A Trade For Good (19 page)

It was as if her pleading fueled his
fire. “Oh, so that’s how you like to play it? Tease, tease, tease,
and then push away? That’s a dangerous game Sera, but I kind of
like it.”

Her top was ripped off, leaving her
breasts exposed. All she had on was a thin white lace bra that left
little to the imagination.

He stared down hungrily, “Beautiful.
Now let’s stop the charade.” Gary bent down and pulled her closer.
Putting all of his weight against her, he started roaming her body
with his tongue. While doing that he started pushing his fingers
under the lace of her bra, and grabbing.

There was no hesitation and no
finesse. He rubbed and pushed, and it hurt.

”No! Stop it!” Sera’s voice had come
back and she knew he could hear her, but ignored her plead. She
pushed, cried, screamed, and just hoped someone could hear
her.

He was hurting her. She could feel
herself bruise. Now he was kneading her breasts with one hand,
while trying to work the button on her jeans with the other. Thank
god for tight jeans. Thank god for those extra pounds after Emma.
Thank… but where was god or anyone else right now for that
matter?

Sera pushed and screamed. She tasted
blood when he came back suddenly to her mouth. She was pushing with
all her 115 lbs. And she wasn’t even sure why she bothered. His
weight was too much, his determination even greater.

Gary had managed to tear her bra off
and stopped kneading her for only a few seconds. With an intake of
his breath at the sight of her exposed breasts, he looked up at her
with even more hunger. The man had a look of pure lunacy. The man
was possessed.

Sera was crying and screaming, or at
least she thought she was. She couldn’t even tell anymore. The
button on her jeans flew off as he snapped it open. She knew what
was coming next, and if she didn’t have four kids she adored,
needing her and waiting for her, she’d just choose to die. He was
determined to have her. With or without consent. He was raping her.
With or without penetration, he had already violated her. The power
he had was the extra eighty to a hundred pounds he had over her,
and the added strength from the type of work he did. Sera didn’t
stand a chance, but while she still breathed, she’d fight for her
self-respect, her life, but mostly for her kids. They needed
her.

He lifted her with no effort and threw
her on the desk. He effortlessly yanked her pants off and tossed
them across the room. Her panties had flown somewhere with them.
She was completely exposed.

Lying on the desk, Sera could feel the
edge of her keyboard digging into her back. She raised her legs and
started kicking. He had one hand on her chest pinning her down,
while his knee was propped between her legs. She realized he was on
top of her all the way, and was working at the button and zipper of
his pants now.

Sera pushed her hand back remembering
her steel stapler was just inches above her head. She grabbed it.
He wasn’t paying attention. He was putting every effort into
pulling his pants down. She picked up the stapler, pulled her hand
back, and slammed it against his face. That caught his attention,
but didn’t stop him. Some blood came out of the corner of his eye.
Instead of slowing him down, he just looked down at her in disgust
and punched her in the jaw.

Sera used everything she had. She was
kicking and scratching, but all she was doing was getting weaker.
She was no match for him.

She saw him raise his hand again to
hit her again, when something stopped him.

Sera felt the 200 plus pounds of
weight on top of her lift as she saw Gary fly against the wall.
Gary’s body fell like a rag doll. She turned to see Gary’s body was
lifted again by the neck with that same hand that had thrown him.
Once up and secured by the neck, the strong hand flew at his face
and punched him in the jaw. The large hand pulled back and flew at
Gary’s stomach. Back again and full force went the fist, making
Gary’s head the general target, while at the same time a knee went
up and whacked him in the balls.

Sera heard the sound of something
breaking as Gary’s head snapped back.

At that same moment, another hand
reached over and pulled Sera’s savior off from Gary’s body, before
going for another hit.

Sera heard Jeff’s voice. He was
pulling away from Mitch who was making every effort to stop Jeff
from doing more damage.

“Let me kill him!” Jeff yelled out to
Mitch, trying to get out of his grasp.

“That’s enough Jeff. He can’t hurt her
anymore. Stop.

Sera saw Jeff’s shoulders shake. He
was crying. She rolled to her side and tucked her legs in a fetal
position, trying to cover her exposed body, sobbing like the baby
she resembled.

Mitch looked pointedly at Jeff. “I’ll
take care of him. She needs you now. Go to Sera. I’ll take care of
this scumbag.”

Gary lay crumpled on the floor. For
all Sera knew, he was dead, and she didn’t care.

Sera lifted her hand and called for
Jeff. His tears were flowing as freely as hers were.

Jeff turned slowly and came to her.
Looking her over quickly, he pulled off the work jacket he was
wearing to lay it on top of her. He reached over to a tissue box
and pulled some tissue to wipe her mouth. Apparently, she was
bleeding. She hadn’t noticed.

Once Sera was covered and some of the
blood was wiped off, Jeff sat on the desk next to her and gently
pulled her close. He rocked her to him as they both
cried.

He was so gentle, but she needed him
closer. She held on tight and pulled him closer. He was hurting
too, and right now she needed him more than anything.

They held and rocked. Jeff ran his
fingers through her hair and kissed her head softly. His breathing
eased and she sucked in his energy to give her the strength she
needed.

Sera felt Jeff’s strength as well as
his love and kindness. Smelling him and pulling him as closely as
she could, she melted into his arms.

Jeff was once again her safe harbor.
He had saved her once, and now he saved her again. He gave her
strength and a desire to move on.

Maybe there was a future for Sera that
included him. She hoped. He had helped her before, and here he was
again, pulling her up when she was down. It felt good to be held by
him. Too bad their first opportunity to hold each other like this
came with tears and some blood, making that special moment
something far from a happy first. Still…

Sera leaned in to him and could feel
him lean in too. She didn’t look to see if Gary was dead or alive,
but somewhere in the background, Sera heard Mitch talking to a 911
First Responder, and somewhere very close Sera heard Jeff
whispering in her ear.

Sera listened carefully as he kept
repeating, “Shh. Shh, baby. It’s okay. I’m here. I love you Sera
Henderson. I will never let anything bad happen to you again. I
promise. You’re safe now baby,” he cried into her ear.

Jeff pulled her away for
just a little as he looked down at her lips. He reached over the
desk and pulled another tissue out of its box to wipe a trickle of
blood that was trailing down her chin. He softly kissed the corner
of her mouth he had just wiped, and looking now into her eyes he
said, “I’m here Sera. I’m not going anywhere.”
His lips quivered as he made an effort to finish, “We’re
together baby, and you’ll never be alone again.”

Wincing at the pain, but trying her
hardest for normalcy, Sera smiled back at him and closed her
eyes.

Later, much later, Sera would not
remember if at that same moment she fell asleep or if she passed
out. Whatever it was, she would always remember what she
dreamt.

In her dream Sera was somewhere at a
ball game. It might have been that same field where Charlie played
his first game. In her dream, Daniel’s name was P.D. again, Charlie
had just hit a home run and had the entire stadium cheering, Emma
wasn’t crying, but instead was giggling in that special way only
babies do, and Melle was laughing at something someone next to her
said. Melle was sitting on the bleachers, next to that man who made
her laugh, a man, who looked just like Jeff.

The End

(for Now)

Follow Sera, Jeff, and the
gang in Books II and III from the
A Trade
for Good
series

A Trade for
Better

Sera clearly remembered Jeff saying,
“I’m here Sera. I’m not going anywhere.” His lips even quivered as
he made an effort to finish, “We’re together baby, and you’ll never
be alone again.”

Well that was three months ago. And
although she remembered those words being whispered in her ear as
if it were yesterday, by his actions, it seemed like he had
absolutely no recollection of any of it.

Life went on as usual, except for the
fact that Sera couldn’t stop thinking of what he said and wanted to
pound his gorgeous head in until he remembered.

Granted, it’s not like she was some
great prize, and of course there was that small detail about her
still being married and having four kids, but really? He had
actually promised and was a man of his word, and she intended to
hold him to it.

The road is bumpy and tentative, but
Sera and Jeff’s relationship gets more heated at every
turn.

Stand out themes in this
series are: Family, Love, lots of Humor, and working together to
make things
better.

For more on what Bria is
doing, visit her at

http://briadaly.wordpress.com/

You may also email Bria
directly at

[email protected]

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from you…