by Jenn Hype
Chapter 20
Chad
As soon as I came inside of Stacy a myriad of emotions flooded me. Guilt, anger, regret just to name a few. What the fuck was I thinking? I had come to the club to apologize, make things right, show her I cared and hopefully ask her out on a real date. Instead I fucked her in the middle of the dance floor with hundreds of people surrounding us.
I’d never done anything like that before in my life. Not only was it a stupid and reckless decision, but I’d used my badge to get into the club in the first place then committed several crimes once I was in the door. What if someone had recognized me? How many people knew what we were doing? I could lose my badge over this. I was nothing without it. My job was all I had.
I should have followed Stacy. I knew she was crying, she already had tears streaming down her face before she walked away. I still needed to apologize, but screwing her on the dance floor had made things a million times worse. If she didn’t hate me before, she surely would now. What the hell would I even be able to say to make things better at this point?
I needed to think, get some air, figure out how to approach everything. I knew she wanted it as much as I did, but the thought that she may be regretting it or even worse, thought I had used her, made me feel like shit.
I was pacing back and forth out front, running my hands through my hair over and over and muttering curse words at myself when Joe came running out.
“What the hell, man? I saw Stacy past me crying and I tried to follow her but she went in the bathroom. When I came back to the dance floor I saw you looking pissed and storming outside. What’s going on? Why are you here? What did you do?”
I wanted to be angry that he automatically assumed that it was my fault she was upset, but who the hell was I kidding? Of course it was my fault. All I’d done since I met her was treat her like shit. “I screwed up, that’s what. I never should have come here. It was a mistake.”
“Why are you here?”
“I wanted to talk to Stacy. I wanted to apologize, to her and you. When you wouldn’t get back to me I followed you here.”
“You fucking followed me? Wow. She really did get to you…” Joe trailed off and shook his head, looking down at the ground and laughing sarcastically. “I never in a million years thought…it’s a good thing we dropped that bet.” He was muttering under his breath and talking more to himself than me, but my head whipped in his direction at the mention of a bet.
“What do you mean bet? You bet something about me?” I snapped at him, closing the gap between us.
“Nothing, it was just a joke.” When I narrowed my eyes at him he threw his hands up in the air in surrender. “I’m really drunk man, just ignore me. I shouldn’t have said anything.” I would have let it go, but it was obvious he was hiding something and I was sick and tired of feeling confused about the whole situation with Stacy. So if Joe was keeping something from me that could help clear things up, then I’d be damned if I would let him get away with avoiding it.
“No, fucking tell me what you are talking about before I beat your ass for driving Stacy here and then getting too wasted to be able to drive her home.”
“Look man, it’s no big deal. It was innocent, nothing was meant by it,” Joe defended as he backed away from me. I lengthened my strides and caught up to him, grabbing him by the collar of his shirt in one hand and pulling his face to mine. There was fear in his eyes and I knew it wasn’t because he thought I would hit him; it was because he knew how angry I was going to get when he finally fessed up to whatever secret he was hiding. My heart was pounding, and as much as I knew I would be better off to drop it, I couldn’t. Now I needed to know.
“Spit it out Joe,” I growled between gritted teeth. The bouncer by the door witnessed our spectacle and started over towards us, but I flashed my badge - again - and he returned back to his station without so much as another glance. He was obviously used to looking the other way when shit went down.
“Okay, okay. Just let me go and I’ll tell you.” I let go of his shirt and shoved him in the same motion. He took a second to straighten his shirt out and regain his composure, then cleared his throat nervously before starting to talk.
“There was one day in the very beginning of all this shit with Stacy you when you acted like a giant dick to her. She was hurt and pissed and well, we got really drunk at my place and she was talking about wanting to get even with you. I told her that there was no way she would be able to get a rise out of you because you’re always so controlled. One thing lead to another and we were making some dumb ass bet out of it. We dropped it and it stopped being a game a long time ago, I swear.”
“So all this time I’ve been beating myself up over and losing my fucking mind over her, when it was all just a game for her? A game that you were in on? Are you fucking kidding me?!” I was yelling and seething, and out of the corner of my eye I saw the bouncer start to approach us again, but I turned to face him and shook my head. “Don’t bother man,” I said to the bouncer. “I’m not going to hit him. This fucker is already dead to me.”
I stormed off to my car and I could hear Joe yelling for me, but I had already tuned him out. I didn’t give a shit what he said at that point. Finding out Stacy had just been screwing with me and making a fool out of me when the entire time I was pushing her away because I was dealing with some serious demons only made the sting of their shitty betrayal even worse.
I couldn’t believe my partner of two years, the same man who had stood by me at my dad’s parole hearing, the one other person who knew everything about my past, would do that to me. Mostly, I couldn’t believe I’d let myself believe for one fucking second that Stacy and I could be anything other than enemies. She played me, and she played me well. I felt like a fucking idiot and I knew what I needed to do first.
First thing the next morning, I was requesting a new partner.
Chapter 21
Stacy
“Stace?” A voice called out, and I slammed my head back against the stall door. I figured Joe would come looking for me at some point, but I still wasn’t ready to talk to anyone.
“Go away, Joe,” I choked out.
“Stacy…” he whispered from the other side of the stall door. “Please tell me what happened, I’m really worried about you. I saw Chad leaving and went after him, but he didn’t tell me anything, he just took off.”
“Please, Joe, I can’t…” The tears continued to pour out of me. It was embarrassing for Joe to hear me sobbing and all I wanted to was to be alone. I tried to hold in my sobs, but the pain in my chest was too strong to be contained and all it did was choke me. I took several deep breaths while Joe waited patiently on the other side of the door, and once I got my breathing back under control I managed to finally speak. “Please leave. I’ll call you tomorrow. I’ll get a cab home. Please, I’m begging you. Just leave.”
I could tell by the way his legs were positioned that he was leaning his forehead against the door. He let out a heavy sigh, and without another word his feet moved away from the stall, and I listened until I heard the bathroom door close behind him. Once I knew I was he was gone I let the dam break once again, and didn’t even fight the full body wracking sobs that followed.
It wasn’t until at least a half an hour later that I realized I didn’t have my purse. I’d left it in Joe’s truck. It had my phone and my money in it.
“Dammit!” I yelled as I slammed my head back into the wall of the bathroom stall.
I pushed myself to my feet and went to the sink to run cold water over my face. I was a mess, my eyes puffy and bloodshot with mascara running down my cheeks. When I finally cleaned myself up enough to feel comfortable going back out into the club, I headed to the bar and asked to use their phone.
Of course I didn’t have anyone’s numbers memorized. They were all programmed into my phone. Luckily the bartender had a phone book behind the bar and I looked up the number to the police station. Damn, hadn’t seen a phone book in ages.
Bill, one of the other officers at Joe’s precinct, answered the phone. “Hey Bill, it’s Stacy.”
“Hey, Stacy! How are ya?”
“Not great. I was out with Joe but I left my phone in his truck and he’s already left. I was going to get a cab home but he’s got my purse too. Can you patch me through to him so I can ask him to come back? I don’t have his number memorized and I’m using the bar’s phone.”
“Sure thing, sweetheart. Hold on a sec.” The line went quiet for several seconds and then Bill came back on the line. “Sorry, hon, he didn’t answer. Want me to try Chad? They’re probably together.”
I didn’t want to talk to Chad. He was the last person on earth I wanted to talk to. But I was stranded and didn’t have much of a choice so I told Bill to go ahead and put me through.
“Stevens,” Chad barked when he answered the phone.
“Chad?” The line was silent for several seconds and I wondered if he’d hung up.
“What the fuck do you want?” He said in a calm, cold voice that sent chills through my body. I figured he was pretty pissed at me for walking away like that, but he callousness caught me off guard. After all, I was the one who’d been treated like shit up to that point.
“Um, actually, I was wondering if you might be able to come get me or call…” He cut me off before I could finish.
“No.”
“No?”
“If Joe bailed on you, that’s not my problem. I’m sure you can manipulate some unknowing prick at the club to take your home. Don’t call me again.”
The line went dead and I stared at the receiver in shock. What the fuck just happened?
I thanked the bartender and walked outside. I had no idea what to do. I saw Joe’s truck at the end of the parking lot and started to run toward it, thankful he hadn’t left yet. Only when I reached it he wasn’t inside and I assumed he must have taken a cab home since he’d had several drinks.
I took a chance and pulled on the door handle, hoping maybe he left his truck unlocked like he did his house, and thankfully I was right. I grabbed my purse and pulled out my phone but it was dead.
“Dammit!”
“Trouble, sweety?” A gravelly, cold voice said from behind me that most definitely wasn’t Joe’s. I spun around to see who it was, regretting having not moved my pepper spray into my clutch before we left. I figured I wouldn’t need it when Joe was with me.
“Um, no. I was just waiting for my boyfriend. He’s a cop. He should be here any second.” I was hoping that would scare him off, but suddenly two other men emerged from both sides of him, both with the same devilish look in their eye. They were all stalking towards me and I debated trying to run, but I knew I wouldn’t get far with three of them chasing after me in my six inch stilettos.
Just as I went to scream for help, the first guy punched me square in the stomach, knocking the wind out of me. Now that he was closer I could see his teeth were rotted and he smelled of booze and cigarettes. I tried to stand up but he kicked me, and I fell back down to the ground. My purse flew out of my hand and one of the other men picked it up and started rifling through it.
“Please,” I whispered, still unable to talk from the blows I’d taken.
“Shut up, bitch,” the man still hovering over me yelled as he kicked me again. I heard a snap and hoped he hadn’t broken a rib.
“Alright, man, we got her purse, let’s take off before someone sees us,” one of the guys said to the man still hovering. It would have been a good idea to just shut up, but I had never been good at making good decisions. And since tonight had apparently been the night for making the worst mistakes of my life, I figured, may as well go out with a bang.
“Feel free to use my credit card to buy a toothbrush and body wash.” I made a gagging motion, which he took to mean I was making fun of him, but it was just bad timing because I was literally gagging. I was having to take deep breaths to recover from the blows, and pulling in so much of his stench at one time combined with the pain was making me nauseous.
“Oh you think you’re so much better than me, huh princess? Maybe someone needs to teach you a lesson in manners. Lucky for you, I’m up for the job.” The evil dripping from his words caused me to recoil, and I had to fight not to gag again as he slid his tongue over his rotted teeth slowly. I started to try and scream again but he kicked me again, this time in my face, and immediately blood started to drip into my eye and down my cheek. My lip was already starting to swell and my mouth filled with blood.
He grabbed me by my hair and started dragging me across the parking lot towards a back alley where they could do whatever they wanted with me and not be seen. His grip on me was so tight it felt like he was going to rip my hair right out of my head, but my hair seemed like a small price to pay if it meant I could escape, so I continued thrashing and kicking, trying to break free. I dug my nails as hard as I could into the arm gripping my hair, but he backhanded me square across my cheek, effectively ceasing all movements from me.
Blood continued filling my mouth so quickly that I started choking on it, and when I saw my attacker get irritated with the blood splattering in his direction as I coughed, I looked up and tried to spit it in his face. He quickly swiped it off his cheek and yelled before jerking his knee up and slamming into the underside of my chin. I heard a snap as my head flew backwards on impact.
He let go of my hair suddenly and I collapsed to the ground, still sputtering and coughing up blood. I tried to lift my head to see what was happening, but my vision was blurry with the unshed tears I refused to let go of. One eye was swelling almost completely shut, and for a second I thought I was hearing things when I heard someone yelling for the men to get off of me.
My vision in my one good eye cleared enough for me to see Joe running towards me, gun in hand, and then all three men go scattering. When Joe reached me he knelt down and cradled my head in his hands, muttering apologies over and over.
“Hang on, Stacy, hang with me. I’m going to get you out of here, okay? Are you okay to move? Maybe I should call 911 and have you taken to the hospital in an ambulance.”
“No!” I yelled, but the exertion sent stabbing pains through every inch of my body and I bent over, clutching my stomach. “Please, I just want to go home. I just need cleaned up.” There was still so much blood pouring into my mouth, and my lip was so busted that the words came out muffled. I watched the struggle in Joe’s face as he debated whether or not to take me to the hospital against my will.
“Okay, I’ll take you home, but if your injuries look really serious once we get all the blood cleaned up then you are going to the hospital whether you like or not Stacy. I should force you to go right now anyway, but I know it’s been a rough night. Let’s just get you home for now.”
Joe cradled me in his arms and carried me to his truck. The adrenaline from chasing off my attackers had completely sobered him up. The drive to my apartment was quiet and felt incredibly long, and when we finally pulled into the parking lot, Joe came around and scooped me up again and carried me inside.
Adalyn wasn’t home and I was thankful, I didn’t want her seeing me like this. There would be too many questions and I couldn’t deal with having to answer any of them right now, both mentally and physically drained. Joe gingerly sat me on my bed then disappeared into my bathroom, re-emerging with towels, antiseptic and bandages.
It took a good twenty minutes to get all the blood cleaned off of my face, but once he was able to take a look, none of it was serious enough to warrant a trip to the emergency room. The worst of my injuries were my ribs, but they weren’t broken, I could tell. Maybe fractured, but there would be nothing they could do for that. Joe begged me to go to the hospital anyway.
“I’m just too exhausted, Joe. The only thing they can do for me is prescribe pain meds but I don’t want them. I just need to rest.”
I was emotionally spent and hanging on by a thread. Between what happened with Chad and then being attacked, I didn’t thi
nk I could handle strangers poking and prodding me. As much as I wanted to just put the whole thing behind me, Joe all but had a meltdown when I told him I didn’t want to file a report, so I reluctantly agreed to go to the station with him in the morning.
Joe helped me into the shower and sat right outside on the toilet in case I needed any help. Neither of us spoke as I let the hot water run over me and tried to keep the tears from resurfacing. I was still in too much shock to fully absorb what had just happened to me and too stunned to worry about modesty, so I let Joe towel me off and help me get dressed since I could barely raise my left arm because of my ribs. He laid me on the bed and went to get me ice for my lip and eye, which were swelling more and more by the minute.
He took off his shirt and pants, but left his boxers on, and climbed into bed next to me. He pulled me into his arms and I snuggled into his chest and finally let the tears come out as I let the weight of everything finally sink in. Joe just held me, whispering soothing words into my ear, rocking and cradling me until sleep finally came over me.
Chapter 22
Stacy
When I woke up the next day in Joe’s arms the first thing I noticed was the pain. The excruciating pounding in my head, the stabbing pain on my left side and the tenderness of my cheek, lip and eye on the right side of my face. The second thing I noticed was Joe’s morning wood.
“Well, helloooo soldier,” I dragged out in a teasing way. I felt Joe chuckle beneath me and the movement made me groan in pain.
“Sorry, you must be pretty sore. Let me get you some pain meds before we go to the station.” Joe moved me out of his arms gently and laid me back on my pillow then he stood up and started to put his pants back on.