(Hi! This chapter is bit small, but I hope you will enjoy. Take care and enjoy reading :) )

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~Chapter 5- Forgive Me...~

I tried to find a way to escape, but Leroy had me trapped. I squirmed to get rid of his tight grip on my wrist with no avail.

"No, no, sweetheart, you can't escape. You are safe with me," he mocked, causing a shudder run down the length of my spine. His minions continued laughing. If I could, I would have made them swallow their tongue, but I couldn't do anything more than giving them a look of disgust.

"Leave my way, Leroy, or else you will pay," I hissed in an attempt to act brave, though the fact was, I was scared. I was fully aware that I had no help as the school was empty. A drop of sweat ran down my temple at the mere thought of being trapped.

"Oh... I'm so scared," he mocked, followed by his Pets' laugh. Leroy pushed me inside the class. "Watch out until I finish," he ordered them and entered in, closing the door behind him.

I backed as he took a step closer to me. "Leroy, I warn you. Stay away from me." His lips curled in a wicked grin. I could tell he had no intension of staying away from me. I stepped back only to be halted by the desk. Leroy took the chance and lunged towards me. I slide in time to avoid getting trapped, but somehow he managed to wrap his arms around my waist.

"Gotcha!" He pulled and spun me around, so that I was facing him, trapped between him and the desk. He locked my arms with his one hand, while the other hand caught my waist, his body pressing me hard against the edge of the desk.

"No! Please leave me... Leroy, leave me..." I struggled to get rid from his grasp, but he was too strong to compete. I cursed mentally for my insanity of staying so late, alone, crying. But had I known this will happen, would I have stayed? Of course not! But this wasn't the time to curse but act. Tears, a mixture of fear and frustration, burned my eyes. "Leroy, leave me." I was amazed that my voice had still left strength.

"Leave you?" Leroy let out a devilish laughter, which echoed around the empty room. He tightened his grip on my waist, digging his nails in my skin through the delicate chiffon top. I grimaced in pain, spilling out more tears. But I didn't want to give him satisfaction of my weakness. I did not scream. "I have waited long for this moment and you are telling me to leave you? No chance, babe. I will not leave you unless I savor each and every inch of your body." He licked his lips and slipped his hands under my top. A shudder ran up my body as his hands made contact with my skin. My stomach churned, threatened to throw up. Tears of helplessness poured down my cheeks. I squirmed as his hands teased the material of my bra.

No.

"Leroy, leave me." I needed to stop him, and before I could register I spat on his face. It wasn't a great warrior kind of thing, but everyone must agree that it was brave and it also saved me from getting abused. I felt a wave of satisfaction overwhelm me as I saw his disgusted face. His face turned red in furry. His whole body started trembling. He let go of my hand. Truth to be said, I was more scared now than before and I was in more danger too. I was needed to cross few steps to reach the door, but Leroy's minions were most probably still guarding the room. With adrenalin spurting inside me, I slowly tried to step aside when he caught me by hand and smacked me hard on my face.

The impact caused me to lose my balance and fall flat on the floor. I felt terrible pain, like the hot breath of embers, burning my cheeks. I tasted something metallic in my mouth... blood. My eyes widened in horror. Leroy took a menacing step towards me. I crawled back, but he quickly grabbed my ankle and pulled me down, straddling me. He locked my arms over my head and leaned closer, hovering over my face.

"Bitch, how dare you spit on my face. I guess I must teach you what manners are." He grabbed the hem of my top and pulled it over, exposing my chest.

"No... Please leave me... No." I kicked my legs, wriggled, struggled, but nothing caused him to move off me. He licked my earlobe and trailed down his tongue over my jaw, collarbone and then over my cleavage. I felt bile forming in the pit of my stomach as he slipped his hand beneath my bra. I was never been touched this way by anyone. No one had right to touch me this way, except the person I love. I felt dirty, sick.

"Please, don't do this to me. I beg you." Tears ran down my cheek, like rivulets. "Please, somebody help me."

He grabbed my mouth. "Spit again on me and I will show you what happens when you mess with Leroy Woodward," he snarled. His eyes were filled with lust and anger, a dangerous combination.

God please help me.

"NO," I screamed as his hand reached to unzip my pant and leaned in to kiss me.

"Scream as much as you want. I love your screams and I love it rough." I felt something hard between my thighs and I didn't need to see to check what it was. He smirked, clearly aware of my fear. I could not take it any longer. My head started pounding hard. Everything began to zoom out. The only thing I could hear was Leroy's evil laugh. I was about to pass out when it happened. Someone wrenched Leroy off me. My vision blurred with tears, but I could see two figures fighting. Then I heard him.

"How dare you touch her? How dare you lay your hands on her?" he hissed. His voice had become threatening. The soft velvety voice, which had me enchanted, had been replaced with venomous hiss. I stood up, still trembling. My legs had gone numb. I walked towards the table and stood pressed against it as a support. I wiped the tears to clear my vision. I saw Steven holding Leroy's neck, whilst Leroy struggled to breathe. Steven looked dangerous. That handsome, God like face had vanished. It was overtaken by a deathly face.

"I will kill you, bastard," he hissed again on his face and lifted Leroy by neck. My eyes widened, I felt almost nauseated. My legs buckled, but I managed to stand. The scene was so horrific, I screamed.

"Steven..." I paused to take a breath. It was becoming to breathe after witnessing terror of life. Leroy was still hanging by his neck held by Steven. I never thought I would see this side of him. It was dangerous, but I weirdly I didn't feel scared anymore, because I knew he was saving me. But that didn't mean I wanted him to go behind the bars, be a murderer.

"Steven, leave him. You will kill him." I shouted, pleaded to leave Leroy. Steven glanced at me, his face softened a little. For a moment I thought his eyes color had changed with a glint of red, but it was just an illusion, I guess.

"I am not leaving him, Ashline. He tried to harm you. I-"

"I know what he tried to do, but you don't stain yourself with the blood of scum. I said leave him. He has got his lesson enough." Steven dropped Leroy. He fell on ground with a loud thud, writhing and coughing. For a second I felt pity for him, but then I remembered what he had tried to do with me, what he had done to other girls like me. I stared at his ace. Blood was trickling down his nose. There was a bruise below his right eye, which had just started to get dark. Leroy was actually pretty handsome. He had luminous blue eyes and blond hair. He was cute, an ideal boyfriend material type. But that was just an illusion. Behind that cute, almost innocent face was hiding an ugly beast.

Steven's muscles relaxed after he took a breath to calm himself. He said pointing his finger at Leroy, "I am leaving you today just because she said to. But you would not be that lucky next time if you tried to touch her or lay your hands on any other girl in wrong intensions, then it will be your last mistake. Mark my word." Giving passing a deadly stare at his way, Steven turned around to see me. "Are you okay?" he asked me, his voice laced with concern.

I could not utter a word. I was a bit shaken, so I simply nodded.

"You don't know whom you are messing with." Leroy said in an arrogant tone. I was amused at his guts. He was not able to even stand properly, but had air to say this shamelessly after almost choking to death.

"I know who you are. And believe me, I don't give a shit," Steven retorted. "Let's go." I quickly followed him out.

Outside the class, I saw Dennis and the other boy lying limp on the floor.

"What did you do to them?"

"Don't worry. They are not dead, just unconscious."

"But..."

"And don't forget what they did. They deserve this," he cut me off of mid sentence. He was right, they deserve this. Not only because of today, but all the things they did till now. I wondered what would be the reaction when anyone will find them in this state. And Leroy, he had that power to put any one down.

"Leroy won't stay calm unless he tackles you down."

"He can't harm me," he said, coldly.

"Should I say this is your over confidence?"

He didn't reply.

We were at the exit when I remembered something. I stopped in my track. He was walking closely behind me, so my sudden halt caused him to bump into me.

"What?" he asked in confusion.

"What were you doing here?" I asked when I noticed no one else. School was empty, well besides those three.

"You shouldn't stay alone this late in school. It is risky."

"Don't turn the page. I asked you, what were you doing here?"

He remained silent. His silence was annoying me. What did he think of himself? "Why do you care? It's my life, who are you to tell me what to do and not?" I asked him testily.

"You shouldn't stay alo-"

"Why do you care? Just stay away from me." I grounded.

"I can't when you are attracting danger to attack you, Ash."

"What? Listen; first of all do not call me Ash. My friends have the only right to call me that and secondly, I can handle myself. You don't need to show your concern."

"Oh-hold on, now you are being rude. Just to remind you, I saved you from that devil few minutes ago. You were in that trouble, because of your insanity."

He was right, but I was not going to give him chance to say that.

"Oh, thank you so much Mr. Steven for saving me." I said sarcastically. "By the way, also thank you for the fact that only because of you I faced that all. Only because of you I was alone here and not with Ron. First you let me down in front of teacher, then because of you Ron fought with me, because of you I had my clothes almost ripped and now because of you I don't want to face any more trouble. Just LEAVE ME ALONE." I didn't know why I said all that. I was frustrated and angry too.

"I am sorry. I didn't really mean to put you down in front of anybody. It was just-"

"Of course you didn't," I cut him off mid sentence with a sarcastic tone.

"I was just trying to talk to you, know you... Just wasn't the right time I guess. And I also didn't mean to cause any trouble between you and your friend Ron. I had no idea of that."

I shook my head in disdain and turned to leave, but just then he took hold of my wrist and spun me towards him.

"Ash..." the way he said my name sent a tingling sensation throughout my body. I could feel his breath on my face; his spicy cent was dazzling me being so close. "Ash, I don't want to cause any trouble to you, neither will I ever. I want you to be safe. I don't know why, but I will be always there for you whenever, wherever you need me. I won't allow anyone to harm you." His soft velvety voice had returned, causing hair on my neck to stand on with a feeling fully new to me. Few minutes before, I was in the same proximity with Leroy, but both time the feelings were different. While being trapped by Leroy disgusted me, being close to Steven made my heart flutter. I felt like hugging him back, but tried to hold on.

"I am sorry, Ash, for bringing tears in your eyes," he whispered and loosened his hold on my wrist. But I kept on staring at his face like a lost puppy. I could clearly make out the brown, golden shades in his eyes. He was handsome. His skin was flawless.

"Stop drooling, you need to move." Cold, I felt cold as if splashed with cold water when he said it.

My cheeks burned. "What? I-I...wasn't..." I stuttered.

But he just smirked. He knew it correctly. How did he manage to do that? All my anger dissolved in one blush?

"Come on, I'll drop you home."

"Err... It's okay, I'll manage to go." I hesitated, though the offer was appealing.

"Don't worry, you can trust me. I won't kidnap you." I chuckled while he gave me a gorgeous smile. "You can call and tell someone that I'm dropping you home. Just in case, you don't trust me."

"It's not like that. It's just... Your brother and sister... Won't be they waiting for you?"

"They are gone. Owen gets his own car."

"Oh... Then why did you stay here?" My eyebrows furrowed as I scrutinized him intently.

"I thought we were over with that," he said rolling his eyes.

"Nope. We are not," I said popping 'P' loudly.

Steven sighed deeply. He turned around to face me. "I knew you were there, alone. So, I was just making sure you were okay."

"Why?" I wanted to know but he just shrugged.

"Follow me," he said and I did like I was bound to obey him.

We entered the parking lot. He led me towards his car. When I saw where he was heading to, my mouth formed 'O'. I hardly restrained to whistle at the sight. I just opened and closed my mouth in awe like fish out of water. He stopped at his car Ferrari Enzo and opened the door of passenger seat for me. I took my steps towards it hardly knowing anything. He chuckled at my bewildered face. I carefully hopped inside the car. This time I could not help but whistle. This was just... cool!

"This car is beautiful," I blurted out.

"Thanks," he smiled and started the engine, pulling car out of the parking lot and out of the school campus into the road.

"Tell me your address, where to drop you."

"Um? Oh, yeah..." I realized he didn't know my address. I stated my address to him and he nodded taking the car in that direction.

We both fell in an awkward silence. I wanted to break this silence. It was very uncomfortable. Before I could say something he opened his mouth.

"Your parents must be worried about you."

I was taken aback, a little sad too. "They are no more. When I was young, they died. I stay with my Gran, though. She loves me and cares me a lot. Yes, she will be worried. By the time she must have called Ron also."

Ron.

I had totally forgotten him. I fetched my mobile from my bag and checked for any message or miscall, but there was none. I dialed his number, but it diverted me to his voicemail.

"I am sorry." Steven glanced at me and probably noticed my worried face. "What happened? Anything wrong?" he asked with concern.

"Nothing..." I turned my gaze out of window.

"So, Ron is your boyfriend?"

"What? No... We are just friends. Actually, best friends from infant school."

"Oh."

We were both silent again. After few minutes, once again he broke the silence.

"We are here."

We were in the front of my house.

"I guess, I should apologize for my rudeness, I was tense and-" I sighed. "I am bad at words, so just... Please, I am sorry."

Steven smiled and said, "Its okay. You should go now as your Gran will be worried, but before that may I ask you something?"

"Yes, sure."

"Can I be your friend?" he asked me, stretching out his hand. I couldn't deny. No one could deny. I shook my hand with his and mumbled, "Yes". He gave me a gorgeous smile.

"Good bye, Ash... Now I can call you that, right?"

"Of course, you won it." I said returning his smile. "Good bye, Steven."

He drove back waving his hand. The handshake left a tingle. I could not wipe my smile off my face. I forgot whatever happened in school, because I was happy. Why he was having so much impact on me? I thought and made my way to the door. I sighed. I had decided not to tell anything to Gran about what happened and had decided to lie that I had some project work to do with Mitzy. I didn't want her to stress out 'cause of me. I also decided not to tell anything to Ron even (when he calls me or receives my call, that is) because I knew he would directly lunge on Leroy which will put him in trouble. I also needed to apologize to him for being rude. So many apologies. I sighed before ringing the bell.

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AN: I hope you liked this chapter. Also Steven & Ash..........keep reading, vote / comment / fan. May god bless you all. Muah