R Y A N

     I WALK TO the Greyson house, Nico a few steps in front of me, shuffling my feet. We enter the house from the back through the garden and into the kitchen. I've been in their kitchen multiple times and even cooked pancakes with Nathan on a Saturday morning, but this visit won't involve flour, eggs and sugar.
   He pulls me to the island sitting in the middle, near the sink and places his hands on my waist. Pausing briefing, I place my hands on his arms as he lifts me up and sits me on the counter. He leaves his hands there, gripping my skin through my leggings, trying to look me in the eye, but I won't let him. I hate seeing the concern in his face. What feels like forever is only a minute before he walks out without a word.
   I keep my head down, mostly in shame, but I'm a little scared to look up. Too scared to see his eyes. Too scared to see the disappointment in his face. Nico is going to be angry, he always was whenever I got hurt. I think it was because he saw me as his sister, just like Nathan does. No one liked to see their family hurt.
   He walks back in and under the cover of my lashes I see he is carrying a red box. He stops in front of me and places a finger under my chin, forcing me to look up at him finally. When I do, I don't look his way, but just stare at the pictures on the fridge just behind him. Gently he moves my hair back to expose the bruise? The cut? I still wasn't sure what was there, but all I knew was, it hurt like hell.

"What was it this time?" He asks with venom in his voice, but I can tell he's trying to be gentle with me.

"Nothing, it was nothing. I fell-"

"If you say it's nothing one more time Ryan," he says angrily, slamming his hand on the counter and I can't help but jump from the noise, "I swear to god Ryan, I'm-" He stops and I see his fist clench from the corner of my eye, he starts breathing erratically and I know it's going to take a miracle for him to calm down. Taking a few deep breaths, his breathing slows. Minutes pass and he calmly continues. "I know you didn't fall over, Ryan, I'm not stupid so please don't lie to me princess. What happened?" He says, but this time slowly, almost calculated.

"T-they-" I go to say, but the deep breath he takes makes me stop.

"They? As in more than one?" He says sternly. All of sudden my speech in impaired and I can't talk so I just nod, slowly. They both knew that I was being teased and beaten by more than one person at a time, sometimes it was one but, mostly it was a gang of them. The cool kids who ruled the school. Only these kids weren't the 'Pink Ladies' and were just damn right mean.

"They c-caught me i-in the parking lot when I went to get f-food," I say. He pulls out a piece of cotton and dabs some liquid out of a bottle on to it.

"Go on," he says pushing on when I don't say anymore.

"They didn't... t-they didn't like my c-clothes," I say. I look down at the oversized white t-shirt I'm wearing, the one Tori bought me with the words 'Love' across my chest, with the intended use of loungewear. My black leggings, which now have dirt marks on them, that I hadn't spotted before are scruffy looking and I shuffle, purely from embarrassment by what I'm wearing. "They said that no one would ever find me sexy dressed like a f-forty year o-old women."

"Fucking kids," he mutters under his breath and pushes the cotton on my head, a little too hard.

"OUCH!" I whimper, "fuck sake."

"Lanuage!"

Nico had a problem with me swearing - not that I did it a lot but, he never liked it. He always said a women should never swear and I put it down to him being old fashioned. The only time I really swore was when I watched football - or soccer as I'm regularly corrected by the brothers, with Dad and even then he didn't like it.

"Sorry! But that really hurt."

"Stay still for me," he whispers, "why do you let them do this to you?"

"It's not like I ask for it Nico! It's not like I purposely go out of my way to tell them I want to be punched or kicked or called stupid names!"

"I... I didn't mean it like that Ryan."

Suddenly the front door opens and closes, the sounds of shopping bags shuffling in the hallway. I can't help but roll my eyes knowing that it's Nathan. Just what I need right now. Two of the Greyson brothers tag teaming me on my eventful afternoon.
   Noah hasn't lived here in years and their Mother moved out last summer across the city, leaving the boys the house. She signed over everything to them as soon as Nico took the job of CEO at the family business his grandfather owned and Nathan works with him as his business partner.
   I see Nathan stalk into the kitchen, he is wearing a white v-neck t-shirt and blue jeans. His white converse look brand new which means I get the pleasure of christening them later, only to torment him. Although Nico has changed over the years Nathan hadn't. He still has his award winning smile, his dimples, his bright grey eyes and his hair, which is always messy is tousled on his head like his been running his fingers through it all day.

"Hey beauti-" he stops at the door, looking at the red box next to my leg and stops talking instantly. Nico continues to dab the cotton, cleaning my wound while I just stare at him with a weak smile. He walks towards us and I see the hurt in his eyes. Hurt he has for me and for his brother, once again patching me up. "You okay beautiful?"

"Yeah," I say quietly.

"It's not that deep, but it's still bleeding a little," Nico says annoyed.

"What happened?"

"They didn't like her clothes."

"Really?... ...This?.... This over clothes?" Nathan says and all I do is shrug. They both seem disappointed in me, almost upset I didn't fight back. But what could I do when two kids were beating the crap out of me. "Fucking kids... I swear to-" he stops mid sentence and a small smile tugs on the corner of his lips, "are you okay?" He whispers.

"I'm fine Nate," I say using his nickname with a smile. He smiles at me, a big grin planted on his face, showing off those devilish dimples on his cheeks. He had the smile of the devil, almost mischievous, but his dimples gave him that all American boy next door look.

"No braces huh..." he says, "you were beautiful with them you know, but now," he places a finger under my chin and makes me meet his gaze, "even more so," he says with a wink. I smile at his compliment and look down forcing Nico to look at me. He didn't even notice my braces were gone.

"Shut up Nate," I say playfully.

Ten minutes later, while Nate holds my hand and Nico places a plaster where the cut was on my head I dangle my feet on the counter, feeling lighter. I grab a strawberry from a bowl that Nate placed next to me earlier, swinging my legs as I bite into the delicious fruit. Nate does the same, wiping the juice that fell from my mouth off my chin as he pops a whole strawberry in his mouth. Nico walks to the fridge, grabbing two bottles of beer and like always, which always makes me cringe Nate uses his teeth to pop the cap off.

"Really? There's a bottle opener in the draw," I say, grabbing another strawberry.

"This way is quicker," he shrugs. He places the bottle down and Nico stands by the counter sipping his beer with one hand resting on the counter besides him, watching us. "You feel better?"

"Yeah," I tell him. Nate grabs me for a hug, but I can't help the wince that leaves my lips in pain. I close my eyes and lips shut, trying my best to hide my whimpering. I bite the inside of my cheek from the tight hold Nate has me in, but his body stills, clearly hearing my discomfort.

When he steps back in alarm he looks at Nico worryingly. Nate places his hand at the hem of my t-shirt and goes to pull it up, but I brush his hand away. He tries again and this time I hold his hand in place, fearing what will be underneath if he pulls my top up. I don't even know what the damage is under there, let alone let him see it. I haven't looked in a mirror in moths.
From the corner of my eye, I see Nico move towards me, but I quickly grab his hand too before he reaches the material bunched up around my legs, trying to push myself away from him. Only I can't. I'm trapped on the counter with the two younger Greysons in front of me, flanking me and blocking my escape. The downside to this is they have two free hands between them, and I have no more hands to hold them back.

"Ple-ase," I say as I try to hold back the tears threatening to leave my eyes.

"Let us see Ry," Nate says slowly, almost mute. Shaking my head, I hold back the tears, I don't want them to discover what else they did to me, not when I haven't even looked myself.

"Please don't," I whisper.

"Please let us see Ryan?" Nate says, but this time he's pleading with me.

I look between them, one with piercing blue eyes full of anger and concern while the other pair of grey orbs is filled with sadness. Two different emotions. Two different men that care for me. And slowly my walls start to crumble down. I pull my hands away from them slowly and look up, not wanting them to see me cry. They both lift the hem of my top, taking a side each and expose my stomach. I suck in a breath, clunching my eyes shut when I feel fingers brushing against my skin, I don't know whose fingers they belong to, but then I feel another and I realise they are both touching me.

"Take her to your room and run a hot bath," Nico says, "you've still got that bottle of aloe vera?"

"Yeah, I got a new bottle last week."

"Good," Nico says, laced with vemon.

"Is... is it bad?" I say holding back tears, pursing my lips together.

"Come on," Nate pulls my top back down and holds my hands as I slide off the counter.

Nate leads me to the second floor, to a door at the top of the stairs. I've never been upstairs before. Everytime I hung out here we always stayed in the kitchen or living room downstairs, but most of the time we watched movies in the game room on the lower floor. It was practically a man cave, which use to be a gym their Mother had, but they quickly changed it to a gaming, theatre, pool, darts room. Changing the pool house to a gym instead.

When I walk in the familiar smell of Nate washes over me. There's a large bed, big enough for at least four people with grey sheets, a wardrobe similar to mine only longer with four doors on the other side and grey curtains over the windows. Not only does the room have the familiar smell of Nate but, the pictures on the walls tell me that this is his room. There are portraits lined up of Marvel characters from Thor, Iron Man to his favourite, Spiderman. There's a door to our right and he disappears into it letting go of my hand. I hear running water and the smell of citrus coming from the room, when he reappears I haven't moved from the spot he left me.

"Lift up your arms princess," Nico's voice says from behind me and I jump, not realising he is that close. I cross my arms around me and feel self conscious in their presence. They have never seen me in more than a t-shirt, ever. Even when I went swimming, I always wore something over my swimsuit.

"Ryan," Nate says softly, "we need to see the bruises, the ones on your stomach looked really bad. We only want to check your okay beautiful," he says, still soft and full of worry. I hesitate to do as I'm told but, Nico and Nate knew how to stop them from surfacing anymore then they already are. Nico was a boxer, mostly on the weekends and always had bruises on his face from his matches so he knew what my body needed, they both knew what I needed to heal.

"Come on," Nico whispers standing right behind me, his hands resting on my hips. I nod slowly and lift my arms up but they can only go so far before I'm hit with pain... a lot of pain down my side.

"Slowly... okay," Nate says holding my hands and I grip his tightly. Nico starts to pull my t-shirt up and I hear him suck in his breath, his breathing erratic. Damn, he's really mad. When my top reaches my breasts I squeeze on Nate's hand and he rubs his thumb back and forth reassuringly. I smile at him weakly as he takes over from Nico, pulling my t-shirt over my head and down my arms. I stand there, looking down in embarrassment, dressed in only my bra and leggings. I feel vulnerable, but in a strange comforting way.

"Shit Ryan," Nate says.

"Did they hurt you anywhere else?"

"M-my thighs and legs," I say looking back answering Nico's question. When I look back I catch a glimpse of my reflection in the wardrobe mirror. There's a black bruise on my side, almost the size of a size eight shoe, the scratch marks on my hip are red and when I look down there's another identical mark of a shoe print on my stomach. On the top of my right breast there's four red scratch mark from nails that reach down to the top of my bra.

"Turn around Ryan," Nico says demandingly, "turn your back to the mirror and take a good look at yourself." I do as I'm told and turn around, while they both stand in front of me. Nate has watery eyes and a look of concern still while Nico's is laced with anger, nostrils flared. He's getting angrier by the minute. "Look behind you," Nico says. When I look back I'm shocked with what I see. My back is covered in black and blue bruises while there's also evidence of the last few times I've been beaten up. Only them ones are now yellow and healing. Slowly.

"Always careful to get you so it's easy to cover up," Nate says. He wasn't wrong. I never had marks on my arms or the bottoms of my legs and even when I did get the few on my face it was easy to cover up with my hair or I just faked a elbow to the cheek or eye during sports.

"This... this is what they do to you Ryan! Why don't you fight back? WHY DO YOU LET THEM DO THIS TO YOU?!" Nico yells at me, venom laced through his words.

"I-I'm... I-I'm sorry," I say and I burst into tears.

I never asked to be beaten up. I never made myself a target for the jocks to make sexual innuendos towards me, making me uncomfortable. I never asked for the girls to push me because they didn't like that I had a boys name. I never asked for people to make fun of me when I hadn't grown into my womanly body or never wearing revealing clothing to show off what I had because mine was bigger, that would of only made matters worse. But I had only three weeks left and I didn't want anyone else to find out.

"I'm calling the police!"

"NO NICHOLAS WAIT!... I HAVE THREE WEEKS! I JUST HAVE TO SURVIVE THREE WEEKS AND I'LL BE OUT OF THERE... PLEASE... please Nico, don't tell anyone." I plead, sobbing holding on to his arm.

"Why won't you let anyone help you?" He says softly, inches away from my face, his eyes pleading with me to get help. He holds my cheek in his palm and I lean into his soft touch closing my eyes at the familiarity of his comforting touch, his thumb caressing me. "Please Ryan. Please let us help you, I don't like seeing you hurting like this princess, you deserve so much more than this. Please let us help," he whispers.

"You can't. You can't help me because it will only make it worse," I tell him, connecting our foreheads together as he still holds my cheek, tenderly. It was true, they couldn't help me. No one could. It would only make matters worse. "What if I end up in hospital?"

"AT THIS RATE YOU WILL!" he screams, yelling into my face. I retreat back out of instinct and slam into Nate behind me, he wraps his arms around my waist protectively and pulls me back holding me tight. I turn round, burying my head in his chest, finding comfort on his brother.

"That's enough Nicholas," Nate says raising his voice, but not as loud as Nico did. Nate never called him Nicholas and it was strange to hear those words come from him, but he also never spoke with such force either. That was the thing about the two brothers. Nate was the more gentle one, the softer, caring one. While Nico was the aggressive one, the one who jumps to conclusions and goes head first like a bull in a china shop. Probably one of the reasons why he took up boxing, he needs to get out some of that aggression. "Go get her another t-shirt to change into." Nate says and Nico just stares at us, his breathing erratic, as he looks between us.

Suddenly, without any fight Nico leaves Nate and I alone, slamming the door behind him. Still wrapped in his arms, he leads the way to the door he disappeared into when we entered. The tub, filled with bubbles is steaming and the large walled mirror above the sink and counter is covered with steam.

"Get in and I'll check on you in a bit. The hot water will help with the bruises and I'll rub some aloe vera on them. Both of them will help."

"Okay," I say, quiet as a mouse. When he turns to walk away I go to pull my hair up, "oww," the pain of my fresh wounds makes me wince and then I feel hands grab my hair.

"Here," he pulls my hair back, wrapping the band around it, making a ponytail, "do you need help with this too?" I hear him say. I know my face is flushed, practically red. I'm still uncomfortable with the fact that I'm half naked in front of him but, I also feel comfortable in a weird sort of way. This isn't sexual, this is just a brother helping out his sister in a time of need.

"Let me see if... fuck!" I say reaching behind me, I feel pain in my shoulders and side, bending over in pain as I hold my ribs.

"I'll take that as a yes," he says. He places his hands on the back of my bra and unclasps the three hooks slowly. I feel his fingers linger there for a few seconds and then he clears his throat. "Err... you got the rest beautiful? I'll come and check on you in a bit," without another word he disappears from the room, closing the door behind him.

I peel off my leggings and knickers, leaving a pile on the floor before I step into the large rectangular tub. The water covers my entire body and I sink into the hot water only leaving my head out resting on the back. Out of all the places we could move to, out of all the neighbours we could of lived next door to, one thing for sure was...

I'm happy I had the Greysons in my life.

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        AFTER what feels like hours, I'm woken up by a hand shaking my shoulder. I had fallen asleep and my head was slumped to the side. When I open my eyes the bubbles have disappeared and there's a towel covering the towering figure above me. I jump and struggle to cover myself, trying to use my hands and arms as shields so the unseen parts of my body are well, unseen.

"It's okay, I didn't look," Nate rushes out. "Didn't your mother ever tell you not to fall asleep in the tub?" He says and I hear a smirk in his voice. Again, I feel my cheeks flush red and I sit up, his eyes look towards the tiny window as I begin to climb out taking the towel from his hands.

"Didn't yours tell you to knock?"

"I did... you never answered and I got worried," he says turning around as I wrap myself in the towel.

"Next time knock harder."

"Next time? There's a next time?" He says putting his hands in his pockets still looking away.

"Shut up Nate," I say and he chuckles.

When we enter the bedroom Nico is sitting on the edge of the bed with his elbows resting on his knees and his hands clasped together. He looks deep in thought, almost like a statue and he taps his foot to a silent rhythm, something he does when he's annoyed or upset. Nate walks to the draws under the window and pulls out a pair of black striped boxers, handing them to me.

"Put these on and lay face down on the bed."

"Your big ass boxers... really?"

"What else do you suggest?"

"Do you not have any blue ones?" I say, a little teasing smirk playing on my lips.

"Just put them on... please," he says with his own smile.

I look over at Nico and he is still looking down at the floor, just as still and just as emotionless. He doesn't say a word and turns around slowly facing the door with his back to me, Nate doing the same only he faces towards the window. I quickly dry myself, placing my feet through the holes of the striped black and white boxers and pull them to my hips. They fall slightly, hanging on my curves and I'm worried they will fall down any minute. Lucky for me my curvy body holds them up, but they still sag down a bit. Putting the towel round my chest, I lay on my front on the bed how Nate asked me to and I look over towards Nico who is now looking down at me.

"I'm sorry princess," he softly whispers.

"I know," I tell him with a wink. His lips tug on one side as he takes a strand of my hair, tugging it behind my ear. Such a small gesture and yet my heart swells with how much they are taking care of me. How much they care for me.

"I never meant to scare you."

"It's okay Nico, I know you didn't," I smile.

Silently the boys rub the aloe vera into my skin. Everytime I wince they say "sorry" and I smirk every time they do. When they ask me to roll over I hesitate how I'm going to manoeuvre while still keeping my unseen parts covered, keeping my modesty intact. This is the most naked a boy has ever seen me. Well actually, this is the most naked anyone outside my family has seen me. I've never had a boyfriend or even been on a date, but they still make me feel comfortable to be this naked around them. Just like before, when I put the boxers on, they both turn their backs to me and I roll over with the towel wrapped around my chest, now laying on my back.

"Okay," I say quietly. They rub more of the aleo vera, gently making sure they get every inch that is covered by a bruise. I expected they're touch to be callous, rough but, their hands are surprisingly soft and their touch so gentle.

"Which leg did they kick you?" Nate says hovering over me.

"This one," I say, while tightly holding on to the towel, I lift up the leg of the boxer shorts and he uses the lotion, making small circles on my upper inner thigh. When I look up at Nate his cheeks are flushed pink and a heat rises on mine as he continues to rub the aleo vera into my skin. Slowly making circles near my groin, getting the aleo vera rubbed into my skin.

In that moment, in Nate's room I feel safe. I always had with them. I knew they would never hurt me and I knew they loved me unconditionally, like the sister they never had.

And I loved them back, just like the brothers I never had.

*word count - 4062*

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Blush!!!!

They have such a cute bond, being there for her. They clearly care a lot about her... I wonder where the story is going? 😁😏

I just want to say that bullying is not okay. In school, at home, at work... anywhere.
People do & say things to people to make themselves feel better but in actual fact they are the ones that are damaged.

Please leave me a comment letting me know how you like the story
& don't forget to vote.
CeeCee xoxo
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