“I’ll probably sleep.”
“Fine.” she huffs. “See you later.”
“Bye.”
With everyone gone I realize this is the first time I’ve been alone in the house since that night. Panic bubbles in my chest, flooding my veins with anxiety. I take a deep breath and close my eyes. I know Todd can’t hurt me anymore. I’m being silly. I can’t finish the pizza but that doesn’t mean I can’t continue the movie Rochelle and I had started.
I’m about halfway through the movie when I hear a motorcycle pull up. My pulse races. James must be home, and it will be the first real moment I will get him to myself since I started staying here. I dash to the bathroom to make sure I look halfway decent considering I threw up earlier. Fingers slipping through my hair to undo the knots, I gaze at my pale appearance, and pray he’s as excited to see me as I am him.
The movie still plays from the living room, the Tv casting a soft glow on the walls of the dark room. A man sits in the recliner with his face shielded to me. A lighter flicks, and the moment I catch a whiff of the minty smoke, I gasp.
I slap a palm to my lips immediately but it’s too late. He sees me, and I see the face of the devil when he glances in my direction. “I’m surprised to see you here. I guess the last time wasn’t enough. Come back for more?” he stands as I shrink back at the recognition I have of the sound of his voice washing over me like my worst dream come true.
My head screams for my feet to move but they are rooted in place.
“I..I don’t want any trouble.”
A deep but hoarse chuckle rips from his throat. A sinister sound that is a warning that my body recognizes. Goosebumps pebble across my skin. The room seems to drop in temperature. I’m chilled to the bone. “No one’s going to save you now. I should’ve known I couldn’t count on Todd to finish the job. This time I won’t make any mistakes.” He takes a drag off his cigarette. His lips pucker to blow out a smoke ring and my skin crawls.
There’s only one way for me to go and that’s to run back down the hallway and barricade myself in one of the rooms or go out a window. Distracted by my own thoughts I’m not prepared when he grabs me, pressing the ember of his cigarette into my arm using the hand tattooed with a lion’s head wearing a crown. I cry out, kicking with all I have, but I’m powerless against his strength.
The Lion as I now call him carries me kicking and screaming to the master bedroom. He drops me on the bed, and I attempt to scramble away from him, doing a backwards crab crawl across the mattress, but he’s too fast.
Slap. I’m backhanded, his tattooed hand connecting with my mouth, splitting my lip in two with one of his rings. “You filthy little cunt. I know all about you. Been keeping an eye on you and my useless son-in-law. First you fucked with my money, had my top seller killed, and now you’ve tried to ruin my daughter’s marriage. Nobody fucks with what’s mine and gets away with it.”
“I—”
Thwack. He punches me. “Shut up. I didn’t say you speak.” A sharp pain like I’ve never experienced before shoots through my skull and my vision blurs.
Stars dance in my eyes. I know this time there’s no one to save me. I never should’ve come back, but I couldn’t stay away from James. I don’t regret loving him. I only wish we could’ve had more time. I disappear inside my mind, getting swept away in my memories of him.
We may be a thousand miles apart for all I know, but he’ll live in my heart these last minutes or seconds that I have left.
“Look at me,” the hateful man screams in my face.
I refuse him, earning me a punch to the gut. Oof. All the air goes whooshing out of me. A tear rolls down my cheek as I struggle to escape back inside my mind to thoughts of my biker. Our forbidden love. Everything we never said.
“I said look at me when I’m talking to you.” His rough hands wrap around my throat. This time I don’t deny him. My eyes bulge as I struggle to breathe. I scratch with all I have, clawing at his arms, grabbing at his shirt.
“I’m going to fuck every hole you have until your body gives out.” He lets go of my throat, and I try to roll away from him. I get on my right side when he starts tugging on my yoga pants, yanking them halfway down my legs. I try to fight, but I can scarcely catch my breath. “Stop moving.” The evil bastard attempts to pin me to the mattress. His fingers tear at my panties, nails digging into my skin.
“I forgot my... what the fuck are you doing?” Ruthie screeches. “Get off her.” She flies toward us, and I pray that she can stop him.
“Get the fuck out and mind your own God damn business.”
“I. Oh. My. God. Alexa, sweetie,” she cries, and he backhands her like he did me earlier. Her head whips to the side. “Have you lost your mind?” She screams.
“Do I need to tell you to get the fuck out again,” he roars, towering over her with his fist raised. I should run, but I’m unable to look away. I concentrate on getting my pants back up over my hips. “This is club business and nothing to do with you.”
“But she’s just...”
“I said mind your own business.” He moves to hit her again and she cowers away from him, backing out of the room slowly.
“Ruthie, please. Help me,” I cry out hoarsely, but she’s gone. Lion charges toward me. “No. Please. No,” I whimper as he grabs me up by the hair and slaps me so hard, I black out momentarily.
“Get away from her,” Ruthie says from the doorway of the bedroom aiming a handgun at my tormentor.
“This doesn’t concern you, girl.”