“Hey Hollywood,” Topaz said, rushing past the two men, afraid to turn back.
Once outside, she gulped the air like she’d crossed a desert and found an oasis. The swirl sending her down the street instead of across it to the bar. Her belly rolling, end over end and when she made it to the corner—the meal she’d shared with Brick hit the pavement in hard, acidic bursts of vomit.
‘It wasn’t him, it wasn’t.’ she repeated in her head. Her face warm, but body shivering she tried to find her center. Every part of her wished it was Byron. He would pull her in his arms and she’d smell the sweat from his workout, before he headed into the locker room to shower.
Glancing up the street, she saw the two motorcycles, Hollywood’s and the strangers. The man in leather but no cut. A group of men were piling into the Roadside and she had to push back her emotions. Release the emotional baggage weighing her down and making her want to crawl in bed to cry. The man wasn’t Byron. The love, unspoiled, because it never had a chance beyond the sweet, simple love of youth was not in the clinic.
Bracing herself, she walked up the street and into the bar. “Vanessa, can you get me a water,” she said as she passed the bar.
Vanessa tossed her a bottle, barely breaking conversation from the customer in front of her.
She cracked the lid as she made her way to the bathroom in the back, swishing the water, she spit into the sink and stared at herself in the mirror. “Fuck it,” she said to herself. “Let’s do this.”
There was no break in stride as she made her way back out to the floor and behind the bar. Two shots of forget the past later, and she was dancing for a trucker on a cross country trip who always timed his runs, so the man’s mandated break would come in Turnabout.
“You know I’ve driven by that playground ya’ll built,” the man said jarring Topaz from her past. “Seen the kids playing, going down the slide, you know how easy it would be to blow off one of their heads. Send the little mixed blood mutt’s head flying backward. Hell, might even go for the little redhead just because.”
Bile burned up Topaz’s throat, how could anyone have an issue with a child? Especially the twins, or Maddox, Beno? Harlow? What kind of sick-o would look at a baby innocently playing and imagine their death? Even the son-of-a-bitches they rescued kids from didn’t dream of killing the kids.
“It’d be like hittin’ those ducks at the county fair, remember Glen.” The short one laughed. “Ping, ping, ping.”
“Fuck you, don’t say my name,” Glen barked back.
“Like it’ll matter,” the short one said. “Once we’re through with the two of them.”
“One,” Onyx snipped. “I’d never touch a blue-eyed devil whore like Topaz.”
“Right? Sure, you wouldn’t.”
“I like my women from the motherland. Dark, sweet on the tongue, you know what I mean,” he goaded the men and Topaz’s skin rose. “Yeah, you were sent packing by a dark skinned vixen weren’t you? She tempted and teased you and then you fell short.”
“Fuck you,” he spat. “Like I’d ever—”
“That’s it isn’t it?” Onyx retorted. “Was it her sweet kisses or did you slip a bit lower, you know the forbidden fruit is the tastiest. You remember don’t you? Did you make her wet enough it trickled down your throat? They do that you know, black women, white not so much, but a black woman. Mmmmm.”
Topaz’s eyebrows knitted together in a mix of jealousy and pride. She knew Onyx was fucking with the assholes. The man hadn’t been celibate since he’d come to Turnabout and the only two black women around were claimed, fully and totally in love with their partners. Whatever he was doing had the men ready to kill. Was that his plan? Him dying. No, she shook her head, trying to stop the rage building inside her.
“We saw you,” the short one said. “Practically fucking in the alley.”
“No,” Onyx continued. “You saw me putting a bitch in her place.”
“Right, like a fucking nigger can control his urges, especially around a fine woman like this.” The short one cupped her breasts and she cut her eyes at him. “She might be unspoiled.”
“Not even slightly,” she sniped, unwilling to let Onyx take the fall. Selfish in away because she refused to let him take any beating alone. “Trust, I’ve seen more big, thick, black cock in my life than the Lakers’ locker room.”
Onyx choked, at first she feared the men were hurting him until she heard the light chuckle behind her.
“Untie them,” Glen ordered, then leveled his rifle on Onyx’s temple. “Just in case, you get any smart ideas.”
The little one fussed with the ropes. “Oh, ya’ll thought you could pull a Houdini on us huh?”
“Again, with the classics,” Onyx smarted off. “I’m telling you, I’m really impressed.”
“We’re gonna show you all sorts of classic hits,” Glen said with a laugh. “Even got my Louisville slugger in the truck for later.”
“And I thought you were more of the grease me up and let me wrestle type of a guy.” Onyx laughed.
In hindsight, fucking with Glen and Stimpy, as he came to name the ignorant assholes after round one of let’s see if we can make the black man cry, was probably not the best idea. While it was satisfying and easier than a girl with daddy issues on prom night, he’d grossly underestimated the pent up rage in the men. Onyx was absolutely spent. He had to get it together because Topaz needed him and this wasn’t something he could give in to.
“Topaz, sweetheart please stop crying. I’m okay.”
The sobs coming from her were tearing him apart. The strong and independent woman he knew had completely unraveled because of what those men had done. He couldn’t stand the thought that part of the reason was him and his damn mouth. At first, he thought she could handle it. Taking to fucking with the men too. Giving as good as him until the rope.
Right now unlike him, she was untied. They’d swung a rope over a beam in the ceiling. At first, he thought he’d be dangling by his neck. Instead, they bound his wrists and used him as a punching bag. Either he was completely numb by that point or they were tired, because the grunts and groans were at a Meg Ryan orgasm faking level. In a way, the stringing up had helped his back reset. If it wasn’t for his shoulders burning like a brush fire, he could hang for a while. Or at least, long enough for Topaz to remember there was a world beyond the one she was currently locked inside.
When the rope was tossed, it was the final straw for Topaz. Maybe something else happened? She’d just been taken out to the bathroom. When she came back, she seemed fine until the thump of the rope as it flopped over the beam. The light in her eyes lost, gone to the world as she curled into a ball in the corner. Covering her head like a tornado was on the horizon as she turned into the corner. No longer able to handle the visual.
“Topaz, I need you,” he said hoping the trauma hadn’t made the woman completely check out of reality. “They’re gone.”
Her body trembled in the corner. Head shaking from side to side.
At least, he was breaking through. “Honest, baby—they’re gone, my shoulders are killing me—can you please…”
Her body tightened, somehow making the round ball of herself smaller. “I can’t—I can’t see it—not again—”
Again? Fuck.
“Topaz, I’m alive,” he said and spit the metallic taste from his mouth. “Promise.”
“Oh God, voices, fuck, fuck, fuck.” She rocked in the corner.
She needed a splash of cold ass water, then he could comfort her, but right now, he needed her to know he was alive. That she wouldn’t be turning around and finding a corpse.
“You think I’m dead? Fine, bitch, come suck this dick and see if you feel a pulse.” The words more acidic than he’d expected, but he’d pray they would do the trick. “You called me a sub, how about you come get this footlong?”
The scratch of dirt against wood gave him a bit of hope as he saw her leg shift and move. That’s it Topaz, he thought afraid en
couraging words would make her stop. Come on baby, turn around show daddy your face. See mine.
With a slow turn of her head she held her eyes closed shut, but turned enough her chin touched her shoulder.
Open those pretty baby blues for me.
Her back rose and fell as she slowly opened her eyes. The contact between the two of them instantaneous as she leapt from the corner and rushed to him. Her arms wrapping around his neck and hugging him so tight, he worried his shoulders would pop out from the extra weight.
“Down, please,” he groaned, the brushfire of his shoulders slamming against the numbness of his forearms in an electric show along all his nerves so spectacular, it could have lit up Downtown Disney.
“Oh, my God, yes!” she exclaimed, dragging the chair over to him and working the ropes quickly. “This is easier with a visual.”
The tension, nearly cutting off his circulation released, flooding his hands and fingers for the second time in a day. “Me tied up,” he said, rubbing his bruised and rope burned wrists, finally allowing his shoulders to drop. “Sorry about—I didn’t know how.”
Once again, Topaz’s arms were around him, this time holding on for dear life as she sobbed into his shirt. Her fingers fisting the fabric as what he could only assume were years of pain fell from her eyes. “I’ve dealt with shit like this my entire life. Small minded people don’t matter to me.”
Onyx cradled her head to his chest. Every movement of his bruised and beaten body ached, but it was nothing compared to the shit she seemed to be going through. “The bruises will heal and I blocked out their voices about a half second after they spoke.”
“You did not,” she said with a pound to his chest.
Her small fist normally wouldn’t hurt, but at this point, there were few things that didn’t. “Well, maybe two minutes, but still. The rhetoric formulaic to the point I wonder is it art imitating life or the other way around.” He cupped her head, her cheek snuggling into his palm as he leaned her head back and her eyes widened at the sight of him. “Either way, I’ve heard it, and sadly, I assume so will Braxton and Maddox and any kids I have.”
With a gentle stroke of her hand to his face, Topaz eked out in a small whisper, “People get hurt or worse because of fucking ignorance. I’ve learned that lesson the hard way. I couldn’t do it again. Not with you, not when we’ve…”
Onyx moved her over to the chair and he sat on the twin bed. The smell of dust and mildew peppered the air when he sat making him glad his ass was there and not hers. “What do you mean?” Onyx was curious to hear more about Topaz and whatever she wanted to share. It could be the cause of the tension between them and if this could be the way it was broken the situation might be worth it if they survived. Even though he felt like shit, it was something he could do for her, he needed a partner right now. And even if he didn’t, he wasn’t going to abandon her.
“My parents had made me invite my boyfriend over for dinner. We had been dating since summer and they had never met him. Hell, no one really did. Not as my boyfriend. I’d been under no delusion about us, we’d even hidden from everyone until we got reckless. I knew better, see I’d grown up in New Bend, he hadn’t.” A sob escaped her.
Now, he knew this story was about to turn ugly.
“They didn’t know and I was afraid to tell them, but my cousin was on the team with him. Been bitching about him all season. How he was over hyped and shit.”
“He found out?”
“Yeah, Byron, that was his name, had a signing day. Like big time signing day with cameras and the local papers. Even one in from Little Rock because he’d signed with the University of Arkansas. We hadn’t had anyone that big from our school.”
“So, he was a five-star recruit.”
“Four, three to some, zero to my cousin because he never threw him the ball.” Topaz swallowed away some pain before continuing, “All the cheerleaders had to be there, lined up, as he made his announcement and signed. Well afterward we snuck off, down by the locker rooms because he was getting his stuff and we were caught kissing.”
“And your cousin told your parents?”
“So fast my head spun,” she said. “I’d wanted to get caught. I realize that now because Byron was the best man I’d ever known. He used to give me his letter jacket for after games. Like an ‘I’m coming back for it and you’ type deal and at first, I kept it in my car, then I started wearing it when I waited.” Topaz let out a long groan as she ran her fingers through her hair, curling into a ball before him as she sat on the chair.
He rubbed her back, hoping to clear away what was holding her here. They needed to leave, but he could spare a few minutes to regroup himself. “You invited Byron to dinner,” he prodded.
“I deluded myself. My dad making comments about the kid gonna be a Razorback, so I thought, maybe they’d make an exception.”
“Look past to see who he was, not what,” he said knowing by her reaction what happened to the kid set to go on to college and more.
She nodded. “Byron and I talked about what we’d do at school. How our world would be ours. He was so respectful, it was nearly Christmas when he signed and we…we weren’t in a rush about anything.”
“Really?” Onyx said. “Not sure I could pass you up if you were mine for too long.”
“Well, we hadn’t totally, but yeah, we had a few times. Enough that when it happened, I prayed for weeks I’d gotten pregnant somehow. Anything to still have a piece of him to hold on to.”
“Damn that sex-ed class and you using protection,” he said.
She nodded wiping away a tear. “Finally, I gave in and invited him over. He was on his way to college, had a full scholarship he was going places and taking me with him.” The last few words caught in her throat. Making her gag a bit and she held her now chipped manicured fingers over her lips.
“Topaz, it’s okay if you don’t want to continue.” He tried to reassure her.
Shaking her head, she wiped her face once again, the last of her makeup faded and smeared a bit from the hard day. “I want to tell you what happened.” She paused. “No… I need to tell you. He came for dinner and both my parents acted nice to him at first, but as the night went on, my father said and did things that I knew wasn’t like him at all.”
A cool rush of air ran down Onyx’s spine, but there was no breeze. The only consolation when it came to his leg was there was no build up. Not I shouldn’t be here vibe going on. It was quick, merciless and dirty.
“Then the night became a nightmare. We were going to leave, just something felt off and my dad said he wanted to have a man to man and my mom insisted I help with the dishes.” She let out a breath of air. “Byron nodded, knowing he was playing a game, but comfortable until I saw two of my cousins walk in carrying guns. First, they drug him outside and beat him up, but then finally shot him in the knee to get him to stop fighting back. My father held me back as I screamed at them to stop. Calling them every name I could.”
Topaz covered her left cheek with her hand, as if she were soothing an old scar.
“I yanked one arm free and my father dug his fingers into my other so hard, it was bruised for a week. He’d never so much as spanked me growing up and he slapped me so hard, I can still feel the sting. I begged, pleaded just to let him go. The worst I thought could happen was they break his throwing arm and—he may never walk right, but still I never thought…” Her eyes cut up to the beam and the rope dangling. “My father wrapped me in his arm so tight I couldn’t breathe. Crushing my lungs, more to silence me than anything, as my cousins made a noose and threw it over the old oak we had in the back. A tree that’d—that’d—” her voice trembled the words so bad he worried she could still feel her father’s arms around her. “Given me shelter from rain and even still had a tire swing on it.”
Onyx cradled her head in his hands and moved her gaze from the beam. Bringing her eyes back to him.
“He released me when Byron’s legs stopped moving. I ran to him
screaming for an axe, anything to cut him down when all I could hold were his legs.” Topaz stayed silent for a moment. Tears stopped as she stared, blankly ahead. “I didn’t speak for days. Walked to my Nanna’s who moved me around the house as if I were an invalid. One who could walk, but barely ate and only when fed. Bathroom breaks she timed. The sheriff came looking for me, and all I could say was he’d been my heart. It was enough for him to go to my house. Guess after they cut him down, they buried him in the woods. I didn’t know what they had done to him until then. Even if my brain could function enough to understand what I’d witnessed, I couldn’t tell anyone. Dogs had searched the house and surrounding areas finding the shallow grave.”
Onyx held her tight not knowing what to do for her as he listened.
“His mother’s scream, I swear it reverberated through the town and woke me every night when I tried to sleep. Playing over and over in my nightmares. When they told us what happened, my Nanna stared at me, holding my hand. She knew, she knew I’d seen things. Things not in the report.” Topaz bit down on her lip. “The look of horror in her eyes.”
“Because you ratted out your family?”
“No, because they were monsters, my father too, in her mind. I didn’t know what had happened after I left. What I’d witnessed was enough for a thousand lifetimes worth of nightmares.”
“You came back, eventually,” he said. “What brought you back to the world?”
“My Nanna, she refused to let them bully me. Tell me it wasn’t my place to tell on them.”
“You were there at the trial then?”
“No trial,” she said. “My cousins confessed, got some bullshit deal, heard tell they are still serving time in prison. My whole family blamed me because I was set to be the state’s witness to lie on them.”
Topaz: Book 8 of the Steel MC Montana Charter Page 8