Reckless Passion

Chapter 24

— Chapter 24 —

Song Themes For This Chapter: The Scientist – Coldplay; Can You Keep A Secret? – The Cab

— Rose —

I start to walk down the street, getting lost in the sea of people around me.  I’m slightly uncomfortable with the many stares I’m getting, probably as a result of Louis and I fighting and shouting at each other.

I try to ignore it and focus on finding Louis.  My mind is racing with worrying thoughts.  Where is he?  What did he mean?  What does he need?  Why wouldn’t he just talk to me?

The voices of all the people were becoming distant as I continued to walk further and further into silent darkness.  I still hadn’t seen any sign of Louis.  Where in the world had he run off too?  And how did he run off so fast?!

“You lost, little girl?”

My whole body immediately tenses and I slowly turn around, matching the stocky man standing there with the voice I’ve just heard.  Where did he come from?  I swear I didn’t see him with any of those other people, they all seemed quite friendly… or somewhat friendly… this man did not.  He did however seem slightly familiar.

“I-I’m not a little girl.”  I stuttered, giving away my nervousness.

The man snickered as he took a few more steps closer to me.  “I knew I saw you before… Louis’ pretty girl, yeah?”

He knew Louis?  And he recognized me?  I knew this wasn’t going anywhere good, I had to get away from him.  Now.

I took a few, slow steps backwards as he continued to step closer to me.

“You don’t remember me, do you, angel face?”

I continue to step back while trying to jog my memory of him.

He smiled at my no response and said, “Andy.  We met quite a while back and for a rather unfortunately short period of time.  You and I didn’t get to have any fun.”  He grins.

My eyes widen.  “Andy… y-you beat up, Louis and hurt him bad.”

He shows his bottom teeth as he tilts his head to the side in mock remorse.  “Sorry, that’s your only memory of me, love.  But ah…”  He steps closer.  “What do you say I give you a new memory of me?”

“Sorry, I’ve gotta go.”  I say quickly, turning on my heel and taking off in a sprint.

“What’s the rush, baby?”  Andy’s voice is directly behind me as I feel him grab hold of my wrist and tug me back into his chest.

I struggle against him as he yanks me off to the side into another small, hidden alleyway and he shoves me against the wall.  I open my mouth to scream for help but Andy reacts quickly and clamps one of his large hands over my mouth.  I can barely move with his body trapping mine; I squirm and wiggle as much as I can, anything to escape.

He chuckles at my struggling and leans in close to me, his lips at my ear.  “You look even better than the last time I saw you.  So ravishing.”

I grimace at the smell of his alcohol with a mix of cigarette smoke breath.  A muffled and barely audible whimper escapes my lips as I feel his hand trailing up the side of my leg, bringing up the hem of my skirt.

I wasn’t necessarily angry at Louis right now.  If anything, I just wanted to see him, apologize and try to fix what’s happened.  My mind and body were too overwhelmed with fear to be angry.  I didn’t know where Louis had run off to, we had gotten into a fight, and now I was about to be raped and then probably left for dead if Andy doesn’t kill me himself.  It couldn’t get any worse than this.