Sheer panic erased everything I’d ever learned about self-defense from my memory. My fingers clawed at the hand covering my nose and mouth, but it didn’t budge. Shoving and kicking didn’t do any good either. It couldn’t end like this; not after everything I’d been through. Not with Carter only a few feet away. The harder I tried to escape, the more it felt like I was suffocating.
One moment I was twisting and flailing; the next, I was suddenly free. The newly opened door let in enough light from the hallway to make out some of what was happening.
“If you so much as blink wrong, I’ll blow your brains out, motherfucker. Do you understand?” The man in front of me barely moved his head up and down. “Now slowly back away from her.”
The man held up his hands and did as he was told.
“Are you okay, babe?” Carter asked. My nod wasn’t enough since his eyes were glued to the back of the man’s head.
“Y-yes.”
“Do you need medical attention?”
“N-no”
“Can you reach my phone?”
I glanced over to his side of the bed and saw it laying on the nightstand, plugged into the charger. “Yes.”
“I need you to get it, dial nine-one-one but don’t push send. Then toss it to the end of the bed closest to me.” Carter grabbed the man’s arm and moved him farther away from me so I would have a wide breadth to get it. It took four attempts for my shaky fingers to dial the right three digits in the correct order. When I finally had it right, I managed to throw it close enough so Carter could reach it without having to look away.
Not sure what to do next, I looked at Carter and the intruder. They were both now at an angle in my line of sight, with Carter closest to the bed. From our new positions, I could see that Carter had a hand gun pressed against the back of the intruder’s head. Before I could react to the tableau in front of me, Carter spoke again. “Now you, motherfucker, get on your knees and put your hands on your head.”
Carter pulled the gun back just enough to keep it out of the guy’s reach but didn’t lose any of his focus. When the man was on his knees, my protector gave me another task. “Go to the kitchen. There should be some zip ties in the junk drawer. Grab a handful of them and bring them back.” Tears started flowing as I moved from the bed. “Get a t-shirt from my drawer and put it on. I don’t want this asshole to see you.” When I was on my wobbly legs with the sheet haphazardly wrapped around me, I took the few steps to his dresser and put on the first over-sized t-shirt I found.
Carter must have connected the call to nine-one-one as soon as I left the room. Although I couldn’t make out the words, his voice carried through the apartment as I ran to the kitchen. It took me a few tries to find the right drawer, but luckily when I did, the zip ties were lying on top.
When I returned to the room, I heard the end of Carter’s phone call. “Ten-twenty-six.” He paused briefly when I came back into the room. “Fifteen. Yes.”
“Are they on their way?” I asked when he tucked the phone into his pocket. I had no idea what he’d been telling them, but nothing at all made sense at the moment.
“Yes. They will be here in a couple of minutes. I need you to take two of the ties, and thread the ends through the slots to form one big loop, but don’t tighten it. Then throw it on the bed like you did with the phone.”
Surprisingly, I was able to do it after only about five tries. In a matter of seconds, the man’s hands were secured behind his back. As Carter pulled the guy to his feet, he looked at me and said, “I need you to go upstairs. Lock the door and don’t open it for anyone other than me. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
“Okay.” Even though I was scared to be alone, being in the middle of this situation was much more terrifying.
I waited a few moments after Carter pushed the guy out of the bedroom before following. When I finally made my way into the living room, I found the man on his knees in the middle of the floor, with his back to me. Carter was facing him with the barrel of the gun pressed firmly against his forehead. “Go on, babe. Don’t forget to lock everything.”
Nodding, I clung to the perimeter of the room in order to stay as far away from them as possible. My keys were in my bag, so I grabbed it from the closet before dashing out into the hallway. Ignoring my earlier aches and pains, I ran up the two flights of stairs to my home, digging through my bag for the key as I went. When I arrived at my destination, I took a deep breath to steady myself long enough to slide the key in the lock and get inside my apartment.
I flipped the two bolts and slid the chain into place as soon as the door slammed shut. When everything was secure, I started to remember some things I’d learned in a safety seminar they’d had at work a few years back. I retrieved one of the two chairs from my small kitchen table and wedged it under the door handle. After that, I went to my bedroom closet and grabbed the aluminum bat that had been my security system at my old apartment in the city.
Hours passed while I sat in the middle of the living room floor with my overly-alert eyes trained on the front door. The adrenaline trance had me so focused I jumped when the knock finally came.
“W-who is it?”
“It’s me, babe. It’s okay to open the door now.”
A look through the peephole verified my ears hadn’t been playing tricks on me. I dislodged the chair from under the handle, fumbled with the hardware, and then yanked the door open.
Carter’s arms were wrapped around me before the door was closed all the way.
“I was so scared,” I whispered into his shirt and dug my fingers into his back.
“Me, too. I’ve never been that scared before.”
“Who was he? What happened?”
“I don’t know who he is or why he was there. When the police showed up, I explained what happened and then handed him over. I had to retell the story several times, and it took me a while to convince them not to interview you. I knew you wouldn’t want to talk to them right now.”
“Oh, fuck. This was all my fault. I think I forgot to lock the door when I came home. I was just so happy to be home, and—”
“Shh, baby. It isn’t your fault. You didn’t invite him over”
“I won’t forget again, I promise.” His long fingers stroked my back as I sobbed into his chest.
“He would have found a way in even if the door had been locked. If anything, you probably saved me from having a broken door frame or window.”
“Can we stay here tonight?” I wasn’t sure I could sleep in Carter’s bed right after what had happened.
“Of course, baby. First thing tomorrow, I’m having a top of the line security system installed in both of our apartments.”
Talk of security brought a forgotten question from earlier back to the front of my mind. “Why do you have a gun?”
“For protection.” I waited for him to elaborate, but nothing came. It seemed unusual someone would have a gun in this quiet neighborhood—at least it was until tonight—unless something had happened to make them feel threatened. His last place had been huge, and I couldn’t imagine it not being in a secure building.
“Was it loaded?”
“Yes. Is that a problem for you?”
My problem was he didn’t seem to trust me enough to open up to me about it. “I’ve just heard stories about how guns are usually turned against the owner during a break in. If I’d been there alone, and he’d found it…” I didn’t even want to think about what might have happened. “Did you have it with you in the bathroom?”
“No, I keep it hidden in the linen closet. When I heard a noise, I jumped out of the shower, grabbed it, and then found him with his hands on you. Trust me, baby, there was no way he could have turned it on me.”
“I-I do trust you.” Probably more than you trust me.
“Would you feel better if you learned how to shoot?”
“Maybe, I don’t know. I panicked when I woke up and forgot everything I was supposed to do. It’s probably for the best I
didn’t have a deadly weapon within reach.”
“I swear I’ll protect you from now on.”
“You d-did protect me. You saved me. I froze, I let him have the upper hand, I couldn’t breathe, and you saved me.” I buried my face into his shirt to hide my ugly cry.
“It shouldn’t have happened to begin with. I should’ve been out of the shower before you got home. I promise you, there will not be a next time. I’ll never let anyone hurt you again.”
Chapter Ten
‡
“What can I get for you, baby?” I asked one of the frat boys who sat in my section, along with five other guys in matching t-shirts. All six of them stared at my tits for almost a full minute before ordering a pitcher of the cheapest ale on tap. They could stare all they wanted since it usually made for better tips. However, college kids were notoriously stingy, and with their order, I’d be lucky to get more than five bucks. But at least I wouldn’t have to fuck any of them.
When I turned to head to the bar, I nearly bounced off of a solid wall of man. “What are you doing here?” I tried in vain to cover my exposed nipples as I stepped around him.
“I came to talk to you about something.” He glanced around the space and then back to me as we continued to cross the room. “I see other servers wearing bras. Why are you putting on a peep show?”
“Well, I recently took a huge pay cut,” I explained as I pushed by him to continue on to the bar. “I have to boost my tips in any way I can. Plus, the more I make, the sooner I can get out of this hell hole.”
He grabbed me mid-stride and pulled me against his chest. “These are mine,” he said as his thumbs grazed the sides of my breasts. “You need to keep them covered up.”
“And if I don’t?”
“If you don’t, I’ll haul your naked ass back to my bed and not let you out of it until you remember exactly who you belong to.”
“You aren’t exactly encouraging me to be good, you know.” He was being an ass, but his possessiveness had a way of turning me on. Before Carter, no one had ever cared one way or the other.
“How much longer do you have?”
I looked over to the clock above the bar. “Another hour.”
“I’ll wait, and then we are going to talk.”
“You don’t need to babysit me. I know what I’m doing.” He turned his gaze to the floor. “You don’t trust me. You think I’m going to sleep with everyone in this room.”
“Can you blame me? The last time I was here, that’s exactly what you were doing.” Regret washed across his face as soon as he’d said the last word. “I’m sorry. This place just brings out the worst in me. I do trust you; I just don’t trust these perverts, and with good cause.”
“Fuck you.” He gently grabbed my upper arm so I couldn’t storm off.
“That’ll come later. Until then, I’m keeping an eye on what’s mine to make sure no one else touches.”
For the next fifty-eight minutes, Carter sat at the bar and followed me around with his eyes like an overprotective guard dog, only getting up once to growl at a customer who looked at me a little too long for his liking. When my shift was finally over, I changed into my street clothes and found him waiting for me right outside of the dressing room.
“Go ahead and say whatever it is you want to say. I’m hungry, tired, and my feet are killing me.”
“Let’s go eat, it would be better to talk somewhere else, anyway.” His anger was still bubbling just below the surface.
“Fine,” I said on a sigh. He took my hand and led me to his car in the customer parking lot. There weren’t many places open in the middle of the night during the week, so we ended up at a pub a few blocks over.
“This can’t happen again,” I told him after we were settled over a platter of fish and chips. After all this time, he still insisted on sharing food whenever we were out.
“Agreed. It’s time for you to find a job somewhere you can work fully clothed.”
“That’s not what I meant. You cost me a lot of money tonight. Why were you even there?”
“I found out who the intruder was. He was one of your customers that night; told the detectives he followed you home because you wanted him to. Said you’d been flirting with him all night.” He looked away and fiddled with the salt shaker.
“What?”
“You’re going to have to eventually talk to the police.” He sighed and then looked me in the eyes. “I get that you flirt with the guys to make more money, but when I walked in there and saw you walking around in nothing but a thong and matching fuck me shoes?”
“Are you implying I’m asking for bad things to happen to me? That nearly being attacked was my fault?”
“No, it’s just…” He released a harsh breath and tugged both of his hands through his short hair. “Why do you still feel the need to work naked?”
“I told you; to make more money.”
“How would you feel if I walked around a bunch of drunken women with my junk hanging out?”
“That’s different.”
“How? How is it different?”
“You’re special. Men may want to fuck me, but women want to marry you.”
“You still don’t get it, do you?”
“Get what? That you think you own me?”
“That I’m in love with you.”
It took my brain a long moment to process his words. “You—you love me?”
“I love you, and I’m also in love with you. I can’t stand the thought of anyone else getting to see you like that.” He reached across the table and brushed a tear from my cheek “Why are you crying?”
“No one’s said that to me, and meant it, since I was eight years old.”
“Baby, I…” He trailed off, at a loss for words.
“I lov—”
“Well, if it isn’t Officer Hottie Pants!” a drunken blonde hollered as she stumbled to our table. “Are you gonna come home with me again tonight? You’ll have to ditch the whore; I don’t swing that way.”
My stomach jerked up into my throat. Go home with her again? Whore? Was I somehow visibly branded for life?
“This is not appropriate,” Carter replied. His jaw clenched, and he kept his eyes trained on her. Since the moment we met, he’d always made me the focus of his attention. Now I felt like I was on the outside looking in.
“I’m hoping to get to take an oral sobriety exam this time, if you know what I mean.”
Anger clouded my vision as I tried to stare the bitch down. She seemed familiar, but I couldn’t place her.
“Jill, go back to your table,” Carter commanded.
“That no nonsense voice of yours is so hot,” she slurred.
I’d had it. “What the fuck is she talking about, Carter?”
Turning toward me, his eyes went wide, as if he just remembered I was there. “Give me a minute, I’ll be right back.” He stood and walked her toward the back hallway that led to the restrooms. While they crossed the room, he kept his hand on the small of her back and leaned in close to whisper in her ear.
By the time his request for ‘a minute’ had turned into ten, I was beyond ready to leave. He finally returned, without Jill, just as I was picking up my bag.
“Baby, don’t leave.”
“Who is she? Why does she look familiar?”
He diverted his eyes to the table. “Remember the night we met? The waitress at the diner?”
“Oh my God! You fucked her? After everything you said?” Tears of rage burned my eyes.
“Of course not; you can’t possibly think I would do that.” Unlike me, he kept his voice quiet to keep from adding to the scene I was making.
When he shifted his weight from one foot to the other, the shadow on his left cheek lifted. Red. I literally saw red. “Then why the fuck do you have her lipstick on your face! The two of you seemed awful cozy just now.”
“I had an…encounter…with her at work. I’m telling you, that bitch is insane. She tried to kiss me, and whe
n I turned away, she got my cheek. Even if I’d never met you, I would never, ever consider touching her.”
“Work! You do road construction in the middle of the fucking night, how would you have met her at work?” I almost collapsed when a couple of pieces to a puzzle I didn’t know needed solved clicked into place. “Did she give you those scratches on your neck?”
“Yes—but it’s not what you think.”
I dashed to the front of the bar, the cool night air slapped me in the face when I ran outside. Holding my stomach as I moved down the sidewalk, I ducked around the corner of the building and leaned against the wall. My imagination was running away with me. It pictured him fixing her flat tire on the side of the road. Or maybe she got into a fender bender near where he was working, and he checked to make sure she was okay. In either of those scenarios, she would be extremely appreciative. Maybe she stopped to ogle the hot road crew and propositioned him. She wasn’t unattractive, at least not on the outside. Even if he did truly love me, that wouldn’t necessarily stop him from testing the waters. Guys cheated on their significant others all the time at the club, and anyone would be better than a whore, right?
He came to stand beside me but didn’t speak right away. I replayed the scene in my mind to see if I’d missed any clues. Maybe I was overreacting since it happened in the middle of an argument-slash-confession of love. She was obviously drunk when she came to the table. Carter was an incredibly handsome man, and he did say she was crazy, so she might have just been a little stalker-ish. The instant replay came to a dead stop as soon as the dialogue began. My stomach left my throat and fell to the ground. “Why did she call you ‘officer’?”
“Alissa, calm down and let me explain.”
“Have you been lying to me this whole time?”
“Technically, I didn’t lie. I told you I worked on the freeways, which for the most part, I do. You just assumed—”
“You’re a fucking cop!”
“Yes, I am.” Carter’s voice was so low I could barely hear him.
Everything started falling into place. He avoided talking about work almost as much as I did. He had a loaded gun in the house and stayed relatively calm when that asshole was attacking me. The weird things he said to the nine-one-one operator. He didn’t want me to talk to the police that night, supposedly because he knew it would upset me, but maybe he was just trying to keep his secret. I hadn’t met any of his friends. He said it was because they might have seen me at the club, but maybe the real reason was because they were cops, too. Wait… friends… cops… club…
Blue Colla Make Ya Holla Page 29
