Corrupted Values

Chapter Four - Stranger

“Oh my god Azzy!” Remi almost screams, before running around the counter and wrapping me in her arms.

"Azzy?" I say in a questioning tone while furrowing my eyebrows curiously.

"Well yeah. You didn't think I'd call you by your full name, did you? We're friends and that means we have nicknames for each other. You call me Remi and I will call you Azzy." She says happily, squeezing me tighter. This girl only met me a few hours ago and is already acting like we’re best friends that haven't seen each other in years. I lightly tap her shoulder while she squeezes more around my waist.

“Okay,” I say breathlessly. I take in a breath when she finally lets go and drops her hands from my waist.

“What are you doing here? And why are you wearing the same clothes as yesterday?” She asks with concern laced in her voice as she looks me up and down.

“Azzy…do you not have a place to stay?” She asks as her eyes bore into me waiting for an answer. I don’t know what it is about her, but I feel comfortable around her and I don’t feel the need to lie to her.

“No. I stayed at a motel last night, and I can again tonight, but I didn’t have a plan to come here. I kinda just… ended up here.” I answer while she listens keenly, before bringing me into another hug.

“Why don't you come live with me? My last roommate moved out a month and a half ago. So I’ve been looking for someone to live with anyway. If you don't have a job, I’m sure you could work here. The boss is a really sweet woman and she's been looking for another waitress.” She offers as she pulls away and meets my eyes. She looks genuine in what she's saying, and what can I say? Remi's growing on me.

“Sure why not.” I say, smiling up at her.

“Great well, tomorrow morning I’ll come pick you up and show you around my apartment. Maybe I can introduce you to Crumbs.” She says, shaking with excitement. While I simply look at her with confusion.

“...Crumbs?” I say with a small smile while tilting my head to the left at her.

“Oh sorry," She giggles "Crumbs is my bird. He’s really cute and will love you!” She says enthusiastically. We chat for a bit and I tell her where the motel is before I get a hot chocolate and make my way back to the motel which actually isn't that far. I make my way up the stairs to my room. Once in my room, I take an outfit to the bathroom with me and leave the rest of my new clothes on the bed. I turn the water on and take my hair down to brush it out while I wait for the water to heat up.

Once the water warms, I strip off my dirty clothes and step into the water. It feels great to have the water warming my skin. I wash my hair and clean up before getting out. I stand in front of the mirror again and brush my teeth before getting dressed into the new clothes. I walk out of the steamy bathroom and looked at the clock on the nightstand, “Eleven forty-five,” I read, before flopping down on the bed on my back. My mind races with a million thoughts a second about moving in with Remi tomorrow and if it's a good idea or not.

“I might as well go for a walk since I'm not tired yet” I say in a huff, getting off the bed and heading to the door. I throw on my new hoodie and zip it up before I head out the door. Once the door is locked, I make my way down the steps and start walking along the street. It’s a little dark but the streets are decently lit up by the street lights. I walk around for a few hours before I see a clock on one of the screens.

“One seventeen… Happy birthday to me.” I say sadly to myself. It's my first birthday without my mom and it doesn't feel right without her. I keep walking around aimlessly, when I take a wrong turn and end up lost walking down an alleyway.

“Where the hell have I ended up?” I ask out loud while taking in my surroundings and looking around. It’s now much darker and harder to see as I turn to look behind me. All of a sudden, a door opens and someone crashes into my back.

“Whoops, sorry dollface. Didn't mean to run into you there.” A man's voice says as I turn to face the clearly drunk man. He slurs out every word and I can smell the alcohol off his breath. He grabs my arm as I go to back away.

“Hey! Where are you going?” He slurs. A rush of fear runs through me as the man snakes his arm around my waist.

“Hey! Get off of me!” I yell which doesn't seem to affect the drunk man. His hand threatens to go lower before I slap the man across the face.

“I said get off!” I yell, extremely annoyed by the interaction, but quickly realise slapping him was a bad idea. His right fist comes up and hits me straight in the jaw, causing me to fall and land on my side.

“You shouldn’t have done that little girl,” The man says with a sinister look on his face. I feel terror run through my body. He pulls me towards him by my left leg as I kick him in the face with the other. He stumbles back and I scramble to my feet as I run to the end of the alleyway. Once I near the end, I turn a corner and run straight into the back of someone. I get knocked back, and clamp my eyes shut bracing to hit the ground again, but the ground never comes, instead I feel an arm wrap around my waist to hold me up. I slowly look up and see dark eyes looking back at me. Eyes filled with curiosity, which quickly sizzles out and becomes emotionless. He pulls me up to my feet again.

“Are you alright?” The man asks in a deep raspy voice, before taking his arm back. Just as I’m about to answer, the drunk man comes stumbling down the alleyway and leans against the wall to hold himself up. Without thinking, I hide behind the tall stranger.

“Hey, I saw that one first!” The man angrily yells while looking me up and down.

“Too bad because now she's with me.” The tall stranger firmly states with an accent. He takes a stance in front of me, blocking the man's view of me. His voice oozing with dominance and power. The drunk man takes a step forward before the tall man grabs him by the neck and has him pressed against the wall. The drunk man grabs at his hands but they don't budge.

“Like I said, you disgusting drunk. She’s with me now, so leave her alone. Understand?” He says as he presses more pressure on the drunk man's throat.

“U-Understood,” the drunk chokes out. The tall man lets go and the drunken man falls to the ground hard. He gasps for air and coughs uncontrollably. He slowly looks up at the man and scowls at me before stumbling down the street away from us. The tall stranger faces me and I can finally see his face in the dim street light. He’s gorgeous. He’s extremely tall. I only barely come up to his shoulder. He has dark brown, almost black eyes, a chiselled face and short black hair. He has a scar that runs over the bridge of his nose which doesn't take away from how handsome he is, in fact, it almost adds to it. He's wearing a black tank top that shows off his heavily tattooed muscular arms and black jeans.

“Are you done checking me out?” he asks with a chuckle which causes me to blush, and turn away after realising he caught me gawking.

“Sorry.” I say before gently biting my bottom lip and avoiding eye contact.

“It’s fine, I don't mind, I must say, it is flattering though.” He says with a smirk. I look up at him again, meeting his eyes which are now full of anger. His eyebrows pinch together as he lightly cups my face with his thumb gently brushing over the bruising skin.

“Did that man do this to you?” he asks, examining my skin.

“Yeah, but it’ll heal.” I say with a smile, putting my hand over his and pulling it away from my face.

“So what are you doing out here all alone?” he asks and my heart sinks when I realise he has a Portuguese accent. I back away as I feel my blood drain from my face.

“Are you okay? I won't hurt you.” The man says before taking a step towards me.

“Stay away from me!” I say with a stern but shaky voice. I turn and start walking down the street. I can feel his presence as he follows closely behind me.