Bulletproof Heart

My eyes flickered open and I looked around for Trent and found him sprinkling rose petals around the bed.
Which I was currently tied to, my hands above my head and my ankles to the bed posts.
I was just processing the fact that I was naked when he leaned down and pressed a kiss between my breasts. I tried not to shudder in revulsion.
The only person I wanted to kiss me like that was Gee.
And I might not ever see him again.
“I’m glad you woke up my darling.” He set one ice cold hand on my cheek. I turned my face away from him. “Don’t be like that darling. I want our reunion to be slow and sweet.”
I won’t cry.
No matter what this bastard does to me I won’t cry.
He won’t break me.
Not even when he kissed just above my belly button I didn’t make a noise.
Whatever he’d drugged me with was making my head spin and I sank into darkness again as he left the room.
“Shit.” I heard a voice over my head. I opened my eyes and willed for them to focus.
“Pru?” I vaguely heard things breaking and being knocked over in the next room.
“I’m right here. You’re okay. Everything is going to be okay.” She got up and locked the door.
“Where’s Trent?”
“Throw me the ropes Pru.” Gee had a black eye and his shirt was torn, but he looked otherwise okay. She let go of me to throw him the ropes that had been used to tie me up. A moment later Gee came back in and he knelt by the bed.
“Are you okay?” He asked, smoothing my hair away from my face.
The drugs were still clouding my mind, but I sort of remembered falling.
“My arm.” I couldn’t move enough to look but based on the intake of breath it looked pretty bad.
“The cops are coming to get him. We gotta take her to the hospital.” Gee said to Pru. He lifted me into his arms carefully and carried me out of the apartment.
I must have passed out again because the next time I had any idea of what was going on I was in a hospital bed and my arm was casted.
Gee was sitting next to the bed holding my hand.
“Hey.” I said and he looked up.
“You scared me half to death V.” He murmured.
“I did what I had to.”
“You should have told me.”
“If the choice came down to telling me the truth or saving my life, what would you pick?” He was silent.
“I love you so much V. I felt like my soul was dying.”
“I wasn’t exactly in Disneyland either babe.” I reached up to touch his face. He kissed me without me having to ask.
God I’d missed this, missed him.
“They told me my sister was in the hospital, not getting it on.” I pulled away from Gee and saw my two sisters in the doorway.
“Iri! Ava!” I hadn’t seen my sisters in a long time. My two sisters, Avalon and Irial, and I used to cause so much havoc. I’m two years older than Ava and Iri is a year younger than her.
Ava has white blond hair like me, with the same gray-blue eyes. Iri looks like a child left by the fairies, as my mom used to say. She had hair the color of ink and dark eyes.
“And who is this gentleman sucking my sister’s face off?” Iri asked, looking Gee up and down. She’s a little volatile sometimes. She was so angry when she heard about Trent.
“Gee, these are my sisters Irial and Avalon, but they go by Iri and Ava. Girls, this is my boyfriend Gerard.” I was polite, even in a hospital bed.
“Good taste.” Ava nodded in approval. “How do you feel babe?”
“The drugs he used are wearing off. Arm hurts a little though.” I shrugged. “No worse than usual.”
“Better not pull that bondage shit on our V.” Iri warned him.
“Iri. He’s not into that kinky stuff.” I smiled at Gee.
“Aww.” Mom put a bouquet of flowers on the table next to me. She had short brown hair and a sweet smile that reached all the way up to her blue eyes.
“Hi Mom.” I kissed her cheek when she leaned down. “Where’s Daddy?”
“Right here sweetheart.” My dad looked like he should be a dad, if that made sense. He just gave off that kind of vibe. “How do you feel?”
“I’m okay. Thanks to him at least.” I squeezed Gee’s hand. “Gee, these are my parents, Laura and Gary Lake. Mom, Dad, this is my boyfriend Gerard.”
“Thank you for saving her.” Mom looked like she was about to cry. “I don’t know what I would have done if I’d lost Vivi.”
“Neither do I.” Gee said softly. “I’m gonna go grab some food. Does anybody want anything?” Everyone answered no. “If I find Pru I’ll send her up.” He leaned down to kiss my cheek before leaving the room.
“He seems like a good man.” Dad said when Gee was out of earshot.
“Try not to fuck it up.” Iri giggled. Ava swatted her.
“Don’t jinx it.” She muttered.
“Will you be going back on tour with him?” Mom asked.
“Yeah.” I didn’t want to leave Gee or Pru. I’d miss them both too much.
“Ms. Lake?” A guy in scrubs poked his head in the door. “I’m Dr. Marshall. How do you feel?” This seems to be the question of the hour.
“I feel pretty good. My face kinda hurts.” Maybe I’d hit my head when I fell.
“It’s a little bruised, but aside from your arm you seem to be fine. Take it easy for the next couple days. You’re free to go.” I nearly cheered. Hospitals freak me out.
“I’m gonna miss you.” Ava pouted.
“You’ll survive doll.” I patted her cheek. “Now where the hell are my pants?” Gee walked in just then with a soda and a brownie.
“Best I could find. Now why are you looking for your clothes?” He asked.
“They’re letting me go.” His face lit up in a grin.
“Great!” He handed me my clothes and I said my goodbyes to my parents. Just as my dad was about to leave, he stopped and turned to Gee.
“Take care of my little girl. It sounds cliché but if I find out you hurt her, in any way, you won’t live to regret it.” For such a teddy bear looking guy, he was damn scary when he wanted to be. Gee just nodded and my family left.
“Give me a hand?” I asked, holding up my cast as explanation.
“Most of the time I’m the one helping you out of your clothes.” He handed me my jeans.
“Don’t say that while my dad is still in the building.” Getting my shirt took some wrangling with the cast.
I went into the bathroom and caught sight of my face in the mirror. The entire left side was purple and black and swelling a little.
“Holy shit!” I yelled, prodding my face and wincing.
“What’s wrong?” Gee knocked on the door.
“He said it was a little bruised!” I gestured at my face. “I look like someone hit me in the face with a baseball bat!”
“It’s not that bad.” He pulled me close to him. “And you still look beautiful.”
Aww.
I love him so much.
--
We’d flown back to Canada to meet up with the tour bus at the airport.
As soon as I got off, I spotted the guys standing just inside the terminal looking rather upset.
“Pru, do they know why I left?” I asked.
“Uh, only Gee does.” Pru wouldn’t look up from her examination of her feet.
“Shit, no wonder Mikey looks like he wants to eat my heart.” I groaned. Gee squeezed my uncasted hand reassuringly and we walked over to them.
All three of them looked pissed off at me.
And honestly, I couldn’t blame them. If Frank ran out on Pru I’d be pretty pissed too.
“Nice of you to show up Vivi.” Mikey said icily.
“Mikey.” Gee warned.
“She fucking ran out on you and you want me to be civil?” Mikey looked angrier than I’d ever seen him. I pushed the hood back from my face so they could see the huge bruise and the cast on my arm.
There was a collective intake of breath.
“I have an explanation but this isn’t really the place for it.” I said quietly. As we were walking to the bus I heard Mikey yelp, probably because Pru had just smacked him.
“So explain.” Frank said, leaning against the wall. I sat on the couch and told them the whole story.
And then to further cement my reasoning I showed them the picture I’d found on our bunk.
“If you’d seen this you would have bolted too.” I got them up to speed on what had happened in my apartment.
“I’m sorry.” Mikey winced. I hugged him around the waist.
“If someone had run out on one of my sisters, I’d be damn pissed off too.” I assured him.
Ray and Frank apologized as well, but I think the person Frank really needed to apologize to was Pru.
She obviously didn’t like the way I knew they’d been talking about me while I was gone. It didn’t really bother me but I knew it bothered her.
--
“V!” Jimmy yelled, running to give me a hug. I turned my head towards him and he skidded to a stop when he saw the bruise on my face. He looked over my head to Gee. “If you did that to her I swear to God I’ll kill you.” He growled.
“Jimbo, it wasn’t Gee. Do you think if it was him he’d still have balls?” I laughed and changed the subject.
Adam, Matt Rubano and Johnny responded the same way when they saw me. It touched my heart to know that they all cared about me that much.
My plain white cast was soon covered with signatures and funny doodles. Gee was the last one to sign and he’d found a patch of blank cast to draw something on it, something he wasn’t letting me look at.
Are you done yet?” I asked. I didn’t like sitting still for so long.
“Yeah.” He capped the marker.
He’d drawn a rose with the words “G+V forever” written along the stem.
“I love you.”
“I love you too baby.” He leaned over to give me a kiss.
I survived.
And he’s mine again.