Alyssa's pov :

That guy gave me a ride to home. The whole ride was silent, except for my sniffles. As soon as I entered my home, I rushed to my room. Fortunately, mom was at work. I didn’t want her to see me like this. I entered the bathroom and started showering.

I scrubbed my body really hard. The memories of him touching me and kissing me came back. I felt violated and disgusted. I wanted to erase every sign of his filthy touch of off me. Which resulted in my skin getting red. The tears started to fall again, I just sat there under the shower and cried for god knows how long.

After I came out, I didn’t have the energy to even dry my hair. I was too exhausted. I just laid face down on my bed, and in seconds I was in a restless Slumber.

I woke up to the sound of someone ringing our doorbell. I got up and groggily went down to open the door. It was Rae and Connor.  Rae rushed inside, with Connor following after.
" Omg girl! Are you okay! What has that bish done to you!" Rae was seething.

" I never expected that man to come for you like that! Are you fine Lyssi?"
Connor gave me a concerned  look.

" I'm fine. Don't worry. He Didn't do much..."

" he didn’t do much! Look at those marks on your neck! You aint fooling nobody! Tell me! Did he do bad stuff! How far did he go!" Rae screamed near my ears.

I just stayed silent. It was shameful, how could I say those stuff... Rae took my silence as a way worse sign though.. She silently whispered, her voice barely audible
" Did he....rape y-"

" No! He didn’t! "

"Please, don't hide it from me" rae looked like she was gonna cry.

" I swear I'm telling the truth. He..he just..touched my stomach and waist....and...kissed me" I said lowering my head.

Relief washed over her face.

"Don’t lower your head. You did no wrong. Don’t you lower your head,ever. I'm so sorry I wasn’t there to help" rae said as she pulled me in a hug.

"No..don’t say sorry. It’s not your fault. Don’t say that" her kindness and care warmed my heart. But I hated myself for making them worry.

Connor sat there watching us, I could see guilt on his face. I kind of understood why he felt like that.

" Listen Connor, you tried your best to help me. You stood up for me when no one else did. And that also against a mafia leader. That was really brave of you. I am really grateful for that." I gave him a smile of gratitude.

" But don’t you ever do that again. Don't put your life in danger for me. It would kill me to know I was the reason behind my friends death. So please, Don't do it ever again" I said seriously,  to which he only nodded. I engulfed him in a big bear hug.

"Once again, thank you, Connor. You really did great. Don't feel guilty buddy" Rae came and joined us in the hug.

" So, movie night?" Rae asked breaking the hug.

" yeah, i would love that" I said giggling.

" I wanna stay too, but, It's kind of like a girls night. So I'd rather skip" Connor said skeptically.

" So what? Join us." Rae said.

" But I'm a boy!"

" And? Are you saying you got problem with girls?" rae asked raising a brow

" No. Not that. But like.. A girls night is for girls. And I'm a boy, a man"

" okay then. It's a friends night. How does that sound?" i offered.

"Well..changing the name doesn’t really help much " Connor looked reluctant

" Oh, so you just Don't wanna hangout with us. You're just making excuses to skip now, aren’t you?" I narrowed my eyes at him.

" hhhh, so that's why..  You found new friends, didn’t you? You don’t wanna hang out with us anymore , cz we're boring to you now. What a freaking cheater!" Rae fake gasped.

" A man's true color has been shown Rae.  Such betrayal! However shall we trust another man ever again" I exasperated. Connor looked shook..

" Really guys? You're gonna do me like that.. Really" he pinched the bridge of his nose.

" Now he's blaming it on us! Such toxicity. Ouch. My heart" Rae held her hands on her heart.

" Fine, I'll stay. Just don't watch barbie or Disney Princess shit and stuff, and Don't start gossiping about guys or makeup." he said.

" Eww. Who'd do that" Rae scrunched her face.

*******4 hours later******

I called the cafe and took the day off.
We spent 2hours making chicken nuggets, and popcorn. My kitchen looks like a mess. Rae made so much mess that we had to kick her out of the Kitchen. She was sulking the whole time.

We were now sitting on our couch finishing  " The maze runner". Rae and Connor were fighting over popcorn. After the movie ended we started gossiping.

" you know that bitch, Sarah? She dumped the football teams captain to date his own best friend. Now they're fighting over one girl." Rae said.

" I know right. They're basically sworn enemies now . I saw them choking each other even yesterday. Who'd believe they used to be best buddies" Connor added.

" They should just choke each other to death and save some oxygen from being wasted." Connors remark made Rae laugh. They kept on bitching and gossiping.

Um..I clearly remember someone saying 'no gossiping '. I laughed at that thought.

We even used some skincare stuff. We used face masks, did our nails and hair. Connor was enjoying it the most. He was the one insisting on doing more stuff.

"I remember someone saying something about not wanting to be girly, wonder who that was?" I said laughing as he slurped down the last bit of the pink drink  that I had ordered from him.

"  Man this tastes so good! I never thought pink drink would taste this good! And girls night could be this fun! Even the skincare was fun and relaxing, my skin's literally shining"

"Girls are awesome creatures. So, Of course. Girls nights are awesome. .  " i said laughing while Rae showed him some of the men bracelets online.

" I love it here. I've been missing out on so much. I'm joining you guys from now on. Don’t you betray me by not inviting me"

" as you wish sir"

Mom also joined us for a while after she came back from work.
The night was soo much fun. I was so happy, the incident in the morning was forgotten like it never happened.

A night that might have ended with me crying and feeling depressed,  had instead ended in happiness and laughter. I was grateful to have them with me.

***********

The next day I skipped school. I noticed a black car parked infront of my house and was too scared to go out. Rae and Connor had left earlier.

In the afternoon I felt a little bit braver so I went to the cafe. Michael knew something was up. He kept on pestering me on telling him what had happened and I gave in. He looked sad.

" You shouldn’t have come today y' know. You need rest."

" even if I stay home, mom's not there. I'll be all alone. They could easily barge into my home. I'd rather be with people"

" okay then. I'll walk you home today, Don't worry too much, yeah?" he said with concern.

" you look more worried than I am. Don't worry" I said laughing as I walked past him.

1hour before the closing time, a tall man came in with a huge bouquet of red roses. It was so pretty. Layla, Carlos and Justin had left already.

The guy wore sunglasses, which was weird considering it was night time. His face was covered with a black mask.

He came to me and gave me the roses. I shocked to say the least. Never have I  ever received such pretty flowers from someone.

" Who are they from?"

" From me" that deep voice. I could recognise it anywhere. I pushed the flowers back into his hands. But he held my hand stopped me from going.

" Listen, I know you are scared of me. What I did was a bad thing. But I was just angry. I truly did not mean to hurt you"

"........ "

" look, take these flowers as an apology " his deep voice grumbled in my ears.

" I..I don’t want it.. In..instead.. Can you please stop bothering me. "

" that I can not do dear. I need to see you, or I'll go insane"

I stood there in silence. Suddenly Michael was there by my side. He came in front of me and pushed me behind him.

" leave her alone dude"

" Ah, Michael, I've got quite a lot of information on you. Who could have thought that the great Marce-" he sounded amused to see Michael but was cut off by Michael.

" Shut up. Not another word" Michael glared at him and hissed out.

" Watch your tone. You know I can fuck your whole life up." Ares said smirking at him.

" Yeah sure. But the price you’d have to pay for 'fucking me up' is not gonna be an easy one to pay. I'd make sure to make it really hard for you,you wouldn’t want that" Michael said in a whisper. They were basically breathing on eachother. Arestair stared at him for a while.

" Fine, I'll be leaving now. I wasn’t here to cause trouble anyways. " Ares surprisingly backed away.

" I was here only to apologise. Whether she accepts it or not is up to her. Enjoy your freedom while it lasts. It wont be longer until you’re mine" he said that while staring at me. With that he was out.

" Thank you Michael " I gave out a sigh of relief.

" No need to thank me kiddo. Go get changed, we're leaving right now" I nodded and went to change.  I was too immersed in thinking about Arestair that I completely forgot about what he had said to Michael.

What have I gotten myself into. How am I supposed get out if  this.