“Allison, I missed you so much. The way you smell, the way you taste, please just let me touch you,” he said leaning in toward me.
I stood frozen with my back against the window as he started kissing my neck. I wanted to vomit. Not only did he reek of vodka, but he smelled of body odor. He wrapped his hands around me and I began to feel his hard-on and became truly worried that he might take this further than kissing my neck.
I tried to remain calm. He then started putting his hands up my shirt and I instinctively pushed him away.
“Allison, we’ve done this a million times, please just relax,” Nate slurred, his eyes half closed.
“Nate, stop!” I screamed as his kiss on my neck turned harder and he started undoing my jeans.
“Allison, don’t you know how many times I’ve made you come? What’s one more time?” he asked.
I kept trying to push him off of me, but he felt like dead weight. The tops of my pants were undone and I was shaking. I couldn’t let this happen.
“Nate, get off of me!” I yelled and pushed him with all of my might.
He fell back and when he regained his balance, he rushed toward me and slapped me so hard across the same right cheek as the last time he hit me.
I started to see stars as he struggled to get my tight skinny jeans off. I was again frozen and could feel tears starting to form quickly.
I decided I would rather die right here and now, than let him force me to have sex with him. I needed to try harder to get him off of me and then, I needed to run like hell.
I came up with a plan that I was going to pretend like I was giving in for a moment and then when his senses were wrapped into the act, I would knee him in the balls and run for the hills.
I stopped resisting and let him continue to kiss my neck with his hands nudging on my pants, still trying to push them down.
Now, one of his hands was down my underwear and he was touching me.
I suddenly made my move with a swift kick to Nate’s groin and managed to break free running to the door, but Nate caught me by the hair and tackled me to the floor.
I started to scream bloody murder.
“Help! Help me!”
Nate covered my mouth and continued to push me down to the ground with all of his body weight.
I closed my eyes, not wanting to see what was about to happen to me. As I whimpered in the darkness, a tear fell down my cheek as I felt him press against me.
Then, my eyes shot open as I heard the sound of my door busting open and a voice.
“Get off of her, you MOTHER FUCKER!”
CHAPTER 16
CEDRIC
I almost turned around and went home. As I looked up into Allison’s second floor window, I saw her beautiful long dark hair plastered against it and male hands caressing her back.
Was this some kind of sick f**king joke? Did she forget I was coming by and in the meantime, get a Christmas booty call?
I felt like I was about to vomit as I sat in my car and watched this guy kiss her neck. I could seriously taste the apple pie I had eaten come up on me.
My heart was breaking and beating rapidly in anger and shock, but I couldn’t look away. I punched the steering wheel and threw my head down onto it.
Fuck. Me.
I looked up again. Her back was still to the window. But the scene this time looked different to me. Allison’s hands were flailing and I immediately jumped out of the car, so that I could possibly hear what was going on, even though the window was closed.
I couldn’t hear anything, but then saw what looked like Allison pushing forward and then she disappeared from sight.
Shit. Something wasn’t right. I had to know what was going on and got out of the car, slamming the door behind me.
The front door leading to the hallway stairs up to Allison’s second floor apartment was open.
I walked up the stairs and began to sprint when I heard a cry for help…Allison’s cry for help.
Adrenaline pumped through my veins and when I reached the top, I busted through the door to find the man lying on top of Allison, who was crying. Before I could process what was happening, I charged toward him and pounced.
“Get off of her, you MOTHER FUCKER!” I yelled.
I managed to push him off of her and tackled him to the ground, pinning him under me.
He swung at my face and missed. He reeked of alcohol.
“Cedric! Oh my God, Cedric!” I heard Allison cry.
The man spit in my face as I held him to the floor. “Who the f**k are you?” he yelled.
“Call 911,” I shouted over at Allison who ran to the kitchen dialing the phone.
“What were you about to do before I walked in…huh? HUH!?” I spat back at the man and yelled louder. “WHAT THE FUCK…WERE YOU…ABOUT TO DO TO HER?”
“I was about to take back what was mine,” he said as I pinned him down to the ground as he continued to struggle to release from my grip.
Who the f**k was this person?
Just then, Allison appeared after having called the police. “They’re on their way,” she cried, tears pouring from her eyes.
Just then, the drunk man pushed up from under me and managed to get up on his feet. He swung at me and I swung back hitting him. I ducked again missing his punches and pushed him down to the ground causing him to hit his head on the coffee table.
He sprung back up and charged toward me, smacking me down to the ground and hitting me as hard as he could in the chest.
I punched him in the face in return and immediately felt warm blood trickling down my hand.
Allison was screaming, “Stop, please just leave, Nate…please.”
Nate? She knew this guy? Who the f**k was Nate?
The last punch I threw at Nate, seemed to stop his resilience.
He was lying down on the floor for a few minutes and I wasn’t sure if he was injured from the punch or whether he just passed out from all the booze he drank.
I stood staring at him on the ground and then moved my stare toward Allison.
She had mascara running down her cheeks and was trembling. I wanted to go to her, but I had to keep my eyes on him in case he got up again.
A few more minutes passed with Nate lying on the ground.
Allison and I just stared down at him in shock.
The sound of distant police sirens got closer and closer by the second and then came the sounds of running footsteps from the hallway.
Three officers with guns drawn burst through the door.
“He’s there, officer. That’s the man who attacked me. His name is Nate Hutchinson. He is my ex-boyfriend. He is an alcoholic,” Allison said.
Wow. So, Allison actually dated this asshole. Up until now, I had no idea who this guy was.
While two officers lifted Nate off the floor, a third large man approached me for questioning.
“I’m Officer Derin with the Boston Police. I am going to have to ask you some questions,” he said.
“Sure, ask me anything.” I sat down on Allison’s sofa, only realizing now just how much my hand was bleeding.
“You may want to wrap that. Feel free to take care of it and come back here,” Officer Derin said pointing to my obvious wound.
I quickly got up and grabbed a wad of paper towel from the kitchen and temporarily wrapped my right hand tightly, noticing that one of the officers was now taking a groggy Nate away in handcuffs.
Allison was on the other side of the living room answering questions for the third cop and I could hear her sobbing.
I returned to Officer Derin and told him the story exactly as I saw it happen. He assured me that no charges would be filed against me for the injuries Nate sustained, since I was acting in self-defense.
When my questioning wrapped up, I looked over and saw Allison still tearfully relaying her side of the story to the officer. She nodded her head slowly and thanked the policeman for his help.
“We may need to call you in for additional questioning, depending on Mr. Hutchinson’s recall. I am hoping that is not necessary, though,” Officer Derin said.
“Thank you so much, officers, for your help,” Allison said as she shook hands with the two men.
I sat on the couch staring down at my bloody hand. Everything happened so fast and I felt like I was just starting to process it.
Allison closed the door after the policemen left and rushed over to where I was sitting on the couch.
“Cedric,” she said as fresh tears fell again.
“Allison…what the f**k did I walk in on tonight?” I said, my voice hoarse. I was still in shock.
Before answering me, she rushed up and went to the bathroom, bringing back a first aid kit.
Tears fell from her eyes. “Cedric, you are hurt because of me. I am so, so sorry. I don’t know how to thank you enough for getting here tonight when you did.”
She took my injured hand and began pouring peroxide on it. I looked down silently at it and back up at her tearful face. She was crying harder now and it killed me to see her in so much pain.
“Allison, please stop crying. Please, it really hurts me to see you cry,” I said. It did. It really did.
Allison started to wrap my hand in gauze while she spoke.
“Cedric…that man…Nate…he was my ex-boyfriend. We broke up months ago as soon as I realized he had a serious drinking problem. He was a good person for a long time, taught music at Berkley and everything. I had no idea he was an alcoholic until the very end of our relationship. He hid it well from me for most of the time we were together. One night, he came home drunk and hit me and that was the last straw. I never wanted to see him again and I never did after that. Tonight was the first time I saw him since that night almost six months ago. I opened the door without checking, because I thought you were early.”
Allison shook her head, crying and repeated, “I thought it was you…I thought it was you.”
My heart was breaking as more tears fell from her eyes. I wanted to touch her, comfort her, but resisted. To think that I had something to do with him gaining access to her tonight made me physically ill.
“Did he…do anything to you?” I asked. I needed to know.
She sniffled. “He forced himself on me, but only kissed me and groped me, but he wasn’t able to do anything more. You came in right when he was…about to, though. I don’t know what I would have done if you weren’t here, Cedric.”
It made me sick that he even got that far. And to think, I sat there and witnessed some of it through the window first hand before I realized she was actually being assaulted.
Allison finished wrapping my hand and kept her hands on mine when she finished.
The will I had to resist her moments ago disappeared as I took my hand from her grip and wrapped it around her shoulder pulling her into me with my forearm.
Her head leaned against mine and I just held her there and closed my eyes, listening to her heart beating rapidly against my chest. She must have been able to feel mine too, because it was absolutely racing.
We stayed like this for about five minutes before I pulled away to look at her.
She looked up at me with those beautiful green eyes and I noticed a small bruise on the ride side of her face and pushed back suddenly.
“That fucker hit you too?” I seethed.
“Yes. Right before you walked in,” she said never looking away from me.
“Mother fucker,” I said, taking my good hand and gently caressing the area.
My feelings were so strong for this woman. It hurt me so much to see her physically harmed.
Allison closed her eyes as I held her face with my hand and rubbed my thumb gently across the bruise.
“I am so sorry this happened, Allison,” I whispered.
“Thank God you were here. I can never thank your mother enough for sending you tonight. And I’ll never be able to repay you,” she said.
My emotions were running wild and I pulled her head back toward my chest, holding her there.
I didn’t know if I could ever let her go tonight. She had been through hell, but she still looked so incredibly stunning, even with mascara running down her cheeks and a bruise on her face.
Looking down, for the first time, I realized she was wearing such a hot little outfit and wondered if she had dressed that way for me. But instead, she got Nate showing up. That thought made me sick all over again.
After many minutes passed while I held her head to my chest silently, listening to her heartbeat, she looked up at me with those beautiful green eyes again and we continued to stare into each other. But this time instead of pulling her face back into my chest, I placed my hand on her chin, pulled her mouth straight into mine and buried my tongue down her throat.
CHAPTER 17
ALLISON
Lying in Cedric’s arms felt like home. He was cradling me as we both tried to process what had happened with Nate. I had expected to get close to him in some way tonight, but the circumstances that got us here, were far from what I could have ever predicted. His saving me from Nate’s advances forced a quicker and more intense connection.
As he held me in his arms, I thought about how much this man’s mere existence had consumed my mind over the last two months.
I had imagined being touched by him for so long, but never could have predicted exactly how amazing it felt actually being this close to him. I couldn’t quite understand my unusual obsession with him that began from that very first time I laid eyes on him at the diner. We haven’t even been together for any significant amount of time, but I feel so attached to him, like he was always mine in some way. But that’s the problem…he isn’t.
I wanted so badly to kiss him, but couldn’t muster the courage to make the first move. I closed my eyes and prayed that he wasn’t turned off by what happened tonight and that he understood that Nate was a distant part of my past and not a reflection of me.
His heart was beating against mine and I looked up at him. I didn’t say anything, but the voice in my head silently willed him to kiss me.