Sitting by the open window in the den, a pleasant breeze grazed Alyssa's cheek as she sipped on her lime and lemon Southern Comfort.
"Care for some company?"
Alyssa looked up at J.C's warm blue eyes and smiled.
Pulling up a chair to sit across from her, J.C plucked Alyssa's drink from her hand. It felt as though God himself had been conspiring against him all night, for every time he tried to slip in a serious word with Alyssa, something interrupted him.
"I'm sorry if I've been such a bore this evening" Alyssa sighed, leaning back in her seat. "I've just had too much on my mind."
"Hey" said J.C kindly, placing his hand over hers. "You don't have to apologize for anything, Ok? I understand."
Alyssa grinned. "Thanks, J" she said, grabbing her glass back.
"Was there something you wanted to tell me earlier?"
Gulping, J.C fiddled nervously with his rings. "Yeah, actually there was. Lyss-"
"Oh my God!" Alyssa exclaimed, bolting up.
J.C couldn't believe his luck. Interrupted yet again! He too got to his feet, and was about to give whoever was standing behind him a major telling off, but instead gasped. "Jesus, what happened to you?"
Eli was standing before them, soaked in red wine.
"Don't ask" she replied, not wishing to get in to detail. "Do you think Justin has anything I could change into?"
"Yeah, for sure" J.C stammered, still startled by her appearance. Leading her by the elbow, J.C brought her upstairs. Alyssa followed. "Why don't you shower off in Justin's room while I lay out some fresh clothes on the bed for you?"
"That would be good, actually" she replied, fingering her hair and feeling how sticky it was.
Alyssa remained in the hall while J.C setup fresh linen for Felicity. Alyssa couldn't resist smiling to herself as she thought of how sweet he was being.
"K, all yours" J.C told Felicity as he exited the room.
"We'll be waiting for you out here, Eli" Alyssa added, easing herself comfortably to the floor.
She felt J.C squat down at her side, and without a second thought, rested her head on his shoulder. "Thanks for your help."
"Don't mention it" he breathed, practically intoxicated by her sweet scent.
"Really. I mean it. Thank you. For everything" Alyssa said, tilting her head and placing a soft kiss on his cheek. "You've been so lovely. I was beginning to think men had forgotten how to treat…"
On impulse, J.C pressed a finger to her lips and stared deep into her eyes. Without a word, he cupped her face in his hands and kissed her.
Almost immediately, Alyssa pushed away and stared at him in disbelief. "What are you doing?" she demanded.
J.C started to flush, "I… er… well"
"J.C, you know I have a boyfriend!" she said loudly, still unable to grasp what had just happened.
"Yeah, and all you ever do is complain about what an ass he is" he mumbled under his breath, rising exasperatedly to his feet.
Alyssa's jaw dropped. His words had hit a sore spot. "Even so" she answered firmly, "What's it to you if A.J and argue from time to time?"
"Geez, Lyss" said J.C, turning around to face her, "It's everything to me because I love you, and it boils my blood to see you with that son of a bitch!"
"You what?" Alyssa stammered softly.
"I'd treat you so good" J.C breathed, pulling Alyssa to him "No one could ever appreciate you the way I do, Lyss. No one. I'd be everything you've ever wanted. I would never deny you -anything."
"J.C, please…"
"No, you have to hear me out" J.C went on.
"I've heard enough!" Alyssa replied, shaking her head and pushing J.C away once more. "I love A.J. He's my boyfriend, and I love him and I shouldn't have to justify our relationship to you, or any body else. I'm sorry. Tell Eli I had to leave."
J.C grinded his teeth as he watched her march down the corridor. As soon as she was out of sight, he whirled around and violently punched his fist into the wall.
"Christ, that better not have made a dent" said Justin as he appeared on the landing just in time to witness his friend's outburst.
"Get out of my face" J.C mumbled, practically bowling him over.
"Felicity's changing in your room. Give her some cash and send her the hell home once she's done"
Justin's face lit up like a Forth of July. "Alright, J" he yelled after him. Grinning to himself, he walked up to the intercom and hit one of the extensions. "Hey, Brad, tell security to make sure that all upstairs access is completely blocked off."
'I sure as hell don't want to be interrupted' he thought to himself as he strutted back down the hall towards his bedroom.
**A Little Later, Someplace Else**
After dropping Alyssa off, A.J decided to go for a late-night drive to help clear his thoughts. Although his mind was still heavy with worry, his fatigue eventually got the best of him and he decided to turn back to hit the sac early. As he rolled silently down his street, he noticed an old rusty car parked about a block from his place. The car struck him as being oddly out of place in his very posh neighborhood, but the thought completely left his head as he pulled into his driveway moments later.
Yawning sleepily, A.J felt his pockets for his house key, and was about to slip it into the lock when he noticed that the door wasn't locked. Certain that he had locked up before leaving, his heart started to pound anxiously against his chest. A.J grabbed the handle and slowly let the door creep open. To his great relief, the alarm hadn't been triggered, which meant that no one could have forced their way into the house. However, the fact that none of his dogs had bothered to greet him with widely wagging tails and ecstatic barks made him feel uneasy enough to reach for the baseball bat he conveniently kept next to his umbrellas.
A terrible feeling of unease came over him as he quietly made his way upstairs. His hands were getting so clammy that he had to tighten his grip on the handle so that it wouldn't slip out from his fingers. As he reached the top step, the floorboard creaked. This was followed by the sound of scuttling paws and nails. Panda scampered out of the master bedroom and sat down before him, happily wagging her tail. AJ stared at his dog before diverting his attention to his room. The door stood ajar, the ceiling light eliminating a narrow stretch on the carpet in the hallway. There was no longer any doubt that someone else was in the house with him. He glanced at his belt and was immediately panic-stricken once he realized that he had forgotten his cell phone in the charger. What's worse, Panda chose that precise moment to start barking. Hoping that he'd at least have the element of surprise over the intruder, AJ summoned every last ounce of courage he had and made a mad dash to the room, ready to swing his bat with all his might. He burst through the door and was about to strike when he froze in his tracks and dropt the bat, which made a loud thump as it hit the ground. He couldn't believe his eyes!
"A- Amanda?!"
He gawked, unwilling to believe it was really her. Amanda was practically unrecognizable. Looking as though she hadn't bathed in months, her once lustrous raven hair hung in dull tangles around her gaunt face. Her complexion was a sickening gray, and the bags under her eyes made her look as though she had just been a brutal fist fight.
Before either of them could find words to speak, something heavy pummeled A.J over the back of the head, knocking him face first into the floor.
**Back At The Party**
The shower I had taken had flat-out exhausted me. I figured it must have been the combination of stress and hot water, for Justin's king-sized, four-poster couldn't have looked more inviting. After slipping into the sweatpants and T-shirt JC had laid out for me, I decided to curl up on the bed to rest for five minutes or so. As I lay there half-asleep, I failed to notice that another person had entered the room. It was only when I felt the pressure of another body over the mattress that I looked up.
Justin was sitting next to me, looking completely at easy. He wasn't smiling, but still seemed pleased about something.
"I'm sorry" I yawned, "I just -"
Justin laughed. "It's alright, there's no need for you to apologize" he interrupted, grinning strangely.
"JC told you I was here?" I asked, sitting up.
Justin's only reply was a silent nod. For some reason, his expression made me feel oddly tense. My intuition was telling me that I should leave.
"I better go find Lyss…" I told him, trying to casually slide off the bed.
"She's gone."
I turned around and gaped at him. "She left?" I repeated, "What do you mean she left."
"I mean she left", Justin shrugged.
Sighing, I crossed the room in order to pick up my shoes, "Then I better go too."
"Why not stay?" Justin proposed suavely, propping himself up coolly on his bed.
"No, that's Ok" I chuckled uncomfortably, making my way to the door. I really just wanted to get out of there and fast. But as my hand gripped the handle, I heard Justin speak again.
"I've had my eyes on you for a while now, Felicity. You're an incredibly stunning woman."
Letting go of the handle, I looked over and saw him ambling towards me. "Justin, are you drunk?" I asked, smiling at him awkwardly.
"Not at all" he laughed, "Why? Didn't Carter ever tell you how beautiful you are?"
He must have noticed how uncomfortable I became at the mentioned Nick, for he leaned in closer and added, "You don't have to hide anything from me; I already know."
I tried to back away, but I was already pressed up against the door. I reached for the knob once again, "Already know what?" I asked, but not really caring.
"That he hits you, of course"
That was the last answer I ever expected to hear from him. "I don't know where you got that from" I said, trying to play it off. I tried turning the knob, only it was stuck
"The door's -"
"Locked" finished Justin, unperturbed. "I know. Want the key?"
Shooting him a weary glare, I stretched out an open hand for him to give it to me. He reached into his pocked, dangled the key over my palm for a second before dropping it down the front of his pants.
"Come and get it" he said in a husky undertone.
"That's sick!" I exclaimed, moving further away from him. "I've had enough of your games. Unlock this door immediately!"
"I never took you for such a prude" Justin chortled loudly. He tried to touch my cheek, only to have me smack his hand away.
"You lay one finger on me, and I swear I'll scream"
Justin's lips curled sadistically. "Aaah! Help! Help! Aaaaah," he bellowed at the top of his lungs. He then smiled, "No one would hear you. This floor's completely blocked off, and the music downstairs is too loud. So go ahead and yell. I like my girls feisty"
"Justin…"
"I'm not going to hurt you" he said, closing in on me. "I told you. I've wanted you for a long time, and I always get what I want. Don't be shy, I know you want it too." He was dangerously close to me now, "So why don't you and I have a little fun?"
And with that, he leaned in and kissed me hard, jamming his tongue down my throat.
It took me a while to fight him off, but when I finally managed to, I swung my shoe at him with such force that it cut his lower lip. He felt it with two fingers and looked at the blood. His eyes shot up, and he stared at me rancorously.
"I wouldn't touch you if you were the last man on earth!" I seethed, "You're the most revolting, slimy jerk I've ever met. You disgust me."
Justin snapped. Like a mad man, he lunged at her and grabbed her by the arms, "I disgust you, do I?" he spat, ignoring her yelps of pain as he tightened his grip on her like a vice, "Maybe if I treated you a little more like your boyfriend, I wouldn't disgust you so much". Justin shoved her into the bookshelf and her head banged painfully against it.
"Owe, Justin, please!" Eli cried, tears springing to her eyes.
But Justin was too far gone to care. He kissed her again, biting down painfully on her lip. With a muffled scream, Eli kneed him hard in the groin. Justin cursed loudly, and let go of her while the agony seared through his body. However, this move did little more than infuriate in him further. Felicity had hardly made five steps before Justin was able to catch up with her. He spun her around by the shoulders and thrust her violently onto the bed.
"I told you!" he shouted angrily as he straddled himself over her, "I always get what I want!" Pulling his shirt off over his head, he started to grind up against her like some perverse animal. As his hands roamed her body savagely, she felt certain that she was going to be sick. He had to temporarily let go of her so that he could unbuckle his belt. Eli took advantage of this by wildly battering her small fists against his chest. Justin laughed dryly and seized her hands, forcefully rubbing them to his chest.
"So this is your style, mixing a little pain with pleasure. Tell me then, is this how Nick does it?" he said before smacking her hard across the face.
Eli's sweatpants were so baggy that Justin was able to remove them effortlessly. He tried prying her legs open, but Eli contracted every last muscle in her body to prevent him from doing so. After a bit of struggling Justin mumbled, "This isn't going to work this way."
To Eli's great relief, he stood up and walked away. She didn't know where he had gone, but she was praying that he had maybe realized it wasn't going to be worth the fight. Collecting herself, she looked around the room and didn't spot Justin anywhere. Eli stood up a bit higher and turned around just in time to see a large, heavy, inanimate object come at her before knocking her out cold.
**A.J's**
A.J clutched his head as he rolled over on the floor in agony.
The pain palpitating through his skull was so all-consuming that he could hardly make out the voices around him. The next thing he felt was the wind being knocked out of him.
"Get up!" he heard a man yell as he kicked in the gut a second time.
Heaving and coughing, A.J somehow managed to stumble to his feet. He leaned against the wall heavily and tried to catch his breath as he attempted to make out the blurry figures around him. Blinking hard, his eyes were finally able to focus on a shiny silver object being held less than an inch from his nose.
"Holy shit" he breathed, tripping over a discarded box on the floor.
"Don't you fucking move!" the man warned.
Not knowing what else to do, A.J raised his hands over his head as a sign of compliance. Petrified, he stared unblinkingly at the knife in front of him.
"Kent! Kent, stop it!"
A.J's attention shifted over to Amanda. She was yelling at the man, pleading him to put the knife away.
"I thought you said no one would be home!" Kent shouted back.
A.J recognized Kent as the guy that had picked Amanda up from the hospital shortly after coming out of her coma.
Amanda was rambling so fast that he could hardly make out what she was saying. "I didn't know baby, I didn't know!! Don't hurt him! For God sakes don't hurt him! Let's just go."
With all the noise and commotion going on in the room, neither of them were able to hear the entrance door slam close downstairs. By the time A.J could make out the fast approaching footsteps, it was too late.
"Aje, is anyone in here with you---"
Alyssa arrived at the archway and stopped dead in her tracks. The first thing that she noticed was Amanda, which made her heart sink to the pit of her stomach. But the next thing she knew, she was being thrust up against the wall with a knife pressed to her throat.
"Let her go! Do you want money? You want money!" A.J shouted, more frightened than he'd been in his entire life. "Just let her go man, and I'll give you whatever the hell you want!"
Letting go off Alyssa, Kent turned back to A.J with beads of sweat trickling down his forehead.
With a quick glance, A.J made sure that Alyssa was still Ok before reaching for his checkbook on his night table. "How much?" he asked, his hand trembling as he held his pen.
"I want cash!" Kent bellowed, waving his knife around like a lunatic.
A.J dug his hands into his pockets and pulled out a few crumpled bills. "This is all I have"
"Bullshit!" Kent yelled, pointing his knife at Alyssa.
"I swear this all I've got!" A.J shouted back.
"I don't fucking believe you!" Kent roared.
A.J felt himself going wild with panic and rage. "Just let me write you a check! Let me write you a goddamn check!!"
"Wait"
Everyone in the room looked over at Alyssa. "I have cash" she said, breathing heavily.
Kent was skeptical, "How much?" he demanded.
She tried to calm herself before replying, "Almost a grand"
With an inclination of the head, Kent made it clear that it was ok for her to go fetch it. Alyssa kneeled down next to the bed and reached under the mattress. Seconds later, she pulled out a zip lock bag containing nearly a thousand dollars in cash.
Without hesitation, Kent yanked the money out of her hand and ran out of the room. A.J immediately locked the door before throwing his arms around his girlfriend. Too shaken to utter a single word, he held her firmly to his chest.
Alyssa peered over his shoulder to study Amanda. She was rocking back and forth on the same spot, sniffing madly while scratching her left arm. "How did she get in?" Alyssa whispered.
"She has the key. She knows the code for the alarm"
A.J suddenly seemed to realize something, for he let go of her and made his way to the phone. "I'm going to call the cops"
Alyssa fixed Amanda with narrowed eyes. Without a word, she marched towards her and grabbed her by the arm.
"What are you doing?" A.J yelled, still holding the phone as Amanda screamed out in anguish.
Ignoring him, she jerked up Amanda's sleeve to reveal a nauseating sight. The entire middle of her forearm was a purplish blue and red. An enormous, infected scab exposed where the needles had gone. Hot tears were pouring down Amanda's cheeks, but Alyssa took no mercy on her. Pulling her by the hand, she dragged her screaming into the hallway with A.J lagging behind, baffled.
"Lyss, be careful..."
Once again, Alyssa turned a deaf ear to him. Holding a blubbering Amanda up by the shoulders, she hoisted her to the bathroom mirror. "Look at yourself!" she ordered, "Look at what you've become."
Alyssa shook her until she her eyes opened. With a revolted gasp, Amanda let out a shriek that pierced through the night before crumbling to the linoleum floor like deadweight. "Help me. Help me" she cried, shaking and sobbing uncontrollably in Alyssa's arms as the police sirens were heard wailing in the distance.
