“I need to go back in.” I hated how small I sounded. How weak I was. I wasn’t this person. I was Suzie Samuels. I was…what?
I was a stripper. I was trash to be passed around. I was nothing. Ford kept trying to change me but here I was again. Maybe this was my place in life.
I closed my eyes and let my head fall back.
“There you go. Good girl.” Rooster’s breath was rancid in my face as he spoke.
I turned my head away. I studied the stars and thought how the moment would pass. How I would get over it. If they’d just hurry. I wasn’t proud but I knew my place.
I conjured thoughts again as four hands groped at me. A hand cupped my breast. I squeezed my eyes shut tighter. Just a little longer. I shut down my connection to my body. I had done it with booze and drugs before, but I could do it now. I would just let them get what they needed to leave.
My skirt was lifted. The cold air on my body snapped me back to the present. Adrenaline flooded me. A sob broke from me.
“No!” I screamed. And flailed my arms. I pushed away the limbs. I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t be this person. “No, stop!”
They were so much stronger than me. They were two determined men and I was one woman. I stomped a foot. I bit a hand. I kicked and punched and fought for everything.
“Come on, Suzie. Be a good little slut.”
“Shut your mouth and open your legs.”
“No! Stop!”
I screamed louder, praying someone would hear me. Deputy James left a while back but there were still people. Somebody would hear me if I screamed loud enough. A hand clasped over my mouth and panic made me go wild. I flailed with every muscle I ever danced with. I was strong. I could do things these men could never do. I kicked and jabbed and punched and refused to stop. I shouldn’t stop. I wouldn’t make it easy. I would show that I never wanted this.
“Jesus, stop it woman. It’ll be over soon.” The hand on my mouth squeezed so hard I thought my jaw would snap. He covered my mouth and most of my nose. I couldn’t find a breath.
“We were promised an easy time,” aggression made Rooster sneer.
I bit down on the hand holding me. “Help!” I screamed and it ripped from me, making my throat raw. I was a wild animal.
Tears mixed with the taste of blood in my mouth. I fought and struggled but I was losing. They dragged me from the stairs and toward the trees lining the center. A rougher hand covered my mouth and nose this time. I couldn’t breathe. Panic. Pure fear and panic. I wouldn’t stop fighting. I wouldn’t. But the gray was closing in. My muscles weakened. If I could just catch a breath...if they brought me to the trees, I would be dead. I knew it as sure as I knew anything.
“Get off her!” Ford’s voice cut through like a light turned on in the middle of the night.
There was a loud snap and the arms that held me slackened. A body crumbled to the ground, taking me with it. The deadweight pinned me, crushing my chest. My lungs couldn't fill. I couldn't see. Shouts and grunts and punches were all I could hear.
“Please don’t have a weapon,” I prayed over and over in my head. “Please. Please.” I sobbed. My eyes grew hazy. The throbbing pulsed with my heart. My vision clouded. The last thing I saw was Ford, white as a ghost and bleeding, bent over me. His eyes were black and a look I’d never seen before transformed his features.
“Are you okay?” I asked before I let go to the darkness.
* * *
Clifford
I was not okay. I was the furthest from okay I had been since that last time. Over ten years of control. Gone. It was barbaric, ridiculous, and humiliating. My entire body shook, pumped full of pure rage as I pried the biggest attacker off Suzie. Rapist.
Those men were about to…
I couldn’t think. No. Suzie. Focus on Suzie.
She wasn’t responding and terror pulsed through me; it gave me inhuman strength. I shoved the man who had toppled onto her when I attacked. I wasn’t safe. I wasn’t careful. I could have hurt her. The biker fell over with a loud crack as his head hit asphalt. I hoped he broke something.
I didn’t waste thoughts on him. Protect Suzie. Save Suzie. I had to get Suzie out. That was my only goal. I squeezed my eyes shut tight against the image that accosted me when I stepped outside. I wanted to stop to throw up but I had to haul her limp form over my shoulder. I felt nothing as I carried her to the car. I managed to buckle her in but by the time I got to the driver’s seat I couldn’t see through the anger that blurred my vision. I shook so hard I couldn’t get the key in the ignition.
I screamed. It was raw and burned out of my throat. The animal within me was unleashed. There was no caging me back up. Pure survival.
“Ford?” Suzie placed a hand on me. “You’re shaking.”
