Page 5 of Only The Strong

Finn greets someone walking into the bar and then answers me. “I hear ya.”

We hang up and I continue with my day, not giving the miserable fuck in the hospital a second thought. When I lay down later that night, my bed still smells like Reese’s deep musky perfume. My dick immediately hardens, Goddamnit that girl is gonna make me throw out my fucking comforter if the smell doesn’t fade soon.

6

REESE

Another Monday,another couple of dozen emails and voicemails to wade through. At least this weekend nothing serious occurred, no one was caught skinny dipping in the pool and no one accidentally wrecked their car into the side of one of the buildings; a nice calm weekend for a primarily student apartment complex. Also like any other Monday, it’s so busy with phone calls and foot traffic in the leasing building that I end up eating my lunch in my office. Hiding with the lights off, door locked, and pretending I’m not in because if someone sees me they’ll knock on the front door until I let them in; my lunch be damned. When I walk up to my front door that evening I’m so irritated to see an envelope pinned to my door. It never fails, some disinclined college kid always leaves a maintenance request or rent on my door because they’re too lazy to go into the office. I carefully tear it open before I unlock my door and head inside, just in case I have to take it back to the office. Inside the envelope is a newspaper clipping wrapped inside a piece of paper. The clipping is of an article describing a brutal assault that took place in the alleyway behind Mickey’s on Saturday; the man, Lance Wright, is currently recovering in the hospital with extensive injuries, he was beaten so badly he’s in a coma. Why would someone leave this on my door? I grab the clipping with my other hand and that’s when I see a message on the paper. “I should have taken his hands. I wish you could have heard him scream, Reesey.”I wrap the clipping back into the paper and place it all back into the envelope. With shaking hands, I pull out my cell phone. “Can I come over, I think I might need some legal advice.”

“Uh yeah, of course. You okay?” Allie replies.

“I’m not sure, I’ll be there in a few.” Placing my phone back into my purse I turn around and walk to my Nissan, clutching the envelope to my chest.

The drive to Allie and Sophie’s house is brutal. I can’t stop staring at the envelope sitting in my passenger seat and my hands haven’t stopped shaking since I read the message written in red chicken scratch. When I pull into the driveway, Allie is already sitting on the front porch with two glasses of tea sitting on the table next to her.

“You look like you’re going to be sick, Reese. You’re as pale as a

ghost!” Allie hurriedly hands me a glass.

“I don’t think tea is going to fix this, Al,” I say grimly, sitting down in the plush white chair next to her.

“That bad huh?” she asks.

I fill Allie in on the encounter with who I can only assume was Lance on Saturday and then the envelope I found on my door. “I think it was that guy I went home with, Al. The Outlaw that I texted you about.” I bury my face in my hands, groaning. “I slept with a criminal and then he went and almost killed someone after he dropped me off at home, or he had his thug friends do it.” My stomach rolls, what was I thinking? This is why you don't go home with people you don't know. I look at Allie, her silence sending my fear higher. She’s leaning her elbow on the armrest of the chair and scratching her head with one finger, her eyes are roaming the ceiling of the covered porch. “Oh my God, you think he did it too?” I screech. I drop my head back to my hands, her silence says it all.

“It does seem like something they would do.” She leans over and pulls my hands away from my face, keeping them in hers. I look into her beautiful blue and mint green eyes, feeling tears starting to well in mine. “But I don't think they are any harm to you, Reese. He was defending you and probably saving future girls that wouldn't have been lucky enough to get away from him.”

“What am I going to do, Al?” I groan.

She smiles. “You can’t get in trouble for this, you didn’t know anything about it until today; but we should call the police and have them take a look at the letter, that way there’s no suspicion if more things get discovered. We just won’t tell them you suspect it to be The Outlaws.”

I shake my head, stunned. “But why not? They’re clearly dangerous!”

Allie bites her lip and looks away from me, pausing for a moment before looking into my eyes again. “You’ve just seen what happens when you get on their bad side, Reese.”

“Okay, whatever you think I should do,” I reluctantly agree.

“They’ll want to see where you found the letter, do you want me to go with you?” Allie hands the letter back to me.

“Yes please.” I slip the letter into my purse, my hands finally calming down.

Allie follows me back to my apartment, having called a police officer Allie knows to meet us there. The officer is waiting for us when we arrive and we walk to my apartment together to show him where I found the letter. When we get to the entrance to my apartment the door is slightly ajar.

“Ma’am, did you leave your door open?” the officer asks, placing a hand on his gun hanging on his belt.

“No, I didn’t even unlock my door. I grabbed the envelope off of the door and went to meet Allie.” I’m shaking again, Allie grabs my hand.

“Let me go in and take a look around, you ladies stay out here.” The officer pulls his gun out and slowly enters my apartment. Allie and I stare at the door, silently waiting. He comes back out a few agonizing minutes later. “The place wasn’t ransacked, but you’ll have to walk through to see if anything is missing. There was forced entry though; looks like they used a screwdriver to break the lock. Do you want me to file a report?” I nod my head, wringing my hands together to hide what must now be permanent shakes. “Okay, go ahead and take a look through and let me know if anything is missing so I can put it in the report.” The officer pats my shoulder and gives Allie a half smile before walking to stand beside his police cruiser.

Allie and I walk into my apartment and look through each room together, nothing is missing or out of place, my jewelry is untouched, my electronics, handbags, checkbook. All of the things of value are in their place. I’m checking the laundry room, just in case, while Allie looks in the kitchen.

“Reese. I found something.” Allie's voice shakes. I rush into the small dining room attached to the kitchen and see Allie staring down at a piece of paper on my kitchen table. In the same red sloppy handwriting is another message,“did you get my note, Reesey?”

I feel gross, watched, and violated. My skin is crawling and I want to cry, for a long time and in a very hot shower, scrubbing my body of all of the filth I feel. I can’t believe I slept with Callum. We walk outside to the officer and hand him the note. His face is stone as he reads it and says he’ll add both notes to the report and he leaves.

“This shit is not going to fly.” Allie hisses. She pulls her phone out of her back pocket and dials someone, putting the phone to her ear, but when I look at her questioningly, she switches to speaker phone and holds her phone between us. Saint Viotto showing on the screen.

“Miss. Lenkov.” A smooth voice answers after a few rings.

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