The Body #3: Rogue and Euphemia

Chapter 16 (Euphemia): When Rogue Called

***TW for threat of gun violence***

The next two months were a dance with Rogue. He stepped toward me, and I stepped back, but after a while, I held my ground.

Every single day, he reminded me that he was there.

Every day, he reminded me that he wanted me back.

Sometimes, it was notes. Sometimes he'd send me my favorite take-out for dinner; some days he'd leave a stack of romances in front of my door; other days it was flowers. A couple of times he left a bright green plant for my apartment; a couple of other times, he left the kind of jewelry that I like -- simple bracelets with a metal bar that had an empowering statement stamped in the metal or a simple reminder that I was loved.

But every day, there was an offering, letting me know he wasn't giving up.

Every other night, he'd call me.

"I just wanted to hear your voice, Euphemia," he'd say. And I wouldn't say it back because it made me feel weak, but I missed his voice, too.

"Have dinner with me. Let's go to that Mexican restaurant you like and order a ton of food, and I'll drive so you can drink your margaritas."

"No," I said. 

But I wanted to. Sometimes, the desire to just forget what he'd done overwhelmed me, and I wanted to not have that between us. Wanted all the secrets he'd kept to go away. But then the events of that day would come rushing at me again, and I'd stop myself from agreeing.

"Then how about a tour of my house?"

Boy, he was really dangling the bait in front of me with that offer of seeing his house, the one I'd always loved. The one he bought because he knew how much I loved that Craftsman-style house. I desperately wanted to see the inside of it, and he also knew that very well because every damn time we passed the house, I'd always point it out and wonder aloud what it looked like inside.

"Rogue --"

"No strings, lady. I promise. I'd love to show it to you, tell you about some of my ideas for updating it a bit. See if you have any ideas."

This wasn't fair. He was fighting dirty, and I could feel myself weakening.

"I'll think about it," I forced myself to say instead of yes, yes, yes!

While Rogue continued to pursue me, Dayton and I continued to meet up regularly, and she eventually told me about Bat throwing her out of the clubhouse.

"So I told you how he was fooling around with that club whore after he became president and he told me it wasn't anything, he was just drunk and distracted, wasn't paying attention to what she was doing, whatever. So after a bad month, we got back to normal and things were pretty good between us. I mean, I was more watchful, more suspicious -- who wouldn't be -- but he seemed to be back to the Bat I knew."

Dayton took a sip of her coffee, her finger drawing a pattern on her napkin.

"Bat didn't say much when Rogue came over to ask me about your phone and about if you took off from here on your own, if you were safe. Told Rogue I assumed you were safe, but you had definitely left here safely and of your own free will. I also told him that I smashed your phone into pieces and threw them out at the hospital in trash cans on different floors. I did that so I couldn't hand your phone over if he asked for it. Rogue didn't care about the phone so much as he cared that you weren't taken from the compound against your will."

Leaning toward me over the small round table, she looked right at me. "I thought Bat was OK because he didn't say a word, really, while I was telling Rogue my part in everything. I wanted to put Rogue's mind at ease because he was seriously freaked out about you and also thinking that you were pregnant. When I'd told him everything I knew, he thanked me and left, and I thought that'd be the end of it. But as soon as he walked out of the house, Bat started in. The man was pissed. Like, angrier than I'd ever seen him."

"Did he...put his hands on you?" Please say no. Please say no.

"No, he was just saying horrible shit to me in the calmest voice you've ever heard. He called me a fucking bitch, told me I'd made him look bad in front of Rogue, like he couldn't control me, and that he felt like I'd betrayed him personally and ruined our relationship. He said I had no right to help you or to work on your escape with you, or to provide a diversion to give you longer to get away. He was also pissed I'd lied in response to a direct question about your phone from a brother. Then he went off on how I'd allowed the safety of the compound to be compromised when the cameras went down so you could escape without a trace and he'd never forgive me for that."

She swallowed, looking away from me, so I braced for what was to come.

"And then he, uh, pulled his gun on me and said he should just kill me for my part in your escape since it was a betrayal of the entire MC."

"Oh, my God, Dayton," I gasped as tears came to my eyes. "I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry."

She reached over and grabbed my hand. "This is not on you, so don't you dare feel bad. This is on Bat and Bat alone. The asshole's the guilty party in all of this."

"What happened after he pulled his gun?"

"He could tell how scared I was because I just froze and he laughed and said I should be scared. I couldn't have moved if you paid me to. Tears were streaming down my face because this was the man I loved and who supposedly loved me and he could threaten me like that? After a couple of minutes, he put his gun away and told me to get my shit packed up and get the fuck out of his house. I didn't wait to be told twice because I didn't want to take a chance on him changing his mind about shooting me. So I ran for our bedroom, grabbed a suitcase and started throwing my clothes and shoes in it. I'd barely started when he walked in the bedroom with Trixie..."

"Oh, no," I whispered, afraid I knew what was coming.

"Oh, yeah," she assured me. "He went there. He had Trixie bend over the bed, right next to my suitcase, and he pushed her skirt up and he started fucking her right in front of me. I considered running out, but I needed my clothes and all my scrubs, and then I thought if I left my clothes behind, one of the club whores would get them and fuck that shit. So I tried not to look at them moaning and groaning on the bed and finished up packing. I really wanted to do a running commentary on technique but I was afraid he'd pull his gun again."

"I'd have been terrified, too."

"So shockingly, I finished before he did because, I have to be honest, he was named Bat out of hell because of how quick he usually finished. As soon as I zipped up the two suitcases, I left the house and ran over to Rogue's. I didn't take my car because that was actually Bat's and I could just see the bastard reporting it stolen just to cause trouble for me. I mean, he bought it for me but left it titled in his name, so whatever. Rogue put me in his car and drove me to a hotel right away, and we sat and made a plan. He was nice enough to pay for the hotel and told me to stay as long as I needed to and he'd pick up the bill because he felt guilty about what happened. Then he hooked me up with a really nice lady who could help me find an apartment and the next day she and I must have looked at twenty places before we found the one two blocks from the hospital."

"I'm glad you got away safely. Bat sounds like he went off the deep end."

"He'd been different ever since he took over as temporary president. I swear it went to his head and he enjoyed the power trip he was on. With the way he was acting, I bet he was bummed when Rogue got the charges against his brother and the Prez dropped. No more power for Bat."

"Sounds like a good thing," I said. "Sooo, tell me about this doctor you've mentioned on the last two calls."

Dayton blushed and then proceeded to fill me in on her hot doctor who had just started at the hospital. She was happy to tell me everything she knew about him and seemed like she was in a good place to start a new relationship after almost a year of the Bat-shit terrifying disaster.

Her happiness must have been contagious because that night, when Rogue called, I agreed to see his house the following Saturday.

I stupidly agreed to see his house and I shouldn't have.