Chapter 13 "Happy Freakin' Birthday"
A/N: these take a while to put up I know, but I gotta get some good ideas in my head before I put something on a 'hard copy' This part is one of the reasons I give this story an R rating. Be advised it's graphic.
*****
CRASH
"It's been real" Cree stood up from the table that she occupied with Max and Logan, whom Max had managed to drag away from his work for one night.
"You too girl" Max returned, knocking fists with the woman standing over her.
"Glad you were able to pull yourself away from the 'office' for a while" Cree addressed Logan beside Max.
"Yeah" Logan shrugged "Figured I owed you two one night of no work" he adjusted the glasses on his face.
Cree slapped his shoulder "Glad too. Can't just waste time with work" she looked at Max, "with so many other nice things around here" she smiled "I'm out, gotta catch some sleep before work. Late"
"Aiight" Max stated in a good-bye, watching her new friend leave.
"She still has barriers" Logan spoke up after Cree left
Max played with the edge of her beer mug "can't expect her to be all open after the shit that's happened to her"
"I agree" Logan concurred "Anyway, even with all the barriers she's a good person, hard, but not like I don't know anyone like that"
This made Max smile "anyone I know?"
Logan returned the gesture "Maybe"
*****
OUTSIDE CRASH
Cree pulled out the keys to the stolen car she had been driving around since she got here. She slid the key in the lock of the driver's side, feeling something brush her skin above the dip in her black halter top, near the small Chinese dragon tattooed on her shoulder. She turned, looking down at her bare skin, finding a hair that had fallen out of the ponytail clip she used to pull back her long black hair.
She plucked at the hair, throwing it down onto the street, before whipping around to try the key again. A noise, a small sound of something crackling made her turn back around. Seeing nothing she chalked it up to paranoia and went back to try and again open the door to the car.
Before she could say anything however something in the night threw her down onto the filthy street. She landed hard on her back, most of the wind being knocked out of her.
The glint of a knife was at her throat, and a figure with rancid breath was pressed up against her.
"How much you worth baby?" the man suddenly laughed at this "forget it. Not like I'd pay you anyway-" he was cut off when Cree head butted him, a move she remembered from her Jit-Su days, the martial art that she had gotten black belt status from.
This caught her attacker off guard, but not enough. "You bitch!" he was back on her like an animal, slicing at her clothes with the knife. "Gonna do you so hard that NO man would want you" he cut a slit in her velvet pants, exposing her underwear. He screwed the knife at her top, and just yanked the halter down off her breasts, tearing off her black strapless bra at the same time. "You got nice candy bitch you know that?" he sucked her
Cree grabbed his jaw in her hand, making him bite down on his tounge. The man spat the blood resulting from the cut on his tounge at her face. "Whore!" he slapped her across the face, raising up the blade in the Swiss army knife again. "How about I give you a lil Jack the Ripper style surgery-"
The knife fell out of his hand, after Cree found his balls with her shoe. He gasped at this, allowing her enough time to crawl out from under him, reaching for the knife he dropped.
"No way in hell slut!" Cree's attacker, stood up, albeit sluggishly and went to tackle her again.
"Your momma ever tell you not to mess with knives?" Max threw him off course by slamming him into the brick wall of the bar.
The man leered hatefully at her "Gonna get it for that you bitch-" he met the wall again
"Little sick of being called a bitch, shit" Max returned, easily sending him back into the wall without breaking a sweat She leaned next to his face "I ever catch you here again trying to mess with my girl, or ANY other girl like that, gonna feed your limp biscuit to the rats out here" she banged his head against the wall.
"Cree" while Max was taking care of the man, Logan knelt next to the young woman. He was about to ask her if she was okay, but he could tell that by simply looking at her torn clothes and blood from where her attacker had gone deeper with the knife then just cotton.
Cree almost hit him when he touched her, thinking for a moment that she was back in the brothel. But at the last minute she realized that this was Logan, Max's boyfriend, and that he would never hurt her. "Thought this kinda thing was over for me" she bit her lip, tasting the blood that the man spat at her in her mouth.
Logan removed his leather jacket, placing it over her body to give her back some dignity. She had no coat and it was a cold night.
Max had left the scum where she threw him, and stepped over to where Logan was kneeling next to Cree. "Can you stand on your own?" she asked to the other woman, becoming pissed as hell at the blood on her friend's face.
Cree answered her question by doing it "Can't even have a normal night anymore" her breath hitched. She paused when she felt something wet near her bottom "Shit" she bit her lip again, looking towards Max, because this was something another woman could understand "Max-"
Max understood what she meant, "Logan let's take her back to my place so she can clean up. Her crib complex is a dump" she spoke this before Cree could finish so she would have some dignity preserved tonight. "That okay girl?"
"Yeah" Cree's voice was barely a whisper
Without a word Logan picked up the young woman. Cree didn't come right out and say it, but he knew that it was hurting her to stand up.
"What about the car?" Max spoke up "If it's left someone will run the tags"
"I'll call someone to bring it over to my place" Logan suggested
*****
SECTOR TEN
MAX AND CINDY'S APARTMENT
"Here boo" Cindy stepped into the bathroom where Max and Cree were, some clothes in her hand. "Things are old, but they're comfortable" in her hand were a pair of black sweat pants and a gray tank top of Max's
"Thanks" Cree spoke out "Set'em over there" she continued to run water over herself, warm to flush out the blood
Max bent low, looking at the abrasions "They're not too bad" She had been taught how to care for herself back at Manticore in case, and this was the sick part, she had to have sex undercover. If she tore she had to make sure to find it and seal it off with a heated blade so her blood couldn't be traced. "They were dirty as hell, and all that knocking around didn't help
Cree was hesitant at first to let someone touch her, but back there it had been men who did the touching, so she felt safer with a woman.
"Not gonna lie" Max told her honestly, holding a small heated switchblade she warmed up with a lighter. Cree couldn't go to a hospital or she would most likely be ratted out, and this would keep bleeding if it wasn't sealed somehow. "This is gonna sting like hell, so if you feel like you gotta scream just do it." she moved the blade inside, going slowly, to make sure she got it right, and didn't hurt her any more than necessary.
"Shit!" Cree started to curse. Her eyes watered "Mother fuckin', son-of-a-bitch!" she ran through her curse word vocabulary for the agonizing three minutes.
"I'm done" Max finally announced "She removed the knife, throwing it in the bowl of bleach she had set on the toilet. "You alive?" she touched Cree's long black hair, tucking some behind her ear.
Cree actually managed a smile at this "Great present huh?"
Max was confused at her cryptic remark "What do you mean?" she put on some ointment to ward off infection.
"My eighteenth birthday" Cree answered her question "Happened officially and hour ago"
Max chucked the gloves in the trash "Your gonna be sore girl, but I think you know that. We'll go out for a while, let you get changed" she didn't say anything about it being her birthday, because there was nothing there that would be appropriate.
"Be right outside suga" Cindy pointed out "If you need help, just give a holla kay?"
"Appreciate this guys" Cree tried to fall into her regular street banter "Happy birthday to me I guess"
*****
"It's her birthday!" was the first thing Max said coming into her living room "This is just sick" her voice was passionate.
"I know boo" Cindy agreed "Shit's messed up."
"The people who did this to her are sick too" Logan agreed "The worst part is they don't even care-" he fell silent when Cree came out of the bathroom.
"Guys I know your talkin' bout me" she walked slowly into the room "Won't say anything I haven't already heard" she gave a humorless laugh "Cree you got screwed, got the short end of the stick, you're a messed up ex-whore-" her words got angry at the end, and she threw two glasses against the wall "Your son-of-a-bitch ex stole three years of your life!" she was gasping from the outburst "And the guy at the bar still thinks of you as a slut" her words trailed off and she started to cry.
Cindy went over to her and hugged Cree in the middle of the floor "I want it back Cindy" Cree cried as Cindy hugged her.
"I know ya do suga" Cindy told her "be aiight"
A few tears dropped from Cree's eyes "Miss my mom and my sister. Jade probably thinks I'm dead. My little baby sister, I just want her back-"
Logan looked behind him when he heard a door shut.
Max leaned against her bedroom door. /I'm being selfish. So damn 'all 'bout me'/ she jumped from the door when Logan came through it.
"You okay?" he asked her, standing a few feet away from her.
"I'm good" her words were angry "There's a woman who was tortured and abused for three years crying in my living room, but all I can think about is me"
Logan was confused at her words "What do you mean?"
"Eva" Max spoke up suddenly "Cree's in there re-living shit hell and all I came up with in my mind is that Eva got blown away twelve years today-"
"It's natural to feel upset" Logan objected, "You watched her be gunned down right in front of you"
"But at least-"
"At least what?" Logan cut her off "She didn't get tortured sexually like Cree?" he stepped closer to her "She still had her life taken away from her by a rat bastard. It's no different."
"But it's still wrong to think about only myself" Max objected
Logan reached out and touched her face "You loved Eva Max, there's nothing wrong with feeling this way on the day she was killed"
Max made a low noise in the back of her throat, before hugging him without a word
Logan returned the gesture "It's okay to miss her" he told her
Max blinked back tears, staying in the embrace for a few seconds. "I'm going out there again, wallowing in my own pity's not gonna help here" she pulled away from him and headed for the door.
"Max-" Logan called out to her before she left
"I'm good," she repeated heading out.
*****
Sorry this took so long to getup. I am working on 'Choices 13' and I got deep into that so I didn't get to this for a while. I typed this in one afternoon so let me know whatcha think. I'm still keeping up this story, it just takes a while when you have a series to write, and keep getting ideas for OTHER fics like me.
Hope that wasn't too graphic for anyone. Just wanted to show Cree finally releasing some of that pent up rage from being a prisoner for three years. R/R please.
A/N: these take a while to put up I know, but I gotta get some good ideas in my head before I put something on a 'hard copy' This part is one of the reasons I give this story an R rating. Be advised it's graphic.
*****
CRASH
"It's been real" Cree stood up from the table that she occupied with Max and Logan, whom Max had managed to drag away from his work for one night.
"You too girl" Max returned, knocking fists with the woman standing over her.
"Glad you were able to pull yourself away from the 'office' for a while" Cree addressed Logan beside Max.
"Yeah" Logan shrugged "Figured I owed you two one night of no work" he adjusted the glasses on his face.
Cree slapped his shoulder "Glad too. Can't just waste time with work" she looked at Max, "with so many other nice things around here" she smiled "I'm out, gotta catch some sleep before work. Late"
"Aiight" Max stated in a good-bye, watching her new friend leave.
"She still has barriers" Logan spoke up after Cree left
Max played with the edge of her beer mug "can't expect her to be all open after the shit that's happened to her"
"I agree" Logan concurred "Anyway, even with all the barriers she's a good person, hard, but not like I don't know anyone like that"
This made Max smile "anyone I know?"
Logan returned the gesture "Maybe"
*****
OUTSIDE CRASH
Cree pulled out the keys to the stolen car she had been driving around since she got here. She slid the key in the lock of the driver's side, feeling something brush her skin above the dip in her black halter top, near the small Chinese dragon tattooed on her shoulder. She turned, looking down at her bare skin, finding a hair that had fallen out of the ponytail clip she used to pull back her long black hair.
She plucked at the hair, throwing it down onto the street, before whipping around to try the key again. A noise, a small sound of something crackling made her turn back around. Seeing nothing she chalked it up to paranoia and went back to try and again open the door to the car.
Before she could say anything however something in the night threw her down onto the filthy street. She landed hard on her back, most of the wind being knocked out of her.
The glint of a knife was at her throat, and a figure with rancid breath was pressed up against her.
"How much you worth baby?" the man suddenly laughed at this "forget it. Not like I'd pay you anyway-" he was cut off when Cree head butted him, a move she remembered from her Jit-Su days, the martial art that she had gotten black belt status from.
This caught her attacker off guard, but not enough. "You bitch!" he was back on her like an animal, slicing at her clothes with the knife. "Gonna do you so hard that NO man would want you" he cut a slit in her velvet pants, exposing her underwear. He screwed the knife at her top, and just yanked the halter down off her breasts, tearing off her black strapless bra at the same time. "You got nice candy bitch you know that?" he sucked her
Cree grabbed his jaw in her hand, making him bite down on his tounge. The man spat the blood resulting from the cut on his tounge at her face. "Whore!" he slapped her across the face, raising up the blade in the Swiss army knife again. "How about I give you a lil Jack the Ripper style surgery-"
The knife fell out of his hand, after Cree found his balls with her shoe. He gasped at this, allowing her enough time to crawl out from under him, reaching for the knife he dropped.
"No way in hell slut!" Cree's attacker, stood up, albeit sluggishly and went to tackle her again.
"Your momma ever tell you not to mess with knives?" Max threw him off course by slamming him into the brick wall of the bar.
The man leered hatefully at her "Gonna get it for that you bitch-" he met the wall again
"Little sick of being called a bitch, shit" Max returned, easily sending him back into the wall without breaking a sweat She leaned next to his face "I ever catch you here again trying to mess with my girl, or ANY other girl like that, gonna feed your limp biscuit to the rats out here" she banged his head against the wall.
"Cree" while Max was taking care of the man, Logan knelt next to the young woman. He was about to ask her if she was okay, but he could tell that by simply looking at her torn clothes and blood from where her attacker had gone deeper with the knife then just cotton.
Cree almost hit him when he touched her, thinking for a moment that she was back in the brothel. But at the last minute she realized that this was Logan, Max's boyfriend, and that he would never hurt her. "Thought this kinda thing was over for me" she bit her lip, tasting the blood that the man spat at her in her mouth.
Logan removed his leather jacket, placing it over her body to give her back some dignity. She had no coat and it was a cold night.
Max had left the scum where she threw him, and stepped over to where Logan was kneeling next to Cree. "Can you stand on your own?" she asked to the other woman, becoming pissed as hell at the blood on her friend's face.
Cree answered her question by doing it "Can't even have a normal night anymore" her breath hitched. She paused when she felt something wet near her bottom "Shit" she bit her lip again, looking towards Max, because this was something another woman could understand "Max-"
Max understood what she meant, "Logan let's take her back to my place so she can clean up. Her crib complex is a dump" she spoke this before Cree could finish so she would have some dignity preserved tonight. "That okay girl?"
"Yeah" Cree's voice was barely a whisper
Without a word Logan picked up the young woman. Cree didn't come right out and say it, but he knew that it was hurting her to stand up.
"What about the car?" Max spoke up "If it's left someone will run the tags"
"I'll call someone to bring it over to my place" Logan suggested
*****
SECTOR TEN
MAX AND CINDY'S APARTMENT
"Here boo" Cindy stepped into the bathroom where Max and Cree were, some clothes in her hand. "Things are old, but they're comfortable" in her hand were a pair of black sweat pants and a gray tank top of Max's
"Thanks" Cree spoke out "Set'em over there" she continued to run water over herself, warm to flush out the blood
Max bent low, looking at the abrasions "They're not too bad" She had been taught how to care for herself back at Manticore in case, and this was the sick part, she had to have sex undercover. If she tore she had to make sure to find it and seal it off with a heated blade so her blood couldn't be traced. "They were dirty as hell, and all that knocking around didn't help
Cree was hesitant at first to let someone touch her, but back there it had been men who did the touching, so she felt safer with a woman.
"Not gonna lie" Max told her honestly, holding a small heated switchblade she warmed up with a lighter. Cree couldn't go to a hospital or she would most likely be ratted out, and this would keep bleeding if it wasn't sealed somehow. "This is gonna sting like hell, so if you feel like you gotta scream just do it." she moved the blade inside, going slowly, to make sure she got it right, and didn't hurt her any more than necessary.
"Shit!" Cree started to curse. Her eyes watered "Mother fuckin', son-of-a-bitch!" she ran through her curse word vocabulary for the agonizing three minutes.
"I'm done" Max finally announced "She removed the knife, throwing it in the bowl of bleach she had set on the toilet. "You alive?" she touched Cree's long black hair, tucking some behind her ear.
Cree actually managed a smile at this "Great present huh?"
Max was confused at her cryptic remark "What do you mean?" she put on some ointment to ward off infection.
"My eighteenth birthday" Cree answered her question "Happened officially and hour ago"
Max chucked the gloves in the trash "Your gonna be sore girl, but I think you know that. We'll go out for a while, let you get changed" she didn't say anything about it being her birthday, because there was nothing there that would be appropriate.
"Be right outside suga" Cindy pointed out "If you need help, just give a holla kay?"
"Appreciate this guys" Cree tried to fall into her regular street banter "Happy birthday to me I guess"
*****
"It's her birthday!" was the first thing Max said coming into her living room "This is just sick" her voice was passionate.
"I know boo" Cindy agreed "Shit's messed up."
"The people who did this to her are sick too" Logan agreed "The worst part is they don't even care-" he fell silent when Cree came out of the bathroom.
"Guys I know your talkin' bout me" she walked slowly into the room "Won't say anything I haven't already heard" she gave a humorless laugh "Cree you got screwed, got the short end of the stick, you're a messed up ex-whore-" her words got angry at the end, and she threw two glasses against the wall "Your son-of-a-bitch ex stole three years of your life!" she was gasping from the outburst "And the guy at the bar still thinks of you as a slut" her words trailed off and she started to cry.
Cindy went over to her and hugged Cree in the middle of the floor "I want it back Cindy" Cree cried as Cindy hugged her.
"I know ya do suga" Cindy told her "be aiight"
A few tears dropped from Cree's eyes "Miss my mom and my sister. Jade probably thinks I'm dead. My little baby sister, I just want her back-"
Logan looked behind him when he heard a door shut.
Max leaned against her bedroom door. /I'm being selfish. So damn 'all 'bout me'/ she jumped from the door when Logan came through it.
"You okay?" he asked her, standing a few feet away from her.
"I'm good" her words were angry "There's a woman who was tortured and abused for three years crying in my living room, but all I can think about is me"
Logan was confused at her words "What do you mean?"
"Eva" Max spoke up suddenly "Cree's in there re-living shit hell and all I came up with in my mind is that Eva got blown away twelve years today-"
"It's natural to feel upset" Logan objected, "You watched her be gunned down right in front of you"
"But at least-"
"At least what?" Logan cut her off "She didn't get tortured sexually like Cree?" he stepped closer to her "She still had her life taken away from her by a rat bastard. It's no different."
"But it's still wrong to think about only myself" Max objected
Logan reached out and touched her face "You loved Eva Max, there's nothing wrong with feeling this way on the day she was killed"
Max made a low noise in the back of her throat, before hugging him without a word
Logan returned the gesture "It's okay to miss her" he told her
Max blinked back tears, staying in the embrace for a few seconds. "I'm going out there again, wallowing in my own pity's not gonna help here" she pulled away from him and headed for the door.
"Max-" Logan called out to her before she left
"I'm good," she repeated heading out.
*****
Sorry this took so long to getup. I am working on 'Choices 13' and I got deep into that so I didn't get to this for a while. I typed this in one afternoon so let me know whatcha think. I'm still keeping up this story, it just takes a while when you have a series to write, and keep getting ideas for OTHER fics like me.
Hope that wasn't too graphic for anyone. Just wanted to show Cree finally releasing some of that pent up rage from being a prisoner for three years. R/R please.