I kick and bite at him, screaming, “STOP IT! GET OFF OF ME!” He’s pinning me with one hand, unzipping his fly with the other. He’s having trouble with his suit getting in the way, gravity pulling the bottom down and flapping it around with my struggle.
“Fucking stay still, bitch!” He slaps my face really hard and grabs both my arms, holding them above me on the bed with one hand as I struggle.
“GET OFF ME!!!”
A crash sounds in the other room. A second later Jake leaps onto the bed, yanks the guy back by his lapel, and punches his face hard as he goes down. Big Nose rolls backwards off the bed with a loud grunt and Jake dives onto him and hammers his face with fists that won’t stop.
Panting and filled with adrenaline, I stand on the bed and see Jason pummeling the other guy just outside the door. Or maybe that’s Justin? Yes, it’s Justin, because Jason is leaning over an unconscious Bernie, lifting her head and whispering to her.
“Jake,” I croak. “Stop. Don’t kill him!” Grabbing onto his shoulders, I pull him back. “You’ll go to jail! Stop it! I’m alright! I’m okay!”
Though he’s seeing red, Jake hears me and turns to make sure I really am okay. He gets up and pulls me off the bed into his arms, rocking me. “Oh my God, baby, did he hurt you?”
“He was about to. You got here just in time.” I break down, sobbing. The fear of being almost raped by that disgusting man and saved from it, pours out of me in great swaths of relief.
Jake looks over his shoulder and kicks the guy. “Fucking animal. Hey Justin! Call the cops!” He kisses my head a few times, then pulls back to see my face, inspecting it.
I whisper with so much sadness, “I didn’t know she was selling her body.”
Jake nods on a deep frown. We look over to Jason as he tells all of us, “The back of her head is bleeding. Justin, tell them we need an ambulance, too. I’m going to keep her where she is, in case he fucked up her spine. Can’t take any chances.”
I pull away from Jake and go to kneel by them. “Oh, Bernie. What happened to you…”
Jason and I share a look that only people who’ve ever loved an addict can understand.
JAKE
A t the hospital, I watch Jason closely to make sure he isn’t falling under the witch’s spell again. As they moved her from the ambulance gurney to a regular bed, she told him he saved her life, with those big doe eyes she uses when appealing to the opposite sex. I saw them after she played Drew like a fiddle that night. And I’ve seen it before, used on my brother.
My jaw clenches, but the doctor addressing Drew switches my focus. “Let’s see that bruise.”
My eyes narrow as I turn to discover her face, which I thought was just red from fear since she flushes easily, is now showing marks on it. “You said he didn’t hurt you.”
She shrugs, “It was just a slap.”
“Just a…”
She reaches for my hand as the doctor inspects her and asks her to open her mouth.
“No cuts,” he says, under his breath.
“No, it wasn’t a punch. I’m okay.”
The doctor looks from her to me, and politely excuses himself. Justin approaches us as he glances over to where Jason sits beside Bernie, holding her hand. “The police want to talk to you, Drew.”
“What’d they ask you?”
“What we were doing there. They’re not surprised we fucked the guys up. Bernie’s head is enough to show them the girls were in trouble, that we did what we had to.”
Drew and I head out. Neither of us is looking forward to this. We haven’t agreed on what to say. She glances to me with a look that says she’s worried. I take her hand and approach two members of the Atlanta P.D. Both men. One black, one white. Both have seen everything before. They’re hands are on their belts as they turn to face us.
Drew explains her side of things. Nurses and doctors bustle through the hallway corridor around us. When asked if there’s anything she’s leaving out, she stares at the floor for a long moment. “Yes, my friend has been hiding that she’s a prostitute.”
The policemen look at each other then glance from me back to Drew. “You know this for a fact?”
“Yes,” Drew sighs. “I used to live with her. I didn’t know the men who came by were paying her. I just thought she was addicted to the drugs and they were giving her some.” She sees their narrowing eyes and quickly adds, “I’ve known her since we were little. I know what you’re thinking, cocaine is illegal, but I’m sorry to say a lot of people are doing illegal things and not ratting their friends out about it.”