Fire In Her Eyes (8 page)

“You’re so damn cute. Don’t ever leave me. I can’t go back to that miserable asshole I was before.” I rub my nose along her jaw. God, she smells amazing; like a rose, which is fitting since she’s beautiful with thorns. “You don’t think we are rushing this do you? I mean, I’ve known you most of my life. I repressed my feelings for a really long time. I’m just tired of it now.”

“Maybe we are rushing, but it doesn’t feel that way. For some unknown reason being this close to you feels right. Nothing has ever felt this right to me before.” She wraps her arms around me tighter and lays her head on my shoulder. I just felt my heart burst. I’ve never been in love before but I don’t think I’m that far from it now. I back her up to the bed and lay her down gently. I smooth the hair from her face and go in for the kiss. I may never come back up. She was right when she said
that nothing felt more right.

*****

The guys decided we needed a night with just us since the girls crashed our party last night. That was probably my fault since I made Harley sit with me. Her posse wasn’t far
behind her. I don’t think Dean
was all that upset about it though. Well, until Paige threw that drink in his face: priceless.

“So, what, you’re saying is Harley is your girlfriend now?” Dylan asks me.

“Yes, that
is
what I’m saying. I don’t know, it just happened. I got so tired of denying myself. I’ve wante
d her for so long, man.” I look
down into my drink, because I know they are about to let me have it.

“Well, I say that’s great for you, man. About damn time someone around here got happy. I’m so damn tried of the misery that is around this town. I can’t wait for the summer to be over.” Dean takes his shot and slams his glass back down on the table.

Dylan and I bump our drinks together and toss them back. The liquor burns my throat on the way down. It’s welcome, though. I’ve spent too much time thinking about my father today. I want to feel numb. Well, until I go home tonight and find Harley. Shit that girl makes me want to feel
anything but
numb!

“Well, I’m ha
ppy for you, Spence, but I got to
get out of here. I found a nice little number for tonight and I told her I’d pick her up soon,” says Dylan as he salutes us an
d walks toward the bar’s exit.

“He’s not happy at all, bro. He wants Harley so bad. Always has,” Dean says next to me. “I know he wants her. He should have made a move, then. I don’t have time to be worried about what-ifs.” I get the bartender over to pour us some more shots. It looks like
I’m getting trashed tonight.

Chapter 10

Harley

“Really, though, how is he in the sack?” Carter asks, wiggling her eyebrows.

“Carter, you are
such
a nympho. It’s no wonder it took a rock star to make you settle down.” Paige huffs after chugging half of her beer. I guess she wants to get drunk tonight.

I feel really weird, like I’m three sheets to the wind, even though I’ve only had one beer. It’s completely stupid. “He’s great in the sack. Like,
way
great in the sack. I think I could have sex with him every day and never get tired of him. He knows what buttons to push and when. Hmmm…dude, now I’m fucking horny!” I scowl at Carter and try to punch her in the arm, but I completely miss her. Weird, there is, like, three of her.

“Damn, Harley, how much have you had to drink? Lucy, I thought you were watching her?” Then she punches Lucy in the arm and doesn’t miss.

“She only had the one beer, I swear.” Lucy says to Carter while rubbing her arm. “Harley, did you drink before we picked you up?” I hear what she says, but it’s hard to concentrate when the room is spinning. I do believe I’m going to be sick.

“I’m going to go out into the parking lot to hurl.” I say, getting up to leave and stumbling. Paige gets up with me and ushers me out the door.

“Are you sure you didn’t have any more than the one?” She asks right next to my ear.

“I swear I don’t know what is wrong with me.” I really don’t. I’ve gotten really sleepy as well. This is so freaking weird. Alcohol makes me wiry.

“You didn’t leave your drink unattended, did you? You’re really hot, and that’s not normal. I think you got-“ Her sentence is interrupted as she hits the ground. I also fall without
her holding me up. I get a bad
feeling, but I’m too fucked up to figure out what it may be. I look over at Paige and see blood coming from her head. What the hell?

I hear footsteps coming from behind me. We are in the back of the parking lot near Carter’s little, red car. I can’t think of what kind it is at the moment. Dylan comes into view.
His short, light brown hair is
spiked up with gel. I take in his low-riding jeans and black shirt. I almost ask him for help, but the nearby light pole lights up his handsome face. His eyes are cold and empty. He’s not here to help me.

“I’ve been waiting for this moment for a long time, Harley. You’ve been teasing me for years. Now, I’m going to get my turn, since you’ve been such a slut with Spencer.” The drugs he has slipped me have slowed everything about my reaction time, so I have no chance to brace myself as he kicks me in my side. I feel tears come to my dry eyes and the pain is really bad.

While I’m withering in pain on the hard ground, Dylan ties up P
aige and carries her out of sight
from the front doors of the bar. I let out a whimper when he comes back for me. I
start to let out a scream, but
he quickly slaps me as hard a
s he can
, stunning me into silence. There’s a metallic taste in my mouth and I spit it in his face. He sneers at me with blood all over his face.

My arms don’t seem to be working or I would be fighting for my life. Fighting for Paige who is alone in the dark somewhere I can’t see; poor Paige who doesn’t deserve this. Tears are streaming down my face.

I know what he’s going to do. I may be out of it, but I’m not stupid. I just hope he’s satisfied with me and leaves Paige alone.

He opens his truck door and, none too gently, throws me into the back of the extended cab. I try to move anything, but nothing seems to want to work. I can’t see him but I can hear him unbuckling his belt. I feel sick all over. So, I turn my head and puke all over the floor of the truck. I hear him curse and the next thing I know he’s slapping me across the face
again. God that fucking stings.

“You stupid fucking bitch! I can’t be
lieve you did that. You’re going to
get it worse for smelling up my truck.” I see a glint come from his hand and I suck in a b
reath. He’s got a knife. He uses it to cut my top
off of me, then my bra. He roughly grabs my breasts and I cry out. It feels like he’s trying to rip my nipples off of me. I have a moment of clarity through the pain, and I let out an ear-piercing scream. This pisses him off beyond belief and he slams my head into the closed truck door above it. I see stars as I feel him push up my skirt.

I let myself drift away.

*****

 
It’s almost as if a calm has come over me. He’s done and I’m still alive, I just hope that I’m still that way in a few minutes. I didn’t think about what was being done to m
e. I thought of Spencer and his
beautiful smile
with his dimple
: how he makes me feel when I’m around him; the way his skin feels when I touch it; that wonderful musky earth smell I get a whiff of whenever he’s near. My gua
rdian angel, who I think I hear yelling my name.

Dylan doesn’t react like he hears anything.

Great now I’m hearing things.

All of a sudden, Dylan is thrown out of the truck. I hear something being said but I can’t make it out. I catch a glimpse of Dean and then I see Spencer. It really is my angel. He came to save
me. I love him
so much it hurts. I move my head a little bit to see what is going on. Dean and Spencer are beating the shit out of Dylan. Then he falls to the ground and they start kicking him.

 
“Don’t kill him...” It only comes out as a whisper, my throat is so dry. “Spencer...” It’s a little louder now. “SPENCER!” There he looked over at me.

His perfect face is so pale. He looks so sickly. I try and reach for him but my arms won’t move. Why won’t they move? I’m so confused. I can’t feel anything. I’m so numb. “Baby
girl...I’m so sorry, baby girl.
I’m so fucking sorry.” I look up into his face. When did he climb up into the truck with me? Tears are falling from his pale eyes and I think all he needs are some wings. I
really want to lift my hand and
touch his face but of course they still refuse to work.

“My angel...” I whisper. He is saying other stuff, but I have no idea what it is. My ears no longer work. I can barely keep my eyes open. They are so fucking heavy. “Paige...yo
u have to find Paige, angel.” I
tell him right
before all the lights go out.

Spencer

“Yeah, hello?” I say into my phone. It’s been ringing off the hook for the last ten minutes. I’ve been waiting at the bar for Dean to come back from the bathroom. We decide
d that we aren’t having any fun
with just us so we are going to meet up with the girls. Lucy and Carter have been trying to get a hold of me but I want to surprise Harley.

“Spencer, we can’t find Harley or Paige anywhere. Are they
with you?”
Carter sounds a little hysterical, which is odd. She’s had this permanent, apathetic attitude for as long as I can remember. “No, chick, they aren’t with us. Why are you so upset about this?” I see Dean walk out of the bathroom and he is also on the phone looking a little upset himself. I give him a questioning look but he just holds up a finger.

“I’m upset because Mason said he heard that some guy slipped something into Harley’s drink. She was acting really drunk after one beer, but we all thought she just had more to drink before we got here.”

 
I feel a coldness wash over me and all the blood drain from my face. “We are coming. Keep looking for them.” I hang up just as Dean does. We share a dark look and race out of the bar. We climb into Dean
’s
little car and speed off towards The Hangover. God, please don’t let it be what I think it is. Please, I beg of you!

My legs are jumping up and down on the floor board and I can’t seem to keep still. We are going really fast, but it doesn’t seem fast enough. My phone rings again. This time
it’s Lucy. “Did you find them?”

“No, we didn’t...we found a puddle of blood next to Carter’s car. I don’t know what to do.” I hear a male voice in the background, and then her voice comes back over the line. “Get here
please.” She hangs
up.

What should have taken twenty minutes took ten as we pull up into the gravel parking lot. Lucy, Carter, and Mason come walking over and the girls have tears running down their faces. Mason seems calm so I ask him “Have you checked the whole area or just the parking lot? This place has a back lot that no one uses, we need to check there before we start calling out the big guns.”

They all nod their heads and I lead the way behind the building. The gate to the fenced in area is open which makes my blood run cold. Never have I seen this gate open. Rounding the corner, I see a dark
truck parked in the very back with the back door open. As we get closer I can hear whimpering and crying. Please, God let her be all right. Please, please, please.

It’s hard to see, but I do see a man in the car bending over someone. Oh, God. Don’t crumble now. Just keep going; you have to save her. I run as fast as I can to the truck and yank out the guy. I throw him to the ground. I pull in a shocked breath when I realize its Dylan.

Dylan, who I grew up with, drank my first beer with. Who used to play football in his back yard with Dean and I. This isn’t real. I hear Dean say, “Go find Paige” to the rest of the group.

I can’t even think as I pull him up off the ground and punch him in the face. Dean t
akes him from me and punches him
just as hard. There’s blood rushing out of his nose and I relish it. He deserves to bleed. He deserves to fucking die. Dean lets him fall to the ground and I kick the shit out of him. Dylan rolls to his side and groans. Dean gets his kick in when I hear Harley scream out my name.

It’s the most wonderful sound in the world. At least she’s not dead. I scramble into the back of the truck and I suck in a breath. I think I’m going to hurl. We were too late. God, I’m such a fucking piece of shit. Why couldn’t I have saved her? It looks like he did everything he could to hurt her. I almost get back out and kill him. She needs me more than I need to do that.

I climb up gently so I don’t hurt her. There is so much blood, most of it coming from her head. There’s some coming out of her left nostril and the side of her lip. The mos
t awful part is its also coming from
between her legs. I just want to die.