“Run, Cory, run,” I whispered, frozen, my demons held at bay.
Cory weaved to evade him. His opponent lunged and seized his legs. It slowed him, but it didn’t stop him. The player dragged behind for several paces before Cory dislodged him. With a last effort, Cory dove for the end zone just as several Bulldogs leaped at him. Cory went down, completely obscured by the pile up of Bulldogs on him.
A hush fell on the crowd, a referee hurrying out to make the call. Had he made it? More importantly, was he hurt?
I stepped both feet onto the bottom rung. My only thought was Cory. I held onto JJ for support. Players were hauled off Cory and I watched with bated breath. Another referee held his arms out to keep our team back. Cory rolled over and then laid still, the ball clearly in the end zone—my breath whooshed out. He’d moved and he’d made a touchdown.
A smattering of cheers began to sound, but quieted when the ref motioned for an EMT. Cory wasn’t getting up.
My heart in my throat, I vaulted down the cement steps to the ground below, sprinting across the field. I had to get to him. He couldn’t be hurt. The run across the field was the longest of my life, even longer than my run for escape. I almost slid into him in my haste to get there. I knelt by his head—his helmet already removed—and covered his hand with mine. “Cory! Cory, are you okay?”
Cory groaned, his breathing labored and shallow, his sight unseeing.
I placed both hands on his face. “Cory, look at me. Look at me.”
He grunted again, his eyes rolling into focus on me.
“Cory, are you okay?”
He blinked and then seized my hand, his face splitting into a wicked grin. “I am now.”
“Miss, you need to get back.” The EMT put his arm in front of me, edging me back.
“Ang.” He broke off to cough, groaning as it shook his frame. And then his body relaxed, the grin returning. “Thought you didn’t like me, isn’t that what you said?”
“I don’t.” I breathed out shakily, a weak smile upturning my mouth.
Cory pushed at the EMT’s hand and struggled to sit. “I’m fine.”
Still refusing to relinquish my hand, Cory stood to energetic applause from the crowd. He held his free hand up in the air to acknowledge their support and then he drew me to him, lifting me off my feet and kissed me deeply, right there on the brightly lit field, in front of all.
At first I was too shocked, but his strong lips stirred my already chaotic emotions, my adrenaline pounding from my race across the field. And I’d missed him so much. I returned his bold kiss tentatively, and felt a rumble of laughter deep in his chest. Breathless and lightheaded, I clung to him as I slid down his body, still clasped in his arms.
“Liar,” he growled teasingly.
I ducked my face, knowing it was shining like a beacon, and pressed my lips together. He tilted my chin up and pecked my lips. “See you after the game?”
His eyes searched my face and I gave a slight nod. He gave my hand a squeeze, then let it drop before bounding toward the waiting huddle, waving off the wild gesticulating from his coach to come in.
I grinned foolishly. At the insistence of the ref, I backed off the field and slowly made my way to the sidelines. A good portion of the fans eyed me as I walked, but instead of making me uncomfortable, it only made my grin broaden. The public exchange made me feel better than I had in weeks. I felt a glimmer of hope, and at least for the moment, I didn’t care what others thought.
I skipped the last few paces to the stairs, my good feeling washing away like the tattered remains of a shipwreck. JJ was where I’d left her, at the rail, but at the top of the stairs stood Brad, his blonde friend nowhere in sight. I couldn’t move, my chest constricting. I knew my fear was illogical. He couldn’t do anything to me here, not with this crowd. And JJ was right there, but she wasn’t looking at me and didn’t seem to see Brad either. If I could just make it to her.
But there was no way I was going anywhere near him.
The evil curl of his lip told me he knew this. He casually placed his foot on the first step, his cold eyes never wavering as he brought down the other foot.
And then I ran. My nightmares that had been haunting me over the last month and a half came to life, crowding together, blurring and merging, my current path unsettlingly familiar as I ran along the sidelines to the end of the domed field to the stairwell.
I burst through the door, the cold in the unheated cement stairwell hitting my fevered skin, my body convulsing in uncontrollable shivers. I rested my forehead on the wall and exhaled heavily.
Then the door swung open. I heard loud booing from the crowd, the bright light from the stadium blinding me. Who had followed me? They pulled the door closed and by the red glow of the exit light I was able to make out who it was.
I opened my mouth to scream, but no sound came out, my terror almost debilitating. I backpedaled, sightlessly feeling for the stairs. Brad shot in front of me, a sneer of triumph and a burst of laughter transforming him into something truly demonic. “Look what I caught.”
I stumbled and cried out, falling against hard cold brick. My head thumped against it, black blurring the edges of my sight. I scooted back into a corner and used the wall to push myself up.
“Get lost.” I wanted to sound angry, but bile filled my mouth. I gagged and choked. And then splutter as the caustic acid seared my throat and lungs. “Brad …” It came out weak. I swallowed, my throat stinging painfully. “Leave me alone.”
I tried to push past him, but he blocked me with his arm.
“You’re not going anywhere. We’re going to play a game.” His tone was playful, but with an underlying threat. “I’m going to ask you a question, and you’re going to answer. If you don’t or I don’t like your answer …”
He let the rest of his sentence hang there, unspoken, though his intent was clear. He closed the small space between us, his lip curled.
“What did you tell the cops?” A fleck of spittle hit my cheek.
“I … I told them the truth.”
He backhanded me, and my head slammed into a metal support on the stairwell. I screamed out, grabbing onto the rail to keep from going down, the dark room spinning. It wasn’t possible. This couldn’t be happening again. I crouched, my arms over my head, my muscles solidifying, paralyzing me in place, the grip of fear sapping my strength.
He pulled me up, his hands fisted into the neck of my shirt. “The truth? No, they seem to think I forced you. That I raped you even.”
“You did, you psycho.” I braced for the blow.
“No,” he growled. The sound of material ripping echoed in the small space, cool air touching the bare skin of my chest. “You wanted it.”
“No!” The denial was for both then and now. I clenched my teeth and lunged. “I said no. Don’t touch me, you bastard.” I caught him by surprise, connecting with his nose. There was a loud crunching and my fist fell away limp.
Rewarded by his muffled curse, I smiled weakly through the pain. Blood gushed from his nose. I hoped I’d broken it. He staggered back and wiped his nose with his arm, glaring at the sight of the blood dark against his tan skin. A growl from deep in his throat made my knees wobble.
I was close to the stairs. I had no idea where they led, but anywhere was better than here. I made it up half the steps before he was on me, his weight crushing me, the uneven hardness of the stairs gouging into me. He caught my wrist and twisted it viciously behind my back, pinning it between our bodies, my cheek smashed flat to the landing, the tread of the floor scoring my skin.
His voice was low. “This is what you’re going to do. You’re going to tell the stinking pigs the truth. You came to me willingly. You were not raped, you asked for it.”
“No …” The pressure on my arm intensified and I cried out. It felt like it was about to snap. He leaned an elbow on my head, grinding my face into the stair. My screams became muffled and indistinct.
“Yes, you will.” He hissed like a s
nake, emphasizing the S. “If you don’t, I’ll make your pathetic life miserable.”
A hysterical laugh bubbled in my chest, his words activating my normally indomitable nature. I arched my back and twisted my face away from the ground, flinging my words backward like grenades, my only weapon at the moment. “You couldn’t possibly make my life any worse. You already stole my virginity, told Cory I’d cheated on him, and you got me pregnant.”
I felt him stiffen, and his weight shifted. Then he spun me around to face him. “Well, in that case, it won’t matter if I have a little fun.”
He put his lips to my neck and brushed aside the ruined edges of my shirt. He still had my arm angled torturously behind my back and with his free hand he fondled me. I tried to wrench out of his grasp, but searing pain shot through my shoulder, and I felt a tearing sensation.
I thought I heard voices sound outside the door, the heaviness in my chest lifting slightly.
“Help! Help!” The cry tore from my chest, blasting my ears, bouncing off the walls and through the stairwell. Pain exploded in my stomach, his fist pummeling it again and again until my cry cut off. My eyes filled with tears and I mentally curled in on myself. I screamed again and again, putting everything I had into it.
But I was on my own.
Chapter Twenty-One
Light flooded in and I blinked against the brightness, the sudden arrival of a rescuer, a glowing silhouette. Brad jerked toward the door as well. With all the force I could muster, I slammed my knee into his groin, his grip on my arm momentarily tightening. I screamed out, sure my arm was being torn from its socket. And then he released me. My arm flopped limply to my side.
There was an enraged yell, and Brad flew backward into the cement wall. Someone rushed to my side and pulled the tattered edges of my shirt closed, draping a jacket over me. “Angie, are you alright?”
How had she done that? I slumped against JJ, fuzzy on how she’d accomplished the feat of throwing Brad off me, but too shook up for more than a fleeting thought. I dissolved into hysterics, my gibbering cut short by scuffling and angry cursing.
My heart surged and caught in my throat. Cory, imposing in his gear, stood over Brad, his fist inches from Brad’s battered face ready to fly again. James and Brock were trying to hold him back. Cory launched a kick at Brad and nailed him in the ribs before Brock put himself between them.
“Cory, that’s enough.” Coach Harrington spoke from the doorway. I hadn’t even seen him.
I got unsteadily to my feet, blackness swirling in my vision, but I resolutely fought my way to Cory. “Cory.”
His eyes were hard, but then they cleared and he pulled me into his chest with a muffled sob, his body warm, his smell potent from the game, but I didn’t care. I clung to him, desperate to erase the last horrible moments of my life. My whole body shook from a mix of adrenaline and relief.
“Angie, are you okay? Did he hurt you again?” He took my face into his hand and stepped back to look at me. Self-consciously, I pulled JJ’s jacket tighter. His mouth narrowed into a thin, tight line.
“Not like before.” Wanting to take the attention off what Brad may or may not have done to me, I gripped Cory. “Cory, what about the game?”
“It’s only a game.”
Coach Harrington cleared his throat but ignored Cory’s comment. “I called a timeout. I couldn’t have my star players running off the field.”
Two uniformed security guards burst into the room, abruptly coming to a stop. Their searching eyes widened as they saw Brad, bloody and on the floor, settling on me in Cory’s arms.
I buried my face in Cory’s chest as JJ filled them in with surprising accuracy. “Angie had been on the sidelines and then she was gone. That’s when I realized Brad was gone, too. He attacked her before and I knew something wasn’t right.”
She looked to Cory. “Sorry I ruined your play. I didn’t know what else to do.”
Cory tightened his arms, and repeated, “It’s only a game.”
The guards turned to Brock and James. One said, “Is that what happened?”
“Yeah,” James replied. “We had just started to look for her when Cory tried the door.”
“When I came in, Cory was pulling him,” Coach Harrington pointed at Brad, “off Angie.”
“We’ll take this loser …” The taller of the two guards thumbed in the direction of Brad whose hands were held together with a large plastic zip tie, “back to our office, wait for the police there. We’ll need you to come by and talk to them, but in the meantime, someone better get her to the ambulance crew down on the field. I’ll radio ahead to let them know you’re coming.”
They walked out, Brad between them. I tried to avoid his hateful glower, but my eyes flickered back to him until he was pushed through the door. I sagged against Cory. Brad was gone. On the threshold, the tall guard paused. “You’re lucky this guy thought to look here. With the noise from the field and the thickness of the cement, we’d have never heard you. You’re one lucky lady.”
I turned a questioning look on Cory and he shrugged, his hold tightening, a slight shudder shaking his frame. He spoke into my hair, his voice distant, almost as if he were talking to himself. “I didn’t hear any screams … something just told me I should check here.” I felt him shrug again, the action tucking me further into his arms. He fell silent. I could tell he was reliving those moments when he’d found me, his heart accelerating, his body growing rigid, his hands balling into fists against my back.
My head on his chest, I listened to the furious pounding of his heart, my body quivering every few seconds. “I thought I was hallucinating. The first time, when Brad … when he hurt me, I prayed someone would save me, so I thought it was just wishful thinking. But you found me. You saved me.”
Cory touched the side of my face, and I sucked in, my breath hissing against my teeth. “Ow, that hurts.”
His eyes tightened. “Angie, if James and Brock hadn’t held me back, I would have killed him,” he whispered, his body trembling. Whether it was from suppressed rage or the realization of what he’d almost done, I wasn’t sure. “I still want to.”
I closed my eyes, the horror of my recent torment fading in the safety of his arms. After a few more minutes of quiet comfort, Cory pulled back. “We need to get you looked at.”
“I’m okay,” I reassured, though my face had been throbbing since Cory had touched it, and my arm hung loosely at my side, pain flashing whenever I moved. “Just need some ice and I’ll be right as rain.”
I started for the door, then sagged against Cory. My voice weak, I clutched my belly, the effort it took to speak agonizing. “No, something’s wrong … my stomach.”
I whimpered, then cried out, another spasm rocking my injured body.
Without a word, Cory scooped me into his arms and ran. Out the door, past the surprised faces of his teammates, across the field and over to the waiting ambulance. The coach had apparently waylaid Brock and James when we’d passed, but JJ stayed on Cory’s heels the whole way. Now they both stood back, worry etched into their furrowed brows as one of the EMT’s looked me over.
The efficient hands of the EMT on my abdomen would have made me blush if I weren’t in such pain. I moaned, convulsions pulsating through me. Evan, according to the badge dangling from his neck, had me lay back on the stretcher, JJ moving to keep me in view. “What happened?”
Before I could answer, JJ supplied. Her tone was firm, absolute, fierce as a mother lion protecting her cub. “She was assaulted. The guy’s in custody. He raped her several weeks ago and he just attacked her again.”
I caught the slight flutter of surprise of Evan’s eyelashes at the mention of ‘rape’ but he continued his thorough exam, checking my vitals, reflexes and the bruising on my swollen cheek and busted knuckles. When he pressed his palm gently to my belly, I flinched back. At my cry, JJ climbed into the bus, Cory hovering uncertainly by the open doors.
“The guy was hammering her pretty good in the stom
ach when we found her.” Her voice lowered, JJ glanced out at Cory before confiding, “She’s pregnant. Could he have done some damage?”
“It’s possible.” Evan adjusted the flaps of the jacket to reveal my belly, but kept everything else covered. “Most likely she’s suffered some blunt force trauma and has some internal bleeding. We’d better get her up to the hospital.”
JJ climbed out, my eyes locking onto Cory’s. His cheek had a line of moisture running down it and he tried to force his way in, but Evan pushed him back closing him out with the swing of the doors. The electric whine of the starter was followed by the rumble of the engine, the stretcher vibrating. Then the wail of the siren filled the air and we bounced off.
I didn’t realize I was crying until Evan handed me a tissue. “Your friends are following us up to the hospital.”
I took the tissue, but didn’t bother to wipe my face, the tears coming silent and hot. I wanted the security of Cory’s embrace, the calming presence of JJ, the pain to go away. Did the pain ripping through my middle mean I was losing the baby? I stifled a cry at the possibility. Hadn’t I hoped I’d have a miscarriage or something? So why was I crying at the possible loss of the baby? Life would be simpler, infinitely so, without this complication.
The lights and sirens bounced off the side of the old brick building of the hospital as the oversized vehicle careened around to the emergency doors. Attendants rushed out, waiting before the doors to the ambulance even opened. I was rolled out, wheeled into the artificially brilliant busyness of a city ER on a Saturday night.
I don’t remember much of what happened. Maybe it was the trauma of the night that made everything blur, but most likely it was the shot of codeine pumped into my veins through the IV. The next thing I did remember was the hand in mine when I came to.
Honorable Disgrace Page 22
