He was vile and disgusting, and if she didn't fight harder things would get far worse. The sound of his zipper sliding down seemed loud against the sudden silence that surrounded her. He grunted when she tried to shift out of his hold, but she had to continually lift her hands to her throat, trying to alleviate the suffocating tightness he was delivering.
"I kind of like it when you struggle, Mary." He leaned forward and ran his tongue up her cheek. "Makes me really want to work for it. I should have done this to you when we were dating. It would have made things a lot of a lot better." He grabbed at the bottom of her dress, lifting it up so it pooled around her waist, and then fumbled between them. She tried to twist out of his grasp, kept her legs closed as much as possible, but even drunk he was stronger than she was. His breathing was labored, but she knew it was because this excited him. His erection pressing against her was evidence of that. Mary tried to scream, but the noise came out gurgled. Stars danced in front of her vision from the lack of oxygen, and a moment of fear that he would kill her passed through her mind. Not knowing what else to do she relaxed, hoping to throw him off a bit enough that she could get out of his hold.
"Oh, you want to be a good girl now, Mary?" He loosened his hold slightly, and she breathed in deep, the burning pain enough to have more tears spilling down her cheeks. When he touched her between the legs, it was the vilest sensation. His gaze was glazed over, his mouth parted, and he stared down at what he was doing to her. This was it, her chance to defend herself while he was distracted. Bringing her knee up she slammed it into his crotch, and loved it when he howled in pain. He let go of her throat so he could cup himself, and she didn't waste a minute to run, but he reached out, grabbed her ankle, and pulled her back.
Mary fell forward and braced her hands on the ground as she went down hard. Pain slammed into her as she landed on her wrist awkwardly, but she couldn't let the agony take her under. The sound of cheering came from inside, and she tried to reach out and catch someone's attention. Lance wouldn't let his guard down again. He pulled her back again, mumbling incoherent words through his teeth and in between grunts of pain. Just when he would have pulled her back into the shadowed corner the balcony doors were opened, and Alex stepped outside.
"Mary? They're getting ready to cut the cake." He held two glasses and looked around for her. Right when Mary opened her mouth to scream for help Alex's gaze landed on hers, and that was when the shit hit the fan. The glasses fell from his grasp and shattered in a million pieces at his feet. The darkness that moved across his face was like nothing she had ever seen, and by the way Lance stopped tugging at her she assumed he saw it as well. Alex charged forward so quickly the next thing she knew was being lifted off the ground and set on one of the chairs off to the side. Her head was fuzzy, her wrist screaming in pain, and her vision cloudy from her tears, but she could still see what was happening right in front of her. Alex had Lance by the throat and dangling in the air. Oh God. He looked so powerful and fierce, like some kind of warrior, or dare she say, mythical god.
"You fucked with the wrong girl, asshole." He slammed Lance against the wall and started hitting him in the face over and over again. The sound of bones crunching, of Lance grunting in pain and Alex breathing out in anger, filled her ears. "You're fucking dead." Alex sounded fucking enraged, even possessed.
"Alex." Her throat was raw and felt like she had swallowed fire. "Please, stop."
Alex stopped mid-swing and tightened his hold on Lance's throat. He looked over at her, and the rage in his face intensified. "You want me to stop after what this fucker did to you, Mary?"
Did she? Lance deserved everything he got, but she didn't want to be the cause of it, and she certainly didn't want Alex to be in the thick of it. He held her gaze for a moment, and then let Lance drop unceremoniously to the ground. Lance gasped and sucked in air, but Alex wasn't done. He slammed his fist into his face once more, which caused Lance's head to cock back, blood to pour from his nose, and him to pass out. "You're lucky my girl wanted me to stop."
Everything had seemed to happen at a snail's pace, but Mary knew it had only been a matter of minutes. The commotion drew people out of the ballroom, and they halted when they saw the carnage before them. The light washed over Alex, and when he turned to stare at her she could see blood splattered across his white suit shirt, and that his knuckles were split open. A few men rushed to Lance's side, someone yelled out to call an ambulance, and Mary was only focused on Alex. He was in front of her moments later, taking her face in his hands, and asking her something. She couldn't hear him, just saw his lips moving. The flurry of movement around them couldn't even snap her out of whatever trance she was in.
"Mary." His voice sounded distant, like she was in a tunnel. He called her name again, and the worry on his face had her blinking away the fog that had claimed her. "Mary, baby, please answer me." She looked at his lips, saw a smattering of blood, but didn't feel anything but relief that Alex was there. She burst into tears, unable to control the torrent of emotion that suddenly took over her. "He didn't … " Alex didn't finish that sentence, but then again he didn't have to, because she knew what he was trying to say. Shaking her head because she didn't trust her voice, she fell into his arms and let him comfort her.
"Oh my God." First it was her mother's voice, then Margo's, and then her father was right in front of her, asking her the same question Alex had. Everything seemed to pass in a blur of sounds and movement. Her mother, father, and Margo came up to make sure she was okay, and after she was able to convince them that she was, they gave her enough room to breathe. Once the ambulance took Lance, and the police questioned them, she stared at the perfectly manicured lawn again. She hadn't moved from her spot, but Alex had placed a blanket over her shoulders. The shock had since worn off, and all she felt now was exhaustion and was so very cold. Crawling into bed under a mountain of blankets, locking the world away until she had slept so long and hard all of this vanished, sounded heavenly.
"Baby, are you okay?" Alex sat beside her and wrapped an arm around her shoulder, bringing her close to him. She nodded. She would be. "I am so sorry I wasn't here sooner."
She pushed the blanket off her shoulders and turned so she could look right in his eyes.
"This isn't anyone's fault but Lance's." She heard the police saying something about a broken jaw and nose, but after that she had tuned everything else out. Alex nodded once and helped her stand. He immediately embraced her.
"God, Mary, I love you so much." She gripped his shirt in her hands and rested her head on his chest. Closing her eyes and inhaling his scent deep within her lungs, she felt everything else fade away.
"I love you, too."
They had cleared everyone out while the police and ambulance had shown up, but then Margo had surprised the shit out of her by telling everyone that the reception was over. Now, here she was, with Alex's big arms wrapped around her, his soft, gruff words of affection whispering in her ear, and her family watching the whole thing. She turned slightly in his arms, and couldn't help but smile when he refused to let her go. Her parents, Margo, and Joe stood right inside the ballroom. Her mother was still crying; her father looked as crazy mad as Alex did, and Joe was comforting his frantic wife.
"I think I just want to go to bed." They all stopped talking to each other and looked over at her.
"Honey, are you sure you don't want to go to the hospital?" Her mother sniffed, and her dad gave her a tissue. Her throat was raw and tender, and when she lifted her hand and rubbed her neck her mom cried harder. Mary knew Lance had left a nasty handprint-sized bruise on her flesh.
"I'm fine, really." Charges had been pressed, Lance was at the hospital, but would be facing jail time for assault and attempted rape, and she had Alex and her family beside her to give her support. "I really do just want to go to sleep."
Alex led her out of the reception hall and to his truck. After they left the country club and went back to the hotel room, Mary sat on the edge of the bed. Alex dropped to his knees before her and rested his head in her lap. She speared her fingers through his hair, and was transfixed by the way the dark strands felt like silk. In this position he looked like a defeated man.