Chasing the bad girl (DTBG spin-off)

Working on River - Chapter 7

River

Drip, drip, drip.

A merciless assault on my face causes me to jolt from my sleep I gasp. I sit up quickly causing my head to ache, my eyes open and I see my father hovering above me, his face stern.

"I'm not discussing how I found this house. Get up were going for a run." He announced.

My eyes widen and I take a deep breath my throat sore and head hurting. Weed is a ball ache when you have too much.

My eyes struggled to adjust to the lights, and I blinked repetitively forcing them to calm.

"I'll be downstairs you've got five minutes." Dad says walking downstairs, he says no further words.

I stand up and check the time, at this point I was moving on autopilot. I hurry and dress into a hoodie and leggings. Terrified of the state I left the house in last night before I fell into a deep sleep.

My stomach clenches when I meet my dad at the door. The sky was a mixture of red and purple hues indicating to me we were leaving the house at the crack of dawn.

I follow Dad as he walks towards a nature trail a couple of roads away from our house, "I've been a horrible Dad River. I'll admit I can't handle seeing you in any sort of pain so I've thrown myself into my work. That ends today. I have taken time off." He says softly, walking in-front of me "Ill also let you know this drinking and drugs end today. I'm not focusing on the past, were going to work together and work through anything that still brings you down." He says this resolutely.

My heart drops that he knows about the drugs, he must have seen the items I left on the coffee table. My heart shrinks deep into my stomach.

"Dad...." I begin.

He cuts me off "Ill hear no excuse River. Drugs was not the solution; I get its hard. I cannot comprehend how hard. From now on, you and me, kid, we work together. I need to start acting more like your dad and less like your friend." He sighs running his hand through his greying hair, he pauses for a moment and tugs it "Today is the day were making changes to both our lives River." He begins to jog, and I slowly followed trying to process what is going on.

MADDOX

It was five weeks later that I saw her.

I had just entered the gymnasium at 6am in the morning and I heard the heavy thuds of footsteps one after the other. I entered expecting to see Rajesh an overweight student who always used the gym prior to other students using them. He is here early, I thought.

I walked towards the clear doors and I saw her.

I always thought soulmates did not exist. With River though, something always happened to me. My heart always accelerated; my fingers began to tingle. In felt the urgent need to pull her close to me and it felt wrong considering her age. Four weeks without her and my mind couldn't get away from her. I was struggling to adapt to a life where I did not even catch glimpses of her.

I opened the doors and heard her rhythmic breathing, it was sharp, controlled. How I began to teach the team to breathe when working out, but due to her time off I never got to teach her how to sprint and ensure the breathing was harmonious. So clearly this was something she picked up herself.

Id checked her records and saw she was off due to what was described as unexpected family circumstances. I walked towards her and stopped beside her treadmill. She was wearing a hoodie and I noticed her face looked healthier, her caramel skin was no longer sinking into the bones of her face. It was rounded when she noticed me her sharp green eyes widened slightly.