“She doesn’t want to speak to you, Miguel.” Karen responded, doing her best to remain calm.
“PUT. THE. BITCH. ON!” He demanded.
“NO!” She shouted back.
“IMMA FUCK YOU UP, HO! PUT YOUR CUNT ON!” He blasted.
Karen slammed the phone down and I quickly rose, taking her trembling hands in mine. Karen’s gorgeous eyes gazed up at mine, pleading to make this mess go away. We were both jerked from the moment when the phone rang again.
“WHAT?” Karen shouted into the receiver.
I was standing close enough to hear Miguel hiss, “That’s gonna cost you. Now put Holly on.”
By now, Holly was rushing into the living room, wrapped in a towel, having just finished her shower. She had a frightened look on her face since all she heard was shouting. Karen just slammed the phone back down, hanging up on Miguel. Karen and Holly looked at one another and then to me when the phone rang again. Karen was about to lunge for it, but I grabbed her by the arm. I calmly reached down and picked up the receiver, but instead of speaking, I depressed the disconnect button, ending the call. Before Miguel would have a chance to call back, I released the disconnect and quickly dialed the number of the motel. A nervous Melanie answered, not expecting a call so soon. I told her what was happening and that I was going to keep the phone disconnected and that I would call her when I get a chance. I could hear the emotion and fear welling up in her words as she acknowledged my decision. I waited for her to get Audrey over to the phone as well so we could exchange ‘I love yous’ and ‘goodbyes’ again, on the remote chance it might be our last time.
No sooner had I ended the call and laid the receiver on the end table, that I was fallen into by Karen and Holly. As I held them I told them both that things might pop off sooner than expected and that I thought it best we move Karen’s mattress into the corner of the living room and they sleep there tonight. I had to shift the recliner, an end table and a small bookcase to make room, but at least they’d be out of the way in the middle of the night and clear of any windows. Holly quickly went to her room to finish getting ready for bed, but neither girl was really up for sleep, not that I could blame them.
When asked, Karen said she had a bunch of candles in the storage closet. I got them out and turned off all the lights in the house. From now on, I decided the lights were going to remain off at night and we could only have one candle in a given room. My reasoning for that had to do with the windows. Sure, we covered them up pretty well, but there would still be light leaking through the gaps. The light from a single candle wouldn’t be enough to detect which room was occupied from the outside unless someone were standing right outside the window. The pistol Karen bought was a revolver and would require a manual reload of each round when empty. I went to the bathroom to change into a pair of cargo pants so I’d have the extra pockets to carry the remaining ammunition from the box. Plus, I also wanted some measure of leg protection should things turn into a physical altercation.
With everything set, I sat down on the sofa, the pistol on the seat next to me. Even in the dark, I could feel the eyes of Karen and Holly on me. Looking back, it was a good thing I overslept as it looked like I was about to pull an all-nighter. I guess Karen and Holly felt safe enough because they were both asleep within an hour. As my eyes strained to penetrate the veil of darkness in the living room, I thought I could make out the lumps of the two women curled against one another. The soft rhythmic sounds of their breath beckoned me back to my nights with my women when I’d lie there in bed listening to their contented breathing. I may have had my misgivings about coming here before, but now, I was right where I needed to be… Right where I wanted to be.
I was exhausted as the sky slowly turned from black to dark blue, the earliest signs that dawn was approaching. I nearly fell asleep a few times during the night so I spent most of it pacing the house and checking out windows. It was 5 am when I heard the buzz from Karen’s alarm clock in her bedroom. In all the excitement from the previous night, we forgot to bring her clock into the living room. Even though I was here to protect them from harm, Karen still had a job to do and so I needed to wake her up.
Karen was still spooning her daughter when I came over to wake her up. Not wanting to wake Holly, I carefully moved up the mattress behind Karen to whisper into her ear and gently shake her awake. In the dim gloom of the early morning light, Karen and I shared an interesting gaze for more than a few seconds when she rolled onto her back after being awakened. By her sleepy eyes and heaving chest, she was beckoning me to join her in the warmth and comfort beneath the covers. Ever focused on the task at hand, I resisted the urge to bring my body to hers and explore an unknown, but tantilizing path. Karen responded with a slow blink and a sigh, acknowledging this was not the time or place and allowed me to help her up.
“Were you up all night?” She whispered.
I nodded as a long yawn escaped me.
“Poor thing.” She placed her hand on my cheek. “We should be fine. Why don’t you get some sleep?”
“Yeah, I think I will.” I agreed, turning to go collapse on the sofa.
The last thing I remember was Karen laying a blanket across my back and bending over to kiss my cheek.
*****
I was awaken a couple hours later by a terrified Holly screaming at me and shaking me violently to wake up. It turns out that Miguel was waiting for Karen at her law office when she arrived. Karen was too traumatized and in shock to be as hysterical as her daughter, but she quickly fell into my arms like a frightened child hoping I would shield her from a nightmare. After about twenty minutes of calming the two down, I was able to get Karen to recall her story.
Karen’s office was in a small strip mall in a business district. She always arrived before any of the other businesses opened or her small two person staff, which meant she was alone when Miguel jumped her. He attacked her as she was getting out of her car, forcing her back in face down and dropping down on top of her. She tried to fight, but quickly gave up when he reached around and put a knife to her throat. Karen recalled how Miguel reached up her skirt with his free hand and pulled her panties down to her knees. Once they were out of the way, he shoved two fingers into her pussy and his thumb up her ass and began pumping into her, telling her that this was just a taste of what was to come if she ever got in the way again. Then he pulled off of her, but not before cutting her panties from her with his knife, taking them with him as a trophy of their encounter.
“And you came home right after?” I asked.
Karen nodded.
“We need to call the police!” Holly demanded.
“No, the most they’ll do is take a statement.” Karen told her.
“Mom, he tried to rape you!” She protested.