Owned by 4

Chapter 13

I tried to avoid the boys at school after what happened with Mason.

I had to put make up on to hide the purple bruise that was forming on my cheek from where Josh had punched me the day before.

I was casually attired in a black over sized sweater, a black knee length shorts and my black converse.

As I made my way through the crowd, my eyes caught those of Ryder's up ahead.

His blue-green, calculating eyes studied me for a moment, then he started making his way towards me.

The crowd in the hallway parted like the red Sea for him. I turned on my heel and began to walk briskly in the other direction, desperately trying to avoid an encounter with him.

"Dori" he called out to me.

Oh God. I was so close.

I slowly turned around to see him closing the distance between me and him until we were only a few inches apart.

"We need to talk" he said.

I looked around at the people watching us in the hall and whispering. They were probably wondering why he  was talking to me. If I was in their shoes, I'd probably wonder the same thing.

"Here?" I said signalling with my eyes at the number of students watching us in the middle of the hallway.

He looked around and saw it too and took my hand in his and led me away to the back of the school. His large hand engulfed my small one. It was sort of rough.

As soon as we stopped walking, I gently pulled my hand from his.

He turned to look at me with those calculating eyes of his, as if he was trying to figure something out. A tension was in the air between us as he stood there watching me silently. I had enough of the deafening silence.

"What do you want?" I asked a bit harshly.

"Why are you avoiding us?" He asked with furrowed eyebrows. "What did we do wrong?"

I looked up at him instantly remembering what had happened yesterday. The memory of all the punches and kicks that I got flowed like a stream in my brain.

It was all because of them. Mason said he was going to get revenge through me because of what Ryder did to him. If he would've just left me alone to get beat up by Mason before then maybe I wouldn't have been confronted about it yesterday and maybe I wouldn't have had the bruise that was on my cheek and maybe I could've slept better in the night instead of groaning in pain Everytime I move.

"Nothing" I answered and started to make my way around him to walk back into the school but he stopped me. His hand held mine in a firm grip as he pulled me towards him until we were only inches away.

"Dori what did I do wrong?" He asked again, his eyes pleading with me to tell him the truth. "Did someone hurt you?"

Yes. "No"

"Then what is it?" He asked then he lifted one hand to cup my face. His hand settled on my left cheek where the bruise was. I winced and pulled my face away from him slowly, hoping that he wouldn't realize why I made that sudden move.

He looked at the palm of his hand, then to my cheek and I saw his eyes widen a little in shock.

For a moment I was a bit confused. He couldn't see the bruise right? There was makeup there.

"What the hell happened to you?!" He asked raising his voice a little.

"What are you talking about?" I knew what he was talking about but I was secretly hoping that it was something else.

"Your cheek! What happened to it?"

Oh no.

He stood there waiting for an answer while I was racking my brain looking for an excuse to tell him.

"I umm... I-I-I fell?" I said, my voice straining at the end making it sound more like a question than an answer.

Really Dori? That's what you came up with? Pathetic.

"You fell?" He asked in a suspicious tone. The look on his face made it evident that he did not believe me. And who could blame him? I was lying through my teeth.

"Umm...yes" I replied. "I fell and hit my cheek on the furniture at home" I explained hoping he was gullible enough to fall for my excuse.

He looked at me for a while, his eyes studying me. I started to fidget under his gaze.

"Dori" he said with a serious look on his face.

My eyes flickered up to his. "Y-y-yes"

"Don't lie to me" he said.

I sighed and looked away. It makes no sense I keep trying to lie to him when it's obvious that he doesn't believe me.

"Mason and his friends beat me up in the locker room yesterday after school as a form of revenge because you gave him a black eye and broke his friend's arm" I explained to him. I looked at him to see his reaction and to my surprise, his jaw was clenched and his eyes held a look of anger.

I looked at his hands to see them clenching and unclenching by his side.

He looked dangerous. He looked like he was ready to kill.

He was looking above my head and I could see his chest rise and fall in a fast manner.

"Ryder..?" I said trying to pull him out of his thoughts. He ignored me and made his way around me and started walking into the school, his hands still clenching and unclenching at his sides.

"Ryder!" I shouted out to him.

He turned around and met my gaze. "Don't you dare think about doing anything stupid" I said.

He turned around and started walking again and shouted over his shoulder, "too late for that". Then he disappeared inside the school building.