Under Her Skin (4 page)

And how could a woman begging a man to stop be a turn-on? He quite preferred his women to be saying yes, screaming yes, their eyes rolling back in pleasure. The sight of a woman crying and saying no just didn't get the juices moving for him. In fact, it made him sick.

The police finally left the bus, thanking everyone for their cooperation. The man gave Tobias a knowing look, and nodded his approval. They wished Marlo well, and told her to call if she needed anything.

When the cops were gone, the group all sat around silently. No one knew what to say, and the air was tense and stifling. "I got to get out of here." Marlo said jumping up. "I'm going for a walk."

"I'll come with you." Tobias offered quickly.

Marlo looked at him with sad eyes. He was trying so hard, and she sincerely appreciated it. "No, thanks Tobias. I just need some time to myself." She saw that no one was going to let her walk around alone, and she sighed. "Look, see that picnic table over there?" She pointed out the window to an old table 100 feet away. "I'm just going to go out there and sit. You guys can watch me from here." She said and walked out the door before anyone could say anything.

She walked slowly to that table, trying to get the events of the previous night out of her mind. No one would ever understand how grateful she was to Tobias for coming along when he did. And to think, her worst enemy was the one to save her from a sure doom. Maybe he wasn't so bad after all. Look at the way he had taken care of her since last night. It was like he was a completely different person. Could he really change though? Was he going to be like this from now on, or is he just walking on egg shells until she was a little more stable.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of shuffling feet. "Hey, can we talk?"

Marlo didn't need to look up to know it was Pierce. She kept her eyes glued to the spot that she was looking at on the ground. "I guess, but you need to know from the start that I'm not mad at you, I'm just hurt. And I'm not going to get over it very easily." She paused. "And before you say anything, yes I slept with Tobias last night, but nothing happened. He was just there to comfort me when I needed someone. I didn't have anyone else to turn to. So I don't want to hear you bitch about that."

"Understood. I'm so sorry Lola. I completely froze. I've never been in that situation before. I've never been in a fight in my life, let alone be threatened with a knife." His eye lowered to the ground after seeing the look in Lola's eyes.

Unbelievable! Marlo rubbed her forehead out of frustration. "Do you think I've been threatened with a knife before? Do you think I've been in a fight before? Don't you think I was scared?" Her blood began to boil. "So you left me to fend for myself. You stood there and watched!" She yelled. She tried to calm herself down, not wanting to be angry about it anymore. "You didn't even go to get help." She whispered. That was one of the worst things.

"I know, I'm sorry. I have gone over it in my head a thousand times, and there's so many things I would have done differently if I had it to do all over." Their eyes met for the first time when Marlo looked up, hearing the sadness in his voice. She saw the tears pooling in his eyes. "I hope that one day you can forgive me, and maybe then we can be friends again if nothing more."

"I hope so too." Marlo told him, then watched him walk away. She didn't know if she'd ever be able to completely put this behind her, but she knew that she had to be strong in order to move on and keep living the life that she knew before the attack.

Chapter 5

Another city, another concert. The excitement was gone for Marlo. No longer was each new place she visited an adventure, now it was something that struck fear in her, to her core. After each concert, instead of hanging out in the dressing room, she went to the bus to be alone. When they were in large groups, she made sure that one of the guys was by her side so that nothing happened to her.

She was so bored, feeling as if she was stuck on the tour bus all the time. She didn't feel she had any other options, not after that night. It had been almost a month, and she could still smell the man, still feel his hands marking her body.

In that month, she rarely got a good night's sleep. She'd end up going to bed early, tossing and turning from the nightmares that plagued her. Sometimes the dreams were so bad that she woke up screaming. Those were the nights that Tobias pulled her into his bed with him. For the rest of the night, she'd sleep hard.

So there she sat, alone on the bus, waiting for the guys to get back from partying. They had a kick ass concert and everyone sounded great. She was sure they were going to make it a late night since they always partied extra hard after a great show. She missed being there with them. She missed riding their high, feeling the same jubilation that they felt after a great show. She missed meeting new people. But he had ruined that for her. In one night, someone turned her world upside down.

A loud banging on the door woke Marlo from her daydream, and her heart raced. She didn't know whether to curl into a ball, answer the door, or call for help. Her emotions and her imagination ran wild.

"Lola? It's Pierce. Open up." He yelled through the door.

Marlo went to the window and moved the curtain ever so slightly to look out and see if it was actually Pierce standing there. Satisfied that it was in fact him, Marlo unlocked the door. "Hey." She said, her nerves still on edge. "Why aren't you at the party?"

"I didn't feel like it tonight. I was hoping that we could hang out for a little while, spend a little quality time together." Pierce sat on the couch. Over the past month, Pierce had worked hard to try to get back into Marlo's good graces. He was making progress, but he could tell that she still didn't completely trust him.

"That's fine, but I don't know if I'm good company tonight." She said sadly and sank back into the couch.

Pierce wanted to yell at her and shake her. He wished that she would snap out of her funk and go back to being the woman that he had first met. He understood that she was hurting, but she couldn't let what happened to her take over the rest of her life. "I'm not asking you to entertain me. We can watch a movie."

"That's fine. Whatever works for you." She walked slowly to the back of the bus and got comfortable on the couch back there. Pierce followed and picked out a DVD. He got the equipment all set up then went to cuddle next to Marlo.

"Nemo!" She said, a touch of joy in her voice. It was the most excitement Pierce had heard from her since the assault. But it still lacked something.

Halfway through the movie, Marlo fell asleep. Pierce grabbed a blanket from Marlo's bed and covered her up. He sat next to her and watched her sleep. It pained him to think about that night, but it hurt even more to see her now. She was getting so thin, her long, curly brown hair was no longer shiny, and she had deep, dark circles under her eyes.

He ran a hand through his black hair, wishing there was something that he could do to help her. He had to talk to someone, someone had to want to help Marlo as much as he did. They needed to do something before the old Marlo was lost to them forever.

The next day, Pierce was able to get Dusty and Tobias alone, without Marlo noticing. He didn't want to talk to them the night before, they were both pretty drunk by the time they had gotten back to the bus. He wanted them completely sober so that they could formulate a plan, one that would work.

"What do you want Pierce?" Tobias shook his wet, blond hair, sending a spray of water flying all around him. He had just gotten out of the shower, and wasn't really in the mood to deal with him. He still hadn't forgiven Pierce for that night.

"Yeah, let's get to the point, and do it quick. We have an appearance soon." Dusty still didn't fully trust Pierce, but he was more accepting of him than Tobias was.

"I'm worried about Marlo." Pierce started, only to be cut off my Tobias.

"There's a first." He said sardonically.

Pierce clenched his fists. He was never going to live it down that he hadn't helped Marlo that night. "I think we've all noticed that she's been a lot different since the assault, and we need to find a way to get her back to the person she was before."

"Well, at least there's something we can agree on." Tobias sighed. He had tried to help Marlo get over what happened, but he just couldn't break through the barrier that she had put up.

"What do you have in mind?" Dusty asked. He was willing to do anything to get his sister back.

"Well, I was hoping you guys had some ideas. I haven't known her nearly as long as you guys." His mind drew a blank, not able to think of a single thing that would help.

"Leave it to me. I'll take care of it." Tobias said gruffly. He didn't know why he hadn't thought of it before. “I know just what to do." He walked away from the other two to finish getting ready.

"I sure hope so." Dusty said more to himself than to Pierce.

Tobias was a handful at the appearance party. He hit on every single woman there, and made sure that his intentions were clear. He also talked on and on about himself and about how all the women wanted him. He was straight up obnoxious.

Marlo watched him from a distance, and every time she felt the urge to get mad at him, a little voice in the back of her head reminded her that Tobias had saved her. So instead of yelling at Tobias for making a fool of himself and the band like she would have before, she bit her tongue and accepted his behavior.

Tobias saw irritation in Marlo's eyes, and knew that she was teetering on the edge of exploding at him. He figured that he'd have her where he wanted her by the end of the night. "Hey Lola!" He yelled across the crowded room. "Tell this woman here how good I look in nothing but my boxers."

Marlo wished the floor would swallow her whole at that moment. She felt her cheeks get red, both from embarrassment and sheer anger. She was itching to yell at him, to really let him have it. The little voice in her head was getting quieter and quieter while Tobias' was getting louder and louder.

Tobias nearly jumped for joy to see his plan working. He found Dusty in the group of people and pulled him aside. "Hey, I'm about to do something to complete my plan, and Marlo's really going to need you. Just a heads up."

Dusty was confused, but trusted Tobias and whatever he was going to do. He nodded his head and clapped Tobias on the back. He stood pretty close to Marlo, in a place where he could easily be found when needed.

Tobias knew that Marlo needed to get her spark back, and the only way that he could think for that to happen was to get her really pissed at him so that she went off on him. She needed the fire back in her life, she needed the passion. She needed the explosive anger to blast through the wall she had built around herself.

He searched the room for his pawn, and found her wearing a tight pink spandex dress. Her curly blonde hair was teased, and she looked like someone that was chewed up and spit out of the '80s. He puffed up his spiky blond hair, zoning in on his game. He chatted the blonde up for a few minutes, feeling like he was talking to a wall. He knew she'd work just fine, she was willing to do anything to be with him.

He led the woman over to where Marlo was sitting in the corner. He took a deep breath and did the only thing he could think of to help. "Hey Marlo, this is…" He looked at the woman with him, realizing that he didn't know her name.

"I'm Bambi." She said excitedly, popping her gum.

"Bambi, right." Marlo nodded her head slowly. She could totally see that being the woman's name.

"Anyways, 
Bambi
 is going to be in my bed with me tonight, so if you get the urge to crawl into my bed in the middle of the night, think twice." His voice had a harsh edge to it. "I know you like sleeping with me though. All the women do." He taunted her. The look on Marlo's face nearly killed him. He saw all the anger, and all the hurt. She was finally starting to show some emotions. He could see her hands shaking as she sat there looking at them. "What? What's wrong Lola? Got something to say?" He asked innocently.

"You ass." Marlo whispered.

"What was that? I don't think I heard you."

"I said you're an ass! There, hear me that time? You are so full of yourself and that makes me sick!" She yelled. "And here I thought you were actually becoming a real human being. You are nothing but a sorry excuse for a man." Marlo got off the stool she was sitting on. She hoped that her legs were strong enough to carry her away. "I despise you." Her tone bit at him.

He watched as Marlo ran away, into the arms of her brother. He hated that he had to hurt Marlo, but it was the only way to get her to let her emotions out. They had been getting along so well, which was nice for a change, but he'd rather see Lola living her life again, even if it meant that she went back to hating him. He knew it was all for the best.

Dusty met Tobias' eyes, giving him a silent thank you. His sister was no longer in her zombie-like state, and he knew she'd be back to herself in no time. "Come on, let's get out of here." Dusty told his sister and led her back to the bus.

"I don't think I'll ever understand how you can be friends with that ass." She told him then, just as she had told him time and time again.

Dusty looked over at his sister and gave her a look. The one he had given her so many times when they were growing up, whenever she was upset. And then it happened…she laughed. For the first time since the attack, she laughed.

Tobias watched out the window from the appearance party, and suddenly the world was right again. He never thought it would feel so good to have Marlo angry with him. It was worth it to see her laugh again.

Chapter 6

Day by day, Marlo started to regain her normal self. Though she was still hurting, she knew that she couldn't let him win. She couldn't let the man who almost stole her innocence steal the rest of her life too. She knew that she would never forget that night, but little by little, she was moving past it.

No one was as happy at Marlo's return as her brother was. She was the only family that he truly had, and it hurt him to see her hurting so much. Sure, what Tobias had said to Marlo was harsh, but in a way, he saw that it was the only way through the fog that Marlo was living in.