Chapter 33

Dave would spend most of his free time for the remainder of the semester with Genviéve. They were the happiest seven weeks he had had in a long time. He would occasionally run into Chuck, but the African American would act like he hadn't seen him, like his former best friend was just any random guy walking around campus. They had not spoken since the incident, and although Viv (as he sometimes referred to Genviéve) had encouraged him to talk to the Casanova, David had refused to do any such thing. At least the young French woman hadn't insisted that he try to talk to his ex, because that would have just pissed him off, and he didn't want to be pissed off at Viv because quite honestly, he liked her, although he didn't want to admit it.

He had in fact been lucky not to run into his ex at all. There were hushed rumours circulating that she had quit school, or that she would be taking a break the following semester, and some stories that she was expectant. He knew her well though. She was too smart a girl to simply quit school because she was found cheating, so that was just a bunch of bull. A sem break? Whatever, he thought. But pregnant? Shit! That's one thing he hoped was untrue, because it would rip his heart wide open to know that she was carrying Chuck's baby. That would be adding insult to injury to the extreme, especially since he had once dared dream of starting a family with her.

…

"David?"

He was dragged out of his reverie by the voice of his wife. Looking up at her, he saw that she was carrying a blanket in her hands. She came and sat beside him on the couch, her legs folded under her. She threw the warm fleece blanket over them.

"What were you thinking about?" she asked as she reached for the TV remote and reduced the volume.

He held the blanket, rolling his hands over it slowly as he stalled to reply. He licked his lips and let out his breath as he pulled the blanket up to his chin. "Nothing." The look she gave him showed that she didn't buy it. He shrugged before adding, "Just…times past."

She nodded thoughtfully. He returned his gaze to the TV screen, only for Genviéve to speak again. "We're only human."

"Huh?" he asked as he faced her, his brow arched.

"We're only human," she reiterated. "So sometimes we let each other down. You let me down, and you let our family down, but you're only human."

He shifted his gaze to the floor as her words stung him. She brought her hand to his face, and turned it back to her so that she could look into his eyes. She could see his guilt laid bare in those chocolate brown eyes. "No matter what you do, I will always love you."

He shut his eyes as her words warmed his soul. He could still feel her hand on his face, and as he took a deep breath he heard felt her shift on the couch. He felt goose pimples break out on his neck as he felt her soft lips on his cheek. Opening his eyes, he looked at her beautiful face. "And I forgive you," she added as she touched her forehead to his.

David felt a tear roll down his cheek which was immediately brushed away by his wife's gentle fingers. He reached for her and hugged her close as he cupped her head. "Thank you, thank you," he whispered.

"I forgive you," she said into his neck where she had nuzzled, "It will be difficult to forget. I swear I will try to forget, but I make no promises."

xxx

Hoagie was seated at the table with his family for dinner. He had just been playing around with his food, repeatedly poking and prodding his fork into his meatloaf but doing little else. He hadn't even realized how quiet everyone else was as they all watched him, guessing what was going through his mind.

Hogarth P. Gilligan III had never been the best Jew; that much he knew. He had not been down to the synagogue in a while. He wasn't really setting the best example for Tommy, and his mother no longer bothered to tell him what she expected. He was an adult, and he had the right to make his own decisions, even though Betty did not approve of some of his choices.

But on that evening, Hoagie was talking to God. He felt he had no right to really, but he pled with God to forgive him for only calling on Him when things weren't going right. He prayed that Abby was alright, and that Kensei would not lay a hand on her. And he promised to go to the synagogue come the next Sabbath. Was he trying to bargain with God? Maybe, he wasn't too sure himself, but he did think it was about time he behaved like a Jew, come what may.

xxx

On that Saturday evening, Kensei had had the damning desire to get high. Maybe it was because he was secretly starting to worry that the cops were getting close, even though he had no reason to think any such thing. There was no Eva to rat on him, and there was nothing about her 'accident' in the news. However, his picture was all over the TV channels, and that was a posing a problem. He couldn't walk around freely anymore, and that bastard Guererro still hadn't gotten back to him. The solution to his potential problems was to fly to Japan and hide out there till everything had cooled down here. Soon enough it would be assumed that Abby's dead, and the cops will have nothing but a cold trail. But until Kensei could confirm that things would work out as smoothly as he imagined, he would resort to getting high and wait for the crooked Mexican to call him back.

Now the living room was filled with a lazy cloud of smoke from the weed he had lit a while earlier. He was starting to feel relaxed, and he could see that Abby was getting affected too as her eyes seemed a bit distant and glazed. He figured she had never done weed before, otherwise the smoke wouldn't have gotten to her so easily. He sat up and leaned forward to prepare the coke that was on the table.

His movement caught Abby's eye, and she looked at him intently. Her mind was working slightly slower than usual, but she still had enough sense to caution him. "Fool, I don't care who you think you are, but you shouldn't be mixing drugs."

Just to spite her, he took one long snort of the coke. Scrunching his face, he held his breath until the odd and painful sensation of the white powder moving up his nose faded, and then he audibly let out his breath before speaking in a low strained voice, "You can't tell me what to do."

"Like hell I can't; for as long as I'm here, I can." She might not have given a damn were she one hundred percent sober, or maybe she might. But she figured that if he died because he was mixing drugs, then she'd be stuck chained to that wall for who knows how long.

Kensei reclined in his chair and looked at Abby. "You can't tell me what to do…not unless you're my wife."

Abby found herself tickled by his statement.

"Go ahead and laugh, but you're my woman now, and when we get to Japan I'm gonna make you my wife. THEN you can tell me what to do," he said with a sneer before taking another snort of his precious white powder.

"Bullshit." If Abby had her senses, she wouldn't have retorted like that. The word had barely left her mouth before Kensei was standing before her, looking down at her with a glint in his eye. He held her lower jaw in a vice-like grip and shook her head rather violently. "Don't say that," he growled. "You are fucking mine." He let go of her just as suddenly as he had grabbed her and began to unbuckle his belt. "I'll show you," he said as he tugged at his belt, "I'll make you mine right now."

Abby's eyes widened as her heart began to race. Oh shit, shit, shit. She gulped nervously as he now undid the button of his jeans. "K-Kensei…don't," she begged as she frantically pulled the chain that bound her to the wall. The noisy jangle of the cold iron chain did nothing to calm her nerves as she watched the man before her get out of his jeans. He made to grab Abby by the arm but she swatted his hand away, earning a backhanded slap from her drug-dazed kidnapper.

She screamed, and he brought his hand to her throat and squeezed, thereby cutting her shriek short. "Shut up!" he hissed. "I just wanna make you feel like a woman...in ways that that stupid-ass boy never could."

Abby was trying to pry herself free, but her small hands could do nothing against his big strong ones. She stopped trying as she felt her head pound due to a lack of oxygen. He then let go of her throat, and she began to wheeze painfully as air flooded her lungs. She brought her hands to her throat, touching it gently. It still felt like Kensei had his hand around it. She looked up at him in full-fledged fear, and she could see that he wasn't the same man he had been. The drugs had done something to him – made him act more easily on his impulses.

He immediately brought his hand to her waist and grabbed her pants and pulled on them savagely as he tried to undress her. She screamed again and tried to kick him, but his quick reflexes enabled him to catch her leg as she swung it. He gave a sudden strong pull on her leg, and she yelped in pain as she felt as though her leg had been unhinged at the knee and hip. As she was still preoccupied by the pain he took the window of opportunity to pull off her pants, leaving her exposed in her underwear. She instantly flushed red and swung her unbound arm with all her might to punch him. She got him square in the jaw and he groaned while she hissed as pain coursed through her fist.

Kensei slapped her again and then ripped off her panty. "Please Kensei…"

"Shut. The. Fuck. Up!"

"Kensei," she cried as he held her waist with one arm and tried to spread her legs with the other. "Please DON'T!" she screamed as she began to thrash wildly beneath him, kicking her legs all over the place and throwing her arms wherever. Kensei instead brought his hands back to her throat and squeezed. Her eyes popped and her ears rang as her head felt like it might explode due to a sudden excessive pressure. However, instead of giving up, she continued to thrash with every ounce of strength that she had in her body.

Her body…

It hurt…her leg…her throat...her head…everywhere…

It felt like time was slowing down. She could hear her heartbeat clearly in her ears. It was slowing down…everything was becoming dark…

'Maybe it's better this way' was her last thought before Abby lost consciousness.