Page 68 of Dance for Me

He smirked. “Take what’s mine of course.”

Vanessa started to struggle against her bindings. There was no way she wasn’t going down without a fight. She started screaming as loud as she could, but Doug quickly covered her mouth.

“Shh, Vanessa… It’s okay. It’ll all be fast.” She sobbed and screamed underneath his hand. “Now, I promise to unbind you if you promise to stop screaming. Can you do that for me?” That was it. This was her chance, so she had to play along. She nodded under his restraint and he smiled. “Good girl.”

He took a knife and slit the tie around her wrist and then her feet. She needed the perfect moment to strike. She couldn’t beat him physically, but she could fight dirty. As soon as Doug stood up, she kicked him as hard as she could in his groin. He let out a loud noise and hit the floor, trying to catch his breath. “You bitch.”

Vanessa shot up from her chair and headed straight for her door. She had no idea what being kicked in the balls felt like, but she knew it would take down a man for enough time for someone to escape. She undid the chain holding the door, but struggled from shaking so much, she went for the lock next and now all that was left was to open her door and she was free. Suddenly, she felt a burn at her scalp and Doug had a fist in her hair. This man wasn’t human, how did he get up so fast from that?

“I was trying to be nice but now you pissed me off.” He dragged her back, away from the door and she could feel the pain with every step.

“STOP!” Vanessa screamed, yelled but he threw her down on her living room floor and towered over top of her. He straddled her waist, seeing his hard-forming erection from here. He clearly got off on this shit. Vanessa clawed his face with what nails she had. Fought him until he grabbed her wrists and pinned them down over top of her. This was it, she thought, she couldn’t do anything else. He was too strong. “Doug, please!”

She begged him and he leaned down, licked her neck and then whispered to her. “This is going to be just like old times.”

Old times? He was joking right? She didn’t want him to see her cry anymore, instead she got pissed. “I don’t remember you having to restrain me to have sex but I guess every minute did feel like torture, so I guess it was the same thing.” Vanessa didn’t know how under her tears, she was able to give him a malicious smile, but she did. Then she felt it, the hit that he landed right on her left cheek. He punched her so hard she was disoriented for a minute. Then he began to tear at her clothes but she felt herself losing consciousness, that blow to the face must have really affected her. She wanted to fight more, needed to fight more, but she couldn’t.

Right before she slipped into a state of unconsciousness, Doug was thrown off of her. The man went from ripping at her clothes, straddling her, to being flung off. Everything that was muffled came back into a right state and the shock brought her back to planet Earth.

That’s when she saw Jack.

She propped herself up on her elbows to see more and she saw Jack holding Doug in a head lock.

“You're fucking dead, do you hear me? I’m going to fucking kill you!” Jack was fierce as Doug flapped his arms around trying to get free but then she heard another voice, a female.

She didn’t even realize they were kneeling next to her. “Vanessa? V… oh, my god. V, look at me.” She started crying and she saw it was Michelle. “Are you okay, please be okay.”

She couldn’t answer, the pain was too much. All she did was watch Jack, her savior. He dropped him to the floor and Doug started coughing, gasping for air. Jack picked him up by his shirt bringing him directly to his face. “Congratulations fucker, you just signed your own death certificate.” Jack threw his fist right into Doug’s face, blood spurting and he hit the ground hard. Jack punched him again and again. He was going to kill him and she wasn’t going to let him ruin his future for her.

“J-Jack… Jack stop!” He whipped his head around to look at her, bringing him back from whatever dark place he was in. Michelle was still crying next to her and her hand was wrapped around hers. Jack looked back to Doug and decided that he had enough of his fist and stood up. He stalked over to where Vanessa was lying and she could hear the sobs coming from Michelle.

He gently took Vanessa in his lap as he perched himself up against the couch. “Jesus Christ babe. I’m so sorry I didn’t get here sooner.” He cupped her face and gently pulled her into his chest, wrapping his safe arms around her. She slowly closed her eyes as she drifted off.

* * *

Vanessa heard beeping and everything came into view when her eyelids were no longer blocking her sight. She looked down and saw an IV in her hand and knew where she was. Her head was pounding, just not as bad, as she remembered, her cheek honestly hurt the worst.

She turned her head and saw everyone. Owen was leaning against the wall, eyes closed, in a seated position on the floor. Jazz was in the chair next to him, a blanket covering her while she slept and Michelle was sleeping on the other chair. The emotions were overwhelming because these people were more than just friends to her, they were family. She looked for Jack, but then she felt him gently put her hand in his.

“Hey you.” She looked over and there he was. Jack, with the sunlight casting in from her hospital window he looked like a dream. He was so handsome that it hurt and his smile melted her every time. “How are you feeling?”

“Probably as bad as I look,” she managed to let out a small laugh but winced when she got a shot of pain through her face.

“No, you look beautiful,” he smiled.

“God, you are such a liar,” she smiled back. “How did you know he was there?”

“I didn’t, but when u wouldn’t answer your phone, I called Michelle. She didn’t hear from you either, so she met me at the club, insisted she went with me when I told her I was just going to show up and check on you.” His eyes filled with sorrow. “When I saw him…” he swallowed. “When I saw him on top of you. I thought, I thought I was too late and…”

Vanessa moved her hand out of his, only so she could touch his face. She wanted to reassure him that if it wasn’t for him, something else would have happened that was a lot worse than any physical pain she could endure.

He let out a deep breath that he had been holding in. “I love you Vanessa, I love you so fucking much. I’m so sorry for what happened, for letting it get that far. I never wanted to hurt you. I just wanna be with you… only you.”

Vanessa wanted nothing more than to crawl into his arms and never leave and she loved him, too. She never stopped but with everything that had happened, she needed space and time to think. Clear her head. It was all way too much for her.

“I love you, too, Jack. But… I need a little bit of time.” He looked at her as if a part of him just died inside. “It doesn’t mean I don’t want to be with you, I’m just asking for some space, okay?”

He raised her hand to his lips and laid a soft kiss to it. “I’m not going anywhere. I will wait for you Vanessa. As long as it takes.”

She smiled as a tear slipped down her bruised cheek.

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