Crap, crap, crap! The moment Haydn saw Trace sitting with me, a glare found its way to his face and he began to make his way over to me. Part of me was dying to run away from the scene and just avoid the situation in it's entirety, but what would that solve? The two of them were in different gangs and they would end up fighting anyway!
On one hand, I had Trace; my own flesh and blood, but on the other hand, I had Haydn, and according to him, he was around to protect me. Getting on either of their bad sides wouldn't be the slightest bit helpful, but I couldn't just sit back and see who would win either.
The look in Haydn's eyes as he stared at Trace kind of scared me. This was on of those 'If Looks Could Kill' kind of moments and I really didn't like. What surprised me the most though was that Trace was still just as calm as he had been before Haydn got here. His calm demeanor hadn't phased, and that didn't change when Haydn reached us and was all but snarling at Trace. “What are you doing with her? I'm pretty sure you've hurt her enough.”
As soon as he said that, Trace's jaw clenched and you could see it in his eyes that the comment bothered him, but he still kept his cool and simply shrugged. “What I do is none of your business, Pretty Boy.” With that, he stood up and looked at me with sad, blue eyes. “I'll see you at the house, Adri.” Turning away from me, Trace grabbed Haydn by the collar of his shirt and I—along with every other student—watched as the two boys all but snarled and glared at each other. “If you touch her, I'll kill you.”
Much to my surprise, Haydn laughed and shook his head, pushing Trace away from him. “You couldn't during our fight before, what makes you think you can now?”
That was pretty much when all hell broke look because in one all too fast motion, Trace threw a punch and both boys were brawling out on the floor. I was scared beyond belief, but if I didn't break it up, I'm sure no one would. The lunch staff was nowhere to be seen, all of the students were as shocked as I was, and Andrew? He was off in his own world thinking about God knows what!
So, going against my better judgment, I walked around the lunch table and took a deep breath before stepping in between the two boys and trying my hardest to avoid their punches. Of course, luck wasn't on my side because just as I turned to push my brother away from Haydn, a hard blow met the right side of my face and I involuntarily let out a loud yelp, which made both boys stop fighting and look at me as I held my face in pain with tears streaming down my cheeks. Trace stared at me in horror as I moved my hand an turned on my heal to run out of the cafeteria. I could hear them both calling after me, but the throbbing pain on the right side of my face was kind of distracting me. Yeah, I know he didn't mean to hit me, but that didn't mean it hurt me any less!
After a few minutes, I finally decided to stop running, and I looked up to see that I was standing in front of the nurses office. How convenient. . . When I began to walk inside, I felt someone watching me, and sure enough when I turned around, a pair of almost cyan blue eyes were staring back at me. I smiled slightly before walking over to the brunette. “What are you doing here, Chase? I thought you didn't go to school with us.”
He shrugged. “You'd be surprised how far you could get with a school uniform and a little charm.” After laughing for a bit, he looked up at my cheek and blew out a sigh. I took that as a chance to swallow the blood that was in my mouth. It was gross, but I couldn't really spit it out; that was disgusting in my opinion. “Which on hit you?”
I shrugged. “My douche bag brother. . .”
Chuckling to himself, he reached out to touch it, making me flinch at the sudden contact. He noticed and gave me an apologetic stare before breathing out a sigh. “You know, this wouldn't have happened if I kept my eye on you more often.”
“What do you mean?”
Giving me another once over, he shook his head and gave me a small smile. “Go to the nurse and I'll drive you to the house when you're done. I'm sure it'll be a nice surprise for Haydn.” Under his breath, he added a quick, 'If he actually shows up,' before shoving his hands in his pockets and beginning to walk away. “I'm gonna go find my girlfriend, and when you're done, I'll come get you. Take your time though.” And with a wink, he was gone.
Since my distraction was gone, I was reminded of the pain that now took over my face and I quickly walked into the nurses office, only to see that no one was inside. A frown found its way to my now swollen face and I couldn't help but blow out a sigh as I turned on my heal and began to walk out, only to be stopped by someone reaching out and grabbing my hand. In one panicked movement, I pulled my hand away and turned to look at the person, only to see Jayson staring at me with a hungry look in his eyes. Not wanting to set him off, I took a small step back and swallowed the lump that was forming in my throat. “Jayson, what are you doing here?”
Shrugging, he pushed himself off of the stretcher and over in my direction. Simply watching his actions made it easy for me to see that he wanted something, and that he wasn't leaving until he got it. Being in a relationship with him before kind of lead me to believe that the one thing he wanted now was what he couldn't have while we were dating.
My virginity.
While I was lost in my thoughts, he had taken a few steps closer to me and was now reaching out to grab me. I tried to move to the side, but the second stretcher got in my way and prevented me from doing so; trapping me in his grasp and putting me at his whim. “What's the matter, Adri? You don't look all that happy to see me.”
I wanted to say something to annoy him, but he wouldn't hesitate to hit me if I did, so I simply stayed shut and hoped that Chase would hurry up and come to my rescue.
As if knowing what I was thinking, Jayson let out a small laugh and shook his head, “If you're waiting for your new bitch, good luck. I have a close friend of mine keeping him busy. You're all mine for now, babe.”
Scrunching up my face in disgust, I took a step back and tried to get out of his grasp, but that only resulted in him tightening his grip and pulling me into him. That alone annoyed the crap out of me, but again, I didn't say anything; I had already endured enough pain for one day. “Jayson, what is it that you want from me? You have Christina now, you don't need me-”
“That's a load of bull shit, Adri. I miss you, the feel of you and everything that has to do with you. That. . . Little shit doesn't deserve you!”
“And you do?”
Thrown off by my comment, he let me go and took a step back; taking that as an opportunity to give me a quick once over. The way his eyes bore into me kind of freaked me out, but I didn't let it show. He would always think of me as some afraid little girl if I let him see how much he intimidated me, and I wouldn't have that; I had been through too much.
So, after a few seconds, he nodded and let his eyes meet mine. A sudden sadness filled them and I couldn't help but feel a small ounce of sorrow for him; something that disappeared as soon as it appeared. This wasn't someone who believed in sympathy, this was my gang leader ex-boyfriend and he never care for anyone but himself, a lesson I learned the hard way several times. I wouldn't fall into the same trap twice.
“Jayson, I'm done letting you control my life.” That was supposed to be the dramatic exit where I leave and he doesn't bother me anymore, but it didn't work out that way because he quickly grabbed my and pinned me against the wall. When I looked up at him, he slammed his lips onto mine, and catching me completely off guard. I tried to push him off of me, but he trapped my hands against his chest and quickly proceeded to grasping my breast tightly in his hands, making me gasp and giving him the chance to slip his tongue into my mouth. Not knowing what else to do, I bit down as hard as I could and watched as he pulled away from me with a pissed off look on his face.
“What the f*ck did you bite me for?!”
Not bothering to answer him, I turned on my heal and began to walk away from him, only turning around to place a hard slap on his face. “I do not belong to you, Jayson, so stop treating me like I'm your property!” And without waiting for him to answer, I stormed out of the nurses office and over to the parking lot. When I got there, I saw Chase leaning against the hood of his car with a smirk on his face and what looked like a hickie on his neck. There wasn't another female in sight, so I guess his girlfriend sauntered off before I got here. Lucky her because I'm in the perfect mood to fight someone.
Noticing that I was approaching him, he crossed his arms and shook his head. “Looks to me like someone got a little freaky during her trip to the nurses office.”
“I could say the same to you, Chase.”
“Yes my dear Adriana, but I'm a guy so it's expected of me.” With a small laugh, he motioned for me to get inside the car with him, and considering the cold winter weather, I didn't object. I knew my friends—or at least Andrew—would wonder where I ran off to, but I'm sure he'd text me if anything. He was there, and he saw what happened, so I wouldn't doubt it.
When we got into the car, some rap song about Lamborghini’s came on, and even though I wasn't much of a rap lover, the song was pretty catchy. Chase seemed to notice my sudden like for the song because he turned it up and continued to rap along to the song. Normally, I would have asked him to turn on the heat because I was so easily turned cold, but so much anger—and pain—was shooting through my body that I didn't even notice that my legs and fingers were numb. A large part of me withed my face was numb, but since Trace hit me pretty hard, I knew that I would in pain for a while. He had the body of a prison inmate—or so I've seen in movies—and that meant he wasn't someone whose punches wouldn't hurt. Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if he broke something!
A few conversation-less minutes went by and when the song ended, Chase turned down the radio and looked at me for a second. “So, since Haydn was busy in the cafe, I know that he's not the one who got you all worked up.” That made me blush and look down at my hands in embarrassment. Maybe he knew it was Jayson and was only asking to get a confession out of me. . . “Who was in the nurses office with you? And don't say no one because you wouldn't be so angry for no reason.”
That caught me off guard. Chase hasn't known me for any longer than twenty-four hours; how does he know anything about me? Looking up again, I found a pair of blue eyes staring at me, and from the looks of it, he was waiting for me to question him. That was kind of odd, but nonetheless, I asked the question that had been circulating in my mind. “How do you know so much about me?”
He shook his head and turned his eyes back to the road. “Haydn was right, you really don't listen.”
“What do you-?”
“-I told you yesterday night that my job for months has been to watch you, and I must say, you made it pretty entertaining.” Thinking back to everything that I've done in the past few months, I blushed again and let him continue. “The night Haydn broke into your room, I was parked outside the house waiting for him to come out. Once you fell asleep, he put everything away and made it so you wouldn't know he was actually there. It was just a game at first, but then Eric broke into your house, and-”
“-wait, you're talking about blondie, right?”
He nodded, and I slumped back into my seat. Taking in the information, and trying to think back to what happened last night. I know that I slept next to Haydn for a few hours, I knew that he put me on speed, and I know that he told me about the whole gang situation—rather, as much as he could tell me—but he never specified anything. I mean, I didn't expect him to, but it would have been nice to be informed about the people who wanted to kill me. Sure, I knew that it was a group of Jayson's “friends”, but that was it. I knew nothing about what was going on and that annoyed me; I had a right to know what was happening in my life.
Things had been a lot simpler before Trace came back, but it's not like I could just push him away. Gang member or or not, he was still my brother. That didn't make it easier for me to forgive him for everything he's done, but he was still my brother whether I liked it or not.
My thoughts were interrupted when Chase's phone went off and be brought it up to his ear with a grin on his face. “Hey bro.” He paused for a second before laughing. “What makes you think I stole your girl?” Another pause. “I'm taking her to the house. If you want her back, you need to come get her.” With that, he hung up and continued driving down the unfamiliar streets with a smirk on his face. I was going to question him, but when he looked at me and winked, I guess I kind of understood. If Chase knew about what happened with Jayson, there was no doubt in my mind that Haydn knew as well, and considering how much they hated each other, I knew he was pissed.
Twenty more silence filled minutes passed before we reached a somewhat familiar house and I couldn't help but grin at the thought of last night. We had just been laying there listening to the sound of each others breathing; an act that was almost couple-like! If Haydn is as pissed off as I think he is, it may be because he has a soft spot for me. It's either that, or he's-
“He's jealous.” I quickly moved my eyes up to Chase and stared at him in awe. “He's jealous, Adri. If you heard his voice when I talked to him, you'd knew that he was jealous.”
Not believing it, I stepped out of the now parked car and began to make my way over to the front door of the building. I heard Chase get out and run after me, opening the door and leading me down the stairs and back to the apartment. Along the way, there were a few people smoking what I believed to be marijuana, but they ignored us and soon enough, we were inside the apartment.
Chase walked off in some random direction, and when he came back, he was holding two cans of Doctor Pepper. “Drink this and go relax in Haydn's room for a bit. He should be here in about fifteen minutes.”
Again, I wanted to question him about what he meant when he said that, but remembering their conversation, I simply nodded and made my way down the somewhat familiar pathway. Since there was one door in this hallway, I knew that it was Haydn's, so taking a deep breath, I grabbed the door knob and walked inside. I expected there to be a mess, but much to my surprise, the room was as clean as yesterday—if not cleaner! If I had to guess, it was because this room was where he hid his drugs and other “gang necessities”, so keeping it clean would probably make things easier for him. Had I really wanted to find them, I'm sure I'd be able to, but it wasn't my place to go through his things, no matter how tempting it was.
Kicking off my shoes and placing them neatly under the bed, I looked around and decided to sit on the bed until Haydn made his appearance. The bed was covered with the scent of his Polo cologne, and that alone relaxed me. Had my face not been writhing in pain, I might have been able to enjoy my state of calmness a little more, but with me, I guess my luck wasn't all that good.
Deciding to try and cool down the swelling a little bit, I picked up the can of soda that Chase had given me, and I brought it up to my face. At first,it hurt, which caused me to flinch, but after a while, the coldness of the can began to feel good and I couldn't help but close my eyes in attempt to go to sleep. How much time had went by, I wasn't sure, but when the bedroom door was thrown open and Haydn walked in with an angry look on his face, I knew at least twenty minutes—if not more. “Hey Haydn.” I hadn't even bothered to sit up or properly acknowledge his presence; I was too tired.
He didn't seem to like that too much though because he stomped over to me and lifted me from my spot on the bed, so I had no choice but to look at him. “What the f*ck, Adri?”
Raising a brow at him, I pulled out of his grasp and sat on the heals of my feet, still looking at him. “It wasn't like I chose to kiss him, Haydn-”
“-it wasn't like you did anything to stop him, either!”
Staring at his face and thinking back to what Chase said, I grinned and bit my lower lip. He probably wasn't going to be happy with me for making this accusation, but what did I have to lose? “You're only getting mad because you're jealous.”
That's what set him off. “You think I'm jealous?” I simply nodded and waited for his reaction. “I have absolutely no reason to be jealous. If I wanted you, I could have have had you a long time ago. The only reason I put up with all the shit that keeps happening to you is because I can't finish my job without you.”
For some reason, that hurt. Don't get me wrong, I didn't need Haydn's approval, but I wanted to know that I was something other than a tool to him. Maybe thinking that I could ever actually mean something to him is where I messed up. He's said it time and time again that he only needs me to finish his job, and after that? He'd probably leave me to rot in some alley!
Looking away from Haydn's gaze, I bit my lip and moved my hair out of my face. “Then let me go home now before I let myself get used to you.”
We sat in silence for a bit, and before I could stop him, he handed me my shoes and opened the door for me. “I'll have Chase drive you back.”
He had begun to walk out of the room, but my instinct kicked in and I spoke up before he could. “Why are you acting like I don't matter?” There was no answer. “For years, I've let people treat me like sh*t and for once, I put my trust in someone and now you're proving yourself to be like everyone else!”
Turning around only slightly, he blew out a sigh and shook his head. “You don't understand, Adri-”
“-no, you don't understand! I've had people treat me like I wasn't good enough for them just because I wasn't my brother, or I wasn't some big, successful hot shot. You told me to trust you, and now that I do, you're doing what everyone else was-!” My words were quickly cut off when he pulled me into his arms and placed a kiss on my lips. After a while, he placed his hands on either side of my face, making me flinch and pull away.
An apologetic look took it's place on his face before he grabbed the back of my neck and pulled me in for another kiss. I was going to pull away, but then I remembered that this wasn't Jayson, and even if I didn't mean much to him, Haydn wouldn't hurt me.
Taking a chance, I pulled Haydn closer to me and deepened the kiss; ignoring the feeling that I was getting in the bottom of my stomach.