“Hey, Reg, it’s fucking crazy in here tonight,” Drake says.
“Yeah, that’s why I’m here. You guys should leave. It’s way too packed and I can’t keep an eye on you and everyone else,” I say, looking straight at Darcie.
Grady instantly recognizes I’m addressing Darcie and stands to challenge me. “I don’t know who you think you are, but I can take care of her myself. Back the fuck off.”
“You’re in my Goddamn bar and if I want you to leave, then you’ll leave. So get the fuck out before I toss you out on your ass,” I seethe with anger. It’s been a month in the making and I’m ready to lay this fucker flat.
I ball up my fist and roll my head from side to side, loosening up my muscles. Grady moves around Darcie, getting dangerously close. He stands a few inches shorter than me and breathes his beer laced breath in my face. The corner of my mouth lifts slightly as I get this gratifying urge to punch the guy’s face.
Jake and Jeremy come from the pool tables to stand behind me. Jake is bouncing like he’s on a pogo stick. His excitement is impossible to contain because he knows I’m about to kill this dude. “I’ve been waiting for a fucking month for this to happen. Knock his bitch ass out, Reggie!”
Drake protectively moves Presley behind him, but places his hand on my shoulder. I jerk my arm forward. No one is going to stop me from destroying this douche bag. “Lay off, Drake. You aren’t stopping this.”Drake steps back and joins Jeremy and Jake a few feet behind me. They have witnessed my murderous rage before and know I am beyond the point of no return. I square my shoulders and roll them back. Clenching my fists open and closed, I glare down Grady, careful to never break our gaze. The bar turns deathly quiet as a crowd forms around us. Here we go. I’m ready to knock this useless piece of garbage on his ass. My feet turn as I ready myself to punch Grady in the face then I see her.
Darcie moves from behind Grady and stands beside him. “Reggie, please. Don’t do this. We’ll leave okay. Just…don’t do this.” Her face is pleading. The anger starts to slowly dissolve. Darcie has the uncanny ability to convince me of anything. The boys often take advantage of it because they know I can’t say no to anything she asks. I start to relax, settling my tense muscles. I can’t hurt her. Not again.
Jake shouts from behind me, “Darcie! He disrespected Reggie in his own bar and deserves to get his ass handed to him. I remember a day when you would be on our side. Now you’re a fucking traitor!”
“Fuck you, piss ant!” Grady shouts back to Jake.
This situation is spiraling out of control quickly. Darcie’s face falls as she looks like Jake slapped her across the face. “Jake! Shut up! Don’t say that to her!” I shout back to him.
Grady’s glare turns deadly when he steps within inches from my face. “You know…you’re really starting to piss me off. She’s not your girl! She’s mine!”
I’m ready to blow. She’s not his! She will never be his! Darcie is mine, forever! I clench my fists again and ready myself to destroy Grady once again when Darcie moves between us. Her hands are on my chest, pushing back against me. The smell of vanilla perfumes the air as Darcie wedges herself between Grady and me.
I break my gaze from Grady and meet her pleading, jade colored eyes. She’s my solace. When I look at Darcie, I find peace in a world filled with shit. I relax my fists and bring my hands to the side of her face, just like I’ve done so many times before, but this time, like the few times before, is different. This time, I want nothing more than to press my lips to hers. As we look into each other’s eyes, time stands still. Everyone else disappears. It’s just us. For a split second, she glances at my lips then back to my eyes. Her head nods slightly and before I can make my move to kiss her, Grady pushes against the back of Darcie and tries to cheap shot me in the jaw.
She flips around and shoves Grady in the chest. “Back off, Grady!”
“What!” Grady screams at Darcie.
“Because you have no idea what you’re getting into! Back the hell off, now!” She grabs his arm and pushes through the crowd.
“Follow her. Make sure nothing happens,” I command to Jake and Jeremy as I make my way back to the office.
I throw myself into my chair and drag my hands over my face. I can’t believe I almost kissed her. In front of everyone. There’s this gravitational pull between Darcie and me and I can’t fight it. Not any longer. I need her and I know she needs me. I’m going to tell her I love her. The roller coaster ride has to stop. I can’t stomach her with Grady anymore. She’s mine. The cell phone in my pocket rings, breaking up my thoughts of Darcie and my anger restores when Robert’s number flashes across the screen.
“What!” I shout in the phone.
“I’m out back.” The phone goes dead and the blood rushes from my face. Darcie was just here and now Robert is out back. I jolt from the chair and scramble to get to the back door. A thousand scenarios play through my head and I instantly go into protection mode. If he tries anything, I’ll kill him and face the consequences later.
Tossing my cell phone on my desk, I make my way outside and the crisp winter air chills my body. Goosebumps form across my arms and I’m not sure if it’s from the frigid air or the sight of Robert’s black Mercedes parked behind the bar.
“Tell me one thing, Reggie. What is my little Margaret Darcia doing at your bar at this time of night?”
Darcie
That was close, on so many levels. What just happened was the biggest close call of my life. Reggie almost killed Grady and I almost kissed Reggie in front of everyone. It was like the world stopped and we were the only two people left on earth. Invisible hands were pushing me toward Reggie and, if it hadn’t have been for Grady’s school boy possessiveness, our lips would have sealed together.
I drag Grady through the packed crowd and open the door, exiting into the brisk winter wind. He pulls me over to his car with a look of hate in his eyes. “What the fuck was that, Darcie? Are you fucking that dude? Is that why you won’t be with me because you’re with him?”He starts to pace back and forth from anger. He gets within inches of me and grabs firmly to my upper arms. “You made me look like a jackass in there, you fucking bitch!”
I push him off me. “No, you did that all by yourself, Grady! Get the fuck out of here! This…”—I motion back and forth with my finger—“is over.”
I turn on my heels and start to walk away when Grady grabs a handful of my hair, snatching me back against him. “The fuck it is. Get your ass in the car, now,” his voice is low and commanding. His breath touches my ear and chills run up my spine as alarms sound in my head. I need to get away. Something is going to happen. My chest is heaving and the blackness is about to invade, sending me into a full blown panic.
Squeezing my eyes shut, I ready myself to elbow him in the gut until the cool metal of a knife is pressed into my side. The tip of the blade is poking my skin and if I make the slightest move, it will penetrate my flesh. Grady whispers into my ear, “Don’t think about it, bitch. You’re going to give in to me tonight. Then, we can be over.”
Grady struggles with the car door, trying to hold me against him and maneuver the handle at the same time. I’m ready to make a run for it when the front door busts open as Drake and Presley come outside. They stride over to us, hand in hand. Grady leans to my ear and threatens, “Say one fucking word and you’re dead.”
Drake approaches cautiously. “Grady, man, Darcie is coming home with us. You both need to cool off.”
My eyes bore into Presley’s. I’m trying to plead with her not to leave me with him. Does she get it? Can she understand my signals? A yellow taxi pulls into the parking lot, distracting us from the intense conversation. Presley turns back to me and, just as she’s about to open her mouth to protest, her cell phone chimes. Her olive colored skin turns ghostly white. She looks to me then at Drake and says, “Sorry, I have to go. My uncle is waiting for me.” She kisses Drake on the cheek and hops into the cab. Gone. I start to think about how weird that wa
s until the blade is slightly pushed into my side once again. A painful reminder of what’s about to happen.
Drake moves toward Grady. In a flash, Grady slams his fist into his temple, knocking him out cold. I try to let release a scream to alert someone, but it’s impossible. The baseball sized lump has returned and I can’t make a single noise. I struggle to get out of his grasp, pushing myself back and forth violently, but it’s no use. Grady’s got a firm grasp on me. He tosses me into the car and peels out into the night. Drake is lying on the cold gravel, unconscious, as Jeremy and Jake sprint across the parking lot. I close my eyes because the darkness is closing in and I’m being transported back to the nightmare within my head.
Darcie ~ Age 13
Why does it always rain when someone dies? Every time I hear of someone dying, the weather is cold, wet and gloomy. I’m sitting in the hallway across from my mother’s room while the medical people pump their hands up and down on her chest. When I found her, white foam was pouring out of her mouth and down her chin, soaking the pillow underneath her head. Her skin was cold yet sweaty and her eyes wouldn’t blink.
A loud noise breaks my attention from the ambulance people when my stepfather flies up the stairs. The look of horror is all over his face as he barges through the bedroom door and falls on my mom’s lifeless body. His wails fill the void in my head as he cries into her neck, begging her to wake up, but she won’t. She can’t wake because she’s dead. My stepfather lies with her body for a long time before the ambulance people need to take her way. She’s packed onto a cart and carried down the stairs, covered by a white sheet.
Slowly, everyone starts to file out of the room and it’s just him and I lingering in the hallway. His eyes are disconnected and sad. My heart doesn’t feel the sadness his does because I hated my mother. She was weak. She allowed my stepfather to beat me bloody while she pretended it wasn’t happening. As my own tears start to well in my eyes, I realize it’s not for her passing; it’s because I know I will be left with him and that scares the crap out of me.
I release a quiet sob, alerting my stepfather to my presence. The miserable man before me transforms into a monster, one like I’ve never seen before, then he charges. I crouch down into a ball, protecting my body for the inevitable blow, but it does nothing to mask the pain. When his body hits mine, pain bolts up my spine and into my head.
My stepfather grabs onto my hair and pulls me over to the banister, cuffing me by my wrists. He rips the shirt off my back and ties the loose shreds over my eyes, blacking out my vision. My body is trembling and already hurting from his initial tackle, but my mind is driving me crazy. I sit and wait, minutes…hours for him to give me my punishment, but there is nothing. I lie down and try to get comfortable as best as I can while being handcuffed to the banister, but it’s no use, the waiting is agony. Then, out of nowhere, I hear the screech of the drawer in the hall cabinet. My entire body quakes in fear with what my stepfather is about to do and I pee all over the carpet.
I can hear his booted footsteps get louder as he approaches, setting objects down beside him. Then that’s when the real pain sets in from the snap of the whip connecting with my back, breaking my tender skin immediately. I scream in agony as he does it two more times.
SNAP
SNAP
Before I can catch my breath, the sizzle of my flesh boils as my stepfather extinguishes his cigar on my calf and ankle sending lava hot pain up my leg. I’m not sure which is worse the whip or the cigar burns, but I pray he’s done soon.
Finally, he speaks, his breath laced with booze. “Margaret, you killed her. You were such a fuck up that she took too many of those pills and now she’s dead. Your mother hated you and wished every day since you were born that she’d drowned you at birth because you’re that awful. You’ve taken her away from me and you will be sorry. I can guarantee that.” My stepfather makes a grunting noise then the next thing I feel is extreme pain in my head and my lights go out. I feel nothing because there is only blackness.
When my eyes peel open, it’s still dark. Am I dead? Or blind? I can’t see anything. All I smell is dirt and cigar smoke. I’m laying on something semi-soft, so I know I’m off the hard floor, but my hands are pinned, restrained above my head. I jerk my legs up, however they, too, are restrained apart and I’m unable to close them. I start to thrash my body, heaving it up, pulling on my wrists and ankles, but there’s no reprieve. I can’t move them. I pull my arms so hard that I can feel the skin tear away as the dull edge of the handcuffs cuts into me. My body is so cold and it’s then that I realize I’m only wearing my underwear. That’s when the sobs start. I’m scared. I’m alone.
The wicked laugh of my stepfather breaks up the silence and sounds of my whimpers. I begin to shake again. The steel of the handcuffs are rattling against the metal they’re attached to and the air in the room is blistering cold.
“Now, my Margaret Darcia, this will be your new home because you can’t be trusted in my house and you’re now my responsibility. This is where I want you to be. Then, once the time is right, you will be able to be your mother’s replacement in the house. Do you understand?”
I didn’t understand. I didn’t do anything to my mother and I don’t want to be a replacement for her. I don’t even know what that means. I lie there and shake. My body is so cold and I’m hurting all over.
“I take it from your silence you understand. I will be here when I can to feed and clean you, but if you try to leave or call anyone, you will be dead. I know you understand that.” Then the door slams shut and I’m left alone, cold and in the dark.
Chapter 25
Reggie
The window of Robert’s Mercedes is cracked and clouds of cigar smoke snake out the opening. When his face comes into view, he’s sporting a smug grin and my stomach sinks to my feet. The stogie hangs between his fingers as he lifts it to his mouth and takes a puff. He looks as he always does when I see him; pressed, black suit, slicked, black hair and sporting a pretentious expression.
Robert sends a text message and sets his phone down in the cup holder. His attention is on me when he says, “So, Reggie, are you going to tell me why I saw my underage stepdaughter walking out of your bar when I pulled into the parking lot? Are you serving to minors now? I’d hate to get you shut down because you’re breaking the law. You know this could cost you and I have a feeling it’s more than you’re willing to give.” I want to punch the smirk clean off his face.
“I’m not giving you shit, Robert. Go fuck yourself.” My voice is controlled, but dripping with fury.
“Well then, one call to the authorities and you’re as good as closed. Unless…” he trails off.
“Unless, what?”
“Unless you give me my Margaret back.” I walk to his door and yank it open. I’m ready to kill if he says anything about Darcie again.
“Not on your life. So help me God, if you touch her, you’re as good as dead!” My breathing is erratic and anger is raging through my veins.
Robert holds up his hands, wanting me to listen. “Just think about it, Reggie. If you give me Margaret, the Vinnie situation, gone. The monthly installments to me, gone. Trust me, I know what a pain in the ass she is, I lived with her for ten years before you stole her away from me. Give her back and your life will be restored, back to normal.”
As if…as if his offer would eliminate any agreement we had and I would willingly send Darcie back him. He’s a sick bastard, a fiend. I know what will happen to her. I walked in on it three years ago and I’m still trying to cope with what I saw that night.
I jack my fist back, ready to plant it into Robert’s teeth, when I hear Jake yell. The sound of his voice breaks my trance and cuts through the cold winter night. Something is wrong. I look to Robert and make my last threat before I leave to find Jake. “Nothing changes. Darcie will never be back with you. She’s mine! I don’t care what you do to me, I will see to it that you’ll never get to her again.”
Slamming the door of
his Mercedes shut, I run to the front of the bar and lying in the parking lot is Drake. His body is limp and lifeless. Robert slowly pulls around to the front and drives into the black night. Jeremy and Jake are kneeling around Drake and as I get closer to him, I can see he’s been knocked out. His eye is inflamed and swollen shut. Gravel is sticking to his face and arms.
“Drake!” Jeremy is screaming at his brother to wake up, but there is no response. Jeremy rarely breaks his poker face, but the look of panic is written all over it.
This is bad. I check his vitals and am slightly relieved he’s still breathing.
“What the fuck happened to him?” I ask, gathering Drake up in my arms.
Jake is a loose cannon, he’s pacing like a caged animal and shouting curse words a mile a minute. I look to Jeremy for an explanation.
“Tell me NOW!!!” I scream at the top of my lungs.
“Grady! That fucking asshole slugged Drake and took off with Darcie!” Jake manages to get out between heated breaths.
I knew I should have knocked his ass out. I shout over to Jeremy, “Did you call an ambulance?”
Jeremy nods his head as the front door of the bar violently swings open and Big Mike is running over to us. A look of alarm is on his face when he approaches. “Mike!” I shout to get his attention. “The ambulance is on their way. Stay with Drake and go with him to the hospital.”
Mike looks back at me confused and asks, “Why? Where you going? What the hell happened?”
“Grady! He took Darcie. I need to get her back. Please, just stay with Drake and keep your phone on you. Call me when he wakes up.” The blue and red lights of the ambulance pull into the parking lot and I watch as Drake is loaded on a stretcher. Mike climbs in the back and the ambulance pulls away.
I run back into the bar and grab Gavin, pulling him into my office. He wipes his hands on a bar towel as he watches me gather my cell phone and car keys. “Gavin, I need you and Michelle to close the bar down. Drake’s been hurt and Darcie is missing. I have to go.”
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