Tattooed Soul (4 page)

Then I had an idea. I carefully moved the
pipe to the table next to the tool box. I tried with all my might to will Becky
to see the weapon. My girl was a fighter; she just needed the right tools. Yes,
she saw it!

My heart soared as I saw the first hit.
It was solid and made a wonderful crunching sound. I knew that Caleb would be
feeling that tomorrow. Much to my surprise, she continued to get in a few more
blows before throwing the pipe at his head. There was no doubt in my mind that
she was pissed, but she soon came to her senses. She looked completely
terrified as she ran from the garage. God, I was totally in love with this
woman now!

When she ran past my hiding place and out
the door, I knew that I couldn't follow just yet. I was not going to be as
lenient on this fuck face lying on the floor in front of me. I had waited years
to get in a few hits on this asshole. I had him right where I wanted him.

Without a word, I grabbed the pipe and
crashed it down again and again. He tried to block the blows, but one of my
swings caught his hand, causing a loud crack. I had broken his thumb. That
snapped me out of my rage. I gathered my wits and the pipe and left to find my
Becky. I couldn’t leave the pipe there. They would be able to get fingerprints
off it, and although I didn’t give a shit about me, I didn’t want Becky to take
shit for sticking up for herself.

So here I was, running through the
fucking woods in the rain, trying to find my girl. If I had just followed her
when she left the garage, she might not be lost. Instead, I handled the
situation the only way I knew how, and Caleb was now feeling the pain. I hid
the pipe in an old hollow tree and covered it with leaves and dirt, but not
before rubbing our fingerprints off the best I could. I thought about calling
out her name, but I knew she would think it was one of the guys from the
garage. She had never heard my voice, and that would scare the hell out of her.

What worried me the most was the fact
that she was so clumsy. Most of the time I found this to be one of the cutest
things about her. She was always bumping into things, and falling down. She
never got upset, and she would always try to laugh it off. However, now we were
running through very dense foliage. I just knew she would get hurt. I had to
find her. I knew these woods fairly well, but this was like searching for a
needle in a haystack. She could be anywhere.

It was getting dark. My panic was almost
crushing me. I couldn’t breathe, but I couldn’t stop searching. I paused for a
moment and tried to catch my breath and ease the pain in my chest. That's when
I saw her. I would have missed her had I not stopped. She was at the bottom of
a small ravine, lying in a shallow stream of running water. She was twisted in
a horrible position, and her body lay still. My angel, my dream, my Becky. I
couldn’t get to her fast enough.

Marcus

I
immediately started my descent into the nightmare before me. The ravine was not
deep, but the sides leading down to the bottom were steep. With the torrential
rain, my footing was very unstable. I slid most of the way down, and was now
covered in mud and wet grass. Becky was lying face up, and I could tell by the
way her legs were bent that she must have been unconscious when she landed. I
was afraid to touch her. She was so still. I carefully put my finger to her
cold neck, and I felt a strong heartbeat.

It was hard to tell how long she had been
lying here in the rain and mud, but her lips had a light blue tint to them, indicating
that she was freezing. I knew enough about staying out too long in the
elements; I had spent many nights outside the window of the angel before me. I
also knew that if I didn’t get her somewhere warm fast, she could go into
shock, or worse, succumb to hypothermia. The problems I had to remedy were where
to go and how to get there.

The rain was coming down in sheets and
showed no indication of stopping any time soon. As gently as I could, I reached
under her neck and placed my arm around her. I put my other arm under her knees
and brought her to my chest. She was lifeless and light. This was the first and
perhaps the only time I would be able to get this close to her, and I took a
moment to savor the feel of her body tight against mine. I was rewarded with
her scent. She smelled like my dreams. I was broken out of my spell by a crack
of thunder from the heavens. That was my cue to get moving, and I was not going
to let down the gods if they were going to help me save my angel.

I quickly and carefully climbed back up
the ravine, falling only once over a low-lying branch. I was now on fairly even
ground and trying to get somewhere fast. My arms and back were aching from the
strain of carrying Becky and my legs were on fire, but my body was full of adrenaline,
and I continued to move.

I stopped briefly under a large tree to
momentarily shift her weight and catch my breath. The sudden jostle caused
Becky to cry out. She didn't open her eyes as she yelled, “Please don’t hurt
me!”

I put my forehead on the top of her head
to comfort her anyway I could. “My Becky, I’m going to take care of you. I will
get you to a safe place, just stay with me, my angel.” I reached up and tried
to smooth out the hair that was matted to her face, and saw a large bump
forming on the side of her head. She must have hit her head when she fell. I
had to move.

I was getting desperate. We were
hopelessly lost. In normal circumstances, I would have probably been able to
figure out where I was in the dense forest, but these circumstances were
anything but normal. My mind could not focus on where I was, and the rain was
making everything look so different. I could hardly see two feet ahead of me. I
was afraid I was going to fail. This was my one chance, and I was going to fuck
it up just like everything else in my life.

Tears began to fall down my cheeks, and
my heart began to break. There was no telling how long I had run with my Becky
in my arms, but I was clearly exhausted. I started to stumble more often. I was
losing the battle.

I stopped again and looked to Becky for
strength.

She was staring at me. “Please don’t
cry,” she whispered. “I am with you.”

I couldn't move my eyes from her stare. I
couldn't speak. I couldn't even breathe.

She reached up to caress my face and
whispered, “My mystery man.” With that, she closed her eyes and fell quiet.

Fuck it, Marcus. Stop your damn crying
and find a way out of this.

I pulled her tighter and took a long
breath. “Please help me. I need help. Someone!” I yelled.

Another loud crack of lightning and
thunder crashed through the sky, making everything bright. I saw our salvation
illuminated through the trees. About fifty yards ahead of us was a small cabin.
It looked like a ranger station. I didn’t care if it was the fifth circle of
hell, at least I could get us out of the rain.

I was a man determined. With each step, I
got stronger. I was sprinting before I knew it. Within seconds, I was setting
Becky down on the steps and breaking a small window to reach in to unlock the
door. I scooped her up and finally was able to get her out of the rain.

The rain hitting the roof of the small
cabin was deafening. I could hardly hear myself think. I laid Becky down and
searched for something to help us get warm. I took in our surroundings. There
was a small table and one chair, a few books thrown about on the floor, and a
small shelf with a few cans of some type of food. Luckily, I also found three
blankets and a pillow. I stretched one down on the floor.

Before I placed her on the makeshift bed,
I knew I had to get the wet clothes off of her. They would only keep her from
regaining her warmth. I started with her shoes and socks. Then I moved to her
shirt and pants, all of which were completely soaked with rain water. I tried
to get as much of the rainwater out of the clothes as possible, and I laid them
out on the chair and the table to dry. I returned my gaze to Becky.

Until now, I had only been trying to get
her warm, but now I saw her. She lay before me clad only in a dark blue bra and
matching underwear. She was perfect. I had to touch her. Just one touch. I
reached out and the softness of her skin took my breath away. I ran my fingers
down her stomach, leaving a trail of goose bumps on her skin. Becky began to
shiver. I desperately thought about how to get her warm. I wrapped her up in
one of the blankets and laid the other on top of her.

Becky continued to shake. A dim memory
surfaced about skin-to-skin contact being the best way to conserve body heat. I
began to strip off my wet clothes, but I left my boxers on, even though they
were as wet as everything else. This was pushing it far enough; there was no
way I was going to be able to lay next to her naked.

 I raised the blankets and crawled
up next to her. I pulled her body as close to mine as I could. I tucked the
blankets around us, and I wrapped my arm around her back. I could feel her
erect nipples on my chest. They were cold and hard even through the bra. I
began to rub her back in circles. Her legs were still shaking, so I curled my
leg over the top of hers. I was trying everything I could to bring her as close
to me as possible. We were sharing our warmth and our breath. I began to count
the rise and fall of her chest with her breathing. I willed myself to share the
same pattern. Before long my eyelids began to droop, and I drifted off into the
best sleep of my life.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rebecca  

Why was I so cold? I tried to grab for my
blanket, but was stopped by a heavy weight on my arms and legs. I reached out
to see what was holding me down and felt the warmth of skin. My eyes shot open,
and I saw that I was face to face with a sleeping boy.

My first reaction was to scream and get
away, but my head was killing me. I tried again to sit up, and the arm that was
covering my back rolled off. I was able to sit up on my elbows and look around.

Nothing I saw was recognizable. I felt
the fear return, and with that my head began to throb harder. I glanced down at
the figure lying next to me. I knew him, but from where? I gently brushed his
hair out of his eyes and was stunned. It was Marcus Roberts! I had to get up.
As gently as I could manage, I pulled my legs out from under his. I sat all the
way up and took in my surroundings again. I stood up and looked out the window.

What happened to me?

I tried to think back about the last
thing I could remember. Caleb’s angry face flashed into my mind. I remembered him
and Julie having sex, him coming after me, and me hitting him. I suddenly felt
sick and ran to the door of the cabin. I threw the door open and barely made it
outside before I began to heave.

Once I regained control, I noticed the
steps. Then my eyes found the broken window.
Marcus.
Marcus had brought
me here; he must have broken the window to open the door. I slowly turned back
to the pile of blankets and saw Marcus awake and looking at me.

“Good morning,” he said. I just gaped at
him with my mouth open. He was beautiful. The sun was coming in through the
window and reflecting off of his hair. He looked like an angel, and he reached
a hand out to me. I took a moment to get my first real look at him.  His
hair was a light brown with sun kissed blonde highlights. The color only
accentuated the blue of his eyes. I had known he was beautiful, but at this
moment he took my breath away.   “I'm Marcus Roberts; please don’t be
afraid.” He looked as if he wanted to shake my hand. I was so stunned that I
reached out and took his hand in mine.

“I’m Rebecca Hunter, but you can call me
Becky.” My voice sounded so stupid. What was wrong with me? It was not as if I
hadn’t sat next to him in History all year.

“I know you, Becky,” he said with a smile.
“I know a lot about you.”

I was intrigued. “What exactly do you
know about me?” He had never even spoken to me before. How could he possibly know
me?

He seemed to be thinking about something,
but then he spoke. “I know you wake up every morning and greet the world with a
smile. I know that your life at home is not very desirable. I know that Richard
says horrible mean things to you when he drinks, which is most nights. I know
that you don’t feel beautiful when you come to school and see all the other
girls. You are a kind and gentle soul who defends the underdog. You are a good
student and enjoy reading almost anything, but you love the classics. When you
are nervous you bite your bottom lip and twirl your hair with your right
forefinger. I know that you are the most beautiful thing I have ever seen, and
I would walk to the end of the world to be with you. I am also aware that
yesterday was your birthday, and I am sorry I am late in wishing you a happy
eighteenth birthday.”

I was stunned. Who was this beautiful
person sitting in front of me? It surely wasn’t the reclusive boy who never
spoke to anyone and never looked anyone in the eye. How could he know all of
this? How could the one person I had never said more than two words to know it
had been my birthday, and the people who I knew best didn't have a clue?

Only one thing made sense. “Have you been
stalking me?” I really didn’t mean it in a bad way, but it was a bit strange
that he knew things about me that no one else on the planet knew.

“Would it freak you out if I told you
yes?” He looked away from me, looking ashamed. “I just had to get to know you.
I felt this connection with you since the first time I saw you. I never meant
you any harm. I just had to know you were safe. You get yourself into too many
‘difficult’ situations.” He looked back at me and almost seemed to be willing
me to read his mind.

“Caleb? You were there.” I felt a lump in
my throat. “You saw what I did.”

“I not only saw, but I guess you could
say I all but instigated it. I was behind the tool box, ready to help if you
needed me. Which you didn’t. I must say you have quite the swing.” There was a
small smile on his lips as he remembered the moment I smashed Caleb with the
pipe. “Don’t worry about anything. I took care of it after you left. No one will
find the weapon you used.”

Did that make me feel better? I put my
hand to my chest and realized that I was standing in my underwear. “Wait! Where
are my clothes?” I started to panic again.

“Becky, please don’t get upset. They are
here drying. I had to take them off of you last night. You and I were both
soaked from the rain, and I was afraid that if I didn’t warm you up, you could
have died.” He motioned to a chair where my clothes were draped out.

“So you took off my clothes?” I said,
embarrassed.

“Yes, but I swear I didn’t look.” He
smiled again, and I realized that he was looking at me now. I grabbed a blanket
and wrapped it around me.

“I’m sorry. No one's ever seen me like
this before.” My whole body turned red from the embarrassing blush.

“I must say that you are more perfect
than I had ever imagined.” Marcus got up and started putting on his clothes. I
noticed how perfect his body looked. He had beautiful skin and toned muscles
all over his body. To say that I was just a little turned on would be an
understatement.

“You are pretty perfect yourself,” I said
under my breath and the blush returned. He had wiggled into his still damp
jeans and walked over to me with my shirt.

He reached out and grabbed me behind my
neck. His warm hands contrasted with the chill on my skin. It felt like magic.
I was instantly warm all over my body. I closed my eyes and let out a small
moan. My hands came up to his chest. I had to feel him. I wanted him closer to
me. It was as if our bodies were made for each other, calling to each other for
comfort.

I opened my eyes to look into his deep
hazel ones. This was the first time I had seen his eyes, and I was captivated.
I melted. His other hand snaked around my waist and pulled my body close to his
chest. My hands instinctively moved up to under his arms and up against his back.

“You are so warm; you feel so good,” I
said, and I raised my eyes to his. I let the blanket fall, and he pulled the
shirt around me. I continued to gaze into his eyes, and I noticed his tongue
dart out of his mouth and drag across his lips. He looked hesitant.