8. His Eagerness

Aiden had to make Karen his. He didn’t know how to go about it, but he just had to.

A few days into the new school, he was patiently waiting for her to arrive, so that she would light up his whole world as per usual… and was harshly disappointed when came noon and she had yet to make an appearance.

What was going on? Could it be her schedule was changed drastically for some reason – like his stalking her?

Easy, boy, he told himself after a while. Think rationally.

Could it be possible she had just skipped?

That seemed more logical. He inwardly face-palmed at his stupidity and his eagerness to make assumptions.

Only one day since he last saw her, and already he felt like he was suffering from withdrawal. What was she doing to him?

“You’ve become a sap,” his wolf sing-sang in his head.

“As if you’re any better,” he scoffed at him, inwardly rolling his eyes.

“Should we go see her?” His wolf then suggested in all seriousness. He was on edge, and it showed.

But then again, so was Aiden.

He agreed with his wolf’s reasoning and decided to go to her house – of which he knew the localization seeing as he had stalked her thoroughly.

Instead of waiting till the end of the school day to go seek her out, he escaped the prison people liked to call school at lunch time, and went straight to his car.

He couldn’t wait long enough to see her. Would she be happy and excited to see him or would she roll her eyes at him?

He drove through the small town with ease, almost as if he had lived all his life there. He did have a splendid sense of direction after all.

When he finally reached her house, he parked the car near its driveway in a way that he wouldn’t bother her dad if he were to need to go out.

One could only imagine his astonishment when, after ringing the doorbell politely, she opened up to him, looking disheveled and as if a truck had run over her.

His greeting died on his lips. “What the hell happened to you?” He all but growled.

“What the hell brought you here?” She hissed through gritted teeth.

Oh boy!

... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 

Karen, who had gone back home late once more because she had to go grocery shopping, received the beating of a lifetime from her very drunk father right as she appeared in their kitchen. He had been waiting for her.

Had she known, she would have gone to spend the night at Mason’s, her totally gay friend, giving him an excuse or another. But she had not noticed her dad’s blue car this time around, being the airhead that she was, she had been thinking of one very handsome Aiden and thus missed the damned car.

Aiden was bad news and dangerous for her – for her heart, her sanity and her future alike.

“So you’re finally home! Where were you, bitch?” Her father asked as he threw a canned box at her. Thankfully, he missed her head, but it did land on her shoulder.

** ** ** ** ** ** **

Too bruised and tired to move, Karen ended up sleeping on the kitchen floor right where she had been beaten to an ounce of her life.

When she woke up in the morning, sore from the position she had slept in and from the cold floor she had spent the night on, it was all she could do to move to her room.

A quick glance at the alarm clock told her she was late.

But she would have to run even later for she had to apply lots of foundation if she were to try covering those damned facial bruises – there were two of them. Her hand shook with the effort to apply the foundation… the pain was so intense, she believed she might be suffering from a dislocated shoulder.

Her foundation was well-applied but wasn’t covering enough. The bruises could still be seen through those two layers.

And more importantly, even if she went to school, she wouldn’t be able to take notes because of her hand or rather because of her whole arm.

She remembered a time when her father cherished her like she was his little princess. Now, he was obviously unfit for parenthood… A pang of pain struck her, right in the chest – it was heavy and restricting her breathing somehow. 

She realized when there was a moment of reprieve from the pain, that the violent sobs that were wracking through her were what relieved her a little bit. She decided to lay down for a little bit – just a little bit… only to end up falling asleep.

It was close to 1 pm when the door bell rang. She went to get it, forgetting everything about her appearance, and was surprised to see Aiden at the door.

He had the nerve to ask what had happened to her! Oh, she’d show him!