Blood gushes between his fingers and pain-laden tears trail down his cheeks. Never releasing his shirt Roni aggressively tows a heavily bleeding and now whimpering Corey behind her.
If only I could have done that, not her.
“You fuck with Lex or even speak to Lex again, I’ll castrate you and feed you those things you call balls.” She snaps, yanking his shirt harder, causing him to stumble.
Once we reach my shoes in the hall, I pick them up and two fingers hold them in my left hand, not taking my eyes off my attempted rapist.
Making it to the main part of the bar, all eyes turn to us and I instantly shrink. I don’t like to be a part of any gossip. This is going to fly around town for weeks; I just know it.
“What happened?” Bob jogging towards us with a concerned expression asks over the quieted crowd.
“Corey tried to rape Lex.” She states. There’s no if ands or butts about it. She gets straight to the nitty-gritty.
As the word ‘rape’ hangs in the air, Corey slumps down even further.
Suddenly, without warning, a burr passes my line of sight as Gage flies through the parted crowd and tackles Corey to the ground.
“You motherfucker!” Gage growls, sitting atop Corey, ferociously pounding his friend over and over with his fist in the face and chest. Corey tries to block the assault with his arms but Gage is working with quick precision. Fluidly jabbing Corey in the cheek, in the ribs and the ear, then both fists simultaneously smash into his cheeks and I think I hear a crack.
“You motherfucker!” he repeats, in a murderous rage relentlessly wailing away.
I can’t believe this is happening! I’m in utter shock. My heart is nearly pounding out of my chest.
Bob wraps his arms over both mine and Roni’s shoulders, kisses her forehead and we all stand back and watch in astonishment as Gage unleashes on Corey. It’s justice, is what I keep trying to tell myself, even though he didn’t actually rape me.
Sweat starts to bead on Gage’s blood spattered face and just as Corey is nearly unrecognizable, Auto pulls a raw and animalistic Gage off the man who used to be his friend. And physically escorts a growling, unwilling and completely blood doused Gage out the front door.
“An ambulance is on its way, and so is Lincoln.” A woman says, breaking the eerie silence. The bar has gone from drunken party fest to a sobered state. The music is off and everyone is either staring at me, a bloodied and unconscious Corey or at the front door.
“I’m going to go check on Gage.” I announce and the crowd parts as I make my way to the front door. A man I’ve never met before opens it for me.
“He almost raped her!” Gage is still yelling.
“I know, but Roni got there.” Auto’s calm. He’s always calm. Smoking as much dope as he does, he’d better be.
I turn the corner and see Gage has taken off his designer black tattoo printed hoody and laid it on the ground against the brick wall. His white t-shirt has speckles of blood on it and his face is a smeared mess. He must have tried to wipe the splatters off but it didn’t work at all. In his mouth, he’s puffing hard on a Black & Mild, pacing back and forth in the alley beside the bar.
Sirens erupt in the night air.
“Hey.” I quietly mutter, chewing on my bottom lip.
Stopping dead in his tracks, Gage drops his half smoked Black & Mild on the ground, takes three long strides and engulfs me compassionately into his thick, heavily tattooed arms. His busted hand lovingly strokes the back of my head, as his lips press into my hair.
I feel so safe in these arms.
Pressing a sweet lingering kiss into my hair, he inhales my scent. With a loud exhale, his body releases his iron stance and he relaxes against me, melding us together.
“Are you okay?” he asks in a near whisper.
“I should be asking you that.” I wrap my hands around his waist and turn my head so it’s resting on his chest. I can smell him and he smells so good. Like fragrant tobacco, bergamot, mandarin, clove, blood, and musky man. It’s wondrously divine.
“I’m fine. Did he hurt you? Do you want to sue him?” His worried tone isn’t lost on me. His words are heavily laced with sadness and regret, as he combs his fingers through my hair.
Shaking my head against his hard yet soft peck, I mutter. “No, but you might go to jail. He could die.”
“So…” I feel him shrug.
Closing my eyes, I drift into a blissful Gage bubble. I hear the ambulance arrive and Lincoln, but I don’t care. My adrenalin has drastically plummeted and I’m suddenly beyond exhausted.
Sighing, I nuzzle my nose into his sensual heat and he lets me stand here in the alley, enveloped in his protective arms. As one of his hands caress my hair and the other soothingly rubs my lower back.