by Vi Lily
It took several cranks to get the motor to fire. When it finally did, Alex ran back into the house while it warmed up. Even though he was in a hurry to get to the gym since the weather people had said a big snowstorm was heading their way, he didn’t dare push it with the old motor. She needed to warm up at least ten minutes.
He refilled his coffee mug and stood at the kitchen sink, sipping the dark bitter brew. His stomach growled in protest, apparently wanting something more substantial, but Alex didn’t like to eat before he worked out. Afterwards, hell yeah, he’d be ready to eat a goat’s butt through a picket fence by then.
A noise came from the back of the house and he turned to watch Steve stumbling down the hall toward the kitchen. While it was no mansion, the house his mom had bought in Bearing with money she’d gotten as a divorce settlement was big by most standards. Five bedrooms, three baths, and it even had an outdoor pool, which was obviously closed now. He wouldn’t be able to open it until April at the earliest and that was with the heater working full time to keep the water warm. Alex figured it wouldn’t be worth opening, though, since he planned on being gone by May, after graduation.
If I graduate.
He grimaced at that thought, his mind going back to the worries that had haunted him most of the night. He watched as his party-animal brother came into the kitchen and wondered if he might be able to help him with school, maybe help him get through his English class at least. He himself hadn’t done well in school, but Alex figured it was mostly because he was always high or drunk.
Steve mumbled a good morning to him, then grabbed a cup and poured himself some coffee. He leaned a hip against the counter and sipped at it, watching his brother. He cocked a dark blond eyebrow.
“What?” he frowned. “You gotta problem with me or somethin’?”
Alex rolled his eyes as he shook his head. No, he wouldn’t ask Steve for help. For one thing, he wasn’t sure his brother even could help him. He was likely a bigger dumbass than him. But for another, they would probably end up in a fist fight, and that was never a good thing. The Johansen men were too… violent. There was a real possibility that someone could end up dead.
“Geez, you jerk, can’t I even look at you without you biting my freakin’ head off?” Alex snatched the lid to his mug off the counter and slammed it on, then turned to leave.
“It’s your turn to clean the living room,” he growled as he left, ignoring whatever stupid thing his brother said following that.
Steve was really getting on his nerves. He’d stupidly allowed his brother to move in with him in what was supposed to be a temporary situation, but the jackass had been there for three months already. Their mom would have his head if she found out. Thankfully, she was busy making a new life for herself in their hometown of Houston.
The Ram’s temperature was just barely above the one-sixty mark, but Alex decided to chance it. He’d just baby her until she warmed up better.
Bearing didn’t have a gym, so he had to travel to Clemens, twenty-something miles away, which he really didn’t mind because he loved Doc’s gym. Loved Doc, too, not that he’d ever admit that to the old fart.
Thankfully, Alex didn’t have to worry about paying for fuel for his old gas-guzzler. Thanks to his dad paying child support for four straight years and his mom refusing to touch the money, he had almost a hundred thousand in his account.
Having a rich dad had its perks, even if he was a douche.
He glanced at the sky, which was still blue with only a few puffy clouds, thankfully. Even though the streets of Bearing stayed clear thanks to the town’s consistent plowing and sanding, the county wasn’t always as diligent and Alex worried about the drive back from Clemens when he was done at the gym, since that storm was supposed to hit in the next few hours. His Charger might be heavy and a four-wheel-drive, but rubber on ice was rubber on ice regardless.
The gas gauge didn’t work on the Ram. It was the one thing he hadn’t gotten to yet, mostly because he had to drop the gas tank to work on it and he couldn’t do that in the warm, heated garage. It sure as hell wasn’t something he wanted to do in sub-zero temperatures outside. While he was pretty sure he had plenty of gas, he didn’t want to take the chance, so he pulled into a station on his way out of town.
After he was done pumping, he was shivering. Even with his size and all the bulky muscle he carried, the damp cold managed to seep into his bones. Alex laughed to himself at his thoughts; that was something his grandmother would have said — “the cold gets in my old bones.”
He was a southern boy through and through.
Alex nabbed his travel mug and headed into the station for a refill. Of course, after already drinking two big cups, he needed to take a piss, so after he paid, he headed to the restroom.
The station’s restrooms were located on the side of the building on the outside, which sucked, because Alex figured they probably weren’t heated. Oh well… the cold’ll just make me piss faster.
Thankfully, the men’s room was unoccupied and he finished his business quickly, glad that the restroom actually had hot water, which he held his cold hands under for a few minutes.
When he was drying his hands, he heard a commotion outside. Some woman was yelling right outside the restroom door. Alex rolled his eyes. He hated walking right into an argument, mostly because if someone touched him for whatever reason, he couldn’t guarantee what he’d do.
He hated to be touched.
Sighing, he pulled the heavy metal door open and stopped in his tracks. The girl from the party, the one he recognized from school, was being dragged by the arm out of the women’s restroom by the gas station clerk.
The girl — Ariel, he reminded himself — was trying to grab a bag inside of the restroom, but the clerk had a tight hold on her and was yelling something about vagrancy and calling the cops.
“She’s with me,” Alex told the woman, surprising both her and him. Why the hell did I say that? He had no clue. All he knew was that Ariel girl looked terrified and some weird protective crap came over him. Never had happened before.
The clerk gave him a look that said, “Yeah, right,” but he ignored her and reached into the restroom to grab the bag Ariel had been trying to get to. The woman huffed and stomped off, muttering to herself.
Alex picked up the bag and frowned when he saw a sleeping bag on the far wall near the toilet.
She was sleeping in here? The thought of it made him shudder; the bathrooms weren’t heated for one thing, and for another… gross.
“Uh, thanks.” The soft voice startled him out of his thoughts. He straightened and looked down at Ariel’s bent head. She was staring at her shoes and wringing her hands together. He frowned, wondering if she was afraid of him. Not that he cared, or anything. Most people were. With good reason.
“No problem,” he said.
“No, I mean—” her voice was rough and she cleared her throat. “I mean for just now… and last night. What you did, it was, um…”
“Don’t mention it,” Alex said. “No big deal.” What he’d done definitely wasn’t a big deal, but what she’d gone through, or would have gone through if he hadn’t been there would have been a very big deal.
She still hadn’t looked up and Alex realized he was right; she didn’t even come to his arm pit. He felt like a freaking giant next to her.
The girl was shivering, he noticed. She was wearing a beanie that had one of those yarn ball things on it and it was quivering. He wondered if it was due to the cold, or him.
“C’mon,” he told her. “I’ll give you a ride.”
Her head snapped up then and for the first time, Alex got a good look at her. His eyes widened in surprise… she was freaking gorgeous. Her eyes were a light green color, but not really green either. Kind of the color of grass just before it dies in the fall — green, blue and a bit of yellow all mixed together.
She had beautiful lips too, although they looked slightly blue, which made him realize she was shivering f
rom the cold. Her face was thin like the rest of her, but she had a perfect, tiny nose and high cheekbones.
Her face, while beautiful, was dirty. Probably from sleeping on the restroom floor. Alex grimaced; he couldn’t imagine anywhere grosser to sleep and wondered why in the world she’d chosen it. Remembering the night before, he thought it said a lot that the girl would rather sleep in a nasty public restroom than be around her brother.
“I, uh…” her wide eyes darted around the parking lot, probably looking for the clerk again, “I don’t really have anywhere you could take me. But, uh, thanks.”
Alex frowned. “I’ll drive you anywhere you want to go,” he offered, once again surprising himself. “Within reason. I mean, I’m not driving you to Canada or Florida or anything,” he joked.
I’m making jokes? Hello, who are you, and what have you done with Alex the Crusher?
For some reason, though, he wanted to see the tiny girl smile. But his joke didn’t have the desired effect. In fact, she winced and shifted her feet. He looked down and thought she had the smallest feet he’d ever seen on a grown woman. She looked like a little kid, actually, but he remembered from health class that girls usually stopped growing by sixteen, and he figured Ariel had to be at least seventeen since she was a junior.
And then he wondered how in the hell he knew that. He must have been subconsciously paying more attention to her than he thought.
“Well, um, maybe you could take me to my house… if you don’t mind, I mean,” she rushed out. “I don’t want to, uh, impose…” her breathy voice trailed off again as her nervous eyes darted around.
For a moment, Alex wondered if she was on drugs. She was nervous. Almost twitchy, like a meth head. And then there was the fact that she was so thin. And dirty… druggies usually didn’t care much about their appearance. But he shook his head; her amazing eyes were crystal clear.
She just looked scared. Lost.
“I don’t mind,” he told her, shocking himself once again when he realized he meant it. Oak Place was a good four miles from there and he still needed to get to the gym before the storm hit. But for whatever reason, and he wasn’t willing to look into the why of it too much, he wanted to help her.
He watched as Ariel shivered again. “By the way, you don’t have any reason to be afraid of me.”
ME AGAIN
Chapter 1
H E SAID I didn’t need to be afraid of him. I snort and his eyes shoot to mine as I feel my face redden. I’ve spent the past several months terrified of Alex Johansen, ever since I saw him nearly break Beth’s face. And to be honest, I was a little afraid, but mostly in awe, of him last semester too, ever since he stomped into Athole Academy. I mean, come on, the guy is a walking Alp.
His amazing cobalt blue eyes narrow at me. I look back down again and take a tiny breath. Gawd, my ribs hurt. Devon beat the crap out of me last night after Alex called the cops, like that was somehow my fault. Devon claimed I had put him up to it. Never mind the fact that I had no clue what was going on, so how could I have possibly put him up to it — you couldn’t reason with my brother.
He hadn’t hit me anywhere that would be seen this time, at least. I was out of the makeup I’d bought with a few of my precious saved dollars last month when he’d punched me in the face and bruised my cheek. There had been a lot more incidents like that since, which is why I was out of the makeup.
I don’t know why I bother to cover up the bruises; no one really looks at me anyway. I could go to school with two black eyes and a busted lip and no one would even pay one second of attention to me.
Or care.
Which is fine with me; I’d rather be anonymous than in the spotlight. I’ll stick to the shadows any day, thankyouverymuch.
The Raine Barres of the world can hog the stage.
I’m pretty sure I have broken ribs, but it’s not like I can go to the doctor or anything. It’s also not like it’s the first time it’s happened. I figure soon my ribs are going to be like steel bars from all the calcium deposits growing over the numerous breaks.
I really don’t want Alex taking me anywhere, but at the same time, I can’t walk. Not anymore. I barely made it to the station last night after Devon left to go “score some rock,” and I hurried to get the hell out of the house before he came back to finish my butt kicking.
After the beating, even though I hated to use the gas I figured I would just drive somewhere and sleep in the Navigator. But I think Devon did something to it, because it wouldn’t start. So instead, I’d dragged myself here.
It was the hardest three miles I’ve ever walked. Stumbled is more like it, since I fell four times on the way. My hands and knees are a scraped mess from that. But I’d made it sometime long after the gas station had closed. Thankfully, the night clerks suck at their job and usually forget to lock the bathroom when they leave for the night.
Sleeping in a gas station bathroom is disgusting, let me tell you. And, for the record, women aren’t any cleaner than men.
But I barely got any sleep at all because there wasn’t any position that was comfortable. Everything hurt so bad and I could barely breathe. And when I finally did manage to fall asleep, I woke to the gas station clerk kicking at my already sore ribs.
That was maybe three seconds before Alex freaking Johansen somehow materialized into my pathetic, sad world once again to rescue me. Alex, the dude who I thought was a walking nightmare; who had inadvertently made me late to class — several times — because I had been trying to avoid him by hiding in the bathroom; the guy that I was more afraid of than any of the others, even Raine Barre, who made it her life’s mission to make sure I knew that I was no more than a disgusting speck of excrement stuck to the bottom of her shoe.
Alex Johansen… my savior. Crazy world this is.
I sense his reluctance to help me. It’s like he doesn’t want to, but just can’t seem to help himself. I wonder if he has some sort of superhero complex or something. A need to swoop in and save someone else’s day, because his own is so screwed up. Be the knight in rusty armor or something.
Did I mention that I’m interested in psychology too? Yeah. I probably read way too much. But when you don’t have a life, you find your pleasures where you can. Reading is an escape from the ugliness that surrounds me. Thank God for libraries.
But then I remember that day in the dining room at school… I shudder.
The sad thing is, big, bad Alex is a better alternative to any of my other options at the moment.
Without another word, and apparently oblivious to my inner turmoil, Alex turns and walks off toward the gas pumps. I’m kind of surprised when he leads me to the old Ram Charger I’d seen in the school’s parking lot. Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought it belonged to a student; the rich jerks always drive the top-of-the-line stuff. Even my five-year-old vehicle is considered “old.” I had seen the Ram before and thought it belonged to a teacher.
He walks around to the passenger side and opens the door for me. I look up at it and realize there’s really no way I’m going to be able to get into it. The floorboard hits me at the stomach. Maybe if I weren’t so injured, I might be able to crawl into it, but now? No way.
Alex seems to realize my predicament. He leans around me and tosses my stuff into the backseat, then he grabs me, probably to toss me in too.
Unfortunately, he grabs me right around my ribs.
I wake up inside the big SUV and Alex is driving… kinda fast, actually. I frown for a second, unsure of where I am, but then I remember.
“Uh, where are we going?” I ask and wince. Man, my ribs hurt even worse. The last thing I remember is him grabbing me.
“Hospital in Clemens,” Alex tells me. He’s scowling.
Alarm fills me. I can’t go to the hospital. That means questions and problems. And money I don’t have.
“No!” I practically yell, then gasp when my right side stabs me. Dang, it hurt before, but now… I wonder if Alex accidentally broke them wor
se when he grabbed me.
He glances at me, the scowl still in place. “You screamed like I ripped your arm off when I picked you up, then you passed out and I couldn’t wake you up. You’ve been out like ten minutes. Think that warrants a trip to the doctor.”
His voice says no argument. But I can’t go to the hospital. “No, it’s okay,” I gasp out. “It’s not a big deal. I’ve had it before.” I’m wheezing, and I hope he doesn’t notice.
“You’re wheezing, and I swear I felt a rib crack when I picked you up,” he tells me, his voice sounding accusing. Like it’s my fault.
“I know you’re skinny, but I wasn’t that rough. Your ribs shouldn’t break like that.” He frowns again, like I’m a puzzle he’s trying to figure out.
I’m feeling desperate enough to open the car door and jump out at this point. He’s nearing the edge of Bearing, about to get on the highway to Clemens. If I don’t get out of his truck now, I’ll be stuck too far away to walk back.
“I can’t go to the hospital,” I tell him and I’m horrified when my voice cracks from the emotion. I need him to understand, but I don’t want to cry in front of the guy. He doesn’t look like he would be up for a chick bawling all over his vehicle.
Almost of its own volition, my hand goes to the door handle. I really don’t want to jump out, because that would be pretty stupid. I probably wouldn’t die, but I would absolutely end up a lot more injured than I already am.
Alex sees my hand and he curses, then slows down and pulls to the side of the road. He puts it in park and turns to me with his hands up, like he’s trying to talk a jumper off a ledge.
“Okay, okay, calm down,” he says, almost soothingly. It’s then that I realize I’m on the verge of a panic attack. I get them sometimes, but now is not the time. For one thing, I don’t want to lose it in front of Alex freaking Johansen; for another, I already can’t breathe, so I sure as heck don’t need to be hyperventilating.
