Punk Rox Warrior (5 page)

32

Rachel Cron

* * * *

Rainne lowered her head and flushed the deepest red he he’d ever

seen. Quietly, she muttered, “I haven’t been with anyone since,

Phillip. That was almost a year ago. It was an ugly breakup. He told

my mom that I cheated on him the entire relationship. She believed

him over me. She blamed it on the band and my friends. Ya know, my

‘deviant lifestyle’ and all that.” She made quotation marks in the air and rolled her eyes.

Stealing back to his seat and sipping thoughtfully on his coffee, he

asked, “Who’s Phillip?”

“Phillip is this guy who works for my mom. He’s a senior VP or

something. She introduced us at one of her many snooze fests she

calls parties. He seemed nice enough, boring, but nice. When he asked

me out at the end of the night, it never occurred to me to say yes. He’s just too pensive.” Getting up for a refill, she leaned against the

counter. Sighing, she continued. “The next day Carol called me, irate.

‘How dare you embarrass me, you’d be lucky to get Phillip. God,

Rainne, do you know how much I pay that man?’ She was pissed.”

Plopping back in her seat, she laughed to herself. “She was relentless!

She wouldn’t stop till I went out with him, so I did. Worst mistake of

my life. I’ll tell ya that right now!” Shaking her head at her own

stupidity, she took a gulp of her coffee.

“How bad did it get?” he asked, motioning with his hands.

Lowering her gaze, she blinked back the tears building in her

eyes. “Phillip didn’t like me, not really. For my birthdays, he would buy me weight loss programs. Ya know, Jenny Craig and Weight

Watchers? He was always making fun of my clothes, my music. He

tried to get me to leave my band, not see my friends. When I wouldn’t

get in line, he started abusing me.” Closing her eyes, tears streamed

down her face. She took a breath to steady herself and continued. “At

first it was just him telling me how fat and ugly I was. He never let

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33

me forget that I was a freak show and nobody would want me.”

Wiping her tearstained face with the sleeve of her robe, she

lowered her eyes to play absently with the ribbon that doubled as a

belt. “He came to me one night. We sat down for a long chat about

our relationship. I thought he was going to break up with me. I was

happy because every time I tried to break up with him he just came

right back.” Looking up at nothing in particular, she said, “He tried to convince me that I was a joke, but he could fix me. ‘If only you’d

listen to reason,’ he told me.” Looking back down at her mug, she

continued, “I told him that if he wasn’t happy with me, then it wasn’t

meant to be because I had no desire to change for anyone, least of all

him.” Pausing thoughtfully, she was trembling. “When I got up to

leave, he grabbed me by the arm and punched me in the face. I rolled

over onto my back to see him standing over me, screaming. ‘You’ll

change, you little bitch! I’m sick to death of doing this favor for your mother just to be embarrassed by you at every turn!’ After that it was

all downhill.” Shaking her head and exhaling exhaustedly, she sipped

on her coffee and stated plainly, “That’s who Phillip was.”

James sat in his seat, fighting the growing rage that threatened to

consume him. “Jesus! Did your mother know about him hitting you?”

“Yeah, she tried to convince me that it was my fault and if I would

just do as Phillip asked, he wouldn’t have to hit me.”

James was enraged
. How could a mother let her only daughter get

abused and then help the abuser continue the act
? He was

dumbfounded. It was beyond belief. “How did you finally get rid of

him?”

“I had a gig. He forbade me to go, so when he went to go pick up

dinner, I snuck out. When we got done, he was waiting backstage. He

was so mad. He lunged at me, and Markus caught him around the

neck and fucked him up. Markus told him that if he ever came around

me again, he’d kill him. Phillip told my mom that I left him for

Markus.” Standing up and stretching, she moved to the sink to rinse

her cup out.

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Rachel Cron

James sat, pondering the situation, pondering Rainne herself. She

was so strong. He wasn’t sure if even she knew how strong. Ripping

him from his thoughts was his alarm. It was time to start the day and

time to face her mother.
This ought to be fun.

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35

Chapter 4

“Yes, ma’am, she’s been very cooperative.” With Rainne in the

shower, James thought it would be a good time to call her mother

with an update.

“Good, it’s nice to know she
is
capable
of finding her manners.

What have you uncovered? Anything new?” she barked.

“Nothing on the stalker yet, but we’re still waiting on the reports

from the sheriff’s department. Mrs. Stanton, you seem to have some

misconceptions about your daughter. Our tests turned up nothing and,

well, no disrespect, but I think you may have misjudged...” He was

abruptly cut off.

Her voice rose sharply. “Don’t tell me what I do and do not have,

Mr. Decker! You think?” She sniffed. “I don’t pay you to think. I pay

you to find that piece of trash. Don’t think for one minute that you

know my daughter, Mr. Decker. That little girl wants to waste her life,

fine, but I’ll be goddamned if she’ll spill her trash on my doorstep!

Now! Speaking of my doorstep, I’m having a gala tomorrow night. I

will expect Rainne to be in attendance. You need to get her there

promptly at eight o’clock. I have ordered clothes for the two of you,

and they will be delivered later today. If there isn’t anything else, I

will see the two of you tomorrow night.” She hung up without the

bother of a goodbye.

“Jeez, what a bitch.” Muttering to himself, James put his phone

back on his hip. Spinning around, he froze.

Rainne emerged from the bathroom wrapped in a towel, hair wet

and tangled, cascading down her back. Turning the corner into her

bedroom, she poked her head back around the corner and giggled.

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Rachel Cron

“Don’t worry ‘bout Carol. I just haven’t saved up enough money for

her operation. As soon as I do, she’ll be fine.”

“What operation?”

“The one to get that stick removed from her ass.” Disappearing

into the room once again, she continued, “Was it totally necessary to

kick in the door?”

“Well...yeah! By the way, you run like that again, I’m beating that

ass of yours,” he snapped.

“Don’t you threaten me with a good time,” she moaned

breathlessly from the other room.

James’s mouth fell open, his cock jerking under the tight confines

of his camouflage pants.
God, that moan,
his mind screamed,
would
she make that noise with my rod buried in her mouth? Stop!
He couldn’t think like that. He’d hurt her. The things he thought of doing

to her would make her run, and not just off to karaoke, but the need to

spank her kept flowing through his thoughts.
Why,
his brain pondered.

He never thought of spanking his women before. Why now? She

wasn’t even his woman.

Still, his hands itched to do just that.

* * * *

Inside, Rainne was dying. “Just get dressed and keep your mouth

shut!” she hissed quietly to herself.
It’s bad enough I admitted all that
embarrassing shit to him about Phillip, but now he’s going to think

I’m hitting on him, too? Talk about pathetic. I couldn’t give him the
short version
.
No! I had to tell him about the weight loss programs
and the insults.
She had never admitted that to anyone. It hurt to discuss it in the privacy of her own head, but to admit it out loud to

another human, especially that particular human. She watched herself

in the mirror as the war in her head continued. She watched herself

blush in humiliation as she thought about what she had actually told

him. At the time it had been easy to talk to him. He appeared to be

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37

genuinely interested, and the information had seemed important, but

now…she just felt inferior. The hatred she felt for Phillip was

profound. She had always been comfortable being herself even if she

had always been ‘a little left of center’ as her father used to tease. She was different, always had been. That had been okay…until Phillip.

Some days she wished she could be the type of girl who liked pearls

and lace.
But I’m not, I like punk music and black lipstick.
The doubt was what she hated, the constant second-guessing of everything she

did or liked. The nagging voice that told her she wasn’t good enough

for anyone and never would be.

* * * *

The day passed quietly. The clothes were delivered just as

promised. James couldn’t believe the suit he had to wear. It screamed

“penguin.”

As James sat at his computer communicating with Alton at the

mobile lab that was parked in the parking lot, Rainne sat on the floor

in the corner strumming her guitar and scribbling on a worn-out

notebook. He watched her in his peripheral vision as she

concentrated. He was dumbfounded at how fascinating she was to

him. He had been sitting here racking his brain for some conversation

starter to get her talking. He felt like a dumbass, he was tongue-tied.

“What’s the name of your band?” He tried to keep his tone light.

Rainne’s head popped up from her book. “Um, Noise Box.” She

sighed.

“You don’t seem thrilled.”

“It’s not that. I’m just having trouble with this new song. We have

a competition coming up in a few days, and I want to unveil it, but

I’m stuck.” Blowing out a harsh breath, she turned her attention back

to her instrument.

He turned to face her. “How long have you been in this band?”

“Since I moved out after high school. They’re a great bunch of

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Rachel Cron

people. It’s hard to be a girl in music, especially when you look like I do, but we all have faith that we’ll make it.” She smiled shyly.

“What happens if you don’t make it?”

“Well, then I can be proud of the fact that we make great music.

Fame is the last reason anyone should be a musician. Chances are it

will never come, but if it does, I wouldn’t walk away. Are you

hungry?” Completely jumping subjects was one of her many talents.

“I could always eat.”

* * * *

After dinner, James sat on the couch, stuffed to the gills. “That

chocolate cake was great.” He groaned.

“Thanks. I invented the recipe myself. The cherries keep it from

being dry. There’s nothing worse than dry chocolate cake.” She

grimaced.

Clearing the table, Rainne puttered around the kitchen and then

proceeded to the rest of the apartment, lazily straightening and

dusting. The knock at the door startled her. Giving James a wary

glance, she crossed the floor to open the door.

“Who were you expecting?” he asked through narrowed eyes.

“No one.” Opening the door and looking down, she spied the

beautifully wrapped gift at her feet. Trembling, she picked it up and

read the card.

FOR MY BEAUTIFUL LITTLE FREAK

“Shit!” she hissed. Putting the box on the table, she backed away

slowly, rubbing her arms.

James jumped to the box, reading the card. “What the hell is

that?” he snapped.

“It’s from him,” she whispered. The fright was evident in her

voice. “That’s what he calls me.” Lowering her eyes to the floor, she

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39

shivered. “Freak.”

James opened the lid to the present and paused. Lifting the

contents, he asked, “Do you have any idea what this is supposed to

mean?”

Rainne felt her knees give out and she dropped to the floor.

Clamping her hand over her mouth, she fought the vomit threatening

to spew out. “Oh, my God! Merlyn!” she screamed.

“Merlyn?” he asked, perplexed.

“Merlyn was my cat. He disappeared a few months ago. That was

his collar.” Sobbing heavily, Rainne wrapped her arms around her

legs, pulling them to her chest and burying her face.

* * * *

Crouching down next to Rainne, he couldn’t fight the urge to

wrap his arms around her. Ignoring her struggles to get free, he held

her tighter. “It’s going to be okay,” he whispered softly in her hair.

When she curled up like this, turning herself inward, it broke his

heart. He wanted her wrapping her arms around him, letting him in,

letting him bear the weight of her sadness.

* * * *

Rainne stopped struggling, snuggling closer to him. He felt so

warm, strong. His scent invaded her senses. After god knows how

much time, Rainne finally cried herself out. She stood up with

James’s help. She felt weak, small, and helpless. “I’m going to bed.

Goodnight,” she whispered. Without another word or glance, she

tromped away from him.

Slowly stripping down to her shirt and panties, she let gravity