Forced Marriage: Escaping Her Monster

No, it can't be him... I kind of remember his name... What was it..?

Jerlina bowed and rubbed her temples. She didn't tell him her name, but he told her his name. It was...

"Come on, honey buns... you're wasted. I'll drop you home. Let's meet and talk when you're sober..."

Jerlina remembered that guy's gentle deep voice as he caressed her cheek. His forehead was pressed on hers and his warm breath fell on her face. 

"Are you shy?" She grazed her lips on his.

Ugh! Was that even I who talked that way to a stranger? Alcohol really is the worst.

She remembered feeling hot all over and she grazed her lips on his.

"Come on! The night is young and we are old enough to do what we want...Don't grow a conscience on me now after makin' me drippin', Joe-"

JOE!!

Right, it was Joe! It can't be TJ!

Joe... His name should be Joseph... or Jonah... Jonathan...John...

Or...

JOEL!!!

AHHHH!!!

It can't be him! How could I have done all that with TJ? Impossible!

She didn't want to believe that. But if TJ liked her in the past, this might have been the reason. He couldn't have fallen in love with her on first look, right? She is not that special.

TJ is someone responsible and he might have felt responsible towards her after taking her first time. Or he could have been angry at her for lying to him about her age. 

Scarlett seemed to be unaware of that incident. 

Wait... It can't be him. How come he didn't even talk about his best friends about this? Don't guys like to brag or something?

But then Jerlina remembered how TJ acted polite like a gentleman when they were with Volkonsky. He was a natural.

So he acted like a gentleman and didn't kiss and tell?

Or he just kept it a secret just like me since it is illegal? 

Jerlina squatted on the ground and she had a splitting headache. She wanted to think something else since she didn't want to think about Gerard and now she is thinking a very terrible thing.

Maybe I should see if Gerard is still alive.

Jerlina decided to leave this place that gives her odd memories. She stood up.

"Gah!"

She screamed as she noticed the guy beside her.

"Mark," she grimaced recognizing the guy. "It's been a while," she calmed down and gave a smile.

Mark is respected a lot by the people around here. It was told that he hailed from a powerful mafia family that ruled this area for almost a century. Mark, single-handedly ended his family's reign in this area himself to help the people. But some guys he let off started new gangs and two of the gangs are still terrorizing the people.

He is a true hero!

He is a free spirit and does what he pleases. It is told that he didn't want to tattoo his family's crest on him as any heir should. But his father insisted he gets his tattoo and that's why his war on his own family started.

He gained the nickname Mark the Maverick for his 'unbranded' nature since all the men in this area would have one mark or another on them as identification.

Jerlina didn't know him well, and the last time she met him was before she left Peyton for her university. He was at her father's funeral too and he was one of the witnesses who had signed her father's will. 

She respected Mark.

He had aged and the wrinkles around his eyes were more pronounced. He must be over fifty now after all. But he had the same smile and that liberated aura around him.

"You look terrible," Mark stumbled a bit as he extended his hands for a hug.

"And you're drunk."

  "Uh," he waved his hand as Jerlina stepped in for a hug. "What are you doing here?"

"Nothing," Jerlina shrugged and her eyes ended up at that rock once again. "I thought they were going to remove the rock and expand the parking lot of the pub."

"Yeah... but then this guy threatened me that he'll buy this land and turn that rock into a shrine for 'The brightest moon', if I try to remove that rock. And I had to leave it as it is..." Mark sighed.

Jerlina felt her heart skip a beat. The brightest moon?

"Come on, Mark. Who in this town can threaten you? Don't kid me," she asked since she wanted a name and walked along with him as he turned to leave.

"You don't know?" Mark smiled slyly at her. " As you did now, he comes here often especially when there is a full moon. Like a lone wolf, he'd sit on that rock and stare at the moon for an awful lot of time..."

He looked at her and Jerlina gulped. "He met a girl at that rock some ten years ago and that girl had lied to him about her age and left no name. He tried to find her and in the end, he came to me for help, a couple of days later. It was the talk of the town back then... How Jerry fancied that girl and how that girl ran away from him..."

Jerlina got the confirmation she needed. Her legs felt weak and she stumbled a bit.

"Want a drink?" Mark held her arm and Jerlina nodded.

Mark smiled seeing the disoriented girl in front of him. He has a lot of things to talk about. 

For the better part of his life, he had tried to eliminate the gangs in his hometown and now he has a very good chance to eliminate the gangs once in for all.

He made Jeremy get involved in gangs for the sole purpose of eliminating them. Yes, Jeremy is the leader of a gang. But his gang is anti-gang. 

For as long as he remembered, boys and girls in this area associated themselves with one gang or another and it had become a culture. Even the government failed to help the people.

It was then he found Jeremy who had a mysterious origin and the support of Volkonsky. Like all boys here, he wanted to be included and started to run with gangs and found some friends. But he was different and had a sense of justice and disliked the practices of the ganglords supporting violence and drugs. 

Like him, Jeremy and his friends wanted the gangs gone.

The death of his friend David pushed Jeremy to the edge. Jeremy wanted to eliminate the gang culture and Mark convinced Jeremy that it can only be attained by spilling blood. And just when he convinced Jeremy to fight the other ganglords, Jeremy fell in love. 

At the age of twenty-one, he behaved like a love-struck teenager and started saying that he won't kill and other stupid things. 

Jeremy started a gang to attract young ones and they never did anything illegal but educated them to be better humans. His gang is a safe haven for a lot of directionless youths.

But that isn't enough!