Flipping on the light switch, earning a grumble from the brunette in his arms. "Okay, okay." Turning the light back off, he moved towards the bed.

Pulling back the covers, he gently placed the brunette on the bed and pulled the covers over her. Turning the nightstand light on, he brushed her hair out of her face."Night baby girl." Leaning over, he dropped a kiss on her hairline.

Grabbing his shirt, she latched her lips onto his. "Come here." She murmured, guiding Luke on top of her in between her legs.

Pulling away slightly, "We have company." He reminded her.

Slipping her arms underneath his, she ran her hands up his back. "Hmm...am I not better company?" She prompted.

Smirking, "You definitely are." Running his hand up her curves, "They can wait a few minutes." Capturing her lips with his as he pressed his body against hers.

Feeling her lips start moving slower, he gently started to pull away from her. Pressing a few kisses before pulling away completely, "Night pretty girl." Smiling as he saw her cuddle his pillow, he quietly closed his bedroom door.

"Hey guys, you want anything to drink?" Luke offered to the couple that was sitting on the couch.

"I just want to talk, Lucas." Rachel replied, "Then I would love to get some sleep."

Rubbing his neck, "Okay, I'm Luke here." He began. "I met Brooke on a whim, I honestly didn't think I'd fall in love with her- so I gave her a name. A nickname. Then- ugh- she seeped into my soul and I couldn't let her go. Then I realized she knew Nathan-"

"How do you know Nathan?" Rachel interjected.

"He's my brother." Lucas answered.

"Are you kidding me right now?"

Placing a hand on his fiance's shoulder, "I have a feeling it's more complicated or he would've already told Brooke about Nathan." Cooper spoke.

"I was involved in Peyton several years ago." Lucas shared.

"Son of a bitch." Rachel and Cooper spoke simultaneously.

"How does Peyton even fit into this?" Rachel wondered.

"Back in New York, I had some ties with a paper. One of their writers were publishing stories that had underlying tones about the work I had going on in New York. I posed as a writer to find the rat and that's when I met Peyton. She was a secretary. I got close to her because it was her boss writing the articles. We slept together a couple of times but then that's when she got clingy." Sighing as he remembered how she would just pop up wherever he was at. From his home to a club he was invested in, the curly blonde always seemed to follow him. "It didn't bother me as much because she was a great stress reliever."

"And you're a pig." Rachel interrupted him.

"She knew what she was, she's the one that would come over at three in the morning then leave two hours later."

"Two hours, puh-lease." Rachel rebutted.

Raising his eyebrow, "Ask Brooke." He said with a wink, causing Rachel to roll her eyes and Cooper to clear his throat to get them back on track.

"I tried to blow her off, she kept coming around." Scratching his chin, "Finally I told her I was done with her, that's when she went crazy. I changed my number, she'd get her hands on it. I changed my lock, but I'd find her inside my apartment. It just escalated from there, the only reason I got rid of her is because she moved down here."

"So has anything happened now?" Cooper inquired.

Shaking his head, "Nothing yet. I called her to let her know I met someone which was probably a mistake, especially since Brooke and Peyton are friends."

"You have to tell Brooke." Rachel sternly told him.

"It's better to keep her in the dark for the moment, it's for her safety."

"Not telling my best friend that I know you is for her safety?" Seeing conviction in his eyes as he replied with a 'yes'. "Okay, I won't tell her- for now."

Running his hand down his face, "With Peyton knowing I'm here... Look, Peyton might've been Brooke's friend before but New York might have brought out the worst in her and I don't think it's going away any time soon." Sitting across from the pair. "I just don't know how I'm going to tell Brooke."

"Well you better tell her the truth and you better tell her soon. I don't know Peyton well enough but something tells me that she has something up her sleeve if she hasn't told Brooke yet."

"Yeah, I just don't want to lose her." Lucas confessed.

"I hate to break it to you, but you took that chance when you weren't completely honest with her from the beginning." Rachel spoke, effectively ending the conversation.

"Morning sleepy heads, Luke made breakfast and today he may have put Martha Stewart to shame." Brooke gushed as Rachel and Cooper walked into the kitchen.

"I didn't see you as the homemaker type." Rachel attempted to keep the bite out of her statement.

"Well I was on my own for a while and as simple as fast food was- it wasn't healthy. So I did a lot of trial and error before I could cook for myself but now-"

"He could be a chef if he wanted to." Brooke spoke proudly. "The first time he cooked for me was a meal I had only seen in four star restaurants, so give him a break Rach and try the food please?"

Seeing the smile on the brunette's face, Rachel felt a small sigh fall from her lips. "Of course." Taking a seat at the table, "You know I'm no good until I've had a cup of coffee."

Setting a place of coffee in front of his wife to be, "There you go baby." Taking a drink of his coffee, "Thank you for letting us stay here."

"Well you're welcome to stay here for as long as you need or want. Whichever comes first." Brooke smiled, leaning into Lucas' lips as he placed a kiss on her cheek.

"We don't want to impose." Taking a seat next to Rachel, he thanked Lucas as the blonde set plates in front of each of them.

"You won't be. Actually..." Brooke hesitated as she looked over her shoulder at her boyfriend.

Placing a hand on her shoulder, he gave it a gentle squeeze. "Brooke's moving in with me." Lucas shared.

"Moving in?" Rachel asked as she placed her fork down. "Don't you think it's a little soon? You've only been together for a few months."

Feeling her shoulders deflate slightly, Brooke looked down at her coffee before setting the cup down. "It may be fast, but when you're in love does it really matter?"

"In love? Congrats man." Cooper raised his coffee cup towards the pair. Letting out an 'oomph' as he felt the red head nudge her elbow into his stomach. "Rach, it's a good thing. The last time we were here you were worried that Brooke was unhappy. Now she's in love, so be supportive."

Letting out a sigh, "You're right." Shaking her head slightly. "You're right, I'm sorry. I'm happy if you're happy." Reaching over the counter, she gently grabbed the brunette's hands with her own. "That's all I care about."

Smiling at her best friend, "I'm happy." She promised, a thousand watt smile on her face to match her statement. Looking behind her as she felt her boyfriend squeeze her shoulder lovingly. "Extremely happy."

"Brooke wants me to stop by in a bit to try on some dresses that she's made." Brushing her hair, "Can you find something to do?"

"I'll probably hang out with Luke." Cooper said, slipping his shirt over his head and pulling it down his torso.

"Keep it legal please." Making eye contact with him through the reflection of the mirror.

Smirking, "Always. Besides what trouble could we get in down here?"

Raising her eyebrow, "I'm sure you'd find some trouble." Touching up her eye makeup. "Somehow."

Walking up behind her, he placed his hands on her shoulders. "I promise we'll stay out of trouble and be on our best behavior." Dropping a kiss on her forehead.

"Thank you."

Smiling softly, "You're welcome."

"I should tell her."

Kneeling in front of her, he gently grabbed her hand."We said we wouldn't and my word is a promise." Cooper reminded her. "I know Lucas would like to hold your word in the same regard."

"Okay." The red head relented. "Except my word has a time limit. Two weeks...I can get over Brooke hating me for keeping a secret from her for that long. Any longer and I can only imagine how my potential wedding dresses would look like as confetti."

"I'll talk to him while we're out." Pressing a kiss to her finger tips. "I saw how it tore him up last night, he wants to tell her but he's scared. That's saying a lot because I don't think I've seen my cousin scared of anything."

"Cousin." Rachel reminded herself. "Shit."

"What?"

"That means either Haley knows and is also withholding information from Brooke or she's just as in the dark."

"I'm not sure about that."

"This is turning into such a huge clusterfuck and don't laugh at that word." Rachel warned him.

"Okay, I'll talk to Nathan and Lucas while I'm out today." Cooper soothed her.

"You better." She mumbled, wrapping her arms around his shoulders and pulling him into a hug.

Wrapping his arms around her waist as he sat in between her legs. "I will."

Walking into Clothes Over Bros, Rachel was bombarded by Brooke. "Okay, so I actually have four dresses for you to try on."

"I just talked to you two weeks ago and you said you barely had two. What changed?"

"A girl in love is motivated."

"I can see that." Rachel began examining the dresses. "These all look amazing I don't know how I'm going to choose."

"I figured you might say something like that. So i took the liberty of doing this." Moving towards the back of the store, she wheeled a mannequin with a sheet hanging off of it closer to the red head. "I took the best things of all four and made this fifth one. Its still up to you what one you pick or if you want something different, its your day." She reminded her before pulling the sheet off and discarding it. Revealing a floor length corset bodice mermaid with a lace up back wedding dress with a ruffled skirt that took Rachel's breath away

"That's the one." Rachel confirmed. "I love the others and I know if you put them up for sale they'd fly off the racks but this... this is the one."

"Really?" Brooke asked softly, holding her laced hands close to her chest. "You love it?"

"There are no words, B." She smiled. "It's like you climbed into my brain... this is exactly what I want. I'm saying yes to the dress." She teased.

"Yes!" Brooke squealed as she jumped up and down before pulling Rachel into a hug.

Laughing as she hugged her back, "Thank you for doing this for me. I know you already have so much on your plate."

"Nonsense, you're my best friend." Pulling out of the hug as she looked at the red head "You can return the favor..." She trailed off, before continuing. "By helping me and Haley pack up my stuff."

"I didn't know you were moving so soon." Rachel muttered.

"We've discussed it before but its different now. I want to live with him, I want to grow with him. I am so in love with him, Rach." She gushed, placing her hands on her cheeks as she smiled. "Waiting to start a life with him because it's 'too soon'... I just don't want to. I feel like I was born to love him and-"

"Okay, okay." Rachel cut her off with a smile on her place. "You're going to marry the guy, I get it." Clearing her throat as she hoped that her friend did get happy ending, that his lies wouldn't crush her."Just know that if he hurts you-"

"You'll kick his ass." Brooke finished for her with a smirk. "I know."

"I just don't want you to get hurt." Rachel shared. "You give yourself so selflessly, Brooke. I know you want that back and-"

"Luke gives that to me." Brooke spoke with such conviction, that if the red head didn't know the full truth about Luke- Lucas; she would've believed her.

"Then I'm happy for you." Rachel pulled her into another hug, "That's all I want is for you to be happy."

"I am." She reassured her once more, "Now." Pulling out of their second hug, "Let's get you into this dress. I know you'll be drop dead gorgeous and I am an amazing designer but if there are any alterations I'd like to do them so it's one less wedding detail you have to worry about."

"Aye aye, Captain." Rachel teased as Brooke stuck her tongue out at her before she began moving the dress from the mannequin.

Storming in through the front door of Lucas' house, "You didn't think to tell your brother that you were moving in with his best friend?" Slamming the front door behind him.

"I'll have to call you back." Lucas spoke into his phone before ending the call. Tossing his phone onto the kitchen table. "Little brother." He greeted. "What can I do for you?" Placing his hands on the top of the chair, he wrapped his hands around the wood.

"Drop the pleasantries, Luke." Nathan bit out. "Haley let it slip that she was going over to Brooke's to help her start packing up her house."

"Is this going to be a thing? Where I have to tell you everything that involves Brooke?" Lucas questioned. "If that's the case, you'll never get any sleep. She like a two a.m. snack that doesn't come from the kitchen."

Screwing his face up in disgust, "Do you have to be so crass when talking about your girlfriend-"

"Exactly." Lucas cut him off. "My girlfriend."

"You can't just come in here and-"

"Nate, I understand that she's your best friend and that you're protective of her but I'm the one she's dating. I'm the one that's there in the middle of the night when she has a bad dream. I'm the one that has to reassure her that still after all this time that what Chase ingrained into her brain isn't true. I'm the one that loves her until she believes it. I'm the one that reassures her I'm not going anywhere. I'm the one that wakes up to her in the morning so don't try to lessen what Brooke and I have for your own selfish reasons. I'm not going to hurt her, she has too much power over me for that to happen."

"Luke-" Nathan tried again.

"I'm not going to keep having the same conversation with you again, little brother." Showing that he was losing his patience with the subject. "I'll let you say your peace one more time but after that its squashed. You don't really want animosity between Brooke's best friend and her boyfriend, you don't want her to have to choose because as of right now- I don't think you'll like her choice."

Realizing that Lucas was insinuating that Brooke would choose him, put Nathan's nerves on end. "Fuck you, Luke." Nathan spit out. "You're gonna fall off your high horse as soon as Brooke finds out the truth about you."

"I think it's best you leave. Now, Nate." Luke gritted out, "My patience suddenly disappeared." Just as the front door opened, revealing a visitor.

Brushing past Cooper, "Hey cousin." Only to have Nathan ignore him. "Great talk."

"Hey Coop." Lucas greeted him, holding out a beer from the fridge towards Cooper

Nodding his head, "Hey Luke, what was that about?" Taking the beer the blonde extended towards him.

"He's not so happy that Brooke and I are moving in together." Twisting off the bottle cap and taking a swig. "He'll get over it."

Following Luke's actions, "I mean probably not. He's your brother." Following Lucas outside onto the deck in the backyard. Taking a seat as Lucas picked up a pack of cigarette, placed one in his mouth and lit it. "He's also pretty protective over Brooke, you know that."

Taking a drag, "I know, I saw that in New York with Chase." He admitted.

"I know, he's your little brother. You'd do anything for him." Cooper spoke, shaking his head as Lucas' offered him a cigarette. "Since your parents passed, he's been your main priority. Even if you weren't around him, I know you always had eyes on him. I also know that you as tough as you're acting that it's killing you that your brother isn't supporting you. Especially with everything you've done for him."

"It doesn't matter obviously." Taking another long drag, "I have Brooke." Attempting to end the conversation (that was clearly upsetting him).

Shaking his head, "She doesn't know the whole truth about you though. You love her and maybe you'd be okay with picking her over your brother." Cooper set down his beer, "Except you're scared that she won't pick you over your brother."

"Cooper if I wanted to talk about my feelings, I get in bed with a shrink." Lucas bit out, pushing his cigarette into the ashtray with more force than necessary to put it out.

Raising his hands in surrender, "Luke, no one else is around. Just you and me. You know I've kept more than enough of your secrets." He reminded his cousin, taking a swig of his beer. "I just want you to be careful, don't push Nate away. You might need him to lean on if things with Brooke don't go exactly as planned."

"When did you become such a bitch baby?" Luke asked, pinching the bridge of his nose.

Squeezing his shoulder, "I love you too, man." Leaning back in his chair, he picked up his beer. "I'm here."

"Yeah." Luke replied, taking a swig of his beer and that one word ended the conversation. Causing the two cousins to sit in a mostly comfortable silence.

It had taken a few days for Brooke' house to get packed up, minus the furniture since the brunette wanted Rachel and Cooper to have a place to stay as long as they were in town. Now it was up to the blonde and brunette to move everything from the truck into their newly shared house.

Letting a out a giggle as Luke wrapped his arms around her waist from behind, he nuzzled her neck. "Luke, we're never gonna unload if you keep doing that." Leaning back into him.

"That wasn't going to happen once I saw your ass and legs in those shorts." Grinding his lower half against her ass. "How do you feel about sex in public?" He whispered into her ear.

Looking over her shoulder at him, "Like it's never going to happen if you don't help me unload this truck."

"There's a possibility?" He asked, extremely intrigued.

Turning around in his arms, she pressed her breasts up against his chest. "Let's see how long it takes to unload the truck." Pulling away from him and picking up a box, she purposely brushed up against him while walking towards the house.

"Tease!" He hollered after her with a smirk as he watched her disappear inside his house. "Fuck, I love her." He mumbled to himself happily as he moved back towards the truck only to pause as he felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. Licking his lips, he slowly turned around and began surveying the area. Wishing he had his gun on him, his eyes stopped as he locked onto a curly blonde that was hidden behind a tree up the block a little ways. Anyone else wouldn't have seen her, but Luke had trained himself to see what everyone else couldn't. Glancing over his shoulder, he realized that Brooke must've gotten distracted and was still inside. "Come on out." He yelled towards the almost hidden person.

Watching her hesitate before coming out from behind the tree, walking with a strut that made him let out a scoff. "Is there a reason you're spying?" He asked once she was standing before him.

"Waiting for you to leave Brooke alone so I can tell her what scum you are." She bit out.

Rolling his eyes, "No, you aren't. You've met with Brooke a few times since I started dating her and haven't said a thing." Crossing his arms, "What do you want, Peyton?"

"Why is she moving in with you?" She asked bluntly. "You wouldn't even give me a key to your apartment when we were-"

"Fucking." He cut in. "That's all we were doing, no matter what stories you cooked up in your brain."

Moving towards him, "I know you don't mean that. Just like you don't really want her to move in-"

"I'm in love with her, Peyton." Effectively shutting her up, "You need to back off." He ordered her.

Before she could reply, Brooke emerged from the house who paused as she looked at the pair before a look of excitement grew on her face. Walking towards the pair, she placed her hands on the curly blonde's shoulder not noticing the wince she let out. "I know I left you a voice mail but I didn't think you'd actually show up." She confessed before pulling her into a hug, the information letting Lucas know how Peyton had found out where he lived.

"Here I am." Peyton said as Brooke ended the hug.

"We actually have a third of the work done. Rachel and Haley helped me pack and load the truck. Then Nathan and Luke took care of all the heavy lifting." Brooke shared, "I haven't even introduced the two of you yet. Luke this is Peyton, one of my friends." Wrapping her arms around the muscular blonde, "Peyton, this is Luke, my boyfriend." Looking up at him with a smile.

Wrapping his arms around her waist, he pulled her even closer. "It's nice to meet you, Peyton." Attempting to hide the disdain in his tone. "I know you're a little concerned that we're moving a little too fast." Trying to cover up the conversation Brooke witnessed the two of them having. "Everyone's so protective of Brooke but I love her and I won't let anything happen to hear." A double meaning in his statement, that Peyton picked up on.

"Yeah." Peyton said, knowing that she'd have to find opportunity to break the couple up. Planting the seeds of doubt into Brooke's head would be the easy part, making Luke realize that they were meant to be together was proving to be the real challenge. "Well I didn't really come to help out." She shared. "I just wanted to check in, see the happy couple." A fake smile on her lips, "I have to get going. I'll call you later." She told Brooke, but the both of them knew it was a lie. "I parked around the corner since I wasn't exactly sure what house was yours, but now I know." Locking eyes with the tall blonde, before a real smile formed on her face. "I'll be seeing you." She bid the couple before walking away.

Waiting until Peyton was far enough away from them, "She's... weird." Earning a light slap on the stomach from his girlfriend. "I'm sorry, I'm just a little confused as to how you two are friends."

"She wasn't always that...flaky." Pulling away from him, she moved to sit on the edge of the back of the moving truck. "Growing up, we were close- including Haley. We were always called the three musketeers. Nathan would always tag along of course, but he never clicked with Peyton. Then we graduated high school, Haley, Nate and I got accepted into Duke." She shared, though Luke already knew that since he made sure Nathan's tuition was paid for. "Peyton didn't want to go to college, she just wanted to jump straight into the real word. I was jealous of how brave she was for that but I wanted to have my education to fall back on."

Massaging her shoulder, "That's smart, baby." Reassuring her as he saw her let out a sigh.

"She moved to New York, sending us letters and every phone call was how she was conquering New York." A small smile as she remembered how proud she had been of her friend. "I decided to go to New York to see if I could make a splash in the fashion world. Haley and Nathan joined me, dabbling in more school since they still weren't sure what the wanted to do as a career. I don't know when but shortly after the three of us moved to New York, that's when it fell apart. Peyton started dodging our calls, bailing on plans before she just disappeared altogether."

"Wow, sounds like a bad friend."

"Yeah." Brooke whispered. "After Chase...we decided it was best to move back home. I opened my boutique, Haley started teaching at the high school. Nathan was coaching at the college, but decided to move to the high school with his wife. Then Peyton moved back."

"To Tree Hill?" Luke clarified.

Nodding her head, "I thought this was it, this was how we fixed our friendship." Sighing, "Except New York had changed her so much and then she was dating this guy. He's completely toxic... then their relationship turned for the worst. The first time I went over to her house after he hit her, I did everything I could to help her but she just stayed with him. Now here we are, she rushes in and out of our lives, seeing her is like sighting big foot. I've seen her so much in the past few weeks that I thought maybe I was getting my friend back."

"You aren't?"

"She's still with him." Brooke shared. "I can always tell, when the break up or he disappears for whatever work he does- she's my Peyton. My best friend, the girl I grew up with. When she's with him, she's flaky and can't hang around for more than a few minutes before she makes up an excuse to leave. I'm honestly surprised that she even stopped by."

"Maybe she's gonna make an effort to be friends?" Luke offered, even though he didn't want Peyton anywhere near Brooke or involved in their lives at all.

"I don't think so. She's gonna stay with that guy, I wish she'd never bought that guy from New York." Leaning onto her boyfriend's shoulder.

Dropping the kiss on the top of her head, "She bought the guy back from New York?"He wondered, hearing his girlfriend mutter 'unfortunately' a look of realization dawned on him. He knew exactly who the guy was that Peyton was with, it also explained how Peyton knew as much as she did. Waiting a few minutes, he shook off the new information he had just learned. "Pretty girl?"

"Yeah?" Pulling her head off his shoulder, she looked up at him.

Leaning his forehead against hers, "Want to finish unpacking, then christen the swimming pool?"

"Hmm... I'd be tempted to agree if..."

"If?"

"The pool was heated." She told him.

Groaning, "Killing me." Smiling as he cupped her face. "I can get that fixed soon but how about a happy middle and we christen the jacuzzi?"

"You have yourself a deal, Broody." Leaning up, she pressed a soft kiss against his lips. "Let's get to it." Jumping down from truck. "Save your energy because there are several bikinis that I need to try on before I find the right one. I might need your help making a decision." Picking up two small boxes before she flounced up the sidewalk to the house.

"She'll be the death of me." Luke muttered with a shake of his head as he picked up a couple boxes and followed the path to the front door.

A/N: I'm finishing this story soon, I've been writing in the little bit of down time I have at work. You can expect more updates. Hoping to be finished at chapter 16.