Ronny

Chapter 48

Adelina Celine Torres

"Please?" Aaron says, his voice a weirdly sweet tone. "Nope." I say, rolling out of bed.

Then I remember I am just in a bra and underwear, and immediately pull the cover up to cover me.

Ronny grips the covers and my eyes widen, "No," I say, my voice threatening.

He yanks the covers.

"You jerk!" I run to the bathroom, my cheeks red from him seeing me in broad daylight in just my underwear.

He wants to shower with me, but no way I can stand next to him naked.

I quickly shower and feel a little better when I see the mark on my neck has already faded a little, and that new marks by Ronman himself are littered above my chest. Animal.

I wonder why Ronny says he is working with his father, then tells me he will make him pay. He says to trust him, and I do, so I decide not to worry too much about it.

Maybe he's pulling some kind of backstab thing. That would be sick. I would love to see his dad all mad and surprised after getting pranked.

"Is it cold out?" I ask Ron as I walk to his closet in my towel. His face is a little red and I see him try to look away from me, making my heart flutter.

So what, I like his face when I strut around in a towel. Sue me.

"Cold." Is all he says.

I get a sweatshirt and some shorts I left here last week, then spin around to Ron. "Why?" He says, already knowing what I am going to say.

"Because."

"I've already seen you—

"Close. Them."

He groans and closes his eyes as I drop my towel and change. "Was that so bad?" I say, putting my towel up.

"This won't work." Aaron comes up from behind me, his hand finding my butt and his head leaning over my shoulder.

"What?"

"Your ass is out."

"No it's not."

"Really?" He twists me around so we are facing the full length mirror. I turn and look and sure enough my booty is a little out, but literally barely even at all. I tug down on the back of the shorts, "There."

He just gives me a look, "I have to go to work today." He says.

I frown at this, in the past he barely ever works, mainly cause I think any time we are not together he is working, but still. I know he has his stuff and I need to be chill, but I don't like not being with him. I assume he will start working a lot more than usual now that his company or whatever has a new partner.

I sound obsessive. I swear I'm not.

"Don't make that face." He says when I give him my puppy dog eyes, "Lame." I say, "Can you at least drop me at home on your way?"

He nods, "Is your father home?"

I shrug, "Probably, but I will just go to my room and lock the door so we are chilling."

To my surprise, Ron doesn't protest this. We walk to his car and he drops me off, I give him a huge hug and tell him to be super safe and if his father does anything I will shank him.

Walking into my house feels weird.

It's the first time I have been home without Nick since before Ron even found out about Papa. Stepping inside I am met with a shrill scream belonging to my lovely sister. "Papa oh my gosh!" She sobs from the other room.

Do I check it out?

Curiosity gets the better of me and I creep down the hallway to peek into the living room where all of this commotion is coming from.

When my eyes land on Papa in a freaking wheel chair, sling, and his entire face battered with horrible bruises, I put my hand over my mouth to stop myself from gasping.

Mama stands behind him, and Avery looks like she is about to bawl her eyes out.

"What happened?!" Avery asks, genuinely looking concerned.

Papa is barely even able to hold his eyes open because of how swollen they are, so Mama responds for him. "Mr. Hendrix did this." Mama says coldly.

Ronny?

Is that why he was so okay with letting me come home alone?

Papa was fine yesterday when would he even do this? When he went inside to see his father?

My mind feels so scrambled, I just take a few steps back and then go up to my room trying to process this.

Ronny hurt dad. Badly.

He had threatened to in the past, but I always just thought he was being a tough guy wanting to defend me, not that he would actually do it.

I feel like I should be angry with Ron for what he did, but I can't find any anger within myself.

I curl up into a ball on my bed and try to wrap my head around things. I feel like I have a few pieces to a big puzzle, and I just can't manage to put anything together.

Ronny's dad might be a criminal.

Ronny hurts my dad.

Also what even happened to Mr. Edwards? When I asked if he got fired he said sure.

Owen got jumped.

Ronny is always so defensive when I ask about his work.

I put my face into my pillow and groan, feeling so overwhelmed and confused. Is Ron some kind of criminal?

No, he wouldn't hurt people. Well, innocent people.

He does have armed guards outside of his house.

Is being a criminal how he is so rich so young? I have always been confused on how a 26 year old is a self-made millionaire, could crime be how he got it?

All of these questions are just distracting me from one that I am too scared to ask myself.

Would him being a criminal change anything about how I feel for him?

No.

Is that awful?

Is it stupid that I wholeheartedly trust him and know that he wouldn't hurt innocent people, and that he would never hurt me? He protects me. Time and time again he is there for me.

How do I ask if he's a criminal?

Hey Ronman, are you in a gang or something?

No. I can't do that.

Also, why the heck has he not told me anything yet?! You'd think he'd let me know when we started dating. What if this had changed my feelings, didn't I have the right to know?

Calm down, Addie, you don't even know for sure if he's a criminal.

Do I?

Looks like I need to start investigating.

Then, when I have evidence I will corner him and bam. He's gonna be so proud I figured him out, and ashamed that he thought he was slick when he was not, in fact, slick.

How does one find evidence?

I don't freaking know. That is something I can plan later, because I went to bed late last night and I need a good long nap right about now.

God please let Papa be okay. And please keep Ron safe at work. And please don't let Ronny be some kind of serial killer.

1200 words