Barely Breathing - Chapter 14
Chapter 14 - And Leave Us Lonely
JUNE 16th, 2009 WEST CHESTER, PENNSYLVANIA : 2:01 PM
“I think this will have to be the last stop for the day.” I set the bags that hung from my arms on back seat of the car. We had been making trips from shops and back to the Hummer all day to limit the baggage.
The group of us had been in downtown West Chester for a few hours doing what girls do best, wasting Bam’s money. I know I had obtained quite a sum of cash in the last week, but Missy had insisted on using his card for all purchases. The bags in the car were filled with things such as a new pair of boots, a coat, new purse, miscellaneous hair accessories, and as many preservative filled treats as I could get my hands on.
After discussing it over lunch we had agreed to visit a few more shops before heading back to Castle Bam. We made sure to go by a bookstore and electronics store to pick up things to occupy our time on the trip. Now we were headed to a well known high fashion boutique that was known for their dressy casual wear and lingerie. The last shop on our list was purely for my own insistent need of frilly, lacy, ribbon and bow covered things.
Ville’s POV
“Bam, don’t you think this is a little stalker-ish?” Dunn asked for what seemed to be the twentieth time.
“Shut up, this will be perfect for the show. See what the girls are up to before tour,” Bam whispered from behind me.
We were in Dunn’s less noticeable car watching the group go from store to store doing their thing. Of course, they had a small video camera, but Bam wanted everything that they weren’t going to show on film, voluntarily, caught.
“Sure, because they’ll be all over that when they found out you did this,” I mumbled under my breath.
Bam turned an eye back to me. “I heard that.”
I shrugged my shoulders and continued to watch the girls as they entered another clothing store. “You were meant to.”
“Guys, no biting each other’s heads off.” Dunn tried to mediate from the driver’s seat. I could tell he didn’t particularly care, though; his attention was focused on the girls, just like mine.
Bam didn’t seem to catch on. His next comment was relatively childish. He didn’t speak to our faces, choosing to focus on his camera. “Not my fault that Ville’s been an ass for the last few days.”
“If you thought that, why’d you bring me along?” I asked, aggravated with this whole affair.
“I thought it may snap you out of this irritable mood. Seriously, we all know something went down with Olivia. She’s acting just as bitchy as you, if not more,” Bam stated.
“It’s none of you damn business, Bam,” I said hoping to end the conversation.
“It sure as hell is; the rest of us don’t deserve the attitude she’s been dealing out or the gloom you’ve been spreading. Whatever you did, you should fix it.”
I turned my head away from Bam instead of telling him exactly what I thought he should do.
“He has a point, Ville. She won’t even talk to me or Missy lately.” Dunn gave me a look I thought meant he was sympathetic to the whole situation. There was just something about it that meant more, like he was blaming me or upset with me for another reason.
Just as I was about to make a retort, which would send this stupid stake out into places it shouldn’t go, I saw something. That something was more pressing that the current discussion.
“Guys, I think we have more important issues that Olivia and I having a spat.” I was already pulling on the handle and opening the door before the other guys could speak.
Olivia’s POV
I was in my element; my eyes taking in all the colors and my hands testing the texture of the fabrics, beautiful, beautiful clothes. Ashlee and Megan had wondered off to a section devoted to shoes, while Missy was looking in their fragrance section for a new perfume.
My interest had instantly gravitated toward the back of the shop and my guilty pleasure, lingerie. I may not have anyone to wear it for, but I just loved the extremely feminine straps of lace and ribbon. If there was anyone fully aware of the impracticality of wearing a piece of lace haphazardly strung together as ‘underwear’, it was myself. That, however, did little to stop me from spending ridiculous amounts of money on a quickly growing collection of extravagant underwear. I was so engrossed in choosing a full set to keep me satisfied on the trip that I didn’t notice anyone come up behind me.
“Nice to see you again, Olivia.” A voice came from behind me.
I whipped around to face a person I thought I would never see again. Chris stood there. Of course, this wasn’t the Chris I had known and cared for. He looked gaunt with dark circles under his eyes and pasty looking skin. I could tell he hadn’t been doing well in the last week.
“What the fuck are you doing here?” I whispered. I could feel my hand shaking minutely.
He took a step closer, moving around a rack of clothes. As soon as he moved I knew I was in trouble. We were alone in a secluded part of the shop and he had a predatory gleam in his eyes.
“Honey, I’ve missed you.” He ran a hand though his hair with an exaggerated sigh. “Seeing you in town, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity.”
“Where in the hell do you think you get off following me?” Stepping back a little I felt the edges of shelves pressing into my shoulders.
“Babe, you know I was drunk. I would never hurt you on purpose, I love you.” He reached out and grabbed my arm.
I made an attempt to yank my arm back, but he tightened his grip. “I broke up with you and then you tried to rape me. I don’t call that love.”
“Come on, you know you didn’t mean that.” His voice was tight.
“Let me go, Chris,” I said with malice in my voice.
Leaning forward slowly, and tightening his hold on my arm, he spoke. “You just don’t get it, do you? I’m your boyfriend, you love me, you shouldn’t have broken up with me, and you had what I did to you coming, you little slut.”
The next thing I knew his lips were pressing against mine causing pain to erupt through my mouth. My attempts to push him away and fight were to no avail. Right as I was about to knee him in the groin, his body was torn from me.
There stood the guys just like the first time they had saved me.
“Olivia!” Ryan waved me over and I ran into his arms. He held on to me tightly and moved me away from the fight that was starting. From the corner of my eye I saw Ville and Bam converging on the form of Chris, who was still in shock from being thrown to the floor.
“Dunn, give her to me, we’ll meet back at home.” Missy’s voice was almost surreal.
Within minutes I was transferred to my cousin’s arms and ushered out of the entrance. The sounds of hangers falling to the floor, grunts of pain, security guards came from behind out retreating group.
The next half hour was spent driving back to Missy and Bam’s home and unloading our purchase. All of us were jittery as we waited for the guys to come back. Right as we were about to call and see what was taking them so long, the phone went off. Missy practically jumped on her phone to answer it. We watched with interest as she listened to the person.
“What do you mean we need to head down to the police station?” Missy raised her eyebrows at the unseen speaker on the other end of the phone. “That’s why you don’t get into fights in public.” She sounded exasperated.
There was a pause and her features became softened. “Fine, but you’re only off the hook because it was for Olivia.”
“That’s Bam, right?” I asked from my position on the couch.
“Yeah, they need to post bail.”
A/N: Wow, I hand wrote this during class and it still took me a week to type it out. That is a sad state of affairs in my book, because I love writing. Please give feedback with how you like the story so far.
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