Yor Regret is Too Late!

15

"Get on. Don't ask too many questions unless you want me to force you onto this seat."

Barrett’s deep, gravelly voice cut through the silence of the school's back parking lot, which was illuminated only by a single, flickering mercury lamp. I stood frozen beside a massive, jet-black motorcycle that looked incredibly intimidating—just like its owner. Barrett’s leather jacket, still draped over my shoulders, felt heavy, but its lingering warmth was the only shield protecting my skin from the piercing night wind.

I stared at the high passenger seat with hesitation. "But... I have to go home, Barrett. If my parents find out I went out with—"

"With a thug like me?" Barrett cut me off, a dangerous yet breathtakingly handsome smirk curling on his sharp face. He put on his helmet but left the visor up, exposing his wild, gleaming eagle eyes. "You've been locked in the library until this hour, Aria. They didn't even call the school to ask where you were. Do you honestly think they care if you're another hour late?"

Those words hit me dead center. A sharp ache flared in my chest because the reality he spoke was so brutally honest. He was right. Papa, Mama, even Aileen... they were probably laughing around the dining table right now, completely oblivious or intentionally forgetting that a member of their family had been left behind in the dark.

Without another word, I painfully climbed onto the back seat. Barrett didn't help me, but he allowed my arms to wrap around his waist as the motorcycle suddenly roared to life, shattering the silence of the night with its powerful engine.

We sliced through the increasingly empty city streets. The night wind whipped against my face, instantly drying the remaining tears on my cheeks. I closed my eyes, burying my face against Barrett’s broad back. For the first time in years, I felt... free. There was no shadow of Aileen, no hateful gaze from Asher, and no suffocating demands from Papa. There was only me, Barrett, and the roar of the engine that felt like a screamed rebellion.

Barrett took me to a deserted overpass, where the city lights down below looked like a sprawling carpet of diamonds. He cut the engine, letting the silence wrap around us once more, punctuated only by the soft whistle of the wind.

He dismounted, took off his helmet, and ran a hand through his messy black hair. Under the moonlight, Barrett looked entirely surreal. His strong jawline, his intense gaze, and the small cut at the corner of his lip gave him the perfect bad-boy edge.

"I searched for you for months, Aria," he said suddenly, breaking the silence. He leaned his body against the guardrail, staring straight out at the horizon.

I frowned, standing beside him in his oversized jacket. "Searched for me? Why?"

Barrett turned his head, staring at me with an unreadable expression. "My mom recovered. The surgery was a success. She can walk again now, even if it's slow."

My heart raced. The vision of the brown envelope containing my sewing machine savings flashed across my mind. "I... I'm so glad to hear that."

"Do you know what the craziest part is?" Barrett took a step closer, erasing the distance between us. "That night, I was fully prepared to rob the pharmacy. I had a knife hidden beneath my jacket. I had completely lost my mind watching my mom gasp for air in front of the hospital. Then you showed up. You were so small, your glasses sliding down from the rain, and you just shoved that envelope into my hands as if it were nothing but loose pocket change."

He let out a hollow laugh, but his eyes glinted with a raw emotion. "I didn't know who you were. I just knew you were a stray angel on the pavement that night. I searched every corner of the city for you, every school, until I finally saw you in the corridor of Garuda High School last week. I could barely believe that the genius girl who kept my mother alive was being treated like absolute trash in this place."

I lowered my head, not knowing how to respond. "I just... I didn't want to see anyone else lose their mother, Barrett. That's all."

Barrett reached out his hand, intending to fix my wind-blown hair. However, as his hand moved, he accidentally brushed against the sleeve of my uniform, which had slipped up slightly beneath his leather jacket.

His movements stopped instantly.

Barrett’s eyes locked onto my wrist. There, against my pale skin, was a deep purple bruise shaped like fingers—the exact mark left by Asher's brutal grip when he dragged me through the corridor and forced me to take off my shoes yesterday. The bruise looked stark and painful beneath the streetlights.

The atmosphere around us instantly turned freezing cold. I could feel Barrett’s dangerous aura, which had been calm just moments ago, violently exploding in silence.

"Who..." Barrett’s voice dropped, sounding exactly like a wounded wolf's growl. He gripped my arm with incredible gentleness, as if my skin were made of fragile glass. His thumb brushed the edge of the bruise, his eyes flashing with absolute fury. "Who did this to you, Aria?"

I tried to pull my arm back, feeling embarrassed that my weakness had been exposed. "It's nothing, Barrett. It's just... I accidentally bumped into a door."

"Don't lie to me!" Barrett snapped, making me flinch. He stared into my eyes, searching for the truth I was burying. "That rich prince brat? That bastard Asher did this to you?"

I fell silent, tears beginning to pool again. Barrett’s intense care was the exact thing that shattered my defenses. I gave a slow, barely visible nod.

Barrett released my arm, but he instantly slammed his fist violently against the metal guardrail. Crash! The sound of the metal impact echoed loudly. His jaw tightened, and his breathing turned shallow and heavy.

"I’m going to destroy him tomorrow," Barrett hissed. His voice was deathly cold, completely devoid of any jest. "I’m going to make him feel a pain ten times worse than what you felt tonight. No one is allowed to touch you like this, Aria. Not a single soul."

Fear gripped me. I knew Barrett never made empty threats. If he said he was going to destroy someone, he would truly do it. I didn't want Barrett to end up back in juvenile detention or get expelled from school just for defending me.

"Barrett, please... don't," I reached for his hand, which was still clenched into a tight, hard fist. My small fingers tried to pry open his rough grip. "I beg you. No violence. If you do that, you'll be in massive trouble. I don't want to lose the only person who stands up for me."

Barrett looked down at me. His wild eyes softened for a brief second when they met my touch. But the rage inside them didn't vanish; it was merely buried beneath a sheet of freezing ice.

He didn't answer my plea. Instead, he curled his lips into a cold smirk that made the hairs on my neck stand up. He pulled his hand from my grasp and restarted his motorcycle's engine with one powerful kick.

"You're too good, Aria. And a good person like you doesn't deserve to live in a world full of demons like them without a protector," Barrett said as he slid his helmet on. His voice sounded utterly absolute, as if he had made a decision that could never be overturned.

"Barrett, promise me you won't do anything stupid tomorrow?" I asked again as I climbed onto the back seat.

Barrett didn't reply. He just revved the engine deeply, letting the exhaust note roar through the night. In the side mirror, I could see his eyes flashing dangerously.

Tomorrow, Garuda High School would never be the same again. The Alpha Wolf had found his reason to fight, and this time, he wasn't going to let his prey get away with it.