Warning Track

  Luke glanced at the gun in his hand again and brought it back to his head. Molly didn’t know who she was saving. She thought he was the man she once knew, the man who could protect her, take care of her like a man should, but she was wrong. Luke wasn’t even a quarter of that man anymore. He would be doing her a favor by dying, just like she originally thought.

  He was about the pull the trigger again when his hand was swatted away from his face and he was punched across the jaw.

  “What the fuck are you doing?!” Molly screamed, as tears streaked down her face. “What the fuck, Luke?” she sobbed over his body. Her body heaved as tears continued to fall from her eyes. “You can’t fucking do that, you can’t leave me again.”

  “You were better off without me,” Luke screamed, as he scrambled to get off the floor. “I can’t do this, Molly. I can’t live this life anymore. I don’t want to live this life anymore.”

  “But…”

  “No!” Luke shouted. “You don’t fucking get it, do you? Your stupid blonde head can’t actually comprehend what I’m going through. Why would you understand? All you’ve ever cared about is fucking, booze, and yourself. Not once have you ever cared to think about others or do something for others. I’m surprised you even have fucking friends who can stand to be near your self-absorbed personality. I can’t believe I stayed around for as long as I did.” Luke paced the room and then turned on her. “The only reason I proposed was because I felt fucking bad for you. You were a good fuck, so I would have been satisfied, but I didn’t love you. I only proposed so you would have someone to call family. I gave in to your pathetic ass.”

  The words that were coming out of Luke’s mouth were foreign to him. He didn’t know why he was saying them. He didn’t by any means mean them or believe them, but one thing he did know, by the look on her face, she was shattered. That was what he needed. He needed to destroy her because that would be the only way he could set her free and get away. He needed to get away.

  Tears flowed freely down Molly’s face as she sat on the floor, looking up at him.

  “You don’t mean that,” Molly said weakly. “You’re just upset, you’re hurt. You’ve had a really rough morning.”

  “Don’t fucking tell me how I’m feeling, you dumb-ass bitch. You have no fucking clue how I’m feeling, so don’t try to act like you do.”

  “Then tell me!” Molly screamed as she got up from the floor with a renewed confidence. “Fucking tell me!” She pushed him in the chest as she screamed in his face, shaking uncontrollably. “Tell me!”

  Rage built in Luke’s core as Molly pushed him across the room while screaming at him, screaming at him to open up, to fight back. Something in him snapped, something deep down fucking broke and the cage that was holding up all his pent-up anger busted open.

  Without even a second thought, Luke tossed Molly to the ground like she was a piece of kindling in his way, grabbed the chair that was in the corner of the room and chucked it across the room, slamming it into the wall, making a chair-sized dent in the plaster. He then proceeded to rip the closet doors off and slam them against the window, breaking them with ease.

  “Stop!” Molly shouted as she grabbed ahold of his back. In a matter of seconds, Luke was hit with a flashback that he had no chance of holding off.

  The room turned black as the smell of piss, blood and puke filled his senses. The loud footsteps of the man who would take him from behind entered the room. Adding to the mixture of human excrements that graced Luke’s nostrils, was the putrid smell of body odor and cheap cigarettes. Luke’s body fell to the floor, as he crouched into a child’s pose, clenching his thighs and ass cheeks together as tightly as possible, even though he was as weak as a mother fucker. He needed to put up a fight; he needed to show that he was still a man.

  Sirens sounded in the distance as Luke prepared himself, prepared to escape reality like he always did when the men came after him with whatever form of torture they found appropriate that day, whether it was their dicks, whips, water torture, swinging rocks, or ball ties. With his hands at his sides, he held on tight as voices filtered through the room.

  Molly’s voice was faint as he fought his demons; he couldn’t understand what she was saying, but her voice was shrill as two pairs of hands grabbed ahold of his body. This was it, he needed to find his happy place; it was the only way he’d survived. As he was manhandled, Luke drifted off to a place where no one could touch him; he drifted off to the beach where he and Molly held each other on a beach towel, enjoying the sun and each other’s bodies. He was at peace.

  **Connor**

  It was a lovely Saturday in Atlanta; the windows were open in Connor’s house, allowing a cool breeze to filter through, his beautiful girlfriend was taking nap in their bedroom and he was enjoying an ice cold beer while watching college football. If only Lucy wasn’t sleeping in the bedroom and instead was asleep on his lap, then life would be perfect.

  Alabama just scored a touchdown, making Connor roll his eyes as the doorbell rang, multiple times. Like a fucking ninja cheetah, Connor was out of his chair and at the front door in two seconds, so the person on the other side of the door didn’t wake up Lucy.

  Connor threw the door open right when Molly was about to ring the doorbell again. She was holding a box against the wall for support as she waited for him to answer the door.

  “Molly, what are you doing here?” Connor prayed that Lucy was still asleep because she was a beast when she woke up from naps; he could only imagine her turning into a fire-breathing dragon if she was woken from a nap by Molly.

  Molly’s face was puffy and her eyes were rimmed in red, like she had been crying for days. Forgetting about Lucy’s comfort for a second, he pulled the box from Molly, set it in the foyer and pulled Molly in for a hug.

  “Is everything okay?”

  “No,” she sobbed into his shirt. “I need you to go bail Luke out of jail.”

  “Jail?” Connor pulled Molly away from his chest for a second so he could look her in the eyes, make sure she wasn’t talking crazy. “What are you talking about?

  “Can we sit down?”

  No, but Connor didn’t say that. He knew if Lucy woke up and found Molly in their living room, she would give birth to their baby right there on the spot and he didn’t want that, but then again, he couldn’t turn away Molly, not when she was hurting so much and when his brother was apparently in jail.

  So, reluctantly, Connor led Molly into the kitchen where she sat on a bar stool.

  “Would you like something to drink?”

  “Can I have some water, please?”

  “Sure, now, what’s going on?” Connor asked as he grabbed a bottle of water and handed it to Molly, while sitting on the bar stool next to her.

  “The plan to kick Luke out of Nash’s place obviously worked and we reconnected, sort of, but this morning, something happened, something I’ve never seen before. I woke up to see him in the corner of our bedroom, rocking back and forth as if he was being tortured. It was scary as fuck, so I went to go comfort him and before I knew it, I was pinned to the ground with my hands behind my back and my wrists about to snap in half.” Molly lifted her wrists to Connor and he was taken aback by the severity of the bruising that wrapped around her wrists.

  “Fuck, are you okay?” Connor asked as he examined them.

  “Yeah, that’s not even the worst part. He finally let go and we got into it. I wanted to help him and, of course, he didn’t want help. I probably didn’t handle the situation to the best of my ability. I said the wrong things and…” a tear fell down Molly’s face that Connor quickly swiped away.

  “What happened?”

  “He went to the closet in our bedroom. At first I had no clue what the hell he was doing, but then it clicked, he was going for the gun we kept on the top shelf of the closet. By the time I got to the bedroom, he had the gun in his hand and was looking for bullets. It all happened so fast, but all I can remember is knocking the gun out of his hand
right before…” Molly choked on a sob, so Connor placed his hand on her shoulder and gently rubbed it with soothing motions. “He was inches away from taking his life right in front of me.”

  “Fuck…”

  Connor had no clue what to say as he tried to process what Molly was telling him about his brother. He’d almost lost his brother twice, and before Connor even had a chance to reconnect with him. Not taking the news well, Connor ran his hands over his face as he tried to rein in the emotions that were pounding through his heart.

  “The bullet went through the ceiling; luckily, we’re on the top floor. Once he realized what happened, he tried to pull the trigger on himself again. I’ve never been so scared in my entire life…and mad at the same time.”

  “Ah hell, Molly. I’m so sorry.”

  “I punched him in the face,” she confessed. “I didn’t know what else to do. I felt like I had to knock some sense into him, which didn’t help of course. Instead of destroying himself, he decided to destroy everything else around us, including me.” Molly wiped away her tears. “I’ve never heard him speak so cruelly to me before. It was like Luke’s body was there, but not his soul. His eyes were empty as he spoke and his actions were ones I’ve never seen before. One of the neighbors must have called the cops because, in seconds, Luke retreated into another spell like the one I woke up to and the cops came barging through our doors to arrest him.”

  Molly took a deep breath and looked up at Connor. “It’s not his fault, Connor. I tried to tell the cops that, but given the bullet hole, the bruises on my wrists and the total destruction of the bedroom, it looked like a classic domestic violence case.” Molly grabbed Connor’s hand and said, “I can’t have him in there any longer than he has to be. Who knows what will happen to him in there? …what flashback he might have, what the cell will do to him. I need to be with him, Connor.”

  Connor loved his brother and wanted nothing more than to help him out, but after what Molly had told him, he wondered if it was safer for Luke to stay in jail.

  “Molly, do think that’s the best choice? You could have been seriously hurt today. What if he turned the gun on you instead of himself?”

  “He would never hurt me.”

  Connor cocked an eyebrow. “Molly, are you listening to yourself? He had you pinned to the floor, seconds away from breaking both of your wrists. How is that not hurting you?”

  “You don’t get it.” Molly got off the chair and paced the kitchen, while holding her hand to her head like she had a headache. “He didn’t mean to do that, he didn’t mean to pin me down or hurt my wrists. That was not the man I used to know…”

  Connor cut her off. “Key words here are ‘used to know’, Molly. I love my brother more than anything, but he needs professional help. This isn’t a situation where you can save him. Your love for him isn’t going to solve his problems, no matter how much you want to believe that it will. If you want to help him, then you need to get him help. You can’t solve this.”

  “You don’t know the love we have, Connor.”

  “Yes, I do, and that’s why I’m telling you to find him help, because I don’t want to see what little you two have left be completely destroyed.”

  Molly lowered her head in what seemed like defeat, but when she made eye contact with Connor, only determination rang through her eyes.

  “Are you going to bail him out or not?”

  Knowing defeat when he met it, he nodded his head. Molly gave him a brief smile and walked out to the foyer where the box she brought sat.

  “Can you keep this in your house for now?”

  “What is it?” Connor asked, eyeing the box.

  “Luke’s guns, bullets, switchblades, and anything else that could be harmful to him.”

  Weapons, Molly was delivering every kind of weapon Luke could use against himself and her. He wanted to shake some sense into her, show her what she was doing.

  “Molly, this is crazy! You are…”

  “What are you doing here?”

  A heart couldn’t have bottomed out faster than Connor’s the minute he heard Lucy’s voice ring through the entryway. He spun around to see Lucy in a pair of sweatpants, a tight tank top with no bra, and a mess of hair that was not-so-gracefully swept to the side.

  “I’m just leaving,” Molly replied, as she looked at Connor with pity in her eyes. “Thanks for doing this for me, Connor. I appreciate it.” Just to add fuel to the flames, she squeezed his hand and pressed a kiss to his cheek. If Connor wasn’t so caught up with helping out his brother, he would have told Molly to go fuck herself because she just dug Connor a grave that he was going to have one hell of a time trying to get out of.

  **Parker**

  Tonight couldn’t come soon enough. Parker was an impatient man when he had his sights set on something he wanted. When he decided to visit San Diego on his break, it never occurred to him that he might fall for one of his best friends from college. Their relationship seemed so natural, so easy, that it was almost disturbing. Why hadn’t he ever tried to be with her in college? Was it because she and Lexi were best friends too and Parker was trying respect that? Whatever it was, he was kicking himself in the balls because one sexless night in the same bed as Margo had him begging for more.

  Parker was just starting to drift off to sleep when his phone rang next to him. He looked at the incoming call and smiled to himself. Of course, Lexi would call him a couple of hours before his big date with Margo; she had a sixth sense where her friends were concerned. That, or Margo talked to her and told her all about their date.

  “Hey, kid, how’s it going?” Parker asked, as he sat up in his lounge chair.

  “Hey, Parker. Everything’s great, how about you?”

  “Well, let me see…”

  “Margo told me,” Lexi squealed into the phone, causing Parker to roll his eyes. “Oh my God, Parker I’m so damn excited. It’s about time you two got together. I can’t tell you how long…”

  “Babe, give the guy a break,” Jake said in the background.

  “Oh, shut it,” Lexi scolded her husband Jake Taylor, who was the quarterback for the San Diego Thunder. Their relationship in college was painful to watch because, one day they were together, and the next they were either fighting like dogs or ripping each other’s hearts out. Luckily, they’d been able to grow up and find themselves since then, but every once in a while he saw the defiant little Lexi come out and the stubborn old Jake reappear.

  Lexi turned her attention back to their phone conversation and said, “So, what do you have planned?”

  Knowing she wasn’t going to drop the subject until Parker gave her the information she wanted, and there was no possible chance of getting help from Jake, Parker gave in.

  “My buddy down at the marina is going to let me borrow his boat for the night. I have a bistro catering some food, and I’m going to pick up some wine before I head over to her place to pick her up. I plan on getting out to sea just far enough away from the noise to watch the sunset, while drinking some wine and eating some quiche. I plan on wearing a pair of dark colored jeans, a button-up navy blue checkered shirt, and wearing my hair in my usual faux hawk. I was thinking about getting her flowers, but realized she’s not the flower kind of girl, so instead, I got her a box of Band-Aids. Is that enough information, or do you want me to elaborate more on my conversational topics and positioning of my body on the boat so I show off my best assets?” Parker deadpanned.

  “Well, aren’t you charming today? I hope your mood changes by the time you go to pick Margo up. And Band-Aids? What the hell is that?”

  Parker thought about her busted up knee and thigh and smiled to himself. She was going to need a lot of Band-Aids to cover that knee until those gashes healed.

  “Inside joke.”

  “Oh, and let me guess, I’m on the outside.”

  “You guessed right, kid.”

  “I don’t know if I like this whole set-up if you two are going to keep things from me.”
r />   “You can’t always be in everyone’s business,” Parker teased.

  “When it comes to my two best friends, I can be in their business. I need to know everything about you two.” She paused for a second and then blurted, “Are you going to have sex?”

  “Lexi!” Jake scolded in the background, making Parker laugh.

  “Oh, don’t tell me you weren’t wondering the same thing,” Lexi replied over the phone so Parker could still hear her.

  There was some shuffling around with the phone and some grunts; Parker wondered if Jake and Lexi were having one of their infamous fights.

  “Parker?” Jake’s voice came through the phone.

  “Hey, man.”

  “Damn, sorry about my nosy wife.”

  Parker chuckled, as he could envision Lexi trying to grab the phone away from Jake, but Jake stiff-arming her to her forehead as she swiped away to grasp anything in her vicinity.

  “I’m used to it. Believe me, in college, she was the biggest cock blocker in the world. I’d be with a girl in my room and she would come in to ‘talk’ and wait until the girl I was with was dressed and heading out the door until she told me something like she was hungry for mac and cheese.”

  Jake laughed into the phone. “Sounds about right. She’s gorgeous as hell, but sometimes doesn’t use her brain like she should.”

  “Hey!” Lexi shouted in the background, while also asking for the phone back.

  “Are you ready for the game tomorrow?”

  “I will be once Lexi takes care of the hard on I’ve been sporting since she put on her skimpy lingerie.”

  “Jake Taylor!” Lexi shouted, as the phone was shuffled around again. “I’m changing once I get off the phone with Parker. You’ve lost all touching privileges now.”

  Parker laughed as he heard Jake poke the fire by telling her there was no way she would be able to resist him. Jealousy settled in as he listened to Jake and Lexi playfully bantering with each other. Parker wanted that. He wanted what Jake and Lexi had, maybe with a less dramatic beginning, but he wanted love; he wanted to be able to spend his life with someone, get lost in them. Margo’s face came into his head once he started thinking about a future with someone. They had a long ways to go, but damn if he wasn’t happy with the way things were already going.