Chapter-10 You are the problem

"One, two, three, go!" One of the men shot the flare gun, and Aaliyah accelerated her death beauty.

Vroom! Vroom! Her bike roared before she looked at Ashton with a cheeky grin.

"I will meet you on the other side of the hill," Aaliyah closed the flap of her helmet before accelerating even more.

Swaying her bike like she sways her body when practicing her combat skills, she made everyone hold their breath as they looked at her rash riding on the steep hill pathway.

"Aaliyah, be careful! I told you not to be rash, didn’t I?" Ashton shouted before accelerating the bike to reach her, grumbling dejectedly since he knew he wouldn't be able to match her skills in bike racing.

Feeling the strong wind against her skin, Aaliyah took a deep shaky breath. The voice of Ashton and the other riders faded along with the wind as the stress she had been feeling for a couple of days started leaving her body, the adrenaline rush and her fast heartbeat making her happy.

The view of the deep valley and the adrenaline rush made her excited.

Just one wrong turn and she would meet her death. She knew it very well, but she trusted her skills a little more than needed.

Right now, she was riding right before the girl who announced the kissing proposal, and Aaliyah scoffed when she saw the leader nearing her.

"Do you want to die with me?" Aaliyah shouted as she looked at the leader, and he cursed out loud, almost losing his balance when Aaliyah overtook him with a swift turn, leaving the leader and that girl behind.

"I want to party hard, but these tears wet my plans. Sitting on the pedestal of my throne, I am rolling in the blood of my own. Overtaking everything, I am following the path that used to be my world," Aaliyah hummed the poem she wrote recently, smiling when she saw that she was only a couple of kilometers away from the finishing line.

Seeing that girl nearing her, Aaliyah shifted in her seat before she started swaying her bike again, rendering her unable to take over.

"You have bullied my friend in my absence. Do you think I will let him suffer at my watch?" Aaliyah scoffed.

With one last acceleration, she passed the finishing line, stopping in front of the restaurant with a loud screech.

Forgetting the warning from the leader about the members of the Python gang, Aaliyah entered the restaurant without a care in the world.

The people sitting in the farthest corner, who also heard the screeching of tires, immediately raised their brows when they looked at the girl who entered the restaurant with a helmet.

They thought they would meet some professional racer or a member of another gang, but they were amazed when they saw a girl entering.

Volkov, who was sitting with his backside to the door, looked at his friends, who were looking towards the door, and turned to see what it was.

However, before Volkov could look at her, Ashton and the others walked inside the restaurant, hollering with laughter, practically hiding her from his view.

"Damn, you nailed it. Were you so eager to protect your man?" One of the guys asked, and Aaliyah smirked.

"Of course, no one can bully him other than me," Aaliyah said, raising her brows when she caught Ashton looking at her.

"What? Do you want a kiss?" Aaliyah asked, and Ashton immediately blushed, the interaction not going unnoticed by that girl.

“Come here,” Aaliyah smirked, her gaze focused on the girl before she kissed Ashton on the cheeks, making him even shyer than before. Seeing she has proven her point, Aaliyah let go of Ashton before holding his hand.

"I think we should leave. We can discuss the minor details over a video conference," Shane closed the laptop, and everyone nodded, walking out of the door one by one.

The girl, who remembered these people were from a popular gang, smirked before extending her leg to take her revenge, making Aaliyah, who was about to walk, fall sidewards.

Caught by surprise, Aaliyah closed her eyes in anticipation, ready to take the hit.

However, someone grabbed her right in time, saving her from falling.

Opening her eyes, Aaliyah looked at the guy wearing a hat and half-face mask with wide eyes when she realized he was one of the gang members.

"I... " Aaliyah paused, but that guy pushed her back to stand before walking out of the restaurant, making her heave a sigh of relief.

"Hey, that girl, don't you think she was awfully familiar?' Bryce walked to Volkov, and he gritted his teeth.

Familiar? Even with her mask on, he would recognize her among hundreds of people, not to mention that boy who follows her everywhere. This masked beauty. Isn’t this how he had fallen for her?

"She wasn't just familiar. It’s her," Volkov turned to look inside the restaurant, raising his brows in interest when he saw her looking back at him.

“You mean Aaliyah?” Bryce asked, and Volkov hummed, finding her more mysterious with each passing day.

Turning around, he looked at the bikes parked in front of the restaurant. A particular bike with an eagle caught his attention because of how well it was modified. The same eagle. Where has he seen it before? Volkov thought before remembering Aaliyah’s keychain that she carried with her. Could it be that this bike belonged to her? Volkov didn’t give it much thought before he walked towards the car.

As Aaliyah saw the gang members leaving, she couldn’t help but think that the guy's touch felt familiar. It felt like it was the same guy from the time when she danced with a stranger. His look was the same. His aura and everything were exactly just like that man.

"Huh, what the hell am I thinking? If it would've been that man, he wouldn't have left a chance to flirt with her," Aaliyah scoffed, remembering how he mentioned dancing with strangers before sitting at the table.

~~~~~~~

Nothing felt right. From the moment she left the restaurant yesterday, Aaliyah felt a strange uneasiness in her chest.

She won the first prize, and her mother didn't catch her, but for some reason, she felt weird.

Even the night's sleep wasn't as good as she had imagined after relaxing with her bike.

"Aaliyah, Ashton is here to pick you up," Her mom shouted from downstairs, and she quickly picked up her bag, leaving the house with a sandwich in her hand.

"Geez, you look pale. Are you okay?" Ashton asked, pulling out the chocolate shake he picked from the cafe.

"Thanks for the shake, and I didn't get a good sleep. Just drive," Aaliyah leaned in the seat.

"Hey, stop groaning and moaning so much," Henry nudged her shoulder from behind, and she sighed.

"Everyone, start reading the drama by Shakespeare and see if you can understand it without my help. If you feel stuck, I will help you," Volkov roamed around the class, stopping at Aaliyah's seat.

"Why do you look like a raccoon? Were you out forging IDs again?" Volkov whispered in her ears, and she gritted her teeth.

'Jerk!' Aaliyah cursed in her mind.

"Are you cursing me in your mind, Aaliyah?" Volkov bent, and Aaliyah, who didn't expect him to read her and come so close, almost dropped her pen in shock if not for Volkov, who held it in place.

"Is this a new trick to make me notice you, my dear student? Drop your pen, and while pretending to pick it up, show me your -, you know" Volkov whispered, making Aaliyah cough at his insinuation, his gaze hard yet amused, and before Aaliyah could reply, he stood straight before walking to the other students.

'The nerve of this jerk! Just because he is handsome doesn't give him the right to treat me like this, does it? What did he mean I will show him mine? Wait. Does that mean he wants to see it?' she groaned at her trail of thoughts before flailing her legs, her actions amusing Volkov even more.

The rest of the day went uneventful till lunch, but the strange feeling of being watched was still lingering in her heart.

There is nothing that good food can't solve. Aaliyah thought before pausing and looking around herself frantically when she felt someone's gaze on her.

"Hey, you okay? You are quite anxious today," David commented when he saw her uneasiness.

"Yeah, it's fine. I just felt like someone called my name," Aaliyah lied.

In honesty, she has been feeling like someone is constantly watching her. At first, she thought it was because of that gang member whose touch felt like that mysterious dancer, but now that she thinks about it she knew it wasn't about him.

"I am going to head up to the grounds. Let me gather some Vitamin D," Aaliyah fake mused, making everyone laugh, and Momo followed her shortly.

"Hey, look what I got you," Momo hushed.

"A science book? You know I am not the studious type, right?" Aaliyah looked at the weird choice of gift.

"Well, this isn't a textbook. Look inside," Momo winked, and Aaliyah followed, reading a few lines from a random page.

"What the -?!" Aaliyah paused, quickly placing the book in her bag.

"Seriously?"

"I completed it last night. I know you still have not set foot in the world of erotica, but read this. It will improve your understanding in that area," Momo winked before walking away, without even waiting for Aaliyah's reply.

Aaliyah looked at the book in her bag with a contemplated look before sighing.

Well, she needed a distraction anyway. She still has 40 minutes before lunch is over.

Since Aaliyah was sitting in the secluded corner of the ground where she was sure no one came, she didn't need to hide the book from anyone's gaze.

With her face supported by her hand, she started reading the book.

"

'And? You will obey me, Samantha. My orders will define your life from now on, and I am not taking no for an answer. You will repay your father's debt with your body, and I will make sure to use every inch of it,' Desmond pushed her body into the wall from behind while he pressed himself onto her, the dress Samantha was wearing, doing nothing to stop the heat she was feeling from Desmond's body.

'You can't do this to me! I am not your puppet. I will repay my father's debt by earning and not with my body. I will chop your balls if you dared to do something -,' Samantha stopped when Desmond pressed further,

She was denying his words, but her body was obviously a puppet to Desmond's hands.

Samantha felt something hard poking her hips when she tried to break free, making her widen her eyes. It didn’t take a fool to guess what it was.

Her struggles started to weaken as her body grew with need, her core starting to pulsate for something. This was her weakness, and Desmond knew all about it.

Without waiting for her further reasons, Desmond slipped his hand under her skirt, making her whimper as his hand rubbed her thighs up and down before he stopped at the entrance of her pu**y from over her panties.

"You are soaking wet for me, and yet you claim you don't need me? Do you want to get punished, darling?" Desmond cooed in her ears before he slid her panties to the side and slipped one of his fingers inside -

"

"What are you reading?"

"What the -"

Aaliyah released a shocked scream, closing the book before pushing it into her bag frantically.

That was close.

"What the hell? Why would you sneak up on me?" Aaliyah tried to calm her raging heart as she crossed her legs, feeling a weird heat, rising slowly.

It was already bad that she was reading that kind of book and the first man after that had to be Mr. Volkov.

"Well, I tried calling your name thrice as a matter of fact," Mr. Volkov reasoned before her red face registered in his mind. It appeared as if she was embarrassed.

"You still haven't answered me. What were you reading? You aren't the type who would read in her free time. Didn't you say you were not studious? So what exactly kept you so attentive that you even forgot about your surroundings?" Volkov pressed, and Aaliyah looked away, thinking of a way to distract him.

"It's none of your business, Mr. Volkov,"

"I see you are deadpan on disobeying and acting rude with me," Volkov said, and the word disobey made Aaliyah's cheeks even red if that was possible.

"I am not your slave, Mr. Volkov, that I'll have to tell you everything. I also have some privacy that you shouldn't violate," Aaliyah turned around, remembering how he had acted for the phone call, ready to leave.

She was really having a good time, but now everything was spoiled.