A Night on Fire (An Olli Herman Fanfiction) #Wattys2016

Chapter Ten

The weekend rolled around. Brandon and I went on our first date to a lovely Greek restaurant for dinner. I decided to wear a gray, see-through, flowy blouse with a white tank underneath, black leggings, black, open-toed flats, and a pearl necklace. My hair was formed into a faux bob thanks to Beverly's help, and I wore natural-looking makeup. He picked me up around quarter till six and complimented my appearance. Brandon also looked sharp as hell with a navy blue blazer, a white t-shirt under it, black khakis, and brown Madden Trace loafers. When we arrived at the restaurant, I let him know that I'd be paying for my meal; he agreed that it would be best until we became more familiar with one another.

My dinner included apricots in a spiced lamb stew with a shrimp salad while he had the cranberry salsa chicken over rice with a regular salad. The food tasted fantastic; even he could agree.

While we ate, I collected lots of information about Brandon. He was 24 years old, red was his favorite color, he didn't watch too much TV, and his hobbies involved hunting and fishing. Until the age of 18, he had been living in Tennessee. He moved to Pennsylvania to pursue a new, adult life. While balancing out his work and online college schedules, he wanted to own sheep like his grandfather, thus why he adopted Duke. He had a few sheep already to start out with but would be breeding them over time, so he needed the help of either a collie or a sheltie to herd them. Duke wasn't his only dog.

"Let me show ya Randy and Lady," he said, passing me his cell phone. "They're sibblins."

Two fully grown beagles sitting in a huge, open lawn stared back at me from the screen. They appeared very similar with the only difference being the white stripe running from the snout to the forehead on the dog on the left was wider than the dog's on the right.

"Oh, my!" I gasped. "They're so cute!"

"They help keep me company since no one else lives with me. I love 'em to death. I know ya've been worryin' about Duke since I picked him up, so if ya swipe left, ya'll see how he's doin'."

Coming upon the next picture, I saw Duke in a kitchen chewing on a dog toy that resembled a braided rope. In front of him, one of the beagles (I couldn't tell which one) lied on his or her back trying to grab one end of the toy. I swiped again. Three metal bowls had the dogs' faces stuffed in each of them. The last picture I saw before giving the phone back captured Duke standing outside trying to give the camera his green frisbee.

I beamed, knowing my best pup had been well taken care of. I had no reason to worry about him anymore. He would be completely fine in the hands of Brandon.

"Thank you for taking good care of Duke," I said.

"He's such a great dog. I'm trainin' him on herding. It's not an easy process, but he'll get there. I know he has what it takes."

********

Parking his truck in front of my sky blue 2004 Volkswagen Beetle, Brandon and I looked at each other smiling, and I unbuckled my seat belt.

"I kind of regret that baklava. Crammed too much in here." The country boy patted his full belly.

"I had just enough room to finish mine. Thanks for inviting me out. I truly needed the good time."

He chuckled and stared at me for a moment. "Do ya realize how perty ya are?" Brandon then removed his seat belt.

"What are you doing?" I asked, getting moderately uncomfortable.

Disregarding my words, he leaned toward me and forced a kiss on my lips. Instinctively, I pulled away, but he moved in for more. I tried to tell him to stop, but his tongue was already inside my mouth, so all that could come out were obstructed moans. With his left hand, he pushed me against the passenger window by the shoulder and roughly bit my lower lip.

"It's ok," he grunted. "It's ok."

His other hand traveled up my top and grabbed my left breast. I squirmed against him in a panic, trying to free myself from his persistence. In my last attempt, I brought my legs up on the seat, pushed him back with my left foot, and kicked him in the face with my right. Brandon went flying back to the driver's side window, blood starting to trickle down his nostrils. I sat there panting in shock but only for little time because I knew I had to get out of there.

"Ya crazy bitch!" he yelled as I retrieved my purse with shaky hands.

Without eyeing him, I stammered, "G-get off my p-property, and d-don't think about seeing me again," and jumped out of his vehicle, running up to my porch.

Once safe inside, I pulled the living room's window curtain up to see if he was still there. He hadn't yet left. I watched him as he sat forward in his seat, smashing his fists against the wheel in a burst of anger, his body rocking back and forth in the truck. The vehicle's horn blared outside my home with each beating it took. After throwing his tantrum, he drove off, leaving only my Beetle parked along the sidewalk.

I slumped down on the loveseat and screamed into one of its pillows. My throat ached once I lost the breath to continue.

How dare that asshole force himself onto me! I'm not his sex toy! He may be friendly to his dogs, but he needs to know how to treat a woman! Damn pervert can go die for all I care!

When I pulled back seeing the darkened spots on the pillow, I realized I had once again been crying. Not over him, though. The fact that he molested me and that I trusted him had me feel frightened, vexed, and stupid. After believing I found myself a lovely man, he turned out to be pushy. Soon my thoughts traveled back to Olli Herman as I began to miss him and the way he "loved" me, which I preferred than being nearly raped. All I wanted was for him to wrap his arms around me. Instead, I hugged my pillow, repeating the birthday blues I felt a week ago.