Blue Crush (27 page)

I can’t breathe.

He’s going to kill me!

I buck and rip my head back and forth to force his hand free.

“Shhh, I like the fight, but not the noise. Quiet and I’ll let you breathe.”

I stop squirming because survival seems paramount. He uncovers my face and I gasp in air.

Grip firming painfully on my wrists, Drake pulls me up halfway and flips on the light, locking the door. “I prefer the rooms upstairs, but we can do this here.”

“No!” I try to knee him again. “Help!
Help!
” What have I done? How can this be happening?

He grabs my throat and pushes me to the ground. “I said,
shut up.
Don’t be stupid, Genevieve. No one can hear you. The casino is built for noise control. Every room is insulated, even storage areas.”

I thought I was being careful. He didn’t take me upstairs, but he didn’t need to.

“Keep your voice down and I’ll be quick.” He fumbles with his pants.

My throat convulses, legs quivering. “Stop, Drake. Don’t do this. I’ll go to the police.”

He snickers. “Little Genevieve.” He yanks at my bustier, but the Houdini contraption is made to withstand tornados and it barely budges. “Like a dark-haired porcelain doll. I’m going to fuck you and break you. When I’m finished, you’ll be a docile, pretty pet, begging at my knee.”

Fear clouds my vision, making my movements jerky and unreliable. I shake my head to clear it and feint a move to the side, then lurch in the opposite direction toward the door. But it’s a stupid move with Drake’s heavy body above mine. I make it an inch before I lose strength and collapse beneath him, panting.

He chuckles, trailing his mouth down my neck, licking and biting. “Let me tell you a secret.” He nips the lobe of my ear, breaking the skin, stinging it with his tongue. “No one is going to do anything with that form you filled out upstairs except shred it. They already have. They have my back and I have theirs. I know people in this town.” He says this with so much pride, I almost feel sorry for him, as if the only way he obtains strength is by knocking others down.

He can’t be right. There’s got to be someone with an ounce of morality in this place. But even if there is, they won’t help me down here, where no one can see what’s about to happen …

God, someone help me!

A strong, manicured hand clamps over my mouth, blocking my nose. “I said shut
up.
”

My throat burns. From yelling? So the screaming isn’t only in my head. The rush of it released all the air from my lungs, though, and Drake isn’t letting me catch my breath.

The room and its objects waver and fade … I’m dizzy, sick to my stomach …

A sharp pain jabs my ribs and the overwhelming weight lifts from on top of me. Air rasps through my chest, a view of the circular fixture above my head … the sound of the casino. I look down my body at an unfamiliar man standing in the doorway, wearing a yellow Sallee Construction shirt, a set of keys dangling from his hand.

“I’ll be needing this room. For the electrical.”

“It can wait,” Drake grinds out from my side, one knee propped, his hand braced on the ground as if he rolled off me and froze. “Get out.”

The Sallee worker stares at me, his lips pressed together. “No can do, boss.” He opens the door wider.

Drake rises to his feet as someone passes, gawking at us. “You’ll be fired for this.” He jerks me up and my head spins with the abruptness. The arm he crushed is swollen, weak, throbbing with every heartbeat. “Come along, Genevieve.”

“Oh, she’ll be staying with me,” the worker says.

My gaze wavers toward him like I’m on a rocky boat.

“Excuse me?” Drake’s voice is tight, frigid.

“That’s my buddy’s girlfriend you have there. He wouldn’t want you touching her. If he saw what I just witnessed, you wouldn’t be breathing right now. I suggest you let her go.”

Drake thrusts me behind him like a dog fighting for a juicy steak. “You’re fired.
Get out.
”

“Sure.” The worker tosses the keys on the ground, his meaty hands flexing at his sides in a threatening manner. He’s a couple of inches taller than Drake and twice as wide. “Taking the girl with me, though.”

Drake’s breath hisses out low and angry. He releases me and storms out the door.

I’m shaking, my hand supporting my injured arm.

“Take a minute,” the Sallee worker says. “You can stay or go home, but I’m not leaving your side till you’re clear of the casino.” He pulls out his phone and types as if texting.

I slump to the floor and try to control the shaking. My head hurts. I can’t concentrate and the room is spinning. I lie down and close my eyes.

I sense the guy squat beside me. “You need a doctor?” He touches the inside of my wrist, then his hands fumble beneath my knees as if he’s going to lift me.

I sit up abruptly, which doesn’t help the spinning. “I can walk. Can you take me to my house?” I cough, my throat scratchy and sore. I’ll go to the hospital, because I’m not letting Drake get away with this and I want proof of his violence, but I need my best friend with me.

The Sallee worker follows me past a new waitress in the lounge. She’s pretty and fresh for her shift. The bartender looks away, but the waitress gapes. I change in the basement while the Sallee worker waits for me outside the employee entrance. I meet him upstairs and walk through the casino floor to the parking garage. When I’m in my street clothes, no one pays attention to the girl with messy hair and mascara smudges.

“You’re not driving. My truck’s over there—” The worker points to a beat-up gray truck an aisle away. I don’t even know his name, but he wouldn’t let Drake hurt me and he works for Lewis’s company. He thinks I’m Lewis’s girlfriend.

My body’s shaking increases the farther we drive from the casino. Throat clogged, nose burning with unshed tears, I hold back the emotion threatening to erupt. I just want to get home.

My phone buzzes from inside my purse on my lap. I pull it out and glance at the screen. Three missed calls and a text message.

Lewis: Joe told me what happened. I’m on my way.

The voice messages are also from Lewis, the first a panicked sounding call in which Lewis says he’s on his way to the casino and talks about contacting the police. The second message he must have left while driving over. In it he says he spoke to Joe and that he is meeting us at my house. The third message is of the frantic
where are you
variety.

Lewis sounds upset and worried, and I can’t bring myself to care. I am numb.

When we pull up to my house, Lewis is talking to Cali at the front door. Cali runs to the truck, Lewis a step behind.

“Oh my God, Gen.” She opens the door and pulls me to her. I cry out. “What? You’re hurt?” She looks at my face, then down, as I instinctively turn away to protect my arm. “
Shit.
It’s swollen and blue…and your
throat
. That fucker!”

My arm is horribly tender but I can move it, so I don’t think it’s broken.

Lewis rounds Cali and supports my waist, taking my weight. “I’m okay,” I rasp. He flinches, his eyes intense. My voice is rough from screaming and the pressure of Drake’s hand at my throat.

Lewis is always trying to carry my weight—the physical, the emotional. Is this why he kept his struggles with Mira and her gambling to himself? He won’t share his own burdens?

He thanks Joe and then eases me into the chalet. “Cali, can you grab a cold pack or a bag of ice? Frozen vegetables if you don’t have either?”

I sit on the couch and he tucks a pillow behind my head. He kneels beside me and turns over my arm, eyeing the bruise. He lifts my shirt as if to check me over. I jerk it down. “I need to see where you’re hurt.” His eyes widen, mouth pinching. “He didn’t—did he …?”

“No, my arm is the worst of it.” I lean back and close my eyes. Tears stream down my cheeks, no sound erupting from my battered throat.

Drake didn’t rape me, but he was going to.

Lewis presses his face into my neck, his breaths tense and shaky. He’s cupping my head, eyes blinking rapidly against my skin. “I wish I’d been there for you.” He looks up, something in his expression unhinged. “Promise me you won’t return.”

I believe the look in his eyes, the one that says he cares so much he’d do anything to make this better, but it’s not enough. I need more from him than a protector. “Don’t worry about me. You have other obligations. I’ll be fine.”

“Gen—” He runs stiff fingers through his hair and leans forward, his hands compressing the cushions on either side of my body. The gesture should intimidate, but the look in his eyes—caring and intent—negates the effect. It’s as if he wants me to see inside his soul. “I’m here right now.”

“But you won’t always be. There will be times when I need you and your commitment to someone else will prevent you from coming.”

The door opens and my mom walks in with a bag of groceries in her arms, a smile on her face. Behind her, Jaeger carries four more bags.

Mom took a plane to Tahoe and could have rented a car, but that would have made too much sense. Mooching rides off of me and my roommate’s attractive boyfriend is more her speed. She may be in love with Fred, but she’s not blind.

Her smile dies as she looks from Cali to Lewis, her gaze finally landing on me. “Genevieve?” She drops the bag and kneels by the couch, nearly knocking Lewis over to reach me. “What happened?”

Lewis stands and turns, his back rising and falling on deep, controlled exhalations as if he’s attempting to keep it together. Jaeger sets the groceries on the counter and wraps an arm around Cali. She hugs him and whispers in his ear. He glances at me and his mouth tenses.

Jaeger intercepted Cali’s run-in with Drake and knows the gist of what happened to me in the suite. It’s safe to say, he’s not Drake’s biggest fan.

I don’t know why I thought Drake would leave me alone if I only stayed away from him. He’s worse than I ever imagined. The things he said to me … what he tried to do …

From a few feet away, Lewis turns his gaze on me and it’s so intense, for a moment I don’t hear my mom’s incessant questioning, which I’ve managed to ignore thus far. His eyes cut away and I watch helplessly as he strides to the front door, a deep panic filling my chest. He wouldn’t …

I sit up and glance at Cali’s boyfriend. “Jaeger—” I stare wordlessly at Lewis.

Jaeger nods and catches Lewis by the shoulder, mumbling something in his ear. Lewis’s grip on the doorknob tightens, his shoulders rigid. He jerks from Jaeger’s hold, but Jaeger continues to talk in a quiet rumble.

Lewis flings the door open and stalks out. Jaeger searches Cali’s face. She nods and he follows Lewis.

“Genevieve, talk to me!” My mom squeezes my hand.

I close my eyes and tune out the world.

As the hunter is hunted down, she slays her enemies on sacred ground.

My mom snores. Loudly. I bought earplugs a few days ago when she first arrived, but it hasn’t helped. I slept off and on during the day yesterday to catch up and rest my arm, which has turned this purplish-green from shoulder to elbow. Nasty looking, but it feels much better. It turns out Drake didn’t burst an artery or maim me for life.

Cali went with me to the hospital after Lewis and Jaeger left. The story I gave my mom was that I fell down a flight of stairs at work. She sort of bought it. Even if she didn’t, that’s all she’s getting. My mother would go apeshit if I told her the truth, and I can’t deal with her drama on top of my drama.

The nurse at the hospital took one look at me and called the police. I gave my mom another bullshit story for why the police needed a statement, sent her for coffee, and told the officer what happened. I thought Drake was a creepy pervert, but this … I don’t know why I didn’t think he’d take it this far. The signs were there. I ignored them.

The idea of an investigation terrifies me, but I’m done keeping quiet. Lewis’s employee is willing to speak out against Drake, unlike the witnesses in the hotel suite, who were his accomplices. I’ve been passive, fearful in the past, but I’m channeling the competitive edge that’s had me training day and night for the mudder and I’m fighting Drake—the casino as well if I have to. What he tried to do—I’m more than humiliated, I’m
pissed
. I won’t let him get away with it.

Jaeger followed Lewis to Zach’s house the night of the attack. Jaeger said Lewis needed a friend to help him cool down and Jaeger made him promise to stay put, but Cali said that at one point Zach had to talk the two of them out of going after Drake together. Lewis had convinced Jaeger someone needed to do something and that they were the ones to do it.

Zach has serious persuasion skills, because he’s physically no match for either Jaeger or Lewis. I don’t know how he talked them out of their testosterone rage.

Lewis was there for me. The look on his face after his worker brought me home … He cares—maybe more than cares, I’m just not sure what to do with that information. It’s not enough for the kind of relationship I want. Lewis kept important things from me and I’m tired of secrets and omissions. I want all in or nothing.

Tucked away in our tiny bathroom, I prepare for the mudder race and watch the sun slowly rise through the window. For the first time in my life, I didn’t mind waking early. It’s peaceful in the morning and I need the calm to prepare for what I’m about to go up against.

A loud banging on the door startles me, the tin of blue face paint I’m holding tumbling from my fingers into the sink. “Light a fire under it, Gen,” Cali calls.

I’ve been in here for an hour dressing and carefully applying the blue and black body paint my team selected. I open the door and glare at Cali. She knows better than to make loud noises this early.

Her eyes travel the length of me.

“What?” I ask.

“You look badass. You’re going to kill it today, aren’t you?” she says, her tone impressed.

Looking the part and playing the part are two very different things, but I have a burning need to prove something, so maybe she’s right. I want to win. For me.