Fifty

***Adonis***

Rushing towards her, I asked, "Did Bryan do this to you?"

"I-" She pointed towards the entrance to my apartment and I obliged. My feet followed her pain filled paces until we got the door which I managed to open.

After introducing illumination into the dark room, I directed her towards the bathroom in order to get rid of the redness and get her cleaned up nice.

"Argh," she cried hard as I placed her gently on the covered toilet seat.

"Wait here, let me get the water running." I rushed to the bath and did as I said. "Do you think you can walk over here?"

"Hmm," she grunted, her head dancing to answer me in affirmative.

The sound of rushing water overcoming the room, I reached out to her to guide her towards the bath, my eyes watching out for her earnestly.

Placing her upon the edge of the bath, I helped her get off the blood stained gown, my being not mindful of the fact that I was going to see her naked until the gown was laying on the tiled ground.

Holding her in place, I told her to take off her undergarments herself and after she did that, I helped her into the bath whose growing hotness was gradually having an effect on the immediate environment which was my skin.

As she breathed a sigh of relief, I did too, my eyes trained on her with concern as I caught, with my side eye, blood staining the water.

I realized then that I had made an integral mistake. But that was not the issue on ground. She looked like she was in pains and judging by what happened back at the hospital, I could take a guess and comfortably swear at Bryan.

"Mr. Klaus..." She groaned as she tried to reach for the shampoo bottle on her side. I grabbed that for her, opened it and helped her put an handful on her shaking hands which she stretched in my direction.

"Do you want me to excuse you?" I asked as she started rubbing the lathering substance through the length of her shoulder.

"I might need a little help, so..." she let out a deep breath as he body slid some more into the contained fluid. "... please don't leave."

I nodded understandably, stood upright, grabbed a bucket from the corner of the room, some detergent from the soap container beside it and after putting in some water to get some lather, I watched as the soiled nature of the gown mixed with the solution.

I placed the bucket in a corner and went back to the woman who was now covered in soap.

I reached for the bath plug and all the blood went down the drain like they were in a hurry to leave the confinement. With seriousness definitely all over my face, I replaced the water and everything looked fine for a second.

"I should excuse you. Besides I need to get you new clothes."

"Thank you," she faintly said.

"The towels are above you, do help yourself," I said before I finally left the heated room.

Once in my room and in search of clothes that could size her, I exhaled hard. It was enough that Maximus seemed to be keener on taking Ruby from me and even though being with Ruby takes some burden off my chest, the fact that I have to protect her gets overwhelming sometimes since I can't always be around her.

And now... there is another menace. Bryan Lockwood.

It had to be him that did that to Mrs. Cook. If not exactly him, he has a hand in it regardless. He was the one that impregnated her anyway.

As I rummaged for an old shirt, I felt my phone vibrate and I hurriedly reached for it with the thought that Ruby was probably the one texting me.

She was the one alright but her text had this odd vibe around it.

**Ruby**: *Hey Adonis... There's something you should know*.
*You know what... Never mind. Thank you for today. Sleep tight. :)*


A small frown etched on my face, I bade her goodnight as well while million thoughts ran through my head. I can tell how easy it is for her to be confused when it comes to me and sometimes confusion can cause severe head and heart aches and that's not something I would wish Ruby to have.

Honestly, sometimes I think of disappearing from her life and giving her an opportunity to live a peaceful life. But, between what Maximus could do to her while I'm gone and how crazy she makes feel, I just can't bring myself to pack my things and move to another city where no one might know me.

Sighing hard again, I grabbed any shirt from my wardrobe, dumped it on the bed and went into my bathroom to wash my face or maybe take a shower in the long run.

"Mr. Klaus?" I heard Mrs. Cook call me from the other side as I turned on the tap of the bathroom sink.

"Yeah, I'll be right outside." My hands cupped some of the fluid and once the chillness hit my face, I found myself thinking about Ruby again.

Staring at my image, I made up my mind not to yield to my seldom urge to disappear from her life. I can do that to myself but I can't do that to her.

"Is this mine?" Mrs. Cook asked me as I came out of the restroom.

"Yes. Let me just get you a pair of shorts."

"No, it's fine," she said as she adjusted the towel around her body to prevent it from slipping. "I can just wear this. It's big enough."
She smiled softly.
"Thank you for taking care of me."

"I didn't do anything," I said blankly as I walked to the door. " Put it on and-"

Nervously, her hands clenched around my phone as I saw it in her grasp. " Sorry, I was checking the time."

"Give me that." Few heavy steps and my phone was back in my hands. "Get dressed and come out in five minutes time."

"O-okay."

I didn't mean to but I glared at her when I saw that the phone screen was still displaying my text with Ruby. "Five minutes."

I closed the door after me and went ahead to settle in the living room. Since my mind was still on the Ruby topic, I thanked goodness that nothing went wrong when Maximus suddenly barged into my place.

It would be rich of me to wonder how he traced us there but I made sure he never found out that the house was still in use.
It would be wise to stay away from that place for a while.

"Mr. Klaus, thank you so much for helping me once again," Mrs. Cook announced her presence interrupting my thoughts.

"How did you get my address?"

"Uh..." She sat opposite me, her eyes darting here and there, showing signs of guilt. "I checked the database when I had no one to call."

"So, you went to school looking like that?"

"Uh?" I raised a brow. "No. Actually I caught a glimpse of your address when I was doing some work for the principal."

" Why are you lying?" I asked calmly and her head darted to the side. After a few seconds of silence, I asked, " What happened to you? It was Bryan right?"

" Yes... and no."

" How so?"

" As you know Bryan was not supportive of me getting rid of the baby but he is some crazy dude."

" What did he do?" I asked as it occured to me that it would be nice to have a glass of whiskey in my hand.

She chuckled, a reaction that was definitely weird for that situation. " Bryan contacted my husband and told him I am pregnant for him and my husband definitely didn't take it well."

" What did he do?"

"Over the night, he sedated me and by the time I woke up, I was strapped to a bed and the only thing I could do was watch as the so called doctor aborted my baby. " She scoffed.
" You know what's crazier? I wasn't the only one cheating. My husband had two women who keep him satisfied yet... "

I watched as her hands fisted around the ends of the shirt that clothed her. At that point, it was evident that something was needed to soothe the distress that enveloped the room at that moment.

".... yet he found it so easy to get rid of my baby. What kind of selfishness is that? Only him gets to enjoy life with his babes? What do I do with my life now?"

" Would you like some juice?" I asked.

She sniffled, making me aware that tears were now rolling down her cheeks. " Yes please."

" I'll be right back."

A bottle of whiskey for me, an orange juice for her, I grabbed two cups from the plate rack and the next minute, I was back in the living room.

"Is the whiskey for me?"

"Are you seriously joking now?" I asked as I settled the items on the small stool beside one of the couches. "What are you going to do?"

"About my husband?"

"About your life," I said as I maintained my sternness as I was getting some weird vibes from her.

"Oh well..." She collected the now filled glass cup. "... I don't have my husband nor Bryan around anymore." She wore a huge smile.
"How about you take care of me? I can be a really good partner?"

"I don't like having people around."

"But you like having Ruby to play with, don't you?" she questioned me, her lips formed into a pout.

" What are you trying to say?" I acted unswayed by her words but at that point, I was beginning to regret letting her in.

"What do you guys see in that Ruby girl? Not only is she young and inexperienced, she acts too full of herself sometimes. I don't get why Bryan goes on and on about her most times. It's sickening."

"Shouldn't you watch the words that come out of your mouth?" My jaws clenched as I tried to keep my approaching anger at a distance.

"You must really like her. It's weird. Anyone would think you keep her around for the sex, she does look like she can take a good pounding. Most of them do."

"Mrs. Cook..." I got up abruptly, it made her slightly flinch. "It seems your present situation is no concern to you. If that's the case..."
I pocketed my hands.
"Make sure to leave my house before six am tomorrow. If you don't, I'll make sure the cops have you as a visitor. Goodnight."

"Wait." I stopped walking but I decided not to face her.

"What do you want?"

"Can I at least eat something before leaving?"

Scoffing at the height of her ingratitude, I decided at that moment to ensure she doesn't do anything to Ruby. She seems like someone who would want to hurt the girl for no reason and I can't have that.

"No. Make sure you touch nothing."

"Okay Mr. Klaus. Sleep tight."

There was definitely something off about her. How it escaped me... I have no idea.

~

Waking up at seven AM was something I started doing of recent and that change helped me a lot.

It made me aware of the fact that I was no longer part of the gang, so I had no reason to wake up in the middle of the night for weird, stupid reasons.

Waking up at seven o' clock also ensured I successfully reached the school gate few minutes after the first bell rings.

I just never seem to work towards getting there early.

As usual, the corridor was void of students and that meant the chances of seeing Ruby standing in one of the halls was slim as always.

Without much fuss, I walked into the staff room and definitely, Mrs. Cook was not in the room.

As I put my bag on my desk and sat down to mentally prepare myself for the classes I have that day, one of the female teachers walked up to me.

"Mr. Klaus, is it true?" The blonde haired woman in front of me asked and I raised my brows accordingly.

"What is true and what is not?"

She rolled her eyebrows like she was tired of me or something. "Are you really dating a married woman?"

"What kind of question is that?"

"Mrs. Cook... You are her lover, right?"

I chuckled. "Are you kidding me right now?"

"She is not," a certain Mr. Mark contributed to the discussion. "It is all over the school's online community. Even the students have seen it."

"Seen what?" My mind immediately went to Ruby.

"The post about you and Mrs. Cook being lovers. There's even a picture of the both of you and-"

The rest of his words I didn't hear as I rushed out of the room. It was evident that if I don't talk to Ruby and refute the claim, it might increase her confusion the more.

And that can't happen. It mustn't happen.

At this point, I can't imagine not having her by my side.

It hurts whenever I do try to imagine it.

So, I'll just make sure neither imagination nor reality has it way no matter what happens.

Unfortunately, the heavens are expert at making me lose important people or things.

But this time, they won't have their way.

I'll make sure of it.