Total pages in book: 12
Estimated words: 11097 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 55(@200wpm)___ 44(@250wpm)___ 37(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 11097 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 55(@200wpm)___ 44(@250wpm)___ 37(@300wpm)
“Don’t be a fucking tease, Annie.” Ugh, she hates being called Annie.
“You can’t wear a skirt that tight and expect us not to notice,” another boy jeers.
After pushing the last man aside, I reach her. My mind tries to take in what I’m seeing. She’s sprawled on the floor in the hallway off the food court that leads to the bathrooms. There’s a group of teenaged boys in a half circle around her. Five or so bags litter the floor around her. Kerry is nowhere to be found. What the fuck? Then I notice the state she’s in. Her Wham! t-shirt is torn down the center. She’s trying to hold it together, but she’s shaking so badly. Her skirt is pushed up to her knees, but she’s still covered. Her long, gangly legs are out though, one of which has a fresh scrape that’s bleeding. My eyes roam up her body and then I see it. A bright red hand print on her right cheek. Anger like I’ve never known bubbles up from somewhere and threatens to explode out of me. It takes everything in me not to start choking the fuck out of these kids.
“What the fuck is going on here?” I shout, moving toward her, needing to get to her before these little fucks can touch her again. The opening to hallway is small, between me and the crowd, they can’t escape. They will pay for this, one way or another.
“K-Kellen?” she asks, looking up at me. My fucking heart stutters in my chest. My caveman thoughts are that she’s mine and no other hands should touch her, but fuck she not mine yet.
“I’m here, Legs. Who did this to you?”
“It doesn’t matter, just… just get me out of here.”
“Are you fucking kidding me? Jesus, your face, your shirt.”
“I know, but I’m fine.”
“Annika? Where are you?” Kerry says, knocking one boy out of the way. “Holy shit. I just had to pee. I was gone for like three minutes.”
“Kerry, get her bags. Now,” I say, seething. Kerry scrambles to pick them up.
“I called the police,” a food-court worker says, interrupting me.
“Good. We’ll wait.”
“Kellen?” Annika asks.
“Not now, Legs,” I reply. I really am ready to do someone bodily harm, not her. Never her, but someone.
“Roland, they called the cops, man. I’m not going down for this.”
“Fuck, me neither.”
“It was Roland.”
“Yeah.”
“Do you really think that matters? You let him do it.”
“We ain’t his keepers.”
“You should’ve stopped him.”
“He’s the captain of the football team, Kel,” Kerry says.
“I’d imagine not after this,” I say, my voice harsher than it ever has been.
“Kellen?” Annika asks, again. I move over to her and crouch down in front of her.
“Yeah, Legs?” I respond, my voice automatically changing for her. Fuck, it’s always going to be only her.
“Please. Get me out of here,” she says, her blue eyes pleading with me. They are red-rimmed and watery.
“I will,” I say, taking her hand in mine. “The police are here,” I say, after hearing their radios.
Twenty minutes later, Roland is in cuffs after Annika pressed charges on him. He did more than slap her around, rip her shirt, and push her down. He touched her somewhere he shouldn’t have. The slap and shove came after she kneed him in the balls. If I had known that at the mall, I would have killed him, and I’d be in jail right now. As it is, I’m kicking myself in the ass for not protecting her.
Afterward, I lifted her up in my arms and carried her out to my car. At her house, I carried inside and set her on the kitchen counter. She’s wearing the necklace I got her for her last birthday. The necklace she thinks has her initials on it, but really it’s our initials. The subtle staking of my claim is sick, but I can’t help it.
“What are you doing, Kellen?” she whispers. Torturing myself.
“Cleaning and bandaging your knee,” I reply as I grab the first aid kit off of the top of the Andrews’ fridge. I make quick work of it and impulsively press a kiss to the bandage. “All better?” She nods and gives me a little half smile.
“You did that when I was a little girl,” she says, fresh tears filling her eyes. I pull her to my chest and wrap my arms around her. “Why did this happen to me?”
“I don’t know, Annika, but it wasn’t your fault. Some guys try to take what’s not theirs. They don’t like being told no.”
“I’ll always say no.” I suck in a deep breath at that. Does she know what she does to me? Doesn’t she know that she leads me around by a string tied directly to her?
After that, I carry her to her bed, and tuck her in, kissing her forehead.
I’m so fucked, I think as I walk across the street.