“What did you just say?”

André had finally regained his composure as he dared Reece to answer his question. Sure, he still looked like a sadistic psychopath… but at least his emotions weren’t all over the place – and for that, I was thankful.

Reece took slow, casual steps towards us, “Well that depends…are you deaf or are you stupid?”

André looked taken back, “What?”

Reece nodded to himself as if he’d just noted something, “Stupid.” He affirmed to himself, “Definitely stupid.”

“Oi, I would watch my mouth if I were you.” André threatened.

Of course, Reece wasn’t affected at all - in fact, he looked rather bored. “Oooh, a threat, Oh My Gosh; I’m shaking with fear.” He faked a shiver and I suppressed a giggle.

André ignored him a turned to face me, I took in a sharp breath.

“He’s your boyfriend?” He asked with a mixture of rage and disgust.

I barely managed to give a weak nod.

Reece pretended to look concerned – the guy would seriously make an amazing actor. “Naww, don’t look so disappointed… I mean, I’m sure you’re a nice kid once we get over much you belong in a mental institution…but really, I’m not interested in you like that…”

André’s head snapped up so fast I heard a crack, “What?!”

“I’m sorry…I just don’t go that way…if you get my drift.” Reece tried to imply with a straight face.

I struggled to keep myself from laughing.

It’s hard to believe that it was only moments ago, I was in a terrifying life-threatening situation and now that Reece is here, I couldn’t seem to stop smiling.

André’s cheeks were red with fury, “Are you trying to imply that I’m gay?”

“Arent you?”

“What the fuck? No!”

“Good… because it would have been really awkward for me to do this.”

Before André could react, Reece had done a roundhouse kick to André’s stomach, before kneeing him in the crotch.

Yes, doing that would’ve been extremely awkward if André was gay.

André was back up in moments and in fight mode with his blade pointing at Reece. My hands were shaking. Although Reece was a badass fighter, André had an advantage: A weapon.

“You’re so going to pay for that, motherfu-”

Reece winked at him, “Less talk, more play.”

André charged at Reece and threw a punch, aiming towards his face. Reece ducked down at rapid speed and jumped back just in time to avoid André slashing towards him with his knife.

“Tsk, tsk, tsk. That’s not very nice.” Reece commented as if he were talking to a child.

Of course, Reece’s statement only aggravated André more.

He lunged at Reece and managed to slam him onto the cold, hard ground of the balcony. Reece quickly threw a punch at André’s face, which momentarily caught him off guard. He took this opportunity to kick his chest and toss him off himself. Both guys got up in seconds, and continued the fight.

I closed my eyes shut and crouched down against the balcony walls – covering my face with my hands. I couldn’t bear to watch the scene before me anymore. I hated knowing this was one fight I couldn’t get in between and stop.

I just wanted it to be over.

God please, please end this.

God, please protect Reece Carter.

At that moment, I heard someone fall over and grunt in pain. I heard someone’s fist collide with the other person’s face repeatedly. I heard one of them wince in pain.

Suddenly, the only thing I could hear was one person’s heavy breathing…and I prayed to the Heavens and Earth that André hadn’t won.

The person’s warm hands held mine gently as they tried to uncover my face. On the verge of tears, I met dark green eyes.

“Reece,” My voice was barely audible, almost instinctively, I buried my face in his chest.

“Hey, it’s okay.” Reece whispered as he wrapped his arms around me protectively. “It’s all over, Chloe.”

Sometimes, you begin to truly think about something after it’s over.

I brought my head back up to his face to look at him. I watched as a bead of sweat trickled down his temple and locked jaws…I watched as his pink lips parted as he breathed steadily though his mouth…I gazed at his eyebrows that were creasing in confusion…and finally, I was mesmerized by his captivating eyes that held onto so much intensity, it consumed me.

He brought his hands up to my face and wiped a tear that had escaped. “C’mon, let’s get out of here.”

As we stood up, Reece flinched as he touched his stomach…we looked down to see that his black shirt had blood dripping from it. He slowly lifted his shirt and a gasp escaped my lips.

Reece was wounded.

“Ah, shit.” He winced as he tried to stand up straight.

“Reece, we need to get you to a hospital!” I cried as I tried to help him gain his balance.

“No. No hospitals.”

“Why not?”

“Because they’ll ask what happened and I cant risk getting the police involved.” He shook his head as if remembering a bad memory, “No, no more Police.”

For the first time since the fight had ended, I noticed André’s unconscious body lying on the ground. A shiver ran down my spine, I knew he wasn’t dead but nevertheless, I didn’t want Reece to get into any trouble because of me.

“Then lets go back to my place.”

His head whipped up at superhuman speed, “Are you trying to get into my pants?”

I froze in shock, “W-WHAT?”

Reece looked stunned, “Oh God, you’re a sexual predator.”

“W-Whoa, what the Hell are you tal-”

“- I’m not that kind of guy, Chloe. I’m not going to go back to your house to 'check out your stereo' or your 'stamp collection'.”

“Reece! What the heck?! Are you craz-”

“I need TCC first.”

“What’s TCC?”

“Trust, Comfort and Connection.” Reece replied seriously.

I slapped him across the face.

“My parents are both doctors, idiot.”

~*~

Driving as fast as I could, with a crimson blush that never left my cheeks, I got Reece to the front porch of my house. The keys quivered in my trembling hands as I unlocked the door. All the lights were off and I groaned. My parents were out.

A note was left on the coffee table for me.

Chloe,

Your father and I have double shifts tonight.

We’ll be back in the morning.

Hope you had fun at the party.

LOL,

Mum

“Great.” I muttered.

Reece read the note over my shoulder. “Why did your mum write LOL?”

“She thinks it means Lots Of Love.”

Reece laughed out loud.

How ironic.

I walked towards the staircase, “C’mon, lets go upstairs.”

A sly smile appeared on his face, “Admit it, you’re trying to seduce me.”

My face turned scarlet, “W-what? No! Shut up!”

“Let’s go upstairs?” he questioned with an eyebrow raised.

“That’s where we keep the first aid kit, idiot.”

~*~

“Careful! I’m fragile, remember?”

I rolled my eyes as I continued to disinfect Reece’s cut. Reece was currently lying down on my bed with his shirt off while I searched for the smallest needle to stitch him up.

Reece had refused all of my protests of going to the hospital even though the cut André had made was deep. Fortunately, it wasn’t deep enough to cause any serious damage or extreme loss of blood, but it still caused him pain even though he was trying his best to act like it was nothing.

“Are you sure about this?” I asked for the billionth time.

Reece let out a sigh of frustration, “For Christ’s sake, Chloe. Yes! Now hurry up before I die.”

A said one last prayer, before I began to sow.

What seemed like ten agonizing hours – when it was only ten minutes – was what it took for me to fully stitch Reece’s wound and to bandage it.

When I was done, I threw all the excess items in the bin and washed my hands. Glancing at the mirror, I noticed that I was still in my black dress, which didn’t look very neat now and my hair was beyond untidy.

I quickly changed into my comfortable clothes and ran my brush through my hair. Once satisfied, I walked back into my bedroom and sat on the side of my bed. Reece moved over a bit and let me have some more space.

A thought suddenly occurred to me, “What were you doing at Tyler’s party?”

Reece looked up at me in misperception. “That was Tyler’s party?”

“You didn’t know that?”

“Nope.”

“Well, you obviously weren’t invited...so what were you doing there?”

Reece smirked, “Ahh, you see, Chloe, I don’t attend parties…I crash them.”

“How Badass.”

“Exactly.”

A moment of silence passed before Reece spoke of what was on his mind.

“What were you doing at Tyler’s party?”

“Welcoming death.” I muttered.

Reece’s lips broke into a smile, “And then Reece Carter shows up like a Knight in shining armour and saves the day – What a Legend.”

I chuckled silently to myself. Reece Carter – My Hero.

“Thank you.” I whispered quietly.

He sent me an adorable crooked smile. “Don’t sweat about it.”

I played with my fingers as I thought about all of today’s events. It had all been fully hectic…with that almost-kiss with Charlie, the party…man-whore Tyler and finally…psychotic André.

I asked for a night to remember…well, I was definitely given a night to never forget.

Suddenly, Reece’s jaws locked as he let out a grunt of pain through his clenched teeth, I quickly grabbed the ice pack I had brought out of the freezer and laid it on his stomach – trying my best not to be distracted by his six-pack.

His impressive, stone-hard, well-defined six-pack.

“You’re looking at me like a fat kid looks at cake.”

“Shut up! No, I’m not!”

He chuckled and we lapsed into a comfortable silence, before Reece spoke again.

“Hey,” Reece’s hand brushed over mine, instantly firing sparks up my arm; his dark, messy hair fell just above his piercing green eyes, instantly enchanting me. “So, you know that really hot guy? That sexy beast that looks like me…dresses like me…and even sounds like me?”

He looked away and towards my window, not waiting for my reply, his playful side was gone.

“Yeah, well, I’ve been talking to him and he wants you to know that he’s sorry for being such a jerk to you…that you didn’t deserve it and that although his IQ is 157, he was pretty stupid for not being able to see that you were just trying to help.”

It took me a while to get my head together – I blamed it on how hard my head hit the brick wall tonight.

Reece Carter just apologized to me.

Wow.

“He also told me that he would really appreciate it if you could hurry up and forgive him before he dies from your retarded stitches – honestly, a six-year old could stitch straighter than you, Chloe. You suck.”

I closed my eyes and pretended to be in deep thought as I waved my hand in front of him. “ABRACADABRA!”

I hesitantly peered through my lashes and saw him looking at me like I was a freak.

“Nope,” I muttered to myself loud enough so he could hear, “You’re still a jerk.”

He smirked, “Oh please, we both know you secretly love it.”

I rolled my eyes, “Yeah, okay, whatever helps you sleep at night.”

“A goodnight kiss?” Reece suggested.

“Are you asking me to kiss you, Reece?”

“No…I just said a goodnight kiss helps me sleep at night. I never said I wanted you to kiss me – of course, if you want to kiss me… I wouldn’t stop you…” He trailed on, looking very amused.

“All you have to do is ask.” I replied cooly.

Reece closed his eyes and I watched as his eyebrows creased, a moment later he opened them, revealing his famous cocky, narcisstic smile.

“Ooops, I did it again.”

I raised a brow. “Did what?”

He ran his fingers though his hair. “I played with your heart, got lost in the game.”

“Wait, hold on a minute…”

“I made you believe, we’re more than just friends.”

I covered his mouth with my hand to shut him up. “Are you quoting a Britney Spears song?”

He nodded before taking my hand off his face and flashed his million-dollar smirk, “TCC, Chloe. TCC.”

****

A/N - So, do you guys have TCC? :P