just another day

Chapter Six

When Lüc was finally done with Stefani, he lit a cigarette and laid down next to her. She was silent and motionless, afraid that if she moved he'd go after her again. He leaned down to place a kiss on her shoulder, but she pulled it away from him. A mixture of anger and amusement filled him, and he rolled his eyes as he put his cigarette out on her back. She winced violently, but wouldn't dare make a sound. It had been a while since he burned her with a cigarette and she had grown unfamiliar to the feeling. "You're worthless, you know that?" He whispered in her ear as he stood up and put his pants back on. "I'm going to work." He said, pouring the rest of his beer over head, still annoyed she wasn't talking to him.

Every part of Stefani wanted to just lay there forever. She never wanted to move again, but she knew that wasn't an option. She decided then that she was done. She was done with Lüc, done with her job, done with all the bad shit in her life. She finally convinced herself to get up, and she dressed herself, and threw a few of her items of clothing into a bag. She didn't have much, but she gathered what was important to her, and put it all in the bag as well. She walked over slowly to the door of the apartment, and took one last look at the place she'd called home for so many years. "Fuck you." She whispered as she slammed the door behind her.

She walked about half a block when she realized she wasn't going to be able to walk the whole way to her destination, so she dug in her bag looking for money. She saw that Luc had taken the majority of the money she'd made the night before, but she had just enough to use the subway. She was relieved, because she was in too much pain to walk.
When she emerged from the under ground station she saw Taylor's apartment just a few sideway squares in front of her, and suddenly felt uneasy. "What the hell am I doing?" She thought to herself as she made her way to his door. The doorman went to stop her, but seemed to recognize her, and let her in. She aimlessly made her way up to his floor, and found herself knocking on his door before she knew it. She knocked a few times, and got no response. "Shit." She whispered, realizing he probably wasn't home. She leaned her back against his door, and let her head fall into her hands as she tried to decided whether to just leave or to wait. She sat there for a while, lost in thought, when she felt a hand touch her shoulder causing her to flinch. "Stefani" She heard a familiar voice say, instantly sending relief throughout her whole body. "Taylor." She responded, looking up to see his worried faced looking back at her. She stood up, and watched as he switched his sack of groceries into his other hand so he could unlock the door. She followed him in, and watched him go set the sack down, then make his way back over to her. "This is uh... This is a surprise." She nodded silently, unsure of what to say. "Here let me take that for you." He said, reaching to take the duffel bag off of her shoulder, causing her to flinch once again. "T-Thanks." She stuttered. He just stared at her waiting for some sort of explanation, but she really didn't feel like she could give him any. "Why is your hair all wet?" He asked, finally giving in to being the first one to speak. She looked at her stringy strands of hair and blinked. "Oh uh... Alcohol was spilled on it." He squinted, "But your whole head is wet?" "Yeah uh... Luc uh... He poured his beer on my head." She suddenly felt herself about to break down, and Taylor could tell she was getting upset, and rushed over to hold her. "What's going on?" He asked. She sighed letting a few tears fall, and stumbled over to the couch. "I'm embarrassed." "Of what?" "Of telling you." He walked over and sat with her on the couch, looking lovingly into her eyes. "Nothing is going to make me think any less of you. What's going on?" She let out a shaky breath, "You know how we were talking the other day and you um... You said what Luc was doing was... was rape?" "Y-Yeah... I remember." He responded. "Well, I wasn't able to get that out of my head, and I was distracted. And when I got to work a new guy came in, and he was kinda nasty, and I was so distracted that he got mad and slapped me and... um... I tried to get up because I don't have to take that from my clients but um... He got more angry, and he grabbed me and he... He had sex with me." She stopped talking and looked down at the fabric of the couch. "He raped you?" Taylor asked softly, and she nodded. "What did you do? Did you say anything to anyone?" She shook her head, "No um... That's not actually all that happened. I just went home after because... I-I didn't know what to do. When I saw Luc I felt so much better, cause he is familiar, you know? I went over and hugged him, and he held me, and I felt okay for a moment but... He wanted me. I remembered what you said, and I told him no. I tried to stand my ground but he just got really angry. I-I'm sorry Taylor." He shook his head, "What no? Why are you sorry?" "Because I... I let him rape me again. But this time was, scary. He was so violent and harsh I... It was way too much after what'd happened at work." Taylor sat silently, trying to keep from showing his heartbreak on his face. "I don't know why you're apologizing. You said no, and he did it anyway. He hurt you. That isn't your fault. None of this is your fault." She shut her eyes and started to cry a little harder, and he pulled her close to his chest. "What happened after that?" "He smoked a cigarette, and I just laid there. I was scared to move. He put his cigarette out on me, dumped his beer on me, then left. Then I came here." Taylor shuddered, but held her closer. "I'm so sorry Stefani. You don't deserve any of this. I'm glad you're here, I want to protect you." She looked up at him through her heavy wet lashes, "You do?" He nodded. "But why? I'm fucking damaged. I'm disgusting." She looked down at the couch again, and Taylor gently raised her face to meet his gaze. "You are not. You are beautiful, and funny, and you deserve the world. I'm going to make damn sure you get it, baby."