Page 14 of Tiebreaker

A girl appears. No more than 15, I guess. She’s dressed the same as him with a beanie pulled low over her eyes. She passes me a leather jacket wordlessly. It's big. Obviously his. It smells like tobacco and soap when I slip it over my shoulders.

“Rough date?” He asks me, as he leans in close, lifting his thumb to my lip.

When I look down at his hand I see that there's blood there, drying. When did my lip get cut- my brain flashes back to Kai pressing me up against the door. And the friction of the rough paint on my face. My cheek is hot, too. When I touched my hand to it, I can feel the skin is abraded, scratched even hadn't been that rough. Kai hadn't hurt me. Not like punched me or anything. And more and more, I think that he thought that I was fully consensual, given how quickly he got inside of me. And the fact that he made me come first. And that kiss, that kiss to the side of my face before he left me.

Do rapists do that? I don't know. No one's ever touched me like that before. I shiver.

But then no one's ever touched me like this Vince guy is touching me right now. His fingers gentle on my jaw, as he inspects me.

“You got a flop?” He asks me. I stare at him, not sure what he means. “You slow?” He asks again. And a flicker of anger ignites in my chest.

“Thanks for your help,” I say before turning to walk away.

“Hey, that's my jacket,” He sounds off as I go. I shiver and take it off, throwing it to him. It falls at his feet and he stares at me.

“You shouldn't be working on your own,” he comments. “That's how this shit happens. You need someone to take care of you.”

My gaze falls to the girl beside him.

“Like you take care of her,” I ask. It's obvious what he's implying. He thinks I'm a prostitute, just like everybody else tonight has.

I wonder ifshe‘works’ too. I feel so sick to my stomach as his expression morphs from one of concern to irritation and then outright anger.

“Whatever bitch,” he says, grabbing his jacket. “C’mon Lemmy.” The girl tags after him as they walk away. My shoulders shake. It's not truly cold out, but I'm freezing, my purse is weighed down with $3,000 in cash, more money than I've seen all at once. In five years. I need to get out of here. I lift my hand and flag down a cab. I need to get home. Somewhere I can cry safely by myself and lick my wounds. Where I can hide from this cruel, insane world.

Six

Olivia

The first thingI did as soon as I got home was have a shower, scrubbing myself from head to toe. The dress, I threw in the trash.

I never wanted to see it ever again. And then, with my newfound windfall of cash, I ordered takeout for three straight days, ignored my phone and just hung out with Toby.

Me and him, best friends forever.

I'm pretty sure I cried through the first night. And the second two? I just felt numb and empty.

She set me up.

I didn't even really blame Kai.

I mean, I'm sure he's a rockstar so he usually had weird things like that happen, you know women available to him, made available to him.

I really couldn't judge him.

He didn't know.

So I hid in my little bedsit.

Three days later of grieving the worst night of my life, it was time to emerge. I woke up, an odd calmness washing over me.

I open my eyes, salt crusted from another night of fitful sleep.

Toby mews at me, grumpy that I am moving him, but he settles into the spot that I leave behind after I get out of bed.

Stretching in the dim morning light, I look out the dingy window that shows me a nice view of a normal street in LA.

Lots of electrical poles cracked sidewalks.

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