Redemption of a Soul

Chapter 8

The day slowly descended into the late afternoon, Claire had just finished her last patient that came early to the appointment. As Claire sat her desk rubbing her temples she glanced at her clock and thought maybe she should take a late lunch. She grabbed her keys and exited her office, she stopped to talk to mrs. Brand. "I'm going to go have a late lunch. Can you call my other patient and tell them their appointments as been pushed back" Mrs.Brand nodded "Yes ma'am, where are you going to lunch?"
" I don't really know yet. Any suggestions?" Claire dig in her purse to make sure she had her keys and wallet "My Husband and I went to this cute diner the town over. They have the best burgers and macaroni and cheese. I think it's called Throwback Diner" Mrs.Brand grabbed a sticky note and wrote down the address and handed it to Claire. "Thanks Rachel I'll check it out" Claire walked towards her car that was in the parking garage next to her office, she started hearing footsteps behind her and shrugged it off.
When she reached her car a hand appeared next to her, she knew who the hand belonged to. "Hey beautiful, where are you going?" He licked his lips eyeing her from top to bottom. "Lunch" she whispered looking for her car key. "I'm a good cook. We could go back to my place and eat or something else." Ryan tucked some of her hair behind her ear, slightly caressing her neck. Claire's whole body tensed up, she gently moved his hand "No Thank you. I kinda want to be alone today and relax."
"I'll help you relax Claire" he laid his hands on her waist tightly, her name rolled off his tongue like a snake spitting its venom. "Ryan really I appreciate the offer but I have to decline. I'm sorry." She tried to distance herself away from him, but his hands gripped tighter. She began to twist until she broke free "You're playing hard to get. It was cute in the beginning but now it's annoying." He stepped toward her inches away from her face, she tried to move back but he grabbed her hair wrapping it tightly around his fist. "RYAN!?!" She yelled in pain but only to be silenced by a pair of lips on hers, she tried to push him off of her but his broad frame proved that she couldn't do anything. She started to feel a hand slither it's way up her skirt, before the hand reached her underwear she bit Ryan's lip. "You bit me, you bitch" Ryan gripped her hair tighter and slapped her with his free hand. "Ryan please let me go" Claire cried
"No, I'm gonna get what I want." Ryan turned her away from him, she felt her skirt being pulled up over back. She started pushing off the car "Stop fucking moving" Ryan let go of her hair and grabbed her hands and held them tightly against her throat. Tears started to stream from her face as she heard his pants unzip, Claire started to move rapidly again. "SOMEONE PLEASE!!!" Claire screamed at the top of her lungs "Shut the fuck up" he pushed her harder into the car door, Claire could feel the bruises start to form on her body, she continued to struggle but he overpowered her. "Please" she said softly she closed her eyes tightly preparing for what was about to happen to her. " please get off of me Ryan" she said her eyes still shut hoping that he would just stop and go away, but he laughed tearing her underwear off of her. She could feel his breath on the back of her neck, his hands on her lower back her tears still stream down. "This is gonna be fun" she felt him smile as she continued to cry
"I think she said get off of her" a voice came from behind Ryan "this is none of your business, get the fuck out" Claire prayed that this person would help her and not just walk away. The person grabbed Ryan and turned him to face him "she said to get the fuck off of her" Ryan pushed away from the guy as Claire started sinking to the ground. Ryan swung at the person but the person duck and hit Ryan straight in the stomach.
Claire's thoughts finally caught up to her current situation and she turned around and pressed her back against the car. Claire refused to open her eyes as she slid down to sit on the concrete . As she sat there with her knees tucked into her chest all she could hear was feet shuffling on the pavement along with the occasional crack of a fist making contact with one of these men's faces. Claire still could not bring herself to watch the violent altercation. She had heard her hero's voice, but with everything else happening she could not place who it was or if she even knew them.
After what felt like an hour the parking lot was fairly quiet. There was no more pounding of fists or shoe soles clapping against the ground; it was quite eerie. Claire had no clue what to expect next. Did Ryan win the fight? Was he going to come back to finish what he started? Did the stranger win? Was he going to do something horrible too? All of Claire's questions were thrown out of her mind when a hand gripped her shoulder. She instinctively jerked away from the touch with a yelp and pulled her arms over her head to protect herself as best she could.
"I'm sorry. Claire, It's just me Eli. Eli Weston." Claire's head and eyes immediately darted to the source of those words. It in fact was Eli standing in front of her. The breathe she was harboring finally released from her lungs. Eli was not who Claire had expected, but was relieved to have someone she knew here with her rather than a stranger.
"I think I should take you to the hospital or the police station or something. Maybe I should call the cops." Eli was searching Claire's expressions for any type of answer, but her face held an unrecognizable emotion. The only thing he could see in her eyes was fear. "Don't," was all that Claire could manage to say. The single word left Eli speechless. He thought if anyone would do things "by the book" then it would most definitely be Claire. Eli noticed the fear turning into pleading in Claire's eyes so he just nodded in a agreeance.
Eli stepped to the spot beside Claire and took a seat with his back against the car as well. He desperately wanted to comfort her, but he had no idea how. No one had ever comforted him; he was clueless. "I kicked his ass pretty good. He won't be coming around you again. I promise." The words Eli spoke were barely audible, but Claire heard every word and it somewhat reassured her.
"I'm not going to argue with you about it, but are you sure you don't want me to call the cops or something?" Eli watched Claire out of his peripheral vision and he saw her subtly shake her head no. She took in a long, deep breath before speaking. "I just want to go home. I don't really feel like being interrogated." Claire understood that if she went home she wouldn't be able to come back later to press charges. She knew that it was not going to be easy to see Ryan at work and be civil, but that was something she was just going to accept. As a therapist she also knew that she would be dealing with psychological repercussions like guilt for not contacting authorities.
"Like I said, I'm not going to argue with you but I'm also not leaving you alone. Soooo...you can come back to my house." Eli makes it clear to Claire that he is not asking, but he is telling her what to do. She nods her head agreeing with his statement. It's not like she wanted to be completely alone anyway. Eli stands up and holds out his hands to help Claire off the ground then slowly leads her to the passenger side of the car. Eli opens the car door and Claire slides into the seat while Eli make his way around the back to the drivers side. He carefully maneuvers his way through the parking lot onto the street and to his driveway.
Claire already knew where he lived, because she has every single shred of information she would ever need on her patients. They make their way up the small driveway to Eli's front door and he tells her to make herself at home. Claire is not really in the mood for formalities so she thanks him and plops down on his couch and makes herself quite comfortable. "I've got some water. Would you like a cup? I don't have much to choose from." Claire nodded her head pulling her skirt down a little. A few minutes Eli returns with a glass of water and a bag of chips "didn't know if you were hungry... so I grabbed some chips just in case" she thanked him quietly reaching for the glass her hands are anything but steady, the cup shook with her hands until it slipped from her hand. "I'm sorry. I d-didn't I-I" she stammered slowly leaning over to pick up the pieces, her eyes started tearing up, Eli hurried over and picked he broken glass up . "Claire it's fine don't worry about. It's my turn to pick up broken glass" he smiled at her. His smile started to fade when he noticed tears streaming down her face, she covered her mouth with one hand and the other tightly wrapped around her stomach. He moved over to where she was grabbing a nearby blanket and slowly draping it over her.
"Hey Cee it's fine. It's just a cup. I'll buy another one." He said and attempted to console her by rubbing her back, but Claire had jumped at the pressure of his hand. "Are you sure no cops?" She wiped the tears gathered herself "I'm sure." Eli shrugged "How are you doing? I mean about the situation that happened." Claire pulled the blanket tighter around her "I... I..don't know." she said looking at Eli, she was on the brink of crying again "Do you wanna talk about it? I heard it's good to talk to someone. You don't have to talk about if you don't wanna" Claire turned toward him and took a deep breath preparing to relive the incident. "I was going to lunch, when Ryan appeared and started to flirt with me but I kept... I kept..." she started to lose her words looking at Eli "it was my fault, if I just went out with him once maybe.... or if I wore something more conservative or....or I was leading him on and he took the wrong" Eli cut her off by pulling her into him "Hey it nots your fault. It's not your fault Claire it's nothing you wore or you leading him on. He's a dick that doesn't can't a fucking hint. You did nothing wrong Claire, he was the one who was wrong, you told him to leave you alone get off of you but he wouldn't." He started stroking her hair lightly as she cried into his shirt clutching it tightly, when she finally stopped crying Claire remembered her patients. "I have to go to back to work." Eli shook his head "No you don't Claire you need time. Call the lady and get days off until further notice" Claire hesitated trying to pick to listen to Eli or pick her job over her wellbeing. "May I use your phone, please?" Eli handed her the phone and she called and told Rachel that she need time to herself and to transfer her patients to Dr.Sanchez
While she was on the phone Eli grabbed some clothes from his closet so Claire could change. When she was finally off the phone Eli sat down and stayed quiet for a little bit. "If you wanna take a shower I grabbed some clothes for you." Claire thanked him, grabbed the bundle of clothes and went off to the bathroom. When Eli was sure the shower was on he ran to grab his phone, His thumb hesitated over the call button for Williams name. He shook the idea from his head and went to the kitchen to fix some food.
When Claire entered in the bathroom, she laid the clothes that Eli have given
her and wondered how he had women's underwear. Claire shrugged it off and leans down to remove what is left of her undergarments she feels a sharp pain in her back. Quickly she straighten herself and turned to face the wall mirror on the back of the door. Dark purple bruises appeared along her thigh and leg, where he pressed her roughly against her car. She still could fill the sting in her right cheek from his slap, her wrist looked as if they had been bond tightly in rope, her shirt was untucked along with her tore pantyhose and her skirt way above her thighs.
She had to look away but she couldn't, she felt so dirty that she hurried and undressed and got into the shower. At first she tried to let the hot water melt away the day but the memories wouldn't melt away, she closed her eyes to try hard to forget but she felt his breath on her neck and smell musk and cologne mixed together. She gagged and hurried towards the toilet her breakfast was now sewer, she crawled back into the shower and let the water run on her. Knees tucked tightly under her chin her tears mixed in with the water. Grabbing the soap she began to scrub her skin, but nothing worked she still felt everything: the disgust, the pain and him.
"Claire, are you drowning in there?" Eli walked into the bathroom, Claire had her back turned towards him. He moved forward and saw she was scrubbing her arm but then blood started mixing in with the water. "Claire what the shit are you doing?" He opened the shower and turned the water off and turned her towards him. "He- it won't go away. I scrub and scrub but I still feel hi- it. It won't go away. It wasn't go away" Eli looked at her arm the cut wasn't too deep "Claire, it's okay" Claire pushed Eli hard off her "Don't touch me! I'm sorry just don't...." she hugged herself
"Okay just put the clothes on and then I'll go get some bandages if I have any." Eli stood in the doorway. "Could you...." Claire grabbed the towel, and Eli turned his back towards her. "You know you can talk to me right? I'm not a patient. I'm your friend. Or some shit like that." Claire stayed quiet as she finished putting the clothes on. Her arm still slightly bleeding, she noticed her knuckles are bruised as well she didn't know how that happen. "finished you can turn around" Eli turned around and he could see the bruises more defined, the mark on her right cheek and her wrist his blood began to boil wanting to beat the living shit out of Ryan again. "Go to the living room and I'll be there in a minute" Claire nodded
Moments later Eli wrapped her arm up, very skillfully. "Where did you learn how to do this?" Eli tucked his lips in and scrunched his eyebrows "My mom would "visit" me when I lived with my grandparents and be high on a lot Of drugs and.... she would try to cut her wrist... or mine when I would be sleeping. I had to take classes and I used sleep with a nurse with a cocaine addiction" Eli put the first aid kit back up "is that the underwear I'm wearing the nurses.... underwear?" Claire blurted out accidentally
"No actually they're brand new. For when girls sleep over more than one day" Eli chuckled "Hungry?" Claire nodded as Eli brought out two sandwiches and drinks "Thanks"
"Welcome lets watch a movie while eat. If you want?" Eli picked up the remote and cut the tv on and flipped through the channels "How about friends?" Claire suggested Eli shrugged his shoulder and they watched Rachel, Chandler and the gang drink coffee. After about six episodes Claire fell asleep on the couch. Eli grabbed a blanket and covered her with it. "I need a drink" he said lightly trying not to wake her up.
He wrote a note and went to the broken pines to relax and take the edge off. At the broken pines sat at the bar when he heard a loud group of guys in the booths talk about their scores.

"And then she left before I could remember her name" guy one laughed along with the guys

"What about you? But the looks of it she liked it really rough" guy 2 said

"Yeah spill the beans dude" both guy 1 and 3 said

"Lets say the car played a big part in it. She wanted me to hold her wrist while we you know. She's a biter, she is super tight too. But not anymore" Eli quickly recognized the very last guys voice it belong to Ryan. Eli order two shots and downed them in no time.

"What else did she do?" Guy 2 asked

"The question is what she didn't do" Ryan and his buddies laughed and clanked drinks together. Ryan slowly rubbed his chin grinning, he looked up and noticed that Eli was sitting at the bar. Effortlessly Eli spun around the stool and jumped off, he started walking to walk towards the booth when a familiar person stood in his way. Ryan's eyes grew wide but he let a relived sigh when a cop stood in front of Eli.

"Mate, what are you doing?" William asked Eli's eyes are still glued to the table his nose flaring "I just wanna talk to them for a little bit" Eli heavily breathed "No offense mate but you don't talk well with others. Just go home because if you go over there and "talk" to them or I might have to escort to jail"