Falling For A Criminal

Falling For A Criminal - Chapter One*

The night started like any other night.

I was laying in bed with my head full of trivial thoughts and headphones in my ears, listening to the sound of All Time Low's Dear Maria, Count Me In. I honestly hadn't been expecting out of the ordinary to happen, but a few minutes into the song, I noticed in my peripheral vision that my window was opening—and I wasn't the one opening it. Growing wide eyed, I reached for the lamp and was flabbergasted when I saw the schools most notorious player sneaking into my room. Sure, it sounds cliché, and you're probably expecting us to make out or something like that, but I wasn't in any place to do that. I didn't even know how to react for quite some time, but the moment we made eye contact, he smiled and proceeded to climbing in. “You're cute out of uniform, Adri.”

Still in shock, I ripped my headphones out of my ears and stood up; completely forgetting that I was wearing nothing but a pair of shorts and an almost belly shirt. Had this been any other situation, I would have panicked at the mere thought of someone from school—let alone a guy—see me in such revealing clothing, but of course, this was a break in and the last thing on my mind was what some random guy from school thought of me. So, doing something completely out of character, I stood my ground and began the questioning. “Why the hell are you in my room, Haydn?”

He shrugged as if it were no big deal and kicked off his shoes in an attempt to get comfortable. While it was completely out of my nature to kick someone out of my house in the middle of the night during a snow storm, I didn't think he seriously believed that I was going to let him stay here after he broke into my room at one in the morning. He must have been some kind of mind reader because he looked up again once his jacket was off and his smile turned into a crooked grin. “You know you're just like every other girl who wants me to spend the night in their room. I simply made it so you didn't have to ask.” Winking, he walked passed me and lied down on my bed. I couldn't help but notice there was something red on his hands, but I wasn't going to question it; what he did in his free time wasn't my business—or my problem.

“Look,” I said with enough attitude for the both of us to have, share, and then still have some left over, “I'm not some desperate little girl who's going to cower in fear and get on my knees because some random guy popped into my room like a bad romance novel. You're going to get out, and you're going to do it now.”

Looking me up and down for a second, he narrowed his eyes and sat up, still making no attempt to get out of my room, or off of my bed. “You're a small girl. Unless you're going to make me leave, I'm not going anywhere.”

Right as I opened my mouth to speak, a barrage of cop cars drove past my house and the sound of footsteps neared my room. Knowing my father would freak out if he found a guy in my room at this hour—or any hour knowing who my father was—I grew wide eyed and quickly opened the door; meeting him before he got a chance to knock. “I heard cop cars and just wanted to make sure you were OK. You know how things can get over here.”

I nodded; smiling innocently at him. Sure, it came in handy that he was such a light sleeper, but the cops hadn't even finished driving by the house when he made it over here! “I'm OK; I was just going downstairs to get some water.” With nothing to say, I cleared my throat. “You can go back to bed now if you want. I know you have to get up for work in the morning.”

He stared at me for a few seconds, contemplating something before nodding, kissing my head and walked back down the hall to his bedroom. Once I was certain he was out of sight—and hearing range—I let out a breath and closed the door; finding Haydn on my bed with his shirt off. Feeling my jaw clench, I bit my lip in aggravation. Sure, he had perfectly sculpted abs, and yeah, had he not broken into my room, not been a delinquent and not been a complete arse, I would have felt tempted to say something about it, but he had annoyed me and it was honestly starting to bother me. “I'm going to assume that all those cars were looking for you?” I said, completely ignoring the fact that my eyes were all but dying to look down at his abs again.