His nose moves into my hair. ‘You smell good, maybe I’ll take something as a deposit,’ he moves one hand around my front to cup my sex over my lace shorts.
‘No!’ I scream, as loud as I can.
‘Quiet, bitch,’ the knife moves to my throat, and I immediately stop screaming.
His disgustingly stinking body shoves into the back of me, pushing me further into the wall and further against his hand painfully clenching my sex. I can feel his erection against my back, and I want to vomit. His fingers move under the hem of my shorts and panic descends as I feel his rancid coarse fingers against my flesh.
Why didn’t I change when Nate had pointed out that he could see my pussy through my scanty shorts, a couple of hours ago?
I am sobbing as he rubs his fingers along the seam of my sex, humming in pleasure as he does so, before plunging two fingers deep inside my dry entrance, ‘that’s good, bitch,’ he is humping against my back with his erection still contained within his trousers. If I move an inch, the knife will cut my throat.
‘Oh yeah,’ he moans. I feel pain at the aggression of his probing fingers against my resisting muscles. ‘I want to fuck you, Pixie,’ he pants. I try to push away, but the knife tears the skin of my neck, I cry out. ‘If it weren't for the fact I am in a hurry, I would fuck you raw. I’m going to take my knife away from your throat, you scream, and I’ll come back with my friends, and we’ll all have a go, you hear me?’ Blood is pounding in my ears, as I nod, my sobs hiccupping through my body. He releases the knife.
‘Please, don’t hurt me,’ I whimper, ‘I’ll get you the money, please don’t hurt me.’
He releases his erection from the confines of his clothes, and I feel it touch the skin of my back. I want to die on the spot. He begins to grunt as he pumps his hand up the lengths of his hardness. He tries to push more fingers inside me, but my body is naturally closing, denying him entrance. All I feel is the pain of his long fingernails against my soft flesh as I cry, helplessly against the wall. Hurry up, I think, please hurry up.
Finally, he comes.
I feel the wetness stick to my back as it dribbles down my camisole and he growls. ‘You fucking whore, walking around with your cunt hanging out, you asked for that.’ Pulling his hand out of my shorts, he sucks on them at the side of my ear. ‘You taste so good. Next time I’ll fuck you with my tongue,’ he snarls before he releases his hold on me.
I collapse into a heap on the floor, ‘now look what you made me do, bitch.’ I feel his gaze peering down on me, but I’m too scared to look up. If I see his face, he may have to dispose of me. ‘I’ll be in touch about the money, your fucking boyfriend gets involved, and he’ll end up the same way your brother did, you get me?’
I cry out as his boot hits my side.
‘You hear?’ He growls.
‘Yes,’ I squeak, my body crying out in pain.
Sniffling in the darkness, I stay where I am, even when he’s left, I am too frightened to move.
It seems like forever until I hear Nate’s loud voice booming my name. The door is suddenly flung open, and the light switched on, and his crazed eyes move to find me trembling against the wall.
‘What the fuck!’ He growls, ‘Eli,’ he calls, crouching down beside me. ‘You hurt, baby?’ He asks harshly.
‘He touched me,’ I sob, ‘get this off of me,’ I try to take my camisole top off, but Nate prevents me.
‘Don’t move!’ He snarls. Eli appears a gun in his hand, his jaw tense. ‘Don’t let anyone out,’ he roars to Eli, who immediately takes in the scene before exiting the room.
‘I need to get him off of me, Nate,’ the sticky semen is plastered to my back.
‘Sophie, listen to me,’ he holds me static in by my arms. ‘This is evidence, don’t move baby,’ he pleads. ‘I’ll fucking kill him,’ his voice is low, but commanding. ‘Did you see his face?’
‘No,’ I shake my head. ‘He smelt dirty, his hands were…’ I sob, ‘God,’ I cry out.
‘What happened?’ Ellie appears in the doorway, her face ashen. ‘What the fuck happened?’ She cries, dropping to kneel beside me, her hand grasping mine.
‘Sophie, this is really important, baby,’ Nates arm moves around my shoulders, in a comforting gesture, ‘did he,’ he closes his eyes, ‘did he rape you?’
‘No,’ I shake my head, ‘he used his fingers, he had a knife,’ I sob. ‘I need to shower,’ tears are rolling down my cheeks. ‘Please, Nate, I need to shower.’
‘You can’t shower, baby,’ he wipes the tears from my face with his thumb, ‘we need to take some samples, nail this bastard. Listen, Sophie, I need to go and find Eli, find this fucker that did this to you. Ellie will stay with you.’
‘No, don’t leave me,’ I cling to Nates shirt.
‘I won’t be far,’ he promises, as he pulls away from me.
‘Eli called it in,’ Ellie tells her brother.
‘Okay, look after her El,’ his voice turns frosty as he leaves me in a crumpled heap on the floor of what looks like a storeroom.
********
The next few hours are a blur. The police arrive first, then the ambulance and, despite my protest, I am taken to the emergency room where a woman doctor checks out my injuries. I had a bruised rib from the kick, I received, a small superficial cut on my cheek and a larger one on my neck. I was given an internal examination, which confirmed I had been violated against my will, judging by the abrasions that I had sustained from his persistent long-nailed fingers ripping in and out of me, along with some bruising.
My clothes were bagged and taken to forensics, and I was finally allowed to shower. Ellie had called Beth to go to her place and fetch something for me to wear home, as she wouldn’t leave me. Then a woman police officer appeared, one that was specially trained in rape and sexual assaults, to take a statement and give me a card with the name of a reputable therapist.
Nate and Eli remained at Jessie’s, taking statements, but Nate promised he would meet me at the hospital.
It’s amazing how rapidly a great evening can turn so sour.
When I exit the shower room, dressed in jogging bottoms and a t-shirt of Ellie’s, Nate is already there, waiting patiently, phone at his ear looking like he wants to rip someone’s head off. His concerned eyes meet mine and mine blur with tears. He drops the phone from his ear and shoves it in his pocket as he makes his way towards me, enfolding me in his embrace.
I hold on tight, my face at his neck as the tears roll.
‘I’ll get him, baby, I’ll get him,’ he promises, his voice tight, alien.
‘I want to go home,’ I sob.
‘We’re going right now,’ he turns me to his side and walks down the corridor followed closely by Eli and Ellie.
‘I want to go home, to London,’ I sob. ‘I can’t stay here, Nate. He’ll come back; he said he’ll come back with his friends,’ I feel him tense.
‘He won’t be able to do anything when I get hold of him, Sophie,’ he declares. ‘I’ll rip his balls off,’ he growls.
‘But he promised,’ I gaze up panicked. ‘He said if I got you involved, you would get the same as Ollie. I couldn’t live with that, Nate. Not you. It’s best if I disappear,’ I reason, ‘go back to London and leave you all to resume your normal lives.’
‘You seriously believe a pond of water will prevent them from recouping the debt if they are determined to get it?’ He questions, earnestly.
‘You think they’ll follow me to London?’ I gasp. ‘You told me the debt has been paid, Oliver’s life paid the debt. Why is this happening?’
‘It seems they want more than a pound of flesh,’ he runs a frustrated hand through his hair, before pulling me closer. ‘You’re staying with me, we’ll stay at the hotel,’ he announces, as we walk into the car park.
********
Marnie is clucking around me like a mother hen, Nate and I had arrived late last night, and she already had the honeymoon suite awaiting us. Neither Nate or I were in the m
ood to comment on her choice of room.
We strolled into the suite where I headed directly for the bathroom. I stripped down and stood in the shower cubicle for the second time in an hour and tried to eliminate the stench of the bastard from my nose. After ten minutes of standing static, under the cooling water, trying not to think about the implications of tonight, a naked Nate appears and wordlessly takes me into his arms, holding me close while the spray cascades over both of our naked bodies. This was the first time Nate and I had been intimately close without being aroused.
Nate dried me off, taking extra caution at my rib, where the huge purple bruise was already forming, his lips pursed, his jaw tense. I knew then that he wasn’t as calm as he would have me believe.
‘It’s okay,’ I assure him.
‘No, it’s not, Sophie,’ he had whispered. ‘It will never be okay, you were on my watch. If anyone else had been protecting you, they would be wearing their balls as earrings for allowing this to happen.’
‘You can’t watch me every second of the day,’ I sigh. ‘I need something to sleep in, a t-shirt or something,’ Nate disappears and reappears with his shirt from earlier, which covers the important parts down to my mid-thigh.
‘Let’s get you into bed,’ he lifts the covers, and I slide between the soft sheets, exhaustion instantly consuming me.
********
My eyes open and I glance around, Nate is nowhere to be found. On every occasion that I awoke, during the night, he was lying beside me, holding me tight, providing me the security I craved.
‘Nate!’ I call, glancing around the darkened room. The blackout blinds are still down, but I know it is daylight hours by the sound of activity around the hotel.
‘I’m here,’ he calls back, opening the bedroom door and dropping onto the edge of the bed beside me. ‘everything okay?’
‘I didn’t know where I was,’ I lay back against the pillow. ‘What’s the time?’
‘Just after noon, the boys are here for an update,’ he enlightens me. ‘They won’t be here long, how are you feeling?’
‘I’m fine,’ I swing my legs out of the bed and stand in his shirt. I glance down, confused for a moment as to why I dressed for bed. I usually sleep naked, it doesn’t matter where I am. I fidget in bed and clothes only wrap around me, so I decided as soon as I left my grandma’s house, to sleep naked.
Nate stops me and lifts the shirt to inspect my bruise, ‘do you need painkillers?’
‘No, I’m fine, Nate,’ I cup his jaw. I’m going to have a bath.’
He nods, ‘then we’ll have something to eat and we’ll talk.’
Over brunch, Nate informs me that the DNA results from the semen they extracted from my clothes will be back this evening. He also updated me that the statements they took in the bar last night, didn’t highlight anything unusual and no one claimed they saw anything out of the ordinary. So, they were holding out hope that the semen would expose a person known to them and who will feature on their database.
‘I guess I should get back to the apartment,’ I glance down at my fingers, as homesickness cloaks me. I want to go home. The thought of returning to Ollie’s apartment, alone, fills me with horror. I would be secure at home, in London.
My everyday life back home was far from perfect, in fact, the majority of it was work, but at least I was safe and I could be myself. I would be among my belongings, my friends. Realising my vulnerability as a woman has unsettled me immensely.
I need to go home and lick my wounds, forget about Ollie, dad, and Krystal. Deep down inside of me, I wish that I had never replied to Ollie’s pleas for us to talk, to mend our fractured relationship. I would now be in my successful salon, with familiar people surrounding me and my best friend twenty minutes away.
What about Nate? My mind enquires. I don’t think I’ll ever forget about Nate, but he’ll never look at me in the same light again, not now. I am tainted goods. I remember his words of last night, ‘it will never be okay.’
Nate hadn’t touched me with anything other than comfort, since last night. I wouldn’t expect him to, neither want him to, but I thought he would perhaps give me some sign that things between us were still as they were. At the moment I feel as if I am a victim of a crime he is investigating. The truth is, I am a victim of a crime he is investigating.
‘Sophie,’ Nate interrupts my deliberations.
I glance up, warily.
‘We are staying here,’ his voice is quiet, but commanding. ‘I need you in my bed in order to protect you,’ he expresses, blandly.
‘I can’t do this,’ I whisper. ‘I need to go home, I miss home,’ I explain, softly.
‘We have to resolve this first, babe,’ he pulls me onto his lap and wraps his arms around me.
‘This isn’t me,’ I whisper, ‘I am a strong, independent woman,’ I tell his chest, ‘not a clingy, emotional wreck.’
‘That hasn’t changed, Sophie. Someone has hurt you, tipped you off balance, but you are still you,’ he plants a kiss in my hair. ‘You are just taking some time out, to heal.’
‘God, you’re perfect,’ I sigh.
‘Baby, I’m far from perfect,’ I feel his lips smile against the side of my head. ‘But I am perfect for you,’ he whispers tenderly. His words send my nose tingling; I am going to cry again.
‘I don’t know what to do?’ I sniff, into his neck.
‘Then don’t do anything,’ he suggests, ‘when you know what to do, you will know what to do. For now, you take some time,’ he stands and places me on my feet. ‘I need to go to work,’ he announces. ‘Mum said you are welcome to join her downstairs, or if you are tired she can come up and sit with you.’
‘I don’t need looking after,’ I notify him.
‘See,’ he sweeps a hand over me, ‘already, you are reverting to the stubbornly independent woman you will always be,’ he encouraged.
I smile.
‘One of my guys is in reception, he will monitor who is coming and who is going,’ he glances over to gauge my reaction. ‘Any calls that come through the switchboard are traceable; your mobile phone also has a tracker on it. No one can contact you without us knowing,’ he walks over to the table and hands me an oblong plastic box, it is the size of an earring box.
‘What is it?’ It looks like a doorbell button.
‘A panic button, you feel threatened or need help, you press that button and someone will come running.
I nod, ‘We must be down to about thirty-six hours now?’
‘You do not worry about that,’ he commands ‘no one will get to you here, Soph,’ he promises.
‘He got to me in a crowded bar with my bad arse detective… lover, standing by,’ I scoff.
‘Ass,’ his lips tilt.
‘What?’ I look at him with confusion.
‘It’s bad ass, not bad arse,’ he corrects me with half a smile.
‘In my country, it’s arse,’ I argue.
‘You were born in New York,’ he reminds me.
‘I was a few weeks old when I left America,’ I conflict.
‘You are an American, you need to start using the language, babe,’ he teases.
I smile, softly.
He crushes me against him, ‘no one will get to you, you have half of Krystal police department surrounding you,’ he lifts my chin and places his lips against mine. ‘I need for you to hold it together, London.’
‘I’ll try,’ I whisper.
********
Chapter Nine
The urge to run back to London is immense. But, I can’t leave, if I leave, they will come for Nate and his family, I know they will. I am sitting in the lounge of Marnie’s hotel. She has been her usual, sweet, brilliant self as she tells me about her family and how her son, Kyle, Ellie and Nate’s brother, is due to arrive home from training domestic security forces to battle Islamic State fighters in Iraq. The pride in her face is evident in the contemplation of her family reuniting.
Marnie’s husband died afte
r losing his battle to cancer three years ago. Nate hadn’t spoken much about his dad other than he was lucky to have had him as a major influence in his life. I knew he had passed, but Nate’s face had closed down when I had questioned him further regarding his father. I had read his expression and known not to probe too deep.
Being only three years ago, it was now apparent that Nate was still grieving the loss of his dad.
My eyes drift to the clock, calculating how much time remains before the letch, who assaulted me, could potentially return and make good on his promises. My body shivers with the notion of his grubby little hands all over my body.
‘You okay, honey?’ Marnie fails to miss the tremor that quivers through me.
‘I think I’m going to have a lay down, Marnie. Is that okay with you?’ I stand, my legs are still wobbly.
‘Of course, honey. You want me to come up?’ She offers, ‘I can sit and read for a while?’
‘Thank you,’ I move and hug Marnie tight, ‘but I am going to crash out,’ I assure her.
‘Okay, you need anything Sophie, you call down to me, you hear?’ She cups my jaw, her eyes running over the small cuts on my cheek and neck.
‘I hear,’ I force a smile.
Realisation that I have to prevent Marnie, and her adorable family from being touched by this mess, rushes through me along with the affection and envy of such a close knit unit.
Marnie walks me to the lift and presses the call button.
I notice the marked police car sitting outside the main entrance of the hotel, with two uniformed officers sitting in the front. It’s then I know I can’t stay here and wait for the inevitable to happen. I have to be proactive in resolving my brother’s dramas, the quicker I do, the sooner I can go home and forget this whole sorry event.
‘Actually,’ I turn to Marnie, my brain whizzing. ‘I think I will go back to the apartment and collect some more of my belongings and my car, first. If Nate and I are going to stay here for a few days, I need some of my personal items.’
‘Oh, Nate wants you to stay here, honey,’ Marnie looks unsure of what to do.
I am an adult, I am capable of making my own decisions, but I also have the Krystal police department tailing me. There is no way for me to escape without causing a scene. I have the apartment keys in my clutch bag from last night. It just so happens I brought it down because it also holds my mobile phone.
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