Healing Hands
Chapter 3
In the two weeks Essence and the boosts had came to a small routine. Otto had placed a large calendar in the painting area that told them when the young woman had to work third shift at the hospital or when she was staying late at the garage. It was the only way they were able to boost around her and not raise any suspicion. However, once the office was cleaned and in order Essence didn't stay late anymore, the boosts were able to breathe a little easier after that. Otto still kept the calendar up to let him know when his secretary was leaving early for the hospital so that his Goddaughter can take over.
Not to mention that per Essence advice Otto had given his Goddaughter and wife money to buy all new furniture for the office. They even re-arranged the entire office around so that it looked more welcoming for both females and males, as well as re-painting the walls. Otto's and Junie's Goddaughter had always had a good eye for what went well with the shop and a good sense of fashion, no matter what situation it was if it was for a girly shop or a garage.
Atley was also hardly seen around the young woman anymore after the group teased him, but he would occasionally smile or nod at her as he passed by to go see Otto–when she looked up, of course. Due to being such a hard worker Essence hardly ever look up from reading over the papers or away from the computer screen. Sometimes Atley would look through the door window, watching her slender fingers move across the keyboard rapidly and without pause. When he strayed too long Atley would shake his head and move away as fast as he could, looking around to make sure none of the workers were watching him.
Essence was a bit confused by the other man, but didn't mention it nor did she let it bother her for no more than a minute or so. It was just her imagination, right? Besides, it was hard enough to try to keep the work in order as the mechanics brought in loads of paper work for her to look over and file. Most of them she couldn't even read due to grease stains and so she would let Otto look them over when he can, as he has done his share of staining the paperwork and was all too familiar. Not to mention he helped sort out the ones she found in the disaster of the office too.
After the scrub incident Essence took to changing at the hospital instead, leaving the garage a half hour earlier. She did notice that the mechanic men had not once been rude to her after Atley yelled at them, which the young woman was all too grateful. They had become a little friendly with her, which she did not mind so long as they didn't cross the line. Otto had even let Essence work on her baby on her lunch break, using the garage tools when it needed a tune up.
A lot of the younger men around her age that worked there had given her weird looks because she knew her way around the garage but mostly because she drove the sleek Torino. They–as all the others who have seen her with her baby–thought the monster of a car was too much for her to handle. It was Kip Raines, Randall's little brother, who had approached her and started talking to her as he helped her with tweaking the engine–with her permission, of course. They had gotten along fairly well to a point where Kip had become fairly protective over her whenever he saw one of the mechanic's watching her or whenever Tumbler seemed to be touchy-feely.
Essence noticed that she leaned more towards Toby because he was so quiet and shy that he slightly reminds her of herself. Scratch the slightly, Toby reminded her a lot of herself. He–along with the others–were impressed by the illegal radar deflector and wanted to know the story behind it. They all had laughed, not able to believe that the short woman was so content into speeding; and that her beloved lawyer brother bought the damn thing so her license wouldn't be suspended and she didn't need to pay another speeding ticket. Essence promised them that she would show them just how fast she drove and what her baby can handle when she had the time. But knowing with her schedule at both jobs, it was going to be months before she had time for herself let alone spend time with them.
Then the incident that would haunt her for a while happened when it was after closing and almost everyone had gone home. She was working a bit late that night due to Kip, Tumbler, Toby, and Mirror Man distracting her that she didn't finish typing up the reports on to the computer or even file the paperwork itself. Because of her late nights Otto had given her a key–against the booster's protest–a few weeks back. But they all noticed that nothing was out of the ordinary in the weeks that passed with her having the key. And with the younger kids becoming great friends with her, the group of boosts knew that Essence wasn't a cop like they first thought and visibly relaxed around her.
Now the woman had thought that she was alone in the garage, the silence whispering echoes of the day's event as the building groaned, settling in for the night. Well, at least Essence thought she was alone. Just as she finished typing of the last of the paperwork, and deciding to file it in the morning, a voice had spoken up from the open door way, Essence looking up startled and fear. She had recognized him as one of the mechanics leering at her with her nurse outfit two weeks ago and sometimes following her around the garage when none of the younger kids were around her.
"Hey baby," he smirked at her, looking her up and down. "Feel like playing doctor now?"
Essence slowly stood, frowning at the man. "Excuse me?" she shook her head, "I'm sorry, but you can't be here after hours."
The man stepped inside, pushing the door behind him close, which did not close all the way. "Oh, I've seen the looks of disgust, but underneath were looks of lust! You had to keep appearance for the others; I understand."
Essence looked at the man with disgust, wondering what was wrong with him. How was it possible that a man thought a simple look of disinterest and disgust was portrayed as lust? How self conceited or the level of mentally crazy do you have to be?
"I have no lust for you!" Essence ground out. She needed to get to her purse on the other side of the room to grab the pepper spray she always carried per her brother's request when she was moving out here. "If you leave now, I won't tell Otto that you were here after work hours."
The man leered at her, "Playing hard to get, I love it."
Panicking with fear Essence made a run to her purse–praying that she would be able to make it–only to be grabbed by her waist and thrown against her desk by the surprising fast man. She kicked him hard in the stomach before punching him, however he didn't went down. He growled and punched the woman back against the desk before slamming her on top of it. Essence screamed for him to let her go as she tried as hard as she can to fight him off, tears falling down the side of her face. Essence felt disgusted as the man roamed her body with his greedy hands, ripping her shirt and trying to lift up her skirt.
Of all days she had to wear a skirt today.
"Let me go!" she screamed.
She started to sob at the thought of being raped again. Then the ceiling of the garage disappeared, followed by the desk she laid upon. The smelling, slightly pudgy man above her even disappeared. The garage became a small apartment with walls a pale yellow with very low orange lights. A dark shadow loomed above her, its eyes and teeth shinning, the only thing visible in the darkness. The smell of cigarettes and alcohol filled her nose.
Then the shadow tried to kiss her neck, laughing as its voice seemed to be disoriented. "That's right, scream. You know you like it!"
Suddenly the shadow was off of her and everything fell into pieces and reality returned back to the present. It took a second to realize what was happening and Essence rolled off the desk (making an even more of a mess with the items) and went to run only to hit a hard body. She looked up in fear that it was another intruder or even the man from her past, but she relaxed as she saw it was Atley she had ran into. He had a dangerous angry glint in his eyes, which softened when his hazel eyes turned to look down at the young woman. Essence turned around to see the tall silent man who hung out with Otto and the others known as Sphinx holding the mechanic down with his foot, his back to her. But she saw that in his right hand he held a blade.
Essence faintly heard Atley talking to her, his hands gripping her shoulders trying to get her attention. But all she was able to think about was how close it was for the past to repeat itself. How much misfortune can she have in her life? Was she to suffer her happiness after the beautiful treasure she had conceived and had felt complete after the darkness she had went through? After that thought her world was blank as she went through the motions in a zombie daze.
Atley and Sphinx walked through the doors of the garage, Atley shaking his head when he saw the black Torino still parked in front of the garage. He knew that the only reason Essence was still there was because of the younger kids had distracted her. Atley glowered, when he meets up with the group he was going to tell those kids not to distract the woman so much that she would have to stay later than her usual time. He looked over to Sphinx, who looked down at him with a raised eyebrow before giving him a curt nod. While Sphinx grabbed the list of cars they were to boost in four days Atley would go into the office and speak to the woman to try and coax her to go home.
That's when they heard a crash coming from the office, followed by Essence voice. They wondered who would be stupid enough to go into a garage and try to rob them after hours. That was then they realized that the noise had come from upstairs where the office was, where Essence was supposed to be. And if memory served right, Atley knew that she was wearing a nice looking skirt that was just above the knees and a low cut, white button down shirt that day.
"Let me go!"
They heard her scream, her voice slightly muffled but there was no mistaken it was Essence. Both Atley and Sphinx ran up the stairs, Sphinx running ahead of him. Both Sphinx and Atley's eyes narrowed in anger at the sight before them, Sphinx taking hold of the mechanic and throwing him to the floor. He took out his blade incase the guy wanted to fight him, pressing his foot on his neck to keep him down–though he desperately wanted to gut the man. Atley went to take hold of Essence when she rolled off the desk and ran into him. He took hold of her arms to steady her, his eyes glowing with anger as he saw the ripped shirt showing off her black and pink lace bra that was pushing up her breasts. Looking up from the exposed flesh, Atley mentally shook his head and remembered the situation.
"You okay?" Atley asked softly.
He tried not to let the anger–or the lust–show in his eyes or face, not wanting to scare her even further than she might be already. He called out her name softly, shaking her for good measure as she had turned to stare over to Sphinx and the mechanic and had not said a single word which was worrying him. He called her name once more, noting that she seemed to be in some sort of daze.
Essence then shook her head, beginning to sob as she turned back to him and buried her face into his chest. Atley hugged her tightly, not wanting to even think about what would have happened if neither he nor Sphinx had needed to be at the garage at that late hour. Taking a deep breath, he quickly took off his jacket and draped it over the shaking woman to cover her up before hugging her against him once more. He nodded to his silent partner who roughly took hold of the scared mechanic and walked out the door. He saw him grin menacingly and knew he was going to inflect some pain on the would-be rapist to make him think twice before doing this to another woman again. The whole time the mechanic was screaming of how Essence wanted it, but of course neither of the men believed him as they saw enough.
Atley didn't know what to do. He was beyond pissed off of what happened and what could have happened, they were just lucky that they got there on time. One thing he was certain though Otto was going to fire that damn mechanic and he was going to stay with Essence whenever she stayed after hours at the garage from that day forward to make sure that this would never happen again.
"Come on honey; let's get you home, hm? I can have Sphinx follow me to your house that way you don't have to drive." Atley suggested, feeling the woman continue to shake and cry.
Essence nodded, not letting the older man go or even saying a word. Atley looked at the situation and knew for a fact that it was going to take twice as long to get the woman to start walking. So, with a sigh Atley picked the woman up and walked over to the coat hanger to grab her purse. He knew that Otto was going to send his Goddaughter to work for him for a bit so that Essence would be able to take a few days after this ordeal. Walking out he saw Sphinx walking back inside the building with a hatred and killing look in his eyes.
"Get the list than meet us outside, you're gonna follow me to her house."
Sphinx nods his head curtly before walking towards the painting area briskly. Atley walked slowly, feeling his right leg begin to tense up and cramp, cursing the stairs as he made sure not to drop the woman. He could feel her shake violently; making him even angrier as to what almost went down that night–though he was impressed to see the bruise already forming on the mechanic's jaw. At her Torino, Atley set her down and goes through her purse to take out the keys and unlocking her doors. He ushered her in before moving around to the driver side, just as Sphinx walked out and locked the doors to the garage.
After readjusting the seat and the mirrors, Atley turned on the car and looked to the woman who was curled up in the passenger seat with her arms wrapping his jacket around her, the left side of her face starting to form a bruise that he didn't see beforehand. Oh, that mechanic was going to pay for hitting the woman, he just wished that he was the one to be able to inflect some pain on the mechanic instead of Sphinx.
"Alright sweetheart, where do you live?"
Essence gave him her address, staring out of the window in a daze. Atley stared at her worriedly before putting the car in reverse, looking over to Sphinx, who also looked concerned, desperately worried for the young woman. They both have seen and heard tales–more far worse–than what could have happened tonight. By the time Atley had parked the car in the woman's driveway, he saw how much she had calmed down, but was still too much in a daze to comprehend anything around her.
The more he watched her the more he felt that something was off. The older man was almost scared to leave her by herself and wondered if he should skip the meeting tonight and stay to make sure Essence wouldn't do anything rash. Quickly getting out, he moved around to the passenger side, opening the door just as Sphinx parked his car next to the Torino. Atley picked the woman up in his arms and nodded to Sphinx, who took the keys from him and quickly walked to the front door. Because of the extra weight Atley's right leg began to cramp up once again, making him start to limp painfully.
Essence felt numbed. She remembered Atley asking directions for her house, but she didn't remember giving it to him. Then she was being ushered up to her front door, yet she didn't remember the drive to her home. Finally Essence snapped out of it when they entered the threshold and heard Angel barking only to start whining. She saw Sphinx glaring down at the German Sheppard, who had lowered his head at him, much to Essence's amusement.
"Put me down, please," she whispered softly, tensing up from Atley's closeness.
Atley did as she asked, holding the young woman by her waist, not wanting to let her go just yet. Despite what happened that night, Essence felt her skin heating from the older man's touch and closeness as her sense started to fog from the smell that only belonged to Atley. He was looking over her face carefully, and intently, trying to see what was going through her mind. However, the young woman wasn't looking at him rather she was looking down at her hands resting on his arms, almost as though she were not truly there once again when in reality she was trying to get her bearings straight from being so close to the man.
"Um, thank you both," she started in a whisper.
She looked up at them feeling both foolish and embarrassed. Essence could just feel herself begin to fall apart again, but steeled herself as she knew that she had broken down in front of these two men too many times already in the past hour. She could only hope that they didn't see her as a helpless woman who needed saving every time there was something she couldn't do.
"For saving me and driving me home; I can take care of myself from here on out. Have a good night."
Atley smiled softly, brushing her hair back from her face. "It wasn't a problem at all, sweetheart. Come on let me help you to your room so you can shower and change for bed, hm?"
Essence forced her smile, shaking her head. "No, I'll be fine, I promise. Please, go home."
With that said she moved towards her stairs, wanting to wash away the greasy feel of the mechanic's hands and mouth. She didn't see the looks the men gave each other or the quiet conversation as she reached her bedroom, wanting that scolding hot shower and scrub her skin raw red. She heard the front door closing and was all too grateful that they have done what she had asked.
Turning on the water at full blast hot and Essence quickly stripped down and entered the large shower. She dropped her head down to let the water wash all over her, loving how her skin was stinging from how hot the water was. With her eyes still close she tilted her head back and favored how quickly she was soaked. Moving away from the spray of water momentarily Essence takes hold of the squared loofah bath sponges, squirt some flower smelling body wash and begun to scrub furiously at her skin.
Once she scrubbed her enter body, Essence washed it all away and scrubbed her skin raw once again. She repeated this a couple of more times until she merely stood underneath the spray of water. It was only then did she break down completely, letting the tears go as she fell down to her knees only to move to her behind. She wrapped her arms around her knees and held tight, wishing for someone familiar to be there to hold her and tell her that it was all a dream and none of it was real. Both now and what happened five years ago.
Watching the woman walking up the stairs, both men frowned with concerned curiosity. Looking to his friend, Sphinx placed a hand on his friend's shoulder and gave him a level look. Something seemed to be off with this woman, almost as though she had almost expected the outcome of what happened tonight...or what could have happened.
"Stay with the girl, I'll let the others know." he told him softly.
Atley nodded in agreement, not trusting himself to leave the woman after what's happened–especially with how she was coming to the present and into a daze every so often. Nodding to himself Sphinx looked towards the stairs with concern once more before leaving the house. Atley closed and locked the door behind the large British man and went to go upstairs when he heard a whine. Looking down he saw the German Sheppard sitting down, facing him. When he knew he had his attention, the dog whined again and held up its left leg as though he wanted him to shake it–which the dog did not mean by lifting its leg.
Although he desperately wanted to check up on her, Atley could see just how desperate the dog looked at him to go outside and do its business. With a sigh and a nod, Atley moved towards the back doors, needing a cigarette to try and calm himself further as he still felt angry of the whole situation. He noted just how relatively clean the house looked that made him thought about his apartment and flinched. Opening the door the poor dog literally ran outside to do his business.
Quickly Atley took out one of his cigarettes and lit one, taking a deep, long drag. He can feel his nerves on high alert, but most of all he was concerned for the woman upstairs, possibly taking a shower to wash away the filth that asshole had left on her skin. Thinking about that he took another deep drag of his cigarette, looking up at the dark skies. It was clear out, despite that on the news it was supposed to rain in the middle of the night.
He took a little longer with his cigarette so that the woman wouldn't fear him because of his anger. He desperately wanted another one but knew that he needed to go upstairs and check up on the woman. He went to flick it to the side but instead dropped it to the floor and stepped on it. He whistled for the dog who immediately ran past him and back inside the house. Atley locked the sliding door and quietly listened to the quiet house, hearing the water running still from upstairs.
Frowning Atley felt something wasn't right in his gut and hurriedly rushed back upstairs. At the top of the stairs he looked at the four closed doors until he saw the door on the right slightly opened. He entered tentatively and was grateful that it was the master bedroom. Atley quickly looked around the darken room, noticing just how clean it was–just like the rest of the house, though he did noted the bed wasn't done. He wondered if Essence was a bit of a neat freak or it was just a habit…he would assume it was a habit since the bed wasn't made. Shaking his head he saw the light coming from what he assumed to be the master bathroom, the door slightly ajar.
Taking a deep breath, Atley moved forward and knocked softly, telling himself that he was only checking up on her to make sure she was all right. However what he heard broke his heart. The sobs she was trying to cover were loud within his ears. Quickly he moved forward and opened the door to quickly shut off the now ice cold water. Atley had a bit of a hard time when Essence started to scream and cry and struggle against his arms.
"Shh, sweetheart, it's me, it's Atley. Come on, sweetheart." he whispered softly as he dragged her out of the shower.
He quickly took hold of a large towel and wrapped it around her naked body, feeling Essence start to calm down enough that her tears ceased. She held on to Atley as tightly as she did back at the garage, not wanting to let go or for Atley to leave her. Feeling his right leg begin to tensed up once again–it seems to be doing that a lot more with the woman being near him–he sat down on the cold tile floors. Essence placed her head right beneath Atley's chin, curling her body towards him for both warmth and assurance that he wasn't going to leave her alone.
"Shh it's okay sweetheart, you're safe. Come on, baby, you're safe now." Atley tried to sooth her shaking form.
Essence shook her head, nuzzling the crock of his neck. "Thank you; you hardly know me and you're here at my house, helping me." she suddenly whispered, closing her eyes tiredly.
Atley smiled, rubbing the young woman's arms. "Ah, not a problem, sweetheart; I would have done so if the first time I met you was out on the streets."
Essence nodded slowly before she finally fell asleep. Atley looked down at the woman and sighed before wondering how he was going to move the woman from the bathroom to her bed, as well as try to get up off the floor with his sore leg. With a grunt the older man pushed his body hard against the wall and slid up, all the while holding on to the sleeping woman. A few times he had to stop and stay still when his right leg wanted to give out painfully. Once he was on his feet Atley walked into the bedroom and placed the woman on her bed, prying her fingers off of his shirt.
Sitting at the edge of the bed, the older boost stared at the woman's troubled face, pushing her still wet hair away from her face. The dog jumped on to the bed and lay near his mistress, placing his head on her stomach, giving a small whine. Almost as though he knew that his mistress was in trouble that night. Atley smiled softly, scratching the dog's head before standing up. Despite that Sphinx was going to let Memphis and the others know why he wasn't there at the meeting he rather call himself just to double check that Otto fires the asshole.
"Please don't leave," a small voice whispered.
Atley looked back to see Essence opening her eyes to slits, looking up at him. She almost looked like a frighten child–she is a frightened child, frightened of what would have came to happened just a few hours ago. He told himself, mentally shaking his head. He was old enough to be her father...okay maybe not that old, but still, he was an old man. Why in the world did she want to be with him anyways? And since when did he think about Essence wanting him?
"I don't want to be alone," she continued to whisper sleepily, holding out her right hand as her left was on top of the dog's head. "Please,"
Atley sighed, shoving a hand through his hair before nodding, "Alright sweetheart, but just until you go back to sleep. I don't want your boyfriend coming over and seeing us in bed and try to beat the crap out of me."
Essence chuckled softly, closing her eyes as Atley sat down next to her and leaned back against the metal headboard, only to quickly place a pillow for comfort. He was surprised that there was still room on her full size bed as Angel had his long body laid out with Essence in the middle and Atley on the side.
"I don't have a boyfriend, Mr. Jackson. No time,"
Atley frowned down at the woman as though she was crazy. "But all you young people should have a relationship! Or are you more of the modern type and just rather have friends with benefits?"
Essence sighed and scooted closer to the older man, wrapping her left arm around his waist as she placed her head on his chest. "I'm rather old fashion, so, no, I'm not the type to sleep around. However, with how my life is complicated, especially with the third shift at the hospital, I don't have time to go out and meet somebody."
"You're a one of a kind sweetheart, do you know that?" Atley muttered, brushing his fingers through her hair, untangling the knots.
He watches the dog get up and moves further down the bed before laying his head on Essence's curved legs with a content sigh.
Essence hummed, snuggling closer for warmth. "So I've been told," she muttered before falling back asleep as she was comfortable.
Atley, glad that the woman wasn't the type to make her bed, kicked off his shoes and leaned over to pull the sheets over them. He made sure that Essence was tucked in tight so that she wouldn't catch a cold or a chill. He went back to brushing her hair, leaning back his head and closing his eyes. Next thing he knew, Atley was sound asleep, his mouth slightly open for the occasional snore.
A/N: I hope you guys liked the chapter! Please review. :)