Chapter 5
I ran throughout the unfamiliar house trying to get away from Ryan. But he was fast. And I was actually scared.
Since I had run from the police before, I was a good runner. I could out run almost anyone, but I didn’t know about Ryan. From what I had seen, he was fast.
I quickly ran down the stairs and made my way through the glass sliding doors to the backyard. I turned my head back to see if he was following me and sure enough, he was.
I ran around the side of the pool being careful not to slip.
When you get chased by the police as much as me, you learn to think and run at the same time. Stopping was not an option.
The backyard had a large wooden fence on the back of it to separate it from the neighbors. As I ran I thought if I should go right or left. I went right.
I turned right and made a large circle around the backyard so that I swung around the side of the pool. I went left to the front of the house and cut across the driveway.
I went back to the front door and opened it. I quickly got into the house again and locked the door. I turned my head to the right to look out the window to see where Ryan was.
He wasn’t there.
I was officially scared out of my mind.
“Miss me?” A voice asked from behind me. It was Ryan.
I froze.
I didn’t turn around. He would see the fear in my eyes. I heard his steps get closer to me. I had to be patient and wait until he got closer.
I kept looking out the window as if there was something that I really wanted to see.
Ryan was soon behind me. He put his hand on my shoulder to turn me around. This was the time to attack.
Time to show him what really happens when I try. I quickly did my favorite trick. Sidekicks to the knee.
I turned around and angled my foot out to hit his knee so that he would loss his balance. It worked.
I looked down at him. He was lying on the floor with a surprised look on his face. I smirked.
“No, I didn’t miss you actually. But this is a pleasant surprise.”
“For a little thing like you, you can sure run. But you forgot about the sliding door.” He smiled.
“And you forgot your balance.” I grinned as his smile fell.
“Dude, did you see that?!?! Aria kicked his butt! I never thought that I would see that happen.” Sean said to the guys.
Ryan and I turned to see the boys standing on the stairs in awe.
“Well it’s not my fault that he didn’t catch his balance.” I stated.
“Hey I wasn’t going to beat up a girl.” Ryan tried to defend himself.
“Ryan, we saw all of it. You didn’t have to beat her up. She’s a girl for crying out loud, you could have just tickled her.” Kaleb said.
I went white. Tickling was my weakness, but there was certain spot that if you hit, I would surrender immediately.
Ryan must have noticed my reaction. He quickly got up off of the floor and made his way over to me. I slowly started to backup. But my back came in contact with the front door.
“Oooo,” the boys said in unison.
Ryan put a grin on his face. He knew he figured out my secret.
He pinned my up against the door and slowly lowered his head to my ear. “Scared now?” he whispered, making me shiver.
He backed his head away from me, my eyes probably bulging out of my head.
Ryan kept his gaze on me and yelled to the guys, “Can you guys come down here really quick? I don’t think that Aria has been properly introduced to the family. So let’s change that.” He looked so serious in that moment that I thought I was going to die.
“Or maybe not.” I said with panic in my eyes.
Ryan had a secret weapon: his brothers.
“Now Aria, that wouldn’t be fair.” He said.
He still had me pinned against the door so that I couldn’t move.
It seems that all of the older boys had the same idea because Ryan lifted me over his shoulder and everyone started to go to the kitchen.
What were they going to do now? Cut my finger off with a kitchen knife? But when we got to the kitchen we headed to the walk in freezer. I think getting my finger cut off was a better plan.
Soon enough Jayden opened the freezer door and Ryan set me down on my feet. I started to go to the door only to collide with Ryan’s chest. He didn’t budge. Ryan started to move backward as he kept me at arm’s length. His hands were on my shoulders pushing me back. He made his way out of the freezer as he gave me a final smirk. They all stared at me as they closed the door. This was just great. I was freezing already in my tee shirt and shorts. Not to mention that my hair was still wet. I tried to open the door from the inside but it didn’t move. Great.
“Come on guys! Really? I’m already freezing in here and my hair is wet. I’m going to get sick. Please?” I tried to yell through the door.
Moments later I heard Benny on the other side of the door. He was talking to someone in the kitchen.
“Why is the freezer talking?” he asked.
“It’s nothing Ben. Go to back to bed.”
“But I’m hungry.” Benny wined.
“What kind of food do you want?”
“Cereal.” I could almost hear the smile in his voice.
“Ok, but after you have to finish your nap.”
“Fine,” Ben said.
I finally realized who Benny was talking to. It was Jordan AKA one of Ryan’s minions. No help there. I was at least hoping that one of the boys would be helpful but I guess not if they were all in a gang. God, I can’t believe that I was living with a gang.
About 45 minutes later the door to the freezer opened and it was Nicole with a confused look on her face. I couldn’t imagine why.
“Why are you sitting in the freezer?” she asked.
I thought that I should stay quiet about the whole thing with the guys. They could always torture me again.
“Oh, the door closed behind me and I couldn’t get it opened.” I lied.
“Oh my, you hair is frozen! Why didn’t you call someone with your phone?” she asked.
“No reception in a freezer.” I nervously laughed; hopefully she didn’t see me lie.
“Go upstairs and take a hot shower. Dinner will be done in an hour.” She said as she shoved me up the stairs.
“Thanks Nicole” my teeth chattered as I left.
No sign of the boys yet. Hopefully that was a good thing. I went into my room. The culprit wasn’t there, thank god.
I grabbed a towel from my suitcase and my “girly” shampoo and conditioner. They only used Axe here and I really didn’t want to smell like a guy. I grabbed my iPod and iPod dock quickly so that I could listen to music during my shower.
I made my way from my room to the bathroom without anyone noticing. Good. I opened the door to the bathroom and closed it behind me. I locked it again.
My second shower in 5 hours must be my new record. I plugged in my dock and started to play If This Was a Movie by Taylor Swift before I got into the shower.
I have never had a shower feel this good before. Wow.
I quickly started to sing along with the chorus.
Come back, come back, come back to me like
You would, you would if this was a movie
Stand in the rain outside 'til I came out
Come back, come back, come back to me like
You could, you could if you just said you're sorry
I know that we could work it out somehow
But if this was a movie you'd be here by now
All of a sudden I heard voices coming from outside of the door. It must have been the boys talking about how I got out of the freezer. I ignored it.
I did everything that I needed to do but when I got out of the shower I noticed that I forgot to grab clothes. Crap. I wrapped the white cotton towel around me tightly. I looked at myself in the mirror. Ironic though because Mirror by Lil Wayne started to play on my iPod. Cool.
I had to be confident if the guys were out of their rooms, or even worse if Ryan was in his room. Before I could change my mind, I opened the door and practically jogged to my room. I opened the door and turned around to close it. Suddenly, I felt like I was being watched.