Taken and Misused.

It had been a week since Stephen’s warning and nothing had really changed in my life. For the first few days at least, Vaughn had been taking me to races until Darik had lost in the last one. But Darik had bet pink slips without telling the others so not only did he loose the race, he lost his car.

To put it lightly Vaughn had been spitting mad. And Marco had a look of utter devastation on his face for some reason, I mean, I could understand him being mad or upset, but Marco looked like he had just been told he was going to be killed. As I thought back to that night I started remembering the whole event after Darik had passed the finish line last.

“What the fuck did you do?!” Vaughn yelled, smacking the hood of the car Darik had owned just moments ago but now belonged to the victor. “You bet fucking pink slips without telling us?” he roared, looking like he wanted to punch Darik when he got out of the car. I moved to get off of the hood of Vaughn’s car where I had been sitting while watching the race but Nathaniel had grabbed my arm and shook his head. Nathaniel was on his feet next to me and had an expression that screamed ‘oh shit’. The thought that had been running through my head was ‘I understand it sucks Darik lost his car, but it’s his car, Nathaniel and Marco shouldn’t be looking like they’re on death row.’

“It’s my car Vaughn” Darik snapped back as he slammed his door closed.

“It’s not anymore!”Vaughn said, getting closer to Darik. “And the shit under that hood has never been yours, what the fuck are we going to tell Marco’s new business partner, huh?” he continued but this time his voice wasn’t booming over everyone else’s, it was a whisper that only me, Nathaniel, and Marco caught because we were the closest. I glanced at Marco to see him pacing and muttering curse words under his breath.

I looked at Nathaniel curiously, “what is he talking about?” I asked him, trying to keep my voice hushed. Nathan looked down at me, still frowning, and tugged a hand through his short hair.

“I don’t think I’m the one to tell you that Elise” he said, using his shortened version of my name he had created.

I frowned at his lack of answer but dropped it as Vaughn came back over to me, he still looked angry but it looked like he was trying to control it as his eyes met my surprised and worried ones. I saw Rodrigo get out of his car from across the street and grin mischievously. Rodrigo had grown from a racer who didn’t like Vaughn, to someone who probably wanted to kill Vaughn and seemed to be enjoying Vaughn’s distress immensely.

“Looks like it’s finally come time for your piece of shit team to get cut down” he shouted across the street and an eerie hush fell over the crowd who had been watching this whole ordeal.

“Vaughn, let’s just go” I pleaded, seeing his face contort into rage.

“It’s not worth it” Nathaniel added, reaching out to grab Vaughn’s shoulder but he was already walking over to where Rodrigo stood. Rodrigo didn’t move out of the way, he just stood there with his cocky grin plastered on his lips. He had to have known what Vaughn was planning to do, which made me wonder why the idiot wasn’t running or at least preparing for a fight. I hurried off the hood of the car, noticing the group of men behind Rodrigo, obviously pumped for a fight. It was one against five and I wasn’t going to let Vaughn go in there with rage coloring his vision.

“Elisabeth, get back here!” Marco shouted as Nathan grabbed for me, I spun out of his grasp and grabbed Vaughn’s shoulder to stop him.

“Elisabeth, go back over there, this’ll only take a second” Vaughn said, his voice almost a growl as he stared into Rodrigo’s mocking stare.

“Vaughn, just drop it” I insisted, trying to sound firm but between my French accent and the fact my voice was very feminine, it didn’t come out like that. Vaughn tried to gently shove me off but I went in front of him, trying to stop him from closing the gap between him and Rodrigo which was now only a few feet. Suddenly two hands grabbed my waist and another man swung his fist at Vaughn who ducked. I was pulled back into Rodrigo’s grasp and the cold metal of a gun barrel touched the side of my head. I heard another click and looked back towards Vaughn to see a hand gun in his stable hand; it was pointed a little to the left of my head. I supposed it was aimed at Rodrigo; I had absolutely no problem with that. Nathaniel, Marco, and Darik were also behind Vaughn now. In that one moment, everything had changed, people began to rush to their cars and quite a few sped off, away from this sudden mess.

My hands clutched Rodrigo’s arm that was locked around my throat, I could feel the pressure increase as Vaughn took a step towards me. Vaughn saw it too and he stopped. “Give me Elisabeth and we can all leave in peace Rodrigo, I’ll make damn sure you get the same fate she does” he said, and I knew that meant if he killed me, Vaughn would kill him. Or if he didn’t kill me, Vaughn wouldn’t kill him. As sweet as it was to know he’d avenge me, I really hoped it wouldn’t come to that.

“You don’t call the shots around here Vaughn, I’m not just any old racer now, I work for the people you’ve indebted yourselves to, you’re not the boss of the racing community anymore” he said, and I could hear it in his voice that he was enjoying telling Vaughn this very much.

“And I supposed that’s supposed to impress me? Or was your little rant meant to scare me? Because all I feel is amused at the thought of those poor saps hiring you, what’d you do to get in? Make a false résumé?” Vaughn said, acting nonchalant, but when his eyes met mine I saw the worry in them. I felt Rodrigo shove the gun into my head harder after Vaughn’s comment, I let a small sound of pain slip through my lips as I felt the metal dig into my skin and I tried to squirm out of his hold but the arm he had around my throat pulled me closer to himself and I had to strain to catch my breath. Vaughn held his gun dead steady, his eyes focused down the barrel where I assumed Rodrigo’s head sat.

“You think you’re such hot shit, I can’t wait to take you down, and the rest of your little crew” Rodrigo said, his voice full of menace.

I saw Nathan look down the street and I glanced with him. Only fifteen cars were left, all onlookers waiting to see what happened. What had made Nathan’s head turn wasn’t them, it was the barely audible sound of sirens approaching. “How about we call a truce before we all end up in jail?” he said, trying to settle the water Vaughn and Rodrigo had sent boiling the moment the guns came out. Rodrigo began to step back with the gun still pointed to my head and his beefy arm still on the verge of constricting my lungs, Vaughn took a stride forward with his gun still aimed at Rodrigo but Nathaniel did the talking.

“Elisabeth comes with us, keep arguing the point and we all go to jail” he said, always the voice of reason whenever Vaughn got into a physical fight with someone.

I knew Rodrigo was contemplating his chances and while he did this the rest of the drivers got in there cars and sped off. All but two black Mercedes. Finally he released his hold on me and shoved me forward. I stumbled and Vaughn caught me then let Nathaniel’s arms wrap around my shaking body. The shock of having a gun pointed at me was finally setting in and I couldn’t stop shaking no matter how many times Nathaniel told me I was alright, nothing had happened.

Vaughn strode over to Rodrigo who was hurrying to his car. Vaughn caught him by the shoulder, spun him around and swung a punch right into his nose. The crack was sharp and distinct and I knew his nose was broken. Rodrigo slumped to the ground clutching his nose.
“You fucking bastard, you’re going to regret this Vaughn” Rodrigo spat, wiping off the blood that was dripping from his broken nose.

Vaughn turned away from the man and shook his head, “I regret a lot of shit Rodrigo, but breaking your nose?” he said, a grin on his lips, “no, I don’t think I’ll be regretting that at all” I could tell Vaughn was angrier then he was when Darik had lost his car. The cop sirens were louder now and Vaughn hurried back to me and took me from Nathaniel’s hold. “Take Darik with you, I’ll meet you and my house to sort this out” he said in a low mutter that obviously wasn’t meant for me. Vaughn hurried me to his car and helped me into the passenger seat; he shoved my shaking hands out of the way and buckled my seat belt for me. I was taking quick breaths, trying to keep my panic down. He hurried around the car and got in the driver’s seat as Nathaniel and Darik took off with Marco right behind them.

One thing from that night was even more abnormal to me. As Vaughn started the car I felt someone staring at me, I looked up and my crystal eyes caught a pair of bright hazel ones. I immediately recognized the man from the elevator, Aleksander. He just grinned at me, and it wasn’t the friendly and inviting grin from the day we met. It was full of dark things; sinister would be a good way to describe it. It made my already haywire nerves go nuts. Why was he here? Why did it feel like he wasn’t just a normal guy from my apartment building? Why wouldn’t my heart slow down? All of those questions had been running through my head just as fast as my pounding heart. The two Mercedes drove off in the other direction Vaughn was taking us in, Aleksander behind the wheel of one.

I was taken from my thoughts when my door bell rang, I went to answer it, leaving the rice I had been cooking on the stove. A man stood on the other side of my door with a medium sized box. I stood aside to let him take it in and he produced an electronic pad for me to sign and I did.

“Thank you” I said as I let him out.

“No problem miss” he replied, obviously not so happy about the long trip to my floor.

I left the box unopened and went to take my rice off of the stove before it burnt to the bottom of the pan and I ruined yet another one. As I fixed myself a plate of food I thought about Vaughn, I hadn’t acted different at all around him even though I knew I had strong feelings for the rebellious, lawbreaking, and deadly man known as Vaughn. I had seen firsthand that Stephen was right and being around Vaughn was bad for my health but I couldn’t help but get excited every time he invited me to a race or had me come over to his house just to talk or play with Glory. I just couldn’t shove him out of my life even though the practical side of me told me to do it. But I shook any thought of loving him out of my head, he treated me as a friend, had once referred to me as a little sister in front of Nathan when Nathan had said we were worse than a married couple after we had gotten into an argument over his smoking habit. He obviously didn’t have the same feelings for me and I was just being an idiot thinking he did.

I scooped some rice into a bowl and walked back into my living room to inspect my package, shoving all thoughts of Vaughn out of my head. I set my rice down on my coffee table and used my house key that laid there to open the box and when I got it open I groaned. Inside the box was more clothes, a note sat on top and I recognized my step-mother’s swirly handwriting. It said:

Dear Elisabeth,
You said you haven’t gotten the chance to go shopping so I thought I’d send you some clothes so you don’t have to re-wear anything too often. Cerise just finished with her new line of clothes and I thought they’d be perfect for you since I here New York is going to be getting a very big winter this year. They aren’t the most feminine things but Cerise assured me you’d love them.
Love,
Mother.

I frowned at her signature, she always thought of herself as my mom but she wasn’t and I wished she would understand it. The mention of Cerise made me smile though, she was a wonderful clothing designer who I thought had very good taste. She used more men inspired pieces, boyfriend jeans, long button up shirts as dresses. She even created heels that resembled loafers. I had gotten a phone call from her a few days ago but she hadn’t mentioned this, she told me she was going for a more ‘biker chick meets Vogue look’ as she had put it. As I pulled the clothes out of the box and opened the clothing bags they were in I noticed the description was accurate. I was blessed to find jeans and warm looking coats. All of them had that runway touch but they were still practical, which is why I loved Cerise. She knew clothes were meant to be worn and be comfortable.

After I unpacked my stuff I pulled a pair of Cerise’s jeans on along with a solid green sweatshirt. I decided some fresh air would be good for me, Vaughn hadn’t called at all the last two days and I had had only one dance practice to keep me busy. A dance practice which consisted of me and Stephen practicing our tango routine while he did anything to keep his eyes away from mine, the only thing he asked me was if I was staying away from Vaughn and I had told him no. That was the end of our conversation for the rest of the practice. I pulled a pair of Adidas sneakers on and a brown jacket that had a flannel lining to keep me warm.

I would go out, have a walk, clear my head, come back, and do nothing productive. I would sit and watch movies until it was time to go to sleep. Today I vowed to be lazy.