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TW: intense stupidity. i cringe at it too.
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"Excuse me!" I snarl. "I said sorry! You're the bitch!"
He scoffs, rolling his neck backwards. Is this town filled with hot yet rude men? I internally roll my eyes. He stares up at the sky for a while and then turns back towards me with a smile.
It's so creepy how it matches Dylan's gorgeous smile.
"Forgive me, darling. I'm Kaden Arrow."
Ah. They are related! "I know your brother Dylan Arrow!" I blurt out. "He's friends with Adrian Black." You really can't shut up, can you? Kaden's eyes light up for a second before getting icy again.
"You know Adrian Black?" He asks, his voice dripping with a greed I'm not sure I understand. "Are you going somewhere? I can drop you off."
I squint my eyes suspiciously. "I'm not going to hurt you. And if I do hurt you, you have my permission to hurt me where it matters," He winks with a mischievous smile. But this smile isn't like Dylan's mischievous smiles. There's a glint of evil in it.
"Sure," I shrug. "I can't turn down a free car ride."
"Classy. Right this way, princess," He leads me towards a white car.
"You're part of the gang? I thought you lived with your mother," I ask. Bad Bailey! You shouldn't ask such personal questions! "Sorry, I didn't mean to..."
"Nah, you're good. I stay with my dad. Only Dylan left. He wasn't into the mafia anyway," He shrugs. "You lose one, you gain one."
"What do you mean? Sorry, I shouldn't be asking."
"Dylan left, and Ava came. She's not the best, especially when she tries to make moves on me. I'm her brother for god's sake. But in her words, we're not 'blood related'," He explains as he opens the door for me. I climb into the passenger seat, as Kaden walks around the front and gets into the driver's.
"That's so disgusting. I'm sorry. And just drop me off down the street," I grin.
"Down the street?" I see his left eye twitch and I laugh.
"You offered to drop me."
"Down the street it is," He grumbles as he starts the car and speeds towards my apartment complex. "Adrian Black is in the hospital?"
"That's not your business," I reply darkly. Why does he want to know so much about Adrian?
Gosh, I don't know. Maybe because he's in the rival gang?!
"Relax, darling. I'm not going to hurt you boyfriend."
"He's not my boyfriend," I reply, too quickly.
"So you're single?"
"What's with all these personal questions?" I ask, slightly irritated. The car stops in front of my apartment, and I quickly get out of the car. "Well, thanks."
"No problem," He grins. "Care to give me your number? I could be your personal cabby."
Who am I to say no to a new potential friend? Especially a hot friend. "Here are the rules. No tapping my phone and no stalking me."
"You have my word. And we mafia men don't break promises or we risk losing our lives."
"I believe you," I raise my hands in surrender. "Here's my number," I give him my number before waving at him and disappearing into my apartment building.
"Text me whenever you need, Angel Face," He smiles, driving off with a wink.
A new cabby and a friend! Eek! Wait till Adrian hears about this! I begin to climb the stairs towards my apartment, still slightly ecstatic about making a new friend. Especially since now that Anna probably hates me.
I have a little less than two hours until eight and then I'll go back to the hospital to see Adrian! Yay! I open the door to my fresh apartment. This whole building is new! Can you believe it? I feel so lucky.
They're still working on the elevator, so I have to take the stairs. I walk into my temporarily empty apartment. I have to furnish it, but I'll have to wait until I can afford it. I grab an apple off the kitchen island and place it in my mouth, taking a bite.
I head towards the bathroom. Once I finish the apple, I toss the core into the trash and run a brush through my tangled hair. Lucky for me, my hair is pretty straight and it doesn't tangle much. So a minute later, my hair is brushed and ready to go.
I close the door, just in case someone's watching. I'm paranoid like that. Then I strip. Lifting my full sleeved shirt off my head, I come face to face with all my ugly, haunting scars. When I'm standing only in my underwear and bra, I stare at my scars.
There's one near my neck from the cut my dad gave me that night. There's a large on running down my right arm, from my shoulder towards my elbow. There's another one, which is smaller, right next to that one.
That was when I was ten and my dad ran a broken bottle down my arm.
There's one near my stomach, diagonally running from the middle of my ribs towards my navel. There are a few smaller scars around it. And near my left arm, which is luckier than my right, there's a scar on my forearm and elbow.
There's an extremely long one down the full length of my back, when I accidentally tore my dad's shirt in the washing machine, so he tore mine, but with a knife. And then after that, he threw another broken bottle at me, which explains the other scars on my back.
And there's a super ugly on my right thigh, which is a burn scar. That's when my dad headed the metal pan and burnt me with it. There's on my left calf, from when I was five. I don't exactly remember why I got it, but I knew it had to do with my dad.
And then of course, there were scars from that night, which I don't remember fully. I'm glad I don't remember it, because I'm not sure I'd be able to handle it. I have enough memories that already haunt me.
Sure, I don't let them consume me and wallow in my misery and trauma, but they still do affect me. I can't pretend like they don't. I fully strip and turn on the shower to really hot.
When I step into it, I'm suddenly in an Ariana Grande concert as Ariana Grande herself with the crowd cheering for me. Of course, I'm clothed at the concert. "I'm so into you, I can barely breathe! And all I wanna do, is to fall in deep... But close ain't enough, till we cross that line."
When I'm done with the concert phase, I shift into my water bender avatar. As the water rolls down my fingers in cool angles, I wave my arms around like I'm some sort of magical creature.
I'm so powerful! Bow before your queen, mortals!
Water bender phase. Check. Now let's move on standing still in the shower and letting the water run down you as you act all sad. And then of course, get lost in thought.
What if plants are actually farming us? Giving us oxygen until we eventually die and turn into the mulch that they can use.
Whoa.
They say eyes are the window to the soul, but what if you're blind? Is it just a wall then?
I- Maybe?
If I kiss Adrian, would he like it? Does he like it when I feel his muscles? What if he gets hard around me, but just doesn't let me see?
Okay, I think that's enough showering for today. I turn off the water and step out of the shower, grabbing a towel and wrapping myself in it. I walk out of the bathroom, and towards the closet where I have a small set of clothes.
I slip into a pair of thin blue leggings, and a white full sleeve shirt.
An hour later, I call my cabby. He picks up almost immediately.
"Hey, cabby. Care to drop me off to the hospital? I don't feel like walking."
"Sure, sweetheart," He drawls from the other side of the phone. "I'll be there."
"Thanks, cabby," I say before hanging up. I leave my apartment with a few snacks in hand and my phone.
I notice a white car already waiting for me. I see Kaden, and I get into the passenger seat of his car. "How'd you get here so fast?"
"I was just at a nearby store, getting a pack of cigarettes."
"Ah."
"Isn't it risky to be in a white car for you?"
"It's a Sunday. No one shoots at each other on Sunday's. Besides, we don't really shoot at each other much. Only when we're really pissed."
"So you're the one who shot at us that day?"
"When Ava and Adrian broke up? Yeah..."
"Why?"
"Ava was mad and she told dad about it. He ordered us to shoot at you. Can't really say 'fuck you' to a mafia leader, can you?'
I laugh to myself, thinking about all the times I said 'fuck you' to Adrian Black.
"Nope. Say, are there two gangs around?"
"Nah. We're the biggest ones, but there are many more."
"Do they all have a specific color car or something?"
He laughs and shakes his head. "No. That's just us. But the other gangs do have their own marks. Some have tattoos, so have a specific dress code, but you don't really have to worry about those. They're just small drug dealers or weapon dealers."
"What do you deal?"
"Women and drugs. Largest in the country."
"Women?!" I yell. Uh, no. That's not happening on my watch.
"Whoa, it's not exactly against their will."
"What does Adrian deal with?"
"He deals weapons. He's the largest weapon dealer in this entire country, and maybe even the world. But he does have a small amount of drugs. He doesn't really like dealing drugs though."
"Ha, that must hurt your pride!" I laugh.
"You shouldn't really hurt a mafia man's ego, princess," He says darkly. His tone sends chills down my spine. "But you're right."
We didn't talk after that. When we reach the hospital, I climb out of the white car and wave my cabby goodbye.
I notice everyone near the hospital stare at me, with their mouth wide open. What did I do?
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a/n: whoo! i updated! i'm also hungry... :(
anyway, do we like Kaden so far??
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