I looked around, searching for Hannah. Jack quickly understood who I was looking for and said, “She’s upstairs with Ava.”
“Shit. How did she look?” I asked, worried that seeing me pummeling the fuck out of Connors’ worthless ass might have scared her. She must think I’m a fucking animal.
Jack shrugged and gave me a how-the-fuck-should-I-know look. I sighed at his lack of help. A couple of guys were asking me what Connors had done to make me fuck him up like I did, but I didn’t even answer. I just cut through the crowd and went off in search of Hannah.
Chapter 23
Hannah
As Ava pulled me up the stairs I found myself reliving the moments before Nikolai arrived. I had told Ava to get Nikolai, but I quickly regretted my decision. Jeff had been practically foaming at the mouth. I tried to run back into the bathroom and lock the door, but he jumped and blocked my way, caging me with his arms in the same way Nikolai had upstairs, but the effect was far different. It had been disturbing and terrifying.
“Are you going to fucking answer me, Hannah?” Jeff screamed in my face. “What the fuck are you doing here?”
I hated how paralyzed I became when confronted by him. My heart had felt like it was going to burst out of my chest with the amount of adrenaline surging through my body, yet my feet felt cemented to the floor. I brought trembling hands up to cover my face not wanting to see Jeff’s hysterical expression and silently prayed for Nikolai to show up.
Jeff had grabbed my hands and slammed them against the wall behind me. “Look at me, Hannah.” I could feel his beer-soaked breath on my face has he spoke in a menacingly intense voice. “Look at me!”
I did the only thing I could do in that instant; I kept my eyes closed as tightly as possible and turned my head. I knew this would probably provoke him, but I was motivated by equal parts rebellion and terror. I didn’t want to see his crazy face, and I didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of seeing mine.
Jeff took my wrists and banged them against the wall again, taking out his fury on the only thing he had his hands on at the moment. I gasped at the pain that shot up both wrists as they were slammed against the paneling.
“You aren’t listening very well, Hannah. I have been patient with you. So patient. It has been years and, still, you don’t understand that we are supposed to be together by now. I’m fucking done waiting, Hannah. Do you hear me? I’m done. I am going to have you, and if it has to be in the basement at this party, that’s fine by me.” Jeff’s grip on my wrists was steadily increasing as he gave his rambling, psychotic monologue.
I could feel Jeff’s face move in even closer to mine, could feel his breath on my mouth and knew he was going kiss me. I started to squirm, trying to move my wrists so I could break loose and move my head from side to side. Jeff moved his face, trying to capture my mouth, but I just kept jerking my head in order to avoid him. He leaned his body against mine in attempt to incapacitate me. At first glance he didn’t look particularly big or strong, but now, fueled by rage, determination, and insanity, his strength was completely immobilizing. “I’ve waited a long time for this, Hannah. I hope you’re as good as I’ve been imagining,” he whispered, only inches from my mouth.
Then, he was simply gone.
Jeff’s body was ripped away from me, and there stood Nikolai looking like a terrifying avenging angel. I felt a rush of relief so intense I nearly wept. Nikolai’s face was a picture of fury and focus. There would be no reprieve for Jeff this time.
Nikolai’s first punch knocked Jeff off his feet, but that didn’t stop him from continuing to pound Jeff’s practically unresponsive body over and over. I felt someone put their arms around me and usher me away from the savage beating Nikolai was unleashing on Jeff. I felt someone persistently tugging me towards the stairs, and finally tore my eyes away from the bloody scene and onto Ava’s compassionate face. She pulled me to the bottom of the stairs, but we were like minnows swimming upstream as people rushed down to the basement to see the fight.
I watched Ava’s back as she slowly walked me into the kitchen, grabbed a red cup and got me a drink of water. I took a couple of sips, took a deep breath and realized I needed something stronger than water.
“I need a drink. An alcoholic one. Maybe ten of them,” I blurted.
Ava, who had been watching me like I was some type of evolving science experiment jumped and laughed. Now that the silence had been broken, she could start asking questions. “Jesus, Hannah, are you okay? Did he do anything to you? Please tell me we got there before he did anything,” Ava said, as she put her hands together in a pleading gesture. I could tell she still felt guilty leaving me behind.
Eager to put her mind at ease, I reassured her. “Yes, you got there fast enough. I guess Nikolai was right to be worried about Jeff. He is fucking unhinged. He’s ten times worse than I realized, and I already thought he was awful.” I found myself thinking back to his crazy, angry face, hearing the tone of his voice as he told me his disturbing plans. Thank god for Nikolai.
I looked up to find Ava searching around the kitchen. I cocked my head. “What are you looking for?”
Ava didn’t even acknowledge I’d spoken, she just kept looking in cabinets. Squatting in front of the cabinets of the center island, she apparently found what she as looking. “Jackpot!” she exclaimed, holding up a bottle of Captain Morgan’s Rum.
“What’s that for?” I asked.
Ava looked at me like I was an idiot. “What do you think? Getting drunk!”
I was wary of hard liquor. “I’ve never drank anything stronger than beer or wine.”
Ava put the bottle on the counter and came to stand in front of me like a scolding mother, both hands planted on my shoulders as she proceeded to lecture me on why it was very necessary for me to be drunk right now.
“Look, Hannah, you just went through it. Beer isn’t going to get the job done. You deserve to tie one on, and rum’s the fastest way to get us there. It’s not like you have to worry, Nikolai will take care of you if you get drunk.” With that said, she clutched the rum to her chest and searched for cocktail ingredients.
I laughed, and couldn’t disagree with plan, although I thought Nikolai had already gone above and beyond in his role of fake boyfriend, so asking him to also take care of my future drunken ass seemed like asking a lot.
As Ava was looking for mixers in the fridge, Nikolai stormed in and grabbed me by the shoulders. His eyes frantically moved over me, roving over each of my features, then looking up and down my body, as if searching for damage. He raised his agitated, pale blue gaze back to mine. “Hannah, are you okay? Did that motherfucker do anything to you?”
Nikolai looked so worried, I thought my heart would burst with emotion. “I’m fine, Nikolai, you got there before he did anything. All he did was scare me.” I lifted my hands up to his chest, sensing my touch might calm him down, reassure him. I must have been right, because as I lightly caressed the cotton covering his tense pectoral muscles, he took a deep breath and briefly closed his eyes, his posture relaxing slightly. His hands slid down from my shoulders to gently grip my hips.
Nikolai opened his eyes and pierced me with his pale gaze. “Look, Hannah, I’m sorry you had to see me like. When I saw him holding you down, I just fucking lost it.” He shook his head in remembered aggravation, his breathing still heavy. His expression was reserved, but the hint of tension in his features indicated he expected me to be disgusted or outraged at his violent response to Jeff manhandling me.
I gaped in shock. “Do you think I’m upset that you beat up Jeff?”
Nikolai gave me a hard look. “Hannah, that asshole deserved what he got, but if you’re-”
“Oh my god, stop! I’m grateful that you came downstairs. If I had been in my right mind, I would have jumped in and helped you.” Nikolai huffed out a surprised chuckle, no doubt envisioning my puny arms trying to beat up Jeff.
He slid his hands tightened around my waist and smirked. “Next time, I
guess I’ll have to hold him back, so you can get a few shots in.”
I chuckled, then reached up and lightly kissed his mouth, my voice serious again. “Thank you. What would have done without you?” I ended the last bit of my statement as a whisper because I truly did not want to think about what would have happened if Nikolai hadn’t been there. Evidently thinking the same thing, he let out a huge sigh of relief and hugged me tightly to his body, as if to completely reassure himself that I was okay.
I jerked back. “Nikolai, what are you going to do about Jeff? His dad is going to be out for blood when he sees what you did to him.” The whole point of Nikolai not beating Jeff up was in order to avoid being expelled. We blew the whole plan on the first night.
“It’s okay, Hannah. Some of the benefits of be being surrounded by criminals my whole life – creative problem solving and connections to shady characters. Ideally, I would have followed through with our plan the way we mapped it out, but when he stepped out of line, I couldn’t let that go. Me and Jack talked about it and I think we figured a way to deal with him.”
“How?”
“I’m going to call a couple of guys I know. The fact that we’re at a party with a lot of drinking will work to our advantage. No one here likes Connors, they put up with him because of his dad. I won’t have any problems getting the people here to go along with whatever we say.”
“What are you going to do with Jeff? I mean, you might be able to get everyone here to agree with your story, but Jeff won’t do that. What’s to stop him from simply telling on you?”
“Well, Jeff is knocked out cold right now. We’re going to engineer it in a way that will make him question his own memory.”
I frowned in confusion.
Nikolai leaned down and kissed the spot between my eyes that was pinched in bewilderment. “Let it go, Hannah, I’m taking care of it.”
We were soon distracted by the huge rush of people who streamed into the kitchen, chattering excitedly about what happened in the basement and looking for more alcohol. The surge of testosterone from the fight created an even more boisterous atmosphere with the remaining party goers. I glanced down at Nikolai’s hand and noticed all the tears in his skin from hitting Jeff so many times.
“Nikolai, you need some ice on that,” I exclaimed as I grabbed a kitchen towel and opened the freezer to pull out an ice tray. As I was filling the towel, Ava swiped a few cubes for the drinks she was still making us. I walked back to Nikolai, who was watching me with a very serious, yet inscrutable expression as took his hand and gently laid the towel-wrapped ice on his swollen knuckles.
He tilted his head and looked at me for long minutes, then said softly, “Thanks, Hannah.” I was completely sucked into the swirling depths of his soft, pale eyes when Ava jerked me back into awareness by thrusting what looked a like a rum and coke in front of me.
“Drink up, Hannah, you earned it!” She then clinked her own red plastic cup that I assumed contained the same thing.
“I don’t know, Ava, I don’t want to get too drunk….” I said, although the lure of alcohol was powerful.
“I told you, Hannah, Nikolai will take care of you. Right, Nikolai?” Ava said as she shot an expectant look at Nikolai.
Nikolai put his arm around my waist and accepted picked up his previously abandoned beer. Instead of looking at Ava, he looked at me when he answered. “Nothing is going to happen to Hannah if I’m here.”
Chapter 24
Nikolai
Hannah was fucking wasted.
There were only about twenty people left at Cassidy’s party, so we all moved to the living room and were sitting on couches, chairs and other assorted furniture. I was sitting at one end of a couch with Hannah sitting in my lap, her back leaning against the arm. She was having an animated conversation with an equally wasted Ava, who was sitting on the floor facing Hannah, leaning against the couch.
“No way, Jennifer Keeler does not have fake boobs,” Ava slurred out.
“She does! She was flat as a pancake in ninth grade, then all of a sudden, she has double D’s? No way. They’re fake,” Hannah replied with drunken certainty, using over the top hand gestures to make her point.
Little did they know that Jack could have probably resolved this whole debate, as I was sure he’d fucked Jennifer at some point. I looked over at him on the other side of the couch and wondered what he was still doing down here. Usually he would have been long gone, either having moved upstairs or to some other location in order to hook up with someone. He’d certainly had plenty of offers tonight. I noted his intense green gaze fixed on Ava, who would periodically fall back against the side of his legs when she would drunkenly gesture at something Hannah had said and figured she was the source of his uncharacteristic behavior.
Jack, a couple of other guys I trusted from my dad’s outfit, and I had gotten rid of Connors. We found the car he had driven here, his father’s because his had gotten torched. The plan was to have the guys crash it into a tree and put Connors back in the car, so his injuries looked related to the accident. I’m pretty sure we poured enough alcohol down his throat, in addition to what he drank before the fight, for him to register as drunk. When we had finished setting the scene, we called the cops to make sure he was caught.
Afterwards, Jack joined us in the kitchen and stayed virtually glued to Ava’s side. I don’t know if Ava noticed but his stoic presence definitely discouraged any guys who may have been interested in talking to her. As for him, Shelby came and found him, acting as though their previous conversation hadn’t taken place. Jack not only ignored her, but he aggressively shot her down. Fortunately, Ava had been dancing, so this confrontation happened without Ava being aware of the history between Jack and Shelby, and Shelby didn’t seem to be aware of Jack’s interest in Ava. Shelby did not take rejection well, so I can only imagine how she what a scene she would have made if she had known about Ava.
I tuned back into the girls’ conversation, but it was getting so incoherent I barely knew what they were talking about any more. I needed to get Hannah out of here, she’d had enough alcohol for the night. Bringing home a drunk, incoherent Hannah on her first night of socializing would hardly be making a great impression on her mother. If her mother even cared about shit like that. Not all mothers did.
“Okay, Hannah, no more booze for you. I need to get you home,” I said, as I plucked the red cup that had gradually been filled with more rum and less coke as the night wore on out of her hand and put it on the coffee table.
Hannah shot me an adorably exaggerated pout after I took her drink and looped her arms around my neck. Her full breasts pressed against my chest, which, when combined with her drunkenly wiggling her ass on my dick all night, was about all I could take. “I don’t want go. I’m having fun, for the first time ever.” Hannah’s eyes got really huge as she emphasized the last word. I chuckled at her, but I actually understood where she was coming from. This was all part of what Connors had taken away from her. Parties, friends, harmless drinking because you’re safe and don’t have to worry about a crazy stalker following you around.
I reached up and put my hand through her hair, looking at her flushed, happy face. Again, I felt emotion surge through me at being able to provide this for her. Making her feel safe and protected. Letting her enjoy herself. I gave in and gave her a quick kiss, then lifted her off my lap and onto the couch so I could get up. For a second, I thought Ava was going to fall over, but then she heard Sia’s Cheap Thrills playing and quickly popped up.
Hannah looked down at Ava and squealed, “I love this song! You have to dance with me!”
Ava took a good minute trying to pry herself off the floor, and even tilted dangerously at one point only to be righted by Jack’s firm grip.
Hannah and Ava’s version of dancing was basically jumping up and down like a couple of pogo sticks. They were holding hands and jumping, occasionally bumping into each other and nearly falling to the floor. I’m sure they would have fou
nd this thoroughly embarrassing if they were sober, but they were having a good time, and bonding or whatever.
When the song ended, Hannah and Ava did that drunken hugging I usually see girls doing when they became friends over the course of a party. I stepped behind Hannah and put my arm around her waist.
“Alright, Hannah, we have to take off.” Hannah nodded her head, her practical side peeking through the fog of alcohol.
“Can we drive Ava home? She drove here, but….” Hannah gestured to Ava’s intoxicated condition.
Jack suddenly jumped in. “Hey, I got her. I’ll take her home.” When I raised an eyebrow at his unexpected insistence, he added, “She doesn’t live far from me. It would just make more sense.” Yeah, right. How the hell does he know where she lives? I was going to have to follow up on this with him. Of course, then he might start asking me questions about Hannah, so maybe I should just drop the whole thing. I nodded my head and allowed him to loop his arm around Ava and gently guide her out the door to his car.
Hannah and I followed after saying bye to the stragglers at the party. Other than Jordan’s shitty attitude in the beginning of the night, most of the people had been very welcoming towards Hannah. Of course, I had been standing beside her the whole night, so it’s possible my presence and well-documented history of violent behavior might have played a role in that.
I led Hannah to my car, opened the door, and fastened her seat belt for her as she flopped back against the seat, her eyes closed, and cheeks flushed, and soft smile was on her lips. She looked sweet and adorable, and I fucking hated that I thought that.
Chapter 25
Hannah
The cool air that was blowing through my hair, so that it tickled gently around my face, was gradually wearing away at my drunken stupor. I lifted my head off the head rest, but it felt like it weighed two hundred pounds. So did my eyelids when I tried to open them.
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