Good Girl ✓

Chapter One

contains DDLG :)♡☆!

Jane was my best friend. She always had bright ideas, but mainly stupid ones. We had only turned 18 around six months ago, and she already planned a lot of adulty things to do, that I wasn't excited for.

She was always confident, and adventurous. I was a homebody who preferred watching lame movies and hugging my cat.

"We are going to get in trouble, I don't want to do this," I mumbled, pinching at the hem of my dress that ended at the middle of my thigh.

"Oh hush, don't be such a pussy, Amara," she hissed. I felt my cheeks go red. I wanted to be cool and liked. I didn't want to be boring.

"Hi, just this please," Jane hands the cashier the bottle of wine.

"ID?"

Jane opens her handbag and pulls out the fake ID she purchased off Craigs List. This was such a bad idea. I have never done anything like this before and it makes me feel sick to the stomach.

I dig my foot into the ground and don't make eye contact. I was such a bad liar, if he asks me anything we are going to get caught.

"Really? You're 27?" he asks Jane.

"Yep, that's how old I am," she insists, "can you hurry it up? I have somewhere to be."

"Get the fuck out of here. Fucking kids," the man curses and snaps the ID in half. Jane spits on him and I feel myself shrink into a hole. She storms out of the shop and leaves me behind.

"I am so sorry, she is not usually this rude and mean," I tell him quickly, rushing out and trying to catch which way she walked off to. I looked left and looked right. It was confusing and I felt overwhelmed. She left me alone, in the middle of the street, at midnight.

"God I am so stupid," I tell myself, hugging my arms to try and keep warm. I always struggled to make friends, so when I did I would do anything for them. Even if it meant I was always the second choice.

I felt my eyes water up and my cheeks started to feel hot. I was embarrassed and dumb. I didn't understand directions very well and was lost.

I started walking. Wherever my feet took me.

It had to have been half an hour. It was getting colder by the minute, and it was even scarier when people were mumbling to themselves on the street. I was very jumpy and frightened.

"What are you doing all by yourself on a Thursday night?"

I think I flew in the air from how much I flinched. I turned around and a short, stubby man stared straight at me. He had an overgrown dirty beard and the smell of smoke staining his clothes.

"Well, are you going to answer me?"

I looked at him. He started moving closer. "I am finding my friend."

I took a step back but he came so close I was pressing my back against a wall.

"Is your little friend as pretty as you are?" he asked. I started to cry. I tasted the salt from my tears and my lip was wobbly. I squeezed my eyes shut and turned my head so I wasn't facing him.

"What's going on here?"

Someone else interrupted but I couldn't see who.

"Is the girl alright?" he asked.

"She's fine," the stinky man replied, not taking his eyes off of me.

"Move away from her, you feral fuck," he said, and instantly the man sighed in reluctance, but shifted a few steps back so I had room. "Are you okay?"

His voice was smooth and deep. I liked it.

I shook my head and looked at him. My hair was ratty and my throat felt swollen. I was a loser.

"Come. It is late and you are dirty. We will clean you up and I will get you home in the morning," he told me. He turned to the other guy and scowled, "if I see you scaring people outside of my apartment again I will make sure you won't see the light of day. This is an expensive part of New York and street rats like you who harass women don't belong here."

The man looked at me up and down and curled his lip upwards. He stomped off down the street.

"T-Thank you, thank you for saving me," I squeaked.

He nodded and opened the door to the building. It was big and fancy. He held it open and tilted his head for me to follow. I trusted him. Probably because he saved me from being attacked, but he made me comfortable for some reason.

It was quiet. He went to the front desk. The woman there was tired and falling asleep at the counter. She stood up when he approached. She addressed him as Knox Reed. His name is pretty.

He told her something, I heard words but completely zoned out. This place was super-duper. It had golden arches, and a bright red carpet throughout the bottom floor.

We went towards the elevator, and he pressed the top floor button.

"What were you doing on the streets by yourself?" he asked finally. He looked down at me, and I shifted on my feet. Should I lie?

"My friend left me and I was trying to find her," I told him. I must have been turning the color of a tomato.

"And why were you out so late? When is your bedtime?"

"She wanted to go to the shops and get wine for a party. We are both only 18, so um, she got caught with her fake ID and was angry. Then she left me alone," I said honestly.

"Good girl for telling me the truth," he praised. I bit my lip to hold a smile. My parents never told me when they were happy with me, so it meant a lot. "But you shouldn't be drinking at 18. You should be at home in bed."

"I wasn't going to. I don't have many friends so I just wanted someone to hang out with," I replied.

The elevator stopped and its doors opened into a short hallway. He got out his keys and opened his apartment door.

I followed him inside. He placed his things on the kitchen bench and I walked behind him like a desperate puppy dog. We went into the bathroom and he told me to sit on the sink.

"Your knees are cut," he stated.

I nodded. "When that guy pushed me to the wall his pants were itchy and had something in them. I think it scratched me."

He hummed and got a washcloth, cleaning it.  As he started helping me, he started asking more questions.

"What's your name?"

"Amara. I know yours, I heard the receptionist say it, Mr. Reed," I said proudly for paying attention. I grinned and I saw his lips twitch up.

"Are you hurt anywhere else?"

I shook my head. I was better than anything right now.

Mr. Reed turned around and started running a bath. I watched as he put soaps and made the water bubbly. As it started filling up, he put a towel on top of the toilet lid and left. He came back with a plain shirt, boxer shorts and a pin.

"You are dirty. Because you are sleeping here tonight, I would prefer you bathe before getting into bed. Here are some clothes, use the pin to make the shorts smaller to fit your waist."

He turned off the faucet and closed the door behind him. He was a very nice man.