Taking Control Again
It was a stormy night and rain was coming down in torrents from the sky. Keira had always hated storms, ever since she could remember. There was just something about them that freaked her out. She could remember being a little girl and running into Josh's room when she was woken up by the cracks of thunder and lightning. She was all alone in the house with Haylee, Brian and the others had gone out clubbing since the rain had ruined their plans to race. The only light coming in the house was coming from the television, which Keira was sitting across from watching the old episode of 'Friends' flashing on the screen. Just as she was starting to relax a little when the clap of thunder and the shocking flash of lightning caused her to jump and look out the window. As she did the sight that met her eyes terrified her.
He was here. She'd only gotten a glimpse of his face in the brief time that the sky had been lit up, but it was enough for her to know it was him without the slightest doubt in her mind. Jumping up she ran to the front door, not knowing if Tej had locked it on his way out earlier. She soon had her answer as she saw the handle turn. Without hesitation she threw all her weight against the door and pulled the chain lock tight. Then ran up the stairs and into the room that she was sharing with Haylee for the time being, and shut the door locking it. Hurrying to the twin bed that her niece was asleep on, she knelt down and began shaking her gently. The sound of the front door slam open, the shaking became a little rougher and her voice panicked as Keira said quietly,
"Haylee sweetie, wake up! C'mon doll we've gotta get out of here!" Slowly the little girl's eyes fluttered open, and stared at her aunt sleepily. Keira couldn't help feeling awful, but knew that she needed to do it to keep the both of them safe. Hearing his voice calling her name, getting louder as her came closer to them, she scooped Haylee into her arms, her eyes searched for a way out of the house. Her eyes instantly stopped on the window. Going over and looking out through the glass, she saw that he hadn't come alone. Two of his boys were standing in front of the house. It was then that she remembered the roof of the porch was right under her bedroom window, and there was a trellis connected to the back of the house. If she could get the two of them to the other side of the house they'd be able to get away. The sound of the wooden door cracking ripped her from her thoughts and she pushed the window open as fast as she could without making a noise. Climbing onto the roof the rain had soon soaked the two. Going to one of the triangular points sticking up from the roof she say Haylee on it and looking the little girl in directly in the eyes said,
"Haylee you've gotta promise to sit still. Whatever you do don't move, okay?"
"Kay Aunt Kiki." She answered wondering what was going on. As soon as she'd gotten her answer, Keira had begun to crawl up to where her niece was sitting, but lost her footing on the slick paneling of the house. The sound of wood splintering and the door busting open caused her to panic and quickly start climbing back up, ignoring the cut on the palm of her hand. She was almost there when she felt two hands plant themselves firmly on her hips and yank her down roughly. Turning around she looked up into his anger filled eyes. The next thing she knew he'd raised his arm and backhanded her across the face, making her head snap to the side. Wiping away the blood that had gathered in the corner of her mouth from the force of the hit, she looked back towards him strength and determination shining in her eyes. 'This is ending tonight.' She thought to herself, 'It should have stopped a long time ago but I can't change the past.'. Standing up to her full of five feet six inches, she pulled her arm back and landed one good punch to his jaw. She went to hit him again but this time he was ready for her and grabbed her arm twisting it behind her back and pulling her close to him. Leaning down he whispered into her ear,
"You know it that spunk that first attracted me to you, now unfortunately it's what's pulling you in deeper. Now all this foolishness can be stopped now if you pack your shit and come back home and settle this." His tone calm and controlled. She knew what he meant when he said they'd settle it, it meant that he'd beat the hell out of her and then come apologize like he did every other time. Wrenching her arm from his grasp she turned around and looked him straight in the eye and said,
"Fuck you! There's no way in hell I'm going back. Do you really think I'm that stupid? You think I'll go with you just to go back to being your punching bag again? Think again. I refuse to take the chance of you doing that to Haylee."
"I guess that's too bad then. Do you really think I'm going to leave you around for some other guy to take?" He asked taking a step toward her, and causing Keira to take a step backwards. He had a wild look in about him and it was starting to scare her, she'd never seen him like this, he looked crazy, like he'd attempt anything. As he continued to walk forward, she kept walking backwards, until she came to the edge of the roof. She felt trapped. Soon he was standing a mere few inches in front of her. Grabbing her wrists, he looked down on her in a condescending manner, 'That's the problem with him' Keira thought to herself ruefully, 'Always thought her was better than everyone and everything around him.' Smirking he said,
"Are you sure you don't want to reconsider that offer I put out for you?"
"I wouldn't go back with you if you tried dragging me back, kicking and screaming." She answered squaring her shoulders and holding her head high.
"Fine have it your way. I gave you your chance." And he pushed her back releasing her wrists. As she fell, screaming Haylee's name at the top of her lungs, she watched as he re-entered the house through the window leaving her niece sitting on the roof, soaked, tired, crying, and looking terrified. As her body connected with the hard concrete of the driveway, blood seeping from her head, her last conscious thought was, 'I've failed her. I've failed Haylee, Josh, and Trish.' Before she slipped away into the darkness.
Jolting up in bed Keira started to gasp for air. Looking across the room she saw that Haylee was still sleeping peacefully. Trembling she brought her knees to her chest and rested her chin on them. Tears filled her eyes as she remembered the nightmare she'd had. It had seemed so real to her, like it was actually happening. Tears streaming down her face now she thought 'How can he still get to me when I'm so far away from him?'. Glancing at the clock that sat on the night stand to the right of her, she could see the blurry red numbers that read six thirty. Knowing she wouldn't be getting anymore sleep, she decided to go downstairs. Getting up out of bed, she hitched the blue plaid flannel pajama pants she was wearing up on her hips and walked down to the kitchen. Going through the cabinets she soon had a pot of coffee making. As soon as it was done she poured herself a cup and sat down at the table. Sitting there sipping the hot liquid she was soon caught up in her thoughts. She was thinking about the choices she'd made in the last two years. Half of them had been the worst thing she could have done, but she could honestly say that she'd thought that they'd been right at the time. She also knew that even though she hadn't deserved what she'd gotten from him, it was going to make her a stronger person when it was all said and done. Wiping away the few remaining tears that had begun to roll down her cheeks, she leaned her chair back on two legs and looked out the large window in the kitchen. Not paying attention to her surroundings, or the time she was jerked from her thoughts when a voice sounded behind her.
"Damn you're up early. The Keira I knew liked to get as much sleep as she could." Moving her feet from the legs of the table in shock, she soon felt the warm coffee she had in the splash out onto her shirt. Standing up she looked behind her and said,
"You're so lucky that wasn't hot! And seriously why'd you have to come sneaking up on me like that, Brian? I'm jumpy enough as it is."
"Sorry, I'm just not used to anyone else being up this early." He said grinning at her. He was trying not to laugh at the way she was holding the chest of her shirt out in front of her. "What are you doing up anyway? No offence but you looked like shit when you got here yesterday, and you're not looking too much better."
"Well what do you expect? I've probably had a grand total of twenty- four hours of sleep in the last week if that." She said, this wasn't the moment to be commenting on how she looked. Looking at him again, still holding the front of her shirt, she noticed the wife beater he was wearing. "Now seeing as you made me spill coffee on myself, give me your shirt, cuz I ain't wearing this one."
"Fine, take it. I didn't want to wear it anyway." He said as he pulled it over his head. As he handed it over to her he noticed her going to take her shirt off. "You know there's a bathroom right down the hall."
"Chill Brian, I got a sports bra on under this. God did you really think I'd strip right here in the middle of the kitchen where anyone could walk in and see me?"
"You never know with you." He said remembering the time he'd gone out with Her, Trish, and Josh. The girls had gone to the bathroom, only to return wearing the outfit the other had been wearing not ten minutes before. When the guys had asked, why they had switched clothes, Keira had looked at them and said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, 'Cuz we wanted to, and besides, we liked each other's outfits better.' That had been in the brief time period they'd tried dating, before he'd met Mia or Dom.
"Bite me. That was one time, Bri." She said knowing what he was thinking. She then pulled her shirt off all the way, and grabbed the one he was holding out for her. Within seconds she had the dry shirt on, but not before Brian had gotten the chance to see the bruises on her side and ribs. The smile that he'd had playing at the corners of his mouth quickly turned into a frown.
"You want to tell me how you got all these bruise and cuts, Keira?"
"Not really. But if I know you, and I'm pretty damn sure that I do, I'm guessing I don't really have a choice in the matter." She said as she thought, 'Damn it. I should have changed in the bathroom.'
"Well you got that part right, you don't have a choice. I let you slide yesterday with not telling me, but we agreed on now." He said, and looked at her face noticing that her eyes were a little puffy, probably from crying.
"Actually Bri, we never really agreed on a time if you wanna get technical. But I know you're not looking to get technical." She added quickly seeing that he wasn't in the mood for jokes, or skating around the truth.
"Sit down, and talk. You show up here, roughed up and looking like someone beat the hell out of you, now I want to know what's going on."
"Fine, I'll tell you exactly why I'm here." Keira said, heaving out a sigh and plopping back down into the chair she'd been sitting in. Waiting for him to sit down, she stated it as simply and quickly as she could, "I'm here because I finally got sick of having my boyfriend beat the shit out of me, and had no place to go. You told me if I ever needed you to get the number from Harry, so I did, and here I am."
"Who was this boyfriend of yours?" Brian asked his suspicions from yesterday being confirmed. He might not be dating her anymore, but they were good friends. He still cared about her and didn't want anything to happen to her.
"That's not important, Brian. What is, is that I got away, and it's gotta stay that way. Bri, if he finds me I'm as good as dead, and no one's going to be able to do anything about it." She said not wanting to tell him who it was. She didn't want to take the chance of him recognizing the name, or admit that she'd actually gotten involved with him in the first place.
"Fine you don't want to tell me, you don't have to. But Keira, it's going to make me helping you that much easier if I know who I'm dealing with."
"I'll tell you this much Brian, he's power. Hell he's probably a good definition of power, he can find out anything."
"Keira what'd you get yourself into?" Brian asked, sounding a little frustrated.
"Brian, I'll make you a deal alright? You don't push me and I'll tell you exactly who he is when I feel ready."
"Fine, but Keira I'ma tell you this now. You need to be ready soon. You don't know how much time you have before he finds you and I can protect you and Haylee, better when I know who and what I'm up against."
"Alright Brian, I promise I'll try to tell you soon, but can we drop this for now? It sounds like people are starting to wake up."
"Yeah we'll drop it, but don't think this is the end of this discussion, because it's far from being over."
"God don't do that! You sound like Josh!" She said, for the first time since his death, the thoughts of her brother not bringing tears to her eyes.
"Where is he anyway? I mean I was wondering why you had Haylee with you and all but didn't really stop to think about it til now." Brian asked, knowing that if her older brother knew about this, whoever had been doing this to her, wouldn't live to see another day.
"He died about a year ago." Keira answered the smile now gone from her face. "Him and Trish were at the races about a year ago and some kid, who was driving home drunk from a party, hit them head on while they were on their way back to their house. Ironic how the innocent ones always die in something like that, isn't it?"
"God Keeks, you know I'd have been there if I'd have known right?" He asked using the nickname that he'd called her by since they'd started hanging out.
"I know Bri, and hell I thought Harry had called you, and didn't find out til way to late that he hadn't. That's okay though, because he got an ear full from me." She said and hugged him. "Now I'ma head on up to take a shower, If Haylee wakes up, give her some cereal or something to eat." And with that she walked back up the stairs, dirty shirt in hand, and went into the bathroom. Half a hour later she walked out of the bathroom a cloud of steam following her. She had on a pair of low rise jeans, and a black wife beater that said 'Bitch' across the chest in silver old English text. She had decided to leave her hair down to dry naturally, leaving it to flow in soft wave to the bottom of her shoulder blades. Stopping her room quickly to drop off her dirty clothes and check on her niece, she saw that the little girl must have gotten up sometime while she was in the bathroom. Walking down the stairs she heard the sound of cartoons, and walked into the living room. There she was greeted with the sight of Suki and Haylee curled up on the couch watching TV and munching on pop tarts. Letting out a small laugh she walked around the couch and sat down next to the two.
"You two having fun?" She asked. Looking over at her aunt, Haylee responded happily,
"Uh huh, guess what Aunt Kiki!"
"What baby doll?"
"Her favorite cartoon is SpongeBob too!" Haylee said as she pointed to Suki. This caused both of the women to laugh.
"Really? That's great babe. Now I don't have to be tortured with the cartoon sponge." This got her two tongues stuck out at her at the same time. "Okay so yeah, I can see I'm not welcome in this room when this cartoon is on from now on. I'll talk to you two later, and Haylee, don't get any of that on the furniture."
"Kay Aunt Kiki." Haylee answered, never taking her eyes from the television screen. Walking into the kitchen she was greeted by the sight of everyone else, except for Jimmy, who she'd heard snoring as she walked down the hall to her room. The minute she'd walked into the kitchen, Brian had poured her a cup of coffee and handed it to her. Saying 'Thank you' she sat down table. Rome decided to say something to Brian about what he just done.
"Damn Bra, this girl's got you whipped already. She must work quick." As soon as he'd said it he'd gotten slapped upside the head by none other than Keira herself. Before anyone had a chance to say anything she told him,
"Nah, he owed this to me. He made me wear over half the cup I had earlier. Besides, we've been there, done that, who knows maybe we'll go back for a second ride." This made Brian and Tej both laugh. Looking over at their friend, who still looked like he wasn't quite sure she'd actually said that, Tej said,
"Looks like homegirl over here told how it was. She's already got you figured dawg, and ain't gonna have no trouble schoolin' you when you need it."
"Ah that's alright; I still got Monica to rip on when she shows her face round here. That'll never get old. Miss Latin Barbie couldn't out diss me if she used all three of her damn brain cells to try." Rome answered, making Tej laugh again, and Brian smile while rolling his eyes, while Keira sat there looking a little confused. Seeing that she looked a little more than lost, Rome decided to explain,
"She's this bitch who's been after Brian for the last few years. Won't get it through her head that my boy ain't interested. Can't wait til you meet her though, now that'll be funny as hell to watch."
"If she's as bad as you say she is, then you're right it's gonna be funny as hell to watch me bitch the girl out." Keira answered. She wasn't about to let some chick try and come between her and Brian's friendship, and she had a feeling that's what this girl would try to do.
Since the garage was closed that day, the group spent the rest of the day talking. Suki and Keira had been fast friends, being about the same age and the only two females in the house besides Haylee. The two weeks passed in much the same way, and Keira had begun working at the garage, with everyone else. She'd even started playing the weekly poker games, unluckily for everyone else, she'd spent six years of her life living in Vegas, and was could still play as well as she had back then. This caused her to pretty much clean up at the games, and when she didn't play a hand she helped Suki or Jimmy. All of the people in the house had grown close to both Haylee and Keira, and not one of them had, had to think twice about agreeing to help Brian keep them safe from her ex when he'd asked. It was late after a night of poker, when Keira finally was able to drag herself into bed. As soon as she'd changed she looked into the mirror. The bruises on her face were now gone, and the cuts had healed. She looked almost the same as she had when she first met Brian, but now she could see that her eyes held a determined look in them. She wasn't going back to the life she had just escaped from. Lying down in bed, the last thought that crossed her mind before she fell asleep was, 'I'll die before take Haylee back into that situation, or put myself in that place again.'
A/N: Okay so there's the second chapter. How'd ya'll like it?? I gotta ask this question... are you starting to wonder who the 'mystery man' is?? Only one maybe two ppl know who he is other than me and that's cuz I was dying to tell someone and she was the person I was talking to at the moment. Plus I know she'll keep reading even when she does know. I promise you guys that you'll find out in the next chappy but before you do I was wondering if you'd take a guess in you're review... I wanna see if any of you get it right. I don't care if you've already guessed while we were chatting... guess again... well except for Cheer cuz she knows and that'd be cheating. Alright now I'm gonna address the reviews I've gotten... all of them were good but I got one that bothered not only me but other reviewers. And that review was from Kickurass. Now I know when you said that you thought that Brian was being too protective you meant it as constructive criticism but I along with at least 5 of my readers, all of which I talk to on a normal basis or reviewed after seeing your own, didn't take it that way. I even asked them what they thought cuz I was worried that I was just being the drama queen I'm known to be at times. We all felt that the comment was off base seeing as it was only the first chapter and I hadn't really given any history on the kind of relationship Keira and Brian had, when they were both in L.A. And as you can probably tell from this chapter they were pretty close. We also thought that even if they weren't that close, he still would have acted the same, because I know that if I was ever in that situation doesn't matter how close we are or not my guy friends would act the same way. I'm sorry if you take offence to this but I just had to say my peace, cuz it's been bugging me since I got your review. Tiff, thanks so much for the review I really appreciate you backing my fic up. It means tons to me for reals. Cheer, thanx for being there for me... don't know what I'd do with out you sometimes. Your reviews always put me in a good mood after I read them, and always make me feel that much better bout my writing when I'm not sure the chapter was all that great. Anna may, I luved your review... it was short but it said tons... thanx!! Sunshine, thanx so much for reading... now I just gotta make time to get to reading yours... which I will do... hmm maybe that's what I'll do when I'm up til 4 in the mornin'. Ranger webb, I'm glad you like it but I can tell you now that it isn't Dom, I just don't see him hitting a woman and could never write him like that... plus I could never put Vin into a character like that he's too hott. My long lost twin, it might have taken us a while to start chatting but it feels like I've known ya forever, hell I kinda have we're like exactly the same!! Glad you like Keira's name... I got it from Cheer... if ever in need of a name just ask Cheer!! For reals the girl just spits them out like its nuthin. And yeah I'm so proud of ya... you didn't log in. Lol. Desert-grl, glad you like it. Angelrose, thanx for the support, and I've missed ya on Returning Home... I ain't got a review on it from you in a while! Cc, thanx girl, I promise I'll get more into Keira's past eventually... gotta let it all play out. Ringles, I'm glad you like the fic so much. And believe me I don't plan on taking it down... especially not when I got 12 reviews on the first chappy. Bbysail, glad you finally get to go home soon... that must have been torture for you. And thanx for addressing the 'over protective' issue. Like I told Tiff I really and truly appreciate it!! Kay well I'ma end this A/N here... cuz yeah it's monstrously huge!! And I'm thinkin' ya'll are getting sick of reading it. Later ya'll and don't forget to Review. This junkie needs her fix. Lol. BYE!!
Jess