Chapter 5

Damian couldn't sleep that night. Mina was haunting his thoughts. He remembered her naked body when she came out of the shower, her beautifully curved hips, under her thin waist, drawing the graceful lines of the Venus she was. He was touching himself at the memories of her inviting apple shaped breasts, ending with pinkish nipples he desperately wanted to lick. He imagined being with her, kissing her whole body, soothing all her pains with his mouth and tongue. "Her pains…" He stopped his activity, feeling disgusting. He suddenly remembered what he saw earlier, Mina tied to the bed, blood on the sheets, a large puddle of blood and other body fluids between her spread legs, cuts on her body and worst of all, her eyes. The eyes that were always sparkly and vivid became empty, dull, prepared for pain. He was ashamed of himself for thinking about her in such a lewd way as she just was raped and tortured. "I am a monster too, I'm not different from him". When she undressed in front of him and Finn, he rushed to his room to take clothes, but not only to preserve her, he knew he would get excited to see her like this. Thinking that she was now sleeping in his clothes and would give them back to him tomorrow, filled with her delicious smell scared him as he didn't know if he would just wash them or keep them to smell her odour like a drug. He wanted her.

Damian got out of his bed to go in his bathroom, only wearing underwear as he gave his pyjamas to Mina. He put cold water on his face as if to wash all those dirty thought out of his mind before looking at himself in the mirror. The mirror returned the image of a tall and strong man, covered in tattoos, a bump appearing through his underwear. "Disgusting" As he looked again, he saw the image of Mina, shivering with fear in her oversized dress, so small and frail compared to him. The sound of her voice echoed to his ears: "Can you sing again please? Your voice is reassuring." That's when it hit him. He could choose to avoid her, craving for her presence and her body as long as he will remember her, or he could choose to use his strong body to protect her. The choice was his to make. Sighing with doubt and exhaustion, he went back to bed where a troubled sleep was waiting for him.

When Mina opened her eyes, she was in Rhea's bedroom, wearing clothes that were not hers. She shook her head as the previous night came back to her mind. She sighed, what will she do now? The black-haired woman headed up to the bathroom, had a shower, got dressed, brushed her teeth and started to brush her long hair. A knock on the door surprised her and she went to open the door. The whole Judgment Day stood there, huge boxes and bags at their feet.

- "Glad to see you are awake" Rhea said, entering the room. She hugged Mina, patting her back as the four men quietly came in.

- "We've got a surprise for ya" JD said with a gigantic smile, putting a bag and a box at her feet. "Open them sweety!"

Mina slowly opened the presents and her face lit up at the sight of her sewing machine, pieces of fabric, clothes, they had brought her all life in Rhea's hotel room just for her.

- "We thought that you would want to start a new life, so we went to your shop and home and took everything we could" Finn announced proudly. "Starting from now, you are staying with us Rapunzel!"

Tears of emotion started to form in Mina's eyes. She felt suddenly light and happy. She rubbed her eyes before staring to her friends.

- "Thank you so much guys, I-I don't know what I would do without you." She then burst into tears, falling on her knees. Finn and Rhea held her up in a hug, quickly followed by Dom, JD and Damian. They stayed like this for a couple minutes when Dom broke the embrace.

- "What about going out to have breakfast? I'm starving and the sewing machine is heavy".

- "Great idea DomDom" Rhea answered. "Let's go!"

They left the hotel room to go to a bakery. They ordered and got a seat. They were all eating as if nothing happened, happily chatting about life, shows, food and sports. Mina learned that today was their rest day before their show tomorrow so they would have all day to do whatever they want and of course, she was part of the plans. She cracked a smile as the sight of Dominik having his mouth wiped down by Rhea, as he had peanut butter all over his chin. These two were such a cute couple. She even laughed when JD and Finn tried to steal a cookie out of Damian's plate. The long-haired man instantly covered his plate with his arms with a murderous gaze in his eyes.

- "Back off! These are MY cookies. I can share my car, my lunch, my clothes and even my life with you guys but DON'T TOUCH MY COOKIES!"

Finn and JD raised their hands and burst out laughing.

- "He has a sweet tooth and cookies are his absolute favourites, don't you dare touch his cookies or you might be in trouble." Dom explained to a puzzled Mina. "By the way, what shall we do today?"

- "I'm in for a swimming pool" Finn answered, "I'm melting with that heat".

Mina wasn't sure of what she wanted to do, she wanted a quiet and calm place, without too many people. She faintly heard her friends arguing about fans being at the swimming pool and all the fuss it might cause on the social media.

- "What about the lake?" Rhea asked.

- "There is a lake here?" JD asked.

- "Yeah" Mina answered. "It's a pretty long drive and walk though, but there is a shore where nobody goes because it's not the best view. I can guide you."

- "Sold!" Finn shouted.

They were wandering in the woods, with their backpacks and comfortable clothes. Mina was guiding them among the trees, smiling as she carefully discarded the branches out of her way.

- "I used to come here often when I was a child, it's not the prettiest side of the lake, but it's calm and I love it." She explained before showing them the little beach bordering the lake. The trees provided shade, the water was clear and reflected the blue sky above their head.

Finn and JD threw away their backpacks and clothes to jump in the water like children. The two Irish men were sensitive to heat and the cool water was too tempting. Laughing at that sight, Rhea, Dom, Damian and Mina started to unpack their towels and laid down on the hot sand. Mina didn't dare to take of her clothes to stay in her swimsuit, she looked at her five friends laughing and chatting with envy. They all had perfect bodies, with or without tatoos, and they were perfectly fine in it. No shame, no questions, she was a little bit jealous of their strength, their assurance, their comfidence. Her body was weak, covered in scars, she found it ugly.

- "Your wounds can only heal now, don't be ashamed in front of us." JD told her, coming out of the water to apply sunscreen, not willing to appear at the coming show looking like a lobster.

With a sigh, Mina took off her shorts and T-shirt. She breathed in relief as the heat was suddenly lighter. She felt the sun on her skin for the first time in years, she felt that her body was finally hers.

- "Come on, Rapunzel! Come with us in the water!" Finn's voice echoed in her head. She didn't know why, but she just wanted to listen to him. She headed to the water and joined her friends who were starting a water fight.

Swimming was a relief, as if entering the water was like a second birth after so many years without swimming. She felt her body floating in the water, her hands cuting through it as to open a new path for her. She was suddenly lifted in the air by two powerful arms, it was JD. He looked at her with a smirk before throwing her in the water, waiting for her to respond and attack him. Mina was not strong enough to push JD to fall so Finn and Damian came to help her.

The afternoon passed way to fast to Mina's eyes. She discovered that when they were on rest day, they tended to be childish to let go of all the pression of their job. They started water fights or swimming contests frantically laughing and smiling as if they were the only ones in the world. She found out a new face of her friends: JD was actually sweeter than he appeared to be, he was not the filthy seducer she suspected, traying his best to make her laugh by acting goofy. Dom, always quiet and showing attitude was in fact almost as chilling as Finn; purring and closing his eyes as Rhea applied sunscreen on his back and shoulders, he was clearly in love. For the first time, she saw Damian with an appeased look on his face, even when he got planted in the mud and Finn had to help him out under the mockeries of JD and Dom who were then thrown in the water.

When time came to come back to the cars, Mina felt sad. What was she going to do now? After their show the following day, they will have to leave the city one more time and she would have nowhere to go. At least they would have given her one day of freedom and happiness, which was more that she has had for the past years. In two days, a lot happened to her but in the end, she had lost her job and her home. Some might call it freedom, for her it was the unknown and it was awfully scary.

- "Do you have any plans for tomorrow night, Sweety?" JD asked.

- "Not really, but don't you have a show?"

- "Exactly, and you're coming with us!" he decided. A gigantic smile brightened his face as he proudly took his phone out of his pocket. "I might have a job for ya!"

Finn's eyes widened as he understood what his friend was planning. He put his arm around Mina's shoulders with sparkling eyes before holding her up and making her swirl around him.

- "You are not really thinking about…" Rhea started.

- "Oh yeah!" JD answered an impish sparkle in the eyes.