The Challenge (16 page)

"Of course he got her drunk," I muttered. Lena shrugged.

"Well...sometime after midnight, they disappeared," Lena related. She dropped her arms and leaned against the table. "When I saw Kris again, she looked miserable and I could tell she was trying not to cry, so we quickly left. It took me hours to find out what had happened." I straightened and waited. "She told me he said he wanted to talk and so they went to a bedroom. He locked the door and for a few minutes they did talk. But then he started...touching and groping her. But he wouldn't stop when she told him to and when she tried to leave, he just..."

"Raped her," I whispered, bitterly.

"Yup," Lena said. She glanced out at the living room to the guys who were watching the telly.

"But that's not even the worst part..." Lena paused and took a deep breath through her nose. "Several weeks later, she wasn't feeling good." I stopped breathing. "So, we skipped school and went to the doctor...he told her she was pregnant." Now, I was fuming. "Well she couldn't deal with it, so she left for a while and...you know...got rid of it."

"Oh my word. The poor girl, no wonder she doesn't like talking about kids," I muttered in deep sympathy. Lena nodded. "Lena...you have to tell me where she went. If David knows, then there's no telling what he'd do. He's obviously absolutely bonkers." Lena's eyes suddenly widened and she looked at me with a terrified gaze.

"He wouldn't know exactly where she is!" She tried to deny the truth.

"I'm not so sure of that," I said.

"Trust me, she's fine. She's staying with a friend of mine for the week, but then she's going to a hotel because my friend can't keep her for that long."

"He'll find her in a bloody hotel," I said.

"You can't go yet!" Lena cried. "Look...I'll call her and give her a heads up about David, but I won't tell her you know. She'll be fine as long as she's with Chelsea." She took my hand. "Kris is strong, but I don't know how she'll be after this."

"I didn't mean..." I said.

"I know," Lena said. "Just don't do anything until I call her, okay? Get some sleep and I'll talk to you at school tomorrow. I promise."

"Fine," I agreed. "Don't reckon I'll sleep much, though."

KRIS

It was amazing how many movies Chelsea had. I spent most of my time in her apartment watching almost all of them. She even had
Pulp Fiction
, Henry's favorite, but I decided not to watch it for obvious reasons. It wasn't so bad there-not nearly as bad as I thought. At least there was less drama.

I jumped when I heard my phone ring . It was Lena calling again.

"Hey...are you okay?" She asked before I could even say hello.

"Yeah, just watching movies," I said.

"Okay, well..." Lena said. "The reason I'm calling is because I think David knows where you are."

"What?" I asked. "How did you find that out?"

"Well, he's been gone the whole time you've been gone," Lena said. "And he left Henry a note saying he knew where you were." Lena said. "I saw it. And, Kris...it was definitely his writing."

"Wait, how did you see it?" I asked.

"Henry uh...called me over," Lena said.

"Lena, there's something you're not telling me," I probed.

"I...umm...I told him what happened," Lena said, quickly. I was quiet. "Kris, I'm sorry, but you should have seen him. He was seriously freaking out." I remained silent. "Kris? Kris, sweetie, please talk to me."

"You promised me you wouldn't tell anyone," I said finally, flipping my phone shut.

I couldn't blame her for telling him. I guess he really did have the right to know. But that didn't mean I wish she had. That was really something
I
should have told him about. I looked up when Chelsea came in and forced a smile across my face. I'm pretty sure it wasn't very convincing, though. She had been so hospitable to me and I didn't want to seem ungrateful.

Shit always had a way of falling apart on me.

HENRY

ON FRIDAY, LENA finally told me where Kris was...Las Vegas! A bloody four hour drive away. I couldn't just sit idly by while some lunatic was out searching for her. I decided to leave and try to see Kris, even though there wasn't a shot in hell she'd want anything to do with me.

"Is there a radio station that isn't playing a bloody love song?" I muttered to myself, switching stations for the seventeenth time in an hour. Two more hours to go and my heart couldn't settle down a bit. I stared at the radio for a while in anger before my eyes shot back to the road.

"Eh, fuck the speed limit," I said, pushing hard on the pedal.

KRIS

"Sorry about having to leave early, Kristina," Chelsea apologized.

"Hey, it's no problem," I reassured her. "I was gonna leave today, anyway. Thanks so much for taking me in for a few days."

"You're making it sound like you're a stray," Chelsea said, hugging me.

"I am...in a way," I said.

"You are not," Chelsea said. "You, Miss Kristina, are very much loved by many people."

I hugged her tight. She was so kind to me, just like Lena. She had picked me up at the bus stop, kept me in her home and now she even drove me to the hotel and walked me to my room. I bid her goodbye after thanking her for the hundredth time and shut the door. I lay down on the bed when my phone vibrated, yet again, on the bedside table. I didn't know who was calling and I didn't care. I let it go to voicemail and, once it stopped, I picked it up to see who had called. Okay, so I
did
care. It was Henry. I frowned. What was he calling for? I hesitated for a moment then I checked the voicemail.

"Hey, Kris. Look, I'm terribly sorry about what happened and I hope you can forgive me. I'm really worried about you, love. Lena told me about David and it's freaking all of us out that he's been gone since you left. Can you just please...
please
, Kris...call me back soon. Even if it's just to yell at me," Henry's voice sounded more worried than ever. "Bye, I love you, pet."

I deleted the message then scrolled through my contacts. I stopped at Henry's number. Before I could even think about what I was doing, I had pressed the talk button and held the phone to the side of my head, listening to its hollow ring.

"Kris?" Henry's voice came through. I froze. "Kris? You there?"

"Uh...sort of," I said. God, that was dumb.

"Are you okay?"

"Uh...why?"

"So you haven't seen David?"

"He wouldn't be able to find me," I said. Nevertheless, I went to the window and peeked outside.

"There's always the chance he could."

"Where are you?" I asked suddenly.

"About an hour from the hotel, give or take ten minutes," Henry replied.

"Lena told you," I said, sighing.

"I was worried, so I made her tell me," Henry said. "Don't get mad at her,"

"I'm not," I said.

"Good," Henry said.

"Once you get off the highway, take the Wellington Road exit going north," I said, without even thinking. "The first hotel on the right is where I am. Room..." I went to the door and opened it. "...95."

"Fine," Henry said. "Stay put then, alright, Pet?"

"I make no promises." Both of us gave fake laughs, then we hung up. I grimaced as I closed the door and sat down on the edge of the bed.

About half an hour went by and I was wondering what I was going to do when Henry showed up. I jumped when there was a knock on the door. More of a banging, really.

I was afraid that it was an angry Henry, but I knew we needed to talk, so I got up and went to the door. I didn't think to look through the peep hole, seeing as how Henry was a fast driver.

WHEN I OPENED the door, my eyes widened and my jaw dropped. I automatically stepped back and went to close the door, but his hand came out and stopped it.

"'Ello,
pet
," David said in a sinister, booze-soaked British accent. I backed up even more and he came into the room, closing the door. I heard a click and knew he had locked it. That was never a good thing when he was involved.

"What do you want?" I asked.

"Do you really have to ask?" He sneered.

I knew I didn't and that just make him look even more satisfied. He moved forward, grabbed my arms and pinned me down on the bed. A thousand burning memories went tearing through my mind.

"Let go!" I shouted, struggling to get out of his hold. He was bigger than Henry, so I had no chance fighting against him. I was as helpless as last time.

"Now why would I do that?" David growled.

My instincts came into action and I thrust my knee up to connect with his crotch. That worked and he quickly let go of me. I scrambled off the bed and almost made it to the door, before he grabbed me again.

"David..." I whined.

"That wasn't smart," David said.

My eyes grew wide with fear, as he pushed me to the wall, his hands locked around my wrists. "You're gonna wish you didn't do that."

HENRY

I leaned nearly all the weight of my body on the accelerator. I could see the skyline of Vegas on the horizon and luckily I hadn't passed any cops through the desert. It was supposed to be the first hotel off the highway, on the Wellington Road exit. But the Wellington road exit split into three different roads before there was a single hotel. "God damn it, Kris," I muttered, getting back into the car, after checking a hotel and not finding her there. "You could have given me
a
bit
more information."

I checked another one, it didn't even have a room 95. One more hotel. I floored it back to the last road, found the last hotel, parked my car and got out. This was it. I saw David's car is parked a few spots away. Now, I was livid. How the fuck did he know where she was?

"That motherfucker is gonna..." I swore as I walked down the main hall. I stopped as a scream suddenly rang out and several doors opened. "Room 95!" I remembered that.

"What's happening?" a woman asked, poking her head out of her room.

"My girlfriend's in there," I said. "Her ex...he's...he's..."

"Oh, God!" the woman said. She was instantly on her cell phone.

I didn't even stop to think about who she was calling and I ran down the hall reading the numbers as I passed. I had went right past it-the numbers were set up goofy. Cursing, I turned around and, slower this time, found the right room. I tried the doorknob, but it was locked.

"Bloody fucking hell!" I shouted. "Open the bloody door, you fucking twat!" I yelled at David through the door. I heard whimpering from the other side of the door. I pulled on the knob and drove my shoulder into the door, trying to open it.

"You've had it easy up 'til now."

There was David's voice. I banged on the door until my knuckles were bloody. An awful slapping sound rang out. I kept banging and banging and yelling and cursing for what must have been five minutes before I was suddenly was pulled away from the door by four or five police officers. One of the officers banged on the bloodied door.

"Open up-police!" he shouted.

There was instant silence inside the room. I couldn't hear any whimpers or moans...nothing at all. Two of the policemen were talking and then they rammed their shoulders into the door simultaneously. The door popped open after their third try and they ran in, telling me to wait by the door.