Page 40 of Eight Seconds to Fly

I was too slow to dodge the fist that flew at my face. My head whipped back as my feet left the floor and I went down with a thud. Stars burst in my eyes as my head slammed on the linoleum floor. I tried to struggle to my hands and knees, but a booted foot caught me in the gut.

A scream was forced from my lungs and suddenly there was a hand wrapped in my hair, wrenching my head back hard. I looked up in the cruel face of Junior.

Fuck. I was fucked.

He punched me again, and darkness clouded my vision. No. I needed to stay awake.

I couldn’t make my fucking limbs work as he dragged me into the showers. I tried to grab the doorjamb but his hold on my hair was ripping chunks from my head.

No, no, no. This couldn’t be happening.

“Now we’ll see who has the small dick, bitch. You’ll take every inch and I will destroy you,” he spat in my face as he slammed my face into the shower tiles. I blacked out. No.

When I came back around, Junior was hovering over me, his hands around my throat as I gasped for air and he struggled with his jeans. Mine were gone, and vomit surged up at the thought of him having his hands on my body when I was unconscious.

“Get the fuck off me!” I screamed, though it was little more than a gasp. “Help!” I screeched roughly, but it was too quiet. Too fucking quiet in an empty arena. I bucked my hips, scratching at his hands as he unbuckled his jeans and pulled out his dick.

No, no, no.

“Get off!” I gurgled, but his hand pressed tighter on my throat. The edges of my vision went black and he was going to strangle me completely. I was going to die. Tears were streaming down my face as my blows got weaker and weaker as my body struggled.

The door behind me slammed open.

“Help,” I whispered. I heard an enraged yell and then Junior was gone. I sucked in air, coughing as oxygen poured back into my lungs. I crawled to my knees scrabbling toward the corner. Someone was pounding Junior’s face into the ground, screaming obscenities.

Davi.

I couldn’t stop the wracking sobs that were consuming my body, but I rose to my feet, pulling on my underwear, stumbling toward them. “Davi stop. You’ll kill him!” I yelled, but he couldn’t hear me. Junior’s face was a bloody mess, but Davi wasn’t hearing me. I tugged hard, but I couldn’t move him. “Davi, please,” I begged, and then the door opened again. Miguel took in me, my battered face, my lack of pants and Davi slamming his fist into Junior over and over again. His face drained of color.

“Please,” I begged, and it snapped Miguel out of his shock. He leapt across the room, grabbing Davi and dragging him off a spluttering Junior. He was murmuring something in Portuguese, then he sent Davi out of the room. Davi paused in front of me, giving me a tortured look that was filled with regret, and then ran out of the room like the hounds of hell were on his heels. Miguel laid a hard kick into Junior’s side, making the man groan, and I swallowed hard. The pain in my throat was excruciating.

Miguel walked toward me, and I scurried back until my back was pressed against the wall. My heart was thundering and the sadness on Miguel’s face made me want to curl into a ball. “I’m not…” I started but I didn’t know what I was going to say. I’m not a victim? I’m not pathetic? I’m not okay?

Instead, I just shook my head. Miguel held up a hand, but didn’t try to come any closer.

“You are okay. You are a fighter. Thiscuzãois nothing. A coward. You will be okay. Davi is going to get Francisco. It will all be okay.”

Junior was making gurgling noises, blood spilling from his broken nose. Miguel got up and looked down at the beaten scum on the ground. I wouldn’t refer to him as a man ever again. He turned him onto his side with his boot, like he was dog shit that he wouldn’t touch with his hands. “Do not want this fucker to drown in his own filth. He is going to face God and these men for what he has done.”

The whole thing just replayed over and over in my head like a continual nightmare I couldn’t escape from until Frankie burst into the room, another Brazilian rider who wasn’t Davi with him. His feet slammed to a stop as he took in the scene, horror, pain, rage all flitting across his face until he came toward me, wrapped me in his arms and carried me out of that room. “Get Beau Larkin from the med tent,” he told the kid. “No one else, just Beau. We’ll be in the women’s bathrooms.” He carried me out into the hallway and quickly into the women's bathrooms beside them.

Out of the locker rooms I felt like I could breathe again. But with that breathing came the breakdown. My body shook with sobs and Frankie sat me down on the vanity and held me close to his chest.

“I have you,Querida. I have you,” he murmured into my head as my body shook with pain. My face ached, my throat ached and I just broke. Frankie was there to hold me together and wrapped in his arms, I felt as safe as I could. I don't think I’d ever feel completely safe again. The bathroom door burst open and I jumped, a scream passing my lips before I could swallow it back down.

Beau looked at me wildly, in front of me in steps. “Oh fuck, oh god, Tessa May,” he murmured, lifting his hand to touch my face but hesitating.

“Beau,” I whimpered, and that was enough. He grabbed me and pulled me into his arms, pressing me between the warmth of himself and Frankie. Beau just held me, wiping at my tears. He peeled me back a little and looked at my injuries. He touched the marks at my neck, my swollen eye. The swelling in my jaw.

He traced his fingers lightly along it, and I hissed. “Doesn’t feel broken but you probably need an x-ray on it and your cheekbone,” he said softly. “Are you struggling to breathe?”

I shook my head. “Hurts to swallow but I don’t… I don’t think he did any major damage. My ribs hurt.”

Beau swallowed hard, his eyes wide and filled with rage and despair in equal measures. “Did he, I mean, did he…”

“Did he rape you?” I hadn’t heard Branch enter the room, but he stood over near the door and if death had an expression, it would be Branch’s in that moment. He looked like murder.

“No, Davi got there in time.” Fuck, Davi. “Is Davi okay? Is he going to get in trouble?” I asked Frankie.

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