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“Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to say good-bye to Jim Thomas Wemes. Known to many of you as Big Jim …”
~Paisley~
Guilt plagues me. I shouldn’t have contacted Amber. Then Des told me Coal had to rush home because his mother was sick.
There is a void in my energy since Coal left my place over a week ago. It’s something I can’t explain and something I don’t know how to reset.
Aura isn’t like a video game where a simple press of the reset button starts over. The colors are overlapping layers of our core. Everything we do and feel adds a layer of color to our energy.
I need to come clean. I need to contact Coal and at least let him know I contacted Amber. Whether she’s used his phone number or not, it wasn’t mine to give away. It wasn’t my place to step in.
Even doing things in the name of being good or doing good doesn’t make them right. The end does not justify the means.
Making up my mind to contact Coal later today, I set off for the gym with a foreboding tension I can’t shake. I constantly look in my mirrors on the drive over. The problem is South Beach traffic is always crazy and I don’t like the distraction.
I hate feeling so on edge. People who know me and don’t understand my lifestyle already think I am crazy … with the paranoia of being watched, I can’t help but wonder if I have lost my mind.
My yoga class is normally relaxing for me. Even though I get paid a portion of the class fee from the gym, I would honestly teach it for free. Any other day, the stretches would center me and any tension I could be carrying would melt away. I know every person in attendance. Nothing is different, except the lingering feeling someone is watching. It has me constantly looking out of the glass door to my room. So rather than participate in my class as I often do, I’m walking around checking form and looking over my shoulder.
Something has to give. I can’t keep living like this.
Desirae isn’t here today, and I make a mental note to give her a call to make sure she’s okay when I leave.
Exiting the women’s locker room after showering, I walk right into Scotty.
He grabs my wrists, causing me to drop my bag as he raises my arms over my head, using his size to pin me to the wall. It happens so fast I have no time to react, think, or even feel until he drops his head to my neck and licks me. Then I freeze.
“Fuckin’ tease,” he growls, pressing into me with his compression pants. I feel his erection, which causes fear to seize me. “Prancin’ around like you’re too good for anyone.”
I should scream out. I should kick him. Instead, I move, trying to get leverage to knee him in the nuts, but I can’t. Panic is overtaking me. The fear is winning.
“Get off me, Scotty,” I say, pushing my ass into the wall and trying to use my chest to push out and put space between us.
“Oh, I’m gonna get off on you, Paisley.” His grip on my wrists is painful. “I’ve been following you. I’ve been waiting for a chance. You keep locking your house, though. I need you, Paisley. I need to fuck you, baby.”
“No!” I say firmly, instantly thinking of Coal and his unsure memories. No matter what happens, I will make sure Scotty doesn’t think I want this in any way. “Get your filthy fingers off me.” I raise my knee, only to make contact with his inner thigh.
“Paisley!” I hear Des yell my name and wonder where she came from. More importantly, I’m thankful not to be alone with Scotty anymore.
Suddenly, I’m shuffled, and my wrists twist in agony as Scotty is no longer against me.
I sag to the ground as Coal slams Scotty into the wall.
“She said fucking no, you douche.”
“Biker boy, you don’t know what she said and how she prances around here.”
Coal releases Scotty, only to free his hands so he can reach back and swing. His fist makes contact with Scotty’s face, and I hear the bones crunch.
Des pulls me up off the ground and into her arms as Hammer moves around us to look Scotty in the eye.
“Gave you a pass. My mistake,” Hammer says to the man as Coal stands back, allowing Scotty to right himself as blood pours freely from his nose.
“Scotty, what’re you on?” Des asks, earning a look from Hammer. The kind that says she needs to stand down.
Scotty doesn’t answer.
“You gonna leave Paisley alone?” Coal asks Scotty, who nods, looking panicked.
Coal slams his fist into Scotty’s groin before Scotty crumbles to the ground, fighting to breathe.
