Falling For A Criminal

Falling For A Criminal - Chapter Twenty

Again, this chapter will be edited later--along with the rest of the chapters--so ignore any typos for now :) 

Haydn's POV cont.

“Adriana. . . H-how?”

Before I even had time to question her, Trace ran over in our direction and embraced her in his arms, making her scream out in pain. Quickly, he pulled away and all of us looked at her in confusion. She didn't have any visible sign of damage to her body, but then again, she was wearing a pair of sweats and a long sleeve shirt over her pale skin. Not wanting to take a risk, I grabbed her hand and pulled her in the direction of my bedroom with a little bit of input from her brother.

“Don't touch her, Haydn—”

“—I can assure you that sex is the last thing on my mind right now, blondie.” With that, I continued to walk with her into my room and closed the door quietly behind us. Silence fell upon the both of us, and even though I had Adriana safely back in front of me again, something seemed off. She was being quiet, not the same temperamental girl that she usual was, and when her brother hugged her, she didn't hug back, but she whimpered in pain. The only thing that I could possibly think of was that she was either really sore, or in a lot of pain from whatever her kidnapper had done to her. “Take off your clothes for me.”

Finally looking up to meet my eyes, I was somewhat hurt when I saw that she was now looking at me with fear in her eyes. I reached out to place my hand on her shoulder to tell her that everything was going to be OK, but she quickly stepped back and her back was now against the wall of my small room. “Don't t-touch me, Haydn.”

I frowned.

What had changed in her that made her so afraid of me? “Adriana, what's wrong—”

“—Haydn, just leave me alone!” I had expected her to scream it, but it was nothing more than a hushed whisper. It almost seemed like she was afraid to talk to me. This had never been a problem before, so what could have happened to her while she was gone that changed her personality so drastically?

Taking a slow step in her direction, I paused whenever she looked like she was getting a little more frightened and eventually reached her shaking body. The frown on my face couldn't have gotten any deeper even if I tried, but I knew that I couldn't let her shaky behavior stop me from figuring out what was going on with her. “Adriana,” I whispered, placing my hand on her face and making her slowly look up at me, “please, just let me see what's wrong.” Looking even deeper into her eyes with what was supposed to be a soothing look, I took a breath and stepped closer. “Please, let me see what's wrong.”

She opened her mouth to say something, maybe to protest, but much to my surprise, she simply nodded and motioned for me to step back. With much anticipation, I watched as she took off her shirt, revealing a bruised and beaten torso, followed by the removal of her sweats that revealed even more bruises, and a few cuts and scrapes. All over her chest was something that I presumed were hickies, and when she looked up at me with not fear, but sadness in her eyes, I knew now exactly who had taken her, exactly what had happened and exactly what I was going to do when I saw him.

“I'm gonna kill him.”

Now growing wide eyed, Adriana shook her head and took a step towards me, making herself wince in the process. “Don't, Haydn. That's what he wanted. . . He sent me back here because he wants you to be angry and he wants you to act blindly.” Now cupping my face the way I had done hers, she looked me right in the eyes before looking at my lips and back up again. “I'll tell you everything that you want to know about what happened to me, but you can't go after him. Just do me that favor and don't look for him.” I was about two seconds from ignoring her request, but when tears began to brew in her eyes, I knew that I couldn't. “Please. . .”