~A Sickening Punch~

"Where is Aurora?" Nicolas barked out, with his hand gripping the collar shirt of the confused looking guy in his hold.

"Get off me, man. Who the hell is Aurora?" The guy replied, shoving him off. He appeared to be embarassed at how easily he was swept off his feet and in front of girls too.

"What the hell is going on, Carlos? Where the hell did you keep her?" Dolores voiced out. She was on the verge of losing every bit of patience that she possessed. Christie stood in a corner, watching with a teary face.

Carlos brushed off the spot Nicolas touched before standing up to him as he looked back square in the eyes. "I don't know who she is. If you won't tell me why you're embarassing me because of some girl, then fuck it. I'm not telling you shit."

He went back to sit but stopped short when Nicolas shoved a tattered white dress in his face. "That's what she wore. Do you know what happened? This is your party, dammit."

Carlos took the dress slowly, passing a look to the guys around him. They all seemed to be appalled. "Yes, this is my party but I have no idea what you're accusing me of right now. What happened?"

"Don't be so stupid, Carlos. We will not be accusing you of something you're incapable of." Dolores added, refusing to let her gaze waver from his harsh stare.

He tossed the dress back to Nicolas who caught it swiftly. "Listen, if you'd just tell me who the girl is and what relationship you two have, I might know where to start looking. I might have been an asshole to you both but give me the benefit of the doubt here. I can help you but I didn't do nothing."

Nicolas looked briefly at Dolores and the latter nodded in a discreet manner. They needed to find Aurora and it was as quick as possible before something worse happened even if it meant coming out with the truth on who Aurora really was to Nicolas. It wasn't the best idea but it was their only bet if they had to get Carlos to give them a lead.

"Aurora is a friend."

Carlos laughed in scorn. "Don't lie to me bro. I know you enough to know that you don't have any other female friends except Dolores and Adelina. What is your next excuse?"

He rolled his eyes, sighing out. "She's my sister, okay? Now, where is she?"

Carlos raised two hands to defend himself from the wrath of his anger. "Calm down. I didn't know you have a sister. How old is she like?" His smirk faltered when he noticed the death glare Nicolas was sending him. "Anyway, I remember seeing someone who looked exactly like you but that was the last I saw of the girl. She was with that girl behind you. They looked like friends, you know, whispering to each other and all."

"Carlos!" It was Dolores. "Can we get straight to the point and not divert? There is a case of a missing person in your house and we don't have the luxury for your incessant gists. Yes, she was with Christie but what else did you notice?"

"Nothing more." He sat back down on the couch he was lounging in with a drink in his grip. "She was an eye catching specie. Thick and exactly the way I like my girls."

Without warning, Nicolas drove a sickening punch to his jaw which sent him to the ground, catching him unawares. Christie let out a loud scream of terror as the sound of glass falling to the hard ground filled the air. The guys around held a struggling Nicolas back from delivering more heavy blows. Carlos sprang forward to repay him back in his own coin but Dolores hastily stepped in his way. She ordered Christie to get home then turned to the guys.

"This isn't the way to go about this. We need to find Aurora and that's more important. Whatever age long enmity you have with each other should end right now." Her hands were stretched out on both sides despite knowing it wouldn't do much to prevent the two boys from tearing each other in pieces.

There was a low grunt from Nicolas, revealing he wanted nothing to do with reconciling with someone who almost ruined his life. Even though there was no proof that Carlos took Aurora, there was none either that proved he didn't and until his sister was found, all of his fingers would remained pointed to him.

"You want me to help him? He almost broke my jaw!" Carlos complained with a finger pointing to his bruised spot. "Even if there was a way to help, I can't. He has to be nice to me or no show."

"Fuck off!"

"And fuck off, I will. Get the hell out of my premises."

Nicolas ground his jaw in anger as he weighed the options. He saw the wicked glint in Carlos' eyes and knew what it meant if he became nice. That would mean another exploitation.

But isn't it better than not having the faintest inkling where Aurora is?

He took a few steps back with renewed hate fueling the anger he felt towards the manipulator who was smirking at him. "We can't trust him."

Dolores turned sharply to him. "What do you mean we can't trust him?"

Nicolas reached for her hand, pulling her close to himself. "We cannot trust him, Dolores. I know what I'm talking about. He might not be the one who took her and might not have an idea what going on but he wants to mess around with us. That's all." He whispered to her hearing alone.

She shook her head in response. "What are you talking about? He's trying to be nice but you keep blowing him off. Jeez, calm down! We need his help or else we won't find your sister."

"We will. We could go to the police and--"

"How much help do you think they'll be to us? What do we tell them? That a fifteen year old went partying at a place like this where there are more twenty one year olds than can count? There are drugs and weed everywhere, underaged people drinking and we want to invite the police into this? Don't you think that might be too hazardous?" She deadpanned.

Nicolas let his eyes flit to Carlos who was moving his injured jaw around while talking to his friends. He looked back at Dolores. "What do we do?"

"I say you go back now and tell him that you're ready to listen to whatever he has to say. Remember to swallow your pride. It's for her good. Now, go on." Her phone rang out suddenly, disrupting them.

"Who is that? Is it Aurora?" Nicolas asked, yearning to listen to her voice once more.

"No, it's Simeon."

Jealousy quickly replaced his hopeful expression. "Can you please tell him to stop calling my girlfriend? We're on something important."

Instead, Dolores shoved him away while placing the phone on her ear to answer the call that came in. "Oh, hey Simeon. What's up?" The rest of her words slowly faded as she walked a few distance away.

With evident hesitancy, Nicolas placed one foot in front of the other until he came to stand in front of Carlos. He was not one bit pleased but certain things had to be done. He cherished his sister above his pride. If he had done stupid things in the past to make her happy and keep her comfortable, then swallowing his pride before a pompous rich kid was not a feat.

"Sorry I hit you." The words felt like bile but he continued nonetheless. "What other information do you have?"

°•°•°•°•°•°

Nicolas and Dolores both arrived at his house to discover to their dismay that Aurora wasn't found inside. Despite his leniency with Carlos, the tipsy fool still didn't offer anything of useful value but uttered vulgar descriptions of the people he saw and the process of the party. In the end, Nicolas succeeded in giving another staggering punch to his jaw that sent the latter sprawling unconsciously to the ground.

Of course, with Dolores' approval this time.

All that would have mattered if Aurora had run up to open the door for them with a big smile the moment they got on the porch. It was not to be. They were still in search for her and he was slowly wallowing in self guilt. For the umpteenth time today, he felt like the worst person to be given to Aurora as an elder brother. He had one small job to do and he failed horribly.

He groaned, putting a hand to his temple aas a head splitting ache came on. It had Dolores rushing to his side in seconds.

"What wrong? Do you need water?" Her tone was laced with worry.

"Yes and some aspirin please. It's somewhere in the locker of my reading desk. Water is downstairs." He managed to reply.

When she walked to the desk to fetch the drugs, he stared at her with awe. He was filled with adoration for the nature of the kind of person she truly was and never failed to give thanks to Carlos for letting her come to his notice. How would he be able to live with himself knowing he missed a human this selfless?

Dolores turned around with some papers in her hands. She looked furious as wnd her hands shook as she raised the papers up to his view. "What is this?"

Nicolas, still wondering why she switched moods because of the papers she was holding up, realized too late that she had discovered the truth.

"So it was you all this time?" The words shot out of her mouth like venom from a spitting cobra.

~~~{•}~~~

What do you suspect poor Nicolas has done again?
Do you think you can trust him this time around?

Leave a vote if this was your best chapter yet
~~Chignature~~