Shattered Valentine

Valentine's Day sucked. I hated it and I never wanted to be around anyone while this day was going on, even if it was still three days away but my erratically energetic best friend thought differently. Three days until the worst holiday came and went and I was dreading it. I hate men and I've always hated men. Okay, so that's sort of an understatement because I haven't always hated men, it's just recently. I mean the one man I can count on to love me forever, okay more like two are my older brother and my father. They will always look out for me and I absolutely love them for it. My brother actually went out of his way to beat up a guy that broke my heart while I was still in high school.

Provided he never did like the guy to begin with he put up with him for my sake, but when he found out that he cheated on me and broke my heart, he kicked his ass. I have to say my older brother loves me too much, but I don't care because family is family. I would like to get married and have kids of my own someday, I mean my nephews are adorable and so is my little niece, but as of right now I guess that's the closest I'll ever come to being around little kids that are related to me.

"Lori, let's go," my energetic best friend screamed in my ear.

I cringed at the thought of going out tonight. I didn't want to go, but I knew that she would just end up wearing me down because that's just how she is. She seems to be rather successful with guys because she's had a steady relationship with her current boyfriend since college. I actually envy her for it. Me, well I actually suck when it comes to dating because of my trust issues that I have with all men except my father and my brother. I don't even know or understand where they came from, but it's rather hard for me to trust people. I guess I'm just too scorned by my very first boyfriend cheating on me that it sort of helped develop me into the person that I am today, which happens to be a slightly cold hearted-bitch.

"Lori, please let's go to the bar tonight," my friend begged.

"Why, so you can get drunk and have a good night with your boyfriend while you leave me at the bar to try and keep pig-headed idiots from trying to latch onto me and make me go home with them, nah, I'll pass, but I hope that you and your boyfriend have a good time.

"Lori, we won't ditch you at the bar again, we promise. In fact I'm sure that we can even find you a date so you won't feel like the third wheel," she grinned at me.

"No, I'll pass on that because if I remember correctly, the last guy you tried to set me up with, literally ran with his tail between his legs," I muttered grumpily.

"Yeah, he wasn't right for you, but I promise we'll have a good time," she started begging again.

"Ugh, fine, I'll go, but if anything goes wrong tonight, you'll be sorry," I grumbled still unhappy that I was giving in to her pleading so close to Valentine's Day no less.

She literally squealed in delight and I told her that I would dress myself because the last time that she dressed me things went horribly bad. I didn't want another night like that one to happen again, but unfortunately I couldn't help any of the desperate men who were just sappy and needy when it came close to the stupid holiday. A holiday that I would always come to despise because of the incident that happened to me on that particular day and it was a memory that I had hoped would go away, but still haunts me from time to time.

"I HATE YOU," I screamed at him as I stormed from the apartment that I asked him to share with me.

"Lori wait, let me explain," he pleaded running after me in only jeans and bare feet.

"NO, I HAVE NOTHING TO SAY TO YOU ANYMORE," I yelled at him and continued to walk down the stairs of the complex that I wanted nothing to with anymore.

"Lorianne, will you please listen to me," he asked grabbing my arm after I had gotten down the stairs and was headed to my car.

"DON'T YOU DARE USE MY FULL NAME AND THINK THAT I WILL LISTEN TO YOU DEFEND AND LIE TO ME AGAIN! THIS IS THE LAST STRAW AND I WILL NOT LET YOU TALK ME INTO GIVING YOU ANOTHER CHANCE," I screamed and ripped my arm away from his slack grip.

I got into my car not even caring that I left all of my stuff up in the apartment at the time being. He would be gone the next morning at work and I would go then to pack up my stuff and then leave for good. I was done with Damian's antics and excuses to keep me with him. This was the third and last time that he fucked me over. Ellie had told me that he wasn't going to change and I didn't listen to her. I held back the tears as I drove straight over to Ellie and Christian's apartment. They had a guest bedroom that I could use until I managed to get my stuff from the apartment.

Once I parked my car I got out and rushed up to the fourth floor where she stayed. When I knocked on the door and she opened it I thought that she would tell me the three words that I didn't want to hear, but she didn't. Well, at least not until after she comforted me and let me cry. Christian had heard and understood and actually left for a few hours. I didn't know what he was doing, but I didn't care. I was just glad that I could let my hurt out without a guy hovering over me.

"Lori, what happened this time," Ellie sighed dejectedly.

"I caught him again, but it was worse because it wasn't just one. He had three whores with him this time," I spluttered through my tears.

"Oh, honey come here," she said and held open her arms.

I crawled into her arms and just cried. At times I knew that she could be eccentric and super outgoing, but when I needed her to comfort me in my many different troubles, I knew that I could count on her for always being there for me. I actually enjoyed the fact that she was with Christian because he was like another brother to me. He had actually came home with all of my stuff that night and I was really thankful for him.

That memory still haunted me even after two years of happening, but mostly because I was going to marry Damian. He had actually asked me to marry him and that was why I had thought that he had changed, but I was dead wrong. It was because of him and my many other boyfriends in the past that I didn't trust men all that much anymore. I always pegged them to be the same and I didn't even want to give them a shot anymore. I was alright with the idea of being alone because it would give me a chance to work on my career. I sighed as I finished getting ready for the night of hell I had unwillingly agreed to.

I decided to wear a skirt that went to about mid-thigh, much to my displeasure, but I knew that if I didn't dress myself the way that Ellie thought a single woman should dress on a night out then I would be forced to change. For my shoes I was going to wear knee high black boots with a comfortable heel. I despised wearing heels because of the pain they always gave me and the fact that if a woman was ever in trouble and needed to run away from something heels always tended to slow them down. I wasn't planning on doing any running tonight so I should be okay. I finished off my outfit with a black camisole underneath a black lacey blouse that was quite see-through. I pinned my hair back out of my eyes so it was half up and half down. I finished off my look with some light make-up, which was horrid crap to even be invented in the first place.

I was just putting down my brush that I was using to fix some loose strands of hair when an urgent knock on my bedroom door made me sigh again. I opened it up to reveal an excited looking Ellie bouncing on the balls of her feet.

"Yes, Ellie, I'm as ready as I'll ever be," I sighed again.

This better not be a disaster of a night or a night wasted on my part by agreeing to go. I absolutely hated Valentine's Day because it always seemed to bring me bad luck. Especially, when it came to men, but then again my bad luck with men could have come from my mother since she had just as much trouble with men in the first place as well. She had trouble when she was my age, but the minute she found my dad she knew that they were meant to be together. She told me that my soul mate and one true love was out there and that all I had to do was keep looking even if I had to dig my way through a muddy pile of shitty men just to find him.

I guess that I could put some truth into what my mom has told me over and over whenever I needed to talk to her about my problems concerning men. My mother was my other best friend and I loved her for everything that she did for me.

"Lori, cheer up, please," Ellie said from the front seat while Christian drove.

I sighed and continued to stare out the window. The ride to the club was short, but I sucked up my distaste for the night that I knew I was going to have and put on a smile for Ellie and Christian's sake. I walked into the club not knowing if I would regret this night or not.

Zacky's POV

I was completely miserable and I didn't want to go out. I felt like I couldn't trust any girls anymore. I could have any girl I wanted, but all the girls that I seem to have flock towards me were the ones who cheated or the ones who were too clingy. The best type that seemed to really like to try and get with me and I always seemed to fall for were the gold digging whores. I was in a successful band and my best friends were also with me. They tried to support me in all the girls I dated, but the latest one seemed to have almost been the last straw for them to take. Gena had been horrible to me and I just took it and most of all doted on her as if my life depended on it. My friends tried an intervention, but that didn't work. I ignored everything they told me and now I was paying the heavy price that came with that mistake.

"Zacky, let's go out. There's this new club that's opening up tonight and we should really go and check it out," Johnny said from the kitchen doorway.

"I don't want to," I muttered.

"Zacky, did you honestly love her," Matt asked.

"I don't know. I think so, but I just don't know. I've been hurt by so many women that it's not even funny anymore," I answered not even looking at my friends.

I sat on the couch and just stared at the black TV screen. My friends were worried about me and I could tell. It had been three weeks already since I got rid of Gena. I had barely eaten anything and I sure as hell barely got out of my house.

"Alright, get off of your ass right now. Go change your clothes and you better be down here within ten minutes. If you're not then we are dragging your ass out that door," Brian stated matter-of-factly.

I finally looked at them all and realized that going to this club tonight wouldn't be an option that I could back out of. They would force me to get out and have a good time even if I didn't want to.

Lori's POV

I sighed heavily as I sat down at the bar knowing that I would be at this bar all night until Christian and Ellie were done with their outing. I hardly drank liquor because I was normally the designated driver for them, but it seemed that tonight they didn't want to get drunk. They told me that I could let loose if I wanted to and get smashed, but that they wouldn't be drinking as much tonight as they normally did. I smiled at them and headed for the bar. I asked for a shot of Jack Daniels and threw it back quickly. The harsh liquor burned, but it felt good.

"A shot of Jack please," a male voice asked sitting down next to me.

I ignored him and ordered a second shot. I didn't want to be around guys at the moment. I looked over at him though just to see who I had to avoid tonight. I sighed as I noticed the multiple tattoos and the fedora on his head. He was kind of cute, but he had a wedding band on his left finger. Good riddance to him from the dating world. I sighed and then stepped out back to have a cigarette. I hardly ever smoked, but my thoughts were getting to me lately and I just needed to vent tonight so that I could escape my thoughts. I had one with me and always carried at least one. I never carried a whole pack because I knew that I would cave and smoke the whole thing in a day because of how much my thoughts stressed me out.

When I reached the back alley I noticed that there were two others smoking cigarettes as well. One looked as if he had just had his heart put through the blender. The other looked rather sketchy and creepy. I walked a little further from both of them and leaned up against the wall and lit up. I didn't even hear the creepy guy walk towards me and lean up against the wall next to me until I turned and almost jumped into the air at the site of him.

"Hello, pretty lady, how are you," he lilted while taking a long drag from his cigarette.

A shiver slid down my spine at the sound of his oily and untrustworthy voice and it didn't exactly help the fact that he was drunk. I quickly put my cigarette out and headed for the door that led back in. The other guy had gone already, which made my situation a little worse. Just as I was about to grab the handle to enter the club again the creepy fucker from behind me grabbed my arm and forced me up against the wall. I screamed, but he cut it off with a hand to my throat. He forced his lips onto mine and I couldn't help, but think that I was actually going to lose my virginity by force.

I guess that could have been part of the reason none of my previous boyfriends wanted to stay with me, but I couldn't help my belief system. I believed that sex and any form of sex should be saved for marriage because then it would be with the person you loved and it would be extra special. Tears pricked the edges of my eyes as the guy started using his free hand the one, that wasn't cutting off my air supply and trailing it down until it slipped just below my skirt.

His lips left mine, but he continued to kiss my neck and I couldn't help but cringe against him. I tried fighting against him, but I couldn't do much since my air supply was fading rather fast and I could already see black spots forming behind my eyes. That is until the cold night air rushed down my throat and burned my lungs. I felt myself sliding down the wall and curled my legs up against my body to try and keep my legs closed. I heard a bunch of different noises, but I couldn't pay much attention to them because of what almost happened to me. I wasn't even drunk, maybe a little buzzed, but far from drunk and I almost got raped.

"Hey, are you alright," a male voice asked gently.

I cringed further against the wall and let the tears fall.

"I'm not going to hurt you," he said gently and touched my arm lightly.

I looked towards him and noticed that he had been the other smoker when I first came out. He had the most gorgeous green eyes I'd ever seen. He grabbed my hand and pulled me to my feet and I almost collapsed, but he caught me.

"Careful, you're shaking do you want to go in and sit down," he asked.

I nodded. He led me towards the door and I couldn't see the fucker who tried to rape me anymore, but I didn't care. Once back inside the club he led me to one of the private and quieter areas of the club. There were four other men sitting in the small lounge area and I tried to pull away, but his strength stopped me.

"We aren't going to hurt you," he whispered lightly in my ear. I stopped struggling.

"What are you talking about Zacky," the larger of the four asked. He had a cute face, with dark brown hair and hazel eyes. He was huge with large muscles and looked rather intimidating.

"I was out back smoking when she came out. There was another creep out there as well.
She went in the other direction and when I was finished I went inside to take a leak. I was about to come back out to have another cigarette when I heard screaming that seemed to have been cut off by something. I rushed out and saw the creep from earlier with one hand around her throat and the other wandering towards the hem of her skirt," Zacky, the one who saved me answered muscle man's question.

"Where's the fucker now," the one from the bar, who wore the fedora asked angrily.

"I beat the shit out of him," Zacky grinned.

"Are you okay," the skinniest of the five asked looking at me with concern written all over his face.

I couldn't speak, but I did start to nod my head until about half way through I started to shake it rather fast I was surprised that I didn't get whiplash from it. Zacky led me to the couch and sat me down and I just started crying. I curled up into a ball and just cried. The five men that I didn't know anything about tried to comfort me, but I needed Ellie right now. I needed her and I didn't even know if she was still here.

My sobs stopped and I started to hyperventilate from lack of breathing.

"Breathe, you need to calm down and breathe," a different voice said gently. I looked over to see a guy with black and blonde hair gelled into a Mohawk style. He also had pretty eyes, but all I could see was Zacky's. He was sitting on the other side and rubbing my back gently to try and help calm me down from my frightening almost rape.

"LORI, LORI, WHERE ARE YOU LORI," I could hear Ellie screaming for me. I tried to get up, but I was gently pushed down because I was in no condition to stand or even walk yet.

"LORI," she yelled again.

"ELLIE," I screamed which made all five men jump slightly.

The next thing I saw was a head full of auburn hair engulfing me into a tight hug.

"Where the hell did you go," she asked breathlessly.

"I….I went outside to smoke to help clear my head and I….I was a….almost r….r…..raped," I shakily spit out.

"Oh my God are you alright," she asked frightened.

"Yeah, I will be. Zacky saved me," I whispered.

She whipped her head around to see all five men who had been surrounding me earlier facing off against the lone figure of Christian.

"Christian, they're fine. They helped me that's all," I told him lightly.

His demeanor changed and he walked over to me and hugged me tightly as well.

"Do you want to leave and go home," he asked.

I nodded because I did need some sleep, although I figured that I would never forget this night. Christian stood up and pulled Ellie to her feet and then headed towards the door of the private lounge. When I didn't stand up right away they looked back at me confused.

"Just a minute," I said and quickly looked around for a pen and paper. I found a napkin and a pen probably from one of the waitresses and wrote something down.

I took the napkin and then gave it to Zacky who looked confused. I have never in my life given out my phone number to a random stranger without getting to know them first, so this was a huge step out of my comfort zone. I gave him a small smile and then followed my best friend and her boyfriend out of the lounge.

After that night, Zacky had called me endlessly. We hung out and we had a great time. I actually got to meet his friends, which were the other four from the night that he saved me. Muscle man was now Matt, Mohawk was named Johnny, Fedora was named Brian, and Skinny Ass was named Jimmy. I had given them those nicknames based off of their appearances and they fit. Ellie saw a definite change in me after that night as well. I finally had moved out of her apartment and gotten my own a lot closer to my job, which was awesome.

It turns out that my job was rather close to the studio that Zacky and his friends recorded at and sometimes I took my lunch breaks to go see them practice. They were one hell of a band and I could see myself finally trusting men again. There was something about Zacky that was different and I noticed that the night that he saved my life. That night had started out boring, gotten a whole lot worse, but turned out to be the night that I found my soul mate. Zacky was the best.

On Valentine's Day, which was three days after that night Zacky had called and stuttered out a request to go on a date. He had made it clear that he knew it was too soon after something that horrible happening and that he understood if I declined, but I had told him that I would go, but only as friends. He was happy.

Ever since that first Valentine's Day after being cheated on by a multitude of scumbag men I had finally thought that I had found the one person that I could be with forever. His friends were awesome and loved me and thought of me as their little sister. The other's girlfriends adored me and wanted to dress me up and take me shopping just like Ellie always did, but that was a bust. Ellie and Christian enjoyed hanging out with everyone as well.

Things were starting to finally look up for me and I never would have thought that almost getting raped would be the cause for everything to turn around on me and finally start working out for me. I was happy and Ellie knew that because she could see the endless smiles on my face whenever Zacky called or when he had randomly showed up at my doorstep, or rather Ellie's before I moved out. It was pure bliss and now I'm actually looking forward to a great Valentine's Day with my lovely boyfriend.