Victor's Vow, page 13
full of drinks. Scanning the dark place, Vinny spotted Dozer at the bar
with some girl in a very short tight dress hanging all over him. The way
she was moving clearly told anyone watching how drunk she was. What
shocked Vinny, however, was how little interest Dozer was taking in her.
He just sat there as she wrapped her arms around his wide shoulders and
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kept right on drinking from the bottle of beer in his hand while she spoke
in his ear.
Vinny made his way over to him. When the woman looked up and
saw him, he gave her a thumb over his shoulder to get lost. She pouted
some, so he did it again, and she staggered away. He took her seat.
“How’s it going?” he asked Dozer, sitting with his back to the bar,
looking out at all the people dancing.
“Not too bad. You?” Dozer answered.
“Pretty good.”
“Tony!” Dozer slapped his hand on the bar. “Another.”
Vinny looked over his shoulder as the bartender brought over
another shot glass and put it in front of Dozer. What he poured in the
glass, he didn’t know, but Dozer picked it up and drank it down in one
shot, hissed, and slammed the glass down.
“How many have you had?” Vinny asked.
“Not enough,” Dozer answered.
Vinny took a deep breath and turned on the stool to face Dozer.
“Look, I’m sorry, man. I don’t want this to fuck up our friendship.”
Dozer turned his head to look at Vinny. “Do you love her?”
“Will you believe the answer if I give it to you?”
Dozer narrowed his dark eyes, and then turned his head back to his
beer. “Probably not.”
“I feel something I’ve never felt before when I’m with her, and I
don’t know what it is. It could be I’m falling in love with your sister. I
don’t know. I’ve never been in love before.”
“She’s loved you since before that night four years ago. Did you
know that?” Dozer now turned his whole large body to face Vinny. “I
had to watch her dream about you all the time. Had to see the hurt each
time you went out with one of those bimbos.”
“Hey, you went out with them, too.”
“Yeah, but I didn’t have someone pining after me. She cried so
many times, wishing it was her you were taking out. I don’t want to see
her cry over you again.”
“What do you want me to do then?”
Dozer turned back in his seat and tapped on the bar for another shot.
When it came, he picked it up and before drinking it, he said, “I want
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you to love her.”
“All right.”
* * * *
A knock on the door stopped Charlie for a moment with the coffee
pot in hand. She frowned, wondering who might be coming by so late.
Vinny was out getting Dozer to come home, and she didn’t think he
would knock, unless his arms were full of her brother. She could
remember what Dozer was like when he got drunk and how hard it was
to bring him home.
Finishing up what she was doing, turning the pot on, she wiped her
hands and walked to the front door.
“Is he giving you hell?” Opening the door, she stiffened in fear. Levi
stood at the door, his eyes as cold as ice. “Wh-what are you doing here?”
she demanded, her hands shaking.
He smiled, a cold, cruel expression that only put more fear into her.
“Hello, Charlie.” Fear told her to close and lock the door. She tried, but
Levi stopped her. He held the door open, his smile getting bigger. He
made a tsking sound and shook his head. “That isn’t very nice.”
“Get out!” she grunted, pushing on the door.
He shoved hard, knocking her back, and slammed the door so hard
some of the wood on the trim cracked.
She kept backing up, and he kept coming in. “What do you want?”
“You know what I want,” he said, still coming at her. “Tonight your
ass belongs to me, bitch.”
He backed her up all the way into the kitchen. She bumped into the
counter and still he came at her. Reaching back behind her, she felt
around for anything she might be able to use against him. The only thing
her hand landed on was the pot of coffee. She closed her hand around the
handle.
“I don’t think so.” Taking hold of it, she swung as hard as she could,
hitting Levi in the side of the face. The pot shattered, hot coffee splashed
on his face, and Levi gave out a loud high pitched scream.
Charlie made a dash for the front door, but didn’t make it. He
tripped her, and she went down hard to the floor. He was right there on
top of her.
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“You fucking bitch!” Levi snarled, his hands tearing at her dress.
She slapped at his hands and twisted her body. She did everything
and anything she could think of to stop him. A strange growl slipped
from his lips, and a hand landed hard across her face. After that she
brought up a knee, hitting him between the legs, but not hard enough to
make him stop. Instead, his hand closed around her throat, and he pulled
her up, face to face.
“Oh, you’re going to pay for that.” Some spittle landed in her face
when he spoke. “I’m going to rip you open bitch. Show you what it’s
like to be fucked by a real man.”
He squeezed so hard she couldn’t breathe, but it didn’t mean the
fight was out of her. Holding on to his wrist with both hands she once
more brought her knee up and this time harder. He yelled, his grip
loosened, and she was able to hit him in the face, knocking him off of
her. Unable to get up, Charlie crawled to the counter to the knife drawer.
She managed to open it and reach inside, felt the handles, and got a few
fingers around one when rough hands grabbed her ankles and jerked her
back.
“No!” she cried out, the small knife she had a hold of dropping from
her grasp.
Turning slightly, she kicked at Levi, hitting him in the chest. Again
his hold was gone, and she crawled toward the knife. She got it just as he
got a hold of her again. Sliding back, he flipped her over, and she swung
out, cutting him from the left of his collar bone to the shoulder. He
yelled, hit the knife away, then his fist landed on her jaw. Stars exploded
along with the pain. She’d never felt anything so painful in her life.
The front of her dress was ripped open, and his brutal hands closed
around her breasts. She cried out, fighting him, only to have him hit her
again, this time to the side of her body.
“Keep fighting, bitch,” Levi huffed. “I’ll beat you down.”
She heard his belt open and felt real terror when she heard the zipper
going down. Panic set in, and she squirmed as much as she could. She’d
go down fighting. She wouldn’t make it easy for him. A hard slap to her
face and a second, then his fist punched her in the mouth. Her wrists
were grabbed. He forced her arms up over her head. She kicked out,
trying to buck him off. A hard fist landed on her leg. She cried out, tears
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of pain and hopelessness hitting her as hard as his fists.
His body crushed down on hers, his legs forcing hers open. Her
panties ripped away, and he tried to enter her body. Charlie knew that
much, but nothing was happening. She didn’t feel him down there.
“You cunt!” Levi screamed in her face. “Look what you did to me.”
He wrapped his hand around her throat again. “Oh, you’re going to pay
for this. You’re going to pay big time for what you just did to me.”
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Chapter Ten
Vinny drank a couple of beers with him, cutting him off of the shots.
He’d only planned on spending maybe an hour getting Dozer out of
there. Instead, they spent a good two hours in the bar. He’d tried to call
Charlie to let her know what was going on, but she didn’t answer. He
figured she might have gone to bed.
“Come on.” Vinny helped Dozer out of the bar and away from the
girls.
“I’m driving,” Dozer said.
“The hell you are.” Vinny chuckled. “I doubt you could even get it
up for the girl who wanted you tonight.”
“I can always get it up.” Dozer got into Vinny’s truck with a heavy
sigh. He dropped his head back on the seat and closed his eyes. Vinny
shook his head and started the truck up. “You’re lucky, you know that?”
“Why’s that?” Vinny pulled out of the parking spot, shifted gears,
and started for Dozer’s home.
“She’s a good woman. She turned out good.”
“Yeah, you did a good job.”
“No.” Dozer shook his head, sitting up with his eyes open. “I didn’t
do shit. I wasn’t the kind of brother she deserved.”
“Yeah, but you’re what she had.”
Dozer went silent, and so did Vinny as he drove back to the house. It
was late, but he hoped Charlie would still be up. He wanted to see her
one more time before they parted for the night. Hell, parting from her
hurt like hell. He didn’t want to be away from her, and that was new to
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him. In the past he always loved them and left them, but with her he
didn’t want to leave. He wanted to stay and keep loving her. Maybe he
was falling in love. Maybe it was his time to settle down. Now there’s a
thought! Settling down—something he never believed he’d ever think
about, and yet here he was doing just that.
“You think she’s still up?” Dozer finally asked.
“Hope so,” Vinny said with a smile tugging on his lips. “Want to see
her again before you kick me out.”
Dozer snorted.
Vinny turned and in minutes was pulling into the driveway. An eerie
feeling hit him out of the blue when he looked at the house. It was dark,
too dark. He glanced at Dozer who’d straightened up in his seat.
Apparently, he had that same feeling.
He parked, turned off the engine, and got out slowly, Dozer along
with him. Again they looked at each other, before Dozer went off to the
side looking around, and Vinny headed up to the front door. Fear hit him
like a punch to the gut when his eyes landed on the front door. It was
open, swaying in the light breeze. He didn’t like it.
“Charlie,” he called out, pushing the door slowly.
Inside the house was a mess. Lamps were broken on the floor, a
chair looked like it had been tossed, feathers moved around from cut
pillows. Hell had broken loose in the house. He walked inside, looking
around, half expecting someone to jump out at him, but it was quiet. Too
damn quiet.
Then he saw her on the floor.
“Charlie!” Vinny rushed over to her, dropping and skidding to a stop
by her limp body. “Baby? Oh God.” He picked her up, cradling her in his
arms. “No, no, no.” He began to cry, then took a deep breath and yelled,
“Dozer!”
He could hear the pounding of Dozer’s feet. Tears blinded him as he
rocked her, holding her close. Who would do this and why?
“Son of a bitch.” Dozer gasped in the doorway.
“Get some help!” Vinny yelled at him.
“Charlie!” Dozer called out, rushing to her, going down to his knees.
“Jesus! Who did this?”
“Call for help,” Vinny repeated. Dozer, in a state of shock, didn’t
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move, didn’t really blink for that matter, but stared at Charlie, his hand
out like he wanted to touch her but couldn’t. “Dozer!” Vinny yelled,
snapping him out of it. “Get help!”
Dozer brought out his phone and dialed, but what he said, Vinny
didn’t know. Everything around him became numb.
Charlie was a mess. Her clothes had been ripped open, and it didn’t
look like there wasn’t a spot on her body which wasn’t bruised. Her face
was swollen, and her lips were cut open. Another deep cut ran over her
right eye and so much swelling. Vinny hoped that nothing was broken
and that she hadn’t been raped. He was scared to death. Just looking at
her he thought it could be a big possibility, but he prayed he was wrong.
The sound of sirens gave him some relief, but when the men came in
and he had to let her go he found he couldn’t.
“Let her go, man,” Dozer said, pulling on his arms as the medical
people tried to pull Charlie from him. He couldn’t and shook his head,
tightening his grip. “Come on, Vinny, they need to help her.”
How they got her out of his arms he didn’t know, but once she was
gone he lost it. Vinny yelled and cried at the same time. Dozer wrapped
his huge arms around him, holding him back while the others started
looking her over. He struggled a few times to get free, but Dozer had a
tight hold on him.
Dozer and Vinny watched from the sidelines as they worked on her.
A brace went around her neck. They put a cuff on her arm and did a few
other things before sliding her on a board to pick her up and put her onto
the gurney. Once they passed him, while taking her out to the
ambulance, Dozer’s hold on him loosened. He nodded. Dozer gave him a
pat, then let him go and went outside. Vinny followed.
“I’m going to kill him,” Vinny stated once Charlie was in the back
of the ambulance.
“You don’t know it’s him,” Dozer said. “Keep it together. She needs
you, and I need you thinking clearly.”
Vinny didn’t want to look in Dozer’s eyes. He couldn’t. If he did
then the man would know just what he was going to do. What he wanted
to do that second was find that bastard Levi and choke the life right out
of him. He had to be the one to do this. No one else hated Dozer and
Charlie this much. Besides, Charlie said he had it out with Dozer, so it
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made sense that the little shit would come back and get even with
Charlie for it.
“Vinny!” Dozer yelled his name, snapping him out of the dark
thoughts for a moment. “Think, man. Don’t do anything stupid here.”
“I am thinking,” Vinny said, feeling dead and cold inside. “Thinking
very fucking clearly.” He went to his truck and peeled out.
* * * *
“Fuck,” Dozer grumbled. He shook his head, and then got in the
front of the ambulance to go with Charlie to the hospital.
Once they began driving he glanced back at his sister, took out his
phone, and called Amanda. She needed to know what was going on and
how her brother took off with a crazy look in his eye.
“Hey, where are you guys?” Amanda’s cheerful voice rang out.
“I’ve got company and Vinny isn’t answering his phone.”
Dozer took a deep breath, rubbed his face and tried to think of the
words. “Um, Mandy,” he started to say.
“Oh, please don’t tell me he’s drunk,” she groaned. “Charlie said he
was going to get you from the bar.”
Dozer closed his eyes and tried to keep it together. A struggle he
knew he would lose soon. “No, he’s not drunk.” He sighed, his eyes now
filling up with tears. “Something’s happened.” His voice shook.
“What happened? You sound strange.”
He was losing it. “Someone attacked Charlie in the house.” He
couldn’t hold it back and broke down on the phone. “She’s hurt bad,
Mandy, real bad.”
“Where’s Vinny?”
“I don’t know.” He sniffled and tried to get his tears to stop. “He
took off once we got her in the ambulance. He thinks Levi did it, and I
think he’s going after him.”
“Shit!” she hissed.
“You know, Mandy, just as I do, if he finds Levi—”
“I know,” she finished. “Okay, I’ll go see if I can find him.”
“I’m sorry to bring you into this.” He sighed, wiping the tears from
his face. “You’ve got company and all.”
“Charlie’s my best friend, Dozer. You two are like family to me. I’m
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coming.” The phone went dead. The ambulance pulled into the hospital
lot. He hopped out with them and followed Charlie into the emergency
room, only to be stopped at the double doors by a nurse. He stood there,
