(44) What Happened Didn't Happen

*MATURE CONTENT WARNING* Violence, language, etc.

If you are sensitive to this content and find it a trigger, this chapter should be skipped.

Thanks to everyone and happy reading.

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M- going to the movies. We'll pick you up after work

That text from Matt urged Makennah to work faster through her side work to clean the restaurant so that she could leave sooner. She hadn't been to the movies in ages. Not only that, but she also was reminded how lucky she was to have he Sinclair brothers who invited her places and didn't do it out of obligation.

All of her tables had left and she just had to wait for the manager to cash her out. She was on the phone with an upset customer so Makennah decided to take the trash out. The waitresses weren't supposed to take the trash out because the dumpster was about twenty yards away in the dark. For safety purposes, the male kitchen workers usually disposed of the trash. However, Makennah was tired of waiting.

She untied her apron and laid it aside while she shrugged into her jean jacket with the fur collar. Dragging the huge trash bag out behind her, Makennah made her way to the dumpster as quickly as possible. Her phone buzzed with another couple of text messages but she ignored it to get the job done faster.

In the back parking lot, she weaved through two or three cars parked near the dumpster and launched the trash bag over the side. Even though her hands were clean, she instinctively brushed her hands off on her jeans.

When Makennah spun around, she froze. And came face to face with the devil.

Lucas.

The fear that spiked through her chest paralyzed her. She tried to remember the last time she ever saw Lucas but couldn't. She knew that her brain suppressed that memory. The only thing she could recall was crying the entire way home and bandaging up her head before downing a couple Advil and passing out in her bed.

"Makennah. I've been trying to reach you."

His voice sounded like silk. Smooth to the touch. Silky under your fingers. Soothing and comforting. It sounded like a deep romantic voice on the radio. It was one of his qualities that the ladies tended to enjoy about him.

"L-Lucas. What are you doing here?" She couldn't wrap her mind around the fact that he was standing in front of her after she had done everything possible to rid him from her life entirely.

As Lucas tilted his head back to look down his nose at her, the hood around his head fell down his back exposing the shocks of dark hair that matched the scruff on his face. Not scruff exactly. More like a shadow. An attractive shadow.

Maybe that's what annoyed her most about Lucas. The evil darkness that plagued his soul lurked so far beneath the surface of his charming and attractive features that one couldn't detect the abusive tendencies for weeks...even months.

"As I said, I've been trying to get ahold of you," he repeated in that tone of voice she hated. He spoke to her like that when she asked 'obvious' questions according to his standards. When it sounded like he was probably angry but she couldn't really tell...well that's how she knew that they were close to an explosion.

"Why?" She asked calmly despite the storm raging inside of her. Her fight or flight senses kicked in and everything was screaming at her to run. Flee.

Lucas cleared his throat and took a step closer to her. She backed away and he smirked. "Maisie has been asking questions about you. Wondering why we broke up and what happened between us. What did you tell her?"

Makennah tried to piece together what he was saying to form a conclusion about why he might come to see her. Maisie must be asking questions that he didn't like. He likes control. He needs control. Maybe Lucas surmised that Maisie's disobedience directly related to Makennah and the questions she asked.

"I didn't tell her anything," she responded quietly. This was bad. Very bad. She was in the dark by the dumpster where no one could see her. It was the perfect cover for Lucas.

"Then why is she asking questions?" The inflection in his voice spiked with anger. Frustration.

Makennah balled her hands into fists. If she had to run, she could. She was fast. She just had to get around him. "I don't know. I don't know Maisie."

"Apparently you did. She didn't even know your name before," he said loudly. He stood tall and squared his shoulders, trying to intimidate her.

Makennah reminded herself that Lucas had no control over her. She wasn't trapped in a loveless relationship. He may have used those scare tactics in the back, but she wasn't going to let that cower her into submission. "Actually we did know of each other because we both play soccer. So you're wrong."

Even though it obviously infuriated from the fire that sparked in his eyes, Makennah felt a sense of satisfaction at saying those precise words to him. He hated to be wrong. She wasn't allowed to say that to him.

This conversation had gone on too long.

"If you'll excuse me, I have to return to work." Nodding her head in dismissal, Makennah confidently lifted her chin and walked around him.

Lucas blocked her path.

"We aren't finished here," he growled.

"We are. You have no control over me," she spat out. She was tired of this. She didn't have the energy for this...this ridiculousness.

So she attempted to walk around him again and he stopped her, standing in front of her path.

"We're done when I say we're done."

Makennah rolled her eyes. "Go back to your little girlfriend, Lucas. You have no business being here. And I want nothing to do with your relationship. Whatever Maisie is asking about has nothing to do with me because I didn't say anything to her."

Throwing her elbow into his chest, she shoved him away more forcefully than needed and marched past him.

His hand snatched onto her wrist and reeled her back. She squealed and writhed under his powerful grip. Lucas twisted her arm uncomfortably behind her back.

"Lucas, stop it," she said under her breath trying to control her emotions. A lump formed in her throat as tears threatened to spill over her eyelashes.

Lucas started to laugh. Quietly. Slowly. Until it grew into a full blown devious chuckle. "You've got some nerve now huh? Where did that come from? Where's the good little girl I knew so long ago?"

Her skin crawled at his words. She held her breath and ripped away from him. But he held her close, pressing her to his chest.

"Let me go. Now," she growled.

"Stop talking to Maisie and leave us alone, you little slut" he yelled in her face.

Makennah reeled her hand back and slapped Lucas across the face.

It surprised her so much that she jumped back and gasped, covering her mouth with her hands. She had never done that before. She didn't even know she could.

Lucas was so shocked that he released her and gently touched his face as if he didn't believe it either.

When he turned his face back to look at her, there was revenge in his eyes.

Without another thought, Makennah took off running, sprinting for the back door. If she could just make it to the kitchen...

Lucas ripped her off her feet with an arm around her waist.

"Help!" She screamed. "Help!"

The back door was closed. No one would hear her.

Lucas slapped his hand over her mouth and shook her violently to silence her.

Makennah sucked in the tears. She would not cry. She would not cry. She would not cry.

"Shut up!" Lucas whispered in her ear. "Shut up! Shut up!"

Like a rag doll, Makennah went limp in his arms. He held her above the ground so that she couldn't run away.

When Lucas relaxed, Makennah kicked her legs with all of her might and bit his hand as hard as possible.

"Ugh!" Lucas grabbed her hair and yanked her head back painfully. Searing hot pain ricocheted down her spine and room her breath away. Again, her body stilled until the pain passed. "You ugly bitch!"

"Put me down!" She yelled when she caught her breath.

Lucas did more than that. He pivoted sideways and threw Makennah against the brick wall of the outside of the restaurant. Her body rippled with shock waves as her body rejected the impact and sent her crumbling to the ground.

Her head spun. A piercing pain numbed her body to everything else other than the shocking ache in her skull.

Lucas yanked her to her feet, nearly pulling her arm out of socket. Makennah screamed and tried to find her legs but her mind didn't connect to her body.

Lucas's fingers curled around her throat and slammed her up against the wall again. Makennah gasped for air, clawing at his hands. Lucas snarled in her face, breathing rancid hot breaths over her mouth. "You never listened. You never did anything you were told!"

Tears blurred her vision. Makennah scratched at his immovable arm, but it didn't faze him. He was locked in and furious.

She kicked her legs, trying to make contact with him but it only dragged the life out of her. Her lungs constricted but no air could slip past his angry grip.

He'll let go eventually. He has to.

Makennah gargled on her tears, opening her mouth over and over, seeking sweet oxygen.

Through the wet tears that trails down her cheeks, Makennah saw his furious beady eyes staring into her soul. He growled and tightened his grip on her throat, crushing her windpipe and paralyzing her with pain.

And in the distance, she saw a Jeep. A black Jeep careening around the corner, vaulting into the parking lot, and screeching to a halt outside the back door. All of the doors burst open before the Jeep even stopped rolling.

Makennah shoved his face. She had to breathe. She needed air.

When she scratched his eye, Lucas hollered and raked his hand across her face, scratching her cheek, and pinching her mouth. She tasted blood.

She needed air.

"Get off of her!"

As the edges of her vision faded into darkness, the viselike grip around her neck loosened and freed her.

Makennah crumbled.

A little voice yelled, "Makennah!"

She lifted her arm, seeking anything to help her. She felt the cool prickly touch of the brick wall. Her hands trembled. Her arms trembled. Her entire body shook with relief as oxygen refilled her lungs and reached every organ in her system.

She heated sickening thuds. Snaps. Slaps. Punches.

That little voice morphed into a face. Jonah. "Makennah!" Jonah put his hands on her shoulders and tried to help her to her feet.

"What's...what's happening?" She asked in a faint scratchy voice.

"Don't ever touch her or come near here again!" Matt. That was Matt.

As her vision cleared, she saw the boys - Matt, Nick, and Josh - crowding around Lucas, hitting him, punching him down, kicking him while he was weak. Her brothers. Fighting for her.

"Matt," she said weakly. "Matt," she tried again.

They didn't hear her or pay attention.

"Stop!" She yelled.

On the ground, Lucas curled into a ball, covering his head with his hands. Blood spilled out of several wounds on his face. He cowered like a baby. A worthless repugnant baby.

She found her legs. Stood up. Leaned on Jonah.

The tears started again, spilling over her cheeks in rapid succession.

Matt looked at her. Nick looked at her. Josh looked at her. They stared with wild eyes spurred on by adrenaline and physical exertion.

Their knuckles were bloody. Their bodies heaving from the effort of beating Lucas to a pulp. They looked mad, angry, pissed.

"Let's get out of here. Now," she demanded in a quiet tone. Her neck ached. Talking stung her throat somewhere deep inside her body.

No one moved so she stood taller. "Car! Get in the car now!" She yelled.

They aborted altogether, jumping into the Jeep. Jonah piled in the front with Matt. Josh and Nick tossed Makennah into the car and held her in the middle between them safely as if they hadn't successfully evaded danger yet.

Matt yanked the car into gear and stomped on the gas pedal away from the scene. Makennah couldn't look back. Didn't look back.

Eventually she stopped crying. Josh held her hand tightly as if she might float away and disappear if he didn't touch her. Nick stared coldly out the window. Matt ignored the blood that rolled down his knuckles as he drove. Jonah curled up into a ball in the front seat.

She broke the silence in the car. "What just happened...didn't happen," she said quietly. "No one breathes a word of this. No one was there. No one saw anything."

"What if..." Matt started.

"No!" Makennah cut him off. "No one is going to jail because of me. No one is getting in trouble. Nothing is going to happen." She used her stern voice. Nonnegotiable.

"Who was that?" Josh asked, splurging all of the words out at once.

She swallowed and felt the undeniable heat of swelling. "No one."

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Xoxo

W. Carolina