Beautifully Used (The Beaumont Brothers Book 2)

by Griscom, Susan

  Gabrielle stood, walked over to him and slugged him in the same spot I’d pummeled his jaw to a pulp just a few minutes ago. Then she spit in his face. I smiled. Her actions gave me more satisfaction than when I’d beat the crap out of him. I suddenly had a newfound admiration for Gabrielle Demeres. When she came back and sat next to me in the dirt, she pulled the jacket tight. “How long do you think we need to wait?”

  “Dunno. Not too long I’d guess. I think Lena and Jackson might be wrapping things up and getting ready to take off after they finish the last dance they were having before I followed you out here.”

  “Lena’s going to wonder where I am.”

  “Yep. Jackson will wonder where I’m at too. I don’t know how we can avoid that.”

  “Do you have your phone on you?”

  “Yeah.”

  “We can call Weezer, tell him what happened and he can make some excuse for us.”

  “That might work. What type of excuse?” I needed to ask. I knew what I would like to say. I’d tell him we were off getting to know each other better, but, of course, that would never fly with my brother as a good enough reason for missing his send off.

  “I don’t know.”

  She took my phone and dialed Weezer’s number.

  “Hey, Weez.” She kept her voice amazingly steady and controlled. “Could you do me a favor? … Yeah. Um …” she glanced at me. “I left the party with Brodie. We went to get some more rice for people to throw. …Yeah. But … um … we had a flat tire on the way. Could you let Lena and Jackson know we won’t be there to say goodbye and tell them we’re really sorry?” Silence ensued for a few seconds and she frowned. “Everything is fine. Really. Don’t worry. Tell them not to wait … I don’t know how long it will take. … No, I don’t want them to miss their plane. Tell her … just tell her I’m sorry and to have a great time. … Okay. Thanks.”

  She pressed the end button and handed me back my phone. “I couldn’t bring myself to tell him the truth.”

  I nodded. “You didn’t need to.”

  “I don’t think he believed me though because he kept asking me if I was all right. He’ll make sure they know we’re okay and not to worry.”

  I nodded again. “You did great.” I tried reassuring her. I was certain Weezer thought we were off having a good time together, and I really wished we were. Anything beat sitting in the dirt with bloody lips and torn clothes, staring at the likes of the perverted Jeff Adams.

  We sat there for about an hour until finally the music stopped. I crept to the edge of the woods and saw that most of the guests were gone. I came back and sat next to Gabrielle. “I’m going to call the police now. Are you up for it?”

  She closed her eyes briefly, then opened them and took in a large breath of air. “Yeah. I’m ready.”

  We didn’t have to wait too long for the cops to arrive. As soon as they found us in the woods after I’d told them where we were, Jeff began complaining and accusing me of assaulting him, denying all of the accusations Gabrielle made against him. They took one look at Gabrielle, then handcuffed Jeff and took him away. The female officer asked Gabrielle a gazillion questions before they left, including the dreaded question; “Was a rape kit necessary?” Thank God the answer was no because he never got a chance. They told her she’d have to testify in court, and told me the same. As we walked out from the woods, the music of crickets caught my attention and I remembered.

  I’d never been one to pass up an opportunity, even given the circumstances. Maybe it wasn’t the right time, but I decided to seize the moment regardless. I draped my arm around Gabrielle’s shoulder and said, “That was supposed to be my dance, by the way.”

  Chapter 20

  Gabrielle

  “Are you up for it?” Brodie asked as we approached the hardwood planks still laid out in the middle of the yard. The rental company wouldn’t be by until tomorrow morning to retrieve them. I looked down at my torn gown. I wanted to cry. I wanted to go inside and run to my temporary room in Brodie’s house and shut the door, throw myself on the bed and cry. I knew that wouldn’t solve anything.

  I hadn’t been raped. Almost, but not. I could hold on to that. Thank God for that. Thank Brodie for that. Brodie had come to find me. Why? Brodie. Of all people. The one guy in the world I didn’t think I could trust. Didn’t want to trust. My face hurt where Jeff had punched me, and I probably needed to put some ice on my lip, but then, Brodie’s mouth was in just as bad of shape as mine. We both needed ice.

  We stopped walking just before reaching the wood floor. “There’s no music.” I pointed out and Brodie shrugged.

  “We have music.” He took my hand in his. “Close your eyes and listen.”

  I did as he suggested and didn’t hear anything at first. Then, there it was. Crickets chirping, frogs croaking, and a swish of breeze blowing through the tree branches with leaves ruffling against one another around us. Sounds of the night. Beautiful sounds. I smiled and opened my eyes. “Okay.”

  He led me onto the floor and took me in his arms. His fingers wrapped around my left hand, his other settling gently against my waist. He held me. So much differently than the way Jeff had held me a few hours earlier. I followed Brodie’s lead, and we moved our feet to the music of the night.

  This was a side of Brodie I hadn’t known existed. A tender side. I decided that I liked it, and suddenly, I didn’t feel so dirty anymore.

  Brodie pulled me in a little closer.

  I closed my eyes and leaned my forehead against his chest. He led me around the dance floor, swaying with each step to the beautiful sounds of the night. I kept my eyes focused on the hardwood floor until Brodie placed his finger under my chin, lifting my face so my eyes met his. His lips were mere inches from mine. I couldn’t breathe. His breath was sweet as he whispered close to my cheek, “You’re okay. You’re safe with me.”

  And I felt safe.

  After changing out of my torn gown, I showered off all traces of Jeff from my body, every spot he had touched me, every spot his lips had pressed against my skin, everywhere, even the places he never had a chance to make contact with before Brodie had pounced upon him. I shrugged into a t-shirt and cotton sleep shorts, ready for bed. I had agreed to stay at Brodie’s for the night to help him clean up from the reception tomorrow. Besides, I didn’t really want to stay in Lena and Jackson’s big new house alone, not after what had almost happened tonight. I knew Jeff was in jail, but I couldn’t shake what had happened so easily, at least not yet. I’d been so scared. I hadn’t given myself to anyone, not willingly anyway, and not all the way. The thought of someone taking me under those conditions sickened me, made me feel weak and vulnerable. I’d been violated before, but there was never any penetration. Thomas was always careful never to do that to me. He’d always said I should save that for when I fell in love. At the time, I wasn’t sure what I was saving. It seemed to me he’d already taken everything I had. Thinking about Jeff only made me angry. Angry at the way I’d let him trick me, angry for allowing myself to be in that situation. I swore I would never tolerate being in a position where someone touched me without my consent again. How could I have been so stupid? I knew in my heart I was going to be fine. I would survive this night, this violation, just like I survived those others so many, many—much wanted to be forgotten—years ago. I would never forget though. Wasn’t that why I wrote the book?

  A knock on the bedroom door yanked me from my thoughts. I opened it to find Brodie holding a bag of ice in his outstretched hand for me and another pressed against his own mouth.

  “You should come out; sit and hold this to your face for a while. I can put on a movie.”

  I rubbed my hand gently over the spot where Jeff had punched me. I took the ice and touched it gently to my mouth. “Thanks, but I probably should go to sleep.” I turned back toward my bed leaving him standing in the doorway. With one knee on the edge of the mattress ready to climb in, I stopped. Who was I kidding? I was being stupid. There was no way
I’d be able to fall asleep, so I stood back up and turned to face him. “On second thought, I don’t think I could sleep much anyway.” I followed him to the living room and took one corner of the sofa, tucking my legs up next to me.

  “Here, take these.” He held out a bottle of water and two round, red pills.

  “What’s this?”

  “Ibuprofen. It should help with any swelling, and ease the pain a bit.” Brodie took up the spot at the opposite end of the sofa with the remote in one hand and the bag of ice pressed to his chin in the other. “Any preference?”

  “Anything non-violent.”

  “Hmmm … that might be tough. There’s violence of some sort in just about everything these days.”

  “True. I don’t care. Anything you want then.”

  “Let’s see. How about a comedy? Woody Allen or Mel Brooks?”

  I shrugged. They weren’t my favorites, but I was willing to watch anything that might take my mind off what happened tonight. Maybe if I got bored with something I’d fall asleep. Otherwise, I feared I might be awake most of the night. As Brodie scrolled through countless titles on the screen, the trees blowing in the wind outside the window caught my eyes. I studied them as they swayed, the way they withstood the abuse from the wind was amazing. I wanted to be like the trees. Able to stand tall the next day after being slammed by something I had no control over, only dropping a few fragments of my self-esteem the way the trees only lost a few of their leaves.

  “Wait, I got it.” Brodie smiled and flipped the TV over to the internet and downloaded Zoolander. Perfect! I thought and curled up into myself, leaning my elbow on the arm of the sofa and my mouth against the cold compress I held in my hand.

  Chapter 21

  Brodie

  I awoke to the sounds of gunfire. Loud and obnoxious. I squinted at the TV. Some sort of battle was going on with robots, and I realized it was right in the middle of one of the Transformer movies, though which one I had no clue. I picked up the remote and clicked the TV off. Gabrielle was all curled up and sound asleep on the other end of the sofa, the toes of my feet just inches from her calf. I pulled my feet closer to me, swung them off the couch and stood. A nice, welcomed, cool morning breeze flowed in through the window I’d left open, so I grabbed a light blanket and covered Gabrielle before going to the kitchen to make some coffee.

  I’m fairly certain we both fell asleep right toward the end of the movie. I don’t know where we got the energy to stay awake, but the movie kept us laughing and not thinking about what had happened earlier in the night, my ultimate goal. I enjoyed hearing Gabrielle laugh throughout most of the silly movie.

  I’m surprised we stayed on the sofa all night. No, I’m not surprised I did, but I am surprised Gabrielle slept there. I was glad she agreed to stay the night. I was also glad she seemed to be okay. No long term emotional effects, but then I suppose things would have been different if he’d managed to get any further.

  I finished filling the carafe with water and turned to pour it into the machine when Gabrielle came walking into the kitchen rubbing her hands over her eyes. “Good morning,” she said through a yawn.

  “Morning to you,” I said, reaching into the cupboard for a couple of mugs.

  She smiled at me. That was a good sign.

  “Coffee will be ready in a minute. Want something to eat?”

  She shook her head. “Just coffee for now.” She sat at the table, elbow on the edge, her chin propped against her knuckles as she watched me.

  I filled two cups with coffee and placed one in front of her before sitting down across from her. Silence ensued as I sipped my coffee and tried not to stare at her, but it was impossible. The way the sunlight trickled in through the window and caught the red highlights in her hair gave her an ethereal appearance. She didn’t have any makeup on, just like last night after her shower. She was pretty with makeup, but she was beautiful without it, even with a busted up lip. Damn, fucking Jeff. Her lip wasn’t too bad though, no worse than my own. I still wanted to kill him for giving it to her.

  “We must look a sight,” she said, breaking the silence.

  I stared at her in amazement. “Are you psychic?”

  “No. Not that I’m aware. Why?”

  “I was just thinking about how you … we looked.”

  And we both stared at each other, and in unison, quoted Ben Stiller from Zoolander, “Have you ever wondered if there was more to life, other than being really, really, ridiculously good looking?” cracking us both up to the point of her getting a side ache.

  It was good to laugh. God knew we needed to. Gabrielle sipped her coffee and stared at the wall. I was about to say something, when all of a sudden she whispered, “Too bad good looks don’t convey what type of person someone is.” She looked at me. “Can’t judge a book by its cover, right?”

  I nodded. Not sure what to say. I figured she was thinking about how attracted she’d been to Jeff before he showed her his true colors. “No one would have guessed that about the guy, Gabrielle, so don’t beat yourself up about it.” When she only glanced at me briefly and shook her head at her coffee cup I added, “I asked Jackson about him, you know.”

  Her eyes raised to meet mine in question. “When you were dancing with him. I asked Jackson about him. Nobody really knew him all that well.”

  “Why was he invited to the wedding?”

  I shrugged. “Jackson invited the whole soccer team. Hell, he invited the whole town.”

  “You got there in time. He didn’t … he wasn’t … he never …”

  “I’m glad,” I interrupted, not wanting her to have to say it. She seemed grateful for that. “Gabrielle, I don’t … I mean, I’m not going to pretend to know how you feel about what happened, but I want you to know that I wouldn’t blame you if you broke down and cried or yelled or screamed. Got angry. Hell, I’m angry.”

  “I am angry, Brodie. But I don’t know how to feel about it. He didn’t get to rape me. I’m glad about that, but at the same time, I’m pissed because now he won’t go to jail.”

  “He will for attempted rape and assault.”

  She shook her head. “Not the same.” She stood, headed toward the door and turned toward me. “Look, Brodie, I appreciate what you did for me, but you heard him. He told the cops that he never intended to go that far. That he was never planning to screw me. That we were just having an intimate make out and fondling session until you came and interrupted us. It’s his word against mine, and what if they believe him?”

  “We’ll just have to make sure they believe us, your word and my word.”

  “You weren’t there the entire time. You can’t testify to something you didn’t see. He’s liable to say anything up until the point when you yanked him off of me and started fighting with him. Don’t get me wrong, I’m so very grateful and glad that you stopped him, but another part of me is almost sorry because now he’s going to be free to do it to someone else because there is no proof of what he was going to do. He’ll do it to someone else, or worse yet …” She stopped and sucked in a sob. She didn’t need to complete the sentence. We both knew what her fear was, maybe it was my fear too; that he’d try to find her and finish what he started.

  “Let’s get going and clean up the back yard. I have to find a place to live, and I only have two weeks to do it.”

  “You know Lena and Jackson won’t kick you out if you don’t find something by the time they get back.”

  “I know, but I don’t have the slightest desire to room with newlyweds either.”

  “Why don’t you just stay here, then?” The words had left my mouth before I had a chance to think about them. Gabrielle and I have had our differences, but I didn’t like the idea of her staying alone at Lena and Jackson’s anyway after what happened.

  “Here?”

  “Sure.”

  “You want me to stay here, with you?”

  I shrugged. “Not with me.” I suddenly felt like I needed to clarify that. I knew she didn’
t like me all that much. Even if we had shared a dance and a movie last night. “But here. Yes. Why go to Jackson’s when all your stuff is already here? You can just stay in the same bedroom you’ve been staying in until you find something.”

  Chapter 22

  Gabrielle

  Brodie and I took down all of the decorations and piled all the dirty glassware and dishes into the crates the rental company supplied. We sat in the shade of a large oak tree on two teak Adirondack rocking chairs, sipping lemonade, watching as the two men from the rental company took the wooden planks of the dance floor apart and loaded them along with all the tables and chairs onto a truck. I was glad to see the dance floor go. Even though Brodie and I shared our first dance there, it also held some rather unpleasant memories since I’d danced with Jeff there too. I’d like to forget I ever thought he was attractive.

  Brodie handed one of the guys an envelope that I knew held a sizable tip. One thing I’d learned about Brodie over the past couple of weeks was that he never skimped on tips. I guess running a bar and relying on those everyday elevated the importance of them. I’d always considered myself a generous tipper until I met Brodie and Jackson.

  Even after the men finished loading up the truck and were long gone, I stayed outside on the chair while Brodie went inside to fill our glasses with more lemonade. Rufus lay by my feet, content to be in the shade. It turned out to be a fairly warm day, much like yesterday and the day before. The weather didn’t show much variation this time of year. It was either hot or extremely hot. I watched Brodie stroll out from the kitchen door, tray balanced on one hand, guitar case dangling from the other. We stayed outside in the shade of the tree most of the afternoon while Brodie strummed softly on Jackson’s guitar. He gave me a shhhh, holding his finger to his lips and said, “Don’t tell Jackson I played his guitar. He’s kinda OCD about other people touching it.”