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Ben Helzey watched Blair Casey out of the corner of his eye, anger seeping up his torso and into his skull. The summer heat felt like it was boiling Ben's brain.
Blair stood outside The Brass Frog, the bar in town, hunched against the wall, rubbing her elbows with her hands. Rows of antique houses with painted bricks stared out at the dark street. Above them, the moon looked bloated in the starry sky. Ben had Garrett Hillard by the collar of his shirt. He wrenched his eyes away from Blair and looked at Garrett. Garrett looked terrified and confused. Owen, Blair's boyfriend, and several of their friends, surrounded Ben and Garrett. Their fists were clenched, their faces fixed in angry snarls.
This was all Blair's fault. All of it. As usual, Ben had to fix Blair's screw ups. He gritted his teeth. He might as well get this over with.
Ben pushed Garrett into Owen and the other guys. Owen moved forward, began punching Garrett in the face, the stomach. Owen's fist caught Garrett's nose. His head whipped backward. Blood gushed from it, arching across the pavement.
Garrett was yelling, "I didn't touch her! I never touched her!"
The other guys closed in on Garrett, screaming. Ben let it go on a few moments. He guessed Blair's accusations were as good as any. But he wanted this over. He had plans tonight.
Ben tugged Garrett backward and threw him down face first into the sidewalk. Garrett threw out his hands to break his fall, but Ben had thrown him hard, and his chin and cheekbone collided with the concrete. Ben was starting to sweat. He rolled his shoulders, irritated.
Ben strode forward, put his foot against the side of Garrett's face and applied pressure.
He bent down and in a tightly controlled voice hissed, "Get the fuck out of town, bastard."
Ben moved his foot and backed away. He was done. He'd scared the guy. He knew it. He looked at the rest of his friends and started up the sidewalk, expecting them to follow. But behind him he heard the sounds of feet making impact with flesh, and he turned around. The other guys were kicking Garrett's body, still screaming at him.
"Let's go," Ben said to them. They looked up at him and reluctantly backed off.
Blair moved in closer to Garrett's inert body. She knelt by him and whispered something.
"Let's go," Ben repeated.
The bartender appeared at the door of The Brass Frog. "Break it up," he yelled.
No one moved.
"I'm calling the cops," said the bartender.
"Let's go," said Ben.
And finally, they followed him. They ran away from the broken body of the boy they'd just beaten, Owen pulling Blair along with him, holding her hand tight. They ran up the street to Ben's house. Ben slid inside the door last, pulled it closed after them. He slumped against the closed door, catching his breath. His shirt was soaked in sweat.
Blair collapsed on Ben's sofa. She was crying. Owen sat next to her, gathered her into his arms. She buried her face on his shoulder. Ben pulled in a sharp breath through his nose and looked away. He yanked his sopping shirt over his head and went into the kitchen for a beer.
With an open bottle, he returned to the living room. He glared at Blair. "I'm sick of cleaning up your messes," he said.
"Hey," said Owen. "This wasn't her fault."
"Whatever," said Ben. "I had a date tonight, you know?" He took his phone out of his pocket and began searching through his contacts for Ramona's number.
"Oh, fine," said Blair. "Call your little freshman."
Ben half-laughed in disgust and flipped her off before starting towards his bedroom. At the door, he turned and looked out at the group of his friends. "Don't be here when I come out of the room, okay?"
And he slammed the door in their surprised faces.
Across town, in a dorm room on campus, Ramona Brinks was waiting by the phone. She was supposed to be going to see a movie with a guy she'd met named Ben Helzey.
When he did call, he sounded out of breath.
"We missed the movie," she said, irritated. She should have known that an older guy like Ben wasn't really interested in a little freshman girl like her.
"Sorry," said Ben. "My friend Blair called me crying. She said some guy raped her. I had to take care of it."
Copyright (c) 2010 Valerie Chambers