I climbed from my truck and pulled my ratty old gym bag from the back seat. It was a little after five, and my class at Mercy’s didn’t start for another twenty minutes. Inside the shelter, the sweet scent of muffins filled my nose. I peeked my head around the kitchen doorway to find Mary humming along to the song I was positive sounded a little like Snoop Dogg’s Drop It Like It’s Hot. Mary always seemed to be full of shocking surprises, and recently she revealed her new love for rap and urban R&B. Dressed in a floral dress, flats and a fancy apron full of ruffles, she was a complete contradiction. Her eyes sparkled with mischief when she spied me watching her from the doorway.
“Charlie Cole, I’m sure your momma would have taught you that it’s bad manners to sneak up on people.”
From anyone else, I would have prickled at the comment about my mom—who was on a plane to crazy town with a one-way ticket, and most of the people in Claymont knew it—but coming from Mary, I knew it was just playful banter. I smiled.
“You know me and manners never really took.” I dropped my bag in the doorway and began snooping around the kitchen, looking for the freshly baked treats I could smell. Mary watched me as I checked the still warm oven. Nope, not there.
“Looking for something, Mr. Cole?” Mary chuckled.
I stood up and scanned the kitchen counters. This had become a game for Mary and me. She baked and I ate. But lately, she made me work for it. I checked the large pantry, the kitchen cabinets, and lastly, the fridge—hoping to God she didn’t really put my warm treats in there. I found plenty of food, just not what I was after. When I turned to face her, I saw that she was barely holding it together.
“Where are my muffins, Mary? You don’t want this to get ugly.” I grinned.
She burst out laughing. “Five minutes, Charlie, just five minutes earlier and you’d have your muffins.”
My playful grin disappeared. “Who took my muffins?” I demanded.
She laughed harder. “Ella left just before you came through the back door. Actually, she ran; I think she knew you would be looking for them.”
That cheeky little brat, I thought to myself. I was definitely kidnapping her precious penis cacti next time I dropped by Jax’s. I’d been threatening to unman her cactus for a long time. Now that she had messed with my muffins, that cactus was done for! The girl was going down! Mary’s loud laughter finally settled and she reached behind her back to produce one lone muffin.
“I saved this for you.” She grinned at me. I moved forward quickly and wrapped my arms around Mary’s soft, large body, then quickly drew away, taking the still warm muffin with me. She shook her head. “I think you all love my muffins more than you love me.”
“Not a chance,” I said through a mouthful of muffin. “Without you there would be no muffins.” I grabbed my bag off the floor and made my way out into the wide open living area of what was Mercy’s Shelter for Abused Women. There were a few regular faces, and I was both glad and irritated to see a couple of new ones. It impressed the hell out of me that these women found the strength to leave the monsters that dared hurt them, but it pissed me off that such evil existed in the first place.
Mercy came in through the front door, and when she saw me, her hands flew up, palms out. “No, I had nothing to do with the abduction of your muffins. That was all on Ella and Jax.”
“Jax was in on it?” I shouted.
“I believe he was driving the getaway vehicle.” Mercy laughed.
They were both going down! At that moment the front door swung open and Ella strolled in, followed by Annie and then Rebecca. The air left my lungs on a long drawn out breath. She seemed to be held in a gripping conversation with Annie, while I carefully looked her over. Her hair was pulled back in a high ponytail, giving me an unobstructed view of her face. She looked beautiful. Her bruising was all but gone. There were dark shadows under her eyes, which worried me, but other than that she still looked like the damn ethereal beauty she always had been to me. Ella stood to one side, watching me as I watched Rebecca. Busted. She raised a brow and gave me a sly grin.
“Ms. Munroe, you look mighty proud of yourself,” I noted.
“Mr. Cole, I do believe you and your muffins were outsmarted.”
I snorted. “Not likely, all you did was show up five minutes earlier than me. That’s not outsmarting, honey, that’s pure luck. And don’t worry, my plan for revenge is gonna leave your head spinning.” Ella laughed just as Rebecca and Annie turned towards us from their conversation.
Rebecca’s eyes locked on mine, and the look in her eyes made my heart pound hard and heavy in my chest. It looked like she was happy to see me, fucking ecstatic even. Ella and Annie went to help Mercy push some furniture out of the way as Rebecca strolled nervously up to me, her hands tucked away in the pockets of her pullover. I hated that she felt nervous. I smiled in an attempt to ease her apprehension.
“Betty Boop,” I whispered, “how are you feeling?” She looked up at me, her eyes held a wealth of pain behind them. She smiled, but I could see the turmoil that was going through her mind and body. She looked away, unable to hold my concerned gaze, and shrugged. I waited patiently until those pretty blue eyes settled back on mine.
“Probably no better than I look.”
“You look beautiful.” Not even God himself could have stopped my hand from rising to her cheek, the back of my fingers gently caressed the soft skin. She blushed and it caused her face to glow a gentle shade of pink; it was adorable. It took a great deal of effort not to get a raging hard-on right there, surrounded by the women of the shelter. Damn, I was a sick fuck.
“I don’t feel like it, Charlie. I feel…” She seemed frustrated. “I feel…” Her eyes dropped to the floor between us. “I feel scared. I feel like someone else is living in my God damned skin right now.”
My hand cupped her neck gently and I used my finger to raise her chin so her eyes were back on mine. I wanted her to see the truth in my words; the complete honesty I was about to entrust in her. “I get that, Betty Boop, I get what it’s like not to be in control of your emotions. It’s like your outside of yourself looking in and you know what the problem is, you can see it but you just can’t find a way to fix it. You will get that control back though, I promise you if it’s the last thing I do, I’ll help you get that control back.” Her eyes seemed to search mine for the truth behind my words. Finally, a small smile fell easily upon her beautiful full lips. A cough from behind us got my attention. I glanced over my shoulder to see Ella’s smug grin as she stood in line with several other women, all watching with rapt interest at the exchange between me and Rebecca.
“So eager to get started, short stuff.” I chuckled. Ella’s smile turned into a hard glare. I loved ruffling her feathers; it was definitely one of my favorite past times.
As the one hour class progressed, I could see Rebecca’s unease growing. I had teamed her with Ella and kept all their maneuvers clean and simple. I knew it was possible that a certain hold or position could trigger a memory, fuck, I have seen it happen with plenty of women in the shelter since I began teaching my classes here. Thankfully Mercy noted Rebecca’s discomfort, and made an excuse to draw her away from the group. Finally the class drew to an end and I guided the girls through a quick cool down and slipped away to find Rebecca. She was sitting in Mercy’s office, her legs drawn up in front of her. She looked so young and fragile sitting there all alone. I didn’t want to startle her so I knocked on the wall beside the doorway gently. Her worried frown turned to look my way. Her eyes glazed over with tears and before I could say a word they spilled over her lashes and down her soft cheeks. I knelt on the floor in front of her and allowed my arms to find their way around her small frame. She shook as she cried, her hands clutching me close.
“What’s wrong with me?” she finally whispered between sobs. The pain and confusion in her voice broke my heart.
“There is nothing wrong with you, Betty Boop. You’re scared and you’re hurting.” She gripped me tigh
ter, trying to hold me as close as possible.
“I don’t want to feel this way,” she whispered.
“You won’t forever. I’ll help you,” I breathed. “Let me help you,” I quietly pleaded. Her subtle nod helped me feel some resemblance to calm. She was handing me a small amount of control, a chance to help fix this, to help repair the damage one person managed to inflict on her bright soul.
“I need to go home,” she confessed.
“You will soon enough.” It would take time but I had no doubt she would overcome the fear that lingered following her attack.
“No, Charlie. I have plants to water, food that’s spoiled and needs to be thrown out, and I need to check my mail.”
“I can go do all that for you.” She leaned away from me, a spark of determination firing behind her eyes.
“I don’t want anyone to do it for me, I want to do it, Charlie, it’s my home.” She took a deep breath. “It’s my family home, it’s all I have left of them. I can’t lose it.”
I leaned my forehead against hers, not wanting any space between us. “How about I take you? We can do it together.” Her eyes seemed to flutter shut with relief. “This weekend,” I added.
She nodded. “I’m working Saturday morning but I’m free all afternoon.”
“Saturday afternoon it is then,” I agreed. Her entire body relaxed.
“Shit, I’ve got to go in to Lee’s Saturday afternoon. It should only take an hour, two tops.” She lifted her head and being this close to her, I wanted to lean forward and kiss those beautiful lips.
“Maybe I can come?” she suggested.
Now I was tense. Normally I wouldn’t have a problem taking Rebecca with me to Lee’s, but now I was worried the aggression within the gym might trigger unwelcome memories for her.
She could see the obvious reluctance on my face. “I’m sorry, that was really forward of me.” She tried to smile through her tear stained face. “Forget it, my head is in another place right now, things have started coming out of my mouth as if there is no filter.”
I couldn’t stop my laughter. “I’m fairly confident that pretty mouth of yours has never had a filter, Betty Boop.” She smiled and it was genuine. Some of the tension that had seized my body lately seemed to melt away at the sight. “I want to take you, believe me I do. I’ll be sparring, it won’t exactly be real fighting but it has a tendency to sometimes get a little real, a little brutal. I don’t want you to see that.”
Rebecca’s back straightened, her hands slipping from my shoulders. “You think I’ll get scared,” she said with a little defiance that reminded me of old Rebecca.
I ran a hand down my face in an attempt to hide my smile. I groaned. “No, maybe,” I fought for the right thing to say. Rebecca sighed and seemed to come down from the fit I thought she was about to throw.
“Let me try,” she pleaded. “If it starts getting to be too much, I’ll just go wait in your truck or something.”
She really wanted to come, I could see that in her eyes. I wasn’t sure if it had something to do with defeating her fears or something else entirely. I raised my hands in defeat, I couldn’t deny her anything, especially when her eyes were begging me like that. “Fuck it, you can come with. If it gets to be too much, you can hang out back with Liz.” She gave me a ‘who’s Liz’ look. “The General’s wife, Liz, she’s always there on the weekends, otherwise she’d never get to see her husband.”
There was a very good chance this would come back to bite me on the ass. But another part of me, the caveman part of me, was pleased to be taking Rebecca to my happy place, to be able to show her off and stamp my mark of ownership on her. I was such an ass.
Chapter 9
Rebecca
I don’t know why it felt imperative to go with Charlie to his gym. As soon as I got the feeling that he didn’t want me there, that he didn’t think I could handle it—that was it—competitive, stubborn, independent Rebecca reared her head and demanded attention. I was sitting on the old wooden bench in the back of Bouquets, my hands busy with the yellow rose and orange tulip floral arrangement in front of me. My mind wasn’t really on the job at hand though. Thankfully, after eight years in the business, I didn’t need to focus too hard on what I was doing; my hands instinctively knew what to do. I couldn’t seem to get Charlie Cole out of my mind. The protective way he looked at me made my central loving station spasm with appreciation; however, my mind raced over all the ‘what ifs’. What if he woke up one day and wanted to sneak out on me? Did he have some sort of sick hero complex which compels him to say and do the things he has for me? Maybe his feelings were misplaced by a simple need to help a friend. Being protective of a friend is a long way from proclaiming undying love. Did I even want that? Of course I did, what woman didn’t want something as epic as true love? And as much as I tried to stop wanting Charlie like that, I couldn’t. Ella has assured me that Charlie wanted me; that his feelings for me eclipsed friendship, but I was having trouble believing that. Charlie just didn’t love and maybe that was for the better, because I wasn’t sure if I could either. My eyes began to fill with tears at the thought of never having what Jax and Ella have. My lip curled in frustration. I was sick to death of crying. Everything would make me cry: songs, sounds, smells. And I was scared of everything, especially the dark. I still felt the eerie sensation of someone watching me and had considered speaking to Jax about it, but in the end, I knew it was probably nothing more than unsettled nerves that were consuming all rational thought. The sorrowful looks people cast my way were driving me crazy. Only my inner circle of friends knew exactly what had happened to me, but I’m sure the rumors were in spreading like wildfire; Claymont wasn’t that big of a town. Fingers snapped before my eyes, bringing my thoughts back to my present surroundings.
“Thought I lost you there for a moment,” murmured Lola. She was dressed in her typical black pants and black top, her black hair held back by a black scarf. Her green eyes were watching me as she took the bouquet from my hands and finished wrapping the stems with twine. Lola noticed me looking over her ensemble and she shrugged. “The world can be quite amazing when you’re a little strange.”
My eyes flicked back to hers and now she was looking over my clothes. I was wearing a pair of jeans, a plain, long sleeve t-shirt, and a pair of Converse. When Ella took me shopping last week, I picked up a couple pair of jeans and more than a few ordinary, long sleeved shirts. But Ella insisted on the Converses because, and I quote, “they’re complete and utter coolness, and just plain badass.” My hair was pulled into a messy bun, and I was wearing very little makeup. I looked normal. I didn’t feel entirely comfortable with the way I looked, but for some reason I couldn’t bring myself to wear anything from my iconic fifties style wardrobe either.
“Do you have a book of quotes at home beside your bed?” I asked.
She ambled away to put the bouquet in bucket of water by the front counter. “I just like to read,” she said before answering the phone.
I glanced across the wide walkway that separated my floral shop from Annie’s coffee shop. It seemed a little slow over there today. Annie’s new girl, Beth, was manning the counter, while Annie smiled shyly from across one of the tables at one incredibly sexy Dillon Montgomery. He was grinning wickedly at her and she blushed, which made me all sorts of curious. The two of them have been dancing around each other in the longest, most drawn out courtship known to mankind. They’ve known each other for a year now, and still haven’t been on a single date. Dillon spent a hell of a lot of time in the coffee shop though and he looked after Annie’s son, Eli, often. But they couldn’t seem to take the next step. If he looked at me the way he looks at Annie, I can tell you the man would have been flat on his back in a heartbeat. With that thought, darkness seeped its way into my mind and images from that night began to consume me. I breathed away the panic with long controlled breaths, just like Ella showed me. Without causing a scene, I found my calm place again and jumped up from the bench. I g
lanced out the front window and caught sight of a flashy looking black sedan parked at the curb. It wasn’t the car that made my heart skip a beat though; it was the tiny girl, with pixie short black hair that caught my attention. I took a hesitant step toward the front of the store. The girl looked frightened as a beefy looking bald guy grabbed her roughly by the arm. As the girl glanced back over her shoulder, I caught a glimpse of her eyes and gasped.
“Em?” I whispered, observing the familiar looking girl. My younger sister has eyes just like mine, only paler. They were completely unique and unmistakable. The last time I saw Emily, her hair had been long and a dark shade of blonde, her figure beautiful with soft curves. This girl was thin, her skin pale in a sickly way, and dark rings hung under her haunted, striking eyes. I watched, muted and still as she was pushed into the back seat of the sedan. As the car pulled away from the curb, I started to doubt myself. My sister wasn’t in Claymont and that girl didn’t really look like Emily. My sister was safe, far away from the ugliness in my world right now, living it up, living her dreams. I shook it off and glanced around the store. I needed something to do, I needed to keep busy. I tied off the garbage bag and lifted it easily from the bin.
Fighting Back (Mercy's Angels) Page 8
