by Kylie Walker
“Shouldn’t we get him a doctor or something?” One of the other kids asked in a nervous voice. Jake finally looked down at the one at his feet and back at his friends and said, “Take him out to one of the couches in the lounge. I’ll be out there in a few. If you leave this club before I get there, you and your Daddy’s will be banned for the duration. So wait for me.” The tone of Jake’s voice didn’t leave any room for argument. One of the kids nodded and kneeled down on the far side of his friend away from Chloe and asked him, “Can you walk, man?”
The kid on the floor grunted.
“Get on the other side of him,” the guy next to him told their other friend who was just standing there like he was in shock. They each took a side and helped the injured man to his feet, all the while keeping a wary eye on Chloe. They gave her a wide birth as they turned him towards the door. Chloe’s eyes were still wide, and every muscle in her arms and shoulders were defined by the tension she still held there. She didn’t take her eyes off of the three until they had gone through the outer door and were out of sight. Mike was suddenly in the door way looking confused, and Jake was still standing about three feet away, looking at her.
“Chloe? Honey are you okay?” Jake was keeping his voice low and even. Chloe could hear him but her mouth was bone dry and she didn’t feel like she had enough air in her lungs to speak. She finally nodded. Jake started to open his mouth, probably to ask her what happened, and that was when Roxi’s voice floated through the room.
“What the fuck happened in here?”
Chloe just stared at her, not really seeing her, still trying to process it all herself. Jake looked over at Roxi and said, “Um…I think that one of those guys tried to…”
“He touched me,” Chloe said again. She finally made eye contact with Roxi. Roxi looked pissed, but as the two women stood there looking at each other, something seemed to soften in her slightly, and she said, “Okay, Chloe, come with me. Jake, take care of this.” Chloe started towards her and Roxi reached out for her arm. Chloe jerked it away. She didn’t want to be touched, by anyone.
Roxi led her to the office around the back way so that they didn’t have to walk through the crowds of people. When they got up there, Roxi told her, “Sit.” She poured them both a drink and handed the glass of amber colored liquor to Chloe. Chloe glanced at it and then back to her boss.
“I don’t drink here,” she said.
“Drink it,” Roxi said. “You’re off the clock.” Chloe downed the whiskey, actually enjoying the way it burned her throat on the way down. It hit her stomach hard and she almost wretched. The left over adrenaline was pooling there and threatening to erupt. “Now tell me what happened,” Roxi said.
“He touched me,” Chloe repeated.
“Touched you how, where?”
“He touched my breast,” Chloe said in a flat, monotonous voice. Roxi looked like she was waiting for more but when it wasn’t forthcoming she said, “That’s it? You kicked the shit out of that guy for copping a feel of your tit?”
Chloe looked up at her. She felt her pulse beginning to quicken again. She abhorred the casual attitude that so many people had about men putting their hands on women’s bodies without permission. Was she the only one that thought a man should ask for permission first and respect a woman’s right to say no? She was a fucking pole dancer, not a prostitute. The rules of Roxi’s club made that clear and as far as she was concerned she was well within her rights to kick some ass. She continued to stare at her boss, not speaking. Roxi looked frustrated. She got up and went to her desk and sat down in the chair. She poured herself another drink, drank it like a shot and then looked back at Chloe.
“I have a feeling this is about more than someone groping you. You’ve been groped before. We all have. Tonight, there’s something different in your eyes Chloe. I can see it. You looked like you wanted to kill that guy and I’m not even mentioning the one you threatened to castrate already tonight. What the hell is going on with you?”
Chloe’s thoughts were racing. She hadn’t told anyone about Jesse. Chantelle and the legal team that represented Jesse and the judge and the prosecutor…they were the only ones who knew. She hadn’t had to tell the story since the last time she was interviewed by the prosecution. Jesse’s father was the district attorney, so that was a joke. They went through the motions for the record, but at no time was Jesse ever in real danger of doing hard time. His father had them offer him a deal, and Jesse took it. His father wasn’t going to be able to let him walk, but instead of a Class B felony attempted murder, Jesse pled guilty to a Class A misdemeanor assault. That meant county jail not hard time in prison. Jesse was a sociopath, but he wasn’t stupid. If he lost at trial, he could be facing a minimum sentence of five years or a maximum of twenty-five. In New York, attempted murder is a Class B felony which meant no chance of parole.
He would have to serve the time that was imposed. He wasn’t willing to take that chance. With a misdemeanor on his record it would still screw up his law career, but not completely take away his life. Two years in jail gave him back his life— to take hers away.
“Chloe? Are you still with me?” Roxi had lowered her voice as Jake had done earlier. They were all treating her like she was a mental patient.
“I’m here,” she said. “I was just pissed because he grabbed me. I’m sorry.” She tried to put some feeling into it when she apologized, hoping Roxi would buy it. Roxi wasn’t stupid either.
“Chloe, I know you. The anger is ever-present, always smoldering underneath the surface. I can see it, I can feel it. You control it well…usually. As long as you had it under control, I was willing to accept that you didn’t want to talk about it. But tonight, you lost that control. Your loss of control is going to cause me a whole hell of a lot of trouble. That boy is the son of one of Rhode Island’s finest. His Daddy is the Chief of Police.”
“I’m sorry,” Chloe said again, not looking at her. The adrenaline was completely gone now, and she could feel the pain in her fist and the exhaustion in her muscles.
“I don’t want an apology, Chloe. I need to know what we’re dealing with. Are you in some kind of trouble?”
“I very well might be one of the walking dead,” she said. Chloe heard herself speak the words out loud. It was strange like someone else was doing the talking and she was listening to the conversation. Talking about Jesse had always reminded her of when you’re a kid, and you’re afraid of the boogeyman. If you said his name out loud, he would come for you. Jesse was the boogeyman, and he was coming for her. Speaking his name out loud or not wasn’t going to matter. “My ex-boyfriend is getting out of jail in a couple of weeks. I just found out today.”
Roxi still had a neutral expression on her face as she said, “Is he the one that gave you those scars?”
Chloe looked down at her body. The scars were covered now, but she could see them as plain as day in her head. She nodded and then said, “Some of them.”
Roxi raised a perfectly shaped eyebrow and opened the top drawer of her desk and took out an ashtray and a pack of smokes. Taking out two long, thin Virginia Slims, she handed one across to Chloe. Chloe took it and put it to her lips. Roxi lit it for her and then lit her own. They both took a long, hard drag before Roxi said, “Does he know where to find you?”
“I have no idea,” Chloe said. “I did everything possible to change my identity and shed everything about my old self. His father is powerful and rich. If he wants to find me, I don’t doubt that he will. He’s not your run of the mill girlfriend beater. He was hard core obsessed with me, and he could have accidentally killed me many times. That night, he wanted me dead, and if it weren’t for the police showing up in time, I would be. If he finds me again, I don’t think I’ll be so lucky.”
“I’m going to have one of Jake’s associates watch your house…”
CHAPTER EIGHT
Chloe spent the rest of the shift in Roxi’s office, telling her the full story. It felt kind of good to get it out f
inally. It surprisingly felt good to actually trust someone enough to say the words aloud. When it was time for her to leave with Lexi, Roxi told her to take some time off, and she would be in touch.
“I’m not sure about someone watching me, Rox. The idea of it kind of gives me the creeps.”
“You won’t even see him,” Roxi said. She put her hand on Chloe’s shoulder and looked into her eyes. “Trust me, okay?”
Chloe nodded. She thought about hugging Roxi and thanking her for listening and not firing her and everything else, but she still couldn’t bring herself around to the idea of being touched, by anyone. Instead, she gave her a little smile that she had to force and said, “I do. Thanks, Roxi.”
On the way home, Lexi was going on about how everyone was talking about her “knocking that guy out like a prize fighter.”
“I didn’t knock him out,” Chloe said.
“You kicked his ass though, right? I saw them carry him out. He didn’t look good.”
“He might be sore for a day or two,” she said.
“You did all that because he grabbed your boob?” Lexi asked.
“Yeah, I didn’t want him touching me. I’m so sick of the ideas that men have in their heads about women. I hate that they think they can just take what they want when they want it. I would never consider walking up and grabbing hold of a man’s balls. What makes them think it’s okay to touch any part of me without my permission?”
Lexi realized quickly that talking about it was just pissing Chloe off again, so she changed the subject. “I’m going tanning tomorrow morning. Want to come with me?”
Chloe smiled. She wished that her mind worked like Lexi’s did. A facial or a tan and all was right with the world once again. Maybe she should try working on that mind set. After all, if Jesse was coming, there was nothing she could do about it until he got there.
“Sure,” she said. They drove the rest of the way in silence, and when they got home, Chloe went straight into her room. She locked her door and pulled out her journal.
June 21,
I went to work tonight, and I hadn’t been there for an hour before I was fondled. The feel of the stranger’s hands on me and the look of entitlement on his face made me want to kill him. I could actually see myself in my head, snapping his neck with my bare hands. I suppressed that rage…controlled it.
The second time I didn’t even try. I realized by allowing that man to get away with touching me; I was giving consent. Just like all of the times I stayed after Jesse slapped me around or kicked me or pulled my hair out in chunks by the roots…I was giving consent. When I unleased on that second guy I wasn’t even thinking. The rage had taken over at that point, and I was damned well going to make sure that he knew I wasn’t consenting to have his disgusting hands on me. I listen to the other girls I work with talking about the money, and I wonder what we have come to as a gender…as humans, that money can overshadow dignity and security. In a way, I’m glad what took place tonight happened. Now I know at least that when Jesse shows up at my door that I’ll be ready. I didn’t freeze up, I didn’t blink, and I didn’t let that man that outweighed me by at least eighty pounds get the better of me. If and when Jesse does find me, he’s going to leave in a world of hurt or dead.
Chloe put the journal away and changed into a pair of sweatpants and a sweatshirt. She slipped on her tennis shoes and made her way out to the beach. It was late, or early…depending on how you looked at it, but she wasn’t going to be able to sleep either way. The beach was deserted, and the high tide rolled in and out on a cool breeze that left a spray of salt air across her face each time that it did. On their way to work earlier, the sunset had radiated across the cloudy sky, turning them into molten streaks of pink and orange. Now that the sun was gone, the clouds acted like a cover to the moon and stars and the night was completely black. Chloe usually felt better outside. The beach could almost always calm her and help her organize her thoughts. Tonight the darkness felt claustrophobic, or maybe that was just her life.
**
“Chloe?” she woke to the sound of a light tapping and Lexi’s voice. Her room was bright. The rays of the sun were pressing hard through the windows and against the blinds, waiting to be let in. She blinked a few times as she woke up and then the first thought of the day hit her upside the head like a hammer: Jesse would be out soon. “Chloe, are you awake? Why did you lock the door?”
“Yeah, I’m up, Lex. I’ll be out in a few.” She pulled herself up out of bed and went into the bathroom. Her hair was matted from her time on the beach, and she’d forgotten to take out her contacts, so her eyes were dry and red. Her right hand was throbbing, and she looked down and saw that her knuckles were swollen to almost twice their normal size and one of them had dried blood on it like it had been split open. She didn’t remember bleeding last night, but this morning it was all kind of a blur. She washed her face and brushed her teeth and hair, and then she bandaged her hand. She found Lexi in the living room, working out to a P-90 video.
“Hey, how are you feeling?” Lexi asked her.
Chloe smiled, “Like I got hit by a truck,” she said. As she’d walked down the hall, she realized that her hand wasn’t the only thing hurting. Her right shoulder throbbed each time she moved it, and her legs felt bruised.
Lexi grinned at her and said, “I’m sure the soreness will go away if you keep at it, Rocky.”
Chloe rolled her eyes and went to get her coffee. She was looking out the glass doors that led to the patio while she poured it. That was when she saw him. He was a big guy, bigger than Jake. He had to be at least six feet six and way over two hundred pounds of solid muscle. He had on jeans and a t-shirt, probably trying to fit in, but unless you were at a wrestling match, there was no way this guy was going to look like he belonged. His head was shaved and his goatee neatly trimmed, and he wore dark sunglasses that completely hid his eyes. He was sitting on one of the concrete steps that led to the beach, and he was watching her condo. Roxi had sent her security. Chloe still wasn’t sure how she felt about it, but she thought between her newfound ability to kick a man’s ass and the Hulk, maybe she had a chance.
“Are you going tanning with me?” Lexi asked her, coming into the kitchen. She stopped when she saw Chloe staring out the door, and she followed her eyes. “Damn! That is a man right there!”
Chloe laughed, “Yeah, I suppose it is,” she said. “Yes, I’ll go tanning with you. Let me go take my shower. I’ll be ready soon.” As she started to leave the kitchen, Lexi inched closer to the door.
“He works for Roxi,” Chloe said before the other woman’s hand reached the handle.
Lexi looked first confused and then disappointed. “Why does Roxi have someone watching us?”
Chloe had lived with Lexi for almost two years. She’d made it clear that she didn’t want to talk about the scars and Lexi had left it alone. She’d never told her about her past, or Jesse. She suddenly wondered if that had been horribly unfair of her. What if Jesse showed up here? Lexi would be at risk too. Jesse wouldn’t hesitate to hurt another woman in order to get to her. She glanced back out at the Hulk. Jesse wouldn’t go up against a guy like that unless he was armed but Lexi, he could really hurt her and then Chloe would have to live with that.
“Hey Lex, sit down. We need to talk,” Chloe told her. Lexi did as she asked and Chloe joined her at the small dining table. “This is only the second time in as many years that I’ve said any of this out loud, so bear with me, okay?”
Lexi nodded, and she went on, “My ex-boyfriend was abusive. He tried to kill me. He decided that he was going to slice me open one night and the only thing that saved me was a friend who called 911 before I bled out or he was able to stick me again. That’s the short version. The gist of the long version is that he is obsessed, he likes to drink which makes it worse, he’s a monster, and he has no feelings or remorse. The last letter I got from him before I finally took off was him telling me that if I apologized right away and dropped the
charges against him, he would “forgive me.” The time he did in jail for this has probably only fed his anger. His sadistic side is probably even well-honed. He gets out of jail in ten days. When he does, I expect that he’ll come looking for me.”
The color had drained from Lexi’s face. She looked like she didn’t know what to say. Finally, she said, “Why haven’t you ever told me any of this?”
“At first, I was hiding, and I didn’t know who I could trust. Once I knew that I could trust you, Jesse was in jail, and I told myself it didn’t matter. You didn’t need to be saddled with my wretched past. But now that I know he’ll be free soon, I have to worry that if you’re here when he comes, you might get hurt in the fall-out. I couldn’t live with that. I’m going to start looking for another place.”
“No! What are you talking about, another place? This is only my place because you let me live here. Roxi rents this place to you. I’m not letting you go. Besides, even if it were my place, I wouldn’t leave you here alone. I’m your friend, Chloe. Your best friend I think. What kind of friend just hightails it out when there’s the smell of trouble?”
Chloe smiled at her and said, “Honey, I’m not just talking about a little bit of drama here. If Jesse finds me, he’s going to be ready to finish what he started.”
“All the more reason for us to stick together. Then, you’ll have Hulky the Hunk out there, and me. Imagine it— I run out in my see-through nightie with the cold air.”
“How did this turn into porn?” Chloe asked, laughing.
“Let me finish. Where was I? Okay, so cold air is causing parts of my body to stand at attention, and the moisture from the air has my nightie clinging to my curves. I run towards Hunky Hulkster and tell him you’re in trouble. He picks me up in his strong, forceful arms and raises me over his shoulder, carrying me like a cave man as he rushes to your rescue. It all ends very well.”