by Anna Brooks
Nobody deserves to be hit their entire life, but one thing that it gave me was a tough skin, literally. Every blow to my face is one that should have knocked me on my ass, but I refuse to fall for this fucker. I’ve come too damn far to have some asswipe take any more from me.
“You ready to stop fighting and just give it to me already, so I can get on with my night?”
Vinny spits on the floor and the brown tobacco in his saliva blends with the dirty cement. He has me in what I’m assuming is the break room at the stupid auto body shop, which is in the middle of nowhere. So although my screams are going unnoticed, I won’t stop. He’ll have to kill me before I stop fighting.
“Fuck you.” I pull harder on my bindings and my whimper echoes around the room.
“Yeah, baby, you’ll be moaning like that for me real soon.” Vinny stands and grips his crotch, grabbing it roughly and rubbing it up and down.
I puke in my mouth a little bit and spit it on the floor, making sure to aim it in his direction.
“All right, bitch. It’s gonna be like that, huh?” He reaches behind his back, and when he pulls out a gun and aims it at my head, I try to remain unaffected. But my face must not show it because he laughs. “Not such a tough little girl now, are ya?”
He steps forward and unbuckles his belt then unzips his pants and finally pops the button. With a push of his hand, they fall to the floor and I turn my head at the sight of his hard dick outlined in his tighty whities. “You either suck me real good, or I’ll put a bullet through your skull.” Cold metal presses against my temple, and I shake my head. If he’s gonna kill me, I’d rather he did it now instead of after he’s violated me.
“No?”
“Fuck you.” I turn my head, and I’m sure he’s happy to see he finally broke me because tears roll down my cheeks, burning as they slide over broken flesh. “Kill me, because I would rather die.” I look him straight in the eyes.
He pulls his penis out and straddles my legs, still holding the gun to my head. I thrash back and forth, but he’s so much bigger than I am. He’s able to stop my movements easily, one hand gripping my chin painfully. Bile sits low in my throat, and I pray I don’t choke on it. He shoves his fingers so far into my cheeks and against my teeth that my mouth instantly opens. I try to grit my teeth together when he pushes his hips forward and the tip of him grazes my lips. If he gets into my mouth, I’ll bite him; I don’t care if he kills me for it.
A pounding sound comes from the front of the building, and Vinny freezes momentarily. I spit at him and twist my head away then open my mouth to scream. He immediately shoves a hand over it and I gag at the wretched taste of dirt, tobacco, and oil.
He reaches over and grabs a rag off a table and shoves it in my mouth, then uses another one to tie around my head. As he’s walking away, he pulls up his pants and I use the only opportunity I’ve had away from his scrutiny to fight harder to get away. No more than five seconds after he exits the room, Pierce appears out of nowhere and his face is harder than I’ve ever seen it.
“Fuck,” he grits through his teeth and then runs to me, reaching for the gag in my mouth first. “Fuck, Ruby. Are you okay?”
I can’t speak, either because of being in shock or simply because I’m still too scared, but I nod to let him know I’m not seriously injured.
He frantically rips and tugs at the bindings, freeing one of my legs. I’m almost certain that it’s only been less than a minute, even though it feels like it’s been an hour, but Vinny appears in the doorway and I scream to warn Pierce. He pivots to face Vinny, but instead of turning all the way around, he lunges toward me to cover my body, as a single gunshot rings through the air. His blood sprays across my face as my head collides with the floor.
Chapter 25
Ruby
I’M BEING LIFTED, AND I flail at the sudden intrusion, not fully aware of where I am or what’s happening.
“Ruby, Ruby, you’re okay.” I open my eyes and Nik’s face appears. Everything around me blurs, and I squeeze my eyes shut again. A flash of what happened makes them fly open and I search around for Pierce.
Police and paramedics rush around the small room and it hits me why I’m on a stretcher. “Where’s Pierce?” I ask Nik. I’m so tired and my head is pounding, but I force my eyes open. “Where is he?” I grab Nik’s arm, and by the look on his face, I fear the worst. As I turn my head to the side, I see a black bag covering the form of a body.
My nails dig into Nik’s arm, and I pull myself up, only for a firm but gentle hand to push me back down. “Ruby, you need to lie down so we can get you to the hospital.” I snap my gaze over and see Travis, Pierce’s cousin.
“But, no … Pierce.” I twist and reach for him, but Nik grabs my arm and crosses it against my chest.
“That’s not Pierce, babe. That’s Vinny. Pierce is in the ambulance ahead of you. He took a bullet to the shoulder, but he’s gonna be fine.”
I don’t know how I even have any tears left, but when my body shakes with sobs, they roll out and down the side of my face and into my ears. “Let’s go. He’s gonna want to see her as bad as she does him.” Travis unlocks the brakes and rolls me outside and into an ambulance.
I don’t even realize I’m still gripping Nik’s arm, but I let go since he can’t squeeze into the ambulance too. “You wanna ride with us?” Travis asks Nik.
“Nah, I’ll take Pierce’s car and meet up with you guys at the hospital. I’ve gotta finish giving my statement anyway. You okay, Ruby? Travis’ll take good care of you.”
“I’m fine.”
Nik waves and jogs across the parking lot, leaving me alone with Travis as he hooks me up to several different machines. I rest my eyes again, and the door slamming makes me jump.
“It’s okay. We’re just about to take off.” Travis gently pats my arm.
“Yeah, I’m fine.”
He chuckles and the noise is surprisingly calming. “Ya know, Char says she’s fine when I’ve done something to make her mad. It’s like a secret code word or something that means the opposite of fine.”
I roll my head back over and look at him. He has a cute dimple on his left cheek and his intense blue eyes soften. “It’s okay not to be fine, ya know?”
My throat tightens, and I squeeze my lips shut to prevent the sob from tearing through until I regain my composure. Pierce was shot, and that’s my only concern right now. “I’m good, really. More concerned about Pierce.”
Travis adjusts the blood pressure cuff on my arm and rolls his eyes. “You’ve met Pierce, right? He’ll be fine. It took three of us to get him on the stretcher and away from you. With a gunshot wound.”
“Sounds like him.”
“He’ll be fine, but he was bleeding pretty badly. I wanted to get him in to have it repaired so he wouldn’t lose any more blood.”
“Do you know how he got there?”
Travis shakes his head slightly. “No. I didn’t have time to ask.”
“What happened to Vinny? How, I mean—”
“Nik.”
I try to sit up, but the wires prevent it as they pull on me. “Nik, what?”
He gently pushes me back all the way down. “Apparently, Nik shot him. Vinny was DOA.”
My stomach suddenly feels sick, and I try to swallow it down, but vomit rises in my throat and I lean over and puke on the floor. “I’m sorry.”
Travis throws a towel down and wipes his shoes to rid them of what splashed on them. “It’s okay. You have a concussion. It’s expected.”
I wipe my mouth with another towel Travis hands me and wring it in my fingers. “Nik killed him?”
“Can you blame him?” He shrugs. “I’d have done the same thing if someone did that to my sister.”
I gasp at his admission. “How’d you know?”
His white tooth smile blinds me. “The Kellys and Parkers are a tight-knit bunch; not much goes on without everyone knowing.”
“Great,” I mutter.
“No, it�
��s in a good way. We all look out for each other. And even though Nik isn’t blood, he might as well be. Not only are you connected to him, but Pierce loves you, so that means you’re stuck with an extended family you never knew you wanted.”
* * *
I insisted I was fine. I don’t want to be stuck in this room, but they wanted to keep me for observation. My mom and Lucy got here an hour and a half ago, and my mother hasn’t moved an inch from where she first sat down next to me.
“Mom, I’m fine. You can go home. It’s late. Get some sleep.”
Her hand squeezes mine, and when the door opens, we both look at Nik walking in.
“Hey, how you feeling?” he asks, and looks awkwardly at Mom. He’s only met her once before, and since they’re both being secretive about it for some reason, I can only assume it went … okay. He nods at Lucy and puts a hand on Mom’s shoulder. “You doing okay?”
“Yeah, fine.”
I giggle under my breath remembering what Travis said in the ambulance. Mom reaches up and pats Nik’s hand. Her good days are becoming more and more frequent since meeting Nik and starting therapy. I can only hope that they become permanent.
“Have you heard anything new about Pierce?”
Nik shakes his head. “Still in surgery. Should be done soon.”
I hesitate before asking, “Is everyone out there?”
Nik senses my worry, walks over to me, and grabs my hand. “Nobody’s mad at you, Ruby. It’s not your fault that—”
“Oh, my God.” I just remembered that Nik killed a man because of me. “You, you …” I lower my voice, “Killed him.”
Not even a muscle twitches on his face. “So?”
“So?” I hiss. “How did that even happen? I don’t remember anything after the gunshot and seeing Pierce’s blood.”
“Lucy called the pub worried ’cause you weren’t home yet.” He widens his eyes and tilts his head in Mom’s direction. I understand; she was having an episode and I wasn’t there. “We both left and found your car on the side of the road with two flat tires. Pierce had an instinct and went with it.”
“An instinct?”
“I guess. He didn’t need to explain it to me; I trust him. Anyway, when we got there, Vinny had the gun to your head, so I created a diversion in the other room so Pierce could slip in. Apparently, Vinny was a little smarter than we gave him credit for because he didn’t make it all the way by me before he went back to the room you were in. I got a shot off seconds after he did.”
“Why did you have a gun?”
“I’m so pissed that I didn’t read the situation better. Pierce was just gonna barge in there. It took enough convincing to get him to wait five seconds so I could break a window downstairs.” I realize he didn’t answer my question, but I let it slide … I probably don’t want to know. “Well…” He shrugs. “He’s dead now and Pierce will be fine. Take it back; he’ll be fine once he stops blaming himself.”
“Why would he blame himself?”
“’Cause he’s Pierce.”
Makes sense. Not that he’s expected to be by my side twenty-four-seven protecting me from all the bad things in the world. I yawn and Nik squeezes my hand. “Get some sleep.” He looks over at Mom and Lucy. “Do you guys need a ride home?”
Mom looks at me with regret and yawns.
“Go, I’m fine. You don’t need to pay a taxi to get back home if you can get a ride. It’s fine.”
“Okay, I am tired.” I know the stress took a lot out of her, especially since the reason Lucy called earlier was because she was unstable, so we say our good-byes. Nik pauses at the door and taps his fist on the wall. “You sure you’re okay?”
“Yes. It could have been worse, but you guys saved me. Thank you.”
“I didn’t do anything. It was all Pierce and his uncanny ability to know where you were.” He smiles. “Night, Ruby. I’ll be back in the morning to take you guys home.”
I wave as he walks out and I finally get a chance to breathe. Since I was admitted, I’ve had test after test done, even though I insisted I didn’t need them. Everything came back rather quickly. No brain damage or fluid where it’s not supposed to be. Just a concussion and they bandaged my wrists and ankles.
The severity of everything that happened hits me at once, and I grab a pillow and smother my face with it to muffle my cries. I don’t know what would have happened if they hadn’t shown up. He would have raped me for sure, but after, would he have killed me? Would I have ever seen Pierce again? Things are just starting to align — finding out about Nik, seeing Mom finally smile, being happy with Pierce.
Now, what? Is this going to be something that sets us back? Surely he’ll feel some type of animosity toward me for getting him shot. His work will suffer. His friend killed a man.
The door cracks open, and I pull the pillow away and put on a fake smile for the nurse.
“Aww, I’m sorry you’re having such a bad day. Are you sure you don’t want me to have someone from psych come and talk to you?” She straightens out my blanket and adjusts the settings on the IV pump.
“I’m sure. Thank you, though.”
“Everything still looks good. That boyfriend of yours is puttin’ up a stink trying to see you.”
“He’s out of surgery?”
“Yup. Just woke up. They called to get an update on you to reassure him and try to calm him down.”
Relief floods my system and I roll over to my side, finally resting voluntarily. I close my eyes and fall asleep, knowing he’s okay but I’m still so fearful for what it means for us.
Pierce
I stand over her bed watching her sleep, each of her breaths a reassurance she’s still here with me. That seems to be a theme with her; I keep needing reassurance that she’s here. And she’s with me.
The adrenaline that coursed through my body when I saw a gun pointed at her was like nothing I’ve ever felt before. I didn’t even realize I’d been shot until I saw the blood. It took Nik pulling me off her to figure out it was coming from me.
If I could have stayed with her, I would have … but they strapped me to a stretcher and brought me here to have the wound surgically repaired.
Against doctor’s orders, I left my room to be with her right now. There’s no way I could have waited until morning. I use my good arm and push some hair off her face. A few red marks remain, and a dab of dried blood is still on her lip. It angers me to see anything like that, but I have to be thankful it wasn’t worse.
She squirms and slaps at my hand. I smile and do it again, but this time, she opens her eyes, and when she sees me, that connection … the animalistic magnetism that was there from the very first day, still pulls.
“Hey, angel.”
“Pierce.” She sits up and I kneel on the bed as she reaches for me. Without taking much care, she throws her arms around my neck and I bite back a groan when she hits my shoulder. I use my non-sling arm to pull her tight against me, pain be damned.
She smells like clinical strength soap, but her sweet scent filters through all of that. I don’t want to, but I need to know. I just have to … “Did he?”
When she pulls back shaking her head animatedly, I breathe a sigh of relief. “No. I would have rather him killed me first. He just threw me around and tied me up, waiting for me to stop fighting him.”
“But you didn’t stop fighting, did you?”
“No. Never.”
We sit back on her bed, and she rests her head on my chest. Neither of us talks, but there’s nothing else to be said.
Chapter 26
Pierce
RUBY AND I ARE both sitting up in her bed, waiting for our discharge papers. Nik comes in and pulls out a chair, leaning down and running his hands through his hair.
“What’s up?” I ask him.
He leans back and closes his eyes. “Nothing. Tired, didn’t sleep much last night.”
“Why not?” Ruby raises her eyebrows in question.
“I had a lot on
my mind.”
“Lisa?” I haven’t heard anything new about her condition, but I know the fact that she doesn’t remember Nik is killing him. Plus, it pisses me off that my pregnant sister is working so many hours to pick up the slack. I wish she’d just hire someone temporarily.
He just shakes his head and walks to the door. “I’m gonna pull up the car.”
“Okay, you guys are all set.” A nurse hands us some paperwork and medication for myself. “Any questions before you leave?”
“No. You need anything, Ruby?”
“Nope. I’m good.”
“Thanks for everything.” I nod at the nurse. Ruby and I are forced to follow hospital protocol and are pushed in wheelchairs to the front entrance where Nik meets us.
After we get into the car, Nik asks where we’re going to first.
“I should go see my mom.” She leans forward between the two front seats. “I’d love to spend the day with you, but I really need to be with her right now. Maybe I’ll come over after we eat dinner. That way you can get some rest.”
I want to argue with her because I want her with me. She should come back to my place and be in my bed. But that’s selfish, and I know what she went through yesterday was traumatic. “Yeah, whatever you want, Ruby.”
Both Nik and I walk her inside and help to get her situated before we leave. As soon as we’re alone in the car, his knuckles grip the steering wheel.
“What?”
“Nothing.” He puts his car into gear and drives away.
“What, Nik?”
“Vinny wasn’t acting alone.”
“What the fuck are you talking about?” Just hearing his name makes my nerves shake.
“I was up all fucking night trying to figure this shit out. Think about it, man. He tied her to a chair for hours and didn’t do anything other than slap her around a bit?”
“I don’t fuckin’ know. I’m not a psycho expert, Nik. I didn’t think about it. I just remembered the way he looked at her, and when I saw the flat tires and knew I had missed a call from her …” If I had heard my phone, I would have gotten her and he wouldn’t have been able to ever touch her.
