by A. J. Downey
“What’s your name?” Red polo asked.
“Hayley,” I answered, thinking surely a name couldn’t be that big a deal and to be honest, being reticent would likely aggravate him. I just had a bad feeling about him. The kind of feeling all women and girls are taught to listen to. His shirt one giant physical red flag to match all of the ones raised in my head.
“You’re a pretty girl, Hayley.” I blushed faintly as I did with every compliment that came my way.
“Thank you,” I murmured and then asked, “Do you know what you want to order?”
The boys placed their orders and I wrote everything down carefully, also afraid of what the reaction would be if I got something wrong. The fact that they were all in here like they owned my father’s diner was off putting to say the least. The fact that they were loud and rowdy another.
Tension rode the air, thick enough to slice with a knife and I wished that I knew what to do about it but they hadn’t done anything. I just knew when someone wasn’t being sincere, or nice, and the one in the red polo was clearly the ringleader of this little circus.
I served them their food and they talked and laughed, but red polo’s eyes followed me wherever I went in the dining room. Travelling up my legs, lingering on my ass, and staring pretty unabashedly at my tits when I went over to ask how their food was. I froze when he took liberties and put his hand on my waist as he talked to me.
“Why don’t you leave with us?” he suggested. “We could show you a good time, tonight, take you home in the morning, might even have the maid make you some breakfast. See how the other half lives…”
I pushed his hand off my hip way more politely than he deserved and said, “Thank you for the offer, but I have a boyfriend. I don’t think he would appreciate it.”
I turned to walk away and he grabbed my wrist. I startled, dropping the pitcher of water I’d brought to refill the one guy’s glass and it hit the edge of the table, ice water dumping from the knee down along my left leg and soaking into my Chuck.
Off balance from trying to avoid the water he pulled me down into his lap, his hand gripping the top of my thigh.
“Stop!” I said. “Let me go, please.”
“I don’t want to let you go, and somehow, I don’t think you want me to let you go either…” He ran his hand up my leg and cupped my pussy through my tights and panties. I froze in absolute shock, the door swinging open.
“I said let me go,” I said strongly and squirmed in his lap trying to get away from his groping hand.
A loud whistle split the air and I whipped my head around. Cell stared down at us and murder was in his eyes. I reached out and he took my hand and pulled me past him, flinging me at Blue.
I crashed gratefully into Blue’s arms and he pressed my face into his chest, his arms going protectively around me. Everything was happening so fast, the next thing I knew, someone was screaming, then the screaming was muffled. I went to turn my head but Blue pressed it tight against his chest, resting his chin on the top of my head, keeping me from looking.
I wanted to look, I needed to see, but Blue wouldn’t let me and that just made me want to look more.
“Shh, it’s alright my little one, I’ve got you now.”
I let him hold me and held back to him tightly, but I wanted to know so I fought his hold and turned back so that I could see Cell, afraid for him. I mean, there were four of them and only one of him and my Blue…
Chapter 28
Blue
We pulled up at the diner and had no idea what we would be walking into… I was real glad it was a Friday night and we’d decided to grab a bite and see our girl rather than stick around after church.
I was the first through the door and I froze, Hayley struggling in some prep school motherfucker’s arms that couldn’t have been more than nineteen or twenty by the looks of him, but was more than likely over the age of twenty-one by the smell of him and his buddies. Cell crashed into the back of me and I took a halting step forward and looked back at him.
His eyes had gone that flat dead brown that meant grievous bodily harm was in someone’s future and I didn’t even bother to yank on his leash. He whistled sharply to break up the party and looked at the four at the table.
“You’ve got less than two seconds to get your damn hands off our girl,” he grated and gave them a thousand yard stare that meant bad things were about to happen.
I could count on one hand and have fingers left over the number of times I’d seen that look and somebody didn’t die.
“Don’t kill them, but hurt them,” I commented dryly and Cell shot back, “I do what I want, little boy Blue.”
He grabbed Hayley by the hand and flung her past him into the safety of my arms. Cell was a fast motherfucker, and as he’d pulled her past him, he’d used the other hand to pick up a fork off the table. The rich mutt that’d had his hand up our girl’s skirt made a fatal mistake then. He put his hand flat on the table to get up from his seated position. Cell, savage fucker that he is, capitalized on the moment and crucified the kid’s hand, slamming the fork tines through the back of his hand into the top of the Formica table.
Hayley, face tear stained and body trembling in my own, jumped and struggled to turn her head in Cell’s direction but I held her fast, murmuring into her hair that it was alright. Cell had this shit under control. There were only four of them…
As soon as the kid screamed, Cell leaned in and clapped a hand over his mouth. He put his face less than an inch from the kid’s and said, “I said less than two seconds motherfucker, your time was up.”
The kid wasn’t so tough anymore, and the boys with him were positively ashen. One of them losing his dinner right there at the table at the sight of the blood leaking out of his leader’s hand.
“The rest of you might want to get the fuck out,” Cell said, voice low and controlled. “Now!” he barked.
The one behind red polo was the only smart one out of the four of them. He stood up, vaulted the back of the booth over into the next one, and fell all over himself to get the fuck out of there.
“I’m gonna teach you boys a valuable lesson.”
“Oh yeah? What’s that?” The built one in a blue and white rugby shirt demanded. He was a match for Cell in size but not in experience, or cunning.
“Never touch another man’s property.”
Cell smashed his forehead into the kid’s with the red polo and the kid dropped like a fucking stone. Hayley shrieked, and I pulled her back, away from the fight, just as a kid in a green polo threw a punch at Cell’s head.
Cell leaned to a side, the kid’s fist sailed by, and Cell lobbed a knee right into the kid’s nads. The kid crumbled and the one that might actually cause Cell a problem caught Cell right in the mouth. I shook my head. He shouldn’t have done that and the reason why was apparent. Cell’s head snapped to the side and Cell brought it back. I couldn’t see Cell’s face, but I didn’t need to. I knew the rictus grin he had going on. I also knew that it was probably bloody and therefore even more terrifying.
This kid was dumb like ox but strong like bull. He and Cell threw down, but Cell still made short work of him. It was a just and fair asswhoopin’ by Duracell’s standards. He was in control tonight, and didn’t even come close to losing it. He stopped all on his own with no need for me to interfere… that’s how I knew.
When the cops burst through the diner doors, he automatically dropped to his knees, lacing his fingers behind his head. Hayley screamed out, and pushed off of me and I let her go. She fell to her knees in front of him as the cops started to cuff him up and clung to him, her arms around his neck.
The cops backed off confused and looked at me and it was Hayley’s dad who spoke up from the kitchen.
“No, officers, you’ve got the wrong guy. He’s the one that stopped them from hurting my little girl.” Jake stabbed a finger at the kid in the red polo, “That little bastard sexually assaulted my daughter, these men stopped them.”
I
stood, powerless for this part of things, adrenaline raging through my system, and made eye contact with Cell who was smirking at me over Hayley’s shoulder. He turned his head and kissed her temple and said, “It’s okay, darlin’. Go with Blue, let him look after you.”
And he was right. Cell did the heavy lifting, I did the rational explaining and emotional clean up… it was us; how we worked, and I was ready to do my part in things. I shook myself as if coming awake and put myself into action, kneeling down behind Hayley and pulling her back against me.
She was scared, and shaking. The adrenaline wearing off, her system crashing; her eyes leaking tears she couldn’t control causing her makeup to run in muddy tracks down her cheeks.
“Take her home, bro,” Cell said grimly, while Hayley’s dad stood to one side, talking in earnest with one of the Sherriff’s deputy’s.
“Alright, come over here and sit until we get this sorted out.” The deputy who’d put Cell into cuffs, led him over to the lunch counter and helped get him seated onto one of the stools.
“Ma’am, can I ask you some questions?”
Hayley looked up at the deputy from where she’d been staring at Cell and nodded finally once his words sank in.
“Can you tell me what happened here?”
Hayley sniffed and nodded slowly. “I served them and then that one,” she pointed at the dude in the red polo with the fork sticking out of the back of his hand. “He grabbed me and pulled me down into his lap.” Her face crumbled and she scrunched it in an effort not to cry. She took a deep breath and couldn’t keep from breaking down, but pushed out in a warbled voice, “He stuck his hand up my skirt, and grabbed me by the vagina… That’s when my boyfriend came in and stopped him from doing anything else.”
“You the boyfriend?” he asked me and I opened my mouth but Hayley clung to me and stopped me with her own voice.
“They both are. Judge me if you want, but he was just trying to protect me!”
“I see,” the deputy said and his mouth turned down at the corners.
“And what did you do?” he asked me.
“I just kept Hayley out of the way.”
“Uh huh, so you’re telling me that one,” he pointed at Cell, “did all the damage?”
“Wouldn’t you if it were your wife or daughter?” I asked evenly.
The deputy looked at Hayley who was huddled miserably in my arms and back at Cell whose face was painted in a thick layer of seething hatred as he bored holes in the rich kid with his gaze. He looked back over his shoulder at Hayley’s dad and said, “Jake, where were you?”
“Kitchen, and I came out as soon as I heard my little girl scream. Paul just got to her before I could, and it’s a damn good thing, too. I would’ve killed the little bastard. Since he had them, I called you.”
The deputy raised a hand to cut Jake off and made several notes in his notepad. More deputies had arrived and were standing around waiting for any cues from their coworkers on who was getting locked up.
“Ma’am, you want to press assault charges?”
“Absolutely,” Hayley said.
“Alright, hook that one up, take him to the hospital…” he said indicating red polo.
“Unfortunately, I’m going to have to take your boyfriend in, too.”
“What? Why!? He stopped him from hurting me then that one attacked my boyfriend!”
“Their buddy says that’s not how it happened, and until we get this cleared up, it’s best if all of them come down to the station.”
“Take it easy, baby. Blue, get her the fuck out of here and take her home. Call Dragon and see if he can’t get me a lawyer.”
“You’re sure you want to do that?” one of the other deputies called to Cell.
“Fuck yeah, only thing I don’t trust more than pigs is fuckin’ rich little twats. I ain’t stupid, I know my rights – lawyer!”
“Right,” the deputy talking to us sighed. “Get him the fuck out of here.”
Another deputy, a woman with long, light brown hair in a ponytail went up to Cell and heaved on his arm. He stood up and let her march him out the door and into the night. Hayley burst into a fresh round of tears and I held her tight, shushing her and reassuring her it would be alright when on the inside I felt just as bleak… I fucking hated that Cell was going on the inside without me, even though I knew the inside in this case wasn’t like the inside last time.
These were just a bunch of rich little fucks, and probably would get off scot-fucking-free… Cell on the other hand was an ex-con and was probably looking at felony assault. Not to mention a second strike with this. Goddammit…
“Jake…” I said and he looked over to me. I dipped my chin to indicate Hayley and he nodded.
“Take her home. I’ll close up and clean up here... and thanks, the both of you.”
I nodded and looked to the deputy, “You can go. If we need anything else, we’ll call you. It’d be nice if you’d come down in the morning and file official statements and complaints. Might help your… friend.”
“Thanks,” I muttered and took Hayley out front.
I helped her into the passenger seat of her cage and got into the driver’s seat. She handed me the keys from her apron pocket and huddled miserably, gripping my free hand that wasn’t on the wheel the whole way back to her place.
I guess we knew why girls had been quitting left and right, I guess we also knew why they wouldn’t talk about it… fear and money were both pretty fucking powerful motivators.
Chapter 29
Hayley
He took me home, held my hand and waited until I was safe in a warm bath in my studio’s bathroom before he stepped out into the studio itself and made his phone calls. It was awkward, listening to him. I could tell he wasn’t comfortable with speaking. While I couldn’t make out what he was saying, the cadence of his voice was halting with one word answers punctuated with long swaths of his boot heels clonking back and forth along the polished cement as he paced.
Finally there was a long silence where I imagined him letting out a gusty sigh, his head back as far as it would go as he tried to work through easing the tension riding his posture. When he came back into the bathroom, it was without his jacket and cut, and without his phone. He sat down on the closed lid of the toilet and reached out, chasing a stray lock of my hair behind my ear where it’d escaped my bun.
“How you doing?” he asked and I sniffed.
“Scared.”
“They can’t hurt you now, little one.”
“No, not for me,” I said scrubbing my face with damp hands. “For Cell.”
He nodded in understanding and sighed, “I get you. Cell’s gonna be fine, though. He’ll be arraigned in the morning, and bail won’t be a problem.”
“What if there’s a trial? I mean, he didn’t do anything!”
Blue shook his head, “There won’t be. This’ll all be plead out. It’s how it works. With luck it’ll be a misdemeanor and some community service, no jail time.”
“You really think so?” I asked, desperate to believe him. He smiled but it wasn’t terribly convincing.
“Yeah, I really do.”
He pulled the washcloth down from the towel bar and dipped it into the water, raising it to my shoulders and swiping it gently across my back where it was exposed above the waterline, warming me as I hugged my knees and shivered, but not from any actual cold.
“Will you stay with me tonight?” I asked.
“You know I will.”
I nodded and let him console me the way that only Blue could, with gentle touches and soft kisses along my skin, kneading tense muscles with just the right amount of pressure until they gave up all their secrets. He let me stay in the bath until my fingers were pruned and the water had grown tepid and I was still reluctant to get out.
I liked the closeness of the tub and bathroom. I felt shattered, and it was like the close space held the broken pieces together while Blue worked to fuse them into a whole that was more bea
utiful than it had been before… like I did with my glass and my windows.
“I love you, and I’m sorry this happened to you,” he murmured while I stood in ankle deep water, the only sounds in the small space the water draining and his hands rubbing me briskly through the towel, drying my skin.
“I love you, too… and I’m sorry it happened to you, too. That Cell is in jail… I feel like it’s all my fault.” Blue shook his head and pulled me tight against his chest, kissing the top of my hair.
“Not your fault. Not at all… not Cell’s fault either. I told you, if he liked you, you’d never be safer. That’s what I meant.”
“It was terrifying, seeing him like that.”
“Yeah.”
Silence between us, but then again, there was really nothing to say. I put my arms around Blue and held tightly to him, taking shelter against his hard body and he was right… I felt safe. Safe from any kind of harm coming from any direction and that was an empowering feeling.
I looked up at him and felt a measure of calm return to me and he asked me, “Are you tired?”
I nodded, “I really am.”
“You sound surprised.”
“I sort of am… I mean, I feel like I should be wired and wide awake.”
He chuckled, “Wait until you actually lay down.”
“You want to sleep here or in the house?”
He paused as if really thinking it through before finally saying, “I’d love to see your room but what about your dad?”
“I think he’d prefer knowing I was in the house, but I completely understand if you’d be more comfortable out here.”
“I’ll go wherever you want to go, little one… after the night you’ve had, it’s all about you.”
I smiled up at him and led him out of the bathroom. He went over and grabbed his jacket and cut, following me as I quickly stepped across the back yard to the steps up into the house. I was wrapped only in a towel, and it was late enough at night that I didn’t worry about the neighbors. He followed me close behind and up into the house, holding my hand as we both ghosted up the stairs and into my room. I shut the door behind us and he hung his jacket on the doorknob.
