"Can you hurry up before I change my mind!" I scolded then layed back down.

I heard him take off his shirt while a huge part of my brain was yelling at me to just kick him out.

Chris climbed into bed and it was probably the most awkward situation ever. I have never shared a bed with a boy and it was really making me uncomfortable and irritated.

I let the beautiful sound of the rain relax me into a calm sleep until I felt Chris press himself against my back like a small ball.

I wanted to shove him away and just let out my anger, but I was too tired to scold the child anymore so I let it pass and tried to sleep again.

A couple hours later, I woke up to a loud crash downstairs. I opened my tired eyes and tried to rub the sleep off of them but I couldn't move my arm.

I turned my head and almost had a panic attack when my arm was under Chris's neck. He slept on it peacefully and his face was so close to mine it scared me.

This was horrible.

As I was about to push him off, another loud crash sounded downstairs this time waking up Chris. His sleepy green eyes looked at me and I saw as he realized how close we were.

Why the hell was he blushing?

I quickly got out of bed and put on my sweatpants.

"Where are you going?" Chris worridly questioned as I headed for the door.

"Stay here, brat." I instructed and turned around to leave the room.

"Wait! Let me come with you so I can help." he replied and got out of bed half naked.

I don't know what caused me to look up and down at his exposed body. What the hell was I doing?

Chris approached me and was about to head out the door but I quickly stopped him. "Will you freaking listen to me! Stay here and lock the door!" I harshly whispered in his face causing him to frown at me.

Something about him frowning caused a small pain to erupt in my chest.

"B-But I don't want you to get hurt, Royce." he whimpered and held me tightly.

Why was he so worried about me when all I did was treat him like crap? Something was definitely wrong with this kid.

"Chris, if you don't want me to get hurt then just stay here or I swear I'm going to knock you unconsious." I threatened causing him to let go right away.

I quickly left afterwards and slowly made my way downstairs. I creeped into the kitchen and turned on the light to see the window open, causing the strong wind to knock the things beside it to the ground.

I rolled my eyes at how stupid it was that I thought it was a burglar. I closed the window then headed back upstairs. As I entered my room I saw Chris in my bed waiting anxiously for me.

Seeing him shirtless with my sheets around his thin body caused me to think things I never thought I would ever imagine about another male..

^*^*^*^*^**^*^*^*^*^*

...

"C'mon....c'mon....yes!"

I grabbed the soda from the broken vending machine and walked away before anybody noticed that I stole it. My hand made contact with the broken glass causing it to get a minor cut. I wiped the bood on my jeans and ignored it.

"Royce, we need milk."

I drank my soda in peace and entered the grocery store.

"Royce?"

I ignored the annoying brat and snatched some chips before placing them in the shopping cart. My dad left over $30o dollars for food so I was taking advantage of it.

A cute blonde girl passed by me with her own shopping cart causing me to turn around to check her out.

She had some nice curves but I didn't like how she tried so hard to act cute just because I was looking at her.

"U-m..Royce?"

I turned back around and faced the boy I've been ignoring all morning.

"What the hell do you want?" I spit out.

Chris flinched at my tone of voice and looked down at the shopping cart instead. "W-We need milk but I've never been to this store so I-I don't know where it is." he shyly replied.

I rolled my eyes at him and walked away before I said something that would get me grounded. I made my way to the dairy area and grabbed two gallons of milk.

"My man Royce! I haven't seen you all year, bro."

I smiled when I saw my friend Martin with a case of beer in his hand. I fist bumped him and adjusted the cold gallons of milk on the floor.

"Where you been, Martin? Being a lazy drunk like always?" I questioned with a smirk causing Martin to playfuly hit my shoulder.

"Nah man, we're having a party tonight so Ricky and I just came for some things. You should come over. There's going to be a bunch of beer and college girls, bro." Martin offered with a wink.

I ran my fingers through my hair and was about to accept the offer until I saw Chris approaching me. He was so focused on me that he didn't see when Ricky shoved by him causing him to fall.

Chris quickly stood up and got red with embarrassment as Ricky laughed at him. People around him chuckled causing the poor boy to frown.

Something about the way his sad, green eyes suddenly looked at me for help caused me to walk towards Ricky and shove him harder to the ground.

"What the hell?!" Ricky groaned as his chips scattered all over him.

"I didn't see you." I simply replied, causing Ricky to look up at me.

He was mad but once he understood I wasn't teasing him he got up and kept walking towards Martin, who was staring at us with humor in his face.

I walked back and picked up my gallons of milk and said a quick goodbye to Martin.

I placed the milk in Chris's cart and guided us to the cashier. Once everything was settled into the car I drove us home in silence.

Chris put fixed everything away in the kitchen as I started to make my way towards my room.

"Thank you, Royce.."

I kept walking but something about hearing those two words coming from Chris's mouth made my skin itch. I never did anything nice for anybody so why did I act the way I did?

I defended that annoying boy from a friend? What the hell was happening to me?

I paced around my dirty room and just wanted to scream. I punched the hard wall several times, causing it to crack.

My knuckles bled, but as always I didn't feel anything.

So I punched and punched the wall until it was smudged with my own blood and my knuckles were badly cut open.

No matter what I did, tears wouldn't fall from my eyes...