Chapter Thirty-four

When Izabella got out of the shower, Rose and her little squad had left, and Bram was standing in Devon’s room watching him play. She’d put on the large shirt Bram had bought the night before, but this time had a pair of daisy-duke shorts on underneath. She was surprised to see that Bram looked like he had showered already and was in his jeans and a fresh t-shirt.

“How are we doing?” Bram turned, smiling.

“He’s too into the new game. He doesn’t want to come watch tv with us.” Bram shrugged.

She laughed, “Well, I guess we can watch whatever we want then. Are we still going to the corner store?”

“Yeah, I just need to tear Devon away from the game long enough to get us out of the house for a bit.”

“If you want, I can just run to the store and I’ll be right back.” She smiled, she didn’t want to have to pull Devon from his brand-new game.

“Excuse me? No. You’re not going out alone this late. It’s not safe, even in this area.” He frowned. “Especially dressed like that.” Seeing her in the oversized t-shirt again heated his blood, and he felt something stirring inside him.

“I’m wearing shorts.” She lifted the hem of the shirt to show him, her heart pounding as his eyes slowly roamed over her, she didn’t miss the way he licked his lips. Half hiding the motion behind drinking down the last of his beer. Clearing her throat, she went to Devon, half leaning over to talk into his ear. “Let’s run down to the store, we can get all sorts of good snacks and be right back.”

“Can I get cotton candy?” His head whipped over, but he looked like a little robot with his half a headset on.

“We’ll see. You need to convince dad of that.” Pulling off the headset, he set it on the charger just as Rose had shown him to do. When she stood back up, Bram was smiling, leaning against the wall, watching them.

Overall, the trip was uneventful. Bram watched her choose which items she wanted and got other like things. Devon did find the cotton candy he wanted, and Bram went to the back of the store to look through the beer and liquor. Izabella was leaning over in one of the aisles, her and Devon were deciding which chips they wanted, and Izabella wanted to try some jerky, but it just seemed so expensive. Something bumped into her waist from behind, and her forehead bounced off the shelf.

“Hey man, you should see the buns this store has.” Izabella was now trying to stand up, but a man was behind her, forcing her to stay down. “Hey, you shouldn’t put it all on display if you don’t want someone to think it’s free for use.”

“Let me go!” Izabella was clinging to the shelf, trying to push him away, and wanting to stand up again, the guy grabbed her by the back of her neck, his other hand rubbed her belly, looking for the clasp at the front of his pants. Her heart pounded painfully as fear crawled up her spine, she could hear a number of them laughing around the store. She was trying to spot where Devon had gone, but she couldn’t see him anywhere, and she hoped he found his dad. “You can’t do this, let me go!”

She heard some grunts from behind her, and now someone was holding her arms above her head for the creep that had snuck up behind her. “I suggest you listen and let her go.” She could feel tears dripping down her nose, and she was afraid to move now that the man had found the front of her shorts. She was afraid that Bram was going to get himself hurt, and she was in no position to do anything about it.

“Get the fuck out of here old man, or we’ll have to kill you.” The guy behind her barked, and the other men in the store started to yell things at him. She heard a fight break out, but with the guy holding her head against the shelves, she couldn’t see what was happening and she sobbed. She felt his hand grabbing the back of her shorts as he pulled them down her hips.

She heard a gun fire and cried out as the man’s huge hand grabbed her behind roughly, pressing his hips against hers. “I called the cops. You better get out of here you damn thugs!”

“Kill that bastard, and put the lock down in the front. We’ll drink all his shit and party here with our new little toys until morning. A scream of terror and pain met her ears from somewhere else in the store. “Fuck man, we gotta get outta here. He just killed Scrull.” Another man was panicking from the other side. Something smashed on the shelving above her, and all she could smell was the liquor pouring over her head, but the man behind her hand finally released her and she scrambled to get her shorts back up. Cowering on the floor, she didn’t move. Afraid of what could happen.

The guy who had been holding her pulled out a gun, and she started to crawl away, not wanting to become the reason the shop owner or Bram wouldn’t be able to do something. A fist caught the back of her hair, and cried out again, trying to get away from him. “Listen here pal—” He didn’t get to finish whatever he was about to say though. A shadow crossed their path quickly, and she heard a sickening snap as the man’s body went limp, falling on top of her. Covering her head, she was too afraid to move, but felt the body move away, and strong hands grabbed her, pulling her in close.

At first she panicked, trying to fight whoever it was off, then she heard his voice. “Shhh, I’ve got you. You’re going to be okay, Izabella.”

“Where’s Devon?” She sobbed, clinging to Bram as he held her close.

“He’s behind the counter with the clerk. He’s safe.” Bram was now on the floor and had pulled her into his lap. “Are you alright? Did he hurt you?” She could feel him touching her all over, checking to make sure she wasn’t hurt.

Izabella couldn’t stop crying though, she couldn’t remember ever being so scared in her life. Suddenly, someone was yelling orders across the store, and three cops had their guns pointed at her and Bram.

“Hands up! Let the girl go!”

Bram’s hands slowly released her, going into the air just as they asked. “No, no.” She sobbed, still clinging to him. “He’s my friend. He stopped them. He was just protecting me.”