Belonging

Chapter 3

Recap:

"This is not up for debate. You are mine. I will do as I see fit." He snapped.

Chapter 3:

Choosing to ignore him completely Victoria refrained from retorting to his stupid comment.

“We’ll also have to come to some sort of decision regarding your protection during school hours. Unless, you’d be willing to just stop going to school altogether?” On seeing the murderous look on her face he chuckled, “I’ll take that as a, No.”

Stupid boy, why didn’t he leave her alone?  She didn’t know him and she didn’t want to know him either. But she was stuck catering to the whims of some madman who had decided to claim her. Victoria couldn’t help but notice how they were currently walking through a somewhat crowded parking lot, maybe if she called for help, someone would come to her rescue?

“Don’t bother. No one is brave enough to come between me and my goal.” Clayton whispered in my ear. How on earth did he know?

“Your face is like an open book; all your thoughts are basically projected onto it.” Her mouth hangs open in shock. How could he know so much about her? Was he some type of stalker? Making a conscious effort to keep a blank face, she slowly started squirming out of his hold. Victoria just wanted this nightmare to end already.

“Boss, there’s a boy here who wants revenge for the kid you just beat up.” Ryan showed up out of nowhere, nearly giving Victoria a heart attack.

“Fucktards always wasting my time.” Clayton grumbles under his breath. Another few moments and they were back to where she initially met Clayton; a bruised and battered Shane lay on the ground. With an enraged Sid standing above him, staring daggers at Victoria. Oh she was going to get it for sure now. Sid would hunt her down and beat the life out of her and then bury her cold, dead remains in some desert somewhere. Her body started shaking, trembling from fear of what would happen to her.

“Calm down, sweetheart. I won’t let him get to you.” Cooed Clayton, taking the chance to slip his arm around her waist and yank her to him. Ignoring the seething boy in front of him, he turned to the black SUV he had been leaning against earlier and pulled open the passenger door. Not comprehending what was going on, Victoria stood there, gazing up at him in confusion. Letting out a sigh, Clayton calmly leaned down and picked up Victoria’s slight frame in his arms and gently deposited her on the seat.

“Now you sit here, I’ll be back once I deal with that basta- I mean dog.” Placing a gentle kiss on her cheek he shut the door and walked over to face the bastard responsible for Victoria’s misery.

The distance and closed windows of the car prevented her from hearing anything, although she did try to open the door and exit. But one menacing look from Clayton later, she had promptly shut the door. Wouldn’t want to anger the gang leader, after all. At least that was what it seemed like to her. Victoria was so lost in her thoughts, she didn’t realize the car door had been opened and Clayton was trying to gain her attention.

“Victoria, come with me.” He helped her out of the car, slipped an arm about her waist and led to where the two boys from her college stood.

“What is going on?” She whispered to him.

“What I should have done as soon as I found out about this.” He didn’t make eye contact, choosing to glare at her main tormentor instead.

“Apologize.” He practically growled. Internally, Victoria was glad he hadn’t used that tone with her before; she’d probably end up dying from fright.

“I’m sorry.” Sid spit out, like as if it left an unpleasant flavor in his mouth.

Without pause, Clayton let go of her waist and stepped forward. Before she could even process that he had moved, he had punched Sid on the face, knocking him to the floor with the force of his blow.

“You little shit! Show respect to my girl!” by now he had started throwing punch after punch at Sid. The force of his hits so much that Sid couldn’t even try to defend himself.

Not even bothering to reconsider what she was about to do, she rushed forward. As Clayton raised his arm to punch his victim once more, she quickly grabbed it; a feat which took all of her strength to perform. Instantly Clayton’s head whipped around to face her. On some internal level, she knew that Clayton would not hurt her; so far all he had done was punish her abusers. She felt an unexplained sense of safety with him.

“Come on. Let’s go.” She whispered to him.

“But he tortured you. Used you as his slave!” he protested.

Victoria knew she had been through hell and back due to that one boy, but it didn’t sit well with her to just sit by and allow him to get critically injured.

“Clayton. Come on. You don’t have to do this.” Slipping her hand over his clenched one, she slowly pried it open and slipped her fingers through his. Intertwining them, she pulled at his hand, trying to get him to get up and follow her. Slowly, and extremely reluctantly, he got off of the other boy and followed the petite girl to the car. Looking down at his shirt and arms he realized he was covered in blood. Sighing in annoyance he let go of the small, beautiful hand enveloped in his own.

“I’m just going to swap shirts. Okay beautiful?” The raging blush on her face brought Clayton a sense of satisfaction; only he was allowed to make her blush. Only him. Rushing around to the back of the car he busied himself in cleaning up and changing shirts.

Clayton rushed to the back of the car to change his clothes, leaving Victoria and Ryan standing together, waiting for him to return.

“You should know that today is the first day he let the targets of his rage live to see another day.” Ryan’s voice broke the silence.

“Pardon?” Victoria was completely bewildered.

“Clayton. Once enraged like that, he never let his victims live. You are the first and only person he has listened to.” He explained.

An odd, unexplainable feeling bloomed inside of her. Victoria didn’t know what to say in response, so she just settled for a slight nod.

“Thank you for that. He may not know it, but I know you’ll make him a better person. But promise me one thing.” Wonder what he wanted from her?

“What?” her curiosity got the better of her once more.

“Don’t give up on him too soon. Please. You don’t know how much he needs this.”

Speechless, she gaped at him for a moment.

“I know you think this is insane, but you have a very high chance of being happy with him. He will use all of his, admittedly considerable, power to make sure you are happy.” He cajoled.

Clayton’s return cut off anything she could have said to that troubling statement. Victoria’s mind was a whirlpool of thoughts and emotions, she didn’t know what to think or do anymore. She was so out of her element here, so unaware of this aspect of life.