My heart raced as I fought him. Memories of things which had been shoved into dark places in my head were thrust to the surface…the memories of stale bourbon, cigars and cologne. Reeves, pressing wet kisses on the back of my neck, trying to get me to cooperate. Memories of his body crushing mine into the mattress, fighting to pull my panties off as I struggled. He shoved and shoved, trying to penetrate…NO! Jerking my legs apart, he’d grasped my ass, forcing my butt-cheeks apart and ripping the skin. I closed my eyes tightly as the tears stung my eyes…My nightmares were coming true all over again.
“This will go badly for you if you fight me,” he hissed, shoving my head back down. “If you don’t cooperate, I might have to involve your friend,” he warned as I whimpered. I didn’t want any of my friends to experience this hell. But I would fight back. I wasn’t a helpless fourteen year-old anymore.
With a violent thrust, he shoved my body up the table, forcing my legs open. I could feel his pants and a zipper against my bare backside. He reached around me and grasped my breast, squeezing it hard as he moaned. He still held my hands behind my back, but hadn’t bound them yet. I finally managed to get one of my hands loose and jabbed my elbow up.
I hit gold.
”You bitch! “
As he pulled away, I had just enough room to push myself up and get an arm under me. I threw my head back into his face, jarring him enough to get him off of me. I grabbed the tape and ripped it off, screaming as my lips were freed.
“HELP! Someone, help me please!”
I landed in a half-crouch, still holding the sheet to me. I could see my attacker in the half-light of the room. He had on a mask, and appeared to be the same man who had attacked me in my apartment. He watched me breathing heavily, fire shooting out of his eyes in the mask. His pants hung around his narrow hips, unbuttoned, his fly open. Before I could register anything else, he flung the side door open leading to the dressing and locker rooms and disappeared.
I slid to the floor in the corner of the room, pulling the sheet around me. It seemed like forever before I heard footsteps running down the hallway, but in reality it was only seconds. Someone knocked on the door, and it flung open, revealing several massage therapists and staff standing in the hallway.
“Miss…are you all right? Miss?”
“I…someone attacked me,” I managed to croak out to the man standing closest to me. Just then we heard one scream, then another, and more commotion beyond the doorway where the intruder had disappeared.
“He went thru there,” I gasped out, motioning to the door. A security guard bolted across the small room and through the door as the man standing closest to me helped me to my feet.
“There isn’t supposed to be anyone scheduled in here. What is your name, Miss?”
“Kelly Sanger,” I replied shakily. “I was scheduled to get a massage in here. My friend is in the other room. I followed the instructions on the bed, and then when he came in…he…” I trailed off, still shaking, fighting off the imaged in my head. The memories were pouring in now, some of them had been buried so deep I’d almost forgotten.
Another man behind him spoke up. “I was supposed to massage Miss Sanger, but she’d been marked off the list. I was about to take off for the evening,” he said. One of the other employees darted out of the room. A woman in one of the spa blazers came forward.
“Miss Sanger, I’m so sorry…are you all right? I don’t know how this could have happened,” she said as she placed her arm around me. “Are you hurt, do we need to call an ambulance for you?”
I shook my head. “No, I’m just shaken up. I…I need to get dressed, please,” I asked roughly, my voice shaking.
“Of course. One of the managers is calling the police. We’ll need to report this. I’m sure they will want to go over the room for evidence. If you will leave the sheet, I will give you a robe and then we will take you into my private office so you can change,” she urged. She turned to the man who was my real masseuse. “Chris, would you please tell Mary to get Miss Sanger’s things from the locker room, and bring some herbal tea and water.”
“Could someone please find my friends? I need to go home,” I whispered as the room began to clear out.
“Yes, Miss Sanger, we will locate them. Please, come with me,” she urged, handing me a clean robe. I shrugged into it hurriedly as she guided me out into the hallway and around the corner into her plush office. We’d barely entered before Chris returned with my clothes. Chris and the manager slipped out discretely to allow me to dress, and then came back moments later with Tana.
“Oh, God…Kelly, what happened?” she exclaimed, hurrying to me.
“I’m not sure. I thought I was going to get a massage, but someone came in posing as the masseuse and attacked me,” I told her shakily.
Tana turned to the staff angrily. “How in the hell did this happen?” she demanded.
“I assure you, nothing like this has ever happened here before,” the manager replied.
“Well, it has now!” Tana growled angrily. She turned back to me as she dropped to her knees in front of my chair. “How did he hurt you?” she whispered.
“He began groping me, and when I started to get up, he taped my mouth and held me down. I managed to get loose and fought back.” I began to shake again so badly I had to stop.
Tana took both my hands in hers. I looked up into her eyes and continued, “He let go, and I was able to get the tape off and scream. He ran into the locker rooms.” I was whispering. The room was still full of therapists and staff all gawking at me.
“They’ve called Jen and Sunni, they will be here any minute,” Tana replied softly. Chris came back in the room with the manager, and handed Tana a cup of tea and bottle of water.
“Here, Cat…drink this.” She handed me the tea. “Do you want to call Liam?”
“No! I can’t…I don’t want to bother him with this. There isn’t anything he could do now…it’s over.”
Tana nodded. As a policeman entered, she patted my knee. “I’ll go find Jen and Sunni, and we will alert the limo driver and Scott about your attack,” she said as she stood to leave.
“Miss Sanger, I’m sorry, but we need to get a statement from you,” the policeman said as Tana left the room. I nodded. A female detective followed him into the room and closed the door.
After I’d relayed the entire ordeal for the second time, we were almost finished when there was an insistent knock on the office door. The door opened, and Scott peered in.
“If you’re through questioning Miss Sanger, I will escort her to her limo,” he interrupted angrily as he crossed the room and helped me stand.
“No, that’s fine. If you think of anything else, Miss Sanger, please call us,” the female detective said as she handed me her card. “We will be in touch. Are you sure you don’t want to go to the hospital?”
She’d noticed me rubbing the back of my head, and I’d noticed in the mirror hanging on the wall when I’d dressed that bruises were beginning to darken on my jaws and cheeks where the intruder had forced my face down into the stirrup.
“I’ll be fine…I just want to get home,” I replied, glancing up into Scott’s stern gaze. He led me from the room, out into the lobby and through the doors outside. The limo was already gone, a taxi stood in its place waiting at the curb.
“I sent the others home,” Scott murmured an explanation as he helped me into the cab. I nodded as I scooted across and sank back into the seat, relieved to finally be alone.
After we’d pulled back into traffic, Scott cleared his throat.
“Miss Sanger, I’m deeply sorry. I had no idea once you were in the spa I needed to watch over you, or I would have never let you in there alone,” he apologized.
“You had no way of knowing. It wasn’t your fault,” I replied softly. The tight reign I held on my emotions had almost snapped.
“No, Mr. Covington and I both have been on edge, and worried something like this might happen before we could catch th
e person who has been stalking you. I should have been taking the extra precautions. It won’t happen again.”
I just nodded at him, at a loss for words. The full impact of what had just happened was beginning to sink in. I’d almost been raped again. As I shuddered, tears began to pool in my eyes. Embarrassed, I turned to the window to watch the lights flashing past us in the darkness.
“Miss Sanger, I need to call Mr. Covington and tell him what’s happened,” he said.
I shook my head. “No. Please, he can’t do anything tonight. I’ll be fine until he gets home day after tomorrow.”
Scott dropped the formalities. “Liam will be furious with me if I don’t tell him. I have to call him.”
I shook my head again, willing myself not to cry.
“Kelly, look at me.” I turned, startled at his use of my first name. He held his arms out, and pulled me across the seat. I buried my head in his chest.
“Please wait until we’re back at the hotel, and then call him. Maybe he won’t come back if he knows I’m already asleep,” I said as he sighed.
“All right. As soon as I have you safely in your suite,” he agreed.
* * *
After Scott swiped the card and had the suite door opened, he had his cell out of his pocket. I crossed the room hurriedly, hoping Liam wouldn’t insist on talking to me if I was already in our room. I didn’t want to break down on the phone, and I needed some alone time to get my emotions under control.
“Oh, Kelly?” Scott called. I turned.
“I’ll be sleeping out here on the sofa tonight, if it’s all right with you, of course.”
“That would be nice. Thank you,” I whispered.
I shut the door and sank against it to the floor. I didn’t know if I had the strength to even make it to the bathroom. I sat for the longest time, listening to Scott’s voice through the doorway. I couldn’t hear what he was saying, but I hoped by the soft tones in which he was speaking it meant Liam was taking the news calmly and would stay in Dallas.
Scott’s tone changed in the other room, his voice clipped and short as he answered something Liam said. My scalp prickled as a memory I couldn’t quite grasp hovered in my unconscious. I ran back over the ordeal, the ride home in the limo…how strange it had seemed for Scott to call me by my name and hold me when I’d begun to cry.
It dawned on me--the smell of his cologne. Something about his cologne reminded me of the scent the man was wearing who broke into my apartment. Was I crazy? Maybe I just remembered smelling Scott’s cologne when he and Liam were in the apartment afterward. I was immediately apprehensive as I reached up and flipped the lock on my bedroom door. I wasn’t so sure I wanted Scott in the suite after all.
My nerves were raw, and I didn’t remember ever feeling so fragile. I kept trying to find the part of me that could turn cold and unfeeling. I needed to flip the switch that put me in the cocoon. I couldn’t find it. If I had to talk to Liam tonight I would fall apart. I knew after a few hours’ sleep I could face things better. I’d been able to process the intruder in the apartment, but that attack hadn’t been physical beyond his grabbing me. This was different. The way he’d held me and touched me had left no doubt of his intentions to rape me. I suddenly felt the need to wash his touch away. I found the strength to push up, and stripped as I hurried into the bathroom. Bypassing the tub, I turned the shower on full-blast as hot as I could stand it, and stepped in, shampooing my hair and scrubbing my entire body until my skin felt raw.
I stood in the shower for the longest time, letting the scalding hot water wash over me.
“You’ve survived so much worse. Shake it off, Sanger. Come on, shake it off,” I repeated out loud over and over to myself. I realized with clarity it wasn’t so much tonight’s attack affecting me, but the memories it brought to the surface. They were swirling in my head like a horror movies I couldn’t turn off or tune out. I finally flipped the water off as I heard my cell ring in my purse in the bedroom. I hurriedly pulled on my pj’s from the previous night and then wrapped my hair in a towel. Afraid it was Liam calling, I flew to my purse. It was Tana.
“Kelly-cat, are you okay? I didn’t like leaving you, but that Scott dude insisted,” Tana huffed into the phone.
“Tana, I’m okay…really. I’m just shaken and tired. I’m just about to go to bed.”
“Why don’t I come over? I don’t think you should stay by yourself tonight.”
I sighed. “No, that’s not necessary, but thanks for offering. Scott is camped out on the sofa in the living room outside my door. I’ll be fine.”
“Well, that’s not the same, is it? But if you insist, then just promise me you will call me if you need me? I can be there in ten minutes,” she offered.
“I know. I’ll call if I need you, I promise.”
“Okay. Sleep well, Cat. I love you.”
“I love you too. Bye.” I hung up and then placed my phone on Liam’s pillow. Tears welled up again as I thought of him.
This was a first.
I’d never wanted to run into someone’s arms before when I was upset. I’d prided myself on being tough, but now all I could think about was curling up in Liam’s lap. I took a deep breath and swallowed my tears, because there was no way I was calling him. I pulled the drawer to the nightstand open and took out the bottle of sleeping pills Liam had gotten for me earlier. I took two with a full bottle of water, brushed my wet hair out, and then snuggled down under the comforter, all the lamps lit brightly in the room.
It seemed I’d just begun to drift when I heard Liam’s voice.
“Kel, it’s me,” he whispered. I felt the bed dip. I jumped and turned, startled at the sound.
“Shhh. It’s only me, baby. I’m sorry I scared you.”
I forced my eyes open as I turned fully in bed. Liam sat beside me, still in a dress shirt and dress slacks, without his tie, his shirt un-tucked and unbuttoned at the collar.
He placed his hand carefully on my cheek, tracing the bruises with his thumb.
“I came as soon as I could. You should have called me, Kelly.”
“I didn’t want to bother you with this. It’s over, and I’m fine,” I whispered as he shook his head.
“No, you’re not,” he murmured. He rubbed my arms as he looked me over. “Where are you hurt?”
His gaze was tortured, his concern for me so evident on his face it tipped my emotions over the edge. As the tears began to spill over, he cursed, pulling me into his chest.
“God, baby! I’m so, so sorry,” he murmured as he tightened his arms around me. I sighed as I took in his familiar scent. This was what I needed. For the first time in my life, I had someone to hold me, to dry my tears, to take the burden from me and tell me it was going to be okay. As he continued to hold me, his lips in my hair, he murmured softly to me, calming my nerves. Soon I was calm enough to wipe my eyes and pull back to look at him.
“You shouldn’t have come home, I was already asleep, and Scott was watching over me,” I scolded as he shook his head.
“Play the tough girl all you want, but there was no way I was staying in Dallas tonight after Scott told me what happened to you. I had to see you were all right.” He pulled me away to look at me, grasping my chin as he considered my bruises.
“How did you get these?” he asked huskily.
“What did Scott tell you?” I asked warily. I didn’t even know how much Scott knew about the attack.
“Just what the security guard told Scott. He said this thug posed as a masseuse and tried to attack you, but you managed to get away and call for help. The security guard said a couple of women in the dressing rooms saw him when he ran through the locker room, and then the guard was able to get a partial plate from a camera in the employee parking lot.”
“That’s more than I knew,” I responded as he continued to study me.
“Hellcat, that’s not what I meant. Where did he hurt you?” He looked deeply into my eyes.
“My face…when he forced my
head down into the support thing on the table. My backside,” my voice broke.
Liam leaned over and kissed my forehead, and then rested his forehead against mine.
“Go on, baby.” he whispered.
I took a deep breath. “After he taped my mouth, he got on top of me, and pushed me down…forced my legs open, and grabbed me…I guess I’m bruised back there too,” I shrugged as the tears threatened again. Liam’s eyes darkened as his grip tightened. He finally cleared his throat and urged me to continue.
“Scott said something about your head,” he prompted.
“Yeah, I threw my head back and hit him. It’s a little sore,” I said as he probed my head with his fingers. As he touched a tender spot, I winced.
“You might need to see a doctor, Kel,” he urged.
I shook my head. “No, I’m fine. Nothing a good night’s sleep won’t fix,” I assured him.
“You’re so stubborn,” he admonished. “I’m still not convinced you shouldn’t let me take you to the hospital. Maybe you should go see a doctor in the morning.”
I knew he wasn’t going to let it drop. “How about if I go see Doctor Orr? If my head is still hurting, I’ll follow up with a medical doctor.”
Liam smiled a half-smile and let out a deep breath. That seemed to appease him.
“I think that is a very good idea.” He rose and began to unbutton his shirt.
“What are you doing?” I asked huskily.
He pulled his shirt off, and then kicked his shoes off as he sat down again on the edge of the bed, unbuckling his belt.
“I thought I’d hold my girl for a while, and get a little shut-eye before I have to head back to Dallas,” he murmured, leaning over to kiss me on the forehead.
“You won’t get much sleep,” I argued. He stood and stepped out of his pants. After he’d folded them across the back of a chair, he opened a drawer and pulled out a pair of pajama pants and returned to the side of the bed.
“I wouldn’t have gotten any at all if I’d stayed in Dallas wondering if you were okay.”
Texas Hellcat Page 26
