I open the door and peer in, relieved to see it’s empty. I’ll be in there for literally a minute. I just need to do my business and get out. Hurrying inside, I dive into a cubicle, deciding to hover over the seat as I lower my knickers and relieve myself. Thirty seconds later, I’ve wiped and adjusted my dress before opening the stall, stopping dead in my tracks as I come face to face with the guy from the dancefloor.
“Well, well, well. What do we have here? Little Miss Prick Tease.”
“Look, just let me go and we’ll forget everything that’s happened tonight.” I go to walk past him, but he grabs my arm. I wince as his fingers dig into my skin as he drags me back and pushes me against the wall. He thrusts his hips forward and pins me there as his hands hold my arms to my side. His eyes are fixed on my chest as I try and pull my arms free, but the only thing my struggles are doing is pulling the dress tighter across my chest.
“Those are some spectacular tits you have there.” He licks his lips before lowering his head and licking the swell of my breasts. I shift my body, trying to break his hold on my arms so I can get free, but despite his drunken state, he’s surprisingly strong and holds me in place.
“Help!” I scream. “Please, someone help me.”
“Oh, there’s no point screaming, bitch. It’s so loud out there, no one can hear you.” When he releases one of my hands, I try and use it to my advantage, but he grabs it again and forces it behind me, holding my wrists together with one hand. With his free hand, he tugs at the neckline of my dress, and I hear the flimsy fabric tear. He laughs as he stares at my exposed breasts, and I struggle again, but that only makes him more eager to make me suffer.
“That’s it, keep struggling, bitch. Those tits look fucking great when you struggle.”
I close my eyes tightly as I feel his mouth close over my nipple, feeling tears burning a path down my cheeks as he bites and tugs my skin with his teeth. This can’t be happening. Please, God, don’t let him do this to me.
He’s laughing as he continues biting my nipples, before releasing them and sucking hard against the sensitive flesh. I know he’s going to mark me. There’s going to be no way he won’t leave his mark on me. His hand still grips my wrists tightly. I struggle to free them, using all my strength, but he’s too strong. He’s got me right where he wants me and there’s nothing I can do to stop him taking what he wants.
His hand moves lower, and I feel him lift my skirt and tug at my knickers. They come away from my body as he tears through them, tossing them onto the dirty floor. I try to close my legs, but he forces them apart with one of his knees, pushing his hips into mine. I feel sick when I feel his erection pressing into me, and when his fingers rub over me, I cry out, ashamed at how slick I am down there. How the hell can I be wet? I’m in no way turned on. This guy is forcing himself on me and my body is betraying me.
“Let’s see how much you fucking want this, you whore. Your tits are so tasty. I bet your pussy tastes just as sweet.” He lifts his fingers to his mouth and sucks them, his eyes blazing. “Oh, I was right. My cock is going to feel so good when I ram it in your pussy. You’re so fucking wet, bitch. I knew you wanted it. Even out on the dance floor you wanted me to fuck you, didn’t you? Right there in front of everyone. Does people knowing you’re a little whore turn on you? You like that a stranger is about to fuck you, don’t you? Well, newsflash, sweetheart, I’m going to fuck you so hard it’ll make you scream.”
I hear the metal of his belt buckle and then a zip being lowered, and my whole body freezes. I should be struggling; trying to stop him from what he’s about to do. I should be screaming at the top of my voice until my lungs are raw, but all I can do is stand there.
“Hey, Dave, you done with her, man? I can’t hold them off any longer.”
He lifts his head as he hears the voice and my eyes fly open. Hearing the other voice seems to knock some sense into me, and I look straight at him and lift my knee up hard, connecting with his crotch. He cries out in pain and crumbles to the floor as I pull up my torn dress to cover myself, race out of the bathroom, and through the crowds of people. Before I know it, I’m out in the fresh air, and I hear Pippa calling my name.
“Crissie, there you are. We were beginning to… What the hell happened? Cris? Oh God, Cris, are you okay?”
“Just take me home. Please, Pip, just get me home.” I stagger towards my car, only now realising I’m only wearing one shoe. Pippa puts me in the passenger seat before racing round the car. My eyes connect with Lizzie’s in the backseat, and needing contact, I reach my hand round, sighing when I feel her take it in hers and squeeze.
“We’ll be home soon, Cris. Shit, I can’t drive. I’ve been drinking. I need to call Cal or one of the guys to come get us.”
“They’ve been drinking too,” I say quietly, before releasing Lizzie’s hand and climbing out the car.
“You can’t drive, Cris,” I hear Pippa say as I open the driver’s side door. “You’re in shock.”
“I’m fine, Pip. I promise, I’ll get us home.”
Pippa hesitates only slightly before handing me the keys. Less than ten seconds later, we’re on our way home and I’m well on my way to forgetting what turned into one of the worst nights of my life.
Caleb
“Yes! I beat your arse again. You guys suck.”
I laugh as Lance and Shaun toss their controllers on the floor and both reach for another slice of pizza. Gary just sits there, grinning at me.
“It’s your game, mate. You’ve probably been practicing since we suggested getting together for tonight.”
“Yeah yeah, believe that if you want to. Truth is, I’m just better than you two.” I lift my hands behind my head and lean back, grinning widely as they both scowl at me. I’ll never admit it, but Lance was right. I have been playing this game most nights since Crissie suggested I invite the guys round when they have their girl’s night. No way in hell was I losing to these two, not at my own game.
I grab another beer from the cooler and pop the cap, looking up when I hear a key in the door. Glancing at the clock, I see it’s half past midnight. I hadn’t been expecting the girls back for at least a couple of hours.
When the door opens, Crissie walks in, her hand clutched to her chest, and I don’t miss the fact she’s only wearing one shoe. She doesn’t even look at me as she goes straight into the bedroom and closes the door. I hear the familiar sound of the lock clicking into place and realise something is seriously wrong.
Pippa and Lizzie walk in a few moments later and close the door. I’m on my feet and in their face in an instant, torn between interrogating them and banging on the door for Crissie to open it. “Pippa, what happened? What’s wrong with Cris?”
My heart is almost beating out my chest as I look between Pippa and the bedroom door.
“I don’t know, Cal. We were about to leave to come home when she said she needed the bathroom. She gave us the car keys and told us to go and wait for her. She was gone for about fifteen minutes, and I was about to go in and look for her when she came out. Her dress was torn, and I could see she’d been crying. She wouldn’t say what was wrong but… Cal, something happened when we were dancing. I don’t know if it means anything or even if it’s related, but someone made a play for her, grabbed at her, and she slapped him. The guy wasn’t happy. He actually threatened her, saying she should watch her back.”
“What the fuck! Call the police, Pip.”
“Cal, I don’t think that’s—”
“I don’t care what you think, Liz. Cris was threatened by some guy who grabbed her on the dancefloor. She then goes to the bathroom and fifteen minutes later, comes out looking like that. You don’t need to be a genius to figure out what happened. Now call the fucking police.”
I turn away from Pippa and my sister and walk over to the door. I resist the urge to hammer on the wood and demand she open it, knowing that, if what I think happened actually did, aggression isn’t going to help.
Reining
in my temper, I gently knock on the door, hearing Pippa on the phone to the police.
“Cris, you okay? Let me in, please, baby.” I put my ear to the door but hear nothing, and my imagination about what happened to her starts to go into overdrive.
“The police are on their way. I wasn’t sure what to tell them.”
I look at Pippa, who is being held by Lance. I can see she’s close to tears, as is my sister, who is still stood by the door. She hasn’t moved since she walked in with Pippa. Her eyes are fixed on the bedroom door, and she’s stock still.
“Liz, you okay there?”
“She was attacked.” Her voice is quiet, but there’s no mistaking what she said.
“What? How do you know?” When she doesn’t respond, just continues to stare at the door, I go over to her and put my hands on her shoulders, forcing her to look at me. “How do you know she was attacked, Lizzie?”
She finally looks up at me, the sheen of tears in her eyes finally beginning to fall. “Because the same guy attacked me three years ago.”
After my sister’s revelation, the whole room fell into silence. Pippa wept in Lance’s arms by the window, while Gary was fit to be tied. Shaun didn’t know what to do with himself. His relationship with Lizzie was still relatively new, and it was obvious to anyone that he had no idea about what had happened to her.
He looked like a rabbit caught in the headlights, and it had taken him less than five minutes to announce he was leaving, but that he would call Lizzie in the morning. I don’t think he was walking out on her, but rather the situation. The last thing a man wants to hear is that his girlfriend was assaulted by another guy.
Yet that’s what I’m going to have to do, with not only my fiancée, but my sister too; a sister that I’m now sat next to on the sofa as she shreds a tissue in her hands. I can see she’s trying to find the words to explain what happened, and all I can do is be there for her and wait until she’s ready to speak.
“It happened three years ago. I’d gone out with a couple of girls from work and we somehow got separated. I was outside the club waiting for a taxi when this guy started talking to me. He was really drunk and started telling me what he wanted to do to me if he got me alone. He gave me the creeps, but I was still polite to him, and made it clear I wasn’t interested. He started calling me names, saying I was a tease because of what I was wearing. I continued ignoring him, which only seemed to piss him off even more. His verbal abuse just got worse, until he grabbed me and dragged me into the alley at the side of the club. He was calling me a filthy whore and a slut and telling me he was going to show me what I real man felt like.”
I listen to my sister as I hold her hand tightly. How did I not know about this? I’m her big brother. I’m meant to look out for her. Lizzie opens her mouth to speak some more, when we hear the click of the lock on the bedroom door, and Crissie slowly opens it, before stepping into the living room.
“He called me a filthy whore too,” she says quietly, pulling the robe she’s now wearing close to her chest. “I couldn’t stop him. I just froze.”
I’m about to get up to go to her when there’s a knock at the door. Knowing it’s the police, Pippa walks over and opens the door, inviting the two officers inside. I stand up and approach them, seeing Lizzie hold out her hand to Crissie, who quickly goes over and sits next to her.
“Thank you for coming, officers.”
“No problem. We don’t have much information so would someone like to explain why you needed the police?”
I turn to Crissie, who is sat next to my sister. She looks at me and then at Lizzie, who just nods and takes her hand. Cris looks back towards us, and I see her take a deep breath. “I was sexually assaulted earlier tonight.”
“And I was assaulted by the same man three years ago.”
Chapter 43
Crissie
Present Day
It’s was six in the morning before we got back from the hospital. We were both exhausted, and I remember Cal had been ready to kill someone on more than one occasion. It can’t have been easy for him to hear me talking about what had happened that night, but he never left my side, always remaining close if he wasn’t able to be right by me.
Even when I had the examination, he had stayed close to me, talking at me through the flimsy curtain that shielded me from view. I knew the exam was necessary, but it had been so humiliating all at the same time. They taken samples from all over my body, hoping to find some DNA other than mine. They’d photographed my entire body to catalogue my injuries, and my hair was brushed to within an inch of its life in case there was any trace evidence hiding in there.
The formal interview had been the hardest. Thankfully, the detective who was interviewing me had been gentle and empathetic, something I remember being grateful for. I knew Cal was on the other side of the two-way mirror, listening in, and I can only imagine how helpless he must have felt as I’d recounted what had happened to me.
Lizzie’s ordeal was another story. As her assault had happened so long ago, there would be no physical evidence. She was, however, able to recount her version of events as if it happened yesterday, and as she explained what had happened, I found myself amazed that she managed to keep it hidden from everyone for so long.
The way she explained everything to us, it was done so clinically that anyone would think she was reading from a script; that it had happened to someone else and she was just the person telling the story. The police had explained that women who were victims of sexual assault all deal with it differently, and they all find their own coping mechanisms to help them get through it.
Lizzie had disconnected herself from it all, compartmentalised so she was able to get on with a normal life. Me? I hadn’t known how to handle what had happened to me and wound up pushing everyone away. No one knew how to speak to me, so in the end they stopped trying. Other than my parents, Cal and Pippa were the only two who stuck around
They refused to let me wallow in self pity and bugged me until it pissed me off so much, I wound up shouting at them, which I later found out is what I needed to do. I needed to scream and shout; to release some of the anger I felt towards the man who had done this to me, and they both knew it.
It took me a while to get over what had happened to me. In fact, it was only when the man who attacked us was caught and convicted that I really started to put it all behind me.
They found his DNA on me and soon found out he was in the system, having been convicted of several petty crimes in his teenage years. Once they had him, it soon became clear he was the right guy. He didn’t even try and deny it, even admitting to Lizzie’s attack three years before mine.
He plead guilty, so neither Lizzie nor I had to testify in court, something I was grateful for. The last thing I wanted to do was go into detail about what he did to me in a roomful of strangers. With his guilty plea, he was sentenced to fifteen years for the assaults on Lizzie and me.
Once his sentence was handed down, we started to move forward with our lives. We set a new date for the wedding, and thankfully, our original venue was able to accommodate us. They were also true to their word and transferred the deposit we had already paid over to the new date. Things were getting back to normal.
I stand up from my position in front of the mirror and smooth my dress down over my stomach and hips. I need to get out there soon or Cal will start to think I’ve jilted him at the altar. I can just see his face now. He’ll be chewing his lip and furrowing his brow. He’ll be looking over his shoulder every few seconds without realising he’s doing it.
I can’t help but smile when I think about how good he must look in his suit. I’ll always remember the first time I saw him in one. Men in suits have always been a weakness of mine, but Cal in a suit blows all other men out the water.
To me, the man looks good in mucky jeans and a dirty t-shirt when he’s had a hard day at work. When he cleans up and dons a suit, he’s downright edible. My heartbeat quickens at the mere thought of it
, and within the hour, that man will be my husband.
My husband.
I still can’t get used to the sound of those words on my tongue. This day should have arrived four years ago, but fate intervened, and it wasn’t to be. Nothing has stopped us getting to this day; we haven’t let it. We got there and shall be husband and wife before the day is done.
Fate has done it’s worst to try and tear us apart. First, there was the miscarriage, then my cancer, then the assault, but that wasn’t the end of it. When we received both the best and the worst news within a week of each other several months ago, we had to make one of the hardest decisions of our lives. A decision that, to this day, I know was the right one.
Chapter 44
Crissie
September 2017
“So, your dad was wondering whether you and Cal wanted to come round for dinner tomorrow? Apparently, he hasn’t seen in you ‘forever’ and wants to catch up.”
“What?” I laugh. “I saw him last weekend.”
“I know, honey. I’m not sure why he feels it’s been forever, but he was pretty insistent you come.”
I nod and take a sip of my coffee as I look at my mum. We’re on our weekly lunch date, something we’ve been doing since my assault almost three years ago. Mum insisted on getting me out the house for a couple of hours at least once a week, so now it’s become almost a ritual for us.
We’ve not missed a get together since we started, even in the early days when I was still trying to push everyone away and really didn’t feel like going out and socialising. Mum badgered me until eventually I gave in just to shut her up. Now, I couldn’t imagine a Saturday afternoon when I didn’t see her for coffee and cake.
Takes You Page 21