Destructive Us: A Luxe Novel: 3

by H. Q. Frost

  phone number off Luxe's database and hit dial.

  "This is Aaron," he answered after the forth ring.

  "Aaron, Ian Jacks. Luxe?"

  There was a brief pause.

  "Right, hey, Ian. Something wrong with my credit card?"

  "No." Ian chuckled. "All that is fine. Listen, Lily got into some trouble and I'm just wondering where you dropped her after your date."

  "Uh. Shit, where was that? Uh." He paused in thought. "At her car," he finally said then laughed. "Sorry, I had a few drinks."

  "And she got into her car?"

  "I think. Not really sure, Ian. What's going on?"

  "Nothing. I hope the date was satisfactory."

  "More than. You run a nice organization and I'll be using you in the future."

  "Looking forward to it. Sorry to bother you so late, Aaron."

  "Uh, Ian? Lily? She's okay, right?"

  "Yeah, she's fine," Ian sounded convincing.

  "Good because she's my go-to."

  "I'm sure she'll be looking forward to it. Have a good night."

  "Yeah, you too." Aaron hung up.

  "Jacks," Justin said when he walked into the

  room. Ian tossed Justin a beef stick. "Thanks. You're going to stay with her tomorrow, right?"

  "Yeah, and based off how she was acting today, you are too."

  "If she wants me to stay I will but we can't keep doing this."

  "I know, Borg," Ian snarled. "We need to find out what happened."

  "Well ya drugged her, Jacks." Annoyed, he stood. "We're not going to find out shit."

  It was a long night but Lilith woke at five and in pain. With a groan she sat up not really remembering the incident until she saw both Ian and Justin were in the room asleep. Lilith reached out touching Justin's leg as he sat slumped in

  the chair.

  He quickly sat up. "El," he said, moving to the bed next to her.

  "I have to go to the bathroom," she whispered.

  He stared at her a minute, trying to hide his discomfort that they'd have to be escorting her to the bathroom.

  "You want us to come in the bathroom with you?" he carefully asked.

  "No. Can you just stand outside the door?"

  He was relieved.

  "I will, Lily," Ian got off the bed.

  Justin helped her stand and she winced from being sore. He walked her

  into the bathroom and she slowly closed the door.

  "He'll be right outside the door," he told her seeing her skepticism.

  Ian dressed her while Justin made her something to eat then they sat her at the dining room table wanting answers.

  "What happened?" Ian softly asked.

  Lilith stared at the bowl of oatmeal, afraid to tell them.

  "El, you need to talk. Should we call the police?"

  "No!" She looked up at them. "No police. You can't do anything about it."

  "Yeah. We fucking can," Justin blurted.

  "He'll shut down Luxe—"

  "Who?" Ian snapped.

  "Aaron Teppert," she whispered.

  Justin stood, almost flipping the table and Ian exhaled, squeezing the bridge of his nose.

  "Fuck!" he screamed, slamming his hand onto the table making Lilith jump.

  Tears burst through and she covered her face with shaking hands. "I'm sorry!"

  "Fuck, Lily." He carefully went to her side. "I'm sorry, baby, I'm sorry."

  Lilith buried her face in his neck as sobs took over. Ian looked over at Justin who was seething.

  She pushed herself away from Ian and looked at Justin.

  "You can't do anything." She looked at Ian. "Either of you.

  He said if I went to the police he'd really hurt me."

  "Really hurt you!" Justin yelled. "The son of a bitch did really hurt you!"

  "Please stop screaming," she muttered, looking at the table.

  "I'm sorry, ZP." Justin kneeled next to her in the chair. "Did he rape you?"

  "I'm not completely sure," she whispered. "I mean yes, they did things to me. But I'm not sure how far they took it. I blacked out." Shame had her hiding her face again.

  Ian started to shake and he clenched his fists, trying to control his anger.

  "Who? They? Who was the other man, El?" Justin urged.

  "His name was Trent," she said into her hand. "You guys can't do anything!" In a frantic move she stood and the chair tipped. "Ian, you can't!"

  Ian paced, unable to say anything.

  "El." Justin surprisingly was the calm one.

  "We have to call the police."

  "No. Please don't! Justin, please! Ian, tell him!" she begged.

  "Lily, we need to go to the police. He needs to

  be locked up."

  "But he won't! His dad is under the mayor! The mayor is a close family friend

  of theirs! They won't believe me! I'm an escort, and then Luxe will be shut down and us, Ian, we will be the ones locked up and the girls! You can't!"

  Justin stared at Ian who was thinking over the accuracy of her plea.

  "What the fuck," Justin muttered, realizing Ian was on her side.

  "I will never forgive you, Justin," she threatened.

  "I'm not going to the cops, El!" he yelled at her, sitting down and putting his hands to his face.

  "He was going to cut me," she said in a small voice. "That's when I got out and started to run. We were right by the firm so I ran there. He was chasing me. I think because he wanted me to know he was serious. He will do something awful to me if I tell. I don't want them to find me," she whispered.

  "No one's going to find you." Ian pulled her to him. "He's not going to hurt you, Lily." The conversation he had with Aaron the night before kept playing through his head.

  "I have a date today," she muttered pulling away from Ian.

  "No you don't!" Justin shouted.

  "I'm having Tash cancel your dates. No more, Lily."

  She didn't argue, she put her face into her hands, leaning on the table.

  "El," Justin softly said sitting her up. "Did he cut you?" He remembered seeing the blood between her legs.

  "No." She rubbed her neck where the knife was pressed.

  He stared at her, not sure how to ask. "Are you on your period?" he quietly asked.

  "No. Why?" She was confused.

  "You had blood," he carefully said and his eyes glanced downward.

  Ian leaned against the couch watching them.

  "He bit me," she whispered.

  The sound that escaped Ian's throat was quickly muffled with a cough.

  "What about your stomach?" Justin asked even though he didn't want those answers.

  "He punched me. I was hit in the head with something. I don't know if it was his fist though." She looked at Justin whose only expression was sadness. "Trent did it."

  "The friend?" Ian asked; Lilith nodded.

  "Aaron encouraged it, he was rough. Just please promise me you two won't do anything? They're crazy and I pissed them off. Trent was." She stopped and looked at her hands. "He was going to cut me so I understood they would really hurt me if I told. Before he could I kicked him in the face and I elbowed Aaron in the face pushing the door open." Her hand went to her head where Aaron pulled out a handful of hair. "I just don't want them to find me."

  "They won't come anywhere near you again, El." Justin pulled her to him

  and looked at Ian.

  "I should go to work." She let Justin go. It hurt to walk but she tried to hide it, failing.

  "You don't need to go to work. Tash is there."

  "I'll be fine once I'm there. I was supposed to meet with the accountant last night," she mumbled.

  "I'll take care of it, Lily. I think you should take it easy today."

  "Yeah, El, you need to relax," Justin backed.

  "I don't want to be alone," she embarrassedly admitted.

  "You won't," Ian assured her. "One or both of

  us will be with you."

&n
bsp; "Go lay back down, El," Justin said looking toward her bedroom.

  Lilith slowly went into the room, climbing into the bed and stared at the open door, listening to them talk.

  "Lily, I'm going to go into the office for a few hours but Justin's going to stay with you. I'm just going to make sure Tash can handle today. You'll be okay?"

  "Yeah," she mumbled.

  "No one's going to hurt you again, baby," he said

  pushing her hair back.

  "I think they'll leave me alone but if I made them mad, Ian…they're crazy."

  "Don't worry about it, baby." He pulled her to him, kissing her head. "You have me and Justin, you know we won't let anything happen."

  "Ian," she quietly said. "I'm sorry about our fight yesterday."

  He kissed her head as she lay down. "I'm tagging you in," he said to Justin when he walked out of the room.

  "Get as much info you can, man," Justin quietly said before walking into the bedroom.

  Lilith made him get in the bed with her and she slept in his arms holding him tight. Ian returned hours later and Justin left after promising he'd come back. That night he fell asleep in the bed to her right and Ian to her left.

  Justin was hesitant to leave her but she was going into work with Ian. "Will you call me?"

  "And text you," she said as they stood at his car. "I'll be okay, I just don't want to be alone and Ian will be there, Tash will be there."

  "I know you'll be okay." He pushed her hair back, kissing her.

  "B." She smirked. "You and me are the secret when we're at the condo."

  "Too many fuckin' secrets, El."

  "I'm sorry." Her smile drooped.

  "I'd rather be your secret than nothing at all. I love you, beautiful."

  "I love you, and thank you for staying with me. I know it was probably hard."

  "I'd do anything for you, princess." A delicate hand touched her face and he wanted to kiss her again. "Jacks," he called out and put his hand to his ear like a phone; Ian nodded before he walked away.

  "Ian," Lilith softly said reaching over and taking his hand. "Thank you for doing this and you two getting along."

  "You don't need to be thanking me, baby, you know we'll both be here for you. I think you should talk to Dr. Russo." He looked at her and she pulled her hand away.

  "I'd prefer not to." Her defensive gaze drifted forward.

  "Okay," he slowly said not sure how to approach

  it. "What happened was…" He glanced at her then out the window. "It was just really fucked up. No woman should ever go through that, ever."

  "You're right but it happened, let's move on. It's over

  with. I don't want to think about them. I don't want to keep reliving this by telling people, especially people I don't know. I was humiliated, Ian, I'm embarrassed, I'm hurt, and I'm scared. I don't want to think about it," she snapped.

  He gripped the steering wheel tightly, looking out the side window and anger started boiling inside. He was glad they weren't going to the police because him and Justin were going to deal with it themselves. They were more focused on the friend. Which was difficult because they didn't know who he was but that was whom they wanted to destroy.

  JUSTIN is edged to the meek

  I would have never thought something like this happening to El would make me grateful that Ian's in her life too. It's not like I couldn't handle this on my own but it is easier when there's two of us so we can split our time with her. Also, I know he needs me as much as I need him right now. Together we were able to find out who the friend was and exactly where he'll be tomorrow night and that's where I'll be. Along with Kurt, Big D, Abner, and Kyle.

  It turns out Abner actually knows him from med school and this isn't the first time he's done something like this. When the girl did go to the police though he had a perfect alibi from Mayor Sparks himself. I don't know what happened to that girl. Abner didn't mention it. I didn't tell them it was El that this happened to, I just said some girl I know. Kurt's the only one that knows it was El because he knows I wouldn't be doing this for just some girl.

  When they stood in Lilith's office the next day she asked Justin, "When will I see you? Ian said you're busy tonight?"

  "This dinner thing with another firm." He didn't sound convincing but she didn't pick up on it. "The morning though, I'll bring you breakfast. You'll be here?"

  "I'll be here."

  "Then so will I."

  "Do you still want me to move stuff in?" She grinned, thinking about the conversation they had the day before when he asked her to bring things to his house and leave them there.

  "Yeah, I really do. I know you have your home with Ian but I want you to stay with me more. I know he probably won't like it but I need you just as much as he does."

  "Don't put that on me, B." she huffed.

  "I know, I'm sorry." He pushed her hair back. "You just need to do what you want and you know, El, you know, neither of us will argue with you. You need to do what's best for you."

  She nodded and smiled, kissing his nose.

  "Text?"

  "Yes." Her smile didn't fade for once and it was nice to see she was coming back to them. Coming back to herself and not letting the haunting memories break into every happy thought like they had been since the incident.

  "You're beautiful."

  "Thank you."

  "You're my Zombie Princess." His eyes went to the mark on her neck but she didn't notice.

  "Yeah. I am." She ran her nose over his jaw. "And I'll bite your neck out if you forget it."

  He chuckled but the thought of what happened to her neck invaded his thoughts. "El," he breathed pulling her to him and kissed her head. "Call me please, before you go to sleep? When you get home maybe."

  "Have a delightful day, darling." She chuckled, sitting at her desk.

  "Good morning." Tash grinned walking into the office.

  "Morning," Justin said but didn't take his eyes from Lilith.

  "Coffee, Lily?"

  "No thanks, I'm good. Bye, B."

  "Bye, beautiful. Bye, Tash."

  "Bye, Justin." Tash grinned at him then looked at

  Lilith when he walked out.

  When Justin entered Ian's office he stood. "Everything good for tonight?"

  "Yeah. I'll call you when it's all said and done. You need to pinpoint that Aaron fuck." Justin spoke quietly and moved closer to Ian's desk. "I want him too. Don't let this go, Jacks."

  "You know I'm not. You know I can just make a few calls and we don't have to get our hands dirty at all."

  "I want to. I want to rain hell on that stupid son of a bitch's face. You know I'm only bringing the guys to stop me from killing him."

  "Don't let any of this trace back to you, Borg. She'll fucking hate you if you're in jail for killing someone."

  "Yeah, yeah," Justin muttered.

  "Just don't be fucking stupid, and call me tonight. Hey, man, be careful too. You end up in the hospital I'm not gonna loan her out night and day again."

  "You couldn't stop her."

  "Truth." Ian sat with a chuckle.

  JUSTIN denies that he ever knew

  We're sitting in the parking lot of the YMCA

  waiting for this fuck Trent to come out.

  "Is he swimming?" Kurt asks.

  "Box lacrosse."

  I'm eating gummy worms like I haven't eaten in days. I'm sick to my stomach and nervous. Not nervous for what we're about to do, I'm nervous I won't be able to stop until his skull is bashed in. I'm telling myself I should just hang back, maybe just watch, but I can't. I want to crush this guy. Jacks was right though, I have to be careful that this doesn't get traced back to me.

  "What's he look like?" Kurt asks and I'm tired of him talking.

  "He's a tall Asian dude—"

  "Man, what the fuck, this is gonna be a hate crime."

  "It's not a hate crime you fuckin' idiot. Kyle's Japanese. If it makes you feel better he can deliver the first hit." I look
over at him and he looks edgy. He's not much of a fighter but when I told him what happened he was all for killing this guy. "Maybe you should hang back. Stay in the

  car, you can drive."

  "No. What the hell, man? Fuck this guy. I want a hit in too."

  "You don't even need to be involved."

  Looking over at Abner's car his tinted windows hide the other guys. The passenger window rolls down and Big D is sitting there with a huge grin.

  "D, you're lookin' a little too excited for this, man." I chuckle and he nods with that stupid grin. He's definitely high and I'm pretty sure they're smoking a joint right now. "You guys are idiots." I laugh rolling up my window some and the doors to the Y open.

  He's the first one out but right behind him is a teammate that jumps on his back. Through my partially rolled down window I hear them making plans to grab a drink around the block. That's good, because jumping this guy at his house was gonna be a little tricky but I was prepared to break in if I had to. Three other guys come out the doors and they all get into a F-350 with a lift kit and I notice he's driving. Doesn't surprise me. He's obviously compensating for something.

  "That's his gay truck!" Kurt blurts.

  "Shh!" I punch him in the arm and roll up the window.

  Motioning to Abner, he rolls down the window and gives me a nod. We follow the truck to a bar that's off the street of a girl I know which makes parking easy. If I can get ahold of her.

  "Didn't you fuck her?" Kurt asks.

  "I'm not trying to fuck her now," I say just as she answers the phone.

  "Wow, I didn't even think you knew my number."

  "What?" I laugh, trying to be charming. "Of course I do."

  "Why didn't you use it?"

  "I was waiting for your call." I can see Kurt

  silently laughing and I punch his arm again.

  "You didn't give me your number." She sounds annoyed. Maybe this was a bad idea.

  "What? I must have." I'm still laughing. "You knew it was me."

  "Caller ID, Justin. Why are you calling? I haven't seen you in what? Four months?"

  "Four? I'm hurt." I have no idea when I last saw this girl. "I saw you not long ago and you acted like you didn't know me."

  "I did not!"

  "Yeah you did. You were with your redheaded friend. I saw you guys at

  the club." I met this girl at a club and her redheaded friend tried to cock block