Bruised Knuckles and Empty Lies

Chapter 6

Morgan's POV

Damn, this little lady has a lot of built up anger for someone her age. I guess she had a right to be. I could tell she had no outlet for all this rage, causing a "her vs. the world" mentality.

We both got in my car, and I started the engine. Before I could shift the car into drive, Alex piped up.

"Can I at least have my phone back so I know you're not gonna murder me?" I chuckled, reaching into my pocket and fishing out her phone with the earbuds still attached and offered it to her. "Thanks," she muttered, taking it and putting only one earbud in, pressing play on her playlist. Alex seemed to be calming down a little. The anger was short lived, maybe because she got to take it out on me. I pulled out of the parking lot and started driving.

"I didn't know paddling was still legal," I commented, knowing that corporal punishment in any form here is illegal. Glancing over, I took in her facial expression, trying to decipher what she was thinking. She had her head down, playing with the wire of her earbuds. "Alex?"

"Can we talk about something else?" The sense of defeat and humiliation was evident in her voice.

"Okay," I agreed, finally. "What were you even doing there to begin with?"

"I go every week," she dodged the question. I could hear the sound of a heavy bass coming from her earbuds. This little girl was on the verge of breaking my heart. I had to know what was going on.

"Since when?"

"I don't know. Sometime last year?" she shrugged.

"Any place you want to eat?"

"I'm not hungry," she mumbled.

"Coffee it is, then," I sighed.