Chapter 16

Two months ago:

"You are staying here.

-Try me.

-Have you perhaps forgotten what happened last time?

-That's exactly why I have to come. Who knows what you are going to do to her next?

-Why would that concern you?

-Because I am a normal human being?

-You can still be a normal human being here.

-You seem to be misunderstanding something. I am not asking for your permission."

Bartholomew was starting to get angry and his voice was getting louder and louder:

"You have no idea how dangerous it will be. You are not going anywhere.

-If it is that dangerous then you should leave Bonnie here too. Take your puppies with you and leave us alone.

-Why? So you two can stay behind and talk?

-What does what we do together have to do with you?

-Bonnie can't stay here.

-Then I am not staying either.

-I told you to stay!

-You are no boss of me!

-For someone who hates to see me you sure can't stop following me.

-Stop pretending as if I am following you. I am following Bonnie.

-Are you her puppy?

-I am her friend and I can't let an innocent person walk into danger alone. Especially not with you.

-Do you gave so few fate in me?

-Why should I trust you? You would never protect Bonnie. On the contrary.

-Because she is nothing to me.

-That doesn't mean her life isn't important.

-There is only one person I care about.

-You are disgusting."

He was a selfish jerk but I didn't even have the energy to argue with him. This was going in circles and no one was listening to the other anymore. Zadimus had already disappeared but hearing Bartholomew scream, Gardenia tried to calm him down:

"Bartholomew, let's just go."

But instead of calming down, Bartholomew flipped out:

"This has nothing to do with you, Gardenia!"

I felt bad for her seeing how she jumped but the way she glared at me after that wasn't nice. She looked me up and down and if looks could have killed I would have been long gone. Then she turned around and left as quickly as she could.

Being left alone, Bartholomew didn't even look at me and started walking towards the door. I tried catching up to him but Bartholomew stood in the door, preventing me from following him:

"You stay here.

-Are you deaf? I am coming too."

The next second a gun was pointed at me and I froze.

"I am not joking, Aed. You can't come with us."

I was so shocked that I needed some time to calm down. Seeing me frozen, Bartholomew asked:

"Are you okay?

-Of course not! You are pointing a gun at me!

-I have to. You can't come with us. Never again."

I didn't move and for some reason that made Bartholomew frown:

"You don't trust me.

-Of course not! Why do I have to remind you that you are the one pointing the gun at me?

-So you think I would shoot you.

-Why wouldn't you? Who knows what you are capable of?"

Bartholomew put the gun away suddenly:

"I didn't want to shoot you, I just...

-You just wanted to scare me into doing what you want? That's pitiful. Even for you."

Bartholomew hesitated before saying:

"You stay here. We will be back in two hours."

And just as he left, I heard Bartholomew lock my door.

"Hey! You can't lock me up! Bartholomew? Come back here!"

But no one answered and I could hear an engine starting. Who did he think he was? Point a gun at me and then lock me up? Until now I had no personal reason to hate him but I was ready to strangle Bartholomew.

I was so angry that I decided to break the door down. I did some stupid things when I was angry but I couldn't take the idea of someone locking me up so I decided to open it myself. I started hitting the door with my fists but seeing that it wasn't budging I grabbed a chair and continued with that.

I had only been fighting against the wood for five minutes when I heard a car suddenly stop in front of the entrance. I stopped hitting the door for a second and listened to what was happening downstairs. Soon I heard someone running up the stairs and my door got unlocked against all odds. When the door opened I found myself face to face with a worried Bartholomew and seeing the person I hated so much, I threw the chair at him.

"What the hell is wrong with you? Point à gun at me? Lock me up? I will scrape your eyes out!"

But I didn't have time to shout more because Bartholomew grabbed my hands and lifted them to his eyes.

"You are bleeding."

I looked down and frowned. I didn't even notice that my hands were bleeding. I was so focused on getting out that I didn't feel the pain. And what right did he have to be worried about me? He was the reason I was bleeding. I immediately snatched my hands away, angry :

"Don't you dare touch me! None of this would have happened if you didn't lock me up! You said you would never lock me up, but you lied! In addition to being disgusting, you are untrustworthy! Why do you have to be so childish just because I want to protect someone? Am I getting in the middle of your fun? Bonnie is not going to say anything, leave her alone!"

I had a lot more to say but didn't have time to because Bartholomew suddenly lifted me up, bridal style.

"What are you doing? Let me go!

-You need to get your hands treated.

-I don't need your help! Let me go!"

I started pushing Bartholomew away and the latter almost dropped me.

"Aed, calm down. Stop moving around.

-I am not calming down until you let me down.

-Then I have no choice."

The next second I found myself on Bartholomew's shoulder, my head facing his back. I started hitting him but he wouldn't let me go and took me to the bathroom without a word.

As he was carrying me, we walked past Gardenia, Zadimus and Bonnie and the three of them looked at us as if we were aliens.