"Ah, fuck! Could you be a little gentler?"

I roll my eyes and press the pad even tighter to the corner of Alexander's eyes. "Stop being such a baby."

Alexander glares at me and winces. "Goddamn," he hisses and moves his face.

I put my hand on his jaw and make him stay still while I try to clean the cut. I've been 'torturing' (his words) him for around twenty minutes now and he's ready to die. I already cleaned his knuckles and put some ice on them, but they're still going to be swollen and bruised. His face was a big deal next since he had many bruises and cuts.

I've cleaned almost everything, even though Alexander was bitching about it.

He should be happy I even offered to clean his mess up, but when we came back to the house and I saw his face under the light when I pulled his hood back, it was my first instinct to help him.

The fight must've been pretty hard and aggressive if I'm judging by the way he came out looking like. I even made a joke about it and Alexander just stared me in the eyes in all seriousness. "Little one, you should see him. There was a reason you had to come and pick me up."

His words put me in a shock. "I hope you didn't kill him," I said with faint voice and pale face, my stomach dropping at the thought.

Is Alexander capable of killing? I couldn't even think about it. He's just a year older than me and that'd be so wrong ... But could he be that merciless and cold-hearted? Could he destroy his life like that?

At my words, Alexander's lips pull up in a smile so small I barely catch it. It makes him wince a bit, but he still keeps that tiny smile on his lips, his eyes nothing but pure darkness. "I wanted to. Badly," he admits without a shame.

I stop what I'm doing completely and just stare straight in his eyes, trying to know if he's kidding or not. "But you didn't?" I say with a whisper.

Alexander makes a noise in his throat. "Nah. Maybe I will someday." He shrugs as if it's not even a big deal. As if he's not talking about killing someone! "Might make him suffer a bit more in his pathetic life before taking it away from him."

I unconsciously tighten my hands on Alexander's jaw and Alexander slaps my hand away. "You wouldn't ..." I breathe out in pure shock and disbelief. I can not believe he would do that.

"No?" Alexander murmurs teasingly. I hate how strongly his breath smells of alcohol and cigarettes.

I shake my head, not capable of forming any words for an answer to him.

Alexander suddenly puts his harmed hand on my cheek. I try really hard not to wince at his touch and jump away from him. "Why would you think that?" he asks me softly.

I gulp down a lump that formed in my throat. My brain suddenly stopped working and I can't even think of what I'm going to say. "Because I believe that every person has something good in them, even though they don't show it to everyone. And so do you," I blurt out at the end.

Oh, God. I should just stay quiet sometimes.

Alexander's smile turns into a sadistic one. "Oh, Little one," he sighs. "I appreciate how highly you think of me. But I'll have to crush your sweet dreams. I don't have one nice bone in my body, baby."

I want to suddenly scream.

He called me Little one and baby in one breath. My knees wobble, that's how pathetically weak I get from hearing such sweet words come from his mouth, directed at me. The same mouth that said so many harsh things.

"You do, Alexander," I say when I finally find my breath again. "You just choose not to show it to anyone."

Alexander puts his other had on my face, framing it in his face. We're so close, I can feel his breath all over my face, his hot breath warming my already heated cheeks. "Stop trying to see a good side in everyone. Some people don't have it," he insists.

"You're fighting it too hard," I tell him. I don't even know where I find the words, because my brain is floating somewhere right now because of Alexander being so near and because of him touching me. Damn him.

This is such a strange feeling, I'm not used to it.

Alexander caresses my cheek with his thumb. It takes so much effort not to lean into his light touch and purr like a cat being caressed. But my eyes do flutter close at the sensations his simple touch sends down my body.

What is happening to me? What is this?

I feel him getting even closer by the way how his breath touches my face even more, I feel the heat of it even more now and I literally feel him lingering just a few inches away from my lips. I feel their warmth, even though they're not really touching.

But then all this warmth disappears from my face and appears at my ear where I hear Alexander whisper into my ear, "You should go back to your room, Little one. It's really late."

He could say anything at this moment, anything would make my body shudder at hearing his low whisper at my ear, so quiet and gentle, his breath caressing the sensitive skin of my ear.

I almost fall forward when Alexander backs away from me suddenly, releasing my face so I have nothing to lean on anymore. My eyes snap open and I hear him chuckling under his breath, his eyes shining in triumph.

Even though he's beaten up, his face is full of bruises, his right eye is getting swollen and there's a nasty cut just in the corner of his lip, this bastard still looks better than ever. I hate him so much.

I realise that it was his intention to occupy my mind with something different and change the subject. Damn him, he even succeeded.

I don't know how it happened, but I'm getting weak around this guy. I'm getting weak for this guy.

"You can let yourself out," Alexander says with a devious grin, exiting the bathroom and stepping into his room.

I put my hands on the cold sink and lean on it, breathing in and out. When I lift my eyes to look into the mirror, I'm horrified.

My hair is a mess, it's literally in every place it shouldn't be, my cheeks are bright red and my eyes are bright and shiny.

Damn you, Alexander Holt. What the hell are you doing to me?

•••

Next Saturday, Rosalyn gives me the evening free because she says she'll be with Amelia so I can go to a party Sam is throwing at her house.

To be totally honest, I'm excited about this party. I don't know why, but it seems like Sam's behaviour is sort of rubbing off onto me. I started to like going out and not be scared to be in the crowd of unknown people.

Things like this excite me, actually.

That's why I'm happy I can get there earlier than I predicted. Sam doesn't even have to order me to wear a dress, because I wear it by myself this time. It's one of hers I already wore before – the tight, small black dress. It's actually too cold for a dress, but Sam assured me I can wear anything I want, but to be careful, because it's going to be hot there.

So, the dress it is. I don't do my makeup since I don't even have any here. I also leave my hair as it is, I only put on my jacket.

I purposefully left my door slightly open and when I hear Alexander walking past it, I sprint out of the room. "Alexander!" I call after him.

I see his shoulders tense a bit and he hesitantly turns around. He's in his usual attire – all black. But, my God, how he takes my breath away every time. His cuts and bruises healed up nicely, although there are still marks of a reminder on that night on his face and even his chuckles. I'm afraid to even imagine how Ryder's face must look like.

"Yeah?" Alexander asks in annoyance when I just keep standing there and admiring his presence.

"Are you going to Sam's?" I ask him with a cute voice, twirling a strand of my hair around my finger.

Alexander furrows his eyebrows at my movement. "Yeah," he answers shortly.

I smile at him. "Sweet! I'll drive with you."

Alexander snorts. "No." He turns around and starts walking again.

I frown and I follow him. "Of course I will!" I say at his back.

I hear his loud sigh. "No, you won't," he replies back.

"Well, you don't have a choice!" I say adamantly.

He suddenly stops and I almost crash into his back. When I want to stop myself from doing that, I almost lose my balance and fall down the stairs. Alexander turns around. It's funny how he's standing two steps below me so it's now me looking down at him, not the other way around, but his stare is still intimidating. "Wanna rethink your words?"

I cock my head on the side. "Not really," I say and grin.

He glares at me – long and hard. And then his eyes fall down, travelling down my body all the way to my toes. He scowls. He's probably only now noticing what I'm wearing, not that he's interested in it. "You can't wear a dress on a motorcycle."

I shrug. "I saw other girls do it before. I can try."

Alexander inhales sharply. "No," he says curtly and turns around again.

I follow him again, going out in the cold air after him and straight to his motorcycle. "It's not happening, Little one."

"Yes, it is," I grit out. I don't have anyone else to drive me there, so Alexander is my best option. I couldn't call Sam since she's hosting a party and can't really leave it. I couldn't really ask Rosalyn, either, since she has Amelia tonight and she's already in her bed.

And Alexander is going there, too, so what's the harm?

Alexander rubs his forehead in frustration. He goes to the garage then, but I don't move from his motorcycle. If he's planning something, I swear I won't think twice about driving this thing myself.

But when he comes back, he has a helmet in his hand and he gives it to me. "Wear it."

I look at it. "But you're never wearing it?"

Alexander stares into my eyes. "No. But you're going to."

And there's something definitive in his voice that doesn't allow any objections. So, he doesn't care if he gets harmed if anything happens, but what, he worries that it will happen to me?

Yeah. Right.

I accept the helmet with a roll of my eyes and put it on my head, sitting behind Alexander on his motorcycle, wrapping myself around him.

We didn't have any more encounters this week. He came to dinner a few times but hasn't said much – as usual. Rosalyn was worried out of her mind when she saw his face, but Alexander only brushed her off, telling her it's not the first time she sees him like this and it certainly won't be the last.

I saw how closed off her expression got at his words and how hurt she was, but she accepted it. I actually admire Rosalyn for how well she's holding it together when her son is acting like this towards her and the whole family.

Other than that, Alexander didn't grace us with his presence. He was out most of the time, doing God knows what.

And now I forced him to drive me to Sam's.

When Alexander stops in front of a big-ass house, I'm not even surprised. I even expected it to be all glamorous and huge. These people got money.

I step down from the motorcycle and hand Alexander the helmet, then pat his shoulder when he takes it from me. "Thanks for the ride," I say and then walk to the house.

There's a lot of people here already and the smell of weed is strong when I'm walking towards the front door.

I learned by now that at house parties, it's no use ringing a doorbell because no one is going to hear it.

I go inside and take it all in. The music is loud, people are already slightly drunk and are all having different kinds of fun.

I don't know anyone, so I go around the house to look for Sam. She's engaged in a conversation with a circle of people. I go behind her with a smile, poking her in the back so she jumps up and quickly turns around with a glare, but when she sees it's me, she throws her arms around me.

"You made it!" she says happily. I notice she's already slightly drunk, too.

"I did," I say in her shoulder, trying to get away from her tight grip.

"Come here, have a talk." She pulls me into the circle with her.

I hang out with everyone there for a long time and the circle started expanding minute by minute.

When I felt like I can't deal with it anymore until I get something to drink, Sam directs me to the kitchen.

It takes me some time to get through the mass of people and get there, especially when I had to look for it because it's my first time being here.

There are some people in there, talking, laughing and mostly drinking. I smile when a few of them greet me or give me some friendly glances.

I decided not to touch any alcohol tonight, so I go straight to the water bottles that are down on the floor in the corner. Thank you, Sam, for thinking about this.

I lean down to grab a bottle out of the pack, but it's stuck. I groan frustratingly when I tug at it. And then I feel someone press behind me.

I straighten up so fast that my head spins for a moment and when my whole back presses to the person behind me, I step aside and look at the intruder.

Alexander is standing there, taking a sip of his beer. I send him a questioning glance. "You should be really careful what moves you make in this dress, Little one if you don't want to give everyone in this room a nice show," he says with a sour smile. He looks down at the floor for a moment, a smile tugging his lips upwards. He steps closer to me and leans to my ear. "Nice view you gave there, though. Never thought of you as a black lace kind of girl."

My cheeks flame in mortification when I realise he's talking about my knickers. He saw my knickers.

Before I can react in any kind, Alexander already slips past me and mixes into the crowd.

That bloody bastard.

I take some deep breaths but soon I realise this is not going to help, so I forget about the water and just rush outside into the cool air. And by the way it hits my hot cheeks, it makes me wonder just how much I'm actually blushing right now.

Alexander Holt pressed against me while I was leaning down and he ... saw my damn knickers.

I'll never be able to look him in the face now.

I only notice how far away from the house I went when I come near some trees. I almost start laughing to myself. I turn around and start walking towards the house back again, the air helping me clear my mind.

"Didn't take as long as I thought to get you alone."

I freeze in my spot. I turn around and instantly start backing away, but the person starts walking closer to me at a much faster pace. "Where are you trying to escape, babe?" He chuckles, coming towards me like I'm his prey.

"Ryder," I breathe out in pure fear now, not knowing what his intentions are.

I trip over something and almost fall down on my ass, but I catch myself in time. This only gives the guy a chance to get to me even faster. He snags his arm around me, pushing me flat to his chest.

I let out a scream. But Ryder's hand covers my mouth with a hand in which he's holding a cloth. I struggle against him, trying to turn my head away, trying to push him away, but his hold on me is too strong and I'm getting weaker and weaker by every second that passes.

His merciless laugh is the last thing that rings in my ear before my eyes close on their own and the world around me falls quiet.