Sapphire (Steele Investigations) (7 page)

 “Yeah I did go visit with Daddy, and well actually this
morning I spent time walking around and browsing some neighborhoods, and I
found this gorgeous little gift shop, Mom it has the nicest jewelry that’s been
hand made by a local lady, so I bought myself a pair of silver earrings. 
Anyhow I got talking to the owner, who is just a few years older than me and we
clicked, so I have a job.” I beam proudly at my Mother as she beams back at me.
“Ruby is flexible and she knows I have final’s coming up, and she’s happy to
work around my school schedule,” I continue.  Beside me, I notice Elliott is
tensed solid and not saying a word. I’m not game enough to glance in his
direction so I keep my eyes trained on Mom and Michael as they offer their
congratulations, and Mom tells me she must check out this ‘quaint shop’. I make
a mental note to make sure Mom does not enter the secret room.

As the night wears on, Elliott and I barely say two words to
each other and I find Mom glances between us occasionally.  She must have a
million questions running through her head but good manners prevent her from
asking them at this moment.

I glance at the clock on the wall and realize it’s already
gone nine thirty.  I stand to make excuses to leave and Michael gives me a
short hug, reminds me to contact him with a day and time so he can make his
available for our meeting. I smile and nod, murmuring, “Thank you”.  I turn to
Mom and she wraps in a hug only Moms' can, whispering in my ear she asks,
“what’s going with you and Elliott, darling?”  I mumble, “I don’t know,” into
her neck, and she continues, “ He’s a good man and you’re a good woman. I hope
whatever it is works out.  You deserve to find the love of a good man, who will
love you beyond measure and you will love back beyond measure.”

She pulls away and cups my face with her hands.  I see the
tears in her eyes, and my own well up.  She kisses me on the cheek and I tell
her thanks for the lovely meal and I’ll see her next Sunday.  Elliott has also
thanked and kissed my Mother cheek and he gives Michael another hand shake. 
“Our pleasure,” They reply.

We leave through door and Elliott grasped my hand and starts
leading me towards a silver Audi.
How many vehicles does this man own?
“Umm Elliott?”. He sapphire eyes are hard and he’s still obviously pissed the
hell off at me.  He doesn’t say anything so I continue, “My car is over there,”
I try to release my hand from his grasp, but he tightens his hold and snaps,
“I’ll get someone to pick it up tomorrow”.  I think it’s best to just shut up.
So I do.

******

The ride to Elliott’s house is made in complete silence. I
sit staring out the window while he stares straight ahead, concentrating
intently on the road ahead.

We pull into his garage and cuts the engine, exiting from
the car and stalking inside, leaving me there to make my own way.  I cautiously
follow him inside and find him, hands on hips, standing in the kitchen waiting
for me.
“What the fuck was that about?”
 He roars at me.  I jump,
shocked at how loud he is as I belatedly realize he’s not pissed, he’s
angry.
Beyond angry.  I stumble backwards trying to put some distance between us
because I’m a little scared. I honestly don’t think Elliott would hurt me
physically but I’ve never seen him this angry and I don’t want to take the chance.
“Seriously, Lorraine” Wait, what? He never calls me Lorraine..or Rae..He’s
always called me Rainy. “I thought I made myself clear this morning when I told
you wait here and I would be back to take you to your mothers for dinner. 
Imagine my surprise when I arrive home and you’re not fucking here.  I don’t
know what the fuck is the matter with you but I thought I made my intentions
perfectly clear.  Maybe you’re more fuckin’ trouble than you’re worth!” He
snaps as he stalks off down the hallway not even giving me a chance to reply. 

I feel my bottom lip start to tremble and tears sting the
back of my eyes.  It hurts deep down and I know why.  I turn and run from the
house.  I stop to call a cab about a mile down the road and it take me home.  I
lie in bed replaying Elliott’s harsh words.  The problem is, I know they’re the
truth, God knows I had it drummed into me enough, only I let myself get
complacent because it stopped years ago.  The hurts runs deeper when the person
saying you’re worthless is someone you love.

You’re a worthless piece of shit.  Your Mother should of
gotten rid of you when she found out you were infecting her womb, actually, you
Father should have flushed you when he blew his load.  You’re fucking hopeless.
No one will ever want you.  You’re fucking disgusting and it hurts my eyes to
look at you.  I know your Mother only keeps you around because she feels sorry
for you because you lost your precious Daddy. 
He spits on my face as he walks
away after his rant.

 I wake with a start through the night, tears running down
my face and my throat hurts because I know I’ve been screaming, panic seizes my
chest and fill me with dread as I realize I’ve had a nightmare.  I haven’t had
a nightmare since he left and Elliott’s words tonight just cut too close to the
bone.  I grab a sip of water and head back to bed.

Someone (most likely Kami, who’s forgotten her keys and is
doing the walk of shame, or one of her many Sorority sisters) banging on my
front door wakes me.  I slowly open my eyes and shut them straight away.  My
eyes are scratchy and almost swollen shut from crying.  I can just imagine what
my face looks like – red, blotchy, puffy –
Just great! 
I drag my ass
out of bed and slide on my sunnies as I walk towards the door.  “Alright,
alright. I’m coming,” I rasp.

I open the door and come face to face with two of the
biggest, roughest men I’ve ever seen in my life.

“Lorraine Scott? Rough guy one asks gruffly

I nod my head, I think I’m shock. How do they know my name?
What are they doing here? I’m too caught up in my mental questions to notice
that rough guy number two has pulled a black thing from the waist band of his
jeans, then everything goes black.

I come to and immediately notice that my hands have been
cuffed behind my back and to the ladder back of the wooden chair I’ve been
seated on, and my legs have been tied very tightly to two of the chair legs. 
Rough guy number one approaches me.  I tense up, still unsure of how they know
who I am and what they want with me.  He leans right down in my face and I can
smell the tobacco on his breath.  He also smells like bad B.O and I have to
remind myself that now is not a good time to vomit.

“Where’s Willy Daniels?” He barks in my face.

Willy Daniels? Willy Daniels? Willy Daniels?  I don’t
know a Willy Daniels. 
 I rack my brain trying to recall a Willy Daniels
who has been in my life at any point….I come up with nothing….I feel myself sag
in relief as I realize, they have the wrong person.  They’re not going to hurt
me. Thank God for that. I was really shitting myself for a minute there.

I look up into his cold, hard-as-steel blue eyes, “I don’t
know anyone called Willy Daniels, sir,” I tell him softly.

Whack!
 His fist connects with my face and I see
stars behind my eyes and my ears ring.  Holy
shit
that hurts. I’ve never
been hit in my life and it kills.  Judging by the size of him though, and by
the fact that my head is still attached to my shoulders (I think), I’m guessing
he didn’t put his full weight behind it.

“Where the fuck is Willy Daniels you little cunt?” He roars
at me, right in my face, causing my still ringing ears to throb in protest.

“I don’t know..Anyone..Called…Willy Daniels, Sir..Really,” I
sob, pleading with my tear filled eyes for him to believe me.

This time he hits me so hard I go flying of the chair and
land with a solid thud on my shoulder.  I scream out in pain and I can taste
the metallic flavor of blood in my mouth.  He walks over and kicks me in the
stomach so hard I swear I feel some ribs break, “Shut the fuck up, bitch,” he
snarls.  Rough guy number two storms over and reefs the chair, with me still in
it, upright.  I feel my left eye start to close over as I try not to cry and
scream hysterically.  Rough guy number two grabs me by the throat and looks
deep into my eyes.  He looks like a monster.  If I thought number one had
hard-as-steel eyes, they were like fairy floss compared to number two’s. 

“I’m gonna ask you one more time you little cunt. Where the
fucking hell is Willy Daniels?” His hand around my throat tightens with each
word until I can’t breathe and my lungs are burning with the need to get air.

“Shifta, she can’t answer ya, if ya kill her bud,” Number
one says as he walks across the room away from us. 

He grunts a reply, but loosens his grip and I suck in breath
after breath, filling my lungs with air.

 “I..I swear, I don’t know a Willy Daniels,” I rasp. 

This time ‘Shifta’ (number two) backhands me so hard the
chair teeters before balancing on all fours again.  Number one returns from
across the room, looking at his mobile phone.

“Maybe you know him as
William Spencer?”
He sneers at
me as his lip curls in disgust.

Nononononono. NO! This cannot be happening.  Oh. God.  I
feel bile rise in my throat and I swallow repeatedly to push it back down.

I must show recognition of the name on my face because he
laughs an evil laugh and sardonically says

“Well, well, well.  Looks like you
do
know Willy
Daniels”

“William Spencer was married to my mother for six years. I
haven’t seen or heard from him since he left almost six years ago,” I say
quickly.

“What punishment should we give her Bobby? She has jacked us
around a lot today”

What are they going to do? I feel panic seize my chest as I
concentrate on not vomiting, crying or screaming..or a combination of the
three.  William Spencer is a man who made my life Hell for the six years he
spent with my Mother.  

“Hmm,” Shifta replies holding his chin between his thumb and
forefinger, “I think she’s an innocent”

Innocent? Oh, they believe me.

“Yes, yes. I’m innocent. I don’t know anything, please just
let me go and I’ll never..” I’m cut short because ‘Bobby’ punches me in the
face again.  I scream out in pain and the tears I’ve been holding back since
the beginning slide down my cheeks.

“Oh, poor baby is cryin’.  I reckon we should have some fun
Shifta”

Shifta comes over and grabs my shirt, ripping it off me.  Oh
please God no.  I squeeze my eyes shut. They’re going to rape me. Oh please, I
begin to sob and beg “No”.

Something happens because one minute, they’re there and I’m
sure I’m about to be raped, and then next second one of them plants his boot in
my stomach, I let out an ‘oomph’ and a moan from the impact and the pain.  The
chair goes flying backwards and I hit my head..hard..and everything goes black..again.

******

I slowly open my eyes as far as I can, which considering
first of all they were swollen from crying and second I’d been punched in them,
wasn’t very far.  I notice immediately that my surroundings have changed. No
longer am I cuffed and tied to a chair, but I’m lying on my back on a single
bed in a clean room and my restraints have disappeared, leaving angry red welts
on both my wrists and ankles.  I cautiously sit up and look around, I notice two
doors and I’m assuming one leads to a bathroom or closet and the other is an
exit. My shoulder and ribs are smarting and I’ll bet their bruised as all get
out.   I sit on the edge of the bed, deciding whether I should try to exit this
place they’ve taken me to without them seeing me, with no idea of the layout of
the place or whether I should risk going to the bathroom and them coming to
check on me, noticing I’m missing and the hitting me again, or finally whether
I should just stay put, try not to freak out and wait for them to return. 
Seeing as though I’m scared out of my brain and in so much pain I probably
couldn’t make it to either door, I take option three.  I sit there trying to
conjure up reasons as to how ‘Shifta and Bobby’ know William Spencer aka Willy
Daniels and why they are looking for him and also why he has two names.

I hear one the doors open and I immediately scramble up the
bed trying to put as much distance between them and me, keeping my head down I
practicing on controlling my breathing and repeat over and over, “please God,
please,” in my head.

“Hey there,” I glance up at the man who stands about five
feet from me at the end of the bed, careful not to invade my space.  He is
tall.  Really tall.  Tall as in at least six foot four.  He’s also built, I can
tell this by the way his shirt is stretched tight across his chest and arms. 
His blonde hair is shaved almost bald and his eyes are cobalt blue.  “My name
is Linc.  You’re safe here. Okay? I’m not going to hurt you,” he says
soothingly as I just stare at him, completely overwhelmed with everything that
has happened and he said I was
safe.
I’m safe now.  I begin to cry.  Giant
sobs work their way up and rack my body, which smarts from the injuries I
earlier received.  Linc sits right on the edge of the bed, still conscience of
my personal space, and he offers me his hand. I take it and he gives it a firm
squeeze, tells me his boss will be here soon to further take care of things,
what things I have no idea but I am so emotionally, physically and mentally
drained that I can’t process anything more other than the fact that I am
safe
now. So I lay down on my side as Linc leaves the room, sometime after I
fall asleep.

******

I feel someone behind me shift on the bed as a hand reaches
out to brush the hair off my face, I stiffen, not knowing if it one of my
attackers or Linc and if it is Linc, why is he sitting on the bed when he said
I was safe?  And if it is one of my attackers why are they here when Linc said
I was safe?