Page 50 of The Last Call
“I only had one drink but he got pretty drunk and when he asked me to go outside with him to get some air I thought it was a good idea.” Her voice falls so low but the anguish screams at me from what she’s leading up to. “When we were in the hallway he pushed me inside the alcove by the restrooms and started kissing me. I was embarrassed because he was grinding into me right there where everyone walking by could see. But he was so strong. I couldn’t stop him. I tried but I couldn’t fight him off.”
My damn club. Anything goes when people are paying. I don’t give a damn how drunk or high they get. But not fucking that. Not fucking assault. If I’d only known I’d have beat him dead right then and there, and I could’ve protected her from the torment.
“It was like one of those weird out of body experiences. All I could think is that he’s raping me with all these people around and no one has any idea.”
Son of a bitch. Probably a shit load of people would have helped if they’d known. Including me.
“Anyway, my parents disowned me after they found out, and I had to find a way to pay for school. I was on scholarship but still had rent and my car payment and everything. My sorority sister worked for Belle’s and made it sound so great. I could make minimum wage at the mall or thousands in one night. I didn’t really have any choice. I couldn’t stay in school and make it on my own.”
“I don’t like it but I get it.” I kiss her temple as her head rests against me. “I understand now how desperate you were.”
“After his friends found out they taunted him about being able to afford an elite escort so he hired me and I fucked him. I guess it’s stupid but I felt like it would make everything okay because I made the decision. I madehimdo whatIwanted. But it didn’t make it okay. I still felt…” Her voice cracks, and she sighs a shuddering breath to calm her emotions. “I still hated myself.”
Should be the exact fucking opposite. “Nothing to hate lion. You’re a fucking bad ass.”
I swear I feel her smile against my skin despite her agony. Hopefully reassured from a compliment which is a thousand percent true. No bullshit at all.
“I guess I have to be to have tamed you.”
Now we both chuckle. Her because she thinks she’s right, and me because she’s fucking adorable. Crazy but cute to think that. But I’ll let her believe it because I love her.
We cuddle for a few more minutes before she wiggles off my lap. My softened dick falling out of her, missing her already. Without much effort he could be ready and willing to fuck her again. But she’s spent and only gives me a sleepy smile as she steps onto the carpet. Gathering up her ruined clothes but failing to chastise me for destroying her outfit, which is another surprise.
Oblivious to anything else from her exhaustion, I swipe my phone and text the details I’ve got to Phillip. Not much, but enough for Mitch to find him. Instructing that once he’s found I’m going to personally be the one to deliver the punishment well overdo for this cocksucker.
“Are you coming?”
An involuntary smile curls my lips from her gorgeous face and small hand she holds out, enticing me to join her. I can already hear the difference in her voice and see the liberation in her relaxed body. That my feelings haven’t change. That I’m proud of her. That I love her even more than I did before.
I gladly accept her invitation and her kiss on my cheek after I rise. We’ll take this bath together and permanently wash away all the remaining reminders of him in her heart and her mind. Then once I’m finished with him, he’ll vanish permanently from this world.
Idon’t know why I’m nervous.
It’s Mack. My friend. Mybestfriend. Who just wants me to be happy. My stomach twirls again. Or so I thought. When I called to tell him I’m home and I’m in love and I’m offering him another job working for Julius, he wasn’t happy at all. About any of it. Hopefully, in person, I can explain things to him better and make him understand how much I miss him. How much I need him.
I sign the receipt and hand the clipboard back to the older woman. Still smiling as she hands me the duplicate copy from the enormous donation they’re collecting since Julius won’t allow anything from my old life to be brought into my new one with him. Of course I’m keeping my diploma, a few photos, and my grandmother’s wedding china. Everything else is being hauled away. All the furniture, clothes, and non-perishables belong to the Sacred Heart Thrift Shop and Food Pantry.
Now I wait for Mack. Optimistic that meeting at my apartment to give him the few things I have of his will be easier than talking at Julius’s house. Kind of neutral territory. Well, more emotional than neutral. After years of chats about the book he was enjoying or the girl he was flirting with at the coffee bar down the street or the battle his cousin was facing when the cancer returned. Everything we would share with each other during the time spent with him escorting me from the customer’s door to my own.
“Hey.”
I spin around from sliding a saucer into bubble wrap from his bleak voice behind me. “Hey! It’s so good to see you.”
Using my full hands as an excuse not to hug him. Out of respect for Julius who talks on his phone in the bedroom. Unreasonable for him to forbid me from touching another man but I’ve learned to accept his jealous streak along with his other flaws just as he’s accepted all of mine. Both of us recognizing our imperfections and trying not to exacerbate them for each other. And, I don’t want to argue in front of Mack.
Although I’m a little hurt Mack doesn’t attempt to embrace me either. “How have you been?”
“Worried out of my mind.”
Damn. I knew he wasn’t going to make this easy but I never dreamed he’d be so upset. “I know. I’m sorry.”
He nods and looks around. Confusion lining his face from only my boxes left in the empty space. Until the realization hits him, and he swears under his breath. “You’re moving in with him?”
Now I’m the one to nod. The whirlwind romance too complicated to explain. I don’t think he wants to hear the details anyway.
“That’s just crazy, Syd. Fucking crazy.”
This time I laugh. Trying to confirm I recognize the absurdity of the situation too. Yet he doesn’t join the merriment. Instead he walks around the living room. His sneakers silent on the beige swirl carpet as if he’s inspecting the place for the first time even though he’s been here a hundred times.
