The Low-Class Prince Charming

Chapter 10

It had been a few days since the night-time incident, and the two of them had barely talked to each other. It seemed to Mason as though Sky was trying to avoid him, though he wasn't exactly sure why.

For some reason it made him agitated, so he decided today he would stay behind for a bit in the library and study to get his mind off things. When he finally finished and leaned back to stretch his stiff muscles, it surprised him to find that night had already fallen, although it wasn't necessarily unusual for the darkness to creep up on you in the autumn.

Packing his stuff away, he got up and bid farewell to the librarian as he exited the building. He shivered a little as the cold air enveloped him; he realised he should probably wear warmer clothing.

The walk was nice, despite it being cold, and Mason felt relatively at ease when he turned right and walked along the last main road which passed by the front of the Simmons' house.

A couple of minutes passed as he was walking; even before he encountered the guy walking towards him from the front, he knew the thoughts running through his mind were to cause him grief; the fact that he was hiding his face was a clear giveaway of his equally dark mind-set. Mason also doubted this building-bare street had any cameras – he had to rely on himself to get away from him.

It was only a split second hesitation that Mason experienced, but it was enough to make the black-clad guy aware of his action and speed up. That was all Mason needed to lose his cool head – he bolted down a side road without a second thought.

Was he following Mason? He dare not turn around to check. His own footsteps were all he heard as they roared and thundered in his ears – or was that his own blood pumping through his body? He wasn't even sure. All that mattered to him at that moment was getting to safety.

In a split second, he looked over his shoulder to see if he was being followed, and that's the second which probably cost him everything.

As he wasn't looking forward and instead panicked at the sight of the hooded figure following him, he didn't witness another man stepping out from behind a wall in the direction he was running.

With force, he collided with the man resulting in them both being knocked to the ground. However, not only was the other guy better off than Mason since he'd been expecting it, but he also had backup in the form of the hooded figure and yet another man who stepped out from behind the wall and helped up his companion. No one helped Mason up.

Not only was there no one to help Mason, but he got a kick to the stomach propelling his back against the wall, causing him to emit not just one, but two grunts of pain.

He gulped then as they looked down at him; the hooded figure had now caught up and joined the other two. Despite the situation, he tried his best to remain calm – or to at least not show any fear.

That didn't work quite as well as he'd hoped when he had a closer look at the two looking down at him; their eyes held no emotion, and one of the men had a tattoo snaking up along one side of his face from his neck.

"Check his bag," the hooded figure said; he was clearly the leader. As Mason made eye contact with him, he could see why – his eyes were even more ruthless.

The guy he ran into – the one without the face tattoo – bent down and retrieved his prize in the form of Mason's bag. As he reached out to grab the bag, his sleeve pulled up a little bit, and Mason noticed a distinct tattoo running from the back of his hand into his sleeve.

Digging around in it momentarily as the face tattoo guy kept a watch on him, the only thing Mason could do was watch helplessly as he went through it, before letting out an agitated sigh and turning it upside down, with only his books falling out.