Past Transgressions - Mature 18+

Chapter 3

"Lex honey, can we take this party to a little more private location?" Whined Courtney, he wasn't paying attention to her and she hated not being the center of attention.

Lex continued to ignore Courtney watching the scene replay again and again across the room, getting more and more irritated. To Brace's credit she didn't seem to notice what was playing out around her. She seemed entirely unaware of the boys hanging around dancing attendance on her.

"Lexie, I wanna go!" Courtney whined again giving what she thought was a sexy pout and angling herself to give him a better view of her ample assets.

"Then for the love of Christ, go!" growled Lex, his scowl and brooding look getting darker by the minute the more he watched the scene across the room. Courtney, flounced off pouting for effect in the hopes that Lex would notice and call her back over.

Across the room, Topaz watched Lex's scowl getting darker by the minute as the other guys danced attendance on Brace. She had always known Brace had a thing for Lex but now it looked like he was figuring out he might not be alright with other men in her life. Brace wasn't noticing however, she politely thanked the guys for the drinks but quickly turned her attention back to Topaz.

"So what have you been doing with yourself?" she asked Topaz.

"I'm attending the local college, taking accounting and working towards a Business degree."

"That's fantastic!" exclaimed Brace.

"Yeah, I wanted to stay close to dad after losing mom. Living at home helps to keep college affordable and I can keep an eye on my dad and make sure he isn't eating pork and beans for every meal."

"And is there a certain special man that has stolen your heart?" Brace inquired slyly.

"Naw, still looking for just the right one, caught some big ones but they were duds so threw them back" she said giggling.

"Hey Brace, saw you needed another drink so I brought one for you! One for you too Topaz" Erik informed them.

"Thanks Erik, that is so sweet of you!" Brace said.

"Yeah, thanks Erik" Topaz said shyly smiling at him.

Jake crashed down on the couch beside Lex, deciding it would be a little fun to poke the bear a little bit.

"Wow the guys really are keen to make sure that Brace is hydrated!"

Earning a scowl from Lex, thrown in his general direction before Lex turned his attention back to the scene across the room.

The guys move in closer and closer to Brace and Topaz as they talk, completely oblivious to the guys and their consistently tightening circle. Mike's latest perch has him able to easily lean over Brace's shoulders and leer at her breast without her even being aware of it thanks to that damn dress. Lex heard Jake snicker seeing Lex's hands open and closing into tight fists, with a feral like snarl he got up and stormed into the kitchen for another drink, Jake lazily following behind.

"Doesn't it bother you the way they are leering at your sister?"

"No, not really. She is a grown woman and can decide if she wants to sleep with one of them or not."

"There will be no sleeping with Brace! She's had too much to drink to make good choices" snapped Lex.

"Well there is always the other point that she's shown no interest in them when she was around them in the past and I doubt much has changed for her now" Jake reasoned as he searched through the cooler for another cold beer.

Lex grunted as he headed back to the door to lean against the jam and watch Brace covertly. Thinking Mike and him were going to have to take a walk out back if he continued to stare down the front of Brace's dress.

"Besides they aren't the ones you need to worry about, Case is the one you are going to have to watch." Jake continued from behind him.

Who the hell was Case and  although Lex had heard him and he would have to get back to that later as he had a bigger concern. Brace had gotten a text or message on her phone, something that made her go white and look terrified. She gripped Topaz hand, leaning in to say something no one else could hear then grabbed her bag and ran for the door and the car beyond with Topaz hot on her heels.

"Jake, something's wrong" Lex's worried voice reached him from across the room.

"What?"

"Jake, come on we gotta go!"

"Why?"

"Brace just tore out of here like the house was on fire in your car."

"Shit!" Jake said as he took off running after Lex out into the yard.

Lex didn't slow down, heading straight for his bike, yelling for Jake to come on. They tore off at a speed guaranteed to kill them if they weren't careful. But all Lex could think of was the terror on Brace's face as she fled, what could make someone look that scared. It paid at times like this to have his rich SOB of a father and the cops on his payroll so they wouldn't get stopped trying to get to Brace.

"Where would she go?" Lex yelled back to Jake.

"Home, likely one of the few places she feels safe" was the reply.

"OK, so she will have your parents there to protect her until we get there."

"No they left for their Fiji trip yesterday, so there is no one there besides them" said Jake.

"Hold on!" Lex said hitting the throttle again as they took the corner onto their family's street.

Pulling up outside he barely took the time to put down the stand they tore off running for the house.

"Brace?!" Jake yelled as he ran through the house. "Brace!" He yelled almost franticly as he headef to the family room in the back.

She looked up as Jake ran in, the shattered look almost more look almost more than either man could bare. Lex quickly made his way over to her scooping her up like a child, cradling her against him while Jake collapsed against the wall, drained after seeing she was alright. His eyes found Topaz's across the room.

"What happened?" Questioned Jake, "why did you run?"

"She got a text, several of them actually. She ignored the buzzing but it got persistent so she checked to see who it was from, she went pale and told me she had to leave and took off" Topaz updated them.

"Where's her phone, show me the texts!" Jake ordered

"Topaz grabbed it from Brace's bag bringing it to him. He opened it seeing a new message from an unknown sender, he clicked it reading all the messages that were sent. Shit! How is this possible? He looked up meeting Brace's eyes, she was still huddled against Lex's chest in his arms, that haunted look still in her eyes.

"It's happening again" she says her voice barely more than a whisper.

Rubbing her back soothingly Lex questioned,

"What's happening again?"

"Brace, you know we need to call Detective Martinez" Jake interjected.

"I know" Brace said wearily

"You need to decide if you want to fill them in before the Detective arrives or answer their questions after, but this time they have the right to know." Jake said softly.

"I know"

"So what do you want to do?"

"Tell them before."

They could all here the weariness in her voice. She thought she could make a clean break from the past and just start fresh, she should have known it wouldn't be that easy.

"Alright, I am getting us something strong to drink as we are going to need it to get through the next little bit." Jake said as head to their father's study to find some liquid courage as he knew Brace was going to need it to face these particular demons.

******

Author's Note:

If you have started to read this please let me know what you think. I am still learning how to try and add pictures and GIFs and such so bear with me as I figure it out. Please feel free to leave comments as I always appreciate the help to improve.