Cruel World

5: Protection

The loud music that was making Arabella's head pound, didn't bother her anymore. "So why did you offer to buy me a drink?" She asked Leo as you messed with the empty glass of her third drink.

"Well you're a pretty girl and you looked lonely outside so I decided to find a way to make you look not so lonely." She nodded slowly. "Well, I think you did it." He smiled as she continued to mess with her glass. "Would you like another drink?" She looked at him before shrugging. "Sure why not." Now it was his turn to nod his head before ordering her another drink.

"So what brought you to Kingston?" Arabella looked over at Leo. "What do you mean?" "I can tell you aren't from around here." "So it's that easy to see?" "Kinda yeah." Arabella smiled softly. "I just need a new type of scenery and one of my friends from high school lives in this town so I decided to move out here." "Ah." The bartender set the drink down in front of Arabella.

Leo looks over the crowd as Arabella picked up the drink and sipped it slightly.  "What brings you to this club?" Leo looked back at her. "What do you mean?" "You don't look like someone that would come to a club like this." "I could say the same about you, Miss Benjamin." Even though her head was slightly fuzzy because of her drinks she looked at Leo. "How do you know my last name." Arabella set her drink down. "I know a lot about you." Ara felt her phone vibrate and she checked it as Leo watched her. It was a text from Tessa.

'Going home early with my boo. Gonna have to find a way home night girl 😘.'

Arabella stood up quickly. "My friend is waiting for me so we can leave I have to go." As she went to turn around to leave, a dizzy spell hit her and she started to fall to the floor. Leo caught her and picked her up. "You don't look good lying Arabella." He nodded at the bartender before carrying the girl to the back door of the club.

"Let me go," Arabella spoke softly as she tried to get out of Leo's arms. "Calm down sweetheart. I'm not going to do anything to you, though I can't say the same from my friends." She stopped thrashing in his arms. "They don't like people trying to be who they aren't." Her eyes go wide and she knows what he means.  She continued to thrash in his arms again.

"Let go!" Her words were becoming more and more slur.  She felt her ass and back hit the cold concrete of the alleyway by the bar. Arabella moved to place her hands on the concrete to steady herself. She looked up at Leo, only to see other people looking down at her. "Leave me alone. I haven't done anything to you."

"Well you are correct but some generous people are paying us a good amount of money. You know them well Arabella." Arabella's gaze went to the ground. "Have at her boys."

That made the people that stood over her move closer, now attacking her.

Hit after hit only made her curl into a ball, trying to get away from the pain. From the memories. "Does it hurt Arabella? Knowing that your own family had done this to you too? That no one accepts you?" "Stop it." "That's why you are here. To get away from your family because they disowned you." "You don't know anything." She mumbled trying to get the words from Leo to stop.

The kicks and hits stopped as Leo moved closer and held her chin up. "You are nothing but a waste now. You ruined yourself." He moved closer so his voice would only be heard by her ear.

"And you don't want them to stop. You want them to kill you."

A gunshot rang out and one of the men that was attacking Arabella fell to the floor. "Next one goes in your head, Leo." Arabella looked towards the front of the alleyway where the voice that she had dealt with for the past week or so. 

"So nice of you to join us Aella but this has nothing to do with you so leave." The brunette growled at the redhead that stood at the entrance. "Well that girl that you are beating the shit out," Aella waved the gun at Arabella. "Is something I've taken a liken to. So I'm gonna say it again." Aella pointed the gun at Leo.

"Next one goes in your head, Leo."