Running

Chapter 12

It was late afternoon when they arrived back at his house. After they put away the groceries, he grabbed her hand dragging her to the door. "I want to show you something." He said.

She eyed him suspiciously. "Where are we going?" She asked as they got in the car.

"You'll see." He said, as he started to drive.

Fifteen minutes later, he pulled into a park. They got out of the car and started walking. He took her hand, directing her to an area that was surrounded by woods.

She stopped, which made him stop. "I told you the first night, I wasn't in the mood for you to drive me out to the woods and kill me." She smirked. "You do see the irony in this situation, correct?"

Rolling his eyes at her, he grabbed her hand pulling her down the path. "Sweet Jesus, woman. You are going to drive me crazy." He said making her laugh.

They came to a clearing in the woods. There was a giant rock that they sat down on, and took in the overview of the city below them.

"How did you find this place." She asked in amazement.

"I like to call it drunken exploring." He said. "I used to drink a lot, and sometimes I would go out walking. I woke up here one morning actually." He chuckled. "Now I come here to get away from everything, or just to think." He said.

"You don't drink anymore?" She asked

"I may have a beer every now and again, but, I have been sober for 8 years. Do you drink?" He asked her.

"Not normally, no. Too many drinks in me and I become the Dancing Queen." She laughed.

"Do tell." He laughed.

"Fucking Christ, ok. But if you tell anyone, I will slap you. Got it?" She joked. He nodded, smiling.

"So I went to a bar one night. This bar had drag queens. They had a drag show. I decided to knock back a lot of drinks that night. After the show, I am shit faced. I am dancing with the drag queens, shoving dollar bills in their pants, and," she paused shaking her head, "making most strippers jealous of my pole dancing skills." Her face turning red.

She peaked over at him and saw him staring in awe, jaw hanging open. "Oh my god! THAT is AWESOME!" He exclaimed excitedly, making her laugh and blush more.

Her face felt like it was on fire from embarrassment. "Yeah, well it wouldn't be so bad if it was only the one time. I lear-".

He cut her off, "This happened more than once? Holy shit!" He was really enjoying this.

"Jesus, Corey!" She said laughing at him. "Yes, it was more than once. Like 4 times to be exact." She said hiding her face in her hands, laughing. "I don't drink anymore, as you can understand."

He was staring off into space, when she nudged him. "What are you thinking about?" She asked.

"Honestly?" He asked her. She nodded. "You dancing on a stripper pole" He said seriously with a smile on his face.

Her face turned red again. "You will never forget that, will you." She said, laughing.

"Nope. And I am sure the visions I have in my head aren't going away anytime soon." He smirked happily. "We should get some beer and a stripper pole on the way home." He grinned at her.

"Oh my god, fuck off!" She couldn't stop laughing at him.

He stood up, grabbing her hand. "We should head back. It's getting late."

As they made their way back to the car, she couldn't shake the feeling that they were being watched. She couldn't see anyone, but she felt it. She stopped, turning around to check for signs of life, and found no one.

"What is it?" He asked her. Shaking her head, "Nothing." She said uneasily.

Laying in bed that night, she turned to him and said, "Your car should be fixed tomorrow."

"Huh? When did you do that and how? I thought you said you don't use credit cards or anything." He said puzzled.

"I don't. But you can put up to $3000 at a time on gift cards from a bank, and they work like credit cards almost." She said. "And I had them change the oil. It's every 3000 miles you should change your oil. Not every 10,000 miles." She said.

"When did you do that?" He asked

"When you were in the shower." She smiled.

"You didn't have to do that. Really. But thank you." He said. "Speaking of banks, uh, didn't you forget about work today?" He asked.

"I did forget about work. Right after I called my boss a cock juggling thunder cunt on her voicemail, telling her i quit." She said laughing.

He burst out laughing. "Again, that's a new one." He said. "You seriously quit?" He asked. She nodded.

"So what are you going to do now?" He asked hoping she was going to come with him in 2 months.

She shrugged. "Not sure. I did get an offer to go on tour with this really sexy, tattooed guy who plays in a band. Thought about taking him up on it." She shrugged.

His eyes went big, "Are you serious?" He asked her.

"If you don't want me to, I won't." She said to him.

He flipped her on to her back and crawled on top of her. His eyes bore through her, giving her butterflies. She felt her face grow red, thankful the lights were off so he couldn't see.

He leaned down, running his tounge over her lips gently, as she parted her lips. He kissed her hard, massaging his tounge against hers. He broke away from their kiss, softly leaving a trail of kisses down her neck.

She ran her nails gently down his bare back, causing him to shudder.

"Vyla," he whispered, "I love you." He said kissing her tenderly.

Her heart swelled when he said that. She had never felt this way. No one ever treated her like he did. Not able to hold back her tears, they spilled out of her eyes.

"What's wrong baby?" He asked in whisper, kissing neck gently.

"Nothing is wrong." She whispered, "I love you."

He kissed her again, feeling her hands on sides, running then up and down lightly, leaving a tingling sensation on his skin, making him shudder.

He moved his hand up her shirt, gently running his fingers over her nipple, causing her to gasp.

She turned her head into his neck, leaving slow kisses down it, licking here and there, causing him to groan.

"I need you." He said softly. She nodded as he finished taking their clothes off.

He slowly pushed into her, grabbing her hands, placing them above her, with their fingers intertwined.

He was moving slowly, feeling the heat between them building, leaning down he kissed her tenderly.

Letting go of his hands, she wrapped her arms around his neck, as he pushed deeper into her, causing her to moan. He grabbed her leg, putting it around his waist, as she wrapped her other leg around him.

He leaned up, looking her in eyes, making him move faster. She was so beautiful, he loved watching her, he couldn't get enough of her.

She arched her back as he started thrusting faster. Her eyes were closing, her hands running down his back faster. She was biting her lip, moaning.

She opened her eyes, staring into his. She gently touched his cheek, holding her hand there. He leaned into her touch, closing his eyes for a moment.

He felt her walls start to tighten. "Baby," she moaned, as he picked up speed. Her eyelids started to flutter.

She moaned as she arched her back, he could feel her tightening on him. He thrust into her, moaning loudly, before they collapsed into each other.

He pulled away from her, as she laid her head on his chest. He ran his hands through her hair.

"Vy?" He asked, "Hmmm?" She said.

"Um, that was a yes, I still want you to come with me on the tour." He chuckled.

She giggled, "Well thank God you said something. I wasn't sure." Making him laugh.

"I'm just worried about my nightmares is all." She said.

"Shhhh. Sleep baby. We can worry about it later." He said, kissing the top of her head, as they drifted off to sleep.

The sound of glass breaking, woke them both out of a dead sleep.

"What the fuck?" Corey said jumping out of bed, grabbing his pants putting them on quickly.

Vyla looked over at him as she quickly got out of bed, throwing her clothes on.

"Stay here." He said to her, as he walked out of the room.

He walked cautiously down the hall, making his way to the living room. Looking around, he saw a brick laying on the floor, shattered glass laying around it. Looking up, he saw that it came through the window. "Motherfucker!" He yelled.

Grabbing his phone, he called the police. Vyla walked in looking at him, as he hung up. "We need to leave Corey." She said staring at the brick.

"I'm not fucking leaving my own house!" He yelled, "The cops are on their way." He said brushing past her to get his shirt from the bedroom.

There was a pounding on the door a few minutes later, making her almost jump out of her skin. Corey moved past her to answer it. Opening the door, he saw two uniformed officers.

"Mr. Taylor?" One of them asked. Corey nodded, letting them in. Vyla walked back to the bedroom.

As the police surveyed the damage, and asked Corey questions about what happened, one of the officers was surveying his front door. "Mr. Taylor? Any idea who would have done this?" He asked pointing at the door.

Corey turned his head and noticed the word "WHORE" spray painted in red across it. It was just then that Vyla came into the living room. Corey moved in front of her so she couldn't see the door. "Go back in the bedroom. I'll be there soon." He said walking her back to his room, blocking her view of the door.

"What don't you want me to see?" She asked staring at him.

"Please just wait here." He said walking away from her.

Back in the living room, Corey informed them of the situation with Mason. "We need to speak with her please." The officer told Corey.

Leading them back to his bedroom, "Vy? They need to ask you some questions." He said.

"Miss? We need your full name please." The officer stated.

"Vyla Marie Jones." She said. "And this Mason. What is his last name?" The officer asked. "Cross" she replied.

"And how long has he been harassing you?" He asked

"3 years. Would you like copies of all the times I have reported it, and copies of the hospital records?" She asked annoyed.

"If you have them, it would be helpful." He said.

Digging in her bag, she produced a thick stack of papers, handing them to the officer. He looked through them, making notes on his notepad, then handing them back to her.

"I think we have all we need for now. We will be in touch soon." The officer said, turning to leave the bedroom.

Vyla stayed in Corey's room, sitting at the head of the bed.

Half an hour later, Corey walked back in. "They boarded up the window. The glass is all cleaned up." He said flatly.

She looked at him as she got off the bed, throwing her clothes in her bag. "What are you doing?" He said moving in closer to her.

"Leaving." She said not looking at him.

"No, you're not." He said grabbing her clothes in her hands, throwing them on the floor. He was pissed. "You don't get to do this." He said moving closer to her, as she kept moving back.

"Corey, back up." She warned, feeling her hands shake. She was breathing hard.

"No. You aren't leaving. You don't get to run off." He moved in more. His eyes were dark. She had backed up against the wall.

"Corey, move." She said, her voice was shaking, as she tried moving past him. He grabbed her arm gently, pulling her back. She panicked. "Stop!" She yelled, pulling from him, covering her face.

He didn't mean to scare her. 'Fuck!' He thought. He just didn't want her to leave. He wasn't even mad at her. Now she was afraid of him. The one thing he never wanted.

"Vyla," He said carefully, "I didn't mean to scare you. I just don't want you to go." She still had her hands over her face, not moving.

"Just back up. Please." She said, lowering her hands. She wouldn't look at him.

He stepped back a few feet, giving her some room. She slid down the wall to the floor, almost relieved. Sighing, Corey knelt down to sit on the floor, still giving her space.

"Please, don't do that again." She said, as her body started to tremble. "I am not used to people being that close to me when they're mad. Anytime that has happened in the past, it hasn't ended well." She said, refusing to look at him.

"I wasn't thinking. I shouldn't of done that. Did you think I was going to hit you?" He asked sounding hurt.

"No. I knew you wouldn't. It just brought back a memory, and I was trying to remember where I was just then." She said still shaking.

He felt it was safe enough to move closer to her, so he started to move next to her. Sitting down next to her, he held her hand. "Tell me about it." He said.

"I am way too embarrassed to talk about it Corey." She said, looking at him finally.

"Just talk to me. You can't move on if you never talk about it." He said.

She laid her head in his lap, and looked up at him. "One time, Mason came home from work, and I had forgotten to take the trash out. He started to yell at me. He threw things on the floor, breaking them. He just kept coming at me. He backed me into a corner, grabbed me by my throat and threw me on the ground. He kicked me in ribs, he slapped me. That was the first time he beat me with a belt on my back. He beat the shit out me most of the night that night, to the point his hands were bruising." She said getting up from the floor.

She looked at him and could see his jaw clenched. His knuckles were white from clenching his fist. "I swear to you, if I find this motherfucker, I will put him in a fucking body bag." He said through his teeth.

He stood up, slowly walking to her. "Corey what was on the door?" She asked looking at him. She saw a flicker of sadness in his eyes, knowing he didn't want to say anything.

"Let's worry about it later." He said, trying to avoid the topic. He moved closer to her.

She moved past him out of the bedroom, making her way to the living room before he could stop her. "Vy, it's nothing." He said, wanting her to leave it alone.

She ignored him and unlocked the door, opening it. She inspected the door, then shut it. "That's what you were worried about me seeing?" She asked him as he nodded.

She chuckled, "Well, it couldn't be further from the truth, since I have only slept with him and you. Not sure how that makes me a whore exactly." She smirked at Corey.

"You have only been with two people ever?" He asked, sounding amazed.

"Yeah. Why? Is that weird?" She asked.

"No! God, no." He stammered, "I just..it's unusual. And your really good at it by the way." He said smiling, his cheeks turning red.

She moved closer to him, eyeing him up. "Did I make you blush again?" She asked grinning.

"What? You're seeing things." He said, checking to make sure the door was locked again.

"Uh huh." She said grinning.

He turned to her, looking at her seriously and said, "About earlier. I didn't mean to get mad. I wasnt mad at you. I was frustrated, and I just didn't want you to go. I sure as hell didn't mean to scare you. I don't want you afraid of me." He moved closer to her, putting his hands on the sides of her face.

"I know. It's going to take a really long time for me to heal. Some days are going to be a lot worse than others. I never wanted to bring my problems on to someone." She said, putting her hands on his.

He pulled away, taking her hand and walked back to his room. He shut the light off, as the both got undressed, getting back into bed.

"I know you're having a hard time talking about things. Just remember, whatever it is, you can talk to me about it. I will listen. I don't care how bad it is. You can't keep everything inside." He said, as he held her.

"There is a lot you don't know Corey. There's a lot that is way worse than what I have told you already. I worry that you can handle hearing it." She said

"I can handle it. I wouldn't be here if I didn't think I could." He said kissing her head.

She fell into a restless sleep. All of her memories of Mason came back in her dreams. He had a hold of her throat, squeezing tighter and tighter. She couldn't breathe. She was clawing at his hands desperately. He wouldn't let go. Everything was turning black.

She woke up coughing and gasping for air. "Hey, hey, it's ok. Look at me" Corey. It's Corey, she thought.

Panting, she turned and looked at him. He was already dressed, sitting next to her in bed. She climbed into his lap, wrapping herself around him tightly. He didn't say anything, just held on to her.

They stayed like that for a while. No words were needed. She pulled away from him. "Its been a shitty week." She said shaking her head.

"Its been pretty rough for you. Kind of a lot to deal with huh?" He said, pushing her hair out of her eyes.

"Yeah. It's 10 years of bullshit that you never dealt with, and having it slammed in your face all at once." She said as she got off the bed, pulling out clothes to wear.

"How about we try having fun today for a change?" He smiled at her.

She chuckled, "Yeah. What do you have in mind?" She asked him. She felt the sharp pains in her stomach from her ulcer. Wincing at the pain, she grabbed her stomach.

"You ok?" He asked worried.

"I will be." She said as she started to hunch over, lowering herself to the floor. He jumped up and rushed over to her.

"You are really fucking pale. I'm taking you to the doctor." He said.

"Its an ulcer Corey. I ran out of my meds a few weeks ago. I'll be fine in a bit." She said trying to convince him.

"Sure. We'll see if the doctor agrees with that." He said picking her up.

"Oh shit. Put me down." She practically jumped down from him, making it to the bathroom to be sick.

"You must think this is all I do." She said dryly, as she wiped her mouth with her hand.

He laughed and said, "No it's not. You've had a lot go on. It's no wonder you don't feel well."

A while later she was sitting in an exam room with Corey, waiting for the doctor to come back in the room.

"I can already give you the speech. Bland diet, don't stop taking the meds, reduce your stress." She said looking at him.

The door opened before Corey could respond, and the doctor walked in. "Miss. Jones, you really need to take better care of yourself. You must reduce your stress. You need to eat, even if your not hungry. And do not for any reasons run out of your medication. Here are your meds. Call me if you do not feel better in the next few days." The doctor said, and started to leave the room.

"Go ahead." She said to Corey, motioning to the door. Corey got up closing the door behind him.

"Hey Doc." Corey said walking up to the doctor. "Is she going to be ok?" He asked the doctor.

The doctor nodded, "She will. But I am very concerned about her stress level. She has to start relaxing some, or she's going to end up in the hospital, not only her stomach, but she is a nervous wreck. I am giving her some anti anxiety meds too. Please make sure she takes them. At least for a little while."

"I will. Thanks." Corey said, as he walked to get Vyla.

"You and the doc have a nice chat?" She asked him, when they were driving home.

"I'm just worried about you. And before you start a riot about it, just let me take care of you for once." He said not giving her an option.

Sighing, she said, "Fine. I feel to awful to argue." She said.