lexicole "I never loved you."
“I never loved you.”
Nicole couldn’t help but laugh at that statement as she finished putting on the diamond earrings that Lex had given her for their fifth anniversary.
“Oh, darling, you think I didn’t know that?” She said, glancing at him over her shoulder and raising an eyebrow. “And what’s more, whatever gave you the idea that I ever loved you? This wasn’t a marriage of love, my darling. This was a business transaction. I thought you knew that…”
Lex Porter’s teeth grated against each other as he tossed back another tumbler full of whiskey. His tie was still undone and his jacket hung on him like he was playing with his father’s closet instead of his own. Part of Nicole wondered how much of being married to her had contributed to him becoming a walking skeleton.
Most of her really didn’t give a shit.
“Now, if you’re done playing around with worries that are impossible to fix… We’re going to be late for Harry’s wedding.”
“Right. Because I’m so eager to watch your brother marry Valerie Connors.”
“You and me both, Porter.”
Nicole sat up in bed like a shot, covered in a sheen of cold sweat and her heart beating a thousand beats a second. Wide blue eyes whipped across the room to confirm that indeed she still was in her father’s mansion and that indeed it had all been a dream. And yet…
The girl quickly pulled on one of her silk robes and ran along the darkened hallways as if more than just terror was nipping at her heels. With a practiced hand Nicole twisted the doorknob and padded towards the four-poster bed. She gulped mouthfuls of air as trembling hands reached out to shake the shoulder of her sleeping brother.
“Harry? Harry… Wake up… Please…”
Slowly the dark-haired man shifted in his sleep, turning to look and see who it was that had awoken him. Yet in the instant he recognized the silver-gold figure in front of him, Harry sat up and reached a hand out to her.
“Nic? What’s wrong? What happened?”
“You love me, don’t you?” Nicole blurted out quickly, trying to keep her voice from cracking. “You love me and you’ll never leave me and you’ll take me far away from this place before you let anyone take me away from you, right?”
Harry’s face contorted in concern and something like heartbreak before taking his sister’s hand and pulling her down onto the bed next to him. She nestled quickly into the crook of his arm, curling up into the protective aura of his body.
“Of course. I’d never let anything bad happen to you, Nicole. Nothing and no one will ever tear me from your side. I promise.”