Spiral (37 page)

The guy gives him a wink and a fist bump. “Good night, my man?”

Caz grins and shakes his head at his friend. “Don’t be an ass,” he chuckles.

I wait for Cherie to follow him, but she doesn’t. Since my voice is trapped beneath layers of rage, Claudia thankfully asks, “Where’s Cherie?”

He finally looks up and meets my gaze, his eyes widening as if I startled him. “Hey, man. Jack, right?” There’s something mischievous in his grin.

I don’t smile. I give him the deadliest look I’ve ever given a person before. I can feel the heat pouring out of my eyes. “Where is Cherie?” I repeat, and Chloe nudges me in my side to not be such a jerk. Caz narrows his eyes at my tone.

“She’s passed out upstairs,” he tells me, his mouth a smug smile. “I have no use for her; she’s already lost her v-card apparently.”

Dominick snickers. My blood boils hotter and hotter. If he touched her, I’ll kill him.

“You’re gross,” Claudia hisses with disgust.

My instinct is to kill him – all of them. In my mind, there’s only one way he could know that kind of information.

My voice rises to a roar. “What did you do to her!?” I rush toward him, and Claudia and Chloe pull back on my arms to stop me. Danika’s goons shield him and keep me from getting too close.

“What did you do to her?” I demand again, my voice shaking.

Caz scoffs, “Nothing, asshole; Cherie’s crying and shit upstairs about losing her virginity to you – she’s a hot mess. She can’t handle her liquor.”

“Maybe she shouldn’t be drinking with twenty-five year olds, asshole,” I fire back, standing my ground.

He smirks and says, “What can I say? If she wanted to be playing on the jungle gym at home with you still, she would be.”

I take a menacing step toward him. “She will come home because I’m taking her, now.”

Dominick snickers, “Oh, you’re not going anywhere, kid.”

I glare at him and the thugs still waiting behind him, my breath coming in shorter, shallower huffs as reality sets in and dread fills me. I’m likely not going anywhere; I’ll be lucky if I’m still alive in an hour.

I turn to the girls. “Get in the car,” I whisper, thrusting the keys in their hands and urgently pushing them toward the front door.

“You come, too,” Claudia whimpers, gripping my wrist.

“I will. I gotta go upstairs and get Cherie. I’ll be right there.” I sneak a glance at the others in the house and doubt my own words, and I’m a terrible liar.

Worst of all, Chloe knows it. “No, Jack – now!”

But I’ve already turned back to Caz and his friends, who have started to surround us. “I don’t want any trouble. I just want to take Cherie home.”

“Shoulda thought about that before you came at me last week,” Dominick says, puffing his chest as he steps forward. He’s a few inches shorter than me, stocky and broad shouldered. He looks more like an Oompa Loompa than an actor. I almost want to laugh at him, but the collection of angry, scornful faces staring back at me makes my confidence tremble.

“We have some unfinished business to take care of,” he adds.

“No! Leave him alone!” Chloe shouts, getting between us. “We’ll call the cops!”

Caz glares down at Chloe and moves toward her. “Don’t even think about it.”

“Hey, stay away from her!” I yell, stepping between them. I swallow my fear for the girls and look back at them. “Go, Chloe. I’ll be fine. Please just go.” I push her behind me and look back at her twin, commanding with as much authority as I can muster, “Claudia, get her out of here.” I know I’m about to get jumped, especially once I try to go back upstairs for Cherie. I don’t need them seeing it or getting hurt, too.

Suddenly, I’m getting spun, and the ground disappears beneath my feet. I’m airborne, and I come crashing down hard on my face. Claudia screams. The tin taste of blood seeps into my mouth as the world spins. At first, I think I’ve only bitten my tongue, but it’s worse. The blood is coming from outside of my mouth and leaking past my lips. I try to get up.

“Stop it!” Chloe shrieks as the first foot flies into my gut. They’re everywhere, like flies, raining knuckles, heels, and knees into my body. I manage to grab one foot, pull and twist it. Someone cries out and a thud follows. That’s one.

But there are too many. I’m assaulted feverishly, and all I can do is curl up and try to protect my head and face from further strikes. Something hard collides with my rib cage, and I hear a sickening crack. The pain is instantaneous, and I clamp my teeth together to stifle the howl of pain I’m moved to release. I won’t give them the satisfaction of hearing me whimpering like a beaten dog. Eventually, some hands pick me up and throw me against a wall. I hear one of the girls scream again as I slide to the floor in a heap of aches and blood.

“Jack? Jack!” a familiar voice cries out. “No, get off of me!”

Cherie
. She’s there, somewhere, but her words spark a new fear in me. What are they doing to her? Where are the twins?

I peer up and see Caz, Dominick, and their thugs in a scuffle with her and the twins. Cherie is desperately trying to get to me, struggling against someone’s hold. The twins are cursing and shouting as they fight to free her. The guys look like they aren’t afraid to hurt the three of them, or do much worse, and I’m not going to let that happen.

I don’t know where the strength to stand comes from. Parts of me are broken, I’m sure. But I won’t let them touch Cherie or my sisters.

“Is that the best you can do?” I taunt, getting to my feet, my words practically slurred by whatever they already did to my jaw. Dominick and his minions turn and look. “I’m still standing, Furst.”

Dominick looks to Caz, and they share a quick laugh. They abandon the girls to their goons and come for me. Cherie screams my name, convinced I’ll be killed. She’s probably right.

Regardless, I mock them. “It’s real easy to attack a man when there’s four on one.”

“What man? I don’t see a man,” Dominick scoffs, and Caz chuckles to his right.

“Maybe I should squat down so we can be on eye level,” I reply stiffly, wiping at the blood on my lips with the back of my hand. I look down at the red smear across my skin and grow a little woozy.

Dominick snorts and snarls, “How about my bodyguards here just break your legs?”

I look toward the goons, who release the girls and come forward, and I know he’s not kidding. Just when I think I’m done for, I hear a familiar scream-roar, followed by a loud thud, and one of them goes down at my feet. Claudia stands behind him with one of the fancy liquor bottles in her hand, breathing hard.

“What the hell!” Caz cries out. Claudia swings the bottle at his head, as he dodges it and jumps aside. She hurls it at him, and it collides with his back, causing him to cry out and stumble. She raises her other hand, producing a second bottle, and she holds it like a bat over her shoulder and prepares to swing at anyone else who approaches as the other guys stare at her.

Chloe emerges from the background and charges toward the other thug with her mini-can of pepper spray that Jim never lets them leave home without. As she sprays it into his eyes, I feel dumb for making fun of it once upon a time. The bodyguard screams like a girl and covers his eyes, running from her. Her weapon is fierce and dirty and so New York, and it horrifies as much as it delights me at the same time.

The people who had been in other parts of the house all this time are suddenly clustered in the doorway of the living room, watching in awe. The guy on the couch is no longer disinterested but on his feet and pressed against the farthest wall in cowardice, not wanting any of the chaos in the room to turn to him.

Cherie approaches Dominick and Caz, who can’t make any sense of the scene unfolding around us. “I’ve called the police and Derek from Dirterazzi,” she says, waving her phone. “Your careers are so over!”

Caz gawks at her. “You bitch!” He lunges for her.

“Don’t touch her!” I shout, reaching out to grab a fistful of his collar and jerking him backward. I use all of my strength to throw him, head first, against the wall to my right. There is a loud
crack!
, and he trips backward, holding the front of his head. Blood gushes from a fresh cut in his forehead and pours down the front of his face. He grips the wall, practically fainting from the sight of his own blood. I hear Danika curse from somewhere across the room.

“Cherie, what are you doing?” she cries out.

Cherie turns to her ex-assistant and commands, “Stay back, bitch! I never should have trusted you – any of you!” Claudia moves beside her cousin, wielding another empty liquor bottle, her weapon of choice. Chloe stands in the corner, holding her pepper spray up to the eyes of the bodyguard she’s managed to corner, who still can’t see after her first round attack.

Dominick realizes my guard is down, and he charges, flying through the air toward me.

“No!” Cherie screams, but she can’t act fast enough.

I’m knocked to the ground, trapped beneath his heavy frame. Fresh pain ignites within my torso, and now my left arm is limp and burning. I gasp for air, but it’s hard to breathe, especially with him on top of me. He sits up, draws back, and lands the punch that puts me out.

L
ights are flashing. Dark shapes surround me. Someone is asking me questions. I can hear them, and occasionally I can see them, but it’s not consistent. My mouth hurts so much that I can barely answer them. I fade in and out to red lights, white lights, blurry figures. I’m bound to something. I’m moving. I feel things bump and jerk and slide beneath me. Nothing seems clear, but I can’t ask what’s happening. I don’t need to because the pain is overwhelming any questions I could have.

Sharp pains and dull aches numb my other senses and throb sporadically throughout my body. I don’t think I can move if I want to, which I don’t. I just want to lie here, as still as possible to avoid hurting any more than I already do.

I imagine Cherie. I wonder where she is and what she’s doing. When I picture her face, I can smell her. I can hear her laugh. I can’t feel her though. I can only feel pain. I slip back out of consciousness.

When I come to again, there are voices around me, hushed and murmured, accompanied by sniffles and rustling. A faint, steady beeping grows louder. Other sounds become clearer. The pain is not as prominent. Maybe I can open my eyes.

As I do, I’m met by a sea of familiar, concerned, and tear-stained faces. I see my mother rise from her seat beside me, awash in white light and looking haggard.

“Hi baby,” she coos, wanting to touch me, but afraid to rest her hand anywhere other than on mine.

“Mom?” I croak. I look around. It looks like a hospital room. It feels like a hospital room. What the hell happened?

“Where am I?” I ask, my voice ragged.

But she’s turned and calling to Jim. “He’s awake. Get the nurse.” She looks back at me. “Hey baby. You’re okay. You’re in the hospital, and you’re going to be okay.”

“Where’s Cherie?” I say, trying to get up.

“She’s fine, you just – ”

As I start to move, pain shoots through my left side and shoulder. I cry out and fall back.

“Oh, God!” Mom tears up, but she tries to stay calm. “Don’t move baby, okay? The doctors are coming; they have to examine you.”

I can’t argue with her. I can’t move; I’m actually afraid to move. My heartbeat spikes. I realize my arm is in a cast. Something is tightly wrapped around my torso. My face aches and feels hot when I reach up to touch it with my good hand. Memories of the fight come flooding back through my hazy mind, and I panic that I could be badly hurt. Mom strokes my hair. I close my eyes and try to just breathe.