Naughty

by Arabella Quinn

  "I'll be right back. Don't disappear on me." He gave the girl who seemed to be hanging on a quick kiss on her pouting lips. They thought he was ditching them, but they were in for a surprise when he got back. He would give them the rock star treatment that they were looking for.

  He headed to the back of the bar, near the restrooms, where he hoped it would be quieter. The line for the ladies' bathroom was spilling out of the alcove, and every pair of eyes turned to him as he leaned against the wall and pulled out his phone. He tried to ignore them, but he could feel them assessing the situation, giggling with their friends, planning their approach when they saw him alone.

  Cursing to himself, he saw the first girl, either the bravest or the drunkest, stumble towards him. He turned his shoulder hoping she would get the hint.

  "Hi Nick. My name's Lacey and I'm a big fan of yours."

  He turned to her. "Hey, thanks a lot. I just need to make a phone call real quick…"

  She wasn't budging and now at least two other girls were approaching. Shit. He should have just blown her off completely, but he did really appreciate his fans. Just not fucking right now.

  He gave her a big smile. "I'll be right back. I just need to make this call."

  Walking away, he heard the girl's excited laughter. He weaved through the crowd until he reached the exit. He pushed through the door. A few people were smoking near the front entrance so he walked further down the front of the building breathing in the humid night air.

  He checked his texts; still no return messages from her. He hit the call button for her number and waited. "C'mon Allie, answer the damn phone."

  No answer. Fuck. Was she avoiding him? He hung up. If he didn't talk to her, it was going to ruin his whole damn evening. He was getting annoyed with her and he was definitely annoyed with himself. Desperate to get on with his night, he called her again.

  Hearing each ring of the phone was frustrating. Answer damn it. He was ready to stab the End button in anger when he heard her answer. "Hello?"

  "Damn it, Allie. Couldn't you at least text me back and let me know you weren't coming tonight?" He didn't mean to sound so pissed, but his anger just seemed to escape.

  "This isn't Allie. It's Vickie." The girl seemed taken aback by his outburst.

  The name sounded vaguely familiar. "Vickie?"

  She hesitated for a second. "Yeah. Allison's roommate."

  He must have sounded like a real ass. "Oh, sorry about that. I was just worried when Allison didn't show up tonight and then she ignored all my texts. Where is she?"

  Again another long pause before she answered. "You're Nick, right? I mean, Allie's brother, Nick? The one in Cold Fusion?"

  He clenched his jaw. He didn't want to deal with this shit right now. He just wanted to talk to Allison. "Yeah, that's me."

  He braced himself for the onslaught of praise for his band or the 'I'm your biggest fan' bullshit, but instead she was quiet. He tried again. "Vickie, can I talk to Allie?"

  "She talks about you all the time." She didn't even sound like she was speaking to him directly. Was this girl high or something?

  He was getting more agitated. "Vickie, is Allison around? I want to talk to her."

  "Nick, something happened and I don't know what to do. I know she trusts you…" Her voice trailed off.

  His rising anger immediately turned to concern. What the hell was going on? "Something happened to Allison?" he prodded her on.

  Her voice wavered over the phone. "I was heading out for an hour and I let her boyfriend into the apartment. Oh God. I didn't know. And when I came back, her door was still shut and it was quiet. I just thought they were probably in there. You know…"

  Nick's hand was squeezing the phone tightly. "And?"

  "And later, as I was heading out for the night, I saw her in the kitchen, getting ice. She was all beat up. She wouldn't tell me what happened, but Rob did that to her."

  Nick felt as if all the air had left his lungs. He couldn't even get any words out.

  He could hear Vickie take a deep breath. "It was horrible. Her face was all swollen and she couldn't move her arm. I wanted to call the police, but she begged me not to. She's been crying in her room, but she won't answer when I knock on the door. And I'm worried that Rob might get drunk and then come back tonight."

  Nick felt the adrenaline surging through his body. "If he comes back, don't let him in, obviously, but call 911 right away. I'm leaving now. What's your address?"

  Nick heard her sniffle. "Oh, thank god. I'm really worried about her. We're at 4962 East Oak Street. Apartment 24. Please hurry." He hung up and punched the address into his phone so he wouldn't forget.

  It took him almost 10 minutes to find a car that he could borrow. It was a junker that one of the roadies for Warning Shot drove, but he didn't care as long as it survived the trip. He hadn't mentioned that he'd be driving it to Philly; he'd figure out how to repay the guy later.

  The directions on his phone told him it would take about an hour and a half to get to Allison's apartment. He tried to relax his crushing grip on the steering wheel as he drove, constantly checking his speed, as he headed down the highway. He was sure he wasn't over the legal blood alcohol limit, but getting pulled over now would cause a huge delay no matter what the outcome.

  He kept pushing aside all thought of what happened to Allie, struggling to concentrate solely on driving, but the sickening feeling in the pit of his stomach kept reminding him.

  It felt like he was driving insanely slow and it took forever, but finally Nick found the apartment building. He double-parked, not wanting to take the time to search for parking, and hoped for the best. A ticket he could handle, towing would be a bit more complicated.

  He rang the buzzer for apartment 24 and the door lock almost immediately disengaged. He took the stairs two at a time and was knocking on the door within a minute.

  Vickie opened the door. "Nick, I'm so glad you came."

  He had never been in Allison's apartment before. Even though the girls had recently moved in, it looked nicely decorated with lots of personal touches. Nothing like his sparse bachelor pad.

  "How did you know it was me at the front door?" He wanted to know how safe the apartment was.

  Vickie nodded her understanding. "I've been watching out the window from my room. I can see the front entrance of the building and I saw you coming. We never buzz anyone in without asking first. But some people here in the apartments do. I checked at the peephole before I opened the door…"

  That seemed reasonable. "Okay. That asshole never showed up, right? Or called?"

  Vickie looked miserable. "Rob? No. I feel awful. I never should have let him in here without telling Allie. I was just in a hurry…"

  The girl was really upset. "None of this is your fault, Vickie. How is Allison doing?"

  Vickie shrugged her shoulders. "She hasn't left her room. I've knocked on the door a couple of times, but she hasn't answered. The door's locked. I've heard her crying quietly in there, but she doesn't answer. It's been quiet for awhile; I think she might be sleeping."

  Nick put his hands on the sides of her arms. "I know you had plans to go out tonight. I really appreciate that you stayed here with Allison. You're a great friend, Vickie."

  She frowned. "I'd never leave her alone after that."

  Nick nodded. He was glad Allison had a caring roommate. "I'm going to try to talk to her. Where's her room?"

  Vickie led him to the door and then left him alone. He knocked quietly and then a little louder. "Allie, it's Nick. Are you awake?"

  A few moments later the door opened. "Nick? What are you doing here?"

  The light from the hall spilled into her dark room, leaving shadows across her face. Even in the weak light, he could see the puffy skin already becoming discolored on the side of her face.

  He sucked in a breath. "Jesus, Allie. Are you okay? Turn on the light so I can see what he did to you."

  She didn't move. "Nick. You shouldn't have come
all this way. It's not even that bad. It's not even hurting much anymore."

  "Where's the damn light?" He wasn't taking no for an answer.

  Allie sighed and then retreated into her bedroom, turning on a table lamp.

  The left side of her cheek was swollen and already turning an angry dark reddish-purple color. Trails of dried up tears crisscrossed down her cheeks.

  He approached her slowly looking for other injuries. "What else is hurt? Your arm and what else?"

  She sat down on the edge of her bed. "My arm is sore, but I can move it around now. The pain killers are really helping."

  He sat down on the bed next to her. "Allie, what happened?"

  "I don't really want to talk about it. I'm really glad you're here though. I'm feeling much better already. Safer." She leaned her good shoulder against him.

  He put his arms around her, careful of her sore arm. "I know you don't want to think about what happened. But you have to tell me. Allie, did he rape you?"

  Nick held his breath, almost scared to hear her answer.

  "No. Thank God." He felt her shudder in his arms. "He had his hands all over me and he wouldn't stop. I told him over and over again to stop. He was going to rape me and I couldn't stop him. It just makes me so mad that he was doing that and I just couldn't do anything about it. I wasn’t strong enough…"

  He felt a small measure of relief that she wasn't raped, but he needed to find out what happened. He kept his voice calm. "What exactly happened?"

  She pulled away from him. Her voice was shaky when she answered. "He walked in while I was getting dressed. I was in a hurry to leave and he wanted to- you know, like- fool around. He got angry that I was blowing him off. He accused me of leading him on - teasing him."

  Nick sat rigidly and listened. He was going to teach this prick a lesson.

  She took a deep breath and continued. "I, uh- I let him kiss me. I kind of felt bad. But he was getting too aggressive. He wouldn't stop…"

  Nick clenched his jaw. "It's not your fault at all. If you told him to stop, he should have stopped right then."

  She looked at him uncertainly. "I know. He was pushing the limits, but I think he really thought he could get me to change my mind at first. But then he just got so angry when I refused him. He said I was teasing him on purpose. Suddenly he had me pinned on the bed. My legs were trapped. He was holding my arms down. I didn't know what to do."

  Nick could hear the rising panic in her voice as she remembered the horrible ordeal.

  He felt rage bubbling up inside, but he kept his voice even. "Allie, that's not pushing the limits. Any man knows that. That's assault."

  She looked haunted. "I know, I know. I think he would have forced me too. Raped me, right then. But I bit him. Really hard in the shoulder. I was panicked. I just didn't know what to do. That's when he hauled off and hit me. It was kind of a reflexive reaction for him, I think."

  Nick stared at her, confused by her uncertainties. "Allie, don't make excuses for this asshole. You were defending yourself. What he did was a crime. It wasn't an accident or a misunderstanding."

  She wasn't really listening, but staring off into the corner of the room. "I was able to wiggle away when he was looking at the bite on his shoulder. But he grabbed my leg. I twisted and fell off the bed and hurt my arm. I think that's when he came to his senses. He could have raped me right then if he had wanted to. I wouldn't have been able to stop him. But he left."

  Nick unclenched his fists. He didn't want Allison to see his anger. "We should call the police. He attacked you."

  She looked panicked again. "No! Nick, I just can't go through all that. He would just twist everything around. I just want to forget it ever happened. I never want to see him again."

  Nick had no clue how to handle the situation. He didn't want to upset Allison, but he couldn't let the bastard get away with what he did. And the other thing bothering him was that Allison seemed to be taking on some blame for what happened. And that was clearly wrong.

  He needed to convince her to talk to someone, a professional, who knew how to help her. But first he needed to take care of the loser that did this to her.

  "Allie, will you be okay if I leave for a while?"

  She looked at him with a mixture of nervousness and suspicion battling in her eyes. "What are you going to do?"

  Nick would give the guy a good talking to, with his fist. Assholes like that only responded to one thing. And he'd make it damn clear to Rob that if he ever went near Allison again, he'd suffer a lot worse. Hopefully the prick would think twice before ever assaulting another woman. It was the best he could do to protect Allison if she refused to involve the police.

  "I'm going to have a talk with Rob. I'm going to make sure he never comes near you again. Where does he live?"

  Allison slid off the bed and started pacing the small room. "No, Nick. I don't want you to go after him. He's not worth it."

  "I'm just going to set a few ground rules for him to follow. I'm going to see him, Allie. It's non-negotiable unless you decide to report him to the police."

  She was wringing her hands nervously. "Promise you won't let it get physical? I don't know, Nick. Can't we just drop this? He's not stupid. I'm sure he won't bother me anymore."

  Nick shook his head. "No, I'm not taking that chance. I'm going to make sure the situation is crystal clear to him. Tell me his address."

  Sighing, she crossed over to a table and scribbled something on a piece of paper. "Here's his address. He lives about 20 minutes from here. I don't like this, Nick. Please don't do anything stupid. Please."

  Nick smiled, trying to reassure her. She shouldn't worry about him; he had plenty of practice defending himself. His older brother, John, was nothing but trouble growing up. The two had found themselves fighting their way out of countless sticky situations in the past. Nick had developed into a street-smart kid with solid fighting skills. Unless Allison's white-collar ex-boyfriend was trained somehow, with the military or martial arts or something similar, there would be minimum risk to Nick as he got his message across.

  "Don't worry about me. You should really try to rest. I'll come back to check on you after I talk to Rob." He stood and left the room before Allison changed her mind and tried to stop him.

  Chapter Five

  Over an hour later, I was pacing my bedroom nervously, my stomach tied up in knots. I should have never given Rob's address to Nick. What the hell was I thinking?

  Now, beyond worrying about it getting physical between the two, I was also worried about what Rob would say. Would he reveal embarrassing details, for instance, that he walked in on me lying nude on the bed, pleasuring myself? I groaned out loud just thinking about it. I was sure that he would paint a very different picture of our encounter. And it made me angry that after nearly being raped; I was worried about these seemingly petty things. But there it was. What was wrong with me?

  When I finally heard the knock at my bedroom door, I flew across the room to open it. "Thank God you're back!"

  My relief quickly turned to concern when I saw his reddened cheek and his swollen lip. "Nick, what happened?"

  He smiled sheepishly. "He got lucky and managed to land a few."

  "Let me see it." I led him into my room, closer to the lamplight. "You two fought? Oh my God, Nick!"

  Nick brushed my hands aside as I tried to check his face. "Jesus, Allie. Have you looked in a mirror lately? Don’t worry about me."

  I hadn't even looked at my face yet. From Vickie's and Nick's initial expressions of shock, I knew it must look pretty bad. But, after Nick had left, I had forgotten all about it. I was too worried about their confrontation.

  "I haven't even looked at it yet. I must look like hell." I suddenly felt self-conscious. Awkwardly, I realized that I was standing in front of Nick wearing only a tiny pink satin robe that scarcely covered my bare ass.

  I blushed as sudden awareness clutched at my insides. I had just dodged a bullet, and still I was reacting to N
ick's nearness with wanton abandon.

  I took a step back and sat on my bed. "What happened? What did Rob say?"

  My heart started beating rapidly when Nick sat next to me. "He didn’t say much. We came to an agreement that he won't ever bother you again. I'm pretty certain that he'll abide by it. How are you feeling?"

  How was I feeling? Hours before I had been petrified when I thought that Rob would force me against my will. As Rob had made his advances, I had only felt indifference at first, then disgust, and then revulsion as my brain finally comprehended the dawning horror. When he had left me lying shattered on the floor, my whole world seemed to be crumbling in a heap of fear, doubt and insecurity. Was there something wrong with me? Why was I such a wreck around men?

  Now, as I sat mere inches from Nick, I could feel the heat emanating from his body. My nipples were tightening against my satin robe as I stared at his hands. I had watched his fingers stroking his guitar so many times and just as many times I had imagined them doing naughty things to my own body; just seeing them made me wet with desire.

  Butterflies flitted in my stomach as I looked up at him. "I'm feeling better. I feel safe when you're around."

  I could see the conflicting emotions swirling in his eyes. He looked uncomfortable with my admission, but I didn't care. It was true. I trusted him like I trusted no other man.

  His eyes blazed with anger. "I wish I could have stopped him before he hurt you."

  I shrugged away his words. "Just bruises. They will heal. I think this might mess with my head for a while though. It will be hard to trust a guy again."

  Nick looked anywhere but at me. "Allie, I think you should talk to somebody about this. You know, to work through it all. A counselor or something."

  It was the last thing I wanted to do, but I wasn't about to argue. "If I can't work it out myself, I promise I'll talk to someone."

  He looked at me and smiled. "Good. As long as you're really okay, I should get heading back."

  Disappointment surged through me. What did I expect? Him to stay all night holding my hand?