Pawned Virtue - #wattys2015 BK4 TPBS - Completed 1st draft

-72-

Not edited.

Lucas practically ran through the door of the beach house. His eyes searching as he looked for her. God he needed to hold her. To be with her.

"TARA!" he yelled as he passed through rooms.

Tara and Keiran were talking with Peter in the library when Lucas raced in. All three jumped as he slammed the door further open than it was.

His eyes softened as they stopped on her and he came forward quickly to pull her up of the antique lounge and into his arms. His face buried in her neck as he inhaled her scent in a way that mimicked a calming action.

"Lucas..." she was shocked by Lucas' behaviour. He'd looked like a man who was broken when he came through the door to them.

Something had obviously happened. Something that rocked him to the core. Something that left him looking scared.

"Lucas" she tried again "what..."

He pulled away and grabbed her hand and started pulling her out of the room.

"Lucas... you're scaring me"

He stopped suddenly,turned to her and grabbed her arms.

"God baby I'm sorry.. just.. please... come with me."

She nodded quickly as she saw the desperate look in his eyes.

He kissed her on the forehead and resumed leading her from the room.

Maxon and Damon both stepped aside as they walked through. They'd watched their little brother fall to pieces at the main house when Ellie dropped her bomb. His almost incoherent rambles about Julia, their sister, left them in no doubt that Lucas hadn't really got over her death. Not that any of them had but Lucas was closest to her and losing her had been like losing a piece of his own soul.

When he stopped his rambles his demeanor changed and he kept saying he needed to go to Tara. So they brought him. He fought with Maxon about who was driving until he finally gave in. He wasn't in the frame of mind to be negotiating city traffic and his brothers weren't willing to risk losing another sibling in a car accident.

They stood rigid as they watched him pulling Tara down the hall. He needed her at that moment. Both knew that as the love of his life Tara was the only one he could find comfort with.

"What the hell happened?" Keiran asked Maxon and Damon.

"Ellie... Ellie happened."

Peter motioned for the men to come into the library and sit down.

Maxon chose the seat closest to the door while Damon chose to stand with his hands in his pockets.

"What's this about?" Peter asked "Is my daughter safe?"

Damon nodded.

"She is. Ellie's locked up but we don't know what's going to happen now."

"She can't be let out!" Keiran said angrily.

"We don't know what to do now."

"What the fúck did she do?"

"Keiran! Language." Peter admonished his son.

"It's fine Peter. The amount we've sworn in the last hour tallies up pretty well." Maxon said with a shake of his head.

"So what happened?"

Maxon looked at Damon and nodded to let him know it was OK for him to do the talking.

"Ellie's a mother."

Two jaws dropped.

"But that's not all. Ellie's daughter is Lucas' biological half sister."

"Holy shít!" Keiran swore again and this time Peter let it go as he swore under his own breath.

"So where does this leave things with Ellie?" Peter asked.

"No idea" Maxon sighed "with Gemma... that's her name... being Lucas' sister that makes Ellie family by default."

Keiran sat shaking his head.

"No way. No fúcking way. What she did..."

"We know Keiran" Damon broke in "we know this seriously stuffs up Lucas' plans."

"He obviously didn't take it well" Peter spoke.

"No. We lost a sister a few years back and he never got over it. Gemma is... hell we don't even know if she realises she has a brother!"

"Man this seriously sucks" Keiran shook his head again as his thoughts tried to come together to make sense.

"What sucks is that Lucas was planning on having his father deal with Ellie and now..."

Peter scrunched his face up.

"I can't condone killing but if anything happens to Tara I'll..."

"Join the line" Damon said gravely. "Lucas wouldn't cope if anything happened to her."

"Exactly." Maxon agreed.

"So where is this sister?" Keiran asked.

"Boarding school. Thank fúck she isnt under her mother's every day influence. One Ellie's bad enough but another" Damon shook his head "another would be disastrous!"

"Where? Is she a Porter?" Keiran grabbed his fathers laptop.

"What are you doing?" Peter asked.

"The only way to know what she's like is to find out." He started tapping out her name, hoping that Porter was the right one.

"So what do we know about her?" Keiran asked the two Price brothers as faces started to come up on the screen.

"Well, she's fifteen..." Damon started to answer.

"Don't bother. I've found her."

He turned the laptop around so the others could see the facebook page he'd just clicked on.

Gemma Porter. Student at Pymble Ladies College. Fifteen. Interests are writing, drawing and having fun with friends.

The face they saw on the screen left them with no doubt. She was the daughter of Marcus Porter... sister to Lucas. A younger female version of Lucas.

Lucas pulled Tara into his room and a few feet in from the door he stopped suddenly and turned to her.

"I have a sister."

She nodded "Julia."

He shook his head rapidly.

"Another one. Younger. Her name's Gemma. I have to protect her."