Don't Blink | ✓

027

It was late.

Back in the van, Justin laid asleep with his body still curled into the imprint of Blink's. She no longer laid there anymore though. Instead, she'd opened the doors to the back of the van and sat with her legs dangling, staring out at the vacant scenery and the tired building behind her.

Her mind was racing with too many what-ifs and questions for her to be able to lay down and actually conquer sleep. She rarely ever complained, but now a feeling in her gut told her she was losing control of everything— severely. She didn't know how to explain it, but as she sat there with her knees drawn to her chest and her arms wrapped around herself, she felt the grip on her life slipping.

As a girl at the age of seventeen, she couldn't fathom how much longer things could go on as they were. Not only was she struggling to pay for her own education, but her sister's happiness and childhood, and her father's debts, all while constantly running from one city to the other and back.

It didn't help that in order for her to even attend school or be able to see her sister, the only person in the world that actually mattered to her, she had to make sure Althea was taught everything she ever knew about the infamous eighty-eight keys.

That was their deal: If Blink taught her sister everything she knew about the piano to become the child prodigy Blink used to be, then her mother would help pay for her schooling. The only problem was, after the first few bills were paid off, her mother stopped paying all together. How in the hell was she supposed to pay twenty-thousand dollars per semester alone?

Hustling at a few spots for Lou, cleaning up at Reynolds, selling a few paintings, and bartending at the gentlemen's club was beginning to not be enough.

Maybe I could just drop out of school... That way she wouldn't have to worry about student loans or constantly having to run back and forth to meet her mother's demands. Maybe she could stay with Rey at his apartment until she saved up enough to get her own place. Then she could focus solely on Althea and only Althea. She would do anything to make sure the little girl never got mistreated or disowned like she had at the mere age of twelve.

She couldn't even imagine a time when her sister would ever deserve something that terrible. Unlike her, Althea actually had a gift, she was talented and could be put to use. With the way she was learning and picking things up, Blink knew the path Althea was on was great. Her mother could tell that too, and as she mentioned to Blink so many times before, that is why Althea had a princess bed and a grand piano, and anything else her little heart desired because she, among the two, actually deserved it. 

The sound of tires rolling on the gravel of the school's backlot caused Blink's heart to stop. Standing from the open doors of the van, she dismissed the fact that she only sported an extra large t-shirt and boy shorts as she watched two black escalades pull to a stop side by side.

Her heart raced as she looked back to Justin who still remained asleep, his eyebrows furrowed as if he was aware that they were no longer alone.

Biting subconsciously at her bottom lip, Blink took a cautious step forward when the passenger door to the first truck popped open. Out of it stepped a very pissed looking Lou, Carlo's son and trusty sidekick. The furrowed scar on his left cheek was a perfect telltale sign that his enraged eyes were set on what he was looking for.

"Lou" Blink's voice strained as he approached her rather fast. Without saying a word, his hand gripped hard onto her wrist coincidentally in the same place a large bruise was forming from the sleazeball who kissed her during her escape from the club. "That hurts Lou, please let me go" she begged when the man began to drag her forward towards the car he arrived in.

"Shut up," he hissed.

Blink tried digging her heels into the ground in efforts to stop him from throwing her into his car, but the pain of her bare feet against the sharp grey rocks of the parking lot caused her to cry out in pain.

When he pried open the backdoor of the large truck, Blink's free hand immediately found the handle, slamming it closed before he could hoist her up and into the car. With a growl, he grabbed a fist full of the girl's t-shirt, ignoring her squeal when it raised way above the top of her panties.

Throwing her harshly against the side of his car, Blink gasped for air at the feeling of all the oxygen being knocked out of her lungs. She wished so badly that Justin would never wake up and witness all of this going on, especially with the reputation Lou carried.

God she was terrified.

The experience wasn't completely new to Blink, but the idea of it coming from her childhood friend Lou was. She'd heard the countless stories from around town of girls who messed with Carlo's business. Lou was a typical bad guy and the only repercussions he accepted from those women was sex. Sex that wasn't particularly favored, was usually forced, and a woman's worst nightmare...

"What in the hell are you going to do now that that little bitch you call a boyfriend isn't here to defend you?" Lou chuckled lowly as he held Blink steadily against the side of the car, his hot breath creating the kind of shivers on her neck that scared her to her core.

"Lou, you know I don't want any trouble. I would never quit. It was just hectic yesterday and both Carlo and Justin were having a bad day. I was going to come right back to him last night, but I-I... just couldn't. I was going to be there the next night, honest." Still her hands worked on keeping her shirt down past her waist as she spoke. She also tried to keep her head back to look into his eyes to let her eyes plead for what she couldn't say aloud.

"You really think I'm going to let some kid you brought into my place talk to us like that and you won't pay for it?" When Blink didn't respond he laughed again, moving so that his entire body was pressed up against Blink's. Blink didn't think a simple mistake would ever come down to this, but suddenly she was ready to get it over with. Bad things always seemed to happen to her, so when Lou's lips met the nape of her neck, she focused her mind on anything else.

And to think minutes ago she had wished Justin would never wake up. Now at the feeling of Lou's hands creeping down her waist to squeeze her butt, she nearly dreamed of Justin waking up to save her.

"Lou, you can't do this. I'll do anything else. Anything, I mean it. Take my money, fire me, but please..."

A deep growl emitted from the base of his chest. Blink could feel it due to how close their chests were pressed together. She sucked in a scared gasp when the sight of Lou's hand flew in front of her face. Swiveling to the side immediately, she was lucky enough to miss his fist entirely as it hit the car where her head once was.

"There's a few buyers who planned to meet me tonight. I want you out there selling instead. Get in the car" he slapped the tinted window to the large SUV.

"Can I put on some pant—"

"Get in the fucking car!" He shoved her shoulder harshly to get her in the direction he wanted her in.

Following his command, Blink pulled on the handle, slipping into the car quickly and gulping at the large man that sat in the car seat next to her. She hadn't expected anyone else besides Lou to be in the car, despite her knowledge of his men that followed him everywhere, all the time.

With her frantic eyes trained on Lou, she watched as he pounded on the tinted window of the truck identical to the one she sat in. She couldn't hear his commands or even read his lips, but when he looked over his shoulder at the van she'd previously stepped out of and pointed three of his men in its direction, she began to panic.

Her body immediately broke out into a nervous sweat and as she reached for the handle to jump out of the car, the doors locked and Lou was jumping into the driver seat. "What do ya know...I came here looking for you and end up knocking out two birds with one stone" he laughed.

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