Chapter 8 A Promise

Alix's POV:

I didn't understand what had just happened. I had been ready to climb over the barrier when I suddenly felt someone pull me backward, and I was drawn straight into a pair of arms.

I was completely in tears, trembling, my breath catching so painfully in my chest while the arms around me held me tightly against a body that kept me from moving. I had no will left in me at that moment.

One of the arms shifted and began to stroke my hair while I cried in frustration, unable to calm down as I lay against this unfamiliar body.

"Calm down..."

That voice... No. It couldn't be. Why would it be him? Why would he be there?

I tried to steady myself while his hand kept smoothing my hair, but I couldn't. All I saw was that alleyway again. I didn't want to see it anymore, yet it still came back and swallowed me whole. I cried again and again, and he said nothing. He simply stayed there, holding me close, his hand brushing my hair with gentle patience.

I didn't know how long we stayed like that, but eventually my tears ran out and I started to catch my breath. My breathing was still uneven, but I could hear the steady rhythm of his heartbeat against my ear, and little by little I matched my breathing to it.

We remained like that a while longer until his arm, the one holding me close, slid down to the floor along with the hand that had been stroking my hair. I shivered instantly, as if the warmth that had kept me together had been taken from me.

In that moment, I understood that I needed to move or at least sit up. As best as I could manage with my numb limbs, I shifted and sat beside him with my head between my knees, never lifting my gaze.

Derek's POV:

I had truly believed I would not catch her in time or that her hood would tear with the force I used to pull her toward me.

This was the second time in just a few hours that we had ended up in this position, but this time I truly struggled to let her go. Maybe it was because Sophie was not there.

I stayed on the ground, my arms resting at my sides as she shifted away. The cold of the night settled over me, and for a moment I regretted releasing her.

My T-shirt was soaked with her tears, but I did not care; I was fighting the urge to pull her back into my arms.

I was out of my mind to think this way, even if she had not endured the humiliation from earlier. She was far too young for me to let thoughts like that cross my mind. She was just a kid, as Sophie had reminded me, a kid who had just gone through the worst thing a woman could experience, and I had no idea how to comfort her in a way that would stop her from wanting to harm herself again.

I glanced in her direction, pushing my hair back from my eyes so I could see her clearly.

She sat there with her head buried between her knees, silent and shivering.

Her long black hair spilled over her face, the same hair I had been stroking only moments earlier as I tried to soothe her.

I took out my cigarettes while still lying down and lit one, staring at the stars as I tried to shake off the feeling that had come over me when I held her. It had not been desire or longing. It had been fear, fear that if I ever let go again, I might never see her alive in front of me.

As I took another drag, she tried to stand. I grasped her hand firmly without looking at her, stopping her movement.

"If you want to see each other again, you must stay alive," I said calmly.

I regretted those words the moment they left my mouth. I still would not be able to see her again.

"I will stay alive," she whispered.

I hesitated for a moment, exhaled a slow breath of cigarette smoke, and released her hand reluctantly.

It would be the last time we saw each other and the only moment in my life when I would ever touch her.

Alix's POV:

I crossed the park again, and the tears returned.

It was not the alley this time. It was Derek, the tattooed man I would probably never see again.

I had heard it in his voice, even though he tried to sound firm. To me, his voice had carried something close to a cry.

When I reached the apartment, I went to the window of my bedroom and saw the Ducati roll past the building.

The fading sound of the motorcycle as it moved down the street shattered me completely. I fell onto my bed and cried again, thinking only about his tattoos.

Marina's POV:

It was nine o'clock when I arrived at Alix's apartment.

I had not been able to reach her the night before and did not dare come here then, afraid I would startle her mother if Alix was not home.

I heard the locks turn, and Alix appeared in black sweatpants, her hair wet, looking as if she could frighten the dead.

"My God!" I exclaimed. "What happened to you?"

I panicked the moment I saw her. Something serious must have happened last night for her to be in such a state.

Alix did not answer me. She went straight into her room, sat at her desk, and began drawing as if I were not even there.

"I tried to call you, but I couldn't reach you," I told her while looking around her room.

Her bed, her desk, even the floor were covered with drawings spread everywhere.

"I lost my phone," she murmured while continuing to draw.

I picked up a few sheets on the ground and only understood what she was working on when I reached the third sketch.

The sheet in my hand showed a Tibetan face sticking out its tongue, framed by a Mandala. I instantly connected it to the biker's tattoo from yesterday.

"They're the tattoos of the guy with the Ducati," I said, unable to look away from the details.

Alix did not respond, but I had known her long enough to understand she would not say anything yet. She would pour all her pain or anger straight into her drawings.

Even so, I felt relieved to know she was truly alive. Last night, my mind had imagined every horrible possibility.

I stayed in her room with her in silence through the whole morning, waiting for her to talk, but she did not.

Derek's POV:

It was the last day of vacation, and there was not a single day I had not thought about that girl with black hair and green eyes.

Not a day passed without seeing the image of her in that alley, her tearful gaze frozen by what she had just endured.

Not a day when I did not feel the memory of her trembling in my arms.

I reached the racecourse like I did every evening since that night, hoping I would come across that bastard and make him taste what he had done to them.

"You're still here?" Sophie asked me. "You're not starting tomorrow?"

"Yes, but I couldn't sleep," I replied as I grabbed a Corona from the crate.

I opened the bottle with my teeth and took a sip while scanning the people around us.

"I don't think he's here today either. I don't think he would dare set foot here again," Sophie said, studying my expression.

"You really look awful, you should go rest," she added when she noticed I kept searching.

My gaze stopped on a blond guy near the starting line, and my blood ran cold when he turned around. I would have recognized that face anywhere.

I dropped the bottle on the ground without thinking and headed toward him, rolling up the sleeves of my sweater. Rage pushed everything else out of my vision as I heard Sophie shouting behind me, but it was useless. Even she could not stop me, and she knew it.

I forced my way through the people between us, and once I got close, I threw my glasses aside and landed a punch straight into his face, sending him crashing over his motorcycle.

Everyone immediately stepped back as I grabbed him by the collar, lifted him, and pulled him close to my face.

"So you want to play the real man," I spat. "I'm going to show you what real men do."

I slammed my fist into his filthy face again, sending him back to the ground. I climbed on top of him and kept hitting him, strike after strike, not giving him the slightest chance to dodge the punches I had been saving for weeks.

"Derek, stop! Stop!"

Ayden grabbed me under the arms, and two others joined him to pull me off this bastard, but I refused to let go. The moment they managed to get me on my feet, I lunged forward and kicked him straight in the genitals.

"That's for that girl!" I snapped, spitting in his face.

I turned away without looking at Sophie or Ayden, got on my motorcycle, and started the engine.

Alix's POV:

Today we returned to school. I had absolutely no desire to go.

Since that night, I had mostly stayed inside the apartment, especially in my room, sketching his tattoos. I knew I would never see him again. I had become so obsessed with him since that day that at night I sometimes imagined I heard the sound of his motorcycle and pictured him riding down the street doing wheelies.

My new cellphone beeped. It was Marina, letting me know she was here.

She had gotten her license at the start of the vacation and had decided she would drive me to school.

She had never asked me any questions about that night, but she knew me well enough to understand I would not have said anything.

"The look. If you want to scare off all the guys, you're on the right track," she teased as I got into the Ford.

I did not answer. I wore my usual black jeans and a long black hoodie that nearly covered my eyes. I had dressed like this ever since that night.

When we arrived at the high school, we walked straight to class. As always, Marina sat beside me, but for once, I asked if I could take the seat by the window. She nodded, surprised, but there was no way for me to explain that I wanted to avoid even the lightest contact with the boys who sat near us.

"We have a new math teacher! He's so sexy!" a girl shouted as she entered the classroom.

I rested my arm on the desk and leaned my head on it while staring out the window. I should have stayed at the apartment to draw.

"Please have a seat!"

"Oh damn!" Marina muttered.

"Miss, what a lovely word on your lips. Could you tell your neighbor that it's math class time, not nap time?"

Marina nudged me with her elbow, and I turned toward her, asking what was going on.

"I'm waiting for your neighbor to take off his hood and sit up before starting the class."

I straightened slowly, keeping my head lowered as I pushed back my hood. I lifted my face toward the teacher, and the moment our eyes met, I froze. Because the intense green I saw staring back at me was his.