"Riddick." I mumbled lowly, my eyes drifting from his own silver orbs to his lips and back.

The man smirked, eyes boring into mine. "I thought I told you to take care of that wrist?" he drawled, cocking his head to one side. "Now you have two injured wrists."

I stared at him briefly, trying hard to find my voice. It was hard when he was so close. "I-I did. I took care of the one you told me to and Doc did the other one."

Riddick clicked his tongue and slid his large hands down my arms to my wrists. Inspecting them he lifted an eyebrow. "You call this 'taken care of'?" I shrugged and looked away. "I call this half-assed." he said lowly into my ear. Jerking me down he forced me to sit as he picked up a box I hadn't noticed beside him. A medical box. I had no idea he had even brought one into the room with him. Neither of us said anything as he unwrapped my wounds.

Riddick pursed his lips. "You call that "taking care" of it? You wrapped it, so what? It needs stitches. Both of them do." I gulped. I didn't know how I felt about someone other than a trained professional handling my medical care. Riddick didn't wait for me to say anything. He pulled a needle out of the pack along with some string and threaded it. The man gripped my wrist tightly so I wouldn't mess him up as he began the slow arduous process of stitching me back together. It hurt like hell, let me tell you. No anesthetics this time around. Nope just good ole' pain! It most definitely was not one of those 'hurts so good' moments. I don't give a shit how hot the guy stitching you is, it doesn't numb the fucking pain.

Riddick made quick work of both my wrists, wrapping them up with fresh bandages when he was done. I nearly laughed when he tossed the needle behind him uncaringly. His large hand placed itself on my right knee, slowly making its way down until he reached my still swollen ankle. Riddick pulled my boot off gently as well as my sock, discarding it to some unknown corner, much to my displeasure. I shivered as his fingers brushed over my injury, the calluses on his fingers driving me insane. I couldn't tell you what color or how big the stupid thing was, but Riddick breathed harshly through his nose in what I could only assume was annoyance. "You run on this much more and you'll be crawling from now on." he told me.

"That bad, huh?" I chuckled. "A major sprain, then?"

"Well, it's certainly not broken, is it?" he shot back, eyes meeting mine defiantly.

I shrugged, "I wouldn't know the difference really."

Riddick stilled and studied me a moment, "What do you mean?"

"I have dulled pain receptors. They were essentially destroyed a while back, so I can't really tell what's a bad injury and what isn't. I broke my arm once trying to escape through a second story window, didn't even bat an eyelash. However, when I pulled the muscle in my leg trying to scale the fence those fuckers caught me on, I felt that for months. Spent three months in a wheel chair. Sucked." I told him casually.

Riddick looked down at my ankle a moment before starting to wrap it tight enough to give it some stability. "I was wondering why you didn't make a noise when that thing got you. Makes sense now." There was a brief silence until he finished, at which point he shoved the remaining wad of bandages into the medical bag and shoved the thing away from the two of us. The man sat back, eyes on me, and crossed his arms. "So," he starts. I already knew he's going to ask about Paul and Tina and what the hell that horseshit was, but I wasn't sure if I was ready to say anything about it. "What happened to tough little girl from before? You slam Johns into a wall yet cower from a boy."

This time I scoffed, "Yeah, well that boy is a lot worse than you think he is."

"He's the one, huh?" Riddick drawled mockingly, "Scrawny, twenty-something little brat's got you running scared with your tail between your legs? He's the one you're scared of? Not a ruthless bounty hunter who'd just as soon put a bullet between your eyes as he would help you out of your clothes. Not a murder on the run, who knows what move you'll make before you make it."

I glared at the handsome fucker across from me. "If you're going to make fun of me, I'll leave." I hissed. Anger boiled my blood at his absolute disregard for how I felt. What the fuck would he care anyway? He didn't know me from Adam. I was probably nothing more than a something to play with, something to tease to pass the time. Riddick cocked his head to the side in a fashion that I almost wanted to call cute. Almost. Cute just ain't the right word.

"Nah," he said, shaking his head, huge shit-eating grin on his face. "I think you're going to keep that tight, round little ass of yours parked right where it is." I couldn't help the blush that rampaged across my face. He really had been staring at my ass the entire way to the settlement. I almost felt bad for not returning the favor. "I'm waiting," he said.

My eyes diverted away from his and up to the slits in the blinds. "For what?" I asked. Of course I knew. I wasn't stupid. Just trying to keep the conversation from turning on to delicate matters.

"For my explanation." Riddick all but growled. That voice of his did funny things to me. My stomach flipped and fluttered at the rumbling of that deep bass voice of his. There was a warning there, too. Buried under the seductive rumbling was a warning tone. I just chose to ignore it.

"I don't want talk about it." I deflected instantly, gaze in my lap and fingers fiddling nervously.

I had enough time to register the growl that rumbled out of him before I found myself on my back. I yelped when my head collided with the floor harshly. I blinked in utter confusion through the pounding of my headache, barely grasping the fact that Riddick's large hand was clasped around my knee. A moment later, I squeaked as I was jerked towards the massive man who caged my small body with his. I came to a stop eye to eye with him, his hand on the left side of my head supporting him as he towered over me. His face was inches from mine and I could see the snarl on his face. "I didn't ask if you were willing to talk about it. I want to know where this came from." The hand that had been on my knee was suddenly beneath my shirt. I felt his calloused fingers run over a scar that ran from my shoulder blade around to my hip. His fingers moved across my skin to another scar that stretched from just above my belly button to just above the valley of my breasts. "And this one," he grumbled, dipping his head to my neck. His nose traced its way down to my shoulder where yet another scar decorated my skin. "You get the point, I hope."

I shook my head frantically. My body was already shivering from the onslaught of memories that were rushing back. The more Riddick caressed my scars, the more I remembered. "I-I can't." I whimpered, still shaking my head. I felt like such a baby. Like such a weakling.

"But you will," Riddick said nonchalantly, big hand clamping down on my chin to hold my head in place. "You see, I've got this theory. You, the bimbo, and the scrawny kid all got history. All got something that connects you. I heard what Doc told Johns. You're the yahoo, they're the jail-birds, and that pompous dickhead is your daddy. I think—," he went to continue, but I cut him off viciously.

"He is NOT my father," I spat, "He's a good-for-nothing, selfish, look-to-thine-own-ass, condescending, sperm donor! He wouldn't know the first thing about being a dad. He's not even qualified to be a father." Riddick merely raised an eyebrow at my outburst. I was panting by the end of my rant and angry as fuck. I knew my face was flushed, but not from Riddick. Not this time. Averting my eyes I let my head roll to one side and sighed in defeat. "I never had a dad. Doc's about as close as I get to an actual male father figure. My mother was my dad. She had to play both roles my entire life cuz that lowlife scum walked out on her for another woman when I was three. Not once in those first three years, fuck! Any of the years of my life has that man ever been a dad. He didn't even want me to begin with."

"How is it your mother's so great and yet you're a loony?" Riddick inquired, eyes glinting in the darkness. He was taking in every emotion that crossed my face.

"She's dead." I stated simply. Riddick moved to the side and sat beside me instead of hovering over me. I just kept lying on the floor. Half of me was comfortable; the other half was just too fuckin' lazy to sit up. "You wanna know so fuckin' bad? Really?"

Riddick shrugged, "You're an intriguing person, Hailey. Enlighten me." I could hear the sarcasm in his voice and yet it clashed so heavily with the humor in his eyes. I could tell my stalling was getting old, but this was a hard topic for me. In all honesty I hadn't spoke about the events that led to my hospitalization for nearly three years.

"Fine," I relented. "Christ," I sighed, running my hands over my face, "They killed my mom and her long-time fiancé, Warren, while attempting to kill me. My mom and Warren screwed everything up for them. They were supposed to go on vacation. Yeah, they'd be gone during my birthday, but they needed some time to themselves, so I told them just to go. They surprised me by coming home early the day of my birthday. Told me they didn't want to miss it." My throat seized up for a moment and I had to fight back the tears that I knew were coming. "I wish they had."

"They just randomly decided to kill your parents and you?" Riddick questioned.

I shook my head. "Is it ever that simple?"

He shrugged, "It is for me."

I rolled my eyes and gave him an amused smirk, "I'm sure," I chuckled, "Paul and I dated for a year. I was fifteen when I met him and we started dating not long afterwards. He was so different back then. A good guy. At first anyway. In the last couple months of our relationship, he turned into someone I didn't know anymore. It was almost an overnight change. He became physically and verbally violent with me. At first the physical stuff wasn't directly at me—more of just around me. He'd throw things out of frustration, punch or kick the wall or whatever surface was around me or near him. A lot of getting up in my face and screaming at me. It wasn't until I stood up for myself once that he actually hit me for the first time. Once he started, he didn't stop. He was convinced I was going behind his back with other guys. I tried to tell him it wasn't true, but he'd call me a liar and that was the end of it. Eventually I broke up with him and then avoided him like the fuckin' plague. I'm still surprised that I managed it. Tina was quick in replacing me and everything suddenly made so much sense. She was the reason for his change in behavior, his believing I'd cheated on him and she made sure I knew it, too. She loved rubbing her victory in my face."

Riddick scoffed and shook his head almost mockingly, "You must have really pissed her off." I cocked an eyebrow at the man trying to gauge if he was taking this seriously.

I finally shrugged and replied, "I guess. We'd been best friends at one point in time. I was bullied constantly and had to change my route going home on a daily basis. It worked for a month or so, but then they'd show up at every turn…everyday. Tina was always there to comfort me or come to my rescue. It took me a while to put two and two together, and really until I overheard her talking to one of them about which way I was taking home that day, that I finally confronted her. She told me she just felt like screwing with me, because I'm so gullible. She even let me know that she'd been "experimenting" with me since we were super young. So all of my tormenting and all of the things the bullies ever did or said, they were because of her. Because she was bored and I was the perfect cure for that boredom. I wrote her off at that point and never looked back. She likes to fuck with people, plain and simple. She's like that kid that likes to torture puppies for shits and giggles. I knew it was trait of her, I'd seen her do things to others, but I never thought she'd turn those traits on me. I wasn't her only victim, like I've said, but I was her favorite choice. I never really reacted to anything she did, not after the event that ended our relationship. Not even with Paul.

The two of them tormented me for six months. I took some major beatings during that time. Paul may be scrawny, but he can pack a punch. It's not like I didn't fight back. I did, but it always made my beatings that much worse. My parents found out about it when my mother walked in on me undressing for a shower. She had been so angry, I remember. She marched into the school the next day with Warren, who had managed to scrounge up some kids who witnessed a number of my attacks. They humiliated Paul and Tina in front of most of the student body and staff by confronting them. My parents had pretty much stated they were lousy excuses for human beings and shit-stains like them wouldn't ever amount to anything in life. The school severely punished Tina and Paul from what I heard. My parents moved us to a completely different city, so I never got to see what happened to the two of them. I actually didn't even see them until my birthday.

I had been asleep when it happened. There was a crash downstairs and the alarm was screaming. My parents had made me stay upstairs while they checked it out. Warren was the first to get attacked. I heard him hollering belligerently, my mother was freaking out and that's when she got hurt, I guess. I never saw any of it. All I know was they were still alive and conscious when the house was set on fire. I had been standing at the top of the stairs when I saw him. Paul seemed to come out of the smoke like a ghost or some shit. Just appeared out of nowhere. He was up the stairs and after me in a matter of seconds. I didn't get far." My hand unconsciously fingered a scar that was hidden by my jeans on the back of my knee. "He sliced the back of my leg so I couldn't run and then dragged me to the top of the stairs where he threw me down them. I think there was a fraction of second where I was air born before I collided and rolled down them. I can still faintly remember the pain of my ribs cracking and my arm breaking when it rolled under me. By the time I was at the bottom of the staircase I was in bad shape. My arm had been snapped in two places, I knew my several of my ribs were broken, I was having a hard time breathing, and my knee cap was dislocated. I was honestly surprised I hadn't snapped my neck. The way I had landed I shouldn't have been able to get up, but I saw them a couple feet away from me. My parents. Warren had multiple stab wounds to his back and my mom was in no better shape. They were alive and dying slowly. I could see it in their eyes. They were just far enough away from each other that their extended fingers could only barely brush against the tips. I don't know how I did it, adrenaline most likely, but I managed to push myself up and start crawling over to them. Tina came out at that point. I had seen my mother's eyes shift behind me and that's really the only reason I was able to avoid being impaled."

This time my fingers brushed the first scar Riddick had touched, "I managed to roll out of the way. While I didn't get impaled, the blade still got me. She and I struggled for what seemed like forever before Paul appeared and pinned me to the floor with a knife through my shoulder." My fingers touched the scar in the hollow of my shoulder, "Tina tried to attack me again with her knife. I only barely managed to kick her back in time to keep her from dissecting me. That's how I got this one." I gestured to the longest of the scars. "Everything is kinda fuzzy from there. Kept going in and out of consciousness. We somehow ended up outside. Paul woke me from another bout of unconsciousness by stabbing me in the shoulder again, hence the fucked up 'X' mark. I was too delirious at that point. I barely even registered when Tina slit my wrists and put the knife in my hand. The very last thing I remember before waking up in the hospital was Tina and Paul standing above me and the screams of my parents as they were burned alive."

There was silence in our dark little room. I turned my head to look over at Riddick only to find him staring intently at me. "So there you have it. The tale of a loony bird. Happy now?"

Riddick cocked his head to the side. "Doesn't explain how you landed in the nut house. You were the victim, were you not?"

I laughed, "Yeah, right. Depends on who you talk to. Some would tell you I was a sick little rich girl who cracked one day and decided to chop up my parents and turn them into charcoal. Only they put up a fight and I got severally injured in the process and decided it would be easier to end my pathetic excuse of a life then face the consequences. Others will tell you I was a suicide waiting to happen because of my traumatic experience. The slices on my wrists were enough evidence of that. I had fought with the attackers and survived but couldn't handle the fact my parents were dead because of me."

"And if I talk to Doc, he'd tell me you were the surviving victim of both a brutal double homicide and vindictive planning, that right?" Riddick drawled, sitting up and draping his forearms over his knees. "Why didn't you tell them it was Paul and Tina?"

I rolled my eyes and glared at him, "I did." I snapped. "There wasn't any evidence. All circumstantial."

Riddick shrugged, palms out, "But they're headed for slam, so there must be."

"Yeah, in the night shirt I was wearing. The tech's must have thought all the blood was mine, however, when I finally told Doc my side of the story, it came to light that was not the case." I replied with my own shrug.

Again with the silence. It was longer this time and I was beginning to get uncomfortable. He just kept staring at me like he was trying to figure something out. "Riddick?" He didn't reply, only stared at me intensely for a moment more before crawling back over to me. His massive body framed mine once again and my heart started racing with anticipation. Now, anticipation of what, I sure as fuck didn't know, but I didn't mind the sensation. Riddick's hand trailed down to my hips and then disappeared for a moment. A second later I nearly jumped as I felt more than heard the fabric of my jeans being torn open by the blade in his hand. "R-Riddick!" I snapped thrusting my hands up to slam into his chest. "What the fuck are you doing?"

He merely grinned at me as he did the same to the other leg, "You won't be needing these pants anymore. Too constricting for that ankle. Doc gave me a bag." He jerked his head over in the direction of said bag, though I didn't look. I figured it was the bag I saw in his hand when he entered the room initially. I couldn't take my eyes off of the man above me. "Has a change of clothes in it. Thought I'd help you in to 'em. Wouldn't want the boy finding you in such a…compromising state." There was something coy about the look in his eyes as he watched me humorously. That damned hand of his pushed the ruined fabric of my jeans off of my legs, allowing his calloused fingers to drag down my skin.

"R-Riddick," I muttered weakly, heat flushing my cheeks and my breathing getting heavier. I'd never been with a man, ever, but if I had my choice…well, I think that's pretty obvious.

"Tch," he scoffed, a smirk pulling his lips up, "I told you, didn't I?" I gave him a confused look, to which he shook his head. Leaning closer, nose to nose, lips barely an inch apart, his eyes bored into mine as he growled out, "I told you I'd come after you first." Riddick crushed his lips over mine. My hands slipped up from his chest, one to his neck and the other to the side of his face, as I kissed back with just as much passion. He slipped a hand into my hair and roughly pulled my lips back as he started down my neck, inhaling first and then trailing hot, wet kisses down my pale, sensitive skin.

I'd like to say thank you to everyone who has pushed me to get this chapter out. While I know most people give shout outs to specific people, I'm not one to name names. Those of you who have added me to your watch list and/or favorite list, thank you so much! Those of you have reviewed and or pm'd me, thank you so much! And to those who have done all the above, a special thank you, to you! Honestly, every single one of you are my inspirations and I couldn't have written this chapter without your support and kind words. I can't give you a promise to the date of the next post, but I will hopefully have it out before the end of November. Fingers crossed, my dears, fingers crossed!

Thanks again! 3

Anearlyending