No Strings Attached (SUSPENDED)

Chapter 8

A/N: Not edited.

It's fucking freezing.

I regret not grabbing a coat before deciding to wander the streets at midnight. The cold bites at my exposed arms and I wouldn't be surprised if the tears rolling down my face had started freezing into icicles. It is that cold.

As I'm strolling along the streetlight lit pavements my mind wanders.

I still can't believe that my best friend betrayed me. The one person who I trusted with my life, who I told everything, broke my trust. That hurts, as you would imagine. Being betrayed by anyone hurts, never mind when it's your best friend. But that isn't what hurts me the most, no, what hurts me the most is that Madison knows that I spent the whole day getting picked on, getting hurt because of her, and she didn't even have the guts to intervene. She couldn't even help her best friend when I needed her most. That fucking hurt.

I've probably been walking for an hour by the time I realise that I haven't got a fucking clue where I am. Why didn't I bring my car? That would have been logical, Alex. I blow out a sigh which comes out as a white puff because of the temperature. I reach into my thin pyjama bottom's pocket to get my iPhone. Yeah, that's right, I'm walking the streets in thin Minnie Mouse pyjama's with no coat. Idiot.

I press the lock button on the top of my phone causing the screen to light up. The screen reads 01:11 and underneath it says I have 12 missed calls from Mom and 3 missed calls from Madison. I scoff and ignore the alerts, placing my phone back into my pocket. It's a bit late for them to start giving a shit now.

I try rubbing my arms to get warmer but to no avail. Instead I end up rubbing my hand dryer burn, causing me to grit my teeth in pain. Stupid burn. I'm seriously regretting this now, it's so damn cold. And it's not like I can turn around now, I'm completely lost. This is how people get raped, Alex you imbecile.

Just as I'm thinking about all the bad things that could happen to me, headlights brighten the street.

This is it, this is how I'm going to die, tear stained face, wild hair and Minnie Mouse PJ's.

The car starts to slow down as it nears me and I pick up my pace. This day has been bad enough, I don't need to get raped or killed on top of it. The car stalks slowly behind me and my heart picks up pace. I'm going to die, I'm going to die.

The car window starts to roll down, fuck this shit. I take off in a sprint, adrenaline pumping through me, making me run faster. The car picks up speed, following me. And complete, white girl, horror movie style, I turn around to see where my murderer is and I end up falling flat on my face.

The car rushes past me and then  slams on the brakes when it realises I'm gone.

Perhaps if I stay on the floor they'll think they lost me. I squeeze my eyes shut like a six year old playing hide and seek. As if that will hide you, Alex.

I hear the car reversing. It stops beside me. The door clicks open and slams closed.

I scrunch the rest of my face up along with my eyes. Please don't see me, please God.

Footsteps approach me and that's when I realise that scrunching my face up isn't going to save me. I start scrambling to get up, half crawling, half running until I'm in a standing position. I'm about to get away when my captors arm wraps around my waist, pulling me backwards.

I scream. I scream as loud as I can in hope that somebody will hear me in the middle of nowhere. My captors hand quickly covers my mouth to muffle my screams as I struggle in their arms.

"For fuck sake! Alex, calm the fuck down!"

I continue to struggle. It's not a random kidnapping, they have stalked me, they know my name, this was planned. The realisation scares me even more and I try to gnaw the hand covering my mouth while trying to land a decent kick somewhere.

The hand leaves my mouth and I continue screaming. The hand grabs my shoulder and twists me around so I'm face to face with my kidnapper.

The scream dies in my throat as dark eyes stare down at me. My lips part slightly in shock before I quickly suck them into my mouth nervously.

"Can I let you go now?"

I nod.

"Are you going to hit me?"

I shake my head and the hands leave my body, crossing over the owner's chest; Oliver McAlister's chest. He shakes his head at me frowning.

"Get in the car, you're freezing," he commands roughly before getting in the driver's side of the car. I cross my arms and walk to the passenger side.

The warmth of the car assaults me, but in a good way. I would moan in pleasure if Oliver wasn't sat beside me. He doesn't speak to me, instead reaching into the back and grabbing a large black fleece from the back seat and draping it over me. It's like heaven in the form of a blanket.

"Thank you," I whisper with a small smile on my face. He looks at me and his face softens from the angry scowl he was wearing into a sympathetic, caring glance before returning to an angry scowl when he spots the bruise on my cheek.

"What the fuck happened to your cheek, Alex?"
"It's a long story."
"Alex!"
"I said it's a long story!"
"Just tell me what happened to your cheek! Who did that to you?" He growls.

"Nobody, drop it, it's none of your business."
"For fuck sake, Alex, it is my business." He shouts.

"No it's not, Oliver! Why are you so angry with me?" I scream back, as tears start to pour down my face. I'm such a damn wimp.

"Because it's half past one in the morning and you're walking in the middle of nowhere, alone, in... Minnie Mouse pyjamas with a huge fucking bruise on your face and I haven't got a fucking clue what has happened to you! You was terrified when I pulled up next to you, Alex! As if you were expecting it to be somebody else! So I want to know what happened to your face because if someone has hurt you I will fucking kill them!" Oliver's face is dark, his eyes almost black and his chest heaves up and down from shouting. I decide to tell him the truth before he assumes the worst, that's if he hadn't already.

"It's nothing like that... This morning my parents got into a fight and I was in the wrong place at the wrong time, my mother hit my face on accident while she was yelling at my father, it's nothing, I promise. I've just had a bad day and then I got into a fight with my best friend and I had to get out before I suffocated." My throat is dry after the explanation, just thinking about the day's events drains me.

Oliver doesn't say nothing. Instead he places his palm face up in the middle of our seats, inviting me to take his hand. I do. His warm hand encloses mine and he squeezes it to comfort me. Did I mention how warm his hand is? It's like touching an open flame. Okay, maybe not that warm, but close.

"I'm sorry for yelling at you," Oliver says eventually, his voice a lot quieter than the last time he spoke. "I just got so worried when I saw you, I didn't know what to think."

"I'm fine, it's okay," I smile, squeezing his hand softly. He turns to stare at me at my squeeze. His eyes don't leave my face for at least a minute.

"What?" I frown slightly.

"One night wasn't enough."

"Huh?" My heart speeds up at what his words could be implying.

"One night wasn't enough. I need you, sweetheart."

My heart thumps so hard that I can hear it clearly in my ears. I need you. Nobody has ever needed me before. I open my mouth to reply but before I can say a word there's a huge thump against my side of the car, causing it to rock slightly. I scream and Oliver jumps, snapping us out of our trance. I turn and look out my window.

Laying on the pavement next to the car is a dark haired man. A beat-up man with one eye swollen to the size of a golf ball and his lips bust open gruesomely. He has deep cuts everywhere, his eyebrows, his cheeks, his nose. They're pouring blood all over his face, so much that he's unrecognisable. His shirt is torn with slashes and you can see blood seeping through. He has bruises covering the whole of his neck and if he hadn't just ran into the car I would have assumed he was dead. The one eye that isn't swollen opens slightly, looking back at me. A dark, midnight blue eye; identical to Oliver's.

"Carter!"