I woke up the next morning, and the first thing I did was untangle Draven’s arm that was slumped around my waist before turning around to face him. I glanced at his face and smiled a little, admiring his features, starting from his perfect structured jawline, and onto to his soft lips that felt like heaven when pressed against mine. He was good-looking, I’ll give him that. But like I said, looks aren’t everything. He’s got anger issues, big ones at that, and he needs to change that if he ever wanted to become a better person. But then again, who am I to have a say in all of this, right?
“Morning, doll face.” His raspy voice almost made me melt in my position and I narrowed my eyes as he flickered his eyes open.
“Were you pretending to sleep?” I made a face and he flashed me a grin as I let out a groan and got off the bed. Everything that happened last night came crashing down the instance I got up and I hugged myself a little before clutching my hands together. Should I tell him? No, no way. It would only piss him off. First it was Francis, now Dexter? He’ll never let it go. He’ll never let them go.
“Leaving so soon?” Draven asked, his breath hitting against my neck from the back as I let out a gasp and turned to face him, releasing the grip I had on the doorknob in the process.
“Ye-yes, I have to take a shower and go eat.”
“What’s the rush? You can always join me in the shower, doll face, I won’t complain.”
“I’m fine on my own, thanks…” I murmured, blushing slightly as I struggled to push his chest away, his body only leaning closer to mine, a smirk tugging on the corner of his lips.
“Are you sure?”
“Positive.”
“Tsk, too bad then.” He took a step back, turning around and revealing his back, the toned muscles on his back flexing as he stretched a little. Snap out of, Adriana.
“Get ready, we’re going out today.” He said finally, slumping on a towel and I narrowed my eyes at him.
“Where?”
‘You’ll see.”
x-x
“We’re just going to visit them, have a small talk, go out for a drink or two and come back home, understood?” Alaric said out loud and I quickly nodded, tugging on my royal blue tank top that well really well with the black tight I was wearing. Apparently, we’re all going out to meet up with the humans, random ones at that, before we go for a dinner or drink and come back home. I don’t exactly see the point of this little walk around town but somehow, it was able to create a better bond between humans and vampires. Pointless attempt in my opinion, but hey, whatever makes them sleep at night, right?
“Back from salty island, aren’t you?” Ferra hissed near my ears and I mentally let out a groan before going silent.
“I was compelled, stop getting on my case, Ferra. I’m tired of it.” I picked out my wool, brushing a few strands of hair away from my face.
“Whatever you say.” She grumbled and left for the first time, making me sigh in relief. I tied my hair into a ponytail and looked out, waiting for Draven, who was by the way, late. Unusual and not like him, but he probably had something to do. All the guys were now muttering and groaning impatiently but I used this chance to breathe in the fresh air, a breeze brushing against my arms as I hugged myself. I stopped when I noticed Draven finally coming out of the house, wearing a grey sweater with black jeans and I admired his taste of clothes. They were always on point and-oh my god, Adriana, stop obsessing over nothing.
“Let’s go.” He said shortly, not even apologizing for making everyone wait but then again, this is Draven Cruz we’re talking about. We all started following him and after reaching the third block, both Ferra and I started to get tired and bored, wondering how these people were even able to put up with these talks and walks on a regular basis. Oh wait, I forgot that they had inhuman powers that prevented them from getting tired at all. How pleasant for the rest of us, normal people.
We reached to a huge shopping Mall and I mentally groaned when some girls started huddling around the guys, whispering, giggling and squealing in excitement, all at once too, if that was even possible.
“Disgusting.” I heard Ferra mutter and I scoffed, completely agreeing with her.
“I know right, why do girls even act like that? It’s not even like they’re anything special and-never mind” I stopped when I noticed Ferra making her way towards Jason, putting an arm around his neck, as if she was letting the girls know that he was taken. Weird, were they a thing now?
“Any-anyways, as I was telling myself-” I grumbled to myself and stopped when I heard someone chuckle from behind, causing me to spin around to face Mark, an old high school friend of mine.
“You never change, do you?” he let out a laugh and I involuntarily squealed his name out of excitement before throwing myself at him, wrapping my arms around his neck tightly.
“Where have you been?!” I asked, pulling away and he grinned in response.
“Where have I been? Where’ve you been since you got “chosen”?” he shook his head, his bright emerald green eyes boring into mine as I let out a sigh.
“I know, I’ve just never had the chance to get out.” I pouted and stopped when I noticed Draven, staring at me from ahead, his eyes burning holes through my face as I flinched a little. Did I do something wrong?
“How have you been, by the way? We should meet up, you gotta let me know what it’s like to live with them.” He grinned, brushing his dark messy hair and I gave him a weak smile, trying to ignore Draven, who was still leaning against a wall and staring at us, next to the Mall we were supposed to go in.
“Yeah, yeah we should.”
“Are you free right now? Because we can just grab a coffee or-”
“That’s enough out of you.” Draven suddenly appeared behind Mark before he grabbed the back of his shirt, jerking him back.
“Draven!” I snapped in surprise before rushing to help Mark get up but a hand grabbed my upper arm before yanking me back, my body getting squeezed against Draven’s chest as an arm wrapped around my shoulders swiftly, holding me in place.
“What the fuck, man, the-” Mark stopped dead in his tracks as soon as he looked up to face Draven and I could see the color on his face drain away within seconds before he stood up straight, giving me a pitiful look before scurrying away.
“What was that for?!” I jerked myself away and glared at Draven, who gave me an expressionless look before shrugging it off ignorantly.
“Not my fault he pissed his pants for no reason.” He raised a brow and I heard the guys laugh from the back, as if they’ve been watching this little show the entire time.
“You’re all so childish,” I huffed, turning to look at the guys, who simply stood their grinning like a bunch of idiots. “Especially you.” I turned to look at Draven. He opened his mouth to say something but stopped, his eyes suddenly focusing on my neck as I narrowed my eyes at him. Within seconds, his facial expressions changed from a blank look to pure anger and hatred and I flinched a little.
“What the fuck is that?!” he spat through gritted teeth, his jaw line clenching as I looked at him on confusion.
“What?” I stiffened as his eyes never left my neck and I swallowed the lump in my throat when he took a step forward. I know he is mad, obviously, but why?
“The fuck is on your neck, Adriana?!” he suddenly yelled, making everyone, including me jump up a little.
“What are you talking about-”
“What do you mean what the fuck am I talking about, there is a fucking hickey on your neck!” his words hit like a thousand bricks and for the next few seconds, I just stood stiff in my position, a hand making its way up to my neck as I tried to make sense of what was happening. Don’t tell me that…it was because of last night? It has to be, Dexter was the only one-
“Fucking answer me, Adriana, who the fuck did that?!” my thoughts were cut off and I gasped when he grabbed my hand, yanking me forward and by now, the guys were huddling around us, trying to calm him down.
“Draven, calm down, we’re in the middle of the fuckin road.”
“Let’s go inside somewhere to talk about, we can’t do this here.”
“I’m sure Adriana has an explanation, so chill for a minute and-”
“If you guys don’t shut the fuck up right now, I’ll bash each and every one of your heads to a fucking wall, am I fucking clear?!” his spat, tightening the grip around my wrist and I held in a whimper before trying to free myself from his grip.
“We’re going home,” he said shortly and I ignored him as I kept struggling to break free.
“Draven-”
“Stop that.” He hissed, jerking me closer and I gasped before going silent, a hard lump already forming in my throat as I stood still. Before I could say anything, Draven picked me up in his arms and I gripped his shirt when my head started to spin, my surrounding become more and more blurry by each passing second. The next thing I knew, we had already arrived right in front of the mansion and I involuntarily gripped his shirt when he appeared in front of his room, literally kicking the door open before bolting inside with me. What should I do? What should I say?
“Tell me who the fuck did that?” he demanded, his voice turning just a tad-bit soft but judging from the way his jawline was clenching, I knew that he was far from calming down. I got off his arms and opened my mouth to say something but decided to keep it shut. “Was in Alaric? Finn? Vincent?” with each name, he took a step forward and I backed away, knowing very well that he was now pushing me into a corner but what choice did I have than to back away?
“No! Draven, it’s probably nothing, I didn’t even see a hickey…” I tried to keep a straight face, walking right past him and towards the dressing table.
“Unhuh, really?” his words dripped in sarcasm and I froze when I stared at myself in the mirror, touching the red mark that was left right where Dexter had sucked on. How the hell did I not see that this morning?!
“Let me guess, that’s a fucking birthmark that’s been there since day one right?” he asked, standing right behind me as I stared at the red mark, hoping, praying that it somehow disappears.
“I-I-”
“I-I, what?!” he cut me off, grabbing my wrist and spinning me around to face him. Calm down, Adriana. I’ve seen situations like these where the girlfriend pranks the boyfriend into thinking she got a hickey from another guy. I could pull one of those off, right? But there is just one tiny teeny problem, he wasn’t my boyfriend and well, I had no chance of getting away with a lie anyways so think again, smartass.
“Adriana?!”
“I don’t know okay? I don’t know where I got it from…” I finally said out loud, trying to yank my hand away but held a good grip on them.
“Really? So what is then, hunh?”
“I don’t know? It’s probably not even a hickey, alright?”
“Are you fucking kidding me? Quit playing around with me, doll face, I know what a fucking hickey looks like!” he snapped, his eyes growing a shade darker but I decided to keep up my innocent little act, despite me shitting in my pants right now.
“I think I burned myself while I was straightening my hair today…” I mumbled out weakly, lowering my eyelashes on the ground.
“Straightening your hair-for fuck’s sake, Adriana, your hair is already straight!” he huffed, glancing up at the ceiling and letting out a sigh in frustration. “I hardly doubt you even know what a straightener looks like.” He mocked, but his serious tone remained the same and I scoffed at his wild accusation.
“Excuse me, but just so you know, I know what a-”
“Cut the bullshit, Adriana, and tell me the truth. You’re really starting to piss me off now.” He took a step forward, squeezing my wrists and I inhaled deeply before going silent.
“I really don’t know how I got it okay?”
“If you weren’t on Vervain right now, I would have compelled you into telling the truth. Count yourself lucky, right now.” His voice started to get more cold and I flinched a little before boring into his eyes.
“Draven-”
“No, shut up. I gave you a chance to speak out the truth but you wasted it. So I’ll do it my way.” And with that, he released his grip and turned around to leave, causing a shiver down my spine.
“Wait, what do you mean?”
“I know one of my brothers did it, my bets are on Vincent.” he stopped, glancing back at me and my eyes widened when I noticed the hatred filling in his eyes.
“Wa-wait!” I yelled and bolted up to him before he could open the door. “He didn’t do it, I swear!” I defended him, stepping in front of Draven and grabbing his shirt.
“And why should I believe you?” he masked on an expressionless look and I bit my bottom lip hesitantly before shaking my head.
“Because-I know.” I looked up at him and his eyes swiftly left my lips and returned back to my eyes, making my heart skip a beat.
“I put up with your little lie for a while, doll face, so now, you only have five seconds to tell me the truth,” he warned, taking a small step forward and my eyes widened in fear. “Five, four, three…” with each number he counted down, he took a small step forward and I instinctively took one back, my mind becoming hazy as I tried to blurt out the truth already. But I can’t, what if-
“Two, on-”
“It was Dexter!” I blabbered out, releasing in a breath I didn’t know I was even holding back and I watched Draven’s movement come to a sudden freeze before a void of emotions swam in his eyes, making me cower in fear.
“What did you say?”
“Dexter, he-”
“How the hell did he get to touch you in the first place?!” He spat with his jaw line clenched and his hands balled into a fist in anger.
“He-he-last night, he suddenly appeared out of nowhere and-”
“Last night?” Draven’s eyes widened in surprise before he shook his head in disbelief. “Fuck that, you’re lying. You were with me, Adriana, the whole fucking time.” He backed me against the door, caging me in his arms, just to make sure I didn’t slip past him. I wasn’t planning to, there was no point.
“I’m telling the truth! I went downstairs to get water and he was there-”
“They why the fuck did you not tell me, hunh?!” he snapped, slamming one of his hands on the door, making me gasp before going silent.
“I was scared…that you might do something to him-”
“Screw that, you’re supposed to tell me!” He cut in and I shook my head.
“I didn’t want you to hurt him, Draven-”
“Well fuck what you want, doll face, he’s going to get it this time. And no, you don’t get to have a say in this so shut up.” He leaned his face closer to mine, the anger flickering in his eyes and I gave him a pleading look.
“Please, can you just calm down? I’m sorry, I’m sorry for not telling you but I was sacred. I didn’t want this to happen, Draven…”
“Well, too bad,” Draven said coldly, backing away. “Move, I’ll be back.” He said shortly and was about to push me aside when I grabbed his hand.
“Don’t! Draven, please? Just this once, calm down first and tell me what’s going on between you two? I need to know why he’s doing this. What does he want from me?” I poured down all my questiones and Draven shot me one last glare before grabbing my hand, painfully slow, might I add, and brushing it away from his.
“You don’t have to know anything. All you need to know is that you need to stay away from him.” His ignorant words made my blood boil. Okay, I have been patient up to this point, but enough is enough.
“No, tell me. I want to know now. Why? Why is he after me?” I questioned, stepping in front of him and folding my hands across my chest.
“Doll face, move. You’re cute and all that shit when you’re mad, but right now, you’re really starting to get on my nerves.
“I don’t care, tell me.” I stood my ground, despite Draven clenching his jaw line before letting out a huff in frustration.
“No.”
“Tell me, why? Why, Draven? What does he want from me?” I questioned, raising my voice.
“You don’t have to fucking know, alright?” he said impatiently, but I could tell them he was getting more and more frustrated.
“Tell me!” I snapped, not wanting to let it go this time.
“Because, he’s going to use you to kill me, alright?! And after that, he’s going to kill you too, Lianna, why can’t you fucking see that, already?!” He suddenly yelled, grabbing both my wrists and jerking me towards him. My heart almost ripped out of my chest and I just stood still, staring into his eyes as he fixated his very own on mine as well.
“Lianna…?” Who’s Lianna?”
xxx
