WARNING: Chapter contains a Violent male protagonist. 

The car stood parked on the pavement with its head lights blinding us. I stopped dead in my tracks as Rowan stepped out of the car and slammed the door hard enough to get it dented, or get the door loose from the hinges. I swallowed hard. I still had a few minutes to call my mom and arrange for my grand funeral.

The good emo-goth guy spun around to notice I wasn't following him anymore, "you alright, Chica?"

HELL I'm not.

"Listen Rio, you need to make a beeline towards your car, now and fast."

"What?" he slipped a hand around my shoulder, "No. No, you're coming with me. Chez told me you're my responsibility."

I brushed his hand off my shoulder, and quickly regretted when I watched his face loose the color, I added, "Rowan's here."

Rio followed my gaze and stiffened. I gave him an apologetic glance as I jogged my way towards the professor's car.

Rowan stood leaning against his car, the menacing aura had already began to plague his surroundings. I was unable to look him in the eye, shit scared for all the wrong reasons because no matter how hard I was going to explain this situation, I knew I was already qualified as a looser.

Rio followed my trail; I mentally regretted not warning him before hand since I could see through the entire scenario which sure wasn't going to end pretty. One could take a bloody nose home or a broken arm in plaster—those were going to be Rio's situations if he didn't run now. Who was he messing with?

"It's so good to see you here Mr. Masters." Rio said, well naturedly.

I started a mental countdown,

Five.

Four.

Three.

Two.

"YOU LIED TO ME!"

Sure I expected an explosion, but this guy wasn't giving me time to guess.

Rowan turned to face Rio and unleashed whatever amount of acid he could produce, "What the hell were you doing with her?"

 "Well, I was just.." Rio looked at me, then at Rowan and back, like a tennis match spectator. "You sure you're gonna be alright?"

I nodded, hoping he would get a hint and leave. He back-walked, giving me one last glance, turned and jogged back towards his car.

Now it was just me, Rowan and the menacing silence which wasn't peaceful anymore. His eyes gave me a through once-over. "Do I even want to know what the fuck you've been doing half naked at a club this late?"

"I can explain..."

"Get in the car." when I didn't move, he snarled loud, "NOW!"

I climbed into the car, shaking all over. The fear coiled deep inside my chest burning me all over. We drove to his apartment in silence, and I was two seconds close to begging him to drop me off at the dorm. There wasn't a doubt about how much I had come to care for him, but I wasn't so sure what he was capable of. He never spoke a word until we entered the apartment and that's when he slammed the door shut behind him.

I stood in the far corner of the living area with my arms crossed over the front; I glanced up to look at him with whatever willpower I had. He stared back with fathomless dark eyes, as his gaze travelled from my shoe and slowly ended on my face. I wanted the ground to wallow me up whole.

It was either apologize or wait for the verdict, I chose the former, "I'm....I'm sorry...."

I watched him trash the nearest flower vase on the floor, it broke with an ear piercing sound, scattering all across the floor.

"Rowan let me just...."

I shut my eyes tight as a beautiful round crystal ball went down next.

A thick lump formed in my throat, I had to stop this trashing and breaking but I would be stupid to try and touch him at the moment. I chose to stand behind and watch the entire 'bring-my-house-down-show' until the end credits rolled, he spoke to me in the same calm-cold tone, which had me thinking he was better off screaming at me, "so tell me Alana, why did you lie to me?"

"I never lied to you, I would never...."

"Then tell me what the hell you've been doing with that guy?" he threw another breakable thing shattering down.

I flinched and backed away until my back touched the wall, "After I left your apartment, I went to the dorms like I said I would, and then I got a call from Chez, asking me to help him take Nina back to the dorms because she was drunk and wasted. So I went to Demon's Bolt to convince her. That's the only reason I went. I swear."

Great. Nervousness can render you to babble-lism.

He continued to glare at me with bloodshot eyes, "Save your breath, I watched you leave the dorms with Rio."

I was speechless, had he been stalking me?

"He only came to pick me up because Chez told him to, he was just a means of my transportation."

"STOP LYING TO ME ALANA!" He screamed at the top of his lungs with that my pulse began to race.

"I'm telling the truth." I whispered back the response.

Rowan's erratic breathing began to surface, he paced the room in swift moves, his chest beginning to rise and fall and he literally started sobbing, "Baby please, tell me if you have someone else..don't play with my emotions."

"I'm not playing with your emotions Rowan," my heart hurt so much just listening to him, "I love you. Only you."

And we were back to square-one, he rubbed his temple, "then if you love me, why are you dressed like that? FOR WHOM?!"

"Nobody." I didn't have an answer to that one, because for what it's worth—I wanted to swap my wild card at that time. I wanted to look good for myself.

"Oh, I know." he beamed at me, as the false realization dawned him, "You love it when all those men flock around you and feed you all that unwanted attention. You are a smart cookie, Alana, you're rubbing it in my face about how much superior you are compared to me. I'm just a fucking unemployed boyfriend. Have I got any of that wrong?"

"Where are you taking this? you're not making any sense." for the first time in twenty minutes I took a step towards him and touched his shoulder which would have been tagged as the worst decision of the century, "listen to me..."

"Don't. Touch. Me." he said slowly and clearly, pushing me ever so slightly, but since it was unexpected and uncalled for-- I lost my balance and fell hard on my back, my palm landing directly over the pieces of broken glass.

I stared at my palm that had a piece of glass sticking out of my skin; the long gash oozed deep red blood.

"NO.NO.NO.NO." Rowan came right beside me, pulling at my arm. "I'm so sorry. I'm sorry."

One look at my injured palm and he was on the brink of tears. The demon that had possessed him just a while ago began to subside. With delicate hands, the one's that had shoved me a minute ago, slowly plucked the glass piece from my skin and chucked it aside.

The blood continued to ooze. Rowan continued to stare at my palm in mock horror.

 A warm tear grazed my palm, merging with the blood.

His tears. My blood.

Rowan got up immediately and disappeared into another room, after a minute he reappeared with a Jug of water and a first aid box. He cleaned my cut, and started applying some medicine with cotton, the gash burned, but not more than how much my heart did. I yelped, "Ouch."

He pulled back his arm at once, all his anger, fury and the venom had disappeared into thin air. He never spoke again; we were once more channeled to the Mute Tv though hishands worked as he applied a large band aid to my cut. The silence wasn't a bother anymore, I was starting to become accustomed to his silent treatment and the mood swings but somehow the silence seemed even more dreadful. I'd rather see the yelling and shouting Rowan, because the Shouty-Rowan unleashed all his emotions and I knew exactly what went in his head. While I stayed on the floor, he cleaned the mess. Picked every single piece of glass, and even moped the blood on the floor. When all was done, he quietly took over the side beside me.

The silence stretched on, it was becoming unbearable after a while, I decided to break the silence, "Talk to me, Rowan."

He didn't. He just kept staring into space. I had the feeling I was dealing with a child who needed convincing to start talking.

"Rowan..."

"I don't deserve you." His voice was dead-pan.

There it was, the self-loathing again. The 'I'm the villain of your story' line.

"I do this ALL THE TIME." he held my band-aid hand in his, stroking it softly, "and yet I ask for forgiveness which I clearly don't deserve after what I did to you."

"It isn't your fault."

"It is, Alana." His fists were balled into tight fists, "I don't know what gets me, I'm aware that you love me, so much that you would never cheat, or rather even look at some other guy. But, no matter how much I understand the situation, the moment I see you with someone else..my world starts falling apart. I have these crazy insecurities that maybe you would choose that younger guy over me."

It totally qualified as an OH MY GOD moment, because clearly I misunderstood him as a deranged, man-handling boyfriend. This guy was spouting some other worldly story.

"You're so pretty, so smart.." when a person compliments, one does not interrupt, "you could get anybody you wanted..."

"But I want you..." I said.

"I know baby, I do." he seemed so much better now, he was the Rowan I knew. The one I'd fallen in love with. "But, this demon that possesses me, tells me all the wrong things. Forces me to see and believe what's wrong. I don't want to lose you. I used to be so much worse before, but I'm working on it."

Worse than this? What would that be?Terrorizing with an AK-47?

So maybe I knew the reason why his ex-girlfriend left.

"You look so beautiful today; and when I saw Rio with you, my blood began to boil. I'm not that guy; the anger gets the better of me. I drank a lot before I came to get you from the club, I shouldn't have. But, I can't control my addictions. They have become a part of me, I want to let go, baby, I want to change for you so..can you please forgive me this once?" he pleaded with those irresistible I-want-the-red-lollipop eyes, "I just need one chance, Alana."

Unable to resist myself, I cupped his face in my palms, the cut started to sting, though I still let it sit, went up on my knees and kissed him full on the lips. He pulled me into his lap, careful to hold my injured palm in a feather light touch.  My back touched his chest as he caught a strand of my hair and let it sit behind my ear and kissed the hollow of my neck sending a wave of static electricity through me, then he raised my injured palm to his mouth and kissed each finger. "I will not let you down this time. I promise."

And I believed him again.

"Just don't wander around late at night. You may never know which monster prowls around. Granted, I could be the King of those Monsters but..."

"Don't call yourself that."

He stared at me for a few seconds, a smile kicked in. "You're very young, Alana, and beautiful. There are a lot of bad people out there, please don't make me worry next time." He kissed my forehead.

I felt preschool all over again.

                                                                      ******

It was the second time I reached my dorm, in no position for any more drama. I fell into the soft heavens which were cushions and buried my face deep into it. The time read 1:00 in the morning; I still had a few things on my mind. I grabbed for my cellphone and dialed Rowan's sister. It was too late, but dammit she owed me this call. It rang once, twice, maybe she was on duty, considering the possibility she was working her ass off. She answered on the last ring, "Hello."

"Hey, Claire. It's me."

"Alana?"

"Yep."

"Ohmigosh! How are you?"

Not great, all thanks to your dear dear brother.

"Fine." I answered.

She realized something was off about my tone, "Really? Then why would you be calling me past mid-night."

"Yeah. You got me." I had been robbed off the ability of speech, the energy being drained mentally and physically.

"It's about my brother, right? He did something to you." She sounded unsure and something else. Maybe scared?

"Claire, I never called you to complain or bitch about him. I would never do that." the hand still hurt, "the other day I met you, you were about to tell me something about Rowan that I didn't know."

I thought she hung up for a while, but then I heard her voice, "It was all years ago so promise me you wouldn't judge him."

"I promise." Though I was scared shitless, scared I might hear what I feared so deep down.

"You wouldn't believe when I say that Rowan used to be a black sheep of the family, he used to drink regularly, drugs and all the wrong things. I have watched him tear the house down and he used to find a sense of peace in it and honestly, Alana, I was scared of him. I never wanted to even been in a three mile radius of him."  I could hear her sob on the other end. I felt guilty all of a sudden, guilty of forcing her to dig out the old sack which had clearly been a painful memory.

"Andrew was his only support. He understood Rowan like nobody else but when Drew died, Rowan was back to his usual self, in fact, it was worse." She whispered the last line, "he even tried to off himself, but Minnie helped him overcome the depression, and since then he's been trying very hard."

"Then, how is he taking care of Minnie? Are you not worried he might lose his cool one day and...

"She was his only support after Drew died, Rowan would never hurt Minnie. Not in a million years."

I didn't doubt that.

"Alana, you're not speaking from the hospital, are you?"

So Rowan was capable of sending me to a hospital?

"Nope."

"Good." After a pause she said, "What did he do?"

"It's nothing major." I so wanted to hurl up everything, but I didn't want her to worry or think that her brother was unleashing some Psycho chemical yet again. "So..how do you suggest I handle him?"

"The mood swings, right? Don't give it much thought, I know he could get difficult, but I have this feeling, Alana, that you might change him for good. You love him, right?"

"So much Claire, I want to help him, but I'm not sure how." Claire's tears were contagious; I wiped a tear before it touched my cheeks.

"Just do what you're doing, but not out of pity or sympathy. Just be yourself."

"God, Claire. I don't pity him."

"He'll be fine."

 "Thanks Claire." I mumbled. "I feel a lot better after talking to you.  

"Sure, anytime. Uh—by the way, I have a flight to Bucharest in five hours so..I need some shut eye."

"Oh yeah, me too."

   My head hurt so much; I sauntered further into the room in the dark, opened a few drawers and searched for a pain killer. I gulped it down with enough water and ignored the growling stomach which was in desperate need of some food. I never even bothered changing clothes, and before I knew it I drifted into deep sleep.

A world free from problems.

A world free from Rowan Masters.

                                                              ****

A.N: Hi! If you enjoyed this chapter please let me leave me a comment and let me know what you think. Thanks!