Hyde (The Devil's Roses 3)

He pulled into a huge parking lot next to a massive building.

"What is this place?"

"It’s the police detachment, we have the holding cells here."

She turned, looking him straight in the eyes. She didn’t speak, she looked at how beautiful he was. She let it distract her from all of the sadness that had over taken her life. His blue eyes were filled with yellow specs, almost like they were blue hazel. His thick lashes enhanced the color.

"You okay?"

She nodded blushing, "How old are you?"

He smiled making her heart beat faster, "Twenty-two."

She smiled, "Don’t you want to know how old I am?"

He chuckled, "No I already checked on your file."

She blushed again, "What?"

He winked climbing out of the car, "Best part of being a police officer, I can run pretty girls before I ask them out."

She climbed out of the car and smiled, "That's sneaky, it's like cheating."

He shrugged, walking around the car and taking her hand and enveloping it with his, "Hey, better I know everything up front."

She smiled wondering if her eyes revealed the secrets she had, the ones that weren’t in her file?

The inside of the detachment seemed sterile, void of life and the special secret ingredient that separated people from computers. People worked maintaining the same even look upon their faces. The only color and excitement was in the obvious criminals. Andy walked her past it all so quickly she was barely able to notice them.

He stopped at an elevator. Other vacant looking people entered the elevator with them. They never spoke or joked. It wasn’t how she imagined an office at all.

He pulled her off the elevator, taking her to a guard's desk.

"Hey Tom."

The older man in an odd uniform smiled, "Morning Paulson."

Andy pulled his badge out and signed some papers.

The door made a buzz and Andy brought her to a room with a small plain wooden table with four chairs surrounding it.

Nerves suddenly filled her stomach.

She hadn’t been prepared to be afraid to see her aunt, but fear crippled her, as Andy pulled out a chair for her and she sat.

He sat beside her holding her hand.

She had assumed it would be done through Plexiglas with phones, not sitting at a table with her in the same room as Andy.

The door opened, a tall blond woman in uniform led her aunt in. Her aunt looked terrible, her long brown hair was disheveled and her face was puffy from crying.

She looked defeated as she waked into the room until she saw Hanna. Her face then filled with disgust, "I thought I was meeting my lawyer."

The tall blond looked at Andy "You okay?"

He nodded and she walked out of the room locking it from the outside.

Hanna sat staring at her aunt. Her body wanted to jump up and hug her and straighten her hair and tell her everything would be okay. Her heart wanted to pick up a chair and smash her over the head with it.

Instead she sat in the chair returning the unfavorable look.

"What do you want?" Her aunt asked and sat down.

Hanna held back her tears, "Why?"

"Huh?"

Why?"

"Why what? Why did I do it? You spoiled little bitch, I gave you everything and then when you turned eighteen you got it all. None of it was mine anymore. I earned it." She leaned back in the chair smugly.

Hanna nodded, "It wasn’t anything but money with you ever?"

Her aunt raised her eyebrows smirking.

"You never loved me in even the tiniest amount? You never cared for me when you tucked me in and sang to me and read me stories? How about when you bandaged my wounds? DID YOU FUCKING LOVE ME THEN?" She raged across the table. She felt the change starting inside of her skin again. She took a deep breath, fighting to stop it.

Andy put a hand on her, "Hanna."

Hanna took a deep breath watching her aunt fight any emotions. She sighed, "I would have given it all to you."

Her aunt broke then. She cried, sobbing into her shackled hands.

"You killed them both for money and now you're dead to me. You've put us both in the same boat with no family and no friends." Hanna stood and walked to the door. Andy knocked at the door. The tall blond opened it.

Hanna looked back at the sobbing mess that used to be her aunt, the only mother she had had for nearly a decade.

"I would have given it all to you." She walked from the room.

Andy gripped her hand tightly, pulling her through the doors and back to the elevator. Hanna felt exhaustion coming to take her but she fought it. She needed to go home.

****

Hanna sat up on her bed realizing how late she'd slept. She glanced around the massive room and lie back. She closed her eyes to fall back to sleep again. Nothing in the world mattered anymore. Rebecca was dead, her father was dead, her uncle was dead and her aunt was dead for all intents and purposes. Hanna knew she should have died with Rebecca, not live on as the monstrous freak she was.

Her skin still ached from the drug they'd made her take. Everything was tragic. She recalled only months prior planning shopping trips, prom, her team finishing first in volleyball state finals, breaking up with Jimmy Stratton. All things that made her feel young and alive. The past weeks had pretty much destroyed all of those things.

A knock at the door pulled her from her pity party.

"Come in." She spoke softly knowing Roland would hear it, she swore he was part hound.

"There is someone I'd like you to see."

"Like a therapist? Cause honestly I think the sanity ship has sailed and my ticket wasn't valid."

"Hanna, please."

She thought about getting out of bed and sighed, "Roland how did I become this?"

"I believe it was a freak accident my dear. Your body naturally fought against death with the only tool it had, rage."

"Who is downstairs?"

"A friend. Come down."

"No. Send them up."

Roland cleared his throat, "To your bedchamber?"

She laughed, "Yeah my bedchamber. Roland you're so crazy."

He closed the door looking shocked, which made her laugh harder. She wondered if she'd stayed in bed for too long. She wondered if she had finally lost her mind from boredom and lack of stimulation. Before she knew it, she too would have her own series of crazy journals.

In the week she'd been in bed Andy had been by a few times to check on her. She had told Roland she wouldn’t see him. She wasn’t ready yet, he reminded her of the bad things she didn’t want to deal with. She wasn’t ready for those other things just yet, her pity party was still a full-fledged rager.

Roland opened the door looking flustered. Hanna leaned on her elbow, still fully covered in blankets and snuggling her pillow.

"Miss Hanna may I introduce Aleksander. He is in a similar situation to you and I felt he might be able to help you understand your new life."

Hanna gasped as the sexiest man alive entered her room. She watched as Roland frowned at her and walked from the room, leaving the door open. She yanked the covers up nearly to her chin.

He was a god. He was a beautiful god. Dark blond hair cut short and styled slightly messy. He had the whitest blue eyes that she had ever seen. She imagined he could see into her soul with them. He had perfect lips and to top it all off, he was massive. He looked like a huge sexy Viking but in jeans and a t-shirt. Her thighs burned just seeing him across the room.

"Hanna it's nice to meet you." He sat in a chair on the other side of the room. His words were like listening to a song on the wind, like they spoke only for her. Everything about him was sex. He could have bottled it and sold it.

She watched him talking but she didn’t know what he was saying. She liked watching him speak, noticing the way his jaw flexed.

She closed her eyes for a second, she imagined him touching her. She knew it would be amazing, life changing. His touch would set her on fire just as his voice had.

"Hanna."

She opened her eyes seeing him frowning at her with a sarcastic look on his face. She sat up dropping the covers, not noticing she was in a flimsy pale blue tank top. She crossed her legs with the covers floating over her legs and listened as he said her name again.

"Hanna." It was as if he sang it. She wondered if he was an angel. His beauty was easily worthy of it.

Chapter Eight: I like my Viking shaken, not stirred

Aleksander

He had come as a favor to Roland, who had always been more than kind to him in his moments of inner turmoil. He hadn’t realized what he was dealing with when he had agreed. Roland had called her a child many times. Aleks had assumed she was twelve or thirteen, not nearly nineteen. He felt it completely inappropriate being in her room. He tried speaking to her but his effect on her seemed to be beyond difficult. He too was drawn to her. He stood up and walked to her bed.

As he sat down he felt the error in his ways. Something about her drew him in.

He spoke her name softly, "Hanna." It sounded different than it had across the room.

She looked at him and as if snapping out of a daydream, she frowned, "Sorry, I don’t know what's wrong with me. I just don’t think I can be around you."

He laughed, "I feel the same way."

"I want to feel you."

He blushed, "Okay well I will go and tell Roland we probably can't do this."

The smile left her face, "I want to do it."

He couldn’t stand looking at her sad. He wanted to kiss her pink lips and wrap his hands in her silky thick strawberry blond hair. He felt mesmerized by the long thick lashes and honey brown eyes. She was gorgeous. He forced his eyes to remain above her neckline. He tried to ignore her chest, which was barely covered by the thin flimsy cotton fabric of the tiny tank top.

She leaned in kissing him. Her lips brushed against his softly. He felt his own lip's betraying him, kissing her was unacceptable.

He tried to push her back but her hands reached up grabbing at him, pulling him onto her.