Work Hard, Play Hard

Nine. Karma

"I'll be there soon, Jace. Don't worry." I said reassuringly to Jace on the phone as I walked to his apartment after work one night.

"Okay, but it's late. Are you sure you don't want me to pick you up?" He asked.

"Yes, I'm sure. See you in a bit." I said as I hung up and continued walking down the sidewalk.

The cool night breeze blew through my hair. It was quite calming. It was a week after Jace and I came back from Connecticut. I was so happy that my family liked him and was supportive of us.

Suddenly, I heard footsteps behind me. I ignored them and kept walking until I heard them coming closer. I never liked walking alone in New York at night, but nothing had ever happened until now.

"Hey pretty girl!" I heard someone shout from behind me. I ignored it and kept walking because it wasn't a voice that I recognized. "You're not gonna turn around?"

"What do you want?" I asked with attitude as I spun around to face the stranger. It was a man. He was tall and muscular, had black hair that was slicked back and he was wearing a black leather jacket with jeans. I had never seen him before.

"You don't remember me?" He asked with a nasty smirk on his face as he came closer to me.

"No." I said firmly without a smile on my face as I took a step back.

"I heard you were being a little bitch to a sugar daddy and I'm here to make sure that doesn't happen again." He said as he took a step closer to me.

"Leave me alone." I said as I turned to walk away, but he grabbed my arm. It was late and dark. All I wanted was to get to Jace.

"No can do. Either you give me what I want or it won't be so pretty." He said, as I could feel his hot breath on my face, which made me want to gag.

"What the hell do you want?" I asked as I yanked my arm from his grip.

"You... I heard you're good on dates, so you must be good for everything else..." He said as he put his arm around my waist.

"What the hell? You sick pervert. Leave me alone." I said as my anger began to intensify. He didn't know what I was capable of.

"Hey, quiet down!" He said as his face turned red from frustration.

"Hey look!" I said, as he turned to see what I was pointing at. Nothing was actually there. I used that as a distraction to flee.

I quickly sped down the sidewalk and grabbed my phone out of my purse. I couldn't dial Jace's number fast enough because the man caught up to me and pulled me down to the ground.

"You think you can get away? I warned you!" He said as he tugged at my pants. I knew what he was trying to do and I wasn't gonna let it happen.

"I'll give you what you want. Come closer." I said as I gestured for him to lean in. I wasn't actually going to do what he wanted. It was just to make him believe that I would.

"You're so hot." He said as he kissed my neck. I felt disgusting, but it had to be done if I wanted to get away.

Once he was convinced that I would actually do things with him. I poked him in the eyes and kicked him in the crotch. He yelled out as I turned a corner and ran as fast as I could. Suddenly, I saw Jace in his car. He slowed down when he saw me running.

"Hey, get in. Are you okay?" He asked as I hopped in the car. My breathing was heavy as my heart pounded hard and fast.

"No.. no. I almost got assaulted by some stranger." I said trying to catch my breath.

"What are you talking about? Where? When?" Jace asked as he looked at me with concern.

"While I was walking on Park Avenue." I said looking down at a cut I had gotten on my hand when I was pulled to the ground.

"Callie, I'm gonna kill that guy. We're driving back right now!" He nearly yelled. I could tell he was very upset.

"No. Don't!" I shouted, holding my injured hand tightly to stop the bleeding.

"Why? Do you know the guy?" He asked as anger filled his voice.

"No, but I know why he came. It's because of that sugar daddy shit I was doing. It's my fault." I said looking out the window.

"I don't care. He can't get away with this Callie!" He said with tears in his eyes. "No one is going to hurt you and get away with it. You hear me?" He asked as I suddenly felt really guilty. It was my past coming back to haunt me. It was my karma for treating people so badly.

"Y-y-yeah." I replied, stuttering as tears filled my eyes.

After about five minutes we pulled up at the New York Police Department. We got out of the car and walked inside to report the incident.

"So a man that you've never seen before attacked you?" The officer asked, looking at me questioningly as if he didn't believe me.

"Yes, officer. I was walking to my boyfriend's apartment when be started harassing me." I said as I crossed my arms over my chest in annoyance.

"What happened next?" He asked as he jotted things down on his notepad.

"I tried to run away, he caught me and tried to assault me, but I used self defense." I said. Tears fell down my cheek as Jace tried to comfort me.

"Okay. Can you give me a description of what he looked like?"

"Tall, muscular, Caucasian. He had black gelled hair and was wearing a black leather jacket with jeans." I said.

"What about eye color, approximate height and weight?" He asked.

"I think his eyes were brown. It was hard to tell in the dark. He was around six feet, could be more and around two hundred pounds. He was a big guy." I said.

"Okay, thank you for reporting this. We'll be on the look out. I'm sorry this happened to you." He said as he walked us to the door.

"Sorry doesn't change a thing." I said to him as I rolled my eyes and walked out with Jace following behind me.

A part of me felt like a victim, but another part felt like I deserved it. I wasn't treating people nicely. I thought I was too good for everyone and it was finally catching up to me.