Down and Dirty, page 8
However, Rhys wasn’t sure how Tony would feel about bringing a woman and a six-year-old kid into their peaceful bachelor pad. The two of them were creatures of habit, both with well established ways of doing things.
Personally, Rhys would kick normalcy to the curb if it meant sharing a living space with Jess and Jasper, even for a short time. They’d brought life to a house he hadn’t even realized needed it.
Finally, Rhys decided to take the bull by the horns. “So what are we going to do about them?” He prayed he and Tony were on the same page.
Tony looked at him, long and hard, studying his face.
Rhys recognized immediately that they both wanted the exact same thing. For two vastly different men, Rhys had found a kindred spirit, a best friend in Tony, and he’d been an idiot to think for one second that Tony wouldn’t want Jess and Jasper here as much as he did.
“We offer them the guest room until she gets back on her feet.”
Rhys grinned. “It’ll be a change, a big adjustment.”
A smile filled Tony’s face for the first time this morning. “It’ll be fun and you know it. Bring a little excitement, a little life to the place.”
Rhys chuckled. “Yeah. It would.” He glanced at the clock. “What time do you think her shift ends at the motel?”
Tony rose from his recliner. “Doesn’t matter. We’re going to go get them now.”
* * *
Jess peered underneath the sheet she’d tossed over her housekeeping cart to check on Jasper. He’d been out of sorts all day and she could only assume that, like her, he was finding it hard to adjust back to their shitty reality after yesterday’s brief venture into paradise.
“You doing okay, buddy?” she asked.
Jasper had declared himself too tired to be her assistant today, instead asking if she’d build him a spaceship. It was a game they’d started a few weeks ago, on another cold Sunday. The sheet provided him privacy as well as a barrier from the chilly wind, while he entertained himself with two little matchbox cars Rocco had given him for Christmas.
“Yeah. Can we leave?”
“Just a couple more rooms to clean, okay?”
“Can we go back to Tony and Rhys’s after?” he asked earnestly.
She’d been anticipating that question all day. She shook her head. “No. We’re going to sign up for a new shelter, remember? The one for people just like us. I bet there will even be kids for you to play with.”
“Okay,” Jasper mumbled, not bothering to hide his disappointment.
She’d bitten the bullet and picked up the phone to call social services this morning, inquiring about space in the local women’s shelter. The woman on the phone hadn’t exactly been warm and fuzzy. In fact, she’d been grumpy and sounded downright haggard. She’d told Jess she would need to fill out some paperwork tomorrow morning when the intake center was open, then she gave her the address of an after-hours place that might be able to set them up somewhere tonight.
The idea of returning to another homeless shelter left her with a sinking sensation in her stomach, and Jess prayed it would only be for one night. Tomorrow, with any luck, they could move into the special housing that meant she and Jasper would have their own room.
She was starting to regret agreeing to stay with Tony and Rhys last night. One night in their beautiful, safe home had ruined her. She’d lowered her guard too far and now she was struggling to pull her armor back on.
Jess checked her clipboard and sighed. She’d cleaned all the vacant rooms. All that was left was to check to see if the people remaining another night wanted their rooms tidied or fresh towels. She always left those rooms until the end of her day in hopes whoever was in them would go out. She hated cleaning rooms with people in them. Some of the men who got rooms here looked at her in ways that made her uncomfortable. She usually set Jasper up with Rocco in the check-in office with a dollar for the vending machine while she finished this part of her rounds. Unfortunately, she didn’t have a dollar today.
“You stay under there, Jasper. Don’t come out,” she said. “Hopefully, these last rooms won’t take long.”
He mumbled something that could have been okay or go to hell, for all she knew. He was taking his grumpiness to the next level.
She knocked on the first door. “Housekeeping,” she called out.
When no one replied, she knocked again, happy at the thought the room might be empty. Her pleasure was short-lived when a greasy-looking guy opened the door, shirtless. His beer belly hung over pants that were unbuttoned and unzipped, revealing far too much of his boxers beneath.
Wonderful.
The guy leered at her and smacked his lips like she was some juicy treat. There was no way she was cleaning this jerk’s room.
“Do you need fresh towels?”
The guy belched loudly, and she swallowed down the bile rising in her throat as the smell of his rancid, boozing breath filled the air between them.
“No. But you can come in and scrub my back.”
She shook her head and swallowed down the scathing reply she wanted to give him. Not that she thought Rocco would fire her for telling the guy off, but because what she wanted to say was littered with foul language Jasper shouldn’t hear.
“If you don’t need anything then,” she started, turning, intent on getting away from the asshole as quickly as possible.
“I didn’t say I didn’t need nothin’.”
The guy reached out with a quickness she wouldn’t have thought him sober enough to manage, his hand squeezing tightly around her upper arm. “Come in and we’ll have a party.”
Jess struggled against him, shocked by the guy’s brute strength, but far too cognizant of Jasper sitting under the cart just a few feet away. She kept her voice low so she wouldn’t alarm her son.
“Let go,” she spat out through gritted teeth.
The man gave her a grin that revealed yellow, rotten teeth that screamed meth head. Rather than answer, he used his grip to pull her even closer—and that was when Jess began to panic. She really couldn’t break free of him.
Raising both hands, she pushed against him as hard as she could, but her actions only spurred him on.
“I like a bitch with fight.” He tugged harder, dragging Jess into his room. She needed to get away, and she was terrified of what the guy would do if Jasper revealed himself.
Once he’d gotten her across the threshold, her panic and sense of self-preservation overrode everything else.
She screamed, just as the guy flung her into the room roughly and slammed the door behind them. She tripped on a torn piece of the filthy rug, landing hard on her hands and knees. Jess rose, twisting in time to watch him throw the latch. She rushed for the door, but he looped his arm around her waist and pushed her back across the room again.
She thought she heard Jasper call out her name and panic clawed at her chest. The man either didn’t hear or didn’t care, now that he had her trapped.
Jess opened her mouth to scream again, hoping Jasper would know to run downstairs to find Rocco, to get help. But before she could make a sound, the man moved, lifting his arm and backhanding her so hard, her teeth rattled and her vision went gray for a moment.
She shook her head, trying to regain her wits, tasting the coppery tang of blood from where her lip had split open.
When he reached for her again, she went into full fight mode, lashing out with her fists, scratching him with her fingernails, fighting like the devil to land a kick that might take him down and give her time to run.
“Stupid cunt!” the man yelled when she managed to land a hard blow against the side of his head. Unfortunately, she didn’t hurt him as much as piss him off.
In retaliation, he showed her what a real punch felt like, his fist slamming into her face, just to the right side of her nose. If he’d landed the blow dead center, the force would have broken her nose. She cried out in pain, her hands flying to her face.
“That’ll show you who’s in charge. You’re just like that whore wife of mine. Think you’re too fucking good for me, don’t you? Kick me out of my own fucking house. Fucking bitch.”
Suddenly, Jess wasn’t so sure the man even knew who she was as he stumbled back, muttering obscenities. She took a step to her left, hoping he was too distracted by his anger at his wife to notice, a calculated risk that didn’t pay off as his gaze sharpened.
Once again, she heard Jasper yell, “Mommy!” through the door.
The man turned toward her son’s voice—and he took a step that direction.
Sheer terror gave her renewed strength. Jess fought, managing to kick his knee out from the back. She connected with enough force that he went down hard, howling in pain and cursing her. She tried to use that time to escape, but he was quicker, gripping her ankle and pulling her leg out from under her. She fell, kicking to dislodge his grip. When his fingers slipped free, she didn’t bother wasting time to rise. Instead, she quickly crawled toward the door.
She’d only made it a few feet before she was taken completely off guard by the man kicking her in the side, all the air whooshing out of her in a pained gasp. She hadn’t even heard him stand.
Jess fought to take catch her breath when he grabbed her hair, her scalp stinging.
“Fucking cunt!” He roughly tossed her onto her back, clamoring over her before she could escape again. He slapped her once more, and while this blow wasn’t any harder than the previous ones, the pain and panic were taking their toll, leaving her unable to offer more than weak resistance.
“I’m going to fucking kill you for that, bitch,” he spit out. “Make you pay.”
She screamed loudly until his fingers closed around her throat, tightening, cutting off her air. Jess clawed at his hands, his arms, desperate to dislodge him, but nothing helped. Her vision turned gray with the lack of oxygen, and tears slid down her face when she realized this was a fight she couldn’t win.
Chapter Seven
Tony had just gotten out of the car, he and Rhys heading across the parking lot, when he spotted Jasper sprinting down the stairs, shouting Rocco’s name. Tony ran in his direction, pulled forward by the terror in the boy’s voice.
“Jasper,” he called out.
As Jasper turned his attention toward them, Tony saw the tears streaming down the boy’s face.
“The bad man! The bad man!” Jasper gasped through choking sobs.
Rhys knelt in front of him. “Breathe, Jasper. Breathe. What bad man?”
Rocco came out of his office, a cigarette dangling from his lips. “What’s going on?”
“The bad man,” Jasper said, breaking down, crying inconsolably.
“Where’s your mommy?” Tony asked, his gaze flying along the outdoor corridors until he spotted a housekeeping cart on the second floor.
Jasper trembled as he pointed to where Tony was already looking. “The b-bad man took her.”
Tony fought down his panic, trying not to upset Jasper anymore. “Took her where?”
“In the room!”
Tony and Rhys reacted like sprinters to the starter gun, both dashing for the stairs.
“Call the cops, Rocco,” Tony yelled. At the same time Rhys said, “Watch Jasper.”
Tony forcefully shoved the housekeeping cart out of the way, turning the doorknob and finding it locked.
“Stand back,” he said to Rhys, when he heard a man’s threatening voice say “make you pay.”
Lifting his foot, Tony smashed it against the door with all the strength he had. The frame splintered but didn’t give way. It took two more kicks to finally break in.
The scene inside the room sent him into a white-hot rage.
Jess was trapped beneath some prick on the floor, his hands around her throat.
The man actually had the nerve to look over his shoulder at the damaged door and say, “What the fuck, man? Get the fuck out!”
Tony crossed the room in two steps, gripped the back of the man’s shirt, pulling up and twisting him so he could slam his fist into the dick’s face.
The man’s hands flew to his nose. “You fucking broke it!” he yelled, blood pouring down his chin.
Tony followed up the punch to his face with a hard right to his gut, the man doubling over in pain.
“Fuck!” The guy tried to straighten, his fists clenched in an attempt to retaliate. He never got the chance when Tony clipped his chin with so much force, the guy’s head flew back, slamming against the wall behind him. He slowly slid down, landing on his ass, smart enough to stay on the ground.
Tony looked over his shoulder in time to see Jess scramble to her hands and knees, coughing and gasping for air. Rhys knelt, his gaze flying over her, no doubt checking all her injuries.
Tony saw red at the large dark mark on Jess’s cheek and the finger-sized prints around her slender neck. He turned back to the fucker on the floor, kicking the guy in the thigh with all his might.
The man cursed loudly. “What the fuck is wrong with you? Bitch had it coming!”
Sirens sounded in the distance and the stupid prick tried to stand up in a panicked attempt to run away.
Tony shoved him back into the wall. “Stay the fuck down!” he shouted, almost hoping the guy wouldn’t listen to him so he’d have another opportunity to take another swing. The man went limp, the fight kicked out of him.
As Tony watched, Rhys gently lifted Jess from the floor, placing her on the edge of the bed. Tony spotted her bloody lip, and there was no question she’d have a black eye by tomorrow.
Tony paced a few steps away from the man, keeping himself between the prick and door.
“Is she okay?” he murmured to Rhys.
Rhys nodded. “I think so.”
“J-jasper?” Jess was trembling from head to toe, clearly terrified, and all she could think about was her son. This was the second day in a row they’d found her shaking uncontrollably, first from cold and now from fear.
Never. Fucking. Again.
His jaw was clenched too tightly, rage still coursing through his veins, so Rhys responded to her question.
“He’s fine, Jess. He’s downstairs with Rocco.” As he spoke, Rhys took in her injuries with the practiced eye of a physician. He gently cupped her cheeks, peering closely at her eyes. “Your pupils are dilated,” he murmured. “Did you hit your head?”
She shook her head in response. “No.”
“Possibly just the adrenaline.” Rhys released a long breath. “God, Jess. I just lost ten years off my life.”
Tony had never seen Rhys so rattled, so shaken. His friend was a good doctor because he was calm under pressure. Strangely, to hear Rhys upset made Tony feel better…because right now, his heart was racing a million beats per second, and he still felt the uncontrollable urge to beat the ever-loving fuck out of the man who’d hurt her.
The sirens grew louder, and Tony heard brakes squealing outside. He remained where he was, keeping a close eye on the man, still sprawled out on the floor. The asshole appeared to have accepted his fate.
He turned at the sound of someone entering the room.
“Jesus,” the cop muttered.
“Kayden,” Tony said, walking over to greet his friend, grateful he was the one who’d answered the call. He was part of their Wednesday lunch group, and Jess knew him. He hoped that would put her at ease, as Kayden would certainly need to get a statement from her.
“Tony? You okay?”
Tony nodded, aware he was still breathing heavily. There was blood—not his—on his knuckles, and his long hair was hanging in his face.
Kayden took in the rest of the room, his gaze sliding from Jess, who seemed to be curling into herself on the bed, slightly bent with her arms wrapped around her waist protectively, to Rhys, who stood beside her.
“Rhys.” Kayden offered him a brief nod before turning his attention to the dick on the floor.
Another cop entered—Seth, Kayden’s partner. Like Kayden, Seth was able to size up the situation without asking a single question. “I got a statement from Rocco. At least as much as he could tell me from what the kid said,” he said to Kayden.
“Jasper?” Jess whispered.
Seth held up his hand to set her mind at ease. “He’s with Rocco. Shaken up, but safe and sound. Hey, Tony,” Seth added.
“Seth.” Tony nodded his head just once in greeting.
“Looks like you did all the heavy lifting,” Seth said in an attempt to lighten the tension filling the room.
Kayden started to walk over to Jess, but before Tony could consider his actions, he took a large step to the right, blocking his path.
Kayden’s brows rose in surprise. “Like that, huh?”
Tony nodded, unable to respond. He was a bit shocked by his own reaction. He was an intense bastard at the best of times, overprotective as fuck when it came to his sister or female cousins, but those traits had never transferred over to any of the women he’d dated.
Regardless, for some reason, he couldn’t let Kayden get any closer to Jess.
“You’re Jess, right? You remember me?” Kayden asked softly.
For the first time since Kayden entered the room, Jess lifted her eyes to look at him. “From the diner,” she said softly.
Kayden nodded. “I need to ask you a few questions, but first I need to know if you’re okay?”
“I’m fine.”
Tony felt a strange sense of pride over the strength in her voice. Jess was a fighter.
Kayden took in her bleeding lip and the darkening bruises on her face and around her neck. “Just in case, we’re going to take you to the hospital, get you checked out, and then I’ll—”
Jess cut him off. “I’m not going to the hospital.”
Tony frowned. “Jess. You’re going to the hospital.”
She shook her head, and the stubbornness he’d only caught brief glimpses of yesterday emerged full force. “No. I’m. Not,” she stressed.
Tony recalled that it was her lack of health insurance that had started her and Jasper on their downward spiral. If it was money she was worried about, he’d pay the damn bill. He put his hands on his hips, ignoring the pain in his knuckles, ready to set her straight and make the offer, but Rhys stepped in.
