by Toni Aleo
Pushing myself up, I skate off the ice, bent over, still gasping for breath before getting off the rink and heading to the locker room. Entering, I drop down on the bench and just lean back into my locker, letting my breathing regulate. I’m the only one here, so I take a moment to breathe. Usually I rush to get undressed and in the shower, but today, I’ll breathe.
When I’m breathing normally, I still only take my equipment off, leaving my tank and shorts on as I enter the showers with my towel and shower caddy. Must be habit, I guess. Going to my shower, which is the one in the corner so if anyone peeks in the window they can’t really see anything, I turn it on the hottest setting and remove my tank and shorts before pulling my hair out of its braid.
Going under the hot stream, I close my eyes and let the water just relax my aching muscles. Resting my hands behind my head, I suck in a breath and let it out slowly, just enjoying the hot water against my cool skin. Ugh, I needed this. Reaching down, I get my shampoo out of my caddy and start washing my mane of hair. After washing all the soap out, I put in conditioner, letting it soak in as I wash my body. I’m about to wash off when I hear the door open.
Looking back, I gasp, covering my lady bits as McCarthy strolls in, obviously unaware I’m here.
“Um. McCarthy, I’m in here,” I say, and he looks over at me, shrugging before going to the shower four down from me.
Okay, maybe he is aware and he’s just a dick.
“Yeah, so?”
“So I’m trying to wash,” I say, turning so he can only see my back…and bare ass.
“I don’t care. I just got done working out; I need to shower before class.”
“Okay, I’ll be done in—” I cut off when he drops his towel and turns the water on.
Yeah, I didn’t want to see his dick.
Looking over at me, he says, “I’m taking a shower, and you’re not going to stop me.”
As his gaze roams over my body, his eyes are menacing, and within seconds my chest hurts from my heart pounding in it and all I can do is blink. Finally, I recover; he won’t do anything to me. He wouldn’t dare. I’ll just hurry.
“Oh, don’t be shy, baby doll. I won’t look,” he says, and then he grins. “Much. Nice ass, by the way.”
“Disgusting,” I mutter, trying to go under the stream with my back to him to get the soap out of my hair.
“What, scared I’ll touch you? Force you to do something you don’t want to?” he asks and I pause, my hands in my hair.
“You touch me, I’ll kill you.”
“You know you want it. I see you looking at me,” he calls over to me, laughter in his voice.
“I’m not playing, McCarthy. I will hurt you,” I warn, looking over my shoulder at him. Washing my hair out, I try to be quick but I have so much hair.
“No one could hear you screaming, you know,” he warns then, and fuck it, I’m out. I’ll wash my hair at the house, or better yet, my dad’s.
Reaching over, I turn off the shower and grab my caddy and my towel, wrapping it around myself before heading for the door. But before I can reach it, he grabs ahold of my arm, knocking my caddy out of my hand, my hair and body stuff hitting the tile in a crash.
Whipping me to him, he grins and his dark eyes bore into mine. “Where ya going, baby?”
My heart is in my throat. I feel frozen, but there is no way I’m getting raped by this fucker. Ripping my hand out of his, I pull back, my fist coming forward and getting him in the mouth. His head whips back and he goes to call me something, but then I go to kick him in the dick and he blocks me, pushing me against the wall. Covering my body with his big one, he goes for my hands, but I’m swinging and kicking with everything inside me. When his mouth comes down toward mine, I bite his lip, causing him to scream out before covering his mouth and glaring at me. I’m ten steps from the door—all I have to do is get him away from me and I’m golden. Because he’s right, I can scream all I want. My dad won’t hear me in his office.
When I look back from the door, he backhands me across the face, knocking my head to the side, and fuck, it stings. But I recover, glaring up at him, not even feeling the sting that much.
“You motherfucker!” I scream before I kick him hard in the gut.
He goes back a few steps, his dark eyes flaring, and I make a run for it. My towel has fallen and I’m naked, but I need to go.
But he gets me by my breasts, his nails biting into them, making me scream as he brings me back into his hard cock. I try to shake him free, but he isn’t budging, his lips by my ear as he laughs in such a disgusting and menacing way.
Just as the door opens.
And Jayden steps in.
Surely I’m imagining what I am seeing right now.
But I’m pretty sure McCarthy is holding my girlfriend by her boobs.
And she’s naked.
And so is he.
But her mouth is bleeding and her eyes are full of fear.
So that means one thing.
McCarthy is about to die.
I yank her by her arm behind me, and she goes with a yelp. I smash my fist into McCarthy’s face before he can even sputter any kind of fucking lie to me. His head whips back, and when it comes forward again, I do it again and again and one last time before he falls onto the ground, his hand going up and trying to stop me. By then I’m kicking him in his gut. I hear Baylor yelling something, I feel her trying to stop me, but no, this dude is going to die. I go to reach for him to beat his ass some more—the rage is all-consuming—but then someone is pulling me back who is not Baylor. When Coach throws me up against the wall, he shakes me hard.
“That’s enough, I said!”
I’m breathing hard, my hand is aching, but all I can think about is Baylor. I look over at her and she’s holding herself, tears streaming down her face as she shakes. I’m not sure if she’s cold or in shock, but I go to her, looking her over. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, he just hit me; he didn’t rape me. He only tried.”
“Lying bitch!” McCarthy yells, and I look back at him.
He’s still alive?
“Someone better start explaining, right now!” Coach yells before throwing a towel to Baylor. Looking her over, I see that she has red marks all over her, her mouth is bleeding, causing anger to burn my body. I help her cover up with the towel I find on the floor before I wrap my arms around her, but she squirms out of them, shaking her head. “I’m fine.”
“No, you’re not,” I say, taking her back in my arms. When she starts to sob into my chest, I kiss her forehead as McCarthy starts spitting nothing but lies.
“He came in here and whooped my ass for nothing!”
“I highly doubt that,” Coach says, looking back at us and raising an eyebrow.
“No, she put the moves on me, and he got mad because she’s been fucking him too,” McCarthy yells, wiping the blood from his nose. “She wanted it.”
“You’re a fucking liar! He tried to rape me!” she yells back, her body trembling against mine. “I came in here to shower, and when I was washing my hair, he came in and wouldn’t leave. I asked him to leave then told him, and he wouldn’t. When he said he could touch me and no one would know, I tried to leave and he grabbed on to me. He backhanded me, and I punched him in the mouth and kicked him in the gut. Dad, I’m not lying!” she says, probably because McCarthy is calling her a liar left and right.
“Coach, I came to the locker room to suit up to do some laps, and I heard a scream. I walked in, and she has blood coming from her mouth and he had her by her boobs. I didn’t think; I acted. I won’t apologize for whooping his ass. You don’t touch a woman like that.”
Coach looks back at McCarthy and he stands stone-faced, his eyes wide as he shakes his head. “I didn’t touch her. She came at me.”
“I would never,” she sneers from my arms.
“Why were you in here?” Coach asks. “I’m pretty sure the captain has enforced the rule to wait till she is done. And if you didn’t kn
ow she was in here, then when you saw her, you should have left.”
McCarthy doesn’t answer him, just shrugs. “I’m tired of her getting special treatment,” he says, acid in his voice.
“She doesn’t get special treatment, asshole,” I snap. “We respect her.”
I still haven’t caught my breath as I watch Coach look around, his breathing labored too. Pausing, he looks back up. “Why’s her caddy on the floor like that if she came on to you and y’all were fooling around? Why would she be carrying it?”
McCarthy swallows visibility and then shrugs. “I don’t know.”
“Because I dropped it when I was trying to get away and he grabbed ahold of me,” she answers quietly. “Dad, I’m not lying.”
“I know you’re not, Baylor,” he says sternly before looking back at her. “Go put some clothes on and wait for me in my office.”
I let her go and she starts for the door, but when I turn to go with her, he says, “Not you, Sinclair. I need you to make sure I can walk McCarthy to campus security without killing him myself.”
“Yes, sir,” I say as Baylor walks out of the room. Crossing my arms, I kinda hope he lets me whoop his ass some more. But instead, he looks at him and says, “I don’t do liars; I hate them. And most of all, I don’t have men on my team who try to take advantage of girls.”
“But she’s—”
“You’re off my team, you are out of my house, and you have twenty seconds to get dressed before I drag you to campus police naked.”
When he doesn’t say anything, I take that as admitting guilt as he grabs his towel and gets dressed. Coach doesn’t say anything to me or him as campus police come and take our statements. They then interview Baylor, take pictures, and it kills me to hear her replay the story. But she is just so damn strong and proud. Any other girl would be shaky, scared out of her mind. But Baylor… She’s the strongest girl I know. Nothing fazes her, and by God, I love her for that.
By the time everything is said and done, McCarthy is arrested for assault and battery and then attempted rape. As they handcuff him and put him in the back of their car, I hope he knows he isn’t welcome back here. As soon as the guys get word of this, McCarthy will be on everyone’s hit list.
I could care fucking less about that dick though. My main concern is that she is okay. Even though she is acting strong, I need to hear it from her. And when I finally get into the office, she’s fully dressed as she chews her nails. Before I can ask if she’s okay, her dad does it first.
Dropping her feet to the ground, she sits up and nods. “Yeah. I’m fine. He didn’t really touch me anywhere that would violate me too much, but the intent was there.”
“Sure,” he says with a nod. “I’m sorry, Baylor. I should have waited out there or something. I didn’t know anyone was here but us.”
“No, Dad, it isn’t your fault at all. I should have just walked out when he came in,” she says, letting out a long breath before looking over at me. “Sorry for all the trouble.”
“No trouble at all,” I say.
“Thank you, though,” she adds.
“Always,” I say simply and her eyes soften, but then she looks away quickly.
An eerie silence fills the room as we both examine her, praying we don’t see anything wrong. I’m not sure what she is thinking, but she makes me nervous. She wants to be so strong, but that was serious. I have to remind myself though, she isn’t like other girls; she doesn’t have their thought processes. In her mind, the danger is gone and she is fine.
“Okay, well, I’m fine, seriously. I can tell y’all are looking at me like this is something big, but it’s not. I’m good, he got his,” she reminds us. “Promise.”
“Are you sure?” he asks, and I eye her. She looks more mad than anything, but still, that had to be traumatic.
“For sure, Dad, promise. I’m good. I’m a little shaken up, but nothing a nap won’t cure.”
“Okay,” Coach says. “Let me know if you feel differently.”
“Sure. Okay, I’ve missed all my classes and I need to get the notes off Markus and shit,” she says, standing up. She goes for the door and I go after her, placing my hand on the small of her back just to let her know I’m here. She looks back at me, giving me a small smile, and I can tell she isn’t lying. In her head, she’s fine, but I’m still worried. She could be in shock or something, and I need to get her home. There is no way in hell I’m leaving her side, not until I know for sure she is okay.
“Just a second, guys.”
When I look back at him, he’s eyeing us, and the moment my eyes meet his, I’m pretty sure our little secret is out in the open. Surely, he won’t bring that up right now, though. It really isn’t the right time, but I guess it doesn’t matter what I think because he asks, “Is it true what McCarthy said in there? About you and Sinclair?”
“What?” she asks incredulously, her jaw dropping open in utter shock. “Are you serious right now? Why would you believe anything that comes out of that guy’s mouth?”
“Answer the question, Baylor. Stop deflecting,” he says sternly, and slowly I shake my head.
“Maybe we should discuss this tomorrow?” I suggest, but he shakes his head.
“She says she’s fine. Baylor?”
“What, Dad?”
“Are you two together?”
She looks at me, her jaw still open as she sputters before looking back at her father. Well, I didn’t want him to find out like this, but at least he’s finding out and I can comfort her the way I want without him suspecting anything.
“No,” she answers, and I whip around to look at her with my eyes wide.
Excuse me?
“No, Dad, we are not together. Have we had sex? Yes, but it means nothing. We are friends, that’s it.”
“Friends?” he asks, but I can’t take my eyes off her. Is she serious right now? Maybe she is in shock, but then I wait for her to look at me and she won’t. She keeps her eyes locked with her father’s, her face hard as a rock as she nods.
“Yeah, he’s a good guy. I’ve learned a lot from him. There was some sexual attraction, and we acted on it. No biggie. It’s nothing. I feel nothing for him.”
Oh really? Scoffing, I fall back in my chair and shake my head. Wow.
“Are you sure?” he asks her, and she nods.
“Yeah, Dad, there is nothing here. He’s a friend, that’s it.”
Cutting his eyes to me, he drops his head to the side. “Sinclair, is that right?” he asks, and when I look up at my coach, my stomach sinks. Maybe I was completely wrong this whole time. Maybe she doesn’t love me, and maybe I should have told her I loved her every day, just so she’d know, so she could learn how to say it too. Because obviously she’s lost her fucking mind if she thinks we mean nothing. No, she’s lying. But why? He’s caught us. Who cares? She said she’d tell him if he asked, and he did, yet she is lying. Why? He doesn’t even look mad; he just wants to know the truth, and I refuse to fucking lie.
I’m proud of who I love.
And while I hoped the sentiment would be returned, maybe she just doesn’t know how. So let me show her.
“No, sir. It’s not,” I say, sitting up in my chair.
“Jayden,” she gasps, but I ignore her, my eyes locked on my coach.
“I love Baylor. More than I can even describe to you.”
“What are you doing?” she yells, but I continue.
“We’ve been together for almost four months now, and I’ve loved her the whole damn time. I thought she loved me, but apparently, I was wrong. I know this may mean my career, and I hope it doesn’t, but I won’t lie to you,” I say, standing and looking down at him. “I love your daughter, and I will protect her until my dying breath. I’m sorry I’ve kept that from you, and I hate the way this just went down. But watching what she just said to you made me realize that I could have been wasting my damn time. So you’ll probably have nothing to worry about once I walk out that door. Now, if you’ll excuse m
e.”
I turn and head for the door, gently moving her to the side when she steps to stop me. I ignore her tear-filled, pleading eyes and softly say, “Move.”
“But—”
“No, not right now. Let me walk away and pull the knife out of my fucking back before I even try to talk to you,” I warn.
She tries to say something, but I walk around her, heading for the door just as Coach stops me. I shouldn’t stop, I should just go, but it isn’t his fault that Baylor is like this. Well, shit, maybe it is, but either way, I can’t be rude to him because I’m hurt by her. I have been lying to him too.
“Jayden?”
Looking back, I meet his grateful gaze as he nods. “Thank you. For everything.”
“Any time, sir,” I answer and then walk away.
Feeling like what I guess I’ve been the whole fucking time.
A doormat.
Shit, shit, shit, shit!
I turn to go after him, but my dad calls me back. “Baylor.”
“Jayden, wait,” I say, reaching for the door as he slams it.
“No, Baylor, you wait,” Dad says sternly, but I shake my head.
“No, I need to talk to him,” I say, pulling the door open and having it crash against the wall.
“You need to wait a damn second,” he yells at me, but I whip around, glaring.
“No, give me a fucking minute to talk to him, and then I’ll deal with you!” I yell back, and then I take off out the door and through the rink just as Jayden goes through the front door. Blinking away my tears, I beg my heart to stop beating so hard, but it isn’t listening. I think it knows we are in some deep shit. And really? This has to happen now? I mean, come on! As if dealing with the McCarthy shit isn’t enough, really, why did Jayden do that?
When I reach the door, I call his name again just as he reaches the parking lot.
He stops and then shakes his head. “Why am I stopping?” I hear him ask himself as I approach. Turning, he looks back at me, blatant hurt in his eyes. “I can’t right now, Baylor.”
“No, wait,” I say, stopping in front of him. “We need to talk about this!”