Stone Me

Stepping out of the restaurant with quite some takeaways, Riley took a good look at the name and chuckled.

"Though the name sounds strange, the food tastes nice." Riley said as they walked towards the alleyway which they came through earlier.

"You only ate one, so how do you know if they all taste nice?"

"If one tastes that nice, I can bet all of my savings on the fact that they all taste nice."

Natasha smiled. Just as they got into the alleyway, she glanced at what he was carrying.

"Hey, did you decide to get more of the chocolate soufflé for your family?"

Riley subconsciously raised the bag containing the chocolate soufflé up and looked at it. A sad smile appeared on his face.

"No, it's mine."

Seeing the sad smile on his face, Natasha suspected that he and his family were not on good terms. She smiled and decided to cheer him up in her own way.

"What about the steak frite, don't tell me that's also yours."

Riley did smile, and she knew she definitely did succeed.

"Not mine, I got it for Richard, he loves steak, though I've never seen him eat it with chips, but I'm sure he would love it."

Seeing him with a smile as he spoke about his so-called big brother, she kinda wished he would smile this way if he ever spoke about her with others. She also wanted him as a brother.

Their happy moments didn't last long, cause Riley screamed out in pain. The perpetrators stood some distance in front of them with big smirks on their faces, not showing an ounce of regret from throwing a big stone at Riley's wrist. The stone had rough edges, and had done a good work at piercing into Riley's soft skin. The bags which contained the foods he got from the restaurant were now on the floor and blood came dripping from his wrist to the bags.

Although the blood coming out of this wrist was not much, he looked panicked. Natasha who had been looking at Riley's wrist all those while, looked up to see his face, to check on him, but what she saw was a panicked look, she suddenly got angry. Just who were these idiots seeking death. She turned to look at them, with a deadly stare, but upon seeing them, she understood why Riley looked panicked.

Four boys stood there, blocking their way, each of them with a bag full of hard and rough stones. Natasha knew she had no hope of winning them in a fight, so she decided she and Riley would run back the way they came. Turning back, she saw another five blocking their path, each with his own bag of stones.

She gnashed her teeth, cause she knew they were hopeless and were completely at their mercy. Sweet talking, she knew not how to do, and she was sure that Riley was also dense in that area, so, there was no talking their way out of this.

Natasha looked at both sides and at Riley who looked completely lost, he stood still, but he was shivering. She felt helpless for a second and was just about to scream when she noticed that the boys were yet to throw another stone at them. Did the boys just enjoy seeing them both panicked. She decided to use this to her advantage, she was not going to let such an opportunity pass by. Get hit and still not know why or who sent them, no, Natasha never rolled that way.

"Stone me all you want, just leave him out of this."