Ransom (7 page)

“Now,” she said.
 

Her face was flushed, her hair mussed. Her mouth parted and she ran the tip of her tongue across her lips.
 

“I need to get my raincoat on,” I said in a throaty whisper.
 

She nodded a vigorous ascent. I grabbed the condom from my pocket and with Charity’s help it was exactly where it needed to be seconds later.

Then I was all business. Everything was quick and to the point, just like the foreplay, Charity wanted everything yesterday. I hoisted her up and onto me, pushing her back against the alleyway wall. As soon as I was inside her she released an inhuman sound that was somewhere between a purr and a growl. I gripped the cheeks of her ass as I drove, hard and deep, my pelvis ramming against her as I continued thrusting, reaching for the climax that would soon wash over me.
 

Even though I wanted to finish first I held back until Charity let out an exaggerated moan then threw her head back, arching against me as I continued to pump her. Her fingernails dug into my back painfully, as the last shudder of her orgasm swept through her, leaving her breathless and panting. But as far as I could see she wasn’t finished with me yet. Knowing that she was enjoying herself as much as I was, only heightened my excitement. It had always been my motto that sex wasn’t just about me, it was a two way street, where the woman got what she needed just as much as I did.
 

 
With Charity satisfied, I quickened my pace allowing my pleasure to mount.

“Fuck me hard,” she said, skimming her hands across my chest.
 

Her words only made me hotter and more determined to finish off, so we could start all over again. Without letting Charity go, I shifted until my back was against the wall. Charity banded her hands around my neck. I guided her feet, until they were resting on my shoulders, careful to avoid getting poked with her stilettos.
 

I supported her body, sliding her up and down on my rock hard erection until her breathing picked up into a frenzy all over again. In this position, my favorite with girls who were light enough for me to lift, it took almost no time for me to peak and go crashing over the other side. My body convulsed with release, as sweet oblivion surged through me like a thousand volts of lightning. Too soon it was over, and I plowed back to reality. That was the part that always sucked, and also the reason that I never let an opportunity to have sex slip through my fingers.
 

“Give me a minute or two and we can go again,” I said. I nipped her shoulder. She sighed in response.

“We can go to my car if you want,” she said.
 

She pulled the bodice of her dress back into place. I put her down then snatched my shirt off the ground. I tugged it over my head and grinned. Seconds later we were dressed, zipped and straightened. The euphoria that I had felt was already beginning to slip away. My need to have another round or two with her, grew as rapidly as the memory of my orgasm had faded. I caught her hand in mine and we made our way to where Charity’s car was supposedly parked, a few blocks from the bar.

As we walked she leaned hard against me, still a bit unsteady on her feet. I wasn’t surprised, given she might as well have been walking on stilts with the crazy shoes she was wearing. I curled an arm around her waist, keeping her close to me so she didn’t lose her balance. Time and fresh air had served to clear my beer muddled brain so I was fully back in the game.
 

“It’s just around the corner…” Charity started to say, but cut off abruptly when three people leapt out in front of us. I didn’t have much time to register who they were, when in a blur of shadows and color they pounced on us. I barely managed to dodge the silver blade, moonlight glinting off it as it swiped close to my jaw. All I could think was that we were in some very deep shit.

“I saw you fucking him you little bitch,” one of them said.
 

He lurched forward. A red bandana covered the lower part of his face so only his eyes, black as a demons, showed.

“Rick, no,” Charity screamed.
 

Clearly she knew the guy and gauging from the scene, I had been stepping in his territory. I wondered how long they had been following us and if they had watched us in the alley.
 

I threw my hands up in front of me. “Hey man, I don’t want any trouble, I thought she was alone and…”

“Shut the fuck up,” Rick hissed.
 

His eyes narrowed then he took a step closer until he was just a foot away from us. As far as I could see there was nothing preventing him from plunging the blade into my guts. The other two guys were on the periphery and though I knew I needed to watch them too, I kept my eyes trained on the knife. Then the proverbial crap hit the fan. Rick jabbed the knife at me, I dodged it and brought my fist down on his wrist in a chopping action. I didn’t hold any official belts, but I had watched every jujitsu DVD I could get my hands on and had learned the moves. I had discovered at a very young age that knowing how to fight was more about survival than sport.

The knife skittered across the concrete sidewalk and into the gutter. Rick recovered quickly. He lunged for me, once again I shifted enough that he barreled by. I brought the point of my elbow against his back and he went flat on his stomach.
 

“Ransom,” Charity shrieked.
 

I saw the movement from the corner of my eye, but it was too late for me to round on the other two guys. One of them, who was a few inches taller than me, got me in a bear hug with my arms trapped helplessly at my sides. He was inhumanly strong and had me gasping for air in seconds. Out of nowhere, Charity jumped into the melee, and crazy as it was, was hitting the brute who held me with the heel of her shoe. I might have laughed if I hadn’t been running short on oxygen.
 

Charity’s unexpected attack was enough so the guy that was holding me released me enough for me to free an arm. I flattened my hand and backward punched him in the nose. I felt the impact on my knuckles and wondered if I had broken a bone in my hand. The man let go, his hands dragging along my sides as he crumpled then fell to the ground next to Rick.
 

With my attention diverted I never saw the punch that the last guy standing threw my way. My breath came out in a whoosh when his fist connected with my guts. I doubled over in pain, panting as I attempted to get some much needed oxygen back into my lungs. I was more than aware that I didn’t have the luxury of time to recover, but there was nothing I could do; my body needed air to perform. Then a siren hiccuped beside me, not a full-on car chase kind of siren, more of a
guess what, I’m here
kind of sound. Still struggling to recover I managed a smirk. I had been saved, or at least I hoped I had.
 

Even before I was upright again, I saw Charity with her shoes dangling in her grass pelting down the sidewalk, away from us, leaving me on my own. I thought about running too, but I knew I wouldn’t get far. I wasn’t even close to the top of my game. How I was going to explain the whole scene to the police without Charity to back me up was beyond me, but I knew one thing for certain, I had to somehow extricate myself from it all without Pa finding out. Because if he got wind of what I had been up to, whether I was guilty or not didn’t matter, he would make me pay in ways that I didn’t even want to think about.

5. LEXIE

By the time I laid eyes on Mitch all sense of concern about not being good enough had peeled away like the rind of an orange. It certainly didn’t hurt that I was already on my third glass of beer. I had never been much of a drinker and usually after only one drink felt pretty mellow. Now I had bypassed tipsy and was well on my way to incoherent.
 

Tucked in the corner with a girl I didn’t recognize, Mitch seemed to have already moved on from Cherise. From what I
 
could see, I had lost my golden opportunity already. The girl, with hair as black and sleek as a panthers, giggled at something Mitch said. The sound of her flirtatious laugh had me even more determined to talk to him.

I could tell by the way she flicked her shiny mane and laughed louder than was necessary, that she was an airhead. With her long legs and teeny-tiny butt, she was exactly the kind of girl that Mitch went for. A voice in my head told me to leave it alone, leave them alone, but I refused to listen. I had put too much on the line to be there, to go down without a fight. In my fuzzy consciousness this was a defining moment in my life, my last chance to get Mitch to see me as something other than a brainiac nerd. There was no way I was going to let a dumb bimbo who had known him for a second, ruin it for me.

 
“Screw it,” I said. The effects of my drinking made my speech slur. I wobbled on my shoes as I made my way toward Mitch.

“Hey Mitch,” I said, shouldering in beside the girl. The laughter that had been spilling from her like a broken faucet, halted abruptly. She gave me a piercing glare.

“Excuse me?” she said in a whine. She peered at me then Mitch, then back at me.

“You’re right, excuse you,” I said.
 

My tongue seemed too thick to properly articulate the words, but I knew from her sour puss expression that I had made my point. I locked eyes on Mitch. My vision doubled him, making it seem as if he had a holographic image beside him. I realized I was way drunker than I had known, and was already regretting my brash action.
 

“Lexie?” he said as if he couldn’t quite believe it was me. I nodded, my head bobbled more than I had planned.
 

“The one and only,” I said, throwing my arms out to the sides as if I was going to hug him. But instead of embracing him, the moved served to unbalance me and I stumbled forward. I clipped my chin on Mitch’s outstretched arm. He gripped my shoulders and tugged me to standing in front of him, just moments before I face planted. Our eyes locked. But when I stared into his gaze, I didn’t see anything that I had hoped for. Instead of desire there was pity, and judging by the flush of red that colored his cheeks, embarrassment too. As drunk as I was, I still could see the undeniable truth. Mitch didn’t want to sweep me up into his arms and whisk me away like a prince would a fairytale princess, he wanted to be as far away from me as he could possibly get. Seeing him look at me like that made me cower with shame and regret.
 

I choked out an apology then ripped out of his grasp. Tears blurred my eyes as I moved through the masses of drunken partiers, who had no idea that my whole life had suddenly become a joke. I heard Mitch call my name, but I didn’t bother to look back. I couldn’t stand to face him after I had made such a complete fool of myself, and him too. As I blindly pushed my way forward, I cursed the beer I had drank, the clothes I had worn, but nothing as much as the belief that I could have something other than what I had always had. I wasn’t a beautiful cheerleader or prom queen, I was a book smart geek. I was suited for a pencil-neck dweeb not a gorgeous jock.

Sobs built in my throat and all I could think was that I wanted to get sucked into a black hole that would shuttle me back to my room, where I was safe and away from humiliation. Mom had been so right, she had known that something bad was going to happen, but I had been too stupid to listen. Now I was paying for my ridiculous fantasies. The only bright spot in the dismal evening was that I was done with high school. I wouldn’t have to show up on Monday with my tail between my legs. Sure Mitch was going to the same university as me, but it was big enough that if I wanted to keep my distance it would be easy enough.

“Lexie?”
 

I heard the concern in Trinity’s voice, but didn’t bother to stop because I couldn’t speak about what had just happened. It was impossible for me to talk about what felt like the worst moment of my life. Right then the only person I knew whose words would soothe and comfort me, like a hot shower after being out in a blizzard, was Mom.
 

The sheer quantity of bodies in the huge common area swallowed me up, so Trinity couldn’t find me. As I moved toward the exit the music suddenly seemed too loud, the room stifling hot. It made my need to escape only grow stronger. Fresh cool air greeted me when I finally stepped out into the night. The sky was thick black, not a single star was visible. A fine mist of rain had started. My stomach rolled and tilted as I swayed on shoes that now felt impossible to walk in. I bent down, slipped them off then walked barefoot on the pea gravel towards the place where Trinity had parked.
 

The farther away I moved from the revelry the quieter the night became. It was a welcome reprieve from the over-stimulating atmosphere that I had just left. Crickets chirped a happy song from the tall grass that lined the sides of the gravel path. Long before I reached Trinity’s car I heard heavy footsteps running behind me. Mom’s words of warning rang through my mind about how easy it was for girls to get raped and worse at parties. Fear paralyzed me for a few seconds then I was tearing across the parking lot. Sharp stones bit into the soles of my bare feet. I regretted taking off my shoes, even if they were uncomfortable.

“Lexie, wait.”
 

It took me a minute to register Aiden’s voice, but when I did, a wave of relief coursed through me. I stopped and turned to face him. The patio lanterns that were suspended from poles, illuminated him enough that I could see that he was puffing. He paused, bending over at the waist to catch his breath. Unable to speak, he held up his hand for me to wait. I drew closer to him.

“Trinity has been worried sick about you,” he said between puffs. His eyes met mine. The concern I saw there made the tears that I had pushed away, resurface. Feelings of jealousy for what Aiden and Trinity had between them, mixed with every other emotion that was already surging through me. It was appalling that I was actually begrudging my best friend her happiness.