Leaving Triad (5 page)

Zor opened his door excited to meet Emily at
the bar, hopeful that after the boyfriend told her what happened
she would be glad to be free of the human male. He had been waiting
for her shift to start since he won the bet. She was finally his,
that’s all he had wanted since he first met her.

He imagined what her reaction would be but he
had not expected her in the condition that he found her. Zor was
appalled at the sight of the girl hogtied and beaten on his
doorstep. Blood covered her clothing, her face was bruised and
gashed opened. Quickly Zor scooped her into his arms and took her
inside his quarters straight to the bathroom. There he undressed
her and lowered her into an ice cold bath, thankful that he made
them put a bath in his quarters.

As an Aquadratic, he had to submerge himself
from time to time. A bathtub came in handy if his ship wasn’t near
a planet with water.

Emily grunted and snapped awake as the cold
water touched her bruised skin. “Zor?” she questioned as he placed
his hand on her head. Her entire face was warm from the beating she
took. It killed her trying to speak, her entire face was sore. She
tried to open her eyes but was disoriented. “Zor, where am I? I’m
late for my shift.”

“Emily, I can’t let you work like this,” he
said gently, pushing her back into the cold bath as she tried to
climb out of it.

“Zor, I’m in trouble, Jeremy lost me in a
bet. I have no clue why they even allowed him to do that,” she
pleaded.

“It was me, Emily,” Zor answered as he
grabbed a towel and handed it to her.

“You made a bet on me?” she asked both
shocked and angry as she yanked the towel out of his hand and
stood, covering herself with it before he could get a glimpse of
the body that he had been dying to see. “I have to get to work.”
She needed to earn extra tips so she could afford a room of her
own. There was no way she would stay with Jeremy or allow herself
to become Zor’s slave.

She stepped out of the tub and saw her
bloodied clothes on the floor. She placed her hand on her forehead
and sat on the large bed. “I hope you realize I am not an item that
you can take control of at someone else’s say so.”

“I had to get you away from him, Emily, look
at what he was doing to you,” he said. “I can’t stand by and watch
him hurt you anymore,” he added as he held up a mirror for her to
look at her face.

She gasped at the sight of herself. She
started to cry uncontrollably. Zor walked over and sat next to her,
pulling her onto his lap. He rocked her back and forth as he gently
played with her beautiful hair. Once her hysterical sobs ended, Zor
laid her down on the bed and moved her hair out of her face.

“I’m going to go talk to Henry about you
having the night off. You can return to work tomorrow. I’ll also
turn in your clothes for washing. That’s what the other waitresses
usually do anyway,” Zor said.

She nodded her acceptance and Zor left the
room carrying her bloody clothes. He was going to drop off her
things and talk to Henry for her. Then he planned on stopping by
her old room and having a little chat with good ole Jeremy.

“Everything alright, Captain?” Henry asked,
immediately seeing how pissed off he was.

“Emily isn’t capable of working today, can
you wash these up for her and have them sent back to my room?” he
questioned as he handed him the clothes.

“What happened to her?” Henry asked, seeing
the blood as he took the clothing.

“Take a guess.” Zor seethed.

“The boyfriend?” Henry asked with
suspicion.

Zor nodded his head. “Can you send one of the
waitresses to my quarters with some fresh clothes for her and have
them help her to the infirmary?” Zor questioned. He probably should
have done that to begin with.
What if she was more injured than
he thought?
“I’m going to go find out what happened.”

Just as he turned to leave, Zor saw Jeremy
walk into the bar out of the corner of his eye. The rage took over
and the next thing he remembered was holding Jeremy up against the
wall by his throat.

“What the fuck did you do to her?” he
yelled.

“Bitch refused to cover my debt. I got her to
you didn’t I?” Jeremy returned.

Zor balled his fist and pulled back his arm
quickly, burying his fist into the human’s face. “I should kill you
on the spot,” Zor said through clenched teeth as he tightened his
grip on the man’s throat.

Henry and a few of the bar patrons went over
and grabbed hold of Zor making him put the sorry excuse for a human
down. Two men grabbed Jeremy’s arms as he tried to swing back at
Zor.

“Take him to the holding cell now!” Zor
demanded, knowing that if the man wasn’t out of his face soon he
would kill him. The two men dragged Jeremy off and Henry handed Zor
a bottle of beer.

“I’ve sent Talia up to take care of the girl.
She just texted and said Emily doesn’t remember anything,” Henry
stated.

“Nothing?” Zor asked in shock.

Henry shook his head.

“I’m going to have to tell her all of that
again. Shit!” Zor groaned as he sat down on the barstool.

“Talia had to call nurses to help her get
Emily to the infirmary,” Henry said. He saw Zor getting furious all
over again. “Let’s get you calmed before you go down to the
infirmary.”

Zor chugged his beer. He had calmed somewhat.
All his worries turned to Emily. He made his way to the infirmary.
He was determined to be there for her.

*****

Emily opened her eyes and had to squint
because the room she was in was overly bright.
Where the hell
was she? What happened and why was she so sore?
She closed her
eyes again, it burned to hold them open.

“Sweetie, how are you feeling?” Talia asked
when she realized she had opened her eyes only to close them
again.

“It hurts to move anything,” Emily answered,
keeping her eyes shut.

“Oh, sweetie, I’m sorry,” Talia said as she
carefully took her hand and tried to comfort her without hurting
her.

“The last thing I remember was getting ready
for work. Talia, aren’t you supposed to be working today?” Emily
asked.

“Henry told me to stay down here with you
since we are friends. He said I can go back to work in an hour or
so,” she answered.

“I need to get to work too,” Emily said.

“Sweetie, let the nurses take care of you so
you can get your pretty face back to the way it was. You’re
definitely in no condition to be working right now,” Talia stated
sympathetically.

“I need to make money to move out though,”
Emily whined.

“Emily, Jeremy is in the holding cell for
beating on you. Zor almost killed him,” Talia told her, moving
aside so one of the nurses could take care of her.

“Talia, we have to take her for a few
minutes,” the nurse said as she started to push the bed into a
room.

*****

Zor walked into the infirmary just in time to
hear Emily arguing with the nurse. “I don’t have the money to pay
for the treatment, just please let me go. I’m fine,” she said. “I’m
sure the bruises will heal on their own.”

“Sweetie, you can’t be a waitress without
getting everyone’s pity. You are covered from head to toe with
bruises,” Talia stated. “Please just pay her and sleep in my room
while you’re saving up for your own place. If you stay there, he
will just keep doing this to you.”

“I’d rather just move out,” Emily argued. “I
can heal on my own.”

“Nurse, I’ll pay for the healing treatment,”
Zor said, startling all of them.

Emily’s face heated up. “You can’t pay for
this,” she stated. She didn’t want to owe him money on top of what
he did with Jeremy.

“Nurse, I am captain of this ship. I will
take care of this,” Zor demanded, ignoring Emily’s denials.

The nurse pushed her bed into another room
quickly without giving Emily a chance to argue.

*****

“What are they doing to her?” he asked Talia
who was still looking toward the door they pushed Emily through. It
was taking longer than he thought it would.

“They are just taking her to heal the
bruises, Zor, calm down, she’ll be fine,” Talia said, winking at
him, trying to calm him down a little bit. “They’ll be back in few
minutes.”

“You can go back to work now,” Zor stated,
ready to get rid of her. He had heard her offer for Emily to stay
with her and he didn’t want Emily to change her mind and take her
up on it.

“Geez, Zor, think you can tell everyone what
to do?” she questioned jokingly as she stuck her tongue out at
him.

“Does she remember anything?” he
questioned.

“She said the last thing she remembers is
getting ready for work,” Talia answered. “What the hell
happened?”

“Jeremy lost all of his money. He owed a huge
debt. I offered to absorb his debt with another, and at that he put
Emily in the pot thinking he would win,” Zor answered.

“She’s going to be pissed,” Talia answered.
She looked down at her watch. “My hour is almost up. I have to get
back to work. Take it easy with her when you tell her. She’s not
going to handle it well.”

Zor knew she was right, Emily already reacted
once and she was pissed the first time, it wasn’t going to be much
better the second time. He knew she was going to be furious beyond
what he had seen before. He dreaded telling her. He thought of all
the ways he could tell her, but either way it all came back to the
truth.
He couldn’t stand watching the woman he was developing
feelings for beaten constantly. He couldn’t tell her that though.
What if she didn’t feel the same?
He took a deep breath knowing
he had to face her soon.

Emily was pushed back out on the same bed
they pushed her in on. Zor smiled, relieved the bruises were
already disappearing. She smiled at him excited that he was there
to support her, but still upset that he argued with her though.

“Is she ready to go home?” Zor asked the
nurse.

“She has to be released into someone’s care,”
the nurse answered.

“I’ll take her,” Zor said relieved that he
didn’t have to tell her so soon. He signed the paper for her
release and picked her up carrying her to his quarters.

“Zor, I can walk. I feel fine,” she said,
holding onto his neck tightly, wondering why he was taking her back
to his quarters.

“I will carry you,” he told her firmly. “What
do you remember from this afternoon?” he asked.

“Not much. I remember getting dressed for
work, then Jeremy came home,” she answered. “After that I was
waking up in the infirmary.”

“You don’t remember anything Jeremy said to
you before I put him in the holding cell for assaulting you? Or
even before he assaulted you?” he questioned looking down at her,
trying to control his urge to kiss her.

“Zor, what’s going on? You’re asking me a
bunch of strange questions.” She knew deep down something was
wrong.

“We will talk about it when we get to my
quarters, sweetheart, don’t worry about it right now,” he said,
still searching for the words to tell her. He knew he was in a lot
of trouble as soon as he got there. “Would you like to stop at the
bar and get a drink before we go home?” he questioned.

“No, if I go to the bar it’ll be to work,”
she answered, wondering why he was stalling on talking to her.

She knew something was off by the way he was
acting. Truth was she would love to go see her coworkers and tell
them she was all right but she wanted to know what Zor was hiding.
She thought long and hard on what happened before she woke up in
the hospital. She started to remember that Jeremy told her to pack
her bags.

“That bastard lost me in a bet!” she
yelled.

“What are you doing, Emily?” Zor asked,
watching as she frantically started grabbing all of her clothes and
threw them all in a suitcase. She had made him set her on her feet
and then she had stormed to her and Jeremy’s room. Now she was
loading up her suitcase.

“Fucking Jeremy lost me in a bet. Please,
Zor, you have to help me get off the ship before the alien comes
and takes me,” she pleaded with him as she started to
hyperventilate.

“Emily, calm down,” Zor said with a
half-smile. “Let’s take your stuff to my quarters.”

He took her suitcase and she followed him
wondering why she waited until she got to his quarters. He set her
suitcase on his bed.

“Zor, what are you doing? I have to get off
the ship,” she questioned. “I don’t even know who would take
someone in a gamble, but I don’t want to find out,” she added,
grabbing for her suitcase.

“Emily, it was me,” Zor said, trying to get
her to calm down.

“What? You took me as a bet?” she questioned
confused. “Where do you think you get the right to make a bet with
me as the wager?”

“Emily, I couldn’t stand to see him hurt you
anymore,” he said. “I care about you.”

“Don’t give me your pity,” she said feeling
hurt. “Everyone else does it, but you, don’t you dare.”

“I don’t pity you, Emily, I care about you.
That is a big difference in my book,” he said, getting sick of the
pity line. “Yes I took you as a bet, to get you away from the
abuse. Now please stop saying I pity you because I don’t, there is
a whole different word for the way I feel toward you.”

She sat on the bed and buried her face in her
hands. “I’ll work off the bet however I can,” she said emotionally
exhausted.

“There is nothing for you to work off,” he
tried to reassure her.

She looked up at him with doubt on her face.
No one had ever done anything for her without wanting something in
return.

“There is a bath in here. Feel free to use it
whenever you want and lock the door. I don’t want to invade your
privacy,” he said as he headed for the door.