Chapter 23
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
SERENA
I t’s nearing the end of my Friday night shift at Maverick’s. Thanks to Kai’s parents’ generosity, I’ve been able to get to both my jobs and class today. Mrs. G is still in the hospital waiting for surgery on her shoulder and clavicle, and after she’s healed from that, she will need physical therapy. I’ve been calling around looking to hire someone to stay with Mom, but it’s been impossible to find someone to fit within my budget.
Being out of work for the better part of the week has me stressing about money. So much so, I can’t even bring myself to be pissed that Brad and his frat bros are back in Maverick’s. I had hoped after their run-in with Dominick they’d steer clear of the place, but clearly, they do more of their thinking with their dicks than their brains. Fortunately, they’re sitting in Stacey’s section, and I’ve been able to avoid their table.
Dominick hasn’t stopped by yet. He’s been a constant presence during my evening shifts at Mav’s since I refused to quit, but they were going out for dinner tonight for Eric’s birthday, and he wasn’t sure what time he would be here.
“Hey, Serena, can you take out the ladies’ room trash? It’s overflowing, and a couple of Karens complained about the mess.” I look up at Adam and see him jerk his head to a couple of older women sitting at one of the high-top tables, both dressed like cougars on the prowl for some young stud to take for a ride.
“Yeah, sure. Wouldn’t want to upset the Karens and lose their business. That would be tragic.” My tone is thick with sarcasm as I leave my post behind the bar to take out the trash. The route to the bathrooms takes me by the table near the back, occupied by Brad and his crew. I do my best to ignore them, but I catch a snide “slut” comment as I walk past. Clenching my teeth I press on, determined to stay as far away from them as possible.
After gathering up the trash from the ladies’ room, I head out the back door that leads to the parking lot. The dumpsters are at the back of the lot, which is mostly empty this time of night. My breath forms a cloud in front of me when I step out into the cold night air. “Fuck me—it’s cold.”
“Gladly.” A deep voice comes from behind me, and a second later my head slams against something hard as I find myself pressed up against the rough brick wall next to the door, garbage bags abandoned on the ground. Brick-head has me pinned against the wall with his beefy hand wrapped around my throat, cutting off my oxygen. Brad looms next to him, a hateful sneer marring his generically handsome face.
“Where’s your boyfriend, slut? Did he break up with you already? Is this gorgeous ass back on the market?” I close my eyes against the spit that flies from Brad’s mouth, the reek of shitty beer wafting over me like a noxious cloud.
“Yeah, I think you owe me a turn with that tight little cunt of yours for what your pig of a boyfriend did to my nose. Then my boy here is gonna take your ass.” Brick-head uses his free hand to cup my breast and gives it a painful squeeze that brings tears to my eyes. I reach up, clawing at Brick-head’s arm, desperate to make him let go. Desperate for air. He hisses in pain when my nails dig into his flesh, but he doesn’t let go. His grip on my neck gets tighter, and my vision begins to go fuzzy around the edges.
Brad grabs my arms and pins them against the wall above my head. Terror floods through me; my heart pounds erratically in my chest so hard I’m afraid it’s going to burst. I feel the hot, wet slide of his tongue up my cheek the same time Brick-head yanks at the fragile buttons of my shirt, ripping it open. Bile rises up my throat and the bitter taste coats my tongue and the urge to vomit becomes overwhelming. They’re going to rape me. I know it in my bones, and there is nothing I can do to stop them. As his rough hands fumble clumsily with the button on my jeans, I hear an angry shout in the distance.
Suddenly the crushing pressure on my throat is gone, and clean, cold air rushes into my lungs.
“Hey man, it’s not—” Brick-head doesn’t finish his sentence. The deafening crack of a gunshot silences him. I watch in horror as his eyes go wide in shock before looking down with a dumbfounded expression at the red circle blooming across his chest. It feels like it takes an eternity for him to fall. It’s almost like his mind doesn’t recognize what has happened to his body, so he stands there, in shock, the color rapidly draining from his face. Brad releases his grip on my arms and starts backing away, freaking the fuck out.
“Fuck. Fuck. You fucking psycho! You fucking shot Todd. What the fuck? What did you do? Fuckfuckfuck.” We both watch, transfixed, as Brick-head, A.K.A. Todd, collapses face first onto the pavement. I let out a scream the same time Brad turns to run, and an angry voice shouts, “Freeze! Police!”
An hour later, I’m sitting in the back of an ambulance, blanket wrapped around my shoulders while an EMT assesses my injuries. The parking lot is illuminated by flashing red and blue lights as police officers secure the perimeter of the crime scene and redirect the crowd forming at the edge of the parking lot. Todd’s body lies under a sheet, still on the ground. Brad has been taken to the police station already. I scan the crowd of officers milling about, trying to find my rescuer. My eyes finally lock on Dominick standing off to the side, a dark rage clouding his expression. He’s speaking to the detective who seems to be in charge, and I can feel the tension radiating from him all the way from my perch in the ambulance.
Everything after Todd being shot is a blur for me. Brad freaking out. Dominick yelling. My screams. Vomit. Shouts for help. Sirens.
“Hey, Kitten, baby, are you okay? Serena, talk to me.” Suddenly Dominick is in front of me, cupping my face, peppering it with kisses.
“Oh God…Dom…You…I—” I break. Sobs burst forth from my chest with abandon and I find myself engulfed by Dominick.
“Ssh, ssh. It’s okay, Kitten. I’m here. I saved you. You’re safe now.”
I sob into Dominick’s shirt, all the emotions that had been held in check by shock now crashing out of me with the fury of a dam burst.
I don’t know how long he holds me like this. It could be seconds or minutes or hours. My mind is still trapped in those moments when I watched the light go out of Todd’s eyes.
“You killed him. You killed him. Youkilledhim.” I can’t stop repeating the mantra. My mind is locked in an endless loop, short-circuited by trauma.
“Damn right, I did, Kitten. I’d do it again. He was assaulting you. He was going to rape you. I protect what’s mine. I won’t let anyone touch you.”
“I’m sorry to interrupt, but we need to get her to the hospital to be checked out and make sure she doesn’t have a concussion.” The female EMT who had been doing my exam interrupts us. “You can ride with her if you want.”
“Oh, I will be. I won’t be leaving her side.”
After a CT scan of my head and neck and a rape kit that I refused—much to Dominick’s chagrin—I am forced to recount my story to the officers who came to take my statement. Dominick only leaves my side for the duration of the CT scan and only at the insistence of the radiology tech. He is back holding my hand as soon as it is over.
Dominick holds me as I tell the officers how Brad and Todd had pinned me against the wall and groped me. Threatened me. Violated me. I can feel Dominick tense when I speak of how they said they were going to fuck my ass and pussy. When I get to the part where Dominick shot Todd, I freeze. My mind won’t process what I saw. It won’t accept that I watched someone die. Die because of me. Dominick takes over telling the officers our story, and they seem to be familiar with him. I can sense their admiration for him, and I can tell they don’t believe Dominick will be in any trouble for killing Todd.
“Sounds like you did this town a favor, D,” one of the officers mutters as he closes his notebook.
“Let’s just say I won’t be losing any sleep over that piece of shit.” Dominick gives me a reassuring squeeze and I nestle closer into his body, eyes heavy from exhaustion.
The adrenaline that had been keeping me going through this whole ordeal has finally been depleted, and staying awake becomes impossible. I hear Dominick say something to the officers taking our statement, and they mutter their goodbyes.
“Lie down, Kitten. Rest. I’ve got you.” Dom’s soft, reassuring words are the last thing I hear before sleep finally claims me.
“Let me see her.”
“Fuck off, Malakai, she’s sleeping.”
“I swear to God, Dominick, if you don’t let me check on Serena, she won’t be the only one admitted to this emergency room tonight. Let. Me. See. Her.”
The hushed, angry argument filters into my sleep-fogged brain, rousing me. I crack one eye open to see Dominick blocking the door to my room, barring Kai from entering.
“Kai?” My voice comes out in a rasp, and I realize it hurts to talk. Apparently, Todd did some damage to my throat when he had me pinned against the wall.
“ReRe, I’m here.” Kai shoves past Dominick and wraps me up in a suffocating hug. The warmth and comfort of Kai’s embrace settles over me like a weighted blanket, and I melt into him. The spicy, citrusy scent of his cologne fills my senses until all I can feel, smell and hear is Kai. We stay like that until something wet drips down onto my nose. When I pull back and look up, I see Kai’s eyes, red-rimmed and shimmering with tears. I reach up and cup his cheek, hoping to reassure him with my touch.
“I’m…I’m okay, Kai.” My voice cracks, betraying my words. I clear my throat and try again. “Dom saved me before they…before they did anything. He got there just in time.” I watch Kai as he studies me intently, like he’s trying to tease out the truth from the dark circles shadowing my face. I’ve never felt his gaze on me like this before. It feels…intimate. Like in this moment we are two souls tethered together in this dark abyss of trauma. I see so many emotions whirling in his eyes. Terror. Anguish. Relief. But the one that stands out the most is love. It’s at this moment that I know Dominick is right about Kai’s feelings towards me.
Dominick clears his throat, breaking the spell, severing the tether holding us together. I drop the hand that was caressing Kai’s face and look over his shoulder at Dom. His face is a blank mask, but I can see the way his jaw is clenched and the hardness in his eyes as his stare bores a hole into the back of Kai’s head. Kai doesn’t move, doesn’t acknowledge Dominick’s presence. His focus is still solely on me, like he’s afraid I will disappear if he looks away.
Carefully, I scoot back, putting some distance between us, while my mind grapples with the revelation it just made. “How did you hear about the shooting? How’d you know I was here?”
“It’s all over social media. People were live streaming the crime scene investigation, and it came up on my feed. I heard someone say your name on the stream and came straight here.” My stomach plummets when I realize what I just went through is already all over the internet.
“Oh God, does Mom know? I need to call her.” Frantic, my eyes bounce around the room, trying to locate my cell phone.
“It’s fine. I told Mom to stay with your mom while I checked on you. Pretty sure she had already gone to bed before shit went down, so she’s just hanging out until you get home.” A relieved breath whooshes out of my lungs. I did not want her to get the news of my attack online without hearing from me first. I glance over at Dominick who still looms in the doorway, arms crossed like a sentry.
“Any idea when I can get out of here? Did the doctor say anything while I was asleep?”
“They were waiting for the report from the CT scan to make sure you didn’t have a concussion.” Dom’s tone is clipped, his stare never wavering from the back of Kai’s head. I wonder if he can feel the daggers Dominick is staring into him.
I shoot Dom a pleading look. “Can you go check? I need to get out of here. I want to go home.” The only part of Dominick that moves is the muscle in his jaw as he clenches and unclenches it. “Please?” I beg, desperate for him to leave the room so I can have a moment with Kai. With a huff, Dominick jerks a nod and leaves the room, but not before shooting one last glare in Kai’s direction.
When he’s gone, Kai pulls me into another bone-crushing hug and kisses my forehead. “Fuck, ReRe. I’ve never been more terrified in my life. If anything had happened…I don’t know what I would do without you.”
His words get choked off as he buries his face in my hair. There is a sense of peace and rightness I feel in Kai’s arms. I let myself revel in it for a moment. Absorbing it, letting it wash over me. Because this is the last time I can let him be this close to me if I want my relationship with Dominick to work.
“Kai, hey, it’s okay. I’m okay.” Gently I push back, putting space between us again. “Thank you for coming, but…I think you should go.” Kai’s eyes go wide in surprise, and I lower my gaze, staring at my hands, trying to avoid the hurt I know I will see if I look back at him.
“It’s…it’s just that Dominick is uncomfortable with our friendship. He thinks you have feelings for me. I know that’s crazy”—I huff out what I hope sounds like a dismissive laugh—“but I need to respect his boundaries. He just…he just killed a man to protect me. I owe him that much.”
“It’s not that crazy.” Kai’s voice is barely a whisper, but it rings through my ears like a gunshot. I jerk my head up and look at him. Really look at him. I am transfixed by his expression. I see it. I see the kiss coming before it happens, but I can’t bring myself to stop it. The first brush of his lips against mine is soft, tentative. A test. He presses his lips against mine more firmly, and mine part without a thought from me, letting him in. His kiss is tender, warm, and sends electricity surging through my body. “It’s not crazy at all,” he whispers against my mouth before pressing in again.
Emotions war inside of me. The rightness of Kai’s lips against mine. The wrongness of the timing. The guilt of letting him do this with Dom just steps away. The devastation of knowing this is the end of our friendship. The beep of the overhead page jerks me back into reality, and I push back against Kai, separating us.
“Kai…no…we can’t. I can’t. I need you to go. Please. I love him…I can’t do this.” My eyes sting from the tears threatening to fall.
“Serena, please, give me a chance.” Kai’s hands cup my face, and I shake myself free from his hold.
“Just go, please. I can’t deal with this right now. It’s too much.” Kai doesn’t move, doesn’t say anything for a long moment, and I keep my eyes fixed on the starched white of the hospital linens covering my bed. I can’t look at him. I can’t see how my words are hurting my best friend. There has been too much hurt tonight, and my heart can’t handle any more. Finally, he leans in and presses another kiss to my forehead.
“Fine, I’ll go, but this isn’t the end of this conversation.” With that, Kai moves to leave, and I immediately feel bereft from his absence. When I hear the quiet snick of the door shutting behind him, I curl up on my side and let the tears fall.