“Listen, we’ll figure something out later, okay? Right now, I need to get her back home and cleaned up. You two stay out of sight, alright? What?” I paused as Grant made a noise of protest.
“It’s my turn, you dick!” he said and swore again. “But I know we can’t just switch up in the middle of this. Just get her home and we’ll stay out of the way.”
“Good. I’ll have her there as soon as she gets her release papers. I’ll have her in the shower for a while, I’m sure. She’s got that shit all over her. Those fuckwits. We can’t let this go, but now isn’t the time.”
“I’ll figure something out right after I jerk off, shall I?” Grant said petulantly but then changed tack. “Don’t let her cry too much, it makes her head hurt.”
“I know,” I said annoyed at the reminder. She was my girl too and yeah it might be weird, but she was ours and we shared information about her amongst ourselves.
“And tell her you’ll pick up the tab for anything she needs to have taken care of. She shouldn’t have to worry about money right now.” That came from Keith.
“I already have, dickhead.” He knew he’d annoyed me when I called him that, but I didn’t care right now. I just wanted to get back in there to Celia.
“Fine,” Keith shot back, “don’t keep her waiting now. Get off the damn phone.”
I hung up on the call and put my phone back in my pocket. I was supposed to be studying for an exam tomorrow, but I’d heard Celia scream and I’d been the first one out of the door. The other two had been too slow, now it was me that had her for the night. It had been Grant’s turn but I’d let him handle her tomorrow. Tonight was mine and I wasn’t going to give up an extra night with her.
“Let me get you home. Do you want some take out before we head back?” I asked as we left the hospital a little while later. Her hair had dried and it was an awful m
ess. Grant was already booking her into the salon in the morning and she wouldn’t have to live with this long. Not if we could help it.
“I guess a burger would be good. Or tacos. I don’t know.” She put her seat belt on and stared out of the windshield. “Maybe I should just go back home and go to the state school.”
“Why the hell do you think that?” I asked as I pulled the powerful car out of the parking lot and onto the road. “You have me, girl, we’ll get you through this. I know that car you saw and probably who was driving it too. They won’t get away with this.”
“You don’t happen to have a security camera, do you?” She asked, her sad blue eyes round and lost.
“I do, actually.” I’d forgotten about it, but I’d have one of the brothers go through it later.
“Good. That will be helpful. The hospital said I could file a police report, but hair dye isn’t necessarily toxic. It’s still an assault though. Or battery. Whichever one it is. I can never remember.”
“It’s okay, I know someone on the police force, I’ll have a chat with him when I can catch up with him.”
“That would be good,” she all but whispered, before she leaned her head against the window on her side and closed her eyes.
I drove through one of her favorite food places and got some food to go and then drove her home. I parked right in front of the house and held her hand as we walked inside. Her bag was still on the ground, a miracle in itself, and we carried that in with us.
“Listen, tomorrow, you’re going to get up and go to the salon where this will all be fixed,” I said as we dropped everything on the table in the kitchen. I took her into my arms and held her tight. “You’re beautiful no matter what, Celia. Please don’t let them get you down.”
“I’m not down,” she sniffled from somewhere under my head. Her nose was in my neck and her mouth was hot against my collarbone, but it wasn’t the time for sex or even fantasies about sex. It was time to comfort her. “I’m pissed, but also a little defeated. I really don’t get what her problem is? It’s like I knew that she wanted me out of the room. She has that. So, what now? What could I possibly have that she wants so damn badly?”
She pulled away, grabbed a handful of napkins from the table to dry her face off, and sat down in the chair. She pulled off her coat and put it on the back of the chair. She’d cleaned it off as well as she could, but she’d had to toss the hat and the scarf. Her clothes hadn’t been touched, and she sat down now, normal except for the odd, deep pink color of her hair around her face and in splotches around the side and back.
She looked cute to me, almost elfin, and I smiled as I shed my coat and sat down with her to eat. She pulled the food out of the bags and we talked while we ate.
“It’s you…” she muttered as she realized what Rachel could want.
I nodded, thinking that until now Celia hadn’t even asked how we got her number or how?
That was one thing that surprised me, the fact that she never wondered how we got it.
She didn’t wait for me to say anything as she blurted out, “I’m going to go to the campus police tomorrow.”
Her tacos were gone and she’d finished off the cup of iced tea she’d had. “I can’t let her get away with this again. Or them? She put them up to it, somehow. I just know it.”
I still wanted to be deep inside of her and when she smiled that incredible smile of hers, it was hard not to pull across her the table so that I could kiss her. Today was different, she’d been assaulted. Again. Tonight, I’d have to be easy with her, and make sure she felt safe. I wanted to let her know that I was there for her, not make her think I only wanted her to fuck her. I’d hold on to her tight, kiss her tears away and make her know that she was mine. Ours.
I took her into the bathroom and I scrubbed away as much of the dye from her skin as I could. She hadn’t been able to get it all off in the bathroom at the hospital, but now I took my time and made sure it was all gone. I dried her off after that and took her to her bedroom. I could see the exhaustion on her face, so I put some of her favorite music on her television and we curled up together in her bed. We never brought her to our rooms, we only came to hers, it kept life a little less complicated.