✅ A Dose of Humiliation

85. Point of No Return

This bonus chapter is dedicated to Ross. I hope you're looking forward to the ending :)

Becker staggered back after Elspeth hit him, but still didn't try to defend himself. I guess he was just frozen in shock, not comprehending that someone he'd upset might actually resort to violence as a first option, or that all his wealth and privilege wouldn't do anything to protect him. By the time he thought to actually raise his hands to defend himself, she had already got three good shots in, and I was sure that his face was going to be a mess for quite some time. Of course, he could avoid the best bruise-suppression treatment, and maybe even give himself something that wasn't supposed to be available over the counter; but it would still be clear that he'd been in a fight.

I glanced down at the desk again; the room would need some tidying up as well. There was blood on the table, and on the floor. And I could see something that I was pretty sure was a piece of tooth. That would probably cost him quite a lot to fix, but it also massively increased the odds that he would be able to get the police on his side. It wouldn't be like Serena's attack on Todd, because this time there was clear, lasting damage; and too many witnesses to just discredit. There was probably some kind of security recording as well, which would show that he looked like the victim.

"Wait!" I said, and tried to raise my hand. But of course, I still had the stupid cuffs on, so I couldn't even step up to stop thew violence. "He's not worth it."

"Sorry," Elspeth said, with a shrug that promised she really wasn't. She took a breath and shook her hair away from her face, and allowed MArcie and Serena to put calming hands on her shoulders. A little reassurance that she wasn't going to hit him any more unless he did something new to deserve it. "I just... I was expecting you to be at the place upstairs, and when I found out you were in here... what's that freak trying to pull?"

"Please, Ellie," I tried to suppress my own anger, just hoping that I could keep calm long enough to get the appointment finished. "It's just some stupid stunt he's trying to pull, refusing to release my records to another pharmacy. There's no time to go to court before Thursday, but he can't really do that much anyhow. I mean, it barely makes any difference if the contents of the shots is the same. Then we can sue him afterwards. Just let me get this over with before either of us does something we might regret."

She nodded slowly, and I could see she was thinking it over. Marcie whispered something, and I felt the fight go out of my friend. Whether she was here defending me or Serena, I didn't want her to get in trouble for this. It just wasn't worth it.

Becker was pressing bandages onto his nose now, and left thew room following the mall cops who were trying to pretend they had any chance of holding onto Elspeth. He was ranting about how he wanted her prosecuted to the full extent of the law; while Dad was chasing after him, trying to remind him that this couldn't possibly have been my fault. Whatever else he thought, Dad seemed determined to keep anybody else from hurting me.

For a moment, that meant I was alone in the back room with Serena. For a second, a part of me wondered if there was anything on the shelves worth taking. But that wouldn't work, because I didn't have a coat or bag with me, and there was nowhere I could have hidden something. Would Serena help? After all the fuss she'd been to lately, trying to keep me out of trouble, I didn't think she would want to be a party to petty theft. Especially not if I was grabbing the bottles of Skim that I could see on the top shelf, a dozen of them bundled up in plastic wrapping with a big label declaring them to be dispensed on prescription only.

For a second, I thought about grabbing one for right now, so at least I wouldn't be worrying so much. But I wasn't quite that weak, even after I felt the cuffs loosen and I knew Serena had cut the plastic ties off. I could do something stupid, and the urge was strong, but I wanted to prove that I wasn't going to sabotage my own future.