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Behind me.
And I knew what would follow. A zip, a rip of my panties, and pain, and a memory that would always be with me.
Unsure if it was the best move or not, I whipped myself over onto my back, swatting at the hands as they moved down toward me, stabbing my feet into his chest hard enough to make him grunt.
"I said no," I shrieked, the words a pained, desperate animal sound because that was exactly what I was in that moment.
"So much spirit," he growled, reaching for my thighs, fingers bruising into the skin, trying to pull them apart as I used every bit of strength in my admittedly weaker body to hold them closed.
No wasn't working.
No meant nothing.
I guess it never did.
But what else could there possibly be?
"I will press charges," I said, voice a low, vicious thing, maybe a part of me accepting my fate, but refusing to be a victim simultaneously. "Do you hear me? I will get myself off this floor, and I will call the police, and I will do a rape kit, and I will have them take the video from these security cameras, and I will fucking skewer you." My voice raised somewhere in the middle, loud enough that my throat hurt, my chest hurt, making me aware I was screaming the threat that was not empty.
I would do all of that.
He would never get away with it.
And it was enough to give him pause. "You don't have security cameras."
I didn't, that was true, the last time he asked me about them because of a break-in down the street. I couldn't afford a system. I even told him that.
But Benny's boyfriend, the gentle giant he was, came in one day with a cheap system he bought at Costco and told us it was always better to be safe than sorry. And while there was no one to call, no one watching them, the footage was stored in a cloud to be accessed at any time.
I had him.
"Then what is that?" I yelled, throwing an arm out to the corner where a small, much smaller than you would think and therefore not ugly and obtrusive, not something you would even notice until you looked for it, camera was located.
His entire body stiffened as he looked at it.
I didn't lay there.
I didn't give it another second.
I scrambled up, grabbing the chair for the reception, and turning the legs at him.
"Get the fuck out of my store!" I roared as he slowly took his feet, realization an ugly thing on his face.
"Kenny, baby, this was an obvious misunder..."
"Out!" That was a scream. A scream like a D-actress in an F-horror movie.
It hurt my own ears.
And it shocked him backward a step before he moved for the door.
I watched, aptly, as he got into his car and drove off, before the shock settled in and I slid to the ground. Every inch of my body was shaking, making my teeth rattle together. My stomach rolled, pitching hard enough that I was genuinely worried all of my dinner would make a reappearance.
And then, of course, the sting started at the backs of my eyes.
I blinked. Hard.
I had to get up. I had to get my phone.
I had to... I wasn't sure? Call the police? Call Benny?
I had to call someone. I had to get out of the store where I was alone and vulnerable.
I had just gotten to my feet when the door chimed, making my stomach drop, and my heart race.
I whipped around, hand seeking the chair for defense again.
But it wasn't Ethan.
It was the last person in the world I expected to see right then.
It was Pagan.
The devilish smirk that was on his face as he stepped in dropped instantly at the sight of me, making everything in him go rigid. His jaw tensed hard enough to make a muscle twitch there. His hands curled into fists. His chest expanded.
"Kennedy, what the fuck happened?" There was a guardedness in his tone, like he knew things had been bad, but he needed facts, not hysterics.
And I was really, really teetering on the edge of hysterical right then, at seeing a, essentially, friendly face. At knowing I was safe.
"Ethan..." I managed to choke out before the tears finally overflowed and my voice caught on a heinous sob, making me curl half-forward.
Before I could even try to pull it together, arms closed around me, and I was crushed to a chest I was familiar with, a scent I found comforting. I turned my face into his neck, giving up on even the idea of trying to hold it together.
I just broke.
And I let him hold me together instead.ELEVENPaganI wasn't being a dick.
About not calling Kennedy or showing back up.
Alright, maybe for the first day, it was a conscious choice to put some space there, to let it rest. I wanted to say it was just for her, just because I didn't want her catching feelings and fucking up a good thing. But if I was being completely honest, it definitely was for myself as well. Not because I'd catch feelings. Fuck no. Not me. Just because this fuck buddy thing was out of my wheelhouse and after the disastrous after-fuck situation, I figured maybe it was good to give myself a day to clear my head.
