Respect

Chapter 20: Redd Flag

Brady put me in his car and went to talk to the police officers. They spoke for quite some time until Brady finally came in. I never looked at him. I felt his warm hand stroke my hair and he started the car and took me home.
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He pulled up in the driveway and stopped the engine.

"Athena, honey what happened to you?" he asked softly
"Please....talk to me. Did someone do this to you?"

"I want to go in Brady" I said

"I'll have someone bring your car" he said, sighing softly

I went in, straight to my room. Walking in, I looked at myself in the mirror and saw the blood stains on my dress. I felt disgusted and tore my dress off my body and ran to the bathroom. I stood in the shower, ran the water and tried to get all the red off my body. I hated that he had carried me with his dirty hands. I hated that he had come near me, that we breathed the same air for a minute, that we were in the same room, that I even lived with such....such an ANIMAL!

Brady's POV
"Hey! What happened?" Heather asked

"I don't know, I was actually hoping YOU could shed some light on all this, seeing as you were the last person with her and you even had an argument"

"Excuse me, you think, that I have something to do with all this? Just to shed some light on that ONE aspect, YEAH, we had an argument, but do you know how it started? Your friend up there wanted to see her little mafia crush and decided that she'd go see him in his shrine of death. And if you think that I was going to allow her to throw herself into the arms of a criminal, then you're highly mistaken. So, oh great Brady, if YOU want to know what really happened, I suggest you go to HIS house and speak to him yourself!"

"Oh no" I said, running my hands through my hair.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"She told me about him"

"Wait, back up. YOU knew that she wanted to see him?"
"Huh! And you never said anything! Brady! We're supposed to be keeping Athena away from danger not taking her towards it!"

"Heather I really don't need you breathing down my neck. And just a reminder, Athena is not a child anymore, she's more than capable of making her own decisions and doesn't need a big headed, controlling bodyguard!" I shouted

"Big headed, controlling, really Brady. I'm the only one looking out for her"

"No, Heather you're not. You're controlling her. You want to keep her in a cage just because she's alone now. You think she's weak and can't handle situations on her own"

"Well clearly she can't judging by how she is!"

"You know what, just forget it, nothing will get through to you anyway. Just try to be a better friend to her and actually comfort her and not only use her to your benefit" I said, walking out.

I went home that night and couldn't sleep. I couldn't wrap my head around what he had done to her. Did he hurt her in any way? Or say something, and if he did, I don't care if he's a mafia leader or leader of what so ever evil forces of this world, I'd make him pay for ever touching Athena. I wouldn't just let this slide.

Athena's POV
I couldn't stop crying through the night. I was hurt. The fact that he would do such a thing is what hurt me the most. Seeing him like that hurt me because it proved everything that everyone said about him. He was a criminal, a ruthless man, a brute. He truly was an evil man. And this shattered my dreams of ever being close to him.

I fell asleep thinking about this, which did me good because I couldn't take the pain anymore.

I was woken up the following morning by the bright rays of the sun beaming through my curtains. I hissed at the intense burning feeling. I had classes that day but I doubted I'd go. I really wanted to get back to my normal routine, but nothing was going right anymore. Everything was a total mess. My LIFE was a total mess. I wondered how I even got to this point. Like, I was doing well one day and then the next, I was lost and running from mafia leaders, living with them, and worst of all, falling for them.