Wild Angel

by Shari Copell

  Most of the crowd had cleared out. Nicks met two or three small groups of people as she walked the distance to the double row of aqua-blue porta-johns behind the stage. A few of them recognized her and shouted “Awesome job!” and other encouraging things. She waved as she turned the handle on the potty at the end of the row.

  She’d barely unbuckled her belt when someone pounded on the porta-john she was in. Her brow furrowed with irritation. “They’re all empty. Pick another one.”

  Nicks nearly shit a brick when the blade of a rather large knife sliced through the side at hip level, barely a foot away from her. She jerked and stumbled, swearing under her breath as she stared at the gleaming chrome edge.

  It was a Bowie knife like the kind her grandfather used to gut deer. It was a helluva sharp one too. Who would be stupid enough to shove it through the side like that?

  Whoever was out there yanked the knife blade out with a slight screech of metal on plastic. It soon made another appearance, this time through the thin door in front of her.

  “Fucking hell!” Nicks shouted. “What’s wrong with you? Is there something special about this particular shitter?”

  “Did you think I’d let you take Stone away from me without a fight? I fight for what’s mine, bitch. I’m gonna cut you bad.”

  She quickly re-buckled her belt. Jesus Christ! Emily. With a hunting knife!

  The blade was withdrawn once again. Barely breathing, Nicks stood dead center in the potty, her arms tucked away from the sides. It gave her the freaking chills to know all that stood between her and a psycho with a knife were four walls of thin plastic.

  The door was thinner than the rest of it, and the lock was a short knob that dropped down into a notch inside. It wouldn’t take much for Emily to pry it open. Nicks sure as hell hoped she didn’t figure that out.

  “Oh my God, Emily, please... This is crazy!” She closed her eyes. Bad choice of words.

  The knife made another explosive appearance through the front. Nicks jumped back. Emily was not slow in figuring out the blade was easier to push through the door. It was only a matter of time before she got it open.

  “Did you just call me crazy? I’m gonna shove this knife so far up your cunt you’ll feel it in your throat.”

  Okay. Enough. Time to call for the big guns. Nicks jumped up on the ledge beside the toilet seat and screamed her terror through the air holes at the top, pounding on the sides as she did so to maximize the noise.

  “Stone! Somebody! Help me! Help me!” Screaming required breathing, but she couldn’t seem to get any air into her lungs. “God, somebody help me! Stone!”

  It was useless. Her cries were muffled by the plastic. With all the noise going on near the stage, he’d never hear her. No one would.

  Emily amped up the attack, shoving the knife through the door every time Nicks shouted for help. The woman was attacking the porta-john overhanded now, the blade higher on the door and at a downward angle. Like Norman Bates in Psycho.

  “No one’s going to save you, bitch. You think because you’re cute and you play guitar, you can steal my boyfriend. Fail!” The silver blade burst through the side this time, emphasizing the hateful words.

  Could she reason with her? She had nothing to lose in trying. Nicks braced both hands on the wall on either side of her and stared down at the locked handle, praying it would hold. “Oh come on. Do you want to go to jail for killing me? Do you? You won’t see Stone then, will you?”

  As if in answer, the knife came through the side, right next to her thumb.

  “I won’t get caught. No one cares about a whore like you. They’ll thank me for killing you.”

  Oh, shit! Jesus! “Stone! Gio! Rob! Anybody! Goddamnit, somebody help me! Help me!”

  Nicks nearly collapsed into the blue water beneath her when the knife came through the back, right between her knees as she straddled the seat. Somehow Emily had wedged herself between the row of back-to-back potties and still managed to have enough umph to shove the knife through the thick plastic.

  Even if she did manage to get out and make a break for it, Emily had a strength born of anger. She’d never outrun her. This was it. She was going to die just as she’d found love. And a virgin to boot.

  “Please, Emily. You don’t want to do this.”

  “Stop saying my name!” With a shriek that sounded like a cross between the rebel yell and a primal scream, Emily plunged the knife through the front door again.

  The woman moved like lightning. Front, back, sides. There were no clues as to where she was at any given moment.

  Nicks had to try something. Stone wasn’t coming; he couldn’t hear her at this distance. Either there was no one else lingering by the potties, or they just didn’t want to get involved.

  So what could she do to catch this nutty bitch off-kilter and give herself a half-decent running start?

  Sunlight suddenly lit up the inside of the toilet, revealing her attacker standing just outside the door. The lock slipped upward a fraction of an inch when Emily jiggled the handle. Nicks heard a demented laugh. “I’m coming in, bitch. And you’re gonna bleed.”

  Nicks didn’t doubt the truth of that statement for a second, not if she stayed put. She was scared shitless, but she’d rather have Emily put a knife in her back as she ran than have her turn this crapper into her coffin.

  Nicks reached down and removed the nob from the latch, praying Emily wouldn’t see the red “closed” sign outside change to the green “open.” Bracing both hands on the walls, she gritted her teeth and kicked the door as hard as she could with a booted foot.

  The door burst off the hinges and hit Emily dead-center in the chest, sending her careening backward onto her ass. Nicks leapt out of the porta-john, her feet churning in the dust as she ran for the stage.

  Did she only imagine she heard thundering footsteps behind her? Terror kept Nicks faced forward. She tried to pick up the pace, but her feet got ahead of the rest of her and she stumbled.

  Crazy laughter sounded behind her. Emily couldn’t be that close. Christ, she’d fallen on her ass with the door on top of her! How the hell had she managed to catch up so fast?

  Nicks looked back just in time to see a flash of silver as Emily swung the blade. She screamed for Stone, fully expecting to feel the blade lop her head off in mid-shriek.

  Stone appeared at the back edge of the stage, took one look at her, and flew down the metal stairs two at a time. Thankfully, Turd and Gio were right behind him.

  Stone planted both feet on the ground just as Nicks ducked behind him and scooted under the stage.

  “Emily! What the hell are you doing?” Stone shouted.

  “I’m killing your little girlfriend, Stone. It was a bad idea to fuck with me.”

  “Call security! Now!” Stone shouted at Gio before he adopted a calmer tone. “I am not going to let you hurt her, Emily. Give me the knife.”

  “Fuck you! Come and take it from me!”

  Nicks hid her face and huddled against the support beam under the shelter of the platform. There was a muffled scream from Emily then the sound of a scuffle.

  “Hold her still!” a man shouted. “Who has the Taser?”

  “I do,” another man huffed.

  “Then use it!”

  Emily screamed again. Nicks heard bodies hitting the ground.

  “Call the hospital! Tell them we got a 302 coming in!” Nicks breathed a sigh of relief. Emily had evidently been disarmed, but the Taser hadn’t stopped her from swearing.

  A few moments passed as the cacophony faded into the distance. It didn’t matter. As long as she could hear Emily’s voice, she wasn’t looking up and she wasn’t moving.

  “You can come out now.” Stone crouched beside her. “You’re safe. The cops have her.”

  Nicks released her grip on the stage support and fell into Stone’s arms.

  “God.” He ran his hands all over her, as if to reassure himself she was still whole. “Are you okay?”

 
“I think so.” This was the second time today she’d found herself smothered in those strong arms, totally on the verge of a meltdown. There was nothing about his embrace she didn’t like. It was all the drama that was slowly driving her nuts.

  “I told you not to wander off by yourself.”

  “I know, but I forgot. I was having so much fun, I forgot about her.”

  He sat down and pulled her into his lap. “I forgot too. I’m sorry.”

  Nicks closed her eyes and went numb. This had almost been her last day on the planet. Emily would’ve killed her if she’d caught her. That she hadn’t was nothing short of a miracle.

  Breathe, just breathe. She was still in one piece. Emily hadn’t gutted her like a deer. She listened to the solid thud of Stone’s heart beneath her ear.

  “Miss? Are you okay?” Nicks looked up to see two police officers peering in at them.

  It was a real effort to smile. She finally gave up and nodded her head. “I’m fine.”

  “We have an ambulance standing by. Do you want them to check you out?”

  “No, I don’t think it’s necessary.”

  “I think you should have the paramedics look at you, Nicks. Just to be safe,” Stone said.

  “Really. I’m okay now.”

  “Will you do it for me? Please?”

  Damn him and those beautiful eyes. She knew she was going to cave.

  “God, you already know what buttons to push with me, don’t you, Jensen?” She nodded. “I’ll let them check me out, but we’re going to make it quick. We got important stuff to do later.”

  Deep laughter rumbled through Stone’s chest. He helped her to her feet and guided her out from under the stage.

  The taller of the two cops stepped forward with a metal clipboard in his hands. “We actually have to get a statement from you, but we can do that while they’re checking you out. Is that okay?”

  She’d give them a statement. She’d tell them how that crazy bitch Emily needed to be locked up and/or put on the appropriate meds before she was turned loose on the streets again. Stone said she wouldn’t get violent, but there was something about the woman’s demeanor when she’d cornered them earlier that said otherwise.

  “Yeah, that’s okay.”

  Stone draped his arms around her shoulders as they turned to follow the policemen toward the waiting ambulance.

  “If you apologize one more time, I’m going to jump out of this van,” Nicks said. “Neither of us could’ve known she’d go nuts like that. Where does a woman find a knife that size at a music festival anyway?”

  It was dark by the time they finished with the cops, cleaned up, and started for home. Thank God the rest of Heavy Remedy had stayed behind to make sure she was all right and help Stone load up his equipment. It pissed her off that they’d had to waste time like that.

  “This is Pennsylvania, honey.” The oncoming traffic illuminated his grin beside her. “That kind of knife is considered a tooth pick in these parts.”

  “Ha ha. I wish that were funny.”

  “I know.” He blew out a breath. “I guess it hasn’t sunk in yet. I’ve never seen that side of her, though I knew she wasn’t rowing with both oars all the time. I’m shocked that she really did try to kill you. I’m so—”

  She sat up in the seat and doubled a fist at him. “I’m coming over there if you say you’re sorry again. And then you will be sorry.”

  “Promise?” He laughed as she swatted at him.

  “I’m the one who’s sorry for being such a crabass. It’s pretty goddamn scary to have someone shoving a knife through a porta-john at you.” She settled back into the seat. “It’s over now. I don’t want what happened to spoil tonight. I had it all planned out in my mind. Those plans just didn’t involve me fighting for my life in a portable toilet. I can’t think of a more humiliating way to die.”

  “You have a helluva set of lungs on you. I heard you screaming all the way from the front of the stage.”

  “I was so sure she was going to catch me.” Nicks shivered.

  “Well, she didn’t, and we’re going to stop talking about it now,” Stone said firmly. “We’re going to drop by my apartment, and I’m going to get my stuff and a nice bottle of sweet apple wine.” His eyes shone like black ice. “I’m going to love you so hard tonight. I’m gonna go so deep inside you, I’ll be a little piece of your soul when I’m done. You’ll never be able to forget me. Or get rid of me.”

  “Like I’d want to do that anyway. We’re a team now, Jensen.” She fist-bumped him across the console of the van. “And I think I might be able to match you thrust for thrust.”

  “Shit. Stop talking.” Stone dropped his hand to his crotch for an adjustment. “I’m getting hard just thinking about it.”

  She bit her lip and smiled in the darkness. Oh yeah, tonight was going to be good.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  Holding her breath, Nicks pushed her bedroom door open and flicked the light switch on. Thankfully, everything was as pristine as she’d left it that morning.

  The odd events of late made her feel jumpy every time she opened a door or turned on a light. She hated it. It was an eerie feeling to put your finger on a light switch and falter for the barest second, wondering if you’d see someone standing in the corner of the room when you flipped it up.

  She glanced around anyway, just to be sure. Bed was still made, nothing was out of place. She took several steps forward, hoping Stone hadn’t noticed her hesitation.

  “Put your things anywhere on the floor,” she instructed. “And I’m sorry I only have a double bed. This is going to be a big change for you if you’re used to sleeping on a king.”

  “No big deal. I won’t need much room. I intend to spend the night pressed tight against you. In between the times I’m pressed tight in you.”

  She threw her things on the bed, her insides roiling like worms in a cup. She loved him, but it was new. She hoped to God she didn’t regret what she was about to do. On the other hand, there was a first time for everything. And she couldn’t shake the feeling he was the one.

  His face fell. “Did I say something wrong?”

  “No. You always seem to say something right. Every time you talk like that, it messes with my head. In a good way.”

  “Awesome.” He stepped forward and pulled her into his arms. “I won’t hurt you. Or at least I don’t think I will.” He lifted her chin with two fingers. “I’ve never deflowered a virgin before. I think you’re probably the only one left in Pittsburgh.”

  “Geez, isn’t that pathetic? Here I am, nearly nineteen, and—”

  He put those same two fingers to her lips. “Don’t. You are a breath of fresh air for me. You’re not like any other girl I’ve ever known. And you know what kills me the most? That you trust me with this. I’m nothing special. Just a man who was lucky enough to play guitar. But you’re one in a million. I am going to be so gentle and careful with you tonight.”

  She leaned against him. “I hope those aren’t just words, Stone. I love what you’re saying. I want you to mean it.”

  He ran his hands up and down her back. “I’ve never said anything like that to anyone ever. You make me feel things I’ve never felt, Nicks. You were a fist in my solar plexus the very first time I ever laid eyes on you. I could never shake you. I didn’t even try very hard. I was in hell when you wouldn’t talk to me.”

  “That’s totally your own fault.”

  “Yeah, I know.”

  “Aw, shit. I don’t have condoms.” She’d meant to get them and forgotten. She wanted to pick them out herself so as to avoid “ribbed for her pleasure” and the odd colors they often came in. They always reminded her of a dog’s chew toy. She wouldn’t be able to keep a straight face if he approached her with something that resembled a purple alien space probe.

  “I had a box at the apartment. I brought them along,” he said.

  Well, of course he had a box of condoms at his apartment. He was Stone Jensen, rock s
tar, every woman’s masturbatory fantasy. She’d begged to see his place, but he made her wait outside in the car while he got his stuff. He probably had things in there he didn’t want her to see. Lace panties and bras and...

  Jealous thoughts spun inside her head like a tornado. She pulled away. “Use them much, Mister Jensen?”

  “No. They’re unopened. I bought them hoping...just in case. This is going to make me sound like a douchebag, but I bought them for us.”

  “Really?”

  He shrugged. “Hope springs eternal.”

  She smiled, relieved. “Nothing wrong with a little hope. Hey, I’m sweaty and stinky. I’m going to jump in the shower first, if you don’t mind.” She started to head toward the bathroom but he stopped her.

  “Let me shower with you. Let’s make this the most memorable night of our lives. When we’re seventy, and we’ve raised six kids, and we’re sitting on the front porch of our house in rocking chairs, I want you to turn to me and say ‘Remember our first time? We took a shower together. You washed me from stem to stern then fucked me into oblivion.’”

  She started to laugh so hard she fell on the bed. He fell on top of her, smothering her face and neck with kisses.

  “Jesus, you’re an idiot,” she said when she could finally talk. “Okay. Let me light a few candles then we can shower together.”

  Stone had never had a problem shedding his clothes for any reason, least of all to make love to a beautiful woman. Nicks, however, was reluctant to part with hers. Despite being the most delicious woman he’d ever seen with curves that never seemed to end, she was shy about getting naked in front of him.

  “Nicks, please...,” he whined, on the verge of begging. “I want to see you.”

  “I know. You keep saying that.” She had her shirt and bra off, but she had her arms crossed over her breasts, her eyes full of doubt. “But what if I’m not—?”

  He huffed with disbelief. “Don’t you dare say pretty enough. Or sexy enough. Or anything enough. My God, my eyeballs are going to explode right out of my head and make a bloody mess all over the tile if you don’t let me see you.”