by Sam Crescent
He watched her go. She looked so nervous, and he waited to see the reunion. Her parents rushed forward to embrace her, holding her close. There were tears exactly like he expected. Of course there would be.
Charity was a nice girl.
She deserved to go home to a nice, warm bed and to be safe. Her father nodded toward him, and he saw how grateful the man was. Dwayne acknowledged him, and only when the small family was in the car driving away did he leave.
Only he didn’t go back home. Instead, he drove back to Beast’s place. The home he’d known after his father had died. This was now the home Beast shared with Hope and their five children.
He never thought he’d see the day that Beast allowed himself to have children. There had been many a night that Beast seemed completely clueless about what to do with Dwayne himself. Caleb, not so much. He recalled many times offering to kill him, but that was later in life when he turned eighteen and upwards.
Dwayne smiled, recalling the fond memories. Caleb wouldn’t shoot him. For all of their faults they were a family, and in a way, he’d come to step in for his father.
Caleb and Beast were the only family he had.
Climbing out of the car, he didn’t bother going inside but instead walked toward the garden. Hope wasn’t much of a gardener, but she liked to make things pretty. The roses were all out in bloom, and as he made his way toward the small swing that was in the garden, he sat down and admired the view. It was the only element of his life that he considered beautiful.
He didn’t own a house, preferring the confines of an apartment. With the work he had to do, he wasn’t interested in having his home shot up, and he didn’t trust guards.
As far as he was concerned, guards could be paid better and their loyalty was down to a cost. He would never allow himself to depend on guards.
“I thought I saw you arrive,” Hope said, coming toward him.
She’d been his tutor for a short time in high school, and now it was kind of weird to think of her as his aunt. They were the same age.
“What are you doing out here?”
“I came to see you. You looked troubled.”
“Where’s Beast? He’s not coming to yell at me about something.”
“Why do you make it sound like a good thing that he’ll yell at you?”
“Because I’m not doing my job properly if he’s not got a good reason.”
She sighed. “Beast told me about your latest job. The girl.”
“Don’t worry, Hope. She’s home. Safe and sound.”
“I’m not an idiot, Dwayne. I know what you’re called. I hear the guards whispering your name. The reputation that you have, it’s scary.”
“Again, nothing to worry about.”
Her arms were folded, and she looked the part of the scolding mom.
“What happened to the kid in high school?” she asked.
“You mean the jock that wouldn’t give you the time of day until he needed it?”
She rolled her eyes. “I’m talking about the fun guy that just took life and laughed as he did.”
“That kid grew up. You can’t expect me to live in the past forever, Hope. We all change, and I did as well.”
****
Three months later
Everything was different.
Charity wasn’t the most popular girl in school, but she was well-liked. She was known for helping out, being there, and offering support to everyone. After coming home, it had been hard to just settle back into a routine. Her parents had made her go to a doctor then to a therapist for her to talk about her ordeal.
She didn’t talk about it, no matter how many questions the woman asked.
The only person she wanted to remember from it all was Dwayne. He’d come out of nowhere, risked his life, and saved her.
No one seemed to get that, and when she asked her parents about him, they wouldn’t allow her to even call him, which was just so infuriating. She wanted to know that he was okay. That he felt safe, that he was happy.
How messed up was that?
He’d probably forgotten her.
Moved on to some other damsel and here she was worried about him.
It confused her.
Moving down the long hall, she stopped at her locker, grabbing a few books. Everything seemed mechanical now. She went about school, moving from one class to another, and she felt … withdrawn from it all. Nothing made any sense to her. Not the classes, not her friends, or even her teachers.
Everything no longer mattered. Her life could have been over if it hadn’t been for Dwayne. She’d have been sold to the highest bidder, her life filled with rape and misery. The men who’d taken her had taunted her by what would have happened. First, they suggested she’d have to go on a diet. The man who took her would want her to look her best, and being fat was not allowed.
She didn’t care about that as she was happy with who she was.
Diets were not her thing, and if she wanted to eat fried chicken, then she would. Or even some salad; no one was ever going to hold her to anything anymore. She was done playing that game.
With her books in her bag for studying over the weekend, she walked outside. Several of her peers were lurking in the parking lot in small groups, laughing and joking, making plans.
In the three months that she’d been back, she’d made every single excuse not to go out. As she walked toward her car, she heard several of the girls whispering.
“Who do you think he is?”
“What’s he doing here?”
“I don’t care who he is. I’d totally fuck him right now, and he doesn’t even have to buy me dinner.”
“You’re such a slut.”
Curious as to who they were talking about, she spotted Dwayne leaning against his car. His arms were folded, and he looked ready for business.
She couldn’t help but smile, especially as she saw the smirk on his face. Should she go to him? Hold back? Wait?
Three months was a long time to wait, so without doubting herself, she made her way over toward him.
“You know, it’s kind of creepy for an older guy to be standing outside of a school, watching it.”
He smiled. “I wasn’t watching the school or the women coming out of it.”
“What were you doing?”
“Waiting for one to see that she was okay.”
Her heart pounded. Did this mean he cared?
They’d been together for one whole evening, and the next day he took her back to her parents.
“Couldn’t you have gotten in touch with her parents?”
“I don’t like talking to anyone but the person I’m interested in.”
“And are you interested?” she asked. Wait. Was this flirting? She didn’t know and felt so out of her depth with the whole conversation. Not that this could be deemed a conversation. Not really.
“How have you been?”
She took a deep breath. “Fine. I think.”
“Only fine?”
“It’s hard to explain.”
“Want to go and get some dinner and talk?”
“Yes.” She didn’t even hesitate. What was the point in doing that when she would love to spend some time with him? “I can follow you.”
“Sure.”
She wished he’d offered to take her in his car, but a girl couldn’t have everything.
Rushing back to her car, she didn’t look toward the other girls as she knew they’d be curious, and right now, she didn’t want to deal with any of that.
Climbing into her car, she pulled out of the parking lot and followed him. All the questions could wait until she got back to school Monday. Until then, this was her own time.
“Just be cool, Charity. Don’t make this weird or anything. Just be cool and act normal. That’s all you’ve got to do.”
She tapped her steering wheel, following him out toward a small Italian restaurant, which surprised her. She expected a diner or café, but she was happy with this. She parked her
car. The Italian restaurant didn’t have valet parking, and that was fine with her.
Dwayne was already near her car as she got out.
“I take it you like Italian?”
“Who doesn’t?”
She saw the smile on his lips, and when he held out his hand, she took it. Whenever she was with him, she always felt safe, warm, together. He made her feel this way, and it had been three months since she’d felt anything close to safe.
Her parents tried, but they weren’t there when she was walking safely down the street, only in the next second to be taken. Her life had become so predictable that the men knew when to take her.
The last three months, she’d done everything different. No routine to her life, and that felt crazy to her. She never went to the same café twice in the same week, or even on the same day. She was always changing her life around so that no one could ever get the best of her again.
She had also started self-defense classes, and so far, they were not helping.
Dwayne got them a seat somewhere in the back that offered them a great deal of privacy.
“Did you call ahead to get a table?” she asked. The restaurant was busy, and she was surprised they’d gotten a table.
“There’s always one reserved for my uncles and me.”
“So you have a family.”
“I never said I didn’t.”
She licked her lips and glanced around the luxurious restaurant. Her parents were wealthy and often loved to flaunt it to their friends.
“I’m sorry.”
“I’m not angry. I have a family. Two uncles. They have families themselves.”
“You don’t.”
“No.”
“How old are you?” she asked.
“Thirty-four. Does that creep you out? To be out to dinner with a man old enough to be your father.”
She chuckled. “You’re not old enough to be my father. If that was the case you had me at sixteen. My dad is nearly fifty years old.”
“Math has never been my strong point.”
“No, I don’t find you creepy at all, Dwayne. I like you.” Her cheeks heated, and she quickly looked down at the table. It was hard enough to admit that she liked him in her head, let alone to his face.
Biting her lip, she grabbed the menu, but before she could withdraw her hand, Dwayne had a hold of her wrist.
For several seconds he simply held her, doing nothing else. It was like their world stood still and they were the only two there, waiting.
Slowly, his fingers slid down to take her hand.
“I like you, too, Charity.”
“You don’t even know me.”
“I know you’re hard-working and that you’re strong.”
“You always said that,” she said.
“Because I mean it. You’re a strong woman.”
“Why were you here?”
“Believe it or not, I don’t live too far from here, and I wanted to make sure you were okay. Not by asking your parents. They don’t see the truth.”
“What truth?” she asked.
“That you don’t want to go to someone to talk about your damn feelings. Or that you couldn’t give a shit right now about going to the mall. Three months ago, you were taken by men who were going to put you up for auction. Sell you to the man who paid the highest amount for your virginity. What would happen to you after that, you don’t know. I don’t know, but I’ve got a pretty good idea that it wouldn’t be flowers or romance. They’d have used you. Fucked you until you were nothing but dead meat to them. That’s what animals like that do. For a short time that was your reality, and you don’t need to be constantly reminded of it by talking about your fucking feelings.”
He was so right it was scary.
Chapter Three
Charity ordered some pasta dish while Dwayne settled on the herbed steak and potatoes. He came here often enough to know what he liked. She looked different. He’d noticed that about her when he saw her coming out of school. Her head was downcast, looking at the floor. She didn’t pay attention to anyone or anything. She’d also lost some weight as well, which he didn’t like.
At first, he was only going to see what was going on with her. What was wrong. One look and he knew he had to talk to her. The giggling schoolgirls held no appeal for him. When he’d been a schoolboy they’d not held much interest then, but he’d been young and wanting to get off, so he used the girls that threw themselves at him. Never did he give any of the girls he was with ideas that it would be forever.
Charity kept looking around the room as if she was waiting for someone or something to jump out at her.
“You don’t have to be afraid.”
“I know.” She ran fingers through her hair. “Sorry. You could tell that I was checking everything?”
“Kind of hard not to.”
“I find public places difficult at times. I never know who is watching me.”
“You change your routine?”
“All the time,” she said.
He tilted his head to the side, watching her. “I heard you were taking self-defense classes.”
She blew out a breath and laughed. “Yeah, for what good they’re doing me.”
“You don’t think they’re helping?”
“I don’t know what’s helping or not, to be honest. We’ve done some moves that are supposed to work, but I’m not convinced.” She nibbled her lip, and his gaze was drawn to that action.
“Want me to help you?”
“Help me?”
“Defend yourself. My ways won’t be entirely conventional, but it will help you out if you need it.”
She nodded, and he saw that sparkle back in her eye. “Yes. Please. I’d like that.”
The waiter interrupted, and he wanted to shoot the bastard for making the shine from her eyes dull just a little. When it came to Charity he was having a lot of murderous tendencies, and he had to keep it under control before Beast or Caleb grounded him. Not that it would help. If they took all of his weapons off him, he still had his hands. His father had taught him long ago that if you had strength then you were a weapon.
He’d honed those skills well over the years, and now he was unstoppable.
The nightmare of every man’s dreams.
“Will you teach me how to shoot a gun?” she asked, her cheeks a shade of red and the excitement clear in her eyes.
“Do you think you’re ready for that?”
“I know I can’t keep living like this, and everything they teach us is about running away. I’m not a fast runner and I can scream, sure, but what if no one comes running? I screamed my head off when I got taken, and there wasn’t anyone around.” She stabbed at her plate, twirling her spaghetti. “I don’t want to be taken again, or even have that risk.”
He nodded. “The stuff I’ll teach you is not conventional. I’m not going to tell you to dodge and run or even to scream. First, I’ll make sure you can handle yourself so that if you are taken by surprise, you don’t freak out.”
“I don’t want my parents to know.”
He raised a brow.
“They’re … worried.”
“They want to protect you. I can understand that.”
She groaned, and he smiled. He found her so charming. It was strange. She was eighteen years old, had her whole life ahead of her, and he couldn’t stand girls that age when he was that age. She wasn’t a girl though. Charity was very much a woman.
“You don’t have kids or a family.”
“I have cousins. Very close and I would do anything to protect them. When you love people, that’s what you do, no matter what. You take care of them. That’s all your parents are doing for you.”
“I want to stop seeing my therapist.”
“Then stop,” he said.
“You make it sound so easy, but it’s not.”
“How is it not? You either don’t go, cancel your appointment, or sit in complete silence.”
She stared at him for se
veral minutes, her fork in her pasta, and she looked deep in thought. “Do you think I need to go?”
He laughed. “I don’t know, Charity. Do you need to go?”
“We’re not getting anywhere with this.”
“How do you feel when you look back on your ordeal?” he asked.
She licked her lips again. He was getting distracted by those lips. “I get angry.”
“Why are you angry?”
“Now you’re sounding like my therapist.”
“Answer the question.”
“I was helpless. I was scared. There’s no way I can put into words what I felt or what I feel. It just fucking happened. I couldn’t do anything about that.” She blew out a breath. “I don’t know. I feel like everything is happening all around me. People are moving on, but I’m standing still. I can’t move on.”
“And why do you think that is?”
“I don’t have a clue. Maybe, Mr. Therapist, you could tell me.”
He sliced into his steak, closing his eyes as the flavors coated his tongue. It really was a good, juicy, rare steak, which was the best kind.
“Okay, let’s put it to you another way,” she said. He waited as she took a sip of her water. “If you were in my position and those guys were doing that to you and everything happened the same, what would you feel like?”
“Simple.”
“Well…”
He finished his bite and leaned forward. “I would be pissed that someone came and saved me and didn’t leave me one person to take care of myself. I’d need to see their blood pouring from their body to know I got the bastard good, but that’s me, Charity. I like killing. It’s what I do. Now, what about you? Do you wish you could have killed them?”
Tears were in her eyes. He saw them, and what was even more interesting, she didn’t look afraid or sick.
“I’m angry that I couldn’t fight back. That I was too afraid. I thought about hurting them so much. Of taking the guns and the knives they threatened me with and turning it on them, and just letting go.”
“You shouldn’t be worried about thinking like that.”
“Why? Because it’s natural? There’s nothing natural about what I wanted to do.”
“Isn’t it? It’s primal. Human survival. You can’t control what you wanted to do, Charity, any more than we can deny our basic nature.”