Racing Down Sunset Boulevard

Chapter 12

Third person's POV

I couldn't help noticing the only other girl in the room, trying and failing to console the guy hunched against his locker, in the far end of the room. Judging by Mike's snarl, I guessed him to be the guy he had ranted about the other day, who was too obsessed with keeping his girlfriend on a leash to give a fuck. If she was the girl, I pitied her. Objectively, she was cute, with her long auburn hair, petite frame and thick framed glasses. "Why would she settle for such an asshole?" I found myself asking out loud. "No idea Vero, no idea" Mike sighed, turning to face me again with a soft sigh, giving me a sad but satisfied smile.

Despite not being able to erase his whole disappointment with one snogging session, I felt quite proud of myself to see that pained expression was gone. Reaching up to trace his still swollen lips, I was about to ask if he wanted to get out of here, when I heard a loud bang, followed by a one-sided screaming match. Turning to the sound, I felt my mouth drop open in horror as I watched the man's hand wrap around the girl's neck, immobilizing her against one of the lockers. I was shaken out of my daze by her futile attempts to claw his hands off, before they fell limply to her sides.

"Do something!" I found myself screaming at Mike, who promptly gripped the back of his shirt and yanked him back . "Somebody help! SECURITY!" I was screaming at the top of my lungs, scrambling forward to catch the girl now sprawled on the floor. As I reached her side, I hesitated, looking for any traces of blood or injury. Thankfully, except for the collar of darkening bruises around her neck she seemed unharmed, and I moved to check for her breathing. "Ariana, Ariana" the man Mike was restraining muttered. Seeing her chest rise and fall, I shook her slightly, then more vigorously, calling her name as security closed in.

            Ariana's POV

I must've blacked out momentarily, because I wasn't backed up against a wall anymore, but uncomfortably slumped against the locker, the girl I'd seen earlier looking down at me with apparent relief. "She's awake!" she turned to scream to the guy behind her, who nodded grimly as he seemingly handed Gage over to security. Gage. His name seemed to accentuate the pain in my throat by a hundred, if not a thousand, as I swallowed against the knot of nausea with great difficulty. Slowly, I raised my fingers to my throat, feeling the raw skin underneath, no doubt already starting to bruise. He could have killed me. The necklace was gone too, which was fitting, considering it was a birthday gift from him. My brain too addled to process anything else, I attempted to get up, using the unnamed girl's arm as leverage. I barely registered her concerned tone as she told me to sit back down and wait for the medical team, as I turned towards his pathetic figure, now hunched over and looking at me incredulously, as if he couldn't believe what he had done. Or that I was still breathing.

I stumbled forward, only to be caught again by the nameless girl, her nails digging deep into my skin. But I found myself grateful for the sting when I looked down, only to be met by a black ring box. Brain whirring so fast I was sure I would collapse back on the floor if not for the stranger holding me up, it clicked into place. I exploded. "Stay. The. Fuck. Away. From. Me." each word was punctuated by a raspy intake of breath, yet my voice seemed to only grow louder, amplified by the almost empty room. A million insults, a thousand thoughts, a hundred other ways of expressing my anger and especially making him suffer seemed to be forming in my mind, sticking in my throat, building up until it was difficult to even breathe.

Without my will, I felt myself tear up, stupidly mourning the "could have been" which would never come to materialize. Because he almost removed me from the equation. "I've been seeing someone lately, you know. And he's a much better man then you could ever be, "my words came out slightly strained from the effort of holding it together, yet I felt smug, knowing how competition had always riled him up and made him fume, ready to unleash his short temperament on anyone unfortunate enough to be around.