Her Protector

Ruin

I dance around my room to 'Criminal' as I get ready, Britney Spears is my guilty pleasure. Leaving my curly hair down I apply a tinted sunscreen to my face, a soft pink lip gloss, and some mascara, mother always said less is more. I choose to wear my favorite pair of high waist jeans that make my butt look super good, a black long sleeve crop that says baby girl in pink rhinestones across the front, and my black doc martens. It doesn't take me long to get ready at all, maybe twenty minutes, I take one last glance in the standing mirror before I switch off the music and exit my room. I call out to Johnathan that I'm ready as I make my way downstairs. He peeks around the corner and I think my mind is playing tricks on me because I swear he does a double take. But why would he do that? He smiles and brings something out from behind his back. "You're gonna need this" he says and I pause. It's a helmet, I look between him and it fixing to ask why I need that but I guess my question was apparent when his smiles gets bigger and he says "We're going for a ride on my bike" I jump up and down excitedly, I've been wanting to do this but mother kept saying no. Happily I put the helmet on and follow him out the door as he explains some basic rules but I've ridden with my dad when I visited him, he's in an mc out in California where he lives. Despite what my mother chooses to think, I know very well how to handle myself on a bike.

I throw my hands up in the air, my face to the sky, and I soak it all in. God I love this feeling, it's like pure and total freedom. We ride a little more than an hour when Johnathan stops at some industrial looking buildings, I wonder what were doing here as I remove my helmet and look around. He takes my hand and leads me to a door with a huge bouncer who eyes me up and down questioningly. "It's okay Derek, she's with me" I hear Johnathan say. "Where are we?" I ask and he just smirks "You'll see bonita". I blink at him. "Johnathan Rivera, my man, been a while" a man yells, arms wide open headed towards us and brings him into a hug. "This is, um, my friend Adaline" he says pointing to me. "¡Qué guapa estás!" the man says. I have no idea what it means but Johnathans eyes darken and puts his hand on my back almost possessively and his friend walks away throwing a wink my way. I look at Johnathan and he just gives me a reassuring smile and nods. Well okay then I think to myself. "Come on kiddo" damn we're back to that again, I frown as he leads to me a back room. There's a girl sitting in a chair next to some kind of table/chair looking thing and a bunch of medical looking equipment which I quickly figure out is for piercing. My heart flutters, I've always wanted to get my belly button done and I guess it shows on my face because they both laugh and I blush.

The girl introduces herself as Veronica, I like her, she looks like a Karashian and has this no f***s given attitude but is also super nice. I find out that she's both a tattoo artist and a piercer, we are apparently here for the latter. She does some prep and has Johnathan sit, he gets a second brow piercing and doesn't even flinch but the look in his eyes as the needle goes through makes my stomach flutter. He jumps up rubbing his hands together "Your turn" he says excitedly and I just stare dumbfounded as Veronica cleans up behind him asking me what I want. "My mother will kill me" I say and he just smirks "so get one she won't see" he says so matter of factly. Something about the look in his eyes and Veronicas smile makes me not care and I throw my hands up in defeat "Alright. Belly button" I say with a huge grin. I'm actually kind of excited, this is a little bit thrilling. So I lay down on the table and Veronica starts walking me through the process. Veronica and Johnathan share an awkward glance as I lift my shirt and lower my jeans. Shoot, I forgot about the bruise mother left. I close my eyes. Ashamed. "We're just gonna mark the area and disinfect" she says. I don't realize I have my fists balled up as she smiles at me reassuringly and tells me "Breathe in, slight pinch, breathe angel face, and you're all done". That was fast, it felt like just seconds and yet I somehow have an adrenaline high. I check it out in the mirror, it's cute. I picked a pink sparkly heart shaped ring. I love it and I guess it shows through my ear to ear smile. I jump into Johnathans arms squealing thank you repeatedly and I swear I feel him sniff me as he hugs back and says "Anything for you bonita" and my face flushes. Veronica smiles at us with a look I can't quite place. We exchange numbers and she tells me I can call or text anytime I need a girl to talk to.

We leave and after stopping for gas ride around for another hour or so. It's about one in the afternoon when Johnathan stops at some hole in the wall burger place saying he's hungry and this place has the best fries. The secret is they cook them in truffle oil. He's right they're delicious, I only eat a small fry and drink some ice water, he smiles at me when I don't run for the bathroom after. We continue riding around the rest of the day, I love being on the back of his bike. The sun is setting when we finally make our way home. Johnathan asks if I wanna order pizza for dinner and watch a movie or something and I jump at the chance to spend more time with him.

We decide to have an Avengers marathon and I'm sitting on the couch nibbling on a slice of cheese pizza when Joseph calls to let us know he landed safely and check how we're all doing. I've never had anybody check up on me before, it's a good feeling to know someone cares. Johnathan talks to him a bit, tells him mother is out with friends and he's watching out for me, tells him about our day leaving out a few details and I giggle at the thought that we have this little secret. It's not a bad secret for once, at least I don't think it is. Johnathan has him on speaker so we can both talk to him, he tells us goodnight and we go back to our movie marathon.

Suddenly I wake up with the throw from the back of the couch covering me and my head in Johnathans lap. I have no clue how long I've been asleep, last thing I remember was Loki cutting off Thors hand now the screen is just black. I slowly sit up and notice Johnathan is asleep as well, how can he sleep sitting up? That can't be comfortable. I can't take my eyes off of him though. He's such a beautiful man. His hands look strong and I imagine what they would feel like on my skin. I glance up past his long neck and chiseled jaw line to his lips. I don't know what comes over me, I've never kissed anyone before but I find myself leaning towards him. I close my eyes and go in for a soft peck, his lips are soft like velvet. It's an innocent kiss, he'll never know, I just had to. It's not like I'm trying to stick my tounge down his throat. I open my eyes as I back away only to find amber orbs staring back at me shock & confusion swimming in them and I go absolutely still. "You're a kid" he says Ouch! "N..no I'm not" I studder. He grabs my hand "Yes you are" Oof! I feel tears welling up. "I'm seventeen" he continues "you're thirteen". I can't tell if I'm embarrassed, hurt, or mad, maybe all three. I grit my teeth as I say "That's never stopped anybody before, guys are always trying, just look at my body, it's a woman's body, even mother says so" He didn't like that, I see anger flash across his face and then something else, was that....pitty? He takes a deep breathe as he tells me "Look you are a beautiful girl, but that's just it, you're a girl, a kid, and I'm not a pervert" I blanche "I never said you were" I tell him. "I care about you" he tells me "you are an amazing person with her whole life ahead of her and some guy, some day is gonna be lucky to be called yours but today is not that day and I am not that guy" he drops my hand pinching the spot between his brows again. "It's late Adaline, we're both tired, you should go to bed" and he gets up and walks out. I make my way to bed feeling a little ashamed. Did I just ruin everything?