The Hero

**A/N I haven't posted anything in a while and I wanted to try something different. I hope you like this story. I'm thinking of making this into a series, please let me know what you think.**

*

I could feel my headache coming on long before I'd decided to take up my friend's offer of a night out and by my third gin and tonic it had started to manifest into what could only be compared to a small demon inside my skull playing a very metal drum solo. I didn't like metal all that much, I had to be in the mood for it and today was not one of those days. After digging through my small black sequined clutch for some paracetamol and coming up short I breathed out a sigh of frustration and turned to my best friend Anna who was bouncing to the beat on her bar stool.

"I'm gonna call it a night, honey." I called out to her over the loud music and watched as her eyebrows pinched together and her full lower lip began to drop in an adorable pout. Normally those puppy dog eyes would sway my decision but the throbbing in my head was becoming more and more unbearable as time wore on. "My head is fucking killing me." I rubbed my temples for effect, because lets face it that never really helps does it?

"Your eyes do look really tired." Her hand caressed my cheek softly and then she leant forward and placed a small kiss on my cheek. "Do you want me to come with you?" She asked me. She had been making eyes with a gothic looking guy across the bar who'd been wearing some really suave clothes for this century. Not quite my type but the guy was cute I had to admit.

"No, no." I gave her a small smile and quickly averted my eye's to said goth boy who seemed to be looking at us intently. "You stay and have fun." Anna gave me a small smile before pulling me into a bone crushing hug and then placing a huge smackerooni on my lips which I'm sure was more for the dude's benefit than mine.

With the sound of the music becoming quieter as I left the main room of the club and made my way to the cloak room, I rummaged through that paracetamol-less bag of mine to retrieve my token to get my faux fur black coat. With it being colder than Antarctica outside, yes a little dramatic but I'm sick! The expensive Christmas present from my twin brother Adrian came in handy when it was fucking Baltic outside. Wrapping said coat around my small body I walked down the street and then into town. Sure, I could get a taxi but there's really no point when you live about 10 minutes from town anyway. Plus I was hoping the fresh air would do my pounding head some good.

As I walked into the town centre that was usually quiet at this time of night but with it being a Saturday night there were quite a few people dotted around town. Teenagers getting pizza's, couple's walking hand in hand not jealous at all. Then there was the rougher pub in town that Anna and I had dared to go in once but never dared to again. It was the kind of place that your feet stick to the floor at the beginning of the night and most of the patrons lacked teeth along with brain cells. We got hit on constantly to the point where it was bordering on assault so we decided to leave and have frequented the club ever since. Sure, it was more expensive but that also meant it was more exclusive aka, less creepy men.

I kept my head held high, ignoring the disgusting cat calls as I walked past. If my head wasn't on the verge of making me faint then I would have taken the longer way home avoiding walking past this shit hole but alas, times were desperate. I was almost home, just two more streets to go. I didn't realise that it had gone past 1 am, meaning the street lights plunged into darkness. Taking my phone out of my clutch I turned on the flash light and that was when I noticed the shadow behind me. Not looking back I quickened my pace but it wasn't enough as a hand dug itself into the hair I'd spent a good 45 minutes styling to look this messy and sexy. I fell back with a yelp but a hand was roughly placed over my mouth silencing my screams. The smell of stale cigarette smoke and moth balls overtook me as the stranger dragged me into a darker area.

I'm going to die. I'm going to die. I'm going to die. This is the night that I actually fucking die. At the hands of a creepy old chain smoking rapist. He was on top of me, his hands violently shoving my coat open and trying to pull down my underwear as I thrashed about trying to make it as difficult for him as possible. That only seemed to make him angry as he raised his hand, balled into a fist and brought it down against the side of my face. My headache intensified and I tasted blood as my teeth bit into the inside of my cheek at the impact. I growled and spat the blood into the pervert's face and that really fucking pissed him off, his hand raised again but before it could make contact and inevitably knock me out his whole body was lifted from mine.

I sat up frantically and pulled the bottom half of my dress down over my legs and wrapped the coat around myself once again even though now I couldn't feel the cold. I watched in awe and horror as a tall shadowy figure held my attacker against a large white van by his throat. He was so pale, the moonlight made that very clear, his pitch black hair looked inky in the dark. I could make out a pair of black skinny jeans and a leather jacket and he was totally rocking the outfit. I shook the thoughts from my head and stood up on shaky legs, almost falling but with what seemed like super human speed my hero of the night was at my side holding onto my trembling body.

"Are you okay?" He asked quickly, his voice was so deep and American. This was a small town, we didn't get many people from overseas here. "I was just walking by and I heard you scream."

"I am now," I gave him a little smile and steadied myself. I looked around and noticed my attacker had completely disappeared. "Thank you, god knows what would have happened if you weren't here."

He gave me a shrug as if to say it was nothing, but that is so far from the case. This stranger had just saved my life and I couldn't help but feel like a thank you just wasn't good enough. I opened my bag and rummaged around trying to find something and then his confused expression broke into a shadowy smile as I held up a red lolly pop. With a small chuckle he took the sweet and unwrapped it before popping it into his mouth.

"Let me walk you to your door." He suggested and normally I'd tell him to get fucked but the dude did save my life and who knows where that fucking scummy creep went, he could be waiting for me around the corner. "I won't feel right until I know you're home safely."

I gave him a small nod and let him escort me to my house which wasn't even five minutes away. It's scary to think how something so bad can happen right next to your own safe haven. We walked in silence, him sucking on the lolly that I'd given him and the side of my face rapidly swelling, or at least it felt that way. I was glad for the silence because it actually hurt to talk. As we reached my house and walked along the drive way the security light come on and as I turned to my mystery hero my breath caught in my throat.

Now, I've seen my fair share of good looking guys in my life time but this guy? Not even close.. His inky black hair was spiked in a way that made him look like your typical bad boy and the contrast against his pale skin was something else. I was pale, Anna had tried to get me to go tanning all the time but I'd always refused. This guy was almost translucent but it didn't look sickly or anything like that. His dark brown eyes were almost black and looked like they held hundreds of stories and secrets and his full lips had a red tint to them, like he'd been drinking copious amounts of red wine. He was like a male version of snow white which under different circumstances would make me laugh but I was literally just holding my emotions together at this moment in time. Normally I'd probably try to throw myself at the poor dude but tonight? I wanted to shower and scrub until my skin came off.

"Thank you for walking me home." I said and then sighed before frowning. "I don't even know your name."

"I'm Remington, but most people call me Rem." He said and I gave a small nod. Such a unique name but I didn't have it in me to gush over that at the moment. "And it's no problem at all."

"Okay, I'm gonna go in now." I grabbed my keys and unlocked the door before stepping inside and turning to face him. "Good night and thanks again."

He gave a polite nod and a little salute action before taking off back up the drive way. I watched him walk away for a quick moment before closing and double locking the door. As soon as I was shut away from the world outside I let everything out. Sliding down the door to wrap my arms around myself and bury my head between my knees. Sobbing so hard that I had to crawl into the downstairs wash room and throw up into the toilet.

********************

For days I couldn't sleep and when I did the nightmares of the events of that night would wake me at silly hours and then I just couldn't sleep after so I'd spend most nights either crying or just trying to watch funny films on Netflix in a bid to forget that night just for a few hours. The right side of my face had a deep purple bruise on it. The day after it happened I had called Anna who'd frog marched me to the police station to report the incident but unfortunately as I couldn't see what the guy looked like the police didn't have much to go on. The only witness was the guy who'd saved me and I only had a first name to go on and with him not being local we all just kind of assumed the guy was visiting and had since gone back to wherever it was he'd came from. The case was open but I was sure it'd go cold.

Anna had been fantastic just like I thought she would. She knew I wouldn't want to talk much about it so she didn't push to hear much information about that night even though I know for a fact she was dying to ask about the mysterious guy who'd saved me. She'd told me that she'd spent the rest of that night drinking with the goth guy at the bar, who also happened to be American and was certain that there had to be a connection between the two but deep down I knew that was very far fetched.

After about a month had passed and my bruise had gone and people at work had stopped treating me like I was some kind of fragile victim. I actually felt like I was beginning to move on from the events of that night. I was managing to get a full night's sleep and managed to put the whole ordeal behind me. Part of me wanted to see my savoir again, mainly because I felt like I at least owed him dinner or at the very least a gift basket because my lame gesture of giving him a lolly pop played on my mind a lot. He'd been so kind to walk me home after saving my life that night and when I think back on it I felt like I was a little bit of a bitch to him. Anna had said it was understandable after what had happened but I argued the fact that I could have at least gave him my name.

I looked through my wardrobe at my clothes and skipped past that short skimpy black dress like I could contract herpes from merely touching it. I didn't want to show any skin, even though that night the coat hid most of my body I couldn't shake the feeling that the dress was the main offender, as well as the scummy man. Tonight is the first night that I'll be going out with Anna again. I'd refused to go out too many times and I now refused to not go out because of that night. I settled on a pair of high waisted red trousers that had a bow to the left of my hip and tucked a black halter style high necked vest into them. For a jacket I settled on a dark red biker jacket that I'd managed to swipe in a sale just after Christmas last year. My shoulder length dark purple hair was put into a messy bun that I'd managed to actually pull off without looking like I was about to go to bed. I purposefully pulled free wisps of hair to frame my face and did my usual make up, light on the eyes with a slight winged liner and a dark red lip. I slipped my feet into my killer black stiletto red sole heals and walked out into my living room where Anna, who was looking gorgeous in her full length black maxi dress and red trench coat. Her natural golden hair fell down her back in waves.

"We can stay in if you want to?" She asked as she noticed how nervous I looked. I tried not to let it show but in reality I was bricking it. "We don't have to go out."

"I didn't spend ages on my hair to stay in and drink shitty white wine." I said even though the idea of staying in and drinking shitty white wine sounded like pure heaven, if I was completely honest.

After drinking most of said shitty white wine, Anna booked us an Uber to the club and before I knew it I was stood at the bar looking around the large room as Anna ordered us a round of drinks. Keeping my eyes locked on my surrounding even though I knew my attacker wouldn't come in here, he more than likely followed me from the other place on the other side of town but my anxiety was through the roof and I couldn't calm down. When the bar tender placed four shots and two tall drinks in front of us I downed the two shots before Anna had even managed to scan her card to pay. Downing her two shots and then picking up her drink she took my hand dragged me through the dance floor into the middle. Technically you're not allowed to have drinks on the dance floor but the bouncers could never see into the middle of dance floor and by the time we'd finished dancing to the first song we had finished the drinks anyway.

As we made our way back to the bar, Anna squeaked as we noticed the goth guy from that night sat at the bar with two drinks but by himself, although he looked as though he was waiting for someone and I hoped for his sake he wasn't waiting for a girl because Anna scorned is not something you want to witness and more so be on the receiving end of. Luckily, as goth guy, who's name I really need to learn so I can stop referring to the poor dude as 'goth guy' looked up and noticed my best friend. A wicked smile appeared on his face that even made me blush as he waved us both over. Well, he waved Anna over but she dragged me along.

"Anna, I've been wondering when I'd see you again." His accent sounded so familiar but I just put it down to the fact that it was different to mine and it was loud as fuck in here. "I'm just waiting for my brother, he went out to uhm.. make a phone call."

"I haven't been out in a while, my best friend has been sick." Anna pulled me closer to her and the guy's dark eyes locked on mine and his expression read what I thought was understanding. No idea why because I'd never actually met the dude officially. "But we're here now."

"Emerson, dude you need to see the-" I swear to god I know that voice. I know that fucking voice! "Sorry I didn't realise you had company, now." He sounded annoyed but as he rounded us and took a seat next to his brother my suspicions were answered and I felt the blood drain from my face as my eyes landed on the mysterious hero from the worst night of my life. I quickly looked away towards the bar before he could look at me, although he didn't even care to look at us. He wasn't this much of a dick when I'd met him before.

"Rem, don't be so fucking rude." Goth guy, sorry.. Emerson scolded his brother and continued to introduce us, "This is Anna, the girl I was telling you about." He then said. "And her best friend who apparently is nameless." I could hear the amusement in his voice even over the music. For some reason I could hear so much over the music, now. Had they turned the volume down or something?

"She's just shy." Anna said. I could feel her hand stroking my back in a bid to calm my nerves. She could always tell when I felt anxious and I adored that about her. Our bond was like no other, it would be when you've been best friends for almost the whole twenty two years of your lives. "She's not been very well, lately." I hated the fact she was lying for me but also loved it too. "Her name is Natasha, but mostly people call her Tash."

"It's nice to meet you, Tash." Emerson said, I could hear the sincerity in his voice and had no option but to turn and face him. I gave him a half smile and that was when his brother turned to look in our direction.

I watched as his bored expression changed as he took in my face. Sure, the last time he'd seen me my hair was a mess and I had a massive bruise forming on my cheek but I wasn't hard to forget. Not to sound conceited or anything but it was because of my eyes. I don't know what it was about them because I'd had test after test but my eyes were almost purple in colour. The doctors had said it was just an issue with the pigment in my iris' but because my vision was perfect they had basically just told me to relish the rare disorder. I had to admit it was pretty cool but I was sick of people asking me if I was wearing contacts all the time. "Nope, just weird eyes." I'd always say.

I watched the look in his dark eyes as his features softened. As if he'd found something he'd been looking for. He gave me a soft smile and the blood that had drained from my face before, rushed back with a vengeance as my cheeks flushed and I smiled back before looking toward the bar tender. He came over and I ordered a round of drinks, for everyone because I was feeling generous and because I was slightly buzzed too. I turned to Anna and grabbed her hand, whispering in her ear that I needed to use the bathroom and thankfully she insisted on accompanying me.

"That's him!" I rushed out as soon as the door swung closed, the music almost muted. "The guy that saved me, Remington is your goth guy's brother."

Anna's eyes widened in shock as I told her. She grabbed onto my arms and smiled wide before pulling us over towards the mirrors. I touched up my lipsticks as she did the same before any of us spoke. The shock of the situation too much to handle bare lipped, apparently.

"This is amazing, Tash." Anna gushed out. "They're both fucking gorgeous and don't you think there's something weird about them but in the hottest kind of way?"

I looked at her confused and dumbfounded. Anna said the strangest things sometimes. It's like she lived in her own fantasy world and it showed with the way she lived her life. She was so extravagant with everything that she did and I loved her for it and I had to admit until a month ago I was pretty much the same. I missed the old me, I really did.

"You need to fuck him, Tash" She breathed out. "If he's anything like his brother, fucking hell!"

I held my hand up to pause her, mid gush about how good in bed this dude might be. Not because I didn't want to hear it or anything. I lived for Anna's sexcapades it was the fact that she hadn't told me. Then I thought back, the next day she'd looked so satisfied with herself and I witnessed her physically deflate when I told her what had happened. She hadn't told me about Emerson because she was sparing my feelings and at the time I wouldn't have wanted to know anyway.

"Let's go back out there." I said with a smile before we walked back out.

At the bar were two empty seats and I felt my stomach drop and by the look on Anna's face, so did hers. I couldn't help but feel like this was my fault, because if that night hadn't happened then Anna would have probably kept seeing this guy instead of being at my beck and call. Even though I hadn't asked for it she was there, because that's who Anna was. She was perfect and I'd ruined this for her. I felt like dog shit. I wanted to go home.

"Shall we just go?" Anna asked, reading my mind as usual. "My buzz has officially gone."

"You're not leaving on our account are you?" A male voice made us both turn around and there they stood. The hottest brother's I'd ever seen in my life.