Just A Man (The Porter Trilogy Book 1)

by Shannon Youngblood

  “Stop, Charlotte, you don’t have to continue,” he spat out, not looking at me. I could feel the tension radiating off of him, but I knew I needed to finish.

  “Please, just let me finish,” I pleaded. When he made no attempt to stop me again, I continued, “When they finished with me, they took a line of coke off of my stomach and then pushed me into the pool, still tied to the chair. I didn’t have the strength left to try and free myself, so I just kind of laid at the bottom of the pool for a few seconds, preparing to die, and then I blacked out.”

  “When I woke up, I was in front of the frat house, with no clothes on, laying in the grass. The house was completely dark and I had no idea what time it was. I could barely move, but I knew I had to get away from that place. I don’t know who pulled me from the pool, but if it wasn’t Robert or his buddies, I didn’t want them finding me and finishing the job, so I snuck around the back, found a towel and my phone, and called Danny. When he picked me up, he looked me up and down, and asked me if I wanted to go to the hospital. I was so ashamed of myself that I didn’t want anyone to know, so I told him no, and he took me home. My mom pressured me for weeks to tell her what happened, but I wouldn’t tell her. Actually, I didn’t talk to anyone. I just stayed in my room and watched the scene play out in my head over and over.”

  I took a glance at Alex, but he was looking straight ahead. His face was bright red and his fists were clenched in such a tight ball his entire hand was white from the lack of blood. I took the opportunity to pour myself one more quick drink and tossed it down. The burn giving me more bravery to finish.

  “After about two months, I finally started coming out of my shell, thanks to my mom and Danny. They got me into therapy and Narcotics Anonymous. I still hadn’t told Danny, but my therapist recommended I confide in my mother, but I wasn’t ready to do that either. I was starting to feel somewhat normal, at least, that’s what I told myself, but I felt like something was off.” Taking a deep breath, I let the next words tumble out of my mouth as fast I could, “I found out 3 weeks later that I was pregnant.”

  Alex didn’t move. He didn’t breathe. He just sat there, looking at the wall. After a few minutes, he finally, through gritted teeth, told me to continue.

  “I wasn’t ready to be a mom, especially not with a baby that had been conceived that way, but I couldn’t imagine hurting a life that was growing inside of me. It hadn’t asked to have been made. I went to my doctor and told her I was keeping it. Because I was a minor, my mom had to be there, and, when the doctor left the room, I told her the entire story. She wanted to call the police, but because Robert’s dad is a Senator, I didn’t want the publicity that would have happened, so she agreed to keep it between us. I had no intentions of telling Robert. I decided I would just stay off the grid for the next nine months. Unfortunately, one of the girls that had been at the party with Robert’s friend was a nurse at my clinic.”

  “A few days later, I was driving down the road when I got t-boned on the passenger side. It was pretty late at night, so no one else was around, and my vision was blurred so bad that I didn’t see anyone approach my car, but then the door was thrown open and I was dragged out onto the street. Later, I figured out it was Robert, but, at the time, I was in so much pain from the accident I couldn’t distinguish his voice, although his words forever ring in my head. He kicked me repeatedly in the stomach. Over and over again, until I felt blood between my legs.”

  I took a minute to calm myself as the tears came strolling down my cheeks. I just wanted to get the story finished and move on. Alex still had yet to say anything or look at me, which made me cry even more. I had to push through, and I repeated that mantra over and over until I felt I could continue. I took a deep breath and told him the rest of my tragic story.

  “I heard sirens before I saw them, and I heard Robert run off, leaving behind the car he had hit me with. The pain was so intense that I blacked out again. When I woke up, I was in the hospital. My right leg and arm had been broken, along with my collarbone, my nose, and one rib. The rest of my ribs were badly bruised and… I had lost the baby. My mom sat with me for days on end, never leaving my side. The first day I woke up, the cops came to talk to me and my mom. She told them everything that had happened at the frat party and they asked me about a hundred different questions before leaving me alone.”

  “They came back a week later, as I was being discharged, and told me they had found Robert’s fingerprints in the car and he had been arrested. His dad was pulling all sorts of strings trying to get the media under control and trying to get Robert off the hook. We went to trial within three weeks, which was absolute hell, and Robert, along with all four guys, went to jail. The Judge wanted to make an example of them all, that even though you may have a powerful family, you still have to pay for your crimes. Robert was sentenced to fifteen years and the other guys got ten each.”

  “My mom called me tonight to tell me they let Robert out on good behavior.” I finished talking and slumped back into my chair. I was suddenly so exhausted I could barely keep my eyes open. But, I did take a moment to look over at Alex. He still had yet to move. If anything, he looked like a stone gargoyle perched on top of a cathedral, monitoring the city.

  I reached out my arm to him to touch his shoulder. When I made contact, it was as if an invisible flip had been switched. Alex jumped up from the couch, and, in one fluid movement, grabbed my brandy glass and threw it at the fireplace, shattering it into a million shiny pieces. Without looking at me, he walked to the front door, opened it, and stormed out, slamming it shut and leaving me sitting on the couch by myself with the knowledge that I had disgusted him so much he couldn’t even look at me.

  Even though I was no longer in therapy, I could hear my doctor’s voice in my head telling me that I was the victim, and Alex had no right to be angry with me, but I shook it off. My actions as a promiscuous teen had gotten me into this mess. No, I didn’t ask for the attack, but my behavior did.

  I sniffed back my threatening tears and stood up. I grabbed my purse and my phone and walked over to his front door, listening for any movement on the other side. When I heard nothing, I opened the door and summoned the elevator. I knew I had too much to drink, so I had the night time concierge call me a taxi and, when the taxi showed up, I jumped in and gave him my address just before closing my eyes and letting sleep claim me before the tears could.

  Chapter 23

  I woke up the next morning, discombobulated, and I felt like hell. Telling the story of what happened to me had emotionally drained me and made my head feel dizzy. I’m sure the Brandy hadn’t helped. I wasn’t ready to face my cell phone because I figured I would have a ton of text messages. Instead, I slowly made my way to the bathroom for a hot, and hopefully cleansing, shower.

  When I stepped out of the shower, I felt, physically, much better. My lingering headache was going away thanks to the ibuprofen I took before jumping in. The hot water had loosened my muscles as well, leaving me feeling much more relaxed. I wish, emotionally, it was this easy to unwind, that hot water could stop the thoughts from rolling around in my brain like tumbleweed in the old west.

  It was Sunday, so I wasn’t sure what I was going to do today and I, honestly, had no plans to leave the apartment. Maybe I would just curl up in some pajamas and watch some sappy romantic comedies. Anything to take away from my heartache is what I needed.

  I wasn’t surprised by Alex’s reaction the day before. It hurt me, but I wasn’t surprised. I had done so many bad things when I was sixteen, and they were all crashing down around me trying to ruin my adult life. I had lost a man I was beginning to care for immensely, and, with that, my career as well. The last two days had felt like an emotional rollercoaster from hell, but I was strong and I knew I had to get through this and move on.

  I grabbed my cell phone after getting dressed and headed towards the living room. Danny wasn’t in sight, but the coffee looked hot and fresh, and the smell welcomed me into the kitchen. After
I made myself a cup, I sat down at the bar and powered up my cell phone. I waited for the arrival of messages but only one came, and it wasn’t from Alex.

  From- Mom (609)555-5185

  1:03am

  Charlie, I wanted to check and see if you were ok, but your phone’s off. Call me please.

  Love, Mom

  I wasn’t in a place to call her right now. I’d have to call her later. My misery was turning into fury. I understood why he wanted nothing to do with me after the news I had shared, but not even to make sure I made it home after I left his house? He left me alone. He abandoned me after my gruesome tale. Fuck him. Fuck him. Fuck him.

  I almost considered texting him, but I didn’t. I threw my phone on the couch and poured myself another coffee. I needed to calm down. I was shaking, I was so angry. When Danny walked in, he noticed my ire and came to my rescue.

  “Charlie, what’s wrong? I heard you come in last night, but I was already in bed. Are you alright? You look pissed!” he said, grabbing a cup of coffee from the pot.

  All of a sudden, the anger disappeared and I started crying. Danny put his mug down and came over to put his arms around me, guiding me to the couch and clutching the back of my head to his chest. I bawled and blubbered for a long time, letting loose all the emotions of the past few weeks. I hiccupped into Danny’s chest as he whispered calming words into my ear, telling me everything would be ok and he was there to protect me, and he loved me.

  After the sobs stopped, I looked up to meet his eyes. He had been crying for me too. “Don’t cry,” I choked out.

  “Charlie, baby girl, what is going on? I haven’t seen you breakdown like that, in a very long time, not even after you told me what happened last night. This is different?” he questioned, looking me in the eyes

  I took a deep breath. “Mom called me last night while Alex and I were on our date. Robert has been released from jail,” I said pitifully. The onslaught of emotions ever present in my quivering voice.

  “Fuck,” he said, mimicking my thoughts exactly.

  “You can say that again. Anyway, Alex talked to my mom and she told him I needed some protecting, so he asked me to tell him what happened to me. I told him everything.” I felt the tears threatening again, but I choked them back, “At first, he was calm and then, about halfway through, he got pissed and wouldn’t even look at me. Once I was finally done, he threw a glass and stomped out of his apartment.”

  “Where did he go?” Danny asked.

  “I don’t know, I haven’t seen him since. When I realized he wasn’t coming back anytime soon, I called a cab and came home. I figured I would have had a text or a call by now, but he’s said nothing. I think I truly repulsed him.” I looked down in my lap, watching myself fidget.

  “Stop it, Charlie. You are NOT repulsive, and if he’s too much of an idiot to realize that, then he doesn’t deserve you. You were the victim, Charlie, you didn’t ask for what happened. I—” he stopped talking and had a weird, screwed up, look on his face, before he reached under his butt and pulled out my cell phone he must have sat on, which was currently vibrating in his hand.

  “Oops,” I said, hiding a grin as I reached for my phone. My smile immediately disappeared when I saw the caller ID state Alex was calling me. I hit the reject button and turned my phone off. I didn’t want to think about him. Not today. He hadn’t called me last night to check on me, so I wasn’t going to give him a chance to assuage his guilt for leaving me in his apartment.

  “I have an idea,” Danny said, prompting me to look up at him. “Let’s do some retail therapy, on me!” He bounced up on the couch, clearly thrilled with the idea of blowing loads of money on the sad girl.

  “Danny, I hate when you try to buy me too much. I have my own money you know.” I responded, his mood lightening mine by a fraction.

  “I know you do, baby girl, but I want to do this for you, please,” he whined, through his puppy dog face and pouty lips.

  Even with as shitty as I felt, I still laughed when he made that face at me. He knew anytime he made that face he would get his way, so he did it often.

  “Alright, Danny, but on one condition.” He raised his eyebrows, waiting for my stipulation. “We are going to lunch first, and I’m treating”

  He stuck out his hand for me to shake, “Deal.”

  **********

  I enjoyed my day with Danny. I didn’t think about Alex, or Robert, or anyone but him and me. We went to lunch, enjoying a burrito each, before heading to the mall. We took our time, strolling and people watching. We munched on pretzels and frozen lemonade and talked about his upcoming photoshoot. Danny was getting more and more popular by the day, and the thought warmed my heart. He told me that he and Jerry had been talking a lot, and had even gone out the night before, after I had left, to go get a drink. He really liked Jerry and, when I bragged that I’d told him so, he just laughed and stuck his tongue out at me, turning me into a fit of giggles.

  We stopped in a few stores and I put on a fashion show for Danny. I ended up picking up a few items that Danny told me I had to have. One of them was a super short black lace dress with no sleeves. It was elegant and sexy as hell, and, knowing my weakness, he threw in a pair of black stilettos with red soles. I bought some matching jewelry and we planned a night out again with Jerry and Brigitte.

  After clothing, we stopped at our little spa in the mall and got mani pedis and I got my eyebrows waxed. When he finally made it back to the car, I was fully relaxed and felt much better than I had earlier in the day.

  We stopped at Starbucks on the way home and sat outside; me enjoying my Vanilla Bean Frap and him with his Chai Soy Latte. We sat in silence, basking in the sunset, and forgetting our cares for the day. When it was time to go back home, I felt a peace settle over me. I would be ok. Danny wouldn’t let anything happen to me.

  “Thank you, Danny,” I whispered. I hadn’t been sure if he had heard me, but, when a smile splayed across his face, I knew he had.

  When we walked into the apartment, I threw my bags down and headed into my bedroom to change into some sweats. I heard the phone ring in the kitchen and wondered again why we had a land line anyway; we both had cell phones and virtually no one outside family and a few close friends even had the number. Shrugging off my wayward thoughts, I went back into the kitchen and found Danny with his ear pressed to the receiver and an extremely pale face.

  “Danny, what’s wrong?” I asked, feeling the hairs on the back of neck stand on end and goosebumps crawl up my arm. The peace that had settled within me was quickly fading. I hated this feeling of doom and gloom.

  My question pulled him from his trance and he put the phone back in the cradle without looking at me. I watched as shuffled his feet and stared at the floor. After a full minute, I couldn’t take it anymore.

  “Daniel? What’s going on, Who was that?” I screeched, my body pulsing with tension.

  I watched as his eyes slowly rose from the floor to my eyes. The terror behind them scared the shit out of me, but I waited until he was ready to speak. It took him a while. He started and stopped a few times, opening his mouth and then closing it.

  “I think we need to call the police, baby girl,” he finally said

  I was getting really freaked out by this time and I just wanted to know who it was or what they said. Was it my mom? Did something happen to Alex? Oh God, was it Robert or his dad? I considered going over to Danny to shake him and demand to know what was going on, but my feet were cemented down and I couldn’t move, even if I wanted to.

  “Danny, please, you’re scaring me, tell me who that was,” I pleaded, needing to know.

  Danny shook his head, clearing his thoughts, before he finally spoke up, “That was for you, Charlie. I don’t know who it was, but their voice was disguised with one of those voice changer thingys. All they said was, ‘We’re coming for you bitch’ and then hung up.”

  My knees started trembling and slowly my vision became tunneled. My hearing was distorted an
d I couldn’t make out whatever Danny was trying to say to me. I felt like Charlie Brown when his teacher talked to him. It felt like gravity had multiplied by the thousands, and it was an extreme effort to remain standing. Before I could process anymore, I vaguely registered Danny running to catch me before I hit the ground, and then everything went black.

  Chapter 24

  When I came to, I was laying on the couch with Danny hovering over me and the cops behind him. I groaned as the realization of why they were here crashed down on me. I wasn’t prepared to deal with them, but I apparently wasn’t given the choice. I wanted to close my eyes and go back into my black and gray dream world, where nothing taunted me and nothing lurked in the shadows.

  Danny helped me sit up and wrapped a blanket around my shoulders. My hands must have been shaking, because my best friend sat down next to me and gripped my hands to keep them steady. I looked up to see the two uniformed officers staring down at me with a look of sadness and pity in their eyes.

  The first officer, a very large, very tall, African American man, with a bald head and an earring, introduced himself to me as Officer Collins. His partner, a petite blond woman only coming up to Officer Collins shoulder, was Officer Hartmann. Officer Collins kneeled down in front of me and looked me in the eye.

  “Are you ok, Miss Hightower? Would you like us to call an ambulance to check you out?” I shook my head at him and he nodded his acceptance before continuing. “Can you please tell us what happened this evening?”

  I watched as both of them pulled out a small pad of paper and a pen, ready to take notes of the account. My mouth was too dry to talk, so I communicated to Danny that I’d like some water. After he brought it over and I drank over half the bottle, I looked back at Collins, and he smiled at me, urging me to talk without pressuring me.