Refuge

Chapter 12: Right Jab, Left Jab, Roundhouse To The Heart

Chapter 12: Right Jab, Left Jab, Roundhouse To The Heart.

AUTHOR"S NOTE

So, I don't really have allot to say....

Anywho, this chapter will include Hayden's POV so tell me what you think!!! I hope it's good and sheds some light on his character :)

So yeah. Here's Chapter 12. I really like this one actually....

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 Hayden’s POV

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I walk upstairs and fall on my bed. Nothing like a heart to heart with your kid sister to put you on your ass.

I sigh and turn over, burying my head in my navy pillows, breathing in the scent of some kind of laundry detergent. 

“Fuck....” I mutter, groaning. Stupid Tyler, freaking stepping in an ruining everything in one night. What happened at church wasn’t that bad, but the shit hit the fan long before. 

God, I never should have let Hallie and Alex go to that stupid party anyways. Both of them could have gotten hurt, one of them cutting it too close for comfort. I should have been there, should have stopped that asshat from ever looking in Alex’s direction. It might be stupid, but I don’t care; I blame myself. I should have been there. I promised myself that nothing would happen to Alex when she got here. I don’t know what happened to her in Denver, but I know it was bad, just based off of my mom’s expression when she told Hals and I that she was coming to live with us for the year. Her bottom lip trembled and when I asked her why, she just said, “She’s had a tough year and she needs somewhere where she knows she’ll be safe.”

Tyler didn’t get that far, but when I saw his hand up her shirt, groping her chest, well, I saw red. I reacted completely on instinct, shoving him off and punching him as hard as I could. I’m pretty sure he was out like a light after the second one, but I kept going. Maybe one day I’ll be sorry for punching an unconscious guy, but today is not that day. 

And then Alex just got up and ran. I was so terrified that she was lost or hurt. I was freaking out, screaming for her and asking everyone if they had seen her. I prayed that we would find her before it really got late and she’d be out in the cold. 

Then, when we found her, I don’t think there’s an emotion that surpasses how relieved I was to find her. 

I shudder as I think about her quivering figure, curled up on the sidewalk like a kicked animal. God, this may make me sound like a complete and total pussy, but I don’t care: she broke my heart when she started fighting against me, so terrified of the world. Her eyes, usually full of mischief and cleverness were clouded with fear and hurt. God, she looked so vulnerable, so scared, and so....not Alex.  

Then, when she stopped fighting me and finally realized who I was, she broke. I remember how when she first got a god look at me, she threw herself at me, like I was her saving grace. I’ve been trying to come up with some excuse for that, like how she just was happy to see a friendly face, but I don’t think that’s the case.

And then the tears came. I guess, once you get a crack in the wall, the whole dam bursts, because her tears flowed relentlessly. I knew that she had cried earlier, the tears having stained her cheek, but my God, I’ve never seen so much water come out of a person in my entire life.

She cried herself away. In my arms. And I didn’t do a thing about it.

I guess sleeping in the same bed as her that night was more for me than it was for her. The part about not wanting her to be alone was true, but what I really wanted was to be the one who rectified her after that night, redeeming myself for not having been there for her. I guess I felt guilty, but I can’t say that that wasn’t one of the best night’s sleep I’ve ever gotten.