Darcy's face paled and his shoulders slumped.

"Neala... I'm so sorry. I feel horrible. Please."

I walked forward, and just as I was about to pass him by I pressed the doll box against his chest. "This should make you feel better, it's want you wanted after all, right? Well, lucky you, you got want you wanted. You win, Darcy. Congratulations"

Neala: 1 Darcy: 2.

I let go of the box and walked out of Darcy's bedroom then finally, after days of being trapped, I stepped foot out of his house. I made a silent vow to myself that I was never going to return.

"Neala?" Sean said when I clumsily stepped through the deep snow and headed toward him. It was difficult to get my footing with heels on, but I managed it. I doubt I looked like anything except an idiot, but at least I didn't fall.

I refused to look over in Justin's direction as I stumbled my way over to my brother.

"Bring me home. Please," I said as my body trembled.

Sean put his arm around me and quickly ushered me around his truck and into the passenger side. He helped me up into the truck then shut the door. The heat in the truck from Sean's journey up to Darcy's house sent shivers up and down my spine. My skin tingled and the pain that took up residence in my head eased slightly.

Sean shouted something to Justin who nodded his head and tracked his way through the snow and headed into Darcy's house. I looked away when Sean came around to the driver's side of his truck and got in. He started the truck and slowly backed up until he could turn the truck around and get us onto the road leading down the mountain.

I think I managed a minute or two before I burst into tears.

"Baby girl," Sean sighed and reached out with his left hand and rubbed my shoulder.

I lifted my hands to my face and shook my head. "I'm o-okay."

Sean removed his hand from my shoulder and changed the gears on his truck and focused on driving down the slippery mountain roads.

"Did he hurt you?" Sean asked.

I glanced at him through my fingers and noticed his knuckles were gripped onto the steering wheel so tight that they were turning white.

"Not in the way you think," I sniffled and wiped my eyes with my fingers.

Sean glanced at me. "In what way did he hurt you?"

I looked down and shrugged my shoulders. "He said we were a mistake, that we didn't go together. He said he regretted me."

The tears came again when I finished speaking and I hated myself for it. I wanted to be strong, I wanted to say 'fuck Darcy', but my heart hurt so deeply over him, over someone who one week ago I could care less about.

"Is that all he did?" Sean asked, his voice venomous.

I cleared my throat. "Yeah... I mean, when we... had sex... it hurt and I bleed a little, but Darcy said it was normal for me first time."

Things were silent for a moment until Sean growled low, deep in his throat, "I'm gonna fucking kill him!"

I widened my eyes and looked to him.

He was furious.

"Don't. It was c-consensual."

Darcy hurt me, but Sean would kill him if he thought he forced himself on me and that was the furthest thing from the truth. Sean looked to me and softened his eyes before he looked back at the road and narrowed his eyes again.

"If he wasn't going to live up to whatever he made you believe then he should have stayed the fuck away from you. I didn't think you were a virgin. Fuck. A fucking virgin! I'm going to murder the little prick!"

Oh, shite.

"Sean, please," I cried.

My brother muttered curses before he exhale a large breath. "Why don't you want me to hurt him?"

"Because I care about him!" I snapped then sunk low in my seat, hurting over my admission.

I wish I didn't care.

I wish I hated Darcy again. Things were so much easier when I hated him... but I couldn't. I cared about him. I really liked him and I felt sick that he didn't feel the same way.

Sean looked at me with wide eyes. "You care about Darcy?"

"You t-think I would give myself up to someone who I didn't have a-any feelings for?" I asked, annoyed he would think of me in that light.

Sean shook his head. "No, of course not. I know you're not like that, I just mean... Since when do you care about Darcy?"

Since last night.

Well, I had always cared about him, I just didn't realise it until last night.

I wiped my runny nose with some tissues from Sean's glove box. "Things changed between us in his house. We called a truce last night. I thought we even became friends and things would be good between us... but apparently I was wrong after hearing what he said to you and Justin."

Sean cursed some more. I tuned him out because the more I listened to him the more upset I got. I looked out the windows at the snow-covered trees and focused on them as we drove.

I felt sick with myself.

I couldn't believe I acted like a sex deprived manic last night. I practically tore Darcy's clothes from his body and begged him to take me. I was beyond mortified, and I was deeply hurt. I really thought that after last night we would at least be friends. A part of me was expecting us to eventually start up something romantic between us. Even if that never happened I would have been happy to be just friends. He apologised to me and I apologised to him and we realised we were both in the wrong all these years.

So why did he say what he did to Sean and Justin?

Was last night just about him pulling the ultimate prank? Stripping me of my virginity and making me enjoy it in the process?

I was so unsure, and that killed me.

I hated that I couldn't judge if last night was real or fake. I wanted it to be real, but the chance that it was probably fake gutted me.

"I don't want to talk about this anymore, Sean."

Sean was silent for a moment then he said, "I'm sorry, Sis."

I looked to him and gave him a small smile. "Don't be sorry, you did nothing wrong."

Sean's face fell, his mouth straightened to a thin line, and his eyes looked sad.

I hated that my situation with Darcy upset him so much.

I looked forward and folded my arms across my chest and enjoyed the silence of the rest of the drive back home... and when I say home, I meant my parent's house.

"Dinner is in two hours. Go get showered and into something warm - preferably something that covers your arse instead of exposing it," Sean muttered.

His big brother ways brought a genuine smile out on my face so I leaned over and kissed his cheek as he parked his truck in my parent's driveway. "I will... thanks for saving me."

"Always," Sean mumbled and sighed as I climbed out of the truck.

I folded my arms across my chest as I hopped around the truck and on the cleared pathway.

"Watch out for black ice. I put salt all over, but I might have missed some spots," Sean called out from behind me.

"Okay," I shouted and slowed down my pace.

The freezing cold breeze went right through me by the time I reached my parent's front door. I balled my hand into a fist and banged on the door.

"Cave woman, press the bell," Sean said from behind me.

I rolled my eyes and pressed the doorbell.

A moment went by before my mother opened the door. She was wearing a Mrs. Claus onesie and she had antlers on her head - it was enough for me not to take her seriously.

"You're free!" my mother shouted.

I raised my eyebrows when Dustin voice's shouted from the living room, "Frrreedddoooommm!"