Chapter 23

Soft lips caressed her neck as Zelia's body slowly came alive, feeling an arm tighten around her waist. She smiled, keeping her eyes closed and relished the feeling of having Jon this close to her. They spent the majority of the night making love in every position known to man, pushing each other to their breaking points. They'd only been asleep for a couple hours and apparently Jon was ready for another round because she felt his hard erection press against her rear. Zelia moaned, feeling Jon's fingers glide down her stomach to slip between her wet folds and arched her body against him.

"Mmm someone's ready for me." Jon commented in a low raspy voice, loving how she completely surrendered to him. "Do you want my cock inside of your sweet pussy, baby?"

"You never have to ask that, it's always going to be yes." Zelia breathed out, shivering when he chuckled in her ear while his fingers continued lightly stroking her clit, jumpstarting her body. "Oh Jon…"

Not moving from their spooned position, Jon pushed his swollen cock inside of her, not stopping his administrations on her clit. Zelia gasped at the fullness, her hand instantly reaching down to entwine with Jon's against her clit while her other arm wrapped around his neck to bury her fingers in his dishwater blonde curls. Her leg draped over his to spread her thighs wider, making him drive deeper inside of her with every thrust. Her body rocked against his and Jon's lips remained attached to her neck, whispering sweet nothings in her ear. It was a slow torturous thrusting, Jon's hand still entwined with Zelia's splaying against her stomach to keep her in place.

"You feel so good inside of me, Jon…" Zelia moaned, turning her head as his mouth caught hers in a soft kiss, nothing animalistic about it. "I need you deeper…"

Jon growled at her confession, knowing this position wouldn't give his woman what she wanted. So he quickly slid out of her and watched as she immediately rolled over, spreading her thighs as wide as possible for him. Her beautiful jade eyes had turned a deep forest green that mixed with his stormy greyish blue, his mouth instantly capturing hers. Zelia moaned as their tongues glided together, the same time Jon slid back inside of her, feeling her leg hook around his waist. Now this was much better and in no time Zelia felt that hot coil within her stomach threatening to spring free, but she held it back. Jon's mouth reluctantly left hers to bury in her neck, their moans and groans filling the air.

It was the sweetest and sexiest way Zelia had been awakened in her entire life.

A few hours later, Jon and Zelia's cell phones blared, waking both of them up after they finally succumbed to more sleep. Jon growled, reaching over to flip his cell phone open while Zelia snuggled further against him. He kissed the top of Zelia's head and put his phone to his ear, seeing Joe's name flashing on the screen.

"This better be life or death or I'm killing you, bro." He grumbled, pinching the bridge of his nose and immediately sat up in bed because of what Joe told him. "Shit, we're on our way."

"What's going on?" Zelia asked sleepily, rubbing her eyes and tried getting her blurred vision to clear.

"Get dressed." Jon ordered, tossing her the clothes she wore the previous night, knowing they had no time to waste. "It's Valisa. She was attacked last night and at the hospital."

Zelia had never gotten dressed so fast in her life, both her and Jon flying out the door 5 minutes later.

~!~

Valisa lay in the hospital bed rolled on her side, silent tears slipping down her cheeks. She seemed to be in a trance, staring straight ahead with countless machines attached to her body. She had an IV in her arm to pump fluids through her system, her bottom lip was split and her face was a mess of bruises. There was a deep laceration on top of her left eyebrow that currently had stitches to keep it closed and covered with a thick white bandage. The bruises on her face didn't compare to what the rest of her body looked like. Her inner thighs had large handprint bruises along with her breasts, bite marks that pierced her skin also evident. Her stomach was heavily bruised as well, thanks to several fractured ribs and her right wrist had a thick white bandage on it from being cut. Closing her eyes, Valisa began trembling as the memories of what happened overtook her…

~!~

10 minutes after Zelia left, there was a knock on Valisa's hotel room door and she thought it was Zelia returning to double-check on her. "I told you I'm fine, Zel." She said, opening the door without checking to see who was on the other side.

It wasn't Zelia.

"Hello Valisa." Phil greeted with a soft smile, holding a bouquet of multicolored flowers. "I need to talk to you about what happened at the arena. It's about what you saw."

Valisa raised a brow at the flowers and what Phil said, her curiosity burning. "Five minutes." She opened the door wider for him to step through and closed it, keeping her back to him.

"Thank you."

That was the last thing Valisa heard before something hard smashed on top of her head, her body crumbling to the floor in a heap. It was the vase from the flowers Phil had in his hand. Valisa came to a little while later to a naked Phil on top of her, thrusting like a madman in and out of her body. Her head was throbbing fiercely and Valisa was too dazed to think about pushing him away, even though she wanted to. Tears slid down her cheeks as her entire body trembled from head to toe, pain radiating from her lower extremities.

"Get wet for me, slut!" Phil growled, not stopping his thrusting and backhanded her across the face. It hadn't been the first time he did it either, his hands gripping her thighs tightly to the point where his nails dug into her skin. "You better cum for me, Valisa! Or I will make this even more painful for you!"

"Stop it!" Valisa finally found her voice and tried getting away from him, but Phil had her completely pinned down.

Her arms were above her head locked to the headboard in tight handcuffs that cut into her wrists the more she struggled. Phil reciprocated by biting down on her nipple hard and slid out of her, taking a bottle of lube from the nightstand. Valisa couldn't believe this was happening and watched in horror as he spread the thick substance all over his cock before slamming back inside of her, forcing her body to submit. He kept her legs wrapped firmly around his waist, putting his full force and power behind every thrust, nearly splitting Valisa in half.

"God so fucking tight…" Phil groaned, his mouth slamming on Valisa's brutally when she went to scream again, ignoring her struggling with ease and pulled back when she nearly tried biting his tongue off. "You cunt!" He backhanded her again, making her cry out and suddenly grabbed the scarf he brought, stuffing it in her mouth. "You'll pay for that." He promised darkly, hazel eyes glowing with wicked intentions as a sick smirk curved his lips.

Valisa was suddenly flipped to be on all fours, her arms twisted so she literally couldn't move and felt her wrist pop out of place, screaming through the scarf. No matter how much she screamed and struggled, Phil took what he wanted, feeling his still lubed cock slide back inside of her. For hours on end, he raped and beat her, calling her every name in the book. By the time Phil finally finished, Valisa could barely keep consciousness, but she was too scared to pass out for fear of never waking up again. Phil took the handcuffs off her wrists and turned her over on her back, his lips brushing against hers as if they'd just had a purely consensual experience.

"Maybe next time you'll give me what I want." Phil said sweetly and buried his fingers in her hair, ripping her bruised face up to lock eyes with him. "And as for what you saw, looks to me like you either didn't give the goods up to Joe or he simply needed something more. I don't blame him. Your pussy isn't worth fucking. Pleasant dreams, sweetheart." He released her at once and walked out of the room completely dressed, leaving Valisa there broken, bruised and bloodied.

~!~

Zelia and Jon raced into the hospital as fast as they could, spotting Joe pacing in the waiting lobby. Colby, Celeste, Brianna, Bryan, Glen and Mark were all waiting as well, worried looks on their faces. This wasn't good. Zelia felt sick to her stomach as Joe approached her, tears in his grey eyes and Jon tightened his hold slightly on her hand.

"What happened?" Zelia asked quietly, tears forming at all the pain and anguish in the big man's eyes. "Joe, talk to me…"

"S-She won't let me see her…" Joe stammered out painfully and shook his head, walking away from her as he began pacing again.

Glen stood up and walked over to Zelia, not bothering to comment on the sight of her with Jon. He knew it would happen eventually. "Valisa was beaten and raped last night." He said solemnly, his heart breaking as soon as the tears slid down Zelia's cheeks and wanted to pull her into his arms, but Jon beat him to the punch.

"Oh my god…" Zelia could barely breathe, burying her face in Jon's chest while his hand clamped on the back of her head, her tears soaking through his shirt. "I-I just saw her…"

Jon's eyes turned startlingly blue instantly, his jaw tightening and every muscle in his body tensed. Someone raped and beat Valisa – the woman he considered his sister? The woman who had stolen Joe's heart? Jon gritted his teeth, holding onto Zelia and tried swallowing his anger down for the moment, knowing she needed him right now. He hated seeing her cry, but he would deal with it right now since the situation definitely called for some tears…and possibly murder.

"D-Do they know who did it?" Zelia asked once she pulled away from Jon to turn to look at Glen, the tears not stopping.

"No, and there was no evidence left behind. No…semen or anything. So whoever did this planned it out methodically and luckily used protection…" Glen felt sick at the words he said, his face paling slightly and blinked when Zelia wrapped her arms around his waist, hugging him tightly.

"It's okay, Big Red. It's gonna be okay. Valisa will tell us who it was and then that mother fucker will have to deal with all of us." Zelia soothed, feeling his arms wrap around her and his lips kiss the top of her head. It was all friendly, there was no romantic feelings between them whatsoever. "Have you seen her yet?" Jon grabbed her hand after Zelia broke the hug, their fingers lacing together once more.

Glen shook his head, frowning. "No. She won't let anyone see her right now…except you."

Zelia swallowed hard and looked back at Jon, reaching up to caress his face tenderly with the back of her free hand. "Go outside and take Joe with you. Have a cigarette, you really need one because you're so tense the veins in your neck and arms are popping out." She brushed her lips against his in front of everyone, not caring who saw them anymore because they were finally together. "I'll try to convince Valisa to let Joe come in and see her."

"Don't push her." Jon cautioned, shaking his head. "She needs time to heal from this. Just let her be for now. Come on big man, Colbs." He gestured both of his friends over. "We'll be right outside if you need us, beautiful."

Zelia nodded, cracking a small smile and watched them walk out of the waiting lobby toward the exit so Jon could have a much needed nicotine fix. "What room is she in?" She asked Glen, turning her full attention back on him.

"429." Glen rumbled, tearing a hand through his curly brown hair that was tied back at the nape of his neck. "Do you want me to walk you down there?"

"I'll do it." Mark piped up, walking over to where Zelia stood and extended his arm in a gentleman way. "I got this, go sit down before you end up collapsing from exhaustion."

Glen knew Mark wanted to talk to Zelia privately and nodded, clapping him on the back. "Thanks, man." He walked back over and sat down by Bryan while Mark escorted Zelia down the hallway toward Valisa's room.

"So you and the kid, eh?" Mark commented, surprised that Zelia was allowing him to do this. "You happy with him?"

"Yes." Zelia answered without hesitation, still sore at Mark for what he did to Jon and sighed when they both stopped in the hallway. "Mark, not now…"

Mark sighed heavily, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. "I just wanted to tell ya that I'm sorry for what happened. I was only tryin' to protect ya and I went about it the wrong way. He's a tough young man and if he makes you happy, that's all that matters." He wasn't good with apologies, but Mark knew when he was in the wrong. It just took him longer to realize the error of his ways than Glen.

Zelia smiled in spite of everything happening and reached up, kissing Mark on the cheek. "Thank you, that means a great deal to me, Deadman." She took his arm again as they walked the rest of the way to Valisa's room.

"We'll be in the waitin' room if you need us." Mark rumbled, kissing the top of her head like Glen had and walked away, leaving Zelia standing just outside of Valisa's room alone.

Taking a deep breath, Zelia tapped gently on the door and stepped inside, fighting back tears at the sight of her friend. Valisa looked awful and broken, her eyes not even moving to the door when Zelia walked in. Taking a seat in the chair beside the bed, Zelia took Valisa's hand and felt her friend instantly tighten the hold, but that's all the movement Valisa made. She wasn't going anywhere and would stay with her friend, ready to help her heal however she could.

"Vali, I know you've been through a lot and you don't want to talk about what happened, but please tell me who did this to you." Zelia pleaded quietly, running her fingers through the back of Valisa's hair, silent tears sliding down her cheeks.

Valisa didn't say a word and just shook her head.

"Do you want me to stay with you tonight?" Zelia tried a different approach and felt Valisa squeeze her hand, nodding. "Alright, I'm not going anywhere, sweetie. I'm right here."

Valisa squeezed her hand again as her eyes closed, falling asleep for the moment and never released Zelia's hand.