Beaten (Broken Book 1)

by Rue, Rebekah

  Beaten

  REBEKAH RUE

  Beaten

  Rebekah Rue

  Copyright © 2015 Rebekah Rue

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

  All rights reserved. This e-book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This e-book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you are reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to your favorite retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  Edited by Theresa Wegand

  Cover designed by Okay Creations

  Photo by Roser Portella Florit and Deviant Art

  Cover model is Amber Ornelas

  This book is for all the Givers.

  Always remember kindness is free, so sprinkle that shit everywhere.

  —Unknown

  Table of Contents

  Chapter 0.5

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter XX

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 20-sex

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  A sneak peek into Heath’s book

  As if I haven’t said enough

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  Chapter 0.5

  Lo

  Two honks of a car horn come from the front of the house, and my insides break out into a riot. Alex is here. I’m more excited than ever for this, my first date. Holy mackerel!

  From my bedroom, I dash down the hall and pass my parents’ door where I hear my dad’s voice. “I said no, Rose. As long as she lives under my roof, I say what goes.”

  “Sweetheart, calm down. They’re just going for pizza. Plus, I know his mother. She’s in my Bible-study class. I’m sure he’s a good boy.”

  “I will not allow some hotshot kid to swing by and take my daughter out. She’s only sixteen. Plus, I know what goes through their immature minds. Remember, I was there once.”

  “I understand, but you can’t keep her locked away forever. She’s turning into a young lady; you need to accept that.”

  “She’s not going!”

  I hate my dad. He squashes any attempt I make to have a normal life. I return to my room, needing to wipe the tears out of my eyes before they wreck my face powder, and then peek out my front window. Alex is walking up to the front door. When I hear the doorbell ring, I sit on my bed, straining my ears, knowing my father is going to turn him away. All I can hear is the rumble of a deep voice, the front door closing, and Alex’s car starting back up.

  Ugh, this is so unfair!

  Tears are welling up in my eyes when a knock sounds on my door and my mom steps in. “Honey?” I blink fast to hold the tears at bay, but she knows I’m upset. “Oh, honey, don’t cry.” She sits on my bed and wraps me in her arms. “You’re going to make your eyes all puffy, and poor Alex will have to sit with Dad while we ice them back to normal.”

  I lean back and glance up at her. “What? Are you saying I can go?”

  She smiles and nods. “Don’t you worry about your father. I’ll take care of him.”

  Mom helps me freshen up, and fifteen minutes later, as I walk into the living room, I’m surprised to see Dad and Alex coming in from the backyard.

  “Hi, Lo.” Alex greets me with a smile, and I have to hold in a dreamy sigh. He’s two grades above me, captain of the baseball team, and owns his own car. Alex would wink at me from across the classroom until one day he cornered me by my locker, told me I was the prettiest girl he’d ever seen, and then asked me out. “You ready to go?”

  I steal a glance at my dad’s angry face then nod at Alex. Dad isn’t putting up a fight, but he certainly isn’t happy either. I hug both my parents tightly before walking out the door.

  “Your dad’s a scary guy,” Alex says, pulling out of the driveway.

  Dad was career military: Army. We followed him all over the world. He was a first lieutenant honorably discharged after an eighteen-year run because some new recruit set off a bomb that injured his eye and right arm. Why they chose Texas as home is beyond me.

  “I’m sorry. I know he can be a bit much at times.”

  “Yeah, he took me out back in the garage and showed me every gun he owned, explaining what even the tiniest bullet could obliterate. Weird man.”

  Alex drives us beyond the city limits, past the point I’m familiar with, and continues west down a stretch of road lined with trees and no other cars. Something doesn’t feel right. “Where is this pizza place we’re going to?”

  He glimpses at me before refocusing on the road. “I thought we could skip pizza. There’s something I want to show you. We’re almost there.”

  The sign reads “Pine Hills Park.” It’s dark and creepy out. Another vehicle is there, but I can’t see any movement through its fogged-up windows. Alex steers the car to the edge of the lookout and shuts the engine off, turning to me. I glance at him, waiting for something, but turn away, feeling oddly uncomfortable from the expression on his face.

  “I really like you, Lo. You’ve got everything I want in a serious girlfriend.” He runs his hand up my thigh, pushing my dress up halfway. I pull my legs together, halting his progress. “What, you don’t like me?”

  I shake my head, staring down at his hand. “No, it’s just—”

  “It’s just what?” Alex shifts, leaning over the center console dividing us, and takes my face in his hand, drawing our faces together. “I can make you so popular.” He runs his tongue up my neck, but I move away. “Don’t be scared; just be yourself and let go. I can teach you.” His grip changes from one hand to two hands; then half his body is on top of me. My heart rate kicks up, and I don’t know what to focus on. His mouth tries to play with mine; his hands pull at my clothes. One of the straps on my dress breaks, causing the right side to slip down, and his hand to slips in. With a full palm, Alex squeezes my whole breast so hard I yelp. I need to escape, but how?

  “Stop, please,” I cry, trying to push him away. He moans at my attempt to move him but doesn’t budge. Every time I try to shift away, he pushes in closer. I press my body into the seat as deeply as I can and bang on the side window, hoping to draw some attention. Roughly, Alex grabs my banging fist and successfully pins it under my thigh as he adds more pressure with his body over mine. I jerk my head side to side, attempting to keep his lips off mine and scream, but he grips my throat with such force I stop fighting. Not being able to breathe changes a lot of things.

  “Stop fighting me!” He growls in my face, speckles of his spit hitting my cheek. “You want this.”

  A stabbing pain shoots through my throat, and my vision starts to waiver. It’s now or never. I know I have to do something. With my loose hand, I reach up and forcefully jab his throat, knocking him back into his seat. Filling my lungs back up with air, I find my voice.
“I said stop! And get off me!”

  Alex grasps his neck, staring at me with such hate. My first instinct is to run, get away, but we’re in the middle of nowhere, thirty-five minutes from home, and it’s pitch black out. I look back at him and he speaks in graveled pants. “That wasn’t necessary.” What? “But if you’re not going to put out, get out, slut.”

  “Alex, please, just take me home. I won’t say anything to anyone.”

  “GET OUT! You’re wasting my time. You’re nothing but a little Christian girl cocktease.”

  Just do what he says before he does something much worse. Holding the right side of my dress up, I slide from his car, walking in the direction we came from. It’s cold, I’m shivering, and all I want to do is cry. After some time, Alex blows by me, riding so close to the outer white line I have to jump off the road to prevent him from hitting me. I land in a pile of overgrown weeds, twisting my ankle in the process. Damn, that hurts.

  As fast as I can, I make my way to the first gas station I see and call a taxi. My feet hurt so bad they’re throbbing, but I can’t think about that now. Using my compact, I powder away the tear streaks from under my eyes and rig my dress strap so it stays in place. No way do I want my parents to know what happened. Knowing my dad, he’ll fly off the deep end and go on a man hunt.

  Mom and Dad are sitting together on the couch, waiting up for me when I come in. “Hi, sweetheart, how was your date?” Mom asks.

  All I want to do is escape to the safety of my room. But instead, I melt on a fake smile that feels so weird and answer, “It was good.” The fewer words the better.

  “Oh, good,” Mom says, relieved, gently touching her neck. There was nothing good about it. “Where did he take you?”

  “Umm, somewhere just out of town. It was dark and I didn’t catch the name.” Smile, Lo, because that looks normal.

  “How nice.”

  “Yeah . . . well, I’m going to head to bed if that’s okay. I’m pooped.”

  “Okay, sweetheart. We love you. Good night.”

  “Good night.” I blow them a kiss, making a beeline for my shower to wash Alex’s dirty hands off me and soak my mouth in mouthwash.

  Monday, I’m changing into my PE clothes when my locker is aggressively pushed shut, causing me to look up. “I heard you slept with Alex. Is that true?” Jody, the captain of the cheerleading team, is standing above me, her PE shirt knotted at the bottom to make it skin tight and the waistband on her shorts rolled to show more leg.

  “No, it’s not.”

  “Humph.” She continues to stare as if I’m lying. “Everyone is saying your dad is a dangerous freak. What do you have to say to that?”

  “Who’s everyone? Alex?”

  “Does it matter? Is he?”

  “Listen. If you’re worried about me getting in the way of you dating Alex, don’t be. I don’t want anything to do with him.”

  “Oh, no, I heard all about it.” She smiles. “And I believe it was Alex who didn’t want you.”

  Let it go. No amount of clarification is going to help.

  The whispers and dirty looks continue all through lunch. Keeping my head down, I eat as fast as I can and focus on not speed walking to the garbage to throw away the trash on my tray. That’s when I see him, Alex, and his group of buddies approaching. His evil eyes hone right in on me, and one by one I’m circled, Alex in the dead center. “Hey, Lo, how is life treating you? You look really pretty today.” His hand comes down on my tray, knocking it from my grip. Milk and mashed potatoes run down my pants and soak my shoes at the same time as Alex’s goons laugh. “Uh-oh, are you gonna cry?”

  I want to, except I know it’s safer if I stand there in silence and let him get bored. He’ll eventually leave. Dropping my head, I wait. As soon as he leaves, I’m going to escape from all these eyes and run into the bathroom.

  “Get lost, pickle dick! Don’t you have a venereal disease to catch?” I look up to a pretty blonde pushing at Alex’s chest, chasing him away.

  He doesn’t mess with her. He steps away backwards, spitting a good-bye. “Always a pleasure, Maggie.”

  “Pleasure my ass. Now get lost.” She’s not afraid. Once they leave, the little blonde takes me by the forearm and ushers me to the bathroom. For some reason, I hold still and watch as she cleans all the food off my clothes.

  “Why did you do that for me?”

  “Because we girls have to stick together.” She looks up at me briefly and smiles the prettiest smile. “Plus, I hate him. Back in sixth grade, Alex smeared red marker on my seat in class. When I stood up, the whole room laughed and chanted, “Bloody Mary.” So I followed him into the bathroom, caught him off guard in one of the stalls, and kneed him in his nuts. His eyes crossed, and he fell to his knees like a sissy. His perfect hair looked dirty to me, so I took it upon myself to help him out. I grabbed a great big handful, dunked his head in the toilet, and flushed. He didn’t even fight me, holding his family jewels the whole time.” She pulls several more paper towels from the wall and continues to scrub. “But don’t worry about him; he won’t mess with you again.”

  “You weren’t afraid. You got in his face, and he actually backed down. I don’t understand. How are you so brave?”

  Maggie stands up and shoots the wad of paper towels into the trash from where we were standing. “I grew up in a house with three brothers. Penises are my specialty.”

  “Thank you.” I smile, hugging her off guard.

  Alex never messes with me again, and that’s the beginning of a lifelong friendship between Maggie Reese and me. Instant best friends, we have it all planned out. We’re going to attend the same college, be roommates, find boyfriends who are friends, and never be separated.

  After graduation, things don’t go as planned. Maggie gets accepted to UCF down in Central Florida, and my parents strongly encourage me to stay locally.

  I’m devastated.

  Chapter 1

  Lo

  It’s the first night of my college Anatomy and Physiology class. With my hand clutching the strap over my shoulder, I exhale a long breath. “You can do this; this isn’t high school,” I tell myself. Pulling the door open, I scurry to the back of the class and take a seat at an empty black lab table that seats two. The room is quiet since only a handful of people are in here, and everyone looks as nervous as I feel. Minding my own business, I find a pen in my bag, pull out some highlighters, and open my binder so I’m ready to take notes.

  Over the next ten minutes, students trickle in; still, no one sits by me. Ms. McCloud begins class with roll call, reviewing the syllabus, and assigning lab partners.

  “Lo Knight and Benjamin Bosmer.” My new lab partner. I look around for this Ben guy, except no one gets up.

  After a few beats, someone finally speaks. “Ah, Ms. McCloud, I have an issue.” Ben stands and everyone’s attention sticks to him.

  “Yes?”

  “You see I have a problem working with her.”

  Ms. McCloud narrows her eyes and purses her lips, waking up every age-line on her face. “Is that so?”

  “Yeah, I’m sure she’s very nice, but she’ll mess with my natural ability to learn. Instead of focusing on the anatomy I’m studying, I’ll be focusing on her anatomy.” Ew, what a pig!

  “Okay, okay, okay, that’s enough.” She huffs once, scanning her arthritic finger down the roll.

  “I’ll be her partner.” My eyes shoot to the profile of a guy who’s sitting next to Ben. The guy stands, sticks his pen in his mouth, and collects his books before she even says “yes.”

  “Ah, Heath Mavrick, nice to see you. I can’t tell you how I’m just bursting with joy to have you in my class again—as if you weren’t a big enough pain in my gluteus maximus the first time around.”

  “Why thank you, Ms. McCloud. The feeling is mutual.”

  She waves him away and makes a note on her papers in front of her.

  As he turns around and saunters towards me, my insides warm, and he has my fu
ll attention. He’s downright sexy, mysteriously dark, and his arms are dripping in tattoos. His face screams confidence, smiling with lips so dreamy at me. I have to tilt my head up to see him when he circles the table; he’s that tall. My eyes seem to savor him. “May I take a seat?” Deep sweet charm oozes from his voice with the tiniest hint of a southern twang. He sits, changing my breathing. “You’re in luck.” He leans in as if he’s telling me a secret, and I lean back, feeling intimidated, studying his face, and feeling a nervous shiver tickle down me. “Last semester I took half of Ms. McCloud’s class before I dropped it.”

  “How does that make me lucky?”

  He tips a brow and whispers. “Rumor has it she doesn’t change her tests.”

  Ah, I see. “That’s nice. I’m not a cheater.”

  “Good.” Heath wraps an arm around my shoulder and pulls me in, holding his cell phone far out in front of us. Before I can catch him, he pushes his lips to the outer crease of mine, and the camera makes a shutter sound.

  “Excuse me?” I tingle all over from his small bit of contact, my right hand pushing him away.

  “Mr. Mavrick!” Both our heads spin back to Ms. McCloud. “Pardon us, but would you suggest I put the class on hold while you and Ms. Knight get to know each other better? I wouldn’t want to get in the way of something more important than your GPA.”

  “We’re sorry, Ms. McCloud. Please bless our ears with your words of wisdom.” Heath pulls his cell phone so the screen is facing him. What is he smiling at?

  “You got me in trouble,” I whisper, and he continues to stare at his phone. “What are you doing?”

  He turns his face back to me, and I can’t stop staring. “Remembering this day.”

  Without fail, every Monday and Wednesday, Heath stands next to the classroom door and waits on me. At first he acts like it’s coincidence—he’s finishing up a phone call—but I see right through him. Then he grins. His smile makes me smile as if he has strings attached to my lips that I can’t control. I pretend he doesn’t affect me, but my body is positive he does. I can feel all the subtle changes: sweaty palms, fluttering heart, frog in the throat . . .