“What the fuck do you mean?” one of the men asked. There was no mistaking the belligerence and posturing in his voice.
“That’s Pretty Boy’s woman you’ve got there. You do not want to fuck with him.”
I had no idea what they were talking about, but a split second later the arms around my middle released and I crumpled to the ground, too shocked and weak with fear to hold my body up.
Who was Pretty Boy?
I had no idea what they were talking abou,t but I knew I had to get out of there. With another burst of energy borne of adrenalin, I rolled to my side and brought my sneaker clad feet under me and sprang to my feet.
This time I was going to run.
“Eden, stop. It’s me… Dane.” The voice rang out around the building and I immediately halted. My body froze—rooted to the spot. “I’ll take you back to Xander.”
Confusion, relief and about a hundred other things raced around my body, but I did stop. It was something about the voice. The tone. He’d also mentioned Xander. My muddled brain somehow recognised Xander as safe.
One of the guys on the ground rolled and tried to get to his feet. I saw a blur in the dark shadows, then the unmistakeable sound of a kick landing in a belly followed by a pained groan.
“Stay the fuck down. Do not make me put more of a beating on you.” Dane’s voice was now a growl laced with anger and disgust. “I’d be keeping a low profile if I were you three. Pretty Boy is not going to be happy about this.”
“Shit man—we didn’t know.” I wasn’t sure who spoke but I thought it was the man that had held me.
“Well, now you do. But that’s no excuse. You don’t go attacking women. What the fuck, were you drunken fools thinking?” Dane was furious now and I flinched back from his voice. “Hell, maybe I should beat the shit out of you three as a reminder. As it is Eden is well within her rights to press charges.”
“We were just going to have some fun, man,” one of them whined from the ground.
“I don’t think Eden saw it as fun, and her screams sure as shit didn’t sound that way. I’ll be telling Xander everything that happened. It’ll be up to him what happens. He knows where to find you. Now get the fuck out of my sight.”
The two men on the ground staggered to their feet and joined the third. The three of them slunk back towards the building they’d been in.
“Are you okay, Eden?” Dane’s voice was softer and reassuring.
Was I okay?
Physically, probably—yes. However, I was shaking like a leaf.
Mentally, I had no idea.
I just needed to sit down. My heart was still racing and everything seemed surreal and blurry.
Dane gently wrapped his arm around my middle.
“Whoa there, girl. Don’t collapse on me. Come on; it’s just a little way. Let’s get you up to the dojo.”
I gratefully slumped against his strong body as we started to move. All I focused on was placing one foot in front of the other. Left, right, left, right I chanted in my head. It was soothing and gave me something to focus on rather than what I’d just gone through.
“What were you doing down there, Eden? Shit, it’s dark and cutting through an industrial estate is no place for a woman at night.” He rattled on a bit more but I didn’t really hear him. I was trying to stay upright when all I wanted to do was lie down.
I heard his voice but the effort to create words and speak seemed too much at the moment. All I could focus on was my feet. Left, right, left, right.
“Please say something to me, Eden. I’m freaking out here,” he all but begged me, concern raging through the voice that only moments ago had been so filled with confidence. I fought the exhaustion, and the after-effects of the fear.
“I’m okay, Dane.” My voice was nothing more than a whisper, but he heard it.
“Far out, girl. You had me terrified for a moment there,” he trailed off with a laugh.
“How much farther?” I managed to croak. I wasn’t taking in my surroundings just focusing on moving my feet.
“Just past this building.”
Left, right, left, right.
Finally he slid open the door to the dojo and all but dragged me inside.
The last I remember is a sea of heads all swivelling to look at me as everything went dark.
* * *
Xander
“Xander, I need some help here man. She’s fainted.” Dane’s voice was anxious as he called out across the dojo. I’d noticed the second he’d come through the door. He was late. What shocked the hell out of me was when I watched the body he was supporting in his arms, go limp. It all happened at once, as soon as they’d made it through the front door.
There’s no way in hell I could miss that curtain of rich strawberry blonde hair. I’d know that colour anywhere.
Fear shot straight to my heart as my brain processed what I was seeing.
“Rohan, take over here,” I barked as I ran across the mats. Sophia and Tori hot on my heels, also knew exactly who it was Dane was now holding up.
“What the hell happened?” I demanded of Dane as I scooped her unconscious form into my arms and headed for my office.
“What happened?...How is she?...Eden.” Tori and Sophia were both talking at once.
“I found her…”
Too many voices, I needed to know what had happened. “Girls!” I barked out. “Let Dane explain.” I knew my tone would silence them.
Gently, I placed her on the sofa in my office and propped the lone cushion underneath her head. I then hooked her lower legs over the other arm of the sofa to raise her feet up slightly, before I moved back to kneel beside her head.
“I was cutting through, down by the river when I came up on some guys outside Heuy’s Motor Shop giving her a hard time.” My fingers smoothed over the skin of her cheek and I pressed them in to the side of her throat. A little of the fear and tension evaporated from my body when I realised her pulse was strong and steady. As long as she hadn’t sustained any other injuries, I figured she’d just fainted and would come around soon.
“What do you mean a hard time?” The fear I was feeling was fast replaced with anger.
“I just saw the end of it. I was walking up the laneway when I heard a woman screaming. I took off running towards it. I’m surprised you didn’t hear it. It was loud.”
Rage zapped through me. “We didn’t hear a thing here. I had the damned front door shut. The wind was whistling round here like a bitch.”
I smoothed the hair back from her face and Sophia crowded in at my side.
“Tori, go grab a towel from the tall cupboard in the kitchen area and wet it please,” I ordered. She disappeared without questioning me.
“As I came out of the laneway I saw the guys surround her. She wasn’t putting up much of a fight, but she obviously didn’t want to be going with them. I realised it was Eden as soon as I saw her hair and her height.”
A small whimper escaped her throat and a shudder went through her body. She was coming around.
“Did they hurt her?” I had to ask but I was pretty sure she was okay and had only fainted from the shock.
“I don’t think so. I think I got there in time.”
I could feel the rage pulsing through my body, but somehow I kept my hands gentle as I stroked her hair back from her face again and again. The strands were incredibly soft and silky against my skin. Exactly as I’d known they would be. Touching her somehow seemed to calm me.
“I took the first two to the ground. They were a good way to being shit faced and hardly even put up a fight. The third guy let her go when I told him he had your woman. I didn’t want to risk her getting hit if I went after him.”
I couldn’t help it. I really tried to avoid swearing at the dojo and particularly in front of women and students, but this was different. If ever a situation warranted a curse word it was now.
“Fucking arseholes.”
My brain was focused on those fuckers and all I wanted
to do was rip them apart. How anyone could think of hurting a woman was beyond me, but Eden? Hell, she was just so damned sweet, beautiful and innocent. And right there was why they’d targeted her. Easy prey.
“What do you mean, she’s Sensei’s woman?” Sophia asked Dane suspiciously as Tori hurried back in with the wet towel. I took it from her outstretched hands and started to gently press it to Eden’s face and neck.
Sensei’s woman.
It should have felt weird. Grated on me. Funnily enough, it felt neither. It kind of felt right. I knew Eden Sommers wasn’t my woman. But I didn’t open my mouth to refute it, either. If those few words had meant Dane could get Eden out of there safely tonight; I’d gladly handle whatever fallout came.
Dane rushed on with a both a hint of defence and a subtle rib directed at me, in the tone of his voice. Something only I’d pick up. “I told him that so he’d let her go. Even those idiots aren’t stupid enough to risk Xander coming after them.” The words were for the girls, but the tone was all for me.
I said nothing. I was more focused on Eden. Dane’s explanation seemed to appease Sophia for the moment.
Eden groaned again and this time her eyelids fluttered open. Those big dark blue eyes of hers were unfocused, as she struggled to figure out what was going on. She tried to sit up and I put a firm hand on her shoulder.
“Just lay there for a minute, Eden. You’re safe. I’ve got you. Try to relax.” She half nodded once and collapsed back onto the sofa.
“You’re going to be fine, Edie,” Sophia assured her, squeezing her hand some more.
She still looked confused and I watched her throat gulp a few times, but nothing seemed to be coming out, so I helped her out. “You just had a little faint. You’ll be fine once the shock passes and your body gets a chance to equalise itself. Just try to breathe slowly and evenly. You’ve had a tough night, but you’re going to be fine now.”
I kept up with the reassurances a bit longer. It seemed to settle her and we could all see she was starting to get herself back together.
“Could I have a glass of water, please?”
I didn’t even have to ask. Dane took off to retrieve it and I kicked myself for not thinking about it sooner.
This time when she started to sit up, I didn’t stop her. Her eyes were focused and I could tell she was much more with it.
“Just take it steady, Gem.” I slid my arm under her shoulders to help her up the rest of the way.
Sophia and I moved back slightly, to give her some room.
“How do you feel?”
She nodded her head. “I’m okay. I feel a little weak, but I’m okay.”
I didn’t think she had any other injuries but I had to ask. “Do you hurt anywhere? Did those guys hurt you anywhere else?”
She shook her head slowly no. “They just scared me and tried to drag me off.”
I didn’t miss the fear in her eyes, nor did her sisters as Dane returned with the glass of water.
“Here you go.” He held it out to her and her hand wobbled a little as she took it. Without thinking, I wrapped mine around hers to prevent it spilling. There was a grateful flash in her eyes, as together we moved the glass to her mouth so she could take a sip.
Once she’d had enough, I took the glass and placed it on the low side table beside the sofa, which was covered in the latest martial arts magazines.
I looked directly at Eden, trying to assess where she was at. Her eyes locked with mine, then dropped. Her chin followed her eyes and dipped to her right.
That’s about the time that I knew she really was okay, because her self-consciousness had returned in spades. She’d shifted effortlessly from basic survival to a higher level of consciousness. If she could worry about how she looked or how people might be seeing her then, basically she had to be okay. At least, that was my reasoning. I hated the fact she felt the need to constantly shield her face and eyes from view.
And riding right along with Eden’s self-consciousness came my anger and frustration at her. I could see the whole incident play out in my mind. This bullshit hiding thing she had going on was a solid contributor to those guys taking a shot at her tonight. Sure, what they’d done was all kinds of wrong, but I’d bet my last dollar that her manner and the way she carried herself had been a huge contributor. It was going to stop. I wasn’t going to let her live like this anymore. Next time Dane or I might not be there to save her arse.
“Umm, I’m fine now. I just want to go home.” Her voice was a little stronger than I’d been expecting.
“You’re not going anywhere for a little while. You just need to take it easy.” My voice came out harsher than I’d wanted but, hell now I knew she was all right, I was pissed at the situation and at her.
This crap shouldn’t have happened. But I swear to God if it did again, she was going to have a fighting chance and wouldn’t be going down so easily. I may not be able to reverse the scars that made her want to retreat within herself, but, by God, I could give her a big shot of confidence through learning to protect herself. If she had that, then I’d bet her whole outlook would change.
That I could give her. I could help her make the change.
“We can take her home now, Sensei.” Sophia stood as if to prompt a move. And right there was part of the problem. Eden’s family loved her and that love enabled her to stay in her self-imposed bubble. Never really pushing her to move forward. Always being there to pick up the pieces and protect. Sometimes love wasn’t so helpful.
I glanced at the clock over my desk. There was still half an hour of the class left.
This was one of those now or never moments. I weighed it up in my head for a split second and went with my instinct.
“You and Tori can get your butts back to class,” I all but growled at them. They didn’t deserve it but I needed to act now and I couldn’t risk anyone interfering if my plan had a chance of working. “Eden and I are going to have a little chat.”
They both looked at me, then to Eden and then scurried off with a couple of backwards glances. But Eden wasn’t protesting, so they went without any hassles.
Dane looked at me with amusement and that just pissed me off, too. “You can go out there and check on Rohan as well.” He grinned knowingly and retreated.
I dragged the hard-backed chair that was in front of my desk across the room and placed it beside the sofa. Then, I threw my leg over, straddled it backwards, my chest pressed against the back of the chair.
Eden shrank into the sofa and I tried to curb the frustration and anger I felt at the situation.
“Tell me what happened.” It was a demand, but I managed to soften my voice somewhat.
Her throat was working up and down but no sound was coming out. Confusion flashed in her eyes but at least she looked at me, rather than turning away. I realised then that Eden was not used to being spoken to directly. Everyone danced around her and just let her be.
Well, letting her be wasn’t helping at all. In fact, it was achieving the exact opposite of what was needed for her. It was enabling her to remain a recluse and closed off from everything. It could have got her raped or murdered tonight.
I raised my eyebrows and continued to hold her eyes with mine. Finally, Eden dropped her eyes, but at least she started to speak.
“I had planned to come here tonight but as it got closer to the time we needed to leave I started to freak out and I convinced myself to stay at home.” I could tell from her tone she was embarrassed, but I sensed she was telling me the truth.
I nodded, encouraging her to go on.
“Then once Tori and Sophia had left I got angry and annoyed with myself. I realised I’d chickened out again and I wanted to fix it. So I decided to come here.”
Her head ducked again.
“And you chose to go through the short cut down by the river and up through the back of the industrial estate.”
Her head nodded subtly in agreement. “I was going to be late and I thought it would be fine,”
she protested meekly.
I was hanging onto my temper by a very slim thread. “And it also escaped your notice that it’s dark and the industrial areas are hardly a safe place for a woman walking alone.”
“It wasn’t like that…It was still light when I left. Besides why would anyone want to attack me?”
I locked my hands over the back of the chair and squeezed, directing my anger and frustration out through them. I didn’t need to look down to know my knuckles had turned white. I really wanted to pace and kick and hit something but if I lost it like that, she’d be terrified of me. As it was, I knew she was shit scared but still Eden trusted me.
“You really don’t get it—do you?” Her eyes looked up at me and I could see them pleading with me, hoping I’d back off. “Well, let me explain it for you. It’s really quite simple. You’re female and breathing. That’s all. No more, no less. Oh, you might think those scars protect you from the animals out there.” I saw her gasp and flinch back. but I wasn’t stopping she needed to hear this.
“In fact, I doubt you’ve even thought about your own personal security since the fire, but let me clarify it for you. Guys like that don’t give a shit about scars or anything else. You’re female and I know exactly what they saw as you walked up. Let me guess what happened. You had your head down and you were trying to blend in with the shadows? Guys like that are predators. Wolves. They pick off the weak and frail. You Eden, would have looked like the perfect little lamb for them to feast on. I bet they couldn’t believe their luck when they got a hold of you. Then when they did get a hold of you, I bet you did nothing. You would have frozen. Thank God, you had the sense to scream. Or hell if I know how this night would have ended up.”
I could contain it no longer. I jumped backwards and paced one way then the other in the confined space of the office. “That about what happened?” I demanded of her, pissed off that she was sitting there absorbing it all again, not saying a word to either agree or defend herself.
“Answer me!” I snarled.
Brave Page 9
