Author's Note: For those of you who are reading this story and Victim, please note that Victim is on hold until I get more reviews, I have more chapters update and completed and I'm just waiting for more reviews. I only have 8 and there are four chapters up, I used to have 400 and need more! I posted one new chapter of this story and got seven reviews immediately, I appreciate the enthusiasm for Workerbee, but Victim is my flagship, and it has been changed and is better! I promise, please review! This chapter, wow, I can't even begin to tell you how satisfied with it that I am. It's like, my pride and joy chapter! YOU MUST REVIEW!
- - - - -
Friday couldn't arrive quick enough for Cloud Strife. The woman he had set his sights on had invited him to one of her upper class parties where all the rich, famous and beautiful young people went to have fun and ruin their lives. It was the type of party one could only dream of, they type of party only seen on Spring Break Live in Costa Del Sol.
Cloud had been plagued by the other security guards about what happened while Tifa was at his house and why she said she would see him on the weekend and even gave him a kiss on the cheek. He had remained quiet, fearful that speaking about it would cause his dream to become untrue, or that rumors would begin that would destroy his world.
"We just talked." Was all that he said. Unsatisfied with his answer, Barret and the others continued to hound him.
"Where are you going this weekend with her?" Randy prodded, standing just inches away from Cloud. The young blonde grimaced and backed away from his elder, as if he would catch a disease.
"Nowhere." Cloud lied. He wanted the week to end so that he could escape the taunts and accusations of his co-workers and settle down into a night that he knew he would never experience again.
"Just make sure you don't get caught with her, or daddy Shinra will have his agents after you." Barret said, for about the millionth time since he had first seen Cloud with Tifa. Cloud rolled his eyes and groaned.
"I know, you've told me that over and over again, I got it." Cloud joked.
It was about time for the graveyard shift guards to clock out and go home for the day when she arrived. She created her own hours since she was the boss' daughter, but no one knew for sure what exactly she did for the company. There were rumors that she was in charge of helping the top executives "relax" or that she sat in boardrooms just to get deals for her father. Cloud never believed any of the rumors, not only for the fact that dirty employees loved to talk, but also for the question of what kind of father would hire their own daughter to "service" his employees?
She stopped at Cloud's station and waited for him to check her in. She didn't act any differently around him than she did with any other employee. Cloud prayed in his mind that she only acted that way so that no one would get suspicious, but he was also pretty confident it was for the fact that she had no feelings for him.
"You get off work soon?" She asked, the first thing she had said to him since Tuesday. Cloud was shocked and barely remembered how to speak for a moment.
"Uh…yeah…" He managed to squeak out, still unable to fully look into the eyes of the woman standing before him. She looked a little confused and moved to try and get into his line of sight.
"Well, I'll pick you up tomorrow night at 8, is that all right?" She asked, still trying to get him to notice her and smiling at his nervousness. At last he looked up at her and nodded.
"Yeah, sure, that's fine." He agreed. Tifa smirked and walked through the checkpoint and towards the elevator.
"Damn," he thought to himself, there was absolutely no way he could have just made a bigger ass of himself in front of Tifa.
"Way to go, slick." Randy said, giving Cloud a sarcastic pat on the shoulder.
- - - - -
"So…what's he like?" Aeris asked eagerly, lying on her stomach with her knees bent and her feet crossed in the air, resting on her plush king-sized bed with the phone stuck to her ear.
"He's nice, he took care of me the night that you abandoned me at Dad's work." Tifa responded, bitterly. She loved Aeris to death but couldn't stand the fact that her friend had abandoned her on a number of occasions.
"Yeah…sorry about that, again, Teef, but I couldn't take you to my house or my step-mom would flip!" Aeris countered, trying to excuse her behavior and abandonment. "So what, how'd he find you?"
Tifa didn't know how to respond to her friend. She couldn't tell her that Cloud was a security guard, or even that he was poor. If she did, they'd say she was "slumming it" and ban Cloud from the party. Tifa wasn't even sure why she had invited him, or what she why she had been thinking about him since she first woke up in his apartment. She was lying on her back, staring at the ceiling with her cell phone propped against her ear, as she had been for hours.
"He was…uh…there picking up a folder for his dad. His dad has a seat on the board." She lied, hoping Aeris would accept it.
"Oh. Cool. So he's hot?" Aeris questioned, hoping that this new guy to the party scene would be someone she could smuggle away from Tifa. Tifa hesitated before answering the question.
"Yeah." She said, not wanting him to sound too attractive or she knew that Aeris would crowd him.
"Sweet, so are you like…with him?" Aeris prodded further.
"No! Of course not, I just met him." Tifa stated without hesitation.
"Awesome, well, I'll see you tonight babe." Aeris said before hanging up quickly.
"Damn," Tifa thought to herself, there was absolutely no way she would be able to pry Aeris away from Cloud that night.
But then again, did she want to? She felt like she was being possessive of the man she had only known for a week, and worse yet, he was a security guard. If she were developing feelings for him…her father would have a heart attack.
- - - - -
He spent his entire day Saturday practicing how he would act at the party. He worked on his conversation pieces, his greetings even a few jokes in front of the mirror. His hair had been spiked just right, as perfect as he could possibly get it considering the mess it usually was.
His outfit was simple, a pair of low hanging blue jeans held up by a studded belt and a dark blue polo with the collar turned up. He tied a hemp necklace around his neck and slipped a reggae wristband on his forearm. He wore a pairs of black skate shoes and sprayed some of his favorite cologne.
He hadn't even been on a date in months, he was surprised he could even try and look so good. He checked himself out in the mirror and smiled suavely. He pointed at himself and smirked.
"Heyyy…" He said, as cool as possible.
He cleaned up his apartment for when Tifa arrived to pick him up. He tried to imagine what she would wear to this party, remembering what she wore to the last one. He sat on the couch and looked at his watch anxiously. Only 6:30, he couldn't believe that he had already showered and gotten ready so early. He laid his head back on the pillow and stared at the ceiling.
If all went well tonight, maybe Tifa would notice him. It was clear to him that she already did know that he existed, but maybe she could like him. He closed his eyes and day dreamed about holding her in his arms, not while she was drunk, but while she was alert, holding her against his chest tightly, protecting her from whatever could possibly harm her. He was awoken from his thoughts by a constant, rapid knocking on his front door.
He jumped up to open the door and could have passed from the aura of beauty that stood in front of him like a descendant of the heavens. Tifa stood before him; looking like a carved statue of a goddess, perfect emanating from her skin. She wore a white miniskirt with slits up both sides and a white bikini halter-top with a ring between her breasts. She was made three inches taller by the light brown heels she had on. Around her neck she had a necklace made of shells and several silver bracelets and anklets. Her hair was thick and straightened, softly caressing her shoulders and bare back.
Cloud was left speechless as he stared at her, still unable to believe that such a woman was standing at his doorstep. She some of her hair off of her shoulder and ran her fingers atop her head, getting rid of the part. She smiled as he stared, accustomed to men being hypnotized by her beauty.
"Ready to go handsome?" She said, eyeing him up and down. Cloud couldn't even find the strength to speak, but did manage to move his head to show her what he wanted to say. Tifa reached for his hand and pulled him behind her as she ran for her car. "Come on, I don't bite!" She exclaimed as she led him from his apartment.
Her car was, as he would have guessed, one of the most expensive sports cars in the world. Low enough to pass under a semi-truck and almost short enough for Cloud to step up onto the roof. It's curves equaled Tifa's perfection and its bright yellow color accented her charismatic personality. Cloud got in cautiously, waiting for his bubble to explode.
"What's wrong?" Tifa asked, glancing over at Cloud as she sped towards the party. "Have you ever done anything fun?" She laughed.
Cloud did too but he reflected on his life and how he could never have imagined when he was a child that one day he would be sitting in an expensive car with the woman of his dreams beside him, and heading to one of the most glamorous parties in the world.
"Not like this." He responded. Tifa looked at him as if he were homeless. She had known nothing but luxury her whole life, and it was a difficult concept for her to grasp that not everyone grew up the way that she did.
"What did you do when you were a child?" She asked, hoping that maybe he had a wonderful childhood.
"I dreamed about moments like this." Cloud stated, smiling.
"Can I tell you something?" Tifa asked, suddenly becoming serious. Cloud nodded and stared at her with sincerity in his eyes. "Sometimes I wish that I could be like you." Cloud nearly swallowed his tongue and wondered if he had heard correctly.
"You…want to be like me?" He repeated. He couldn't believe that she could possibly want to be like him when she had everything in the world. "Why? I have to work for a living, I have bills to pay, I have no time to party or have fun, why would you want that?" Tifa looked over at him for a moment, looking into his eyes to let him know that she was dead serious.
"I want to be normal, simple. I don't want to go to parties every night and deal with the people there, I don't want to get drunk and abandoned with some person I don't know, no offense." She added, putting her hand on his leg and quickly removing it. Cloud's gaze fell to his knee, where she had touched him, and lingered there while she spoke. "What does it feel like…to wake up every morning and not have to impress anyone?"
Cloud thought for a moment. In the back of his mind he felt as though she were making fun of him in some strange way. He didn't know how he woke up every morning, he never thought about it. He didn't know how to answer so he just answered with another question.
"How does it feel to wake up and have everything?" He asked her. He could tell that she hadn't expected that and was caught off guard.
"I don't know…I feel empty, like there's something…missing in my life." She said, glancing over at him.
She didn't mean to look at him so obviously. She felt that she had given him an almost desperate look, concluding that he was missing in her life. Any man that would take care of her as he did and not take advantage of her was exactly the kind of man she was looking for. She wanted someone that didn't care that she was gorgeous or rich; she wanted someone that just wanted to be with her.
"Well I feel the same way when I wake up. There's something missing in my life too. You see, there's not really a difference between us, we think and feel the same way…" He trailed off, trying not to sound like some sappy movie character.
Tifa stayed quiet for the remainder of the drive, thinking about what he had said. He made a good point. The only difference between her and "normal" people was the amount of money they had. And Cloud was missing something too…what could he be missing? Was it the same thing she was? She finally pulled into a large mansion driveway on the upper plate and parked.
"We're here." She announced, as if Cloud didn't already know.
He stepped out of the car and was once again in awe as he stood before the largest house he had ever seen. It was two stories tall, with large white pillars reaching in front of it like claws protecting it. It looked like something out of a movie, with perfect landscaping and a long, circular driveway with a fountain in the middle. The steps leading up to it were light colored stone, and the front yard was perfectly manicured with square-cut shrubs lining the front walkway.
Tifa again reached for his hand and dragged him behind her as she ran up the steps in a much better mood than in the car. She rang the doorbell and waited for someone to answer. Cloud could hear the raging music from inside and saw the wealthy dancing through the uncovered windows. The door finally opened and a pretty girl curly light-brown hair stood inside the doorway, smiling and greeting both Tifa and Cloud.
She wore loose pink cargo Capri's and a white tank top that showed off her cleavage and her midriff with a maroon corduroy short jacket that hung just below her breasts. She looked Cloud up and down and grinned.
"Well hello there. Tifa said you were hot, but not this hot!" The girl screeched, drunkenly as she grabbed Cloud by the arm and pulled him away from Tifa, whose face turned beat red at her friend's comment.
Cloud couldn't believe what he had just heard. Tifa had called him hot? What did that mean? Maybe that word meant something different to the rich and famous, but he couldn't doubt that her friend must have had a thing for him, because of the way she clung to him, introducing him to every group at the party and acting as though she had been the one to discover him.
Tifa couldn't help but feel a little jealous after seeing Aeris pull Cloud away. She had been the one to bring him to the party, and admitted to herself that she did have some feelings for the pokey headed blonde. And seeing him with Aeris just confirmed that she wanted him to be around her and no one else.
"Oh god," she thought to herself, she had fallen for the security guard. She wished that she hadn't, but there was nothing she could do about it now. From the moment she first laid eyes on him at his apartment, and realized that he had not violated her. Knowing that he had taken care of her in her debilitated state.
She watched as Cloud and Aeris disappeared into the crowd, thinking that she had just lost her chance with him and imagining how long it would take for Aeris to get him into a bedroom with her. Tifa hung her head and walked over to the kitchen where a game of beer pong had been set up on a door that had been removed from its hinges. The players on each team were cheering and obviously already wasted, playing the game just for more fun. Tifa hopped up onto the island counter and looked around the room, watching the party rage out of control, as was the norm.
She didn't notice a seedy redhead staring at her from across the room. He had come to the party from an outing with his parents, and he still wore his blue suit, but had unbuttoned the jacket and the top half of his white dress shirt underneath. His sunglasses were still on top of his head from earlier that day, but he didn't seem to notice, too drunk to care. He stumbled over to Tifa as suavely as he could, and leaned against the counter beside her, his face close to her thigh.
"Wanna drink?" He asked.
Tifa nodded her head, too lost in thought to even hear him speak, or watch as he dropped a little white pill into her glass. He returned with her drink and handed it to her. She took it quickly and drained it in one long chug. She just wanted to forget Cloud at that point, and tried to forget the fact that he would probably end up with Aeris by the end of the night.
She loved her friend dearly, but it had always been a game to Aeris, ever since middle school, to see who could win over a guy first. She even kept a score in an old notebook, but Tifa had never seen it. As far as she knew Aeris was winning by a landslide, but it didn't really matter. Tifa hadn't found the guy she was after, so whether she got a guy or didn't never really bothered her. But now…with Cloud, she could feel her heart pang with anguish. Her world seemed to be blurring with her newfound jealousy. She tried to shake her head to focus, but for some reason she couldn't.
- - - - -
Aeris closed the door behind her and leaned against it, looking at Cloud with drunken lust in her eyes. Cloud turned around and noticed her stare, but was confused as to whether it was the alcohol or her that was feeling that way.
She strolled over to him and removed her jacket, throwing it to the side and then bringing her arms around his neck and began kissing his shoulders. Cloud looked towards the door and hoped that he would be rescued. He didn't want to get caught into having sex with a woman he had no feelings for. He knew that if he went through with it, he would lose Tifa. He didn't have much knowledge about women, but he did know that sleeping with their best friend was a definite relationship killer. But on the other hand, if he didn't, he would probably be disgracing the other partiers. He weighed his options, and put his hands on the girl's shoulders.
"No." He stated, holding her back.
It didn't seem to phase her much; in fact, it seemed to fuel her hormones. She jumped up onto him and wrapped her legs around his waist, ravishing his lips with her kisses and knocking him back onto the bed. He tried his best not to kiss back but she eventually forced her tongue into his mouth and began to remove his shirt. Again he tried to protest, but she managed to get his undershirt off as well. He wanted to push her off, but she had him pinned to the bed, and if he shoved her he could injure her, which might have infuriated her and possibly ended his life right then and there if she grabbed some of the other guys at the party that were bigger than him.
She sat up and removed her own shirt and bra. Cloud tried his best not to look at her, but she forced his face towards her chest. He closed his eyes tightly and tried to wait it out. He couldn't believe that this was happening, he wanted to get back to Tifa, he didn't want anything to go on between her friend and him. He didn't want it to get back to Tifa that he would do anything with her friend, and he knew how girls talked. According to Aeris, he would be the one that made a move on her and seduced her.
"Please. No." He said again when she let him lean back on the bed. She rubbed his chest and kissed his neck softly.
"Why? You know you want this." She stated, continuing as if he had said nothing.
It was true, Cloud hadn't been with a woman for several months, and he had to admit he wouldn't mind, but he had developed eyes for Tifa, and couldn't let himself get carried away with any other girl in his path. A lesser man might have taken Aeris for fun, but he couldn't do that to the girl, he just wasn't like that.
- - - - -
Tifa was still conscious but dizzy when she started to realize that she had been drugged. She couldn't call for help because any man who saw her in that condition would have his way with her, so she was trapped, on a counter, next to a man who would probably do with her as he pleased.
She knew him too; his father was a Turk, a lackey for her father's company. They took care of all the dirty work that Shinra needed done. She never understood exactly what that "dirty work" was, but she knew that whenever the Turks arrived, something bad would happen.
Reno was training to become a Turk, which in her mind made him twice as dangerous as any other man at the party. She replayed in her head when he had asked her for a drink, wishing she could turn back time and pay attention to him so that she could have said no.
She couldn't scream as he began to kiss her thigh and work his way up to her lips, his hands finding places on her body to touch that she would never have allowed. She looked up at the ceiling and felt tears stream down her cheeks. She couldn't feel her legs, and the numbness was beginning to travel up her body. She knew what this drug did, she had had friends who were given this drug and raped.
She knew that soon she would lose all her ability to move, to speak, to escape. She had to act fast if she would be able to save herself, she was already leaning against him, unable to fight him off of her, or even feel his hands exploring her.
At any other party she would have been doomed, but she remembered that she had brought Cloud with her. He was her only chance out of this nightmare, and she wasn't even sure he would come rescue her. He may have taken care of her once, but that could have just been an act. Maybe this time he would take advantage of her. But still, he was her only hope.
With her last ounce of strength she screamed his name over and over again, startling Reno and everyone else at the party, who turned to see who was getting "it" on in the kitchen. Most promptly rushed over to cheer Reno on for what he was about to do to the luckiest catch of the party. All the guys there always dreamed of drugging her and taking her with them, but most knew the consequences of what would happen if she woke up and remembered them. Daddy Shinra was the most powerful man in the world; he could have any person on the planet erased from history if he wanted to. It was best to just leave her be and hope that she would choose them for a night. Most followed her to parties hoping for that very scenario, but it wouldn't happen. Tifa may have seemed like a party girl, but the truth was that she was saving herself for a man she truly cared about.
- - - - -
Aeris had each of her hands holding Cloud's wrists above his head on the bed. He was still squirming, trying to get away without using force or hurting her. He wanted so badly to get out of that bedroom and tell Tiffany what had happened, before she heard a lie from her own best friend. He was about ready to give up trying to be nice or gentle when dismissing the young lady sitting on him, when he was given his chance to escape.
"CLOUD!" He heard a desperate voice call from downstairs.
He heard the screams over and over again and finally pushed Aeris off of him and to the ground, stunning the beauty and being the first man to reject her. She watched him bitterly run from the room, having not heard her friend's cries for help.
Cloud rushed down the hallway and stairs, leaping over the final few and pushing his way through the crowded living room, trying to follow where the screams had come from. He had never heard such terror in a person's voice before, and he knew that something was very, very wrong.
Forgetting that he had no shirt, or that his pants were partially unbuttoned, he jumped up onto a couch and looked for Tifa, but was pushed out of the way by some dancing bodies who were trying to get their space back. Cloud started looking around frantically for Tifa, wondering what could be happening to her, or if she were just looking for him.
He finally shoved his way into the front foyer and looked into the kitchen. There, on the kitchen counter, he could see a man trying to force himself onto Tifa, and she seemed to be sitting there like a rag doll. She wasn't even fighting the man but her face was filled with disgust and fear.
The last thing Tifa saw was Cloud, running up to her half-naked. Everything was incredibly blurry, and she could barely think straight, but she knew where he had been and with who and what they had been doing. Suddenly her perfect evening was ruined, she was going to be raped, and the only man who could save her had just been with her best friend. She saw him pull his fist back and drive it into Reno's face, sending the up-and-coming Turk flying backwards.
With Reno lying on the floor with a busted jaw, Cloud ran over to Tifa, who had slumped over and was about to fall off of the counter. Cloud tried to reach her in time but was grabbed from behind by one of Reno's friends, a taller man with a shaved head. He held Cloud long enough for Reno to get up and punch him in the nose, drawing blood. Cloud took the beating, watching out of the corner of his eye as Tifa fell onto the tile floor, in a mass of flesh.
He fought against the man holding him as Reno continued to pummel him in the chest. Aeris had followed him and helped get the crowd cheering as Reno slammed his fists into Cloud's abdomen. He finally stomped his heel onto the man's toes and was released. He punched Reno into the other counters while his friend held his foot in pain and was able to get to Tifa.
As he reached under her to pick her up, he felt the shock of a stun gun being stabbed into his side and screamed out in pain. He decided to stop trying to defend himself and found Tiffany's keys in her purse that she was still holding. He stood up and smashed Reno in the face one more time into the crowd. He then scooped Tifa into his arms and ran from the house before Reno had time to retaliate.
He dashed down the driveway and unlocked Tifa's car, trying his best to set her inside before Reno and his friends caught up to him. The entire party had chased them out of the house, eager to watch a major fight ensue between the new guy and Reno. Reno grabbed Cloud from behind and slammed his head against the roof of Tifa's car. Cloud elbowed him in the gut and quickly got inside the safety of the vehicle and locked the doors.
Reno smashed the driver's side window as Cloud was backing the car out. Again he used the stun gun, but got Cloud in the face, leaving a burn mark on the young man's jaw. Cloud turned the car sharply and threw Reno off, causing him to land on his backside on the pavement. Cloud sped away before the angry redhead could catch him again and breathed a sigh of relief. He looked in the rear view mirror just long enough to catch a glimpse of the Turk behind him pull out a gun, the bullet smashing the back window and traveling through the front. Cloud slammed the gas pedal to the ground and turned a corner, hoping to finally end his nightmare and head for the "safety" of the lower plate.
