Finding YOU Finding ME (You & Me Trilogy Book 2) (16 page)

            I
turned around, and it was Billy. And he was armed with a knife the size of a
butcher’s knife.

            All
my suspicions of Billy were confirmed. He was a raving lunatic. A madman. A
psychotic criminal.

            “Watch
out!” Collins called, running towards me to push me out of the way of Billy’s
knife. The knife grazed Collins’ shoulders, cutting through his suit, but
missing any vital parts.

            Collins
turned around, stepped out of the way of Billy’s arms, and grabbed Billy’s
wrist with lightning speed. He pulled Billy’s arms into an angle against him
that made it so painful, Billy’s hands opened, causing the knife to drop to the
ground.

            Collins
kicked the knife away, and Billy tried to retrieve his arm, but Collins held it
tightly in his, still at an angle where he could easily break Billy’s arm in
half.

            He
used his leverage to bring Billy down to his knees. “Try anything right now,
and you kiss your arm good-bye,” Collins said, making Billy bow low.

            Collins’
eyes found mine, and it was full of love mixed with relief. “Come here, Sam,”
he said.

            I
walked over to where Billy was on his knees, bowing.

            “Now,
does this guy owe you an apology?” Collins asked.

            I
nodded.

            “You
heard what the lady said,” Collins said to Billy. “Apologize.”

            “Oh,
he’ll need to do more than that,” I said bitterly. I walked up to Billy and
looked him in the eyes. “I could give into this overwhelming feeling of hate
for you, Billy, for all the years of fear and loathing you’ve caused me, but I
refuse to give you that power over me.”

            “Slut,”
Billy said when I had walked away.

            “What?”
I asked.

            “Slut,”
Billy said. “For leading me on, for leading all men on, for being the dirty
slut for that perverse SOB boyfriend you have there!” Billy winced. “Owe, man!”

            Collins
eyes seethed with anger, as he jerked Billy’s arms up further, painfully.

            “You
keep going with that charming attitude, and I’ll break your legs, too,” Collins
said. “Don’t think I’ve never put a man into the emergency room clinging to his
life before.”

            Collins
nodded at the butcher knife on the ground where he kicked it. I went to pick it
up to keep it out of reach from Billy and anyone else. “I carried a knife like
that with me all the time, Kid,” Collins said. “Was well-known on the streets
as Daggers because of it. Anyone who messed with me, got a taste of my dagger.
It’s as simple as that.”

            “You’re
not so tough anymore, Suit!” Billy said.

            “Want
to test that theory out?” Collins said. “I can carve your initials on your
penis so quickly, your penis would have whiplash.”

            “Yeah?
You think you’re so tough?” Billy asked. “Look how much fear I instill in her.
She still trembles when she hears my name. That’s real power.”

            Collins
punched Billy’s smug face once, stunning Billy, before he said, “You will live
to regret ever doing that to Sam, asshole.”

            Collins
looked at me again. His eyes tender with love. “What do you want to do to him,
Sam? This is your closure. How would you like to grant retribution to this
filth?”

            I
walk up to Billy. I wanted to stab him with the butcher’s knife, right through
the heart. I wanted to castrate him so he’d never try to rape another person again.

            I reached
over, ran my hand through his hair to the back of his head, grabbed his head
and said, “For years you tormented me, made me cower just by hearing the sound
of your name. For years you haunted me, never making me forget the memory of
your filth. Today, you will let me go, as I will let all power you hold on me
go.” I leaned into him and spat into his face, “Where you’re going, pretty boy,
you’ll make a real nice girlfriend for someone. Guess who’s the bitch now?” I
rammed his face down on my knees so hard, I swear the entire building could
hear me break his jaw before he slumped to the ground.

*****

            The
police swarmed the room soon after, and Billy was handcuffed and taken away,
while a nurse was called in to tend to Tate when Collins and I decided not to
press charges on him.

            “I
saw everything,” Tate whispered to me when I stopped by to check in on him.
“Collins…wow. He’s amazing. I’ve never seen moves like those before. And you,
you’re amazing. Who knew you were such a fighter…you’re so petite.”

            “Strength
comes in many sizes,” I said. “I didn’t know I was so strong until I was
tested. I guess I’m just now finding out more about myself because of it.”

            “Do
you mean what you said earlier about me moving in with you and Collins and
helping me get a new start?” he asked, his eyes pleading. His mask was off now,
and I was still getting used to the fact that I knew him from Sawyer House. Pierced
boy. I didn’t like what he did there, but then again, him being a prankster was
consistent to what he knew, especially when he had a criminal like Billy for a
role model. He was the boy I was supposed to train to become a peer counselor.
He was “Billy” the kid who told me guys were calling Sawyer House to get their
jollies off, talking to me.

            “Nothing
is guaranteed,” I said. “You’ll have to make most of the effort, Tate, if you
want to turn your life around. You can’t blame anyone else for the way your
life turned out. Not anymore. If you’re serious about wanting to start over
again, you have to do everything you can, change your way of thinking, change
habits, whatever it takes to turn that around, to get there. Collins and I will
only be a support group along the way, but most of the work is on you, do you
understand?”

            Tate
nodded.

            “Then
I’ll talk to Collins about it,” I said.

Chapter
19

           
A
fter Tate left with a social worker, Collins
turned to me. He looked tired and as exhausted as I felt. He fell on the sofa,
and pulled me to him, wrapping his arms around me tightly, while kissing my
forehead.

            “Baby,”
he said. “Want to talk about it?”

            “What?”
I asked, snuggling up to him and resting my face against his chest.

            “Was
that jerk the reason why you had issues with intimacy, with me touching you the
first time we were together?” he asked.

            I
never told Collins about the Billy Incident. I never really told anyone about
it, hiding it within me, too afraid to acknowledge it was there. ‘Yes,” I said.

            “I
kinda figured that out,” Collins nodded. “From the way you froze up around him.
He put some major juju into you, didn’t he?”

            “Collins,”
I said, unable to suppress a smile at the word “juju”, which I would bring up
later some day with him, “Billy stalked and tormented me throughout school,
threatening to hurt anyone I cared about or slashing my throat if I’d ever tell.
He would grab me in the hallway, pulled me into the bathroom and force me
against my will to do things to him, and he would fondle me on threat of
hurting me, on the threat of hurting Nydia.”

            Collins
eyes filled with tears as he realized what I was telling him. This was my
Achilles heel, the guilt and shame I had carried with me throughout the years. The
reason why I had so much fear in me. “I’m so so sorry,” he said hugging me
tighter. “No wonder why you’re so afraid of me touching you. No wonder why you
would break down at the thought of having sex.” He kissed my lips softly, and
then my forehead. “I’m so sorry I didn’t understand. Now I know.”

            “I
wanted to tell you, Collins, but I honestly forgot some of the details. The
last time I saw Billy was when he tried to rape me at my father’s old church.
It was so traumatic, I couldn’t handle it, that any memories of it got pushed
back into my subconscious. It wasn’t until I met you, and you evoked such
feelings of passion in me that these feelings surfaced.”

            “I
never thought I could feel anything again after that,” I continued. “I didn’t
think I could get intimate with anyone and have a real romantic relationship,”
I said. “So for the longest time, I avoided it. I stayed friends with every guy
I met, even if I thought I could take it further than friendship. I was too
scared to venture beyond friendship and into anything that would be too
intimate. Until I met you, Collins.” I sighed, taking in Collins’ warmth, his
beauty, and his vulnerability. Seeing Tate today was like seeing a younger lost
Collins. Now I understood what his life was like before he was found. It was a
living hell, but from that, emerged the beautiful complex man that I was now in
the arms of.

            Collins
answered by kissing me on the lips, a lingering kiss that showed how much he
wanted me to know he loved and supported me. “You are an amazing woman, Sam.
You could have become a bitter person, a shy recluse, or even a bully like
Billy yourself; but you turned that incident into a triumph for everyone,
including you. You became a better person, helping other people deal with their
issues. I’m so very proud of you,” he said.

            “But
what about Tate?” I asked. Now that I’ve met him, I felt I couldn’t just let
him fall into the cracks and become lost like the other young promising kids,
who could have turned out like Collins.

            “So
you’ve met Tate,” Collins said. “Charming, isn’t he?”

            “I
didn’t think so when he pulled a prank on me at Sawyer House, but I have to
admit even while being in danger from him while he was here in our apartment, I
couldn’t help caring for him.” I touched Collins’ cheeks. “He has your charm,
Collins. I think he can change, turn his life around like you did at his age.”

            “You
know I was planning on having him live with me at the Newport Coast home I have
there and having him enroll at your high school. But you will not be his tutor,
as I originally planned, nor be bait for him.” Collins sighed. “Although I
think he’s already hooked. From the way he was talking about you when I sent
him off tonight with a social worker, I think he may be a little half in love
with you.”

            “Psst!
Nonsense,” I said. “That’s just because you’re my boyfriend so you think
everyone is after your girlfriend.”

            “Every
guy I met around you seemed to be,” Collins said.

            “Maybe
I have pheromones,” I joked. “Like Cleopatra.”

            Collins
leaned in, smelling me, “No, not pheromones. You don’t smell like honey, but,”
he kissed me, his tongue touching the corners of my mouth before delving in.
“You taste like honey, so sweet, and nourishing.”

            “Nourishing?”
I asked. “Very sexy, you know.”

            “It
is to me,” Collins said. “You in a potato sack with green hair would be sexy to
me.”

            I
turned around and placed my arms around Collins’ neck, and kissed him long and
hard. Any man who thought I looked sexy with a potato sack on while having
green hair is a man who loved me on my best days and on my worse.

            Despite
how tired we both were, we continued kissing heavily into the night until we fell
asleep in each other’s arms, our lips touching.

Chapter
20

           
I
didn’t bring up what I heard in the
Courthouse between Collins and Judge Colleen Seevers. I wanted to trust Collins
that nothing happened, that Colleen Seevers came unto him, and that was it.

            But
another trip to the Courthouse, this time about Tate’s custody and
guardianship, made me think twice. Of all the cases like this, why did Colleen Seevers
have to be the judge on these. It wasn’t fair how much control she had over
everyone, especially on Collins.

            It
wasn’t fair she was taking advantage of Collins over these favors.

            I
didn’t know what was going on, but when I accidentally picked up Collins’ phone
lying next to mine on the nightstand, while he was in the showers, I saw a text
message from Colleen Seevers to Collins.

CS:
That favor you asked
of me, considered it done. Tate’ll be released under your guardianship. Now for
a favor in return, you know what I want. Meet me at Casanova Club. Usual spot.

I
knew I shouldn’t do it, but I had to know, so I texted back.

CollinsM:
 
What do you have in mind?

She took the
bait.

CS:
Some heavy loving, lover boy.

My
blood boiled beyond control. How dare she? Collins was with me!  How dare she
use her position of power to make Collins sleep with her? My poor Collins. I
knew he would do it just because he was trying to help me with Nydia and now
Tate. I couldn’t let him do this.

I
had to help Collins break free from women who were using him purely for sex
like Colleen Seevers was doing. She had a hold on him, that must have stem way
back to when he was young and vulnerable. I had to confront this woman and get
her claws off of him.

I texted back.

CollinsM:
When? Date? Time?

CS:
Tomorrow night. Find an excuse to meet me. I’m desperate for your tongue
fucking.

My stomach
curled and I suppressed my urge to text her back a go F Yourself message.