She thrashed around, but he was too heavy to throw off of her. She looked around but saw no one else in the house. She had been afraid Gerald was with him. His eyes roamed over her body and she felt nauseous. She didn’t like the look in his eyes. Why had she put on the short, silky shorts and tank top? Because she wanted to look good for Matt. Her only hope now was that he would show up and rescue her.
“We are taking a ride to see my brother. He got himself a nice little house for us. We want to have some fun getting to know you.” He groped her breast and squeezed hard. Fear filled her body as she kept squirming around. She kicked her legs wildly.
Holly bit his hand, and when he let her go, she screamed as loud as she could. Maybe one of her neighbors would hear her and call 911. He slapped her across her face. She felt the tears roll down her face, and reached up and scratched his cheek with her nails.
“You hellcat!” he yelled, and slapped her again. She tasted the blood, but she was not going to stop fighting.
She hit out, not caring if she hit him or not. She was not going to make it easy for him to kidnap her and rape her. She felt a blow to her jaw and she screamed again. She felt the strap of her top rip and he squeezed her bare breast hard. He laughed out loud at her groan of pain. She heard a knock on the door. She yelled out “help!” and hoped to God that Matt or whoever was there heard her.
The door was kicked open and she felt Pete fly off of her. Pete hit her bookshelf and knocked it over. She lay on the couch, curled into a ball and sobbed into a pillow. She could hear loud thuds and groans, but she didn’t look. She knew Matt would win.
“Holly.” She felt Matt’s hand brushing her hair to the side. “How bad is it? Should I call an ambulance?”
He got up and she grabbed his hand. “Don’t leave me.”
“I am going to call Noah to come pick up this scumbag.” He pulled out his cell phone and she closed her eyes. She could hear him talking, but all she could concentrate on was her throbbing face. She opened her eyes when she heard a click, and realized Matt was handcuffing the unconscious man.
Holly tried to sit up and groaned with pain. Her top was torn and she didn’t want anyone seeing her bare breast. Matt gently lifted her into a sitting position and wiped the tears away. “Noah is calling Liam to come check you out.”
“Will you get me a T-shirt?” She covered her breasts with her arms and he nodded. Holly pointed out her room down the long, dim hallway. “First drawer.”
He came back with a purple T-shirt and helped her change. When he saw the dark purple bruises forming on her breasts, his lips thinned with anger. “I’d like to wake him up and beat him up again.”
Holly would have laughed, but her face hurt too much. She hoped her jaw was not broken.
They heard tires squealing and footsteps. Matt had left the door wide open. Within minutes, her house was filled with people. Matt got up to talk to Noah, and Greg and Tony dragged Pete out to Greg’s car.
“You got him good,” Tony said, looking down at the unconscious man. “Good job.”
Matt saluted his brother. Liam and Adam walked in together and she couldn’t stop the tears from coming. She was cold, and her body was shaking. Everything felt so surreal, like she was dreaming all of this. Liam kneeled in front of her. Adam took the throw off the back of her couch and wrapped it around her shoulder gently. She felt numb, but at least she wasn’t hysterical.
Liam examined her face. He tilted it in different directions and asked her questions. She answered them automatically. “It’s going to hurt like hell, but no broken bones,” he finally pronounced.
“That’s good,” she whispered.
“Are you hurt anywhere else?” Liam asked. Holly shook her head no. It would be too embarrassing to have Liam look at her breast. She knew it was bruised and there was nothing they could do for it. “My head hurts and my face throbs.”
“I am going to give you some pain pills.” Liam looked through his bag and took a bottle out. He handed her two. “Let me get you some water.”
He got up to go to the kitchen. She heard Noah tell Adam, “He picked the lock at the back door.”
Noah asked her what happened, and she told him everything. She had to close her eyes because if she saw all the sympathy in their eyes, she would break down and cry, and then she wouldn’t stop.
“Then Matt broke the door down and saved me,” she finished, pulling the blanket tighter around her.
Matt sat next to her and put his arm around her shoulder. He made sure she was covered. “I heard a male laugh, then a scream. I just had a gut feeling and kicked the
door open. Pete was sitting on top of her. I saw him hitting her in the face and I lost it.”
“So they planned this together. That means we can arrest Gerald, too.” Noah looked angry. “We have to find this house. I guess his momma did get tired of their shit.”
Liam came back with the water and she took the pills.
“You should come home with us,” Liam told her. “It’s not safe here.”
“I don’t want to scare Hope. You know my face is going to be swollen and bruised. Pete is in jail again, and hopefully Gerald will not come by here,” Holly whispered. She shook with fear at the thought of seeing the older brother. “My head is throbbing and I just want to lie down.”
“I can sleep on the couch, Holly,” Matt volunteered.