Ink's Second Chance - Carol Dawn Page 0,19

off of me.

I’m not sure how long I lay in bed crying before I finally pull myself together. I need to think rationally even though I’m scared and only want to curl in a ball and die.

I don’t know if the man who raped me wore a condom, so I need to get to the hospital. Luckily, the man I was hitting with my phone simply plucked it from my hands and placed it on the bed.

I feel as if I’m not really present as I plug the phone in, power it up, and dial 911.

“911, what’s your emergency?”

“My name is Rachel Justice,” I hear myself distantly say. “I live at the apartment complex on Washington, apartment thirty-four B. I was just raped.”

“Rachel,” the dispatcher says. “Is your attacker still in your home?”

“No, I don’t think so.”

“Can you go and lock your door?”

“I’m a paraplegic,” I explain. “And my chair is too far away.”

“That’s alright, Rachel. Can you tell me where you’re at in your apartment?”

“I’m in my bedroom on my bed,” I answer. “Please hurry.”

I hang up the phone and lay back down. Knowing that people will be crowded in my room, I take the blanket from the other side of the bed and drape it over my now naked body.

Why can’t I feel anything? I know I’m scared and in pain. My body is shaking, and my heart is racing. But I just lay here waiting for the paramedics to arrive.

Chapter Eleven

Ink

It’s three in the morning and I can’t fall asleep. I head downstairs and see what we have to snack on.

“I guess I wasn’t the only one unable to sleep,” I say when I see Wolf, Slim, Bear, Bella, and Laura all sitting on the sofas.

“Must be in the air,” Wolf says.

I walk over and take an empty seat next to Bella.

“Talking about anything interesting?” I ask.

“Just about the children,” Bella says. “Laura is concerned about how these lockdowns will affect their emotional well-being.”

“They seem to be handling it well,” I say. “Luckily we haven’t had many lockdowns and hopefully we won’t have anymore. But the children seem to actually enjoy them.”

“Because they don’t have to go to school,” Laura says, laughing. “But I think you’re right. They seem to be fine.”

I lean back in my chair and look around.

“I thought we had a tv in here,” I say.

“We did,” Slim answers. “But I needed one more screen to hook my system to. So, it’s in Bear’s office temporarily.”

I’m about to give Slim a lecture on taking the only source of entertainment we have during this lockdown when someone’s phone rings.

“That’s me,” Laura says, reaching for her phone on the table beside her seat. “Who would be calling at this time of night?”

“Hello,” she answers. “This is her. May I ask whose calling?”

We all wait in anticipation as she listens to the caller on the other line.

I smile. We are a nosey bunch.

“What?” Laura whispers.

The worry in her voice has us all interested for a different reason.

“Oh, god, no,” she says, tears filling her eyes. “Yeah, I’ll be right there.”

Laura hangs up the phone and dread fills me when she looks right in my eyes.

“Rachel was attacked,” she says and my heart stops. “She’s at the hospital but they say that she’s going to be physically fine.”

I can’t speak. I can’t move. I can’t fucking breathe.

“Physically?” Slim asks the question on my mind. “What about mentally?”

The tears that were pooling in Laura’s eyes fall.

“I’m not sure,” she admits shakily. “She was raped.”

A sound I’ve never heard before rips out of my body as I stand and race for my room.

“Ink,” someone yells.

But I don’t give a fuck. Nothing matters now except getting to my woman’s side. I grab my keys and run back down the stairs. Before I get to the exit, I’m grabbed from behind.

“Brother, you need to take a deep breath and center yourself before you get on that bike.”

“Trigger, if you don’t release me in the next three seconds, I’m going to rip your fucking arms off,” I say as calmly as possible.

“Think rationally, brother,” Bear says, coming to stand in front of me. “You have one of the fastest bikes out there. If you get on that beast with a clouded mind, you’ll end up killing yourself before you have a chance to kill the person who hurt your woman.”

“RAPED!” I scream. “YOU MEAN THE PERSON WHO FUCKING RAPED MY WOMAN!”

I can’t contain the anger no matter how hard I try, but I