Unacceptable

by Kristen Hope Mazzola

  “This is real life, babe. So you better get used to it, because I like this side of you, especially since it’s only for me.”

  He kissed from my jaw down to my shoulder. “Everything is only for you babe. You and Raine are my world now.”

  A flood of desire came over me. I reached down and started to stroke him gently. “You know one thing I haven’t done?”

  He softly breathed into my neck, moaning a little. “What’s that?”

  “Had sex under a waterfall. That’s bucket list status shit right there.”

  “Well than let’s both check one off the list.”

  He bit lightly on my shoulder and I rubbed his head over my folds, slowly inserting him into my tight opening. He gasped quietly, riding his dick farther and farther into me.

  We stayed silent, enjoying the calmness and beauty of the moment. For the first time since we’d started whatever it was we were, we weren’t just fucking each other for the pleasure of it. We were making love. It was a night neither of us would ever forget.

  The ride back to the house was a little more miserable than the ride there since I was freezing. The temperature continued to drop, and combining that with my wet hair and damp clothes, I was not the happiest of campers. Even so, it was a small price to pay for the amazing time we’d had at Compression Falls.

  I was yawning up a storm the next morning on my way to the bar. Abel had left before I was even out of bed, saying that he had some club business he needed to handle. Raine was fed and off to school, and now it was time to start another eight hour shift.

  Of all the days for Abel to not call someone into work for me. I pulled into the parking lot to see two vans I didn’t recognize surrounded by a bunch of the club members’ bikes. I knew better than to let my suspicions start to fly, but it was odd that there were so many people there at that time of day.

  I grabbed my sneakers from the trunk while watching two of the younger members rush in through the side door, one of the off limits zones for me.

  I unlocked the front door and started setting up like it was just another day at work. I cut limes, filled the ice bins, unwrapped the liquor bottle tops, and counted out my drawer.

  The first few hours of the shift were completely dead; not a soul came into the bar or out of the back room. Thank goodness for Tetris and Candy Crush on my phone.

  Suddenly the back door swung open and Abel stomped out. His face was twisted into one of the ugliest, most stressed out looks I had ever seen.

  “You all right?” I questioned as he stood at the end of the bar staring off out the front window.

  “Just give me some whiskey babe. It’s one of those days.”

  I took the hint, poured him some Jack on the rocks, and watched him chug the double shot like it was water.

  “Do you have your gun?”

  My heart started racing. Why the hell would he be asking me something like that?

  I nodded. “It’s in the car.”

  He held out his hand. “Keys.”

  I threw them to him from my purse under the register. “Should I be worried?”

  “No. I just want you to keep it with you while you’re working. That’s all.”

  He went and grabbed my gun from the glove box, put it on the bar, and without another word he was back with the rest of them doing God-knows-what. Needless to say I was freaking out. I put my gun in my hip holster. It had been so long since I had even shot my gun, having it on me felt so wrong.

  Another hour or so passed by with me trying to occupy my time with silly YouTube videos and scrolling through ideas for another tattoo.

  When the front door swung open, I almost jumped out of my skin. A biker wearing a cut that I didn’t recognize bellied up to the bar. He had a sweet smile and kind, light brown eyes. He sat down in front of me and sighed as he set his gun on the bar.

  I was frozen. I put my hand on my hip, ready to rip my gun from its holster, but he shook his head. “That would be a stupid move, sweetheart.” His sweet smile turned into a stoic frown as he eyed me up and down. “You’re a pretty little thing aren’t you? What’s your name?”

  I faked a smile. “I’m Crickett. Haven’t seen you in here before. What’s your name?”

  He grabbed the gun and started eyeing it, playfully pointing it just past me. He was trying to freak me out and it was working, but I knew I couldn’t let him see that.

  “Are you going to order something?”

  I stood there with my hands on my hips, begging my knees to stop shaking as I sweetly smiled and glared into his hollow eyes. “Why don’t you grab me a Miller Lite.”

  I poured his draft and set his beer down on a coaster. “That’ll be three bucks.”

  He handed me a five. “Keep the change.” He proceeded to chug the entire sixteen ounces.

  I was begging for Abel to come back, for any of the guys to walk through the back door, but they never came.

  The stranger picked the gun up and pointed it straight at me. “Play time is over. You’re going to do everything I tell you or I will blow your brains out.”

  I nodded. I knew that there was no way I could pull my gun out, turn off the safety, pull the slide back, and shoot him before he shot me, so I had to play by his rules. I was just so thankful that Raine was safely in school.

  “First, put your gun on the counter.”

  I did as I was told and surprisingly he left it where I set it down.

  “Now you’re going to show me where they’re keeping Reggie.”

  At first I thought he was talking about weed, but it quickly sunk in that he thought I knew where one of his friends was being kept captive.

  What that fuck is going on?

  My throat was dry and my hands were shaking. “I have no idea who you’re talking about.”

  He jumped off the stool and came around to the inside of the bar. “Don’t play fucking dumb with me you little cunt. Now show me where they are.”

  I had to take him somewhere and I was hoping that he was completely wrong and no one was being held hostage in the back room of the bar. In my mind, I was about to lead him right to a big round table where Abel would pull a gun out and rescue me from this terrible person and his fucked up misunderstanding.

  Slowly I shuffled my quivering legs to the back door, gripping the handle. I felt him press the barrel of the gun into the middle of my back.

  “What are you waiting for? Open the damn door.” His voice was low and level.

  I turned the handle to reveal a scene that was so far from the picture I’d had in my mind. There was a large round table shoved off to the left to make room for the group of guys circling a gagged and tied up man who was badly beaten. His face was bloody and swollen.

  Abel was standing behind him with a gun to his head, yelling at the guy. “Don’t think I won’t pull the damn trigger. Now tell me where it is.”

  I choked out, “Abel!” as the stranger’s grip tightened around my body and the barrel pressed to my temple.

  His face went white as his eyes locked onto mine. The hostage’s head hung while he moaned in pain, spitting blood onto the floor.

  “Let her go or your buddy here gets it.”

  The Unacceptables that were there were standing frozen, their eyes darting from mine to Abel’s.

  “Don’t think I won’t kill her.” He breathed in close to my neck. “It’s a shame to waist such a fine rack though.” I heard the hammer pull back and the bullet move into the chamber. I braced myself, taking in a slow deep breath.

  Abel’s nostrils flared and he slammed the back of the gun into his hostage’s temple. “Don’t be a fucking idiot. Let the girl go, she has nothing to do with this.”

  All of a sudden the sound of a gun firing, someone gasping for air, and the feeling of hot pain being splattered all over me happened within seconds. It took me a minute to realize what had happened as the grip on my body loosened and the gun was no longer pressed against my head.

  I could feel myself screami
ng as I looked down to see blood covering my body and my attacker lying at my feet motionless. Holt was holding one of the bar knives in his bloody hand. He grabbed me and pulled me into the main area of the bar as my eyes locked onto the man strapped to the chair, half of his head missing and splattered all over the floor in front of him and Abel running toward me.

  I started to fight and struggle in Holt’s arms. “Let go of me.”

  “No. Crickett you have to calm down.” He was pulling me behind the bar. “Let me clean you up a bit.”

  Abel was right behind us, trying to reach out to me. “Both of you get the fuck away from me. You’re a fucking monster Abel!”

  I stomped on Holt’s foot, making his grip on me loosen. I grabbed my gun and my bag and started to run for the door. Abel bolted after me, grabbing my arm right as I was about to shove the heavy wooden door open.

  “Crickett. Wait. Don’t leave like this.”

  “Fuck you, Abel. You just killed a man and I almost died.” I pulled the hammer back on my gun, keeping it pointed at the ground. “So help me God, Abel. Let go of my fucking arm. I need a little bit of time to process things.”

  His face twisted and his jaw clenched. “Fine.” He let me go and I bolted to my car.

  Chapter11.

  I sped off down the road, my mind going a mile a minute. My plan was to go back to his place, clean myself up, grab my shit, and stay at the motel for the night.

  I pulled down the gravel road as my phone started blowing up with text after text from Abel.

  Abel: Babe. Go home. I will be there soon.

  Abel: Please call me. We need to talk.

  Abel: I am so sorry.

  Abel: Crickett, I love you. Please call me.

  I threw my phone onto the passenger seat and pulled a U-turn. If Able was on his way to the house, there was no way I was going to be there when he showed up.

  I tried to not think about the blood that was drying on my arms, clothes, legs, and neck, but when I looked down to see my chest covered in that man’s blood, it running down my V-neck all the way to the top of my shorts, I started to go into a panic. I tried taking long, slow breaths, but to no avail.

  My body was shaking, my breathing was out of control, and my mind was a jumbled mess.

  My phone started blaring and I pulled off to the side of the road to see who it was.

  I was surprised at how disappointed I was to not see Abel’s or Rave’s number coming up. I let the unknown number go to voicemail and leave a message.

  I slid my phone open and the message started playing. “Hi, Crickett. This is Cindy, your mom’s neighbor. She asked me not to call anyone but I think you really need to get to the hospital quickly. She was mugged. I’m not too sure what really happened, but I found her this morning in really rough shape. The doctors won’t give me any information since I am not family and I have to go to work now, but call me if you get an update. She’s at Jackson on Fifth. I don’t know if they put her in a room or not.”

  I went into autopilot. In just over twelve hours I could be at my mother’s bedside. My tank was full, my adrenaline was pumping, and the radio was blasting. I drove for just over three hours before I stopped at a quiet rest stop. Grabbing the hoodie from the back seat and throwing it over my bloodstained body, I rushed into the bathroom without anyone noticing the dark red that was splattered down my leg.

  I locked myself in the handicapped stall and scrubbed my skin raw, threw out my white V-neck and soaked bra, and threw back on my hoodie. My black shorts didn’t show the stains too badly, thankfully. It took everything in my power not to picture the wide eyes of the dead man lying at my feet. Even though he’d had no problems with threatening my life, it didn’t change the fact that I felt bad that his had been ended. He was someone’s son, probably someone’s lover or father.

  After filling up and grabbing a Red Bull, I was back on my mission. After ignoring over twenty calls from Rave and Abel, stopping a few more times for gas, and chugging a handful of energy drinks, I was finally pulling into the parking lot at the hospital.

  The security guard was sitting behind the desk. She made a copy of my license, gave me my visitor’s pass, and explained the maze I was going to have to go through to get to my mother’s room.

  Everything felt like it was moving in slow motion. I couldn’t believe I was back in my hometown, about to see my mother battered and bruised from another mugging. The guilt of running out on her was overwhelming as I gasped for breath and pushed open the hospital room door.

  Right as I was about to take my first step into the room a nurse stopped me. “Ma’am, only family can go in there, and it’s not visiting hours for this floor.”

  I cleared my throat, turning to the older lady who was standing there with a vial of medication and syringe in hand. “She’s my mother,” I muttered.

  With a kind smile, she nodded. “Have you spoken to the doctor yet?”

  I shook my head. “I was out of town. I got the news from a neighbor and drove more than twelve hours straight through to get here.”

  “Let me give your mother her pain meds and then I will page the doctor for you. I am sure he is going to want to talk with you about her condition.”

  I followed the nurse in to see my mother lying helpless in the bed. Her face was so swollen and bruised that I barely recognized her. She was hooked up to monitors and IVs, and her right leg was in a cast from the knee down.

  I gasped for air as I rushed to her bedside. “What the hell happened?” I pleaded, but my words fell on deaf ears. The nurse had already left and my mom was passed out.

  It only took a few minutes for the doctor to come into the room, but it had felt like years.

  “Miss Hayes, may we speak in the hall?”

  I followed the doctor out of the room. “Doctor, do you know what happened to her?”

  He looked over her chart with a furrowed brow. “Your mother’s neighbor found her like this. Your mother said she was raped and mugged but could not give the name of her attacker. She has a few broken ribs and they almost broke her jaw. Her right leg looked to have been stomped on with a steel toe boot; her tibia and fibula are shattered. She’s lucky to be alive.”

  I felt weak. My knees were about to give out. I leaned back on the wall. “I just can’t believe this. Is she going to be all right?”

  He nodded, trying to smile. “She’s doing better. She’s stable now. We have her on some pretty heavy pain meds right now to help her rest. She should hopefully be able to go home tomorrow if nothing changes.”

  “Thank you doctor.”

  Exhaustion started to take its toll while I sat in the air chair in the corner of the room, watching my mother take shallow, labored breaths. The next thing I knew, it was the middle of the night and a blaring alarm was going off. I shot up out of the chair and ran over to my mother’s side as the night nurse came rushing through the door.

  The nurse pushed some buttons, fixed a few things. My mom groaned as the nurse put the oxygen tube back in her nose. “Your oxygen levels started dropping. You need to keep this on.”

  Through slits, my mom glanced at me. “What are you doing here?” she muttered, but before I could answer she was falling back into her drug fueled daze.

  The nurse patted my shoulder. “She’ll be more with it tomorrow. Try to get a little more rest.”

  Hot coals felt like they were embedded in my lower back as I tried to make the best out of the uncomfortable chair. After I flipped through the limited channels for a while, thumbed through a few magazines, and did a crossword puzzle, my eyelids finally started to get heavy.

  The sound of coughing brought me out of a light sleep. I shot up from the chair to find my mother staring wide-eyed at me.

  “Well, look what the cat dragged in.” She rolled her eyes, trying to sit up more in her bed.

  I ambled over to her bedside, trying to rub out a kink in my shoulder and neck. “I came as soon as I heard you were hurt, Ma.”

  “Do
n’t even feel the need to tell your momma that you’re leaving but you feel like you have to come here and play hero? My dear, you’re not needed here.” Her bloodshot eyes were boring into my soul.

  “I’m sorry I ran out on you like that. I just couldn’t get stuck in the quicksand of that life forever.”

  She hit the call button for the nurse before glaring at me. “Don’t get self-righteous on me, Crit. We don’t have to do this. You made your choice. Run back off to wherever you came from. I can take care of myself.” Her words were mumbled from her jaw being so sore.

  “Obviously.” I twirled my finger around the room. “You can totally take care of yourself, Ma.”

  The nurse came in. “Morning, Helen. How are you feeling today?”

  “Like I got hit by a truck.”

  Chapter12.

  After the nurse left the room, my mother started to give me the good ole fashioned silent treatment. All the way through the doctor coming in, explaining the aftercare instructions, and discharging her—which took hours—my mom didn’t speak one word to me.

  It wasn’t until we were in the car on the way back to the trailer that she graced me with conversation. “So where’d you run off to? Find a man?”

  I rolled my eyes. “I went to find dad.”

  She forced a laugh. “That deadbeat. I bet he’s dead in some ditch somewhere.”

  “I found him.”

  I could see her pissed off face out of the corner of my eye. “And?”

  “He’s doing well. It was surprising to find him with hundreds of letters and page after page of legal papers. Why the fuck did you let me think that he had abandoned me for all those years? Don’t you know what that did to me?”

  “He walked out on us, Crit. Don’t let that slime ball ever try to fool you into thinking otherwise.”

  “Let’s just leave it. We’re not going to agree.”

  I helped her hobble into the trailer and propped her leg up on the couch with a couple of pillows like the nurse had explained to me before we left.

  “Get me my damn pills.”

  I grabbed her purse out of her reach. “You can’t take one for at least another hour, Ma. You know that. And you have to eat with them.”