After Midnight

Chapter 30

"What's wrong?", Dalton asked and grabbed my fists before I could hit the punching bag again.

"Nothing", I rolled my eyes at him and pulled my hands away. I started hitting it again and he pushed me away from it by my stomach.

"What?", I snapped at him.

"You're not being you. Why?"

"I don't know what you're talking about"

"Is it Barry? Did you two break up?"

"Just leave me alone", I started walking away from him, but he grabbed my wrist and pulled me back to him.

"Stop", He grabbed both my wrists tightly and pulled me back to him."I'm not going to deal with this bitchy attitude of yours for another hour. So either you tell me what's wrong, of you find another way to get rid of it"

He let my wrists go and I rubbed under my nose."Okay, yeah. Barry broke up with me. Why does it matter?"

"Because. Did that make you feel better?"

"No", I shook my head.

"Then express your feelings to me", He smiled."Come on. I'm a good listener"

He sat at the end of the boxing ring and I sat next to him.

"I just don't get why he would just break it off so suddenly. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't expecting is, but he just...ended it"

"It's his loss", He said, looking up at me."He's kind of an idiot when it comes to girl"

I looked him in the eyes and sighed."I don't understand. What's wrong with me? Why does everyone leave?", I looked up."Am I just not good enough?"

"You're not talking about Barry", He put his hand over mine."Are you?"

I looked at our hands and back up at him."No", I shook my head."I'm sorry. I don't mean to lay all my problems on you"

"Stop it", He scoffed and rolled his eyes."Stop being sorry, Rain. It'll get you nowhere in life"

"I don't know what else to say"

"Then don't say anything", He shook his head and leaned in. He put his hand on my neck and kissed me. I grabbed his wrist and put my other hand on his shoulder. I kissed him harder and moved my arm around his neck. He took his hand off of mine and wrapped his arm around my waist.

"Wait", He pulled away."Rain, you don't feel the way about me", He put his hand on my shoulder."You don't feel the same way about me as I do about you"

"What do you mean?", I asked.

"You don't feel anything like that towards me. You don't"

"You don't know how I feel"

"I do know that I don't want to be a rebound"

"Rebound? You're not a-"

"It's okay", He smiled slightly and shook his head."I'll get over it one day"

"No. Dalton I-"

"It's okay", He repeated himself."Maybe one day you'll feel that way about me too, but right now, you're just mad. You want to hurt Barry the way he hurt you, but this isn't the way to do it"

"I'm not", I shook my head.

"Yeah. You just don't know it yet", He stood up."You need time to get over him", He held his hand out and it took it."In the meantime, we have work to do"
*
"How do I look?", I asked, stepping out of my bathroom and into my room. Dalton smiled at me.

"You look beautiful"

I smiled back at him."Thank you"

"Tom is lucky", He said."That he's taking you, I mean. Anyone would be lucky to take you"

I stepped forward and kissed his cheek."You look very handsome", I said. He nodded slightly at me.

"Remember", He said and put his hands on my arms."Barry will be right outside, and I'll stay as close as I possibly can to you. Okay?"

I nodded."Are you afraid?", I asked."Because I am afraid"

He kissed my forehead."We will try out hardest to keep your safe"

I hugged him tightly before I let go and walked out of my room and down the stairs.

"By the way, do you own anything but black?", I asked and fixed the collar on his black dress shirt.

He shook his head."No. I didn't recall own any other color"

"Black is a-"

He covered my mouth and shook his head."Black is a color", He nodded slowly.

I moved back and laughed.

"You guys look amazing", Ellie smiled and took a very unexpected picture of us.

"Oh my God", I mumbled and laughed.

"Where's Dane?", Ellie asked. I thought back to what he told me last night and shifter slightly.

"He's not going. Dances aren't really his thing"

"Oh..", She sighed."That's very unfortunate"

I nodded."Well, we better go", I grabbed Dalton's hand and pulled him over to the door.

"I might stay at Susan's house afterwards", I lied to Ellie. I stopped using Rosie as an excuse after I had to explain to her why she was in jail, and soon enough-prison.

"Bye Ellie", Dalton said as we walked out the door."She's nice", He smiled down at me."How come I never see your dad around anymore?"

"He's been working a lot lately", I shrugged."Some lawyer stuff or whatever"

Dalton nodded and opened the car door for me. I thanked him and got in.

He handed me a knife once he got in too and I shook my head. I pulled the knife out of my boot and he nodded. He put it away in the glovebox and drove away.

"I'm nervous..", I said."Remember what happened last time?"

"Yeah. We got away last time, and we'll get away this time too"

"Dalton?", I ran my fingers through my hair."Why do we do this?"

"You know why", He furrowed his eyebrows at me.

"I-I know, but I just need a reminder"

"We have to at least try to find out who's doing this to us"

I looked straight ahead of me and nodded."Yeah, I guess", I mumbled.