Innocence
Chapter
One- Surprise
A young girl sat on a barstool sipping a apple martini, her eyes were unfocused, just looking questioningly at her drink, every once in a while she would take a sip, her posture was hunched over and strained, clear tension between her shoulders. Her brunette hair she wore short on her head, the back went just above the nape of her neck, and in the front it was a messy style, coming right above her earlobes. Bright lavender eyes scanned the crowd, she looked like she was expecting somebody, her knuckles cracked and the chipped silver nail polish was reflected by the dim lights of the bar. There were different people on the dance floor, most moving closely, sweat covering their bodies as they moved to the slow seductive beat.
A man walked in the door of the club, he headed straight for the bar, walking over to the girl, he observed her very carefully. She was wearing tight dark-denim jeans and a halter top that hooked around her neck, brown and blonde hair styled wildly, and lavender eyes looking around. She hadn't started drinking heavily yet, which in his mind was a good sign.
"Can I help you with something?" She asks, not turning around as she sipped some more of her martini.
"Yeah, I'm looking for this beautiful girl, wears tight clothing, eyes like jasmine, and short funky styled blonde and brown colored hair, would you be able to help me?" He says cockily as he watches her sit her drink down and turn around on the barstool.
"Yeah, I'm that girl, what you wanna do about it?" She says coldly taking in his appearance. He had an amazing physic, he was very buff, muscle rippling all over, and he wore a tank top, that carefully showcased his rock hard six pack, he had on tight black jeans, and his golden-green eyes flickered over her, studying her intensely.
"Maybe this..." He says as he grabs her violently, slamming her against the bar and kisses her passionately, hands groping all around. "And this..." He whispers huskily as he bits her lower lip, moving onto her neck, kissing, nipping, and biting.
"Mmm..." She says as she pushes him away. "Adam, love, how nice to see you." She smiles hugging him.
"You too Ari." She loved when he called her that, her actual name was Ariana Isabelle Tanner, but Ari, coming from his lips sounded so...sexy. "Hope I didn't keep you waiting long."
"You did, I've been here an hour, and your late." She says poking him in the chest playfully.
"I am so very sorry." He says with puppy dog eyes. "Got caught up with Corran."
"Always him, your spending more time with him than me."
"Your the one that didn't wanna go, I told you Brittany was gonna be there."
"Yeah, I know, but I see her enough all the time, I just wanted to hang with you, besides when I'm there I feel like I'm eye-candy."
"But you are baby, that's why I love ya so, your so freakin' hot!" He says as he kisses her neck again.
"Hehe, stop it." She giggles. "I was just worried, that's all, what you guys do ain't exactly legal."
"I know baby, but you don't gotta worry, I'm the third best there is, just below Corran and Britt. They decimate, everyone knows he does, but she certainly surprised everybody. I'd reckon she had a lot of potential and talent before Cor picked her up."
"I know she did, and I know you are, I still worry though, it's dangerous." Ariana says pouting sweetly at him, genuinely concerned.
"Don't gotta worry love, it'll all be kosher in the end."
"Maybe your right." Ariana says looking up at him.
"There, now that that's settled..." Adams says trailing off as he pulls her to him kissing her, at first softly then more passionately. He swirls her around and slams her against the wooden column. She lets out a moan of discomfort and pleasure, however she doesn't have much time to contemplate the pain because, Adam's lips had returned hot on hers. He moves down to her neck using a combination of lips, tongue, and teeth. All of the sudden, she tensed up in his embrace causing him to look straight into her eyes. "What's wrong babe?"
"I know those guys." She says with curiousness in her voice as she looks over his shoulder at those two thugs standing a little ways away from them.
"Who are they?" Adam asks throwing a glance in their direction.
"They're just some guys I know from Lez, they run the contests there, last time I left, we had words and aren't currently on such good terms."
"Should we be worried?"
"No, I asked Corran to take care of them. Let me just go see what they want." She says walking towards them.
"What? No!" He says grabbing her arm spinning her around. "Those guys look hard-core! I don't want you getting hurt." He says placing his hand on her waist.
"Don't worry love, I can take care of myself, I'm a big girl. Give me four minutes." She says kissing him sweetly and walking over to the thugs. "Bruno, Johnny, escort a lady outside, fellas?" She says smiling coyly.
They follow her out into the alley, as she turns to face them, she sees them slip off their jackets, showcasing the mega-muscles on their arms.
"Alright boys, what in the HELL are you doing interrupting me and my boyfriend?"
"We want our money back." Bruno says cracking his knuckles menacingly.
"I'm not paying you. I didn't cheat on your damn dance-off, I won it straight up!!" Ariana yells as she snaps the hook around her middle fingers for her fingerless gloves.
"Hell you did, there's no way you could do all those dances flawlessly and dance for twenty hours straight!!" Johnny, the more brainy of the thugs, yells.
"Moron! I had fourteen energy drinks right before the contest and I was trained in every formal partnering dance when I was growing up."
"That's no excuse, I want---our employer wants his money NOW!!!!" Bruno yells as he tries to knock her out, Ari however, uses her speed to her advantage, dodging his blows, finally spinning around kicking him into the dumpster, effectively knocking him out.
"Alright Johnny, last chance, who's your employer?"
"You ain't gettin' nothing out of me bitch!!" Johnny says as he rushes her.
They never learn do they? Ariana thinks to herself, but in that moment she gets knocked down by Johnny, his hands curled around her throat. He continues to strangle her, leaving bruises on her throat, when she flips him over her shoulders, standing up. As he also gets up he lands a kick to her stomach knocking her back slightly and she utters an audible grunt as the kick hits. However, she punches him back into the fence, knocking him out. Ariana slides down the wall in exhaustion, hunched over in pain.
"I gave him a chance, but now I have to find out who it is that sent these thugs after me and what he really wants, it can't just be that $100 from the contest, to a mogul like he's sure to be that's nothing." She pants to herself softly.
Seconds after she had finished Johnny, Adam ran out the door looking for her, he found her laying against the wall, and he immediately rushes over to her helping her up, it's just then that he notices all the dark bruising on her neck.
"Oh baby, you said you could handle it. Look at you." He says helping her keep standing, she had extensive bruising to her stomach. She must have gotten really banged up in that fight.
"I know love, but someone sent those creeps after me, and I want to know who and why. Call the gang, I'm assembling a meeting, this is big time, and I won't stop until I find whoever it is that wants to kill me." She says pushing away from him and standing on her own, looking out towards the sunset, she then begins to fall to the ground when he catches her. "Okay, maybe I could at least wait until the world stops spinning." She says looking up at Adam who was smiling at her.
