No Mercy / Book Three

Chapter Four: First Impressions

Damion shook out his arms and hopped from foot to foot, giving his body a few precious moments of rest before laying into the punching bag again. He had been at it for almost an hour, blocking everything out except the shocks that were traveling up into his shoulders and spreading down into his back. He really should just take a break, maybe go sweet talk Charlie into letting him use her tub tonight for an ice bath so he didn't hate himself in the morning, but the ball of anxiety in his stomach had him throwing his punches harder until all he could hear was the loud "thud" of his fists meeting the solid bag in front of him.

He had been like this since he woke up, on edge and practically vibrating with pent up energy. The idea of meeting with Juniper was taking a bigger toll on him than he had anticipated, the social anxiety that he tried so hard to hide coming out to play and making him feel like he was losing his damned mind.

He switched tactics on the punching bag, his right leg snapping upwards. He was far better at fighting with his lower body, had even won most of his matches with a well placed roundhouse kick to his opponents head, and his foot sent the bag sliding sideways on the thick metal cord he had attached it to. He almost missed Logan stepping up beside the bag, body flowing into the next position so he could send a sidekick flying, but he stopped himself just in time; feet tripping over each other and making him stumble.

"Damnit Logan, we've talked about this," Damion snarled, heart racing inside of his chest. "You can't stand by the fucking punching bag when you're pregnant."

It had nearly killed him three days ago when he accidentally sent the bag flying into her body and caused her to crash to the ground. He had been more scared than Stanford until Logan told him that it would take more than just the bag to harm the baby, but then he had imagined one of his kicks missing it's mark and slamming into her stomach; had yelled at her until she promised not to stand near any of the punching bags while they were in use just to be safe.

"I said your name three times and you didn't hear me!" Logan said defensively, crossing her arms over her chest and raising an eyebrow at him when he just growled at her. "Don't you growl at me. It's not my fault that you had your head stuck up your own ass and didn't register me talking to you, now is it?"

He heard a chuckle from behind him and looked over his shoulder to glare at whoever it was, the comment he was about to make dying on his lips when he saw her.

Chocolate brown eyes started at him from a mangled face, bruises splotched across her forehead and swollen nose. His eyes dipped to the mass of bruising that was on her chest, the angry purple and blue colors peeking out from underneath her dark skin. He watched as she tugged her cardigan across her chest like she was trying to hide the evidence and flicked his eyes back up to her face, noticing the cuts and scrapes disappearing into her hairline. She looked like hell.

"This is Juniper. Juniper, this is Damion," Logan introduced them, her voice dragging his gaze away from the battered woman in front of him. Logan sent him an encouraging smile when he looked back at her. "I'll let you two talk, if you need me I'll be in the daycare room."

Damion reached out absentmindedly to stop the gentle swaying of the punching bag before crouching down and reaching for his water bottle, drinking the contents slowly so he could attempt to slow the racing of his heart. He wasn't very good at meeting new people when he was alone, preferred to do it in a group so someone else could take over talking when he inevitably lulled into silence.

"Three months ago I came home from work and found a copperhead snake in my bed. When animal control got there, they told me it must have come in through an open widow. I didn't believe them," Juniper started, crossing her arms over her chest when he motioned for her to continue. "I live on the third floor of a busy apartment building. It doesn't make sense for a snake to climb all the way up there and sneak in, especially with so many people going in and out."

He sat his now empty water bottle on the ground beside him and stood up, turning to fully face her. She was taller than Logan but still had to crain her head back to look up at his face when he moved closer to her.

"And then a week after that someone broke into my apartment and tore apart my bedroom. I changed my locks and bought a gun, but nothing was done since nothing was stolen. I moved back into my childhood home with my grandfather when I found my tires slashed on my car after work. The cameras at the school were broken and the police decided that it had to be a high school prank since four other teachers had their tires slashed too. I got paranoid, stopped leaving the house unless I was going to work. And then two nights ago a bomb went off in my car," she said softly, and Damion could see how badly her hands were shaking when she lifted them up to shove her hair away from her face.

"Jaxon didn't bring any of this up when we talked about it a few days ago," Damion said cautiously, well aware of the feelings Juniper had for him. Logan had laid it all out for him, and he honestly couldn't blame Juniper if she wanted to deck the cop. He didn't get to pick and choose who he helped just because he was having a hard time with the pedophile ring case he was working.

He saw the fire flash in her eyes before it was replaced with a look he knew all too well thanks to the women and children that they had been helping for years now. Pure terror had her chocolate brown eyes turning dull and she hugged her arms tighter around herself, like she was protecting her body from an upcoming blow.

"But it doesn't matter. Logan asked for my help and I don't break promises," Damion sighed, nodding his head towards the room Logan had gone into. "Let's go sort some things out, and then tomorrow you'll be staying with me until we figure out who's trying to hurt you."