Lydia’s P.O.V
“Now you know,” he said smugly, crossing his arms over his bare chest. “Now you know just how strong I am. Now you know why everyone stays the fuck away from me, why everyone fears me. Now you know, just why you are not supposed to mess with me.”
“I do,” I said, my voice completely emotionless as I saw his signature smirk forming. “Now I know exactly how big of a jerk you truly are.” I was looking him dead in the eyes and I saw them harden and fill with anger, his smirk vanishing as he took a step towards me threateningly.
“Come again?” His voice dripped venom as he continued his advance towards me, hands clenched by his side.
“I know I didn’t stutter but because of your poor hearing abilities I’ll repeat what I just said. I said, ‘now I know how big of a jerk you really are’,” I told him, my voice was still emotionless as he stood right in front of me. Seriously, this guy had no respect for personal space.
His eyes held a murderous gleam and his jaw was clenched so hard, he could snap it at any instant. He was a good foot taller than me so I had to crane my head to look up at him. His breathing was heavy and I could feel his anger coming out in waves. I was already standing with my back against the wall so it was easy for him to cage me in as he places his large, muscular hands on either side of my head.
“You think just because you’re new here, I’d go easy on you? That since you’re a girl, I would take pity on you and forgive you EVERY single time you insult me? Who do you think you are, huh? Some God sent priestess who has the right to say whatever she wants and everyone will bow down to her every command? I can crush you in an instant you little slut!!” He roared; a wild look in his eyes. I know I really shouldn’t test the beast…but when you have nothing to lose; I guess you end up doing crazy things.
“That’s exactly why I called you a jerk, Lyric. Because that’s all you can do. That’s all you know how to. Physical strength is everything to you. You can scare away people all you want, Lyric. It doesn’t just make you strong, it makes you a bully. You can be the strongest person on Earth physically but there are people out there who are stronger than you. People who fight every second of their life, just to stay alive. People who have been through hell and back. People who have been broken far too badly to even imagine, but had come back alive, a miracle and far stronger than they were before. People who know what true fear is.” I said as I watched confusion swimming in his gorgeous eyes. “For me, ‘they’ are strong, stronger than you’ll ever be.”
He stood there speechless, his jaw still clenched as he burned holes through me with his stare. I don’t know how long we stared at each other but I was snapped out of my thoughts as I heard a few crows fly overhead, their fluttering wings breaking my concentration as Lyric still stared at me.
I sighed as I realized school hours were over and it was nearing evening, the sun was about to set, casting a golden hue over the land. I quietly stepped under his arm and moved away from him, about to leave the coat and towards the parking lot when his voice stopped me, again.
“You know such people then, huh? Mind introducing these ‘people’ to me too, so I can praise them for their ‘strength’?” When he spoke his voice wasn’t smug or mocking, but I could tell there was disbelief.
I turned to look at him over my shoulders and watched him leaning on the wall, on the exact place I had stood mere seconds ago, arms crossed over his chest. “I would,” I told him. “But you don’t deserve to be in their presence.” With a shrug, I turned and walked away, but not before I saw his face harden with anger.
God! The guy had some serious anger issues.
Lyric’s P.O.V:
I wanted to shout back at her. To snap that delicate little white neck of hers under my palm, but I could only stand there fuming at what she told me, staring blankly at the spot on which she stood mere seconds ago while I shifted uncomfortably to adjust my pants. Dear God! How could I be this turned on when all I wanted to do was break every bone in her body? I’d never had such a visceral reaction to any woman in my life, ever.
I was snapped out of my trance as I heard her cycle pull away from the parking lot. I sighed and started walking towards my bike, but I couldn’t find any trace of my shirt. Some bitch must have run off with it. So I just got on my bike, put my helmet on and raced back to my empty house, probably breaking a few traffic rules in the process.
After I reaching home I took a long, cold shower to relax my muscles and cool down my body’s betraying reaction to the little hellion and finally plopped on my king sized bed in some boxers and a towel around my neck. But my mind was restless, it was somewhere else.
You can be the strongest person on Earth physically but there are people who are stronger than you. People who fight every second of their life, just to stay alive. People who have been through hell and back. People who have been broken far too badly to even imagine, but had come back alive, a miracle. People who know what true fear is.
True fear, huh? What did she know about true fear? She was just another spoilt little brat that wanted my attention. She chose a different and interesting route, that much I’ll have to give her. She has me intrigued and constantly thinking about her. Damn, she even got me all horny! But just like the others, I’ll get bored of her once I’ve had her in my bed, that much was for sure.
So I got my ass off my bed and started changing into loose fitting clothes. My adrenalin was all pumped up and I needed a fight. Derek could arrange one for me. It would take some of the high off.
I smirked. I should have close encounters with this Lydia chick more often; it’ll help me earn a little fortune out of my fights. Little girl doesn’t even know what she’s gotten herself into.
Lyric’s P.O.V:“Damnit!” I gritted out as my legs gave out from under me.Tonight’s match hadn’t gone well at all. Some 300 pound freak had the opportunity to beat the shit out of me while Derek just sat there and watched. And after I was beaten to a bloody pulp, the only comment he had for me was, ‘go home and patch up, you’re on again tomorrow’. Just fucking perfect! What a great brother I had.I hissed out a painful breath. I was pretty sure my ribs were cracked, broken probably, because this hurts like a bitch. I looked around the place with half closed eyes, I was so damn tired. To my relief, I was close to home. Just about a block or so away…if I could just make it there. Stupid of me to abandon my bike but Derek had been right when he’d said that I could easily kill myself if I rode my bike
Lyric’s P.O.VI woke up to the sound of birds chirping and a thin ray of bright light falling onto my face.What the hell? Who opened the windows this early in the morning? The servants know I hate to wake up like this! Angrily, I brought my hand up to cover my face and winced as a sharp pain pierced through my chest.“What the-?” I jerked awake at the pain and found myself in completely unfamiliar surroundings. “What the hell?”I sat up on the couch that was hardly big enough to fit all of me in it and looked around at the tiny apartment I was currently in. My head felt heavy and as I wiped at my eyes to chase away the last few vestiges of sleep, memories from last night came to my mind as the fog cleared.I was in Lydia’s apartment. And she had seen me at my weakest last night when I’d been beaten up during the match. Damnit! The only reason I’d lost the match in the first place had
Lyric’s P.O.VThe stadium was packed tonight.That’s the first thing I noticed as soon as I arrived at the abandoned warehouse at the outskirts of Rosewater that had been turned into a hotspot for all kinds of illegal trade. From drugs to alcohol to gambling and illegal fight clubs, anything you ask for, this warehouse provides it all. But the most famous activity had to be the fights that occurred three days a week.The dates were chosen randomly and they could be one right after the other or they could occur at intervals. This week the dates chosen had been Monday, Tuesday and Friday. The rotation usually kept the cops off our tail, but it’s not like anyone was going to rattle us out. If I wasn’t mistaken, some cops were regular members of the fight club as well and they even took part in any other forms of debauchery that the warehouse had to offer. Usually, everything was free for the cops so they don’t rattle u
Lyric’s P.O.V“Hey,” I leaned back from the doorjamb. “Patch me up?”She made a very tiny movement in her face and crinkled her eyebrows at me. “Why?”“Because I’m injured,” I pointed towards my knuckles and towards my busted lip. “And I don’t know how to patch up a slit lip.”“And I was the only one that came to your mind?” She crossed her hands over her chest, pushing up her breasts further. She wasn’t all big and rounded, but I could tell that she’d be a handful. Perfect for my hands.I smirked. “You intrigue me, Lydia McKenzie.” I told her as I entered her apartment uninvited. “And I hate to say it but not a lot of things intrigue me nowadays.”I brushed past her and made my way over to the couch I’d slept on last night and plopped down onto it. I noticed a bunch of different books spread ou
Lydia’s P.O.VThat was a close call, a really close call. That’s what I thought to myself as I closed and locked the door after Lyric had departed…for the night.Something told me, this wasn’t going to be the last time he’s shown up at my door uninvited. And that same something told me that he wasn’t going to give up on digging up my past this easily either. He’s like one of those hound dogs who’s gotten a scent and won’t rest until the source of that scent has been detected.It’s not like my past is a huge secret. Almost the whole of Kansas knows about it, knows who I am. And that had been one of the main reasons I had to get away from home. Some stories never get too old apparently and people always believe what they want to believe.There are several versions of my story floating around my home town and each day there would be another new invention. And then I’d once ag
Lyric’s P.O.V“Crimes in schools?” I asked my classmate, George as he vigorously nodded his head.“Yes.” George said nervously. “That’s what all of us got. The Professor said to be creative and think outside the box.”In preparation for the match and healing my wounds, I had missed out on school and thus, I’d failed to get my assignment for the month. Thankfully, little nerdy boy George was my backup plan and he was always scared shitless of me to ever complain about anything I asked him to do.And honestly, that’s all I did, just ask him if he could pick up my assignment for me. I’d never threatened or touched him in my entire life but I guess my reputation precedes me here as well. But it was a blessing in disguise if I ever missed school because I was too beat up after a match to go through all the hustle of collecting my assignments from the Professors themselves becaus
Lyric’s P.O.VThe first thing I did as soon as I got out of the library was to go in search of Lydia. It wasn’t all that difficult to spot her; she was talking to one of the psychology professors outside of her classroom when I spotted her. So I waited for her chat to be over and the professor to leave before I came up behind her and took her hand.“What the-you!” She looked at me with accusing eyes. “What do you want?”“Look, we can do this the easy way, where you come with me peacefully so we can talk,” I told her calmly. “Or I can just be a caveman and throw you over my shoulders and carry you out of the school building. The choice is yours.”“Fine.” She gritted out. “Lead the way.”“Good girl.” I told her with a smile and without letting go of her arm, started pulling her in the direction of one of the labs that I knew would be empty
Lydia’s P.O.VAfter Lyric had left me standing in that empty lab, I had simply discarded the papers in the trash and walked away from college. It had gotten too stressful to stay at that point and I was afraid of getting another migraine.I had however, informed the authorities before leaving school because they were aware of my condition and they had given me a wider time span for finishing my course than any other college was willing to offer. It was one of the reasons for choosing Rosewater University and that it was closest to home.Surprisingly, I didn’t get any further disturbance from Lyric the whole day. No snide comments, no fights, no showing up at my apartment unannounced…nothing at all. I hadn’t even gotten a single glimpse of him ever since he just up and left me in the lab, which frankly I should be grateful for but I wasn’t. I was feeling anxious and restless and I hadn’t gotten any sleep the e
Epilogue:Lyric’s P.O.V“Congratulation on graduation, Mr. David Donovan.” The Principal of Rosewater University shook my hand as he handed me my certificate.“Thank you.”I looked towards the front rows of the stadium and found my mom and dad as well as Derek, who had been given a place for his wheelchair. And then there was George, who was no longer the glasses wearing, shaggy haired, baggy clothed nerd, but a man in his own right. All of them had huge smiles on their faces and my parents looked proud of me. I waved at them before heading to the centre of the stage where the microphone was set up.Since I had topped in class, I had been chosen as the commencement speaker, which was a huge honor for me. Standing in front of hundreds of teachers, students, and their respective parents, I felt insignificant to be giving this speech, but I was ready.“Good afternoon, respect
Lyric’s P.O.VThere was this continuous beeping noise in the background when I woke up. Opening my eyes, I found I was inside a room with full white walls and bright lights. Groaning, I covered my eyes with my hands. It took a while for me to calibrate my senses, but once I remembered where I was, I almost jumped up.“Lydia?”“Relax sleeping beauty, she hasn’t woken up yet.”Clutching my head at the sudden ache, I fell back on the bed and took the chance to look at my surroundings. I was in one of the hospital rooms and the only other person in the room was Nathan.“What happened?” I asked him, clearing my throat when I voice came out hoarse.“You fainted.” He said with a smirk.“What?” I frowned. I wasn’t exactly the fainting type, so why would I suddenly faint?“Doctor said it was due to stress.” Nathan shrugged, before
Lyric’s P.O.VThree hours passed and the lights above the operation theater still shore a bright red.Mrs. McKenzie, Nathan, Stephen and I sat outside the room with our hearts in our throat. Yes, the chance of Lydia dying during the operation was ten per cent, but it was still a chance I didn’t want to consider. None of us did.Somewhere along the way, Stephen had gone ahead and gotten us some coffee since all of us had stayed up last night. Right now I was on my third cup and I was getting jittery. But it was more from anxiousness than from the coffee.“You know this isn’t the first time we’ve all been here,” Stephen said as he took a small sip of his coffee. “The first time was even worse.”I knew what he was talking about. The first time was when Lydia had been shot. I couldn’t even imagine what it must have been like for Stephen and the rest of the family to sit outside for
Lyric’s P.O.VLydia’s operation was scheduled exactly two days after we arrived at Mayo Clinic. Thanks to the recommendation by the doctor who had previously seen Lydia and also thanks to her fathers’ influence, everything went by smoothly. Well, almost. Lydia had experienced that searing pain in her throat and tongue at least four times already and everyone was getting increasingly worried.It was one thing knowing that she had a bullet inside her brain that was preventing her from showing emotions on her face, but seeing her suffer…we had never felt so helpless in our lives.For the past two days, the doctors here had run continuous test and scans on her day and night and now, finally, it was time.“Don’t get your hopes up.” Lydia said as she sat up in the hospital bed, ready to head off to the operating room. “The doctors said there’s a 10% chance that they can’t remove the b
Lydia’s P.O.V:“What does it mean?” It was Lyric who spoke, breaking the icy silence.“The bullet has turned inside, due to the impact on her head.” The doctor explained. “It’s no longer near the facial nerve but it’s touching the glossopharyngeal nerve instead, which explains the searing pain she felt at the back of her throat and tongue. If the bullet is not removed now, Ms. McKenzie will continue to feel this searing pain at certain intermissions and it might get severe as time passes by.”“But can the bullet be removed, right?” Stephen asked desperately. “She’ll be fine after the bullet is removed, right?”“Yes. If the operation is successful, Ms. McKenzie can go back to living a normal life.”“If?” My mother gasped. “What do you mean ‘if’?”“There’s a ten per cent chance that th
Lyric’s P.O.V:“Lydia!”With my heart in my throat, I ran towards the pool as fast as my legs could take me and without thinking twice, jumped in.The water was clear so I easily spotted Lydia’s form, but she seemed to be convulsing. Pushing my hands and legs outward, I began swimming towards her to get her out. A second later, I saw another figure jump in, a woman, and she began swimming towards Lydia as well. When I got closer, I found out that it was Tanya and we both reached Lydia at the same time and hoisted her up and out of the water.Lydia gasped for air as soon as we surfaced and I could instantly tell that she was in pain.All the boys as well as Trisha and Avery were already standing at the edge of the pool and Harvey and two of Derek’s ex-SEAL friends immediately reached for Lydia.“Careful with her head.” I warned as they lifted her up from our arms and placed her on a n
Lydia’s P.O.V:“I guess I own you an apology?” Derek told me as he flipped a hamburger on the large charcoal grill. “And definitely a thank you.”“I’m hearing neither.” I handed him the couple slices of American cheese that I had just unwrapped. “Let the past stay in the past and never be brought up again.”“Wow.” He raised his eyebrows at me with a smirk on his face. “You’re in a good mood today.”I turned towards the basketball court where George was standing with a Lyric, Harvey and Cody along with a couple of Derek’s ex-SEAL friends, who were trying to teach him to play basketball while Avery, another woman I didn’t know and the Dawson twins were taking a dip in the swimming pool.I had been offered to join the girls in the pool, but I had opted out because I had wanted to stay and help Derek with the barbeque, even though he h
Lydia’s P.O.V:“Lydia?” Lyric blinked several times to make sure that it was actually me and not someone else. “How did you get here?”“Derek told me where to find you.” I told him a bit sheepishly. “I went to your house first.”“Oh?” Lyric scratched the back of his head awkwardly and even I was at a loss for words. Why was it so hard to say something that I wanted to tell him so badly? We had never had awkward moments like this before but I guess there was a first for everything.So, I took a deep breath and spoke what was in my mind.“I’m sorry for last night.”“I’m sorry for last night.”We looked into each other’s eyes then and Lyric cracked a smile of relief. “I didn’t think you’d come here today…or at all.” He told me. “I was so worried I hardly slept a wink last night.
Lydia’s P.O.V:“Hey girlfriend!”Ivy’s voice was cheerful as she picked up the call right after the first ring. It felt like sandpaper against my senses, especially since I hadn’t gotten a wink of sleep last night and was running on four cups of unsweetened coffee since this morning.“Hey…are you busy?” I asked to make sure. Generally 1.30 PM would be her lunch time but you never know when there would be an emergency at the hospital.“Oh, no. Just about to get lunch.” She told me and in the background, I heard the low hum of people moving around. “I had this really difficult kid at the MRI and he kept moving around, so it took a while.”“A kid? How old? What happened?” Whenever I heard of any kid getting an MRI or a CT scan, I tend to freak out. Maybe it was PTSD, but I couldn’t imagine any child going through what I had experienced.&