Fate's Intentions (5 page)

"Shhh don't be so loud you might draw the attention of the wolves!" He leaned down and tried to kiss her.

"Get off of me!" She yelled as she smacked him across the face.

Cody slapped her face a lot harder than she had hit him and then pulled her out of the truck and threw her to the ground.

"What the hell are you doing?" She screamed as he leaned down and tried to kiss her again. He had her arms pinned behind her head against the cold ground. She spat in his face as she yelled again, "GET OFF ME!" He adjusted his handle on her and held both of her wrists with his right hand. With his left he reached down and was tugging at the button of her jeans. "Please stop!" She pleaded getting no reaction from him. She squirmed and fought at him but couldn't manage to slip out of his grip. He got her pants unbuttoned and pulled the zipper down and when he leaned away to try to pull them down she kneed him as hard as she could up between the legs. He let go of her and she scrambled a few feet away from him crawling backwards. He grabbed at himself and groaned, but recovered too quickly. Scarlett started to cry as he stood and stepped forward. He leaned down closer to her and drew back his fist. Scarlett closed her eyes and tried to cover her face.

A split second later she felt something brush by her and she heard Cody scream in pain. She opened her eyes and saw Cody fighting to get free of a wolf who had latched onto his arm. Scarlett screamed again and when she did the wolf let go of Cody and turned to look at her. While the animal was distracted Cody jumped inside the truck and slammed the door. Scarlett and the wolf both watched as he started the truck and sped off, gravel flying behind him.

Scarlett turned her attention back to the wolf. She was too frightened to move as it walked towards her each step slow and calculated. As horrifying as it was, it was beautiful. It had light gray fur with black streaked back across its sides. The wolf stopped just in front of her and sniffed her arms and her face. Scarlett didn't even flinch, afraid that any movement would trigger an attack. She let out a big sigh as the wolf sat directly in front of her. She heard voices coming from the other side of the field and turned to see Brad's flashlight bouncing in the dark growing closer. She turned back to the wolf and it was gone. She jumped to her feet and turned in a circle looking around, but the wolf was nowhere to be seen.

Ashlynn and Brad came running to Scarlett. "What the hell is going on?" Ashlynn said while trying to catch her breath.

"Where the hell is my truck?" Brad yelled.

"We thought we heard screaming! I thought it was just my imagination, but then we heard the truck take off!" Ashlynn said still panting.

"Where is Cody?" Brad sounded angry. "And where is my truck?" He yelled sounding more like a demand for an explanation than a question.

Scarlett grabbed Ashlynn and buried her face in the collar of her jacket and began to shake as she cried. "Scarlett, what happened?" Ashlynn asked growing more and more concerned.

"He was going to rape me!" Scarlett exclaimed between sobs.

"Cody wouldn't do that!" Brad snapped.

If looks could kill Ashlynn would have struck him dead in his tracks. "She wouldn't make it up!" She screamed at him.

Brad pulled out his phone and dialed a number. After a few moments, he must not have gotten an answer because he ended the call. "Cody isn't answering his phone!" He dialed another number. A few seconds later he spoke. "Hey I'm out here on the dirt road that leads down by the river. I need you to come pick me and the girls up. Cody took off in my fucking truck! I don't know where he went!" He ended the call and slipped the phone back into his pocket. "Will just dropped off Amanda, Heather and Rose. He's going to come pick us up."

Brad began walking down the dirt road in the direction they had came. Ashlynn followed him with Scarlett still tucked in close to her. "Okay Scarlett, why did he take off in the truck?" Ashlynn asked softly.

"He threw me on the ground and he was trying to take my pants down..." She paused trying to stop crying. "I kneed him in the balls and he jumped back then he was gonna hit me. I saw him make a fist and I covered my face. Nothing happened, then I heard him scream. I opened my eyes and a huge gray wolf had him by the arm. When it let go he hopped in the truck and took off."

"A wolf saved you?" Ashlynn asked trying not to show her disbelief.

"Yea, it disappeared when you two came running."

Brad turned around and walked up to Scarlett. "First you try to tell me that my best friend, who I have known basically my whole life, tried to rape you! And now you say a wolf broke up the fight and scared him off!" Brad obviously didn't believe anything she was saying.

Ashlynn shoved him. "BACK OFF! You didn't see what happened!"

Scarlett grabbed Ashlynn's arm. "It's okay Ash. I don't care if he believes me. Hell I don't care if you believe me! I'm just glad I'm okay!"

Brad gave them each a dirty look then turned and resumed walking into the dark. Finally, headlights came into view. The car stopped next to them. It was a blue eclipse. It wasn't a new one, but it was nice. Ashlynn flipped the passenger seat forward and climbed into the back. She slid over giving Scarlett room to get in. Brad shot them each another dirty look as he got in the car and Ashlynn gave it right back as she wrapped an arm around Scarlett. He shut the door and just as the light went off Ashlynn thought she saw something on Scarlett's face. "Could you turn the light back on please?" Will nodded and turned it on. Ashlynn took Scarlett's face in her hands and brushed her hair back from the left side of her face. There on the bone below her eye was a huge red mark. It was swollen and looked as if it was starting to bruise. "There's your proof Brad!" She said as sarcastically as she could. "Do you have any other marks Scarlett?" She asked.

Scarlett answered her almost whispering, "My wrists hurt." As she pulled up her jacket sleeves Ashlynn's eyes almost popped out of her head as she saw the green marks on Scarlett's wrists looking as if they were turning blue before her eyes.

"Take a look at this shit Brad! You think she did this to herself?"

Brad turned in his seat and saw the marks on Scarlett's wrists and then looked up and saw the one on her face. He stared into her eyes still filled with tears for a few moments then turned in his seat looking out into the headlights. Everyone was silent for a few moments, then Brad turned back around to Scarlett. "I'm sorry I didn't believe you.", He said with true sincerity in his voice.

Will had a bewildered look on his face. He hadn't said a word since he had picked them up. Finally, he spoke low, "What happened back there? Where is Cody?"

Brad let out a breath. "We took the girls to show them the dens down by the river. Cody and Scarlett went back to the truck to grab some beer. Ash and I thought we heard screams and then heard my truck take off. Scarlett said Cody tried to rape her and a wolf attacked him and chased him away."

Will sat silent letting his mind absorb the words Brad had just said. No one else said a word either. All of them lost in thought. "Brad." Will spoke low again. "Do you remember when Cody and I took that road trip the other summer?"

Brad looked at him. "Yea, what does that have to do with anything?"

Will gave him a concerned look. "Well the one town we stayed a couple of nights in, there was this girl there. We were hanging out with her and her friend at a bar one night. Her friend drank herself sick and I walked her home. Cody and the other girl, I think her name was Carrie, were having a good time so they stayed and drank. Cody came back to the motel that night with blood on his shirt, said he had got into a fight with some guy at the bar who apparently was the girls old boyfriend. The next night I had to beg him to go out again. I wanted to go back to the same bar because I hadn't gotten the girls number, but Cody insisted we go to a different one. We partied all night and when we were leaving the bar, the girl I had walked home the night before met us and totally flipped on Cody saying her friend told her Cody beat her and raped her. Cody said it wasn't his fault if she had been drunk and done things she regretted once sober. I defended him and told her that chick had been all over him the entire night. The girl jumped back in her car and took off. Cody didn't seem bothered by it, anything I said about her he told me to forget it, that she was just some drunk whore."

Brad let out a sigh in frustration, but didn't comment on what Will had just shared.

"Why wouldn't you question him about it?" Ashlynn asked angered at the thought of the situation.

Will looked at her through the rear view mirror. "Would you believe it if someone accused Scarlett of something so horrible?"

"Okay, I get it I guess." Ashlynn mumbled.

They drove the rest of the way in complete silence. When they pulled into the parking lot where Ashlynn's car sat, Brad turned back to the girls before getting out so the girls could get out as well. "Do you girls need anything?" He asked. "I feel like I need to do something for you although I don't know what."

"It's okay Brad. We'll let you know if we need anything." Ashlynn replied. He opened the door and stepped out of the car turning to flip up the seat to let the girls get out.

They walked over to Ashlynn's car and as Ashlynn unlocked the doors Brad yelled, "Hey hold on, you guys don't have my number." Brad gave Ashlynn his number and then Will stepped out of the car and gave her his as well. "I mean it, let me know if you need anything!", Brad said as he got back in the car.

Ashlynn nodded and then got into the car with Scarlett. She shut the door and started the car. "Are you okay Scarlett? Really, are you okay?"

"I don't know Ash. I don't think tonight has really sank in ya know?" Scarlett sat with her head down fiddling with the ring on her right hand her mother had given her a few years back for Christmas. "I'm just thankful for the wolf!" She spoke of the creature with awe in her voice.

As Ashlynn pulled out onto the road she said, "About that.." She tried to tread carefully. "Are you sure you didn't like black out or something and imagine a wolf?"

Scarlett shook her head. "No. I questioned it myself wondering if I'd hit my head or something. I know if sounds crazy I've gone over and over again in my head all the possible theories and if I did like go into shock or something and dream all this up about the wolf, then explain why Cody freaked out and took off!"

The girls didn't talk anymore the rest of the way home. They pulled into the driveway and walked into the house without another word. Scarlett started to go to her room to change then turned to Ashlynn and said, "I think I'm going to take a shower."

"Okay, but before you do come here." She said as she walked into her room. She opened the top drawer of her nightstand and pulled out two pill bottles. She opened them and took two pills from each bottle and handed them to Scarlett.

"What are these?" Scarlett asked.

"Two are sleeping pills and the other two are ibuprofen."

'I didn't know you took sleeping pills!" Scarlett stated.

"Well you know how wound up I get. Sometimes I just can't turn the awesomeness off when it's time to sleep."

Scarlett shook her head and laughed. Happy that her friend could make her smile no matter what was happening. She walked out into the kitchen to get a glass of water and swallowed the pills with a gulp of the water.

Scarlett went into the bathroom to take a shower and Ashlynn locked the door and closed all the blinds. She went into her and Scarlett's rooms and grabbed blankets and pillows. When Scarlett came out of the bathroom Ashlynn patted the sofa beside her and placed a pillow on her lap. Scarlett walked over to the sofa and laid her head down onto the pillow. She pulled a blanket up over her and rolled onto her side curling up into a ball. Ashlynn sat there and played with Scarlett's hair until she fell asleep. After Scarlett was sleeping soundly, Ashlynn slipped out from underneath her pillow and balled up on the chair next to the sofa. She covered up with one of her blankets and drifted off to sleep.

Chapter 6

Ashlynn woke up and looked at her phone. It was 10am. She wasn't sure what time her and Scarlett had gone to sleep but it was almost dawn so she was guessing around 6am. Scarlett was still sleeping on the sofa. She looked so peaceful laying there cuddled with the blanket. Ashlynn rubbed her face trying to get her mind to come to grips with what had happened the night before.
Cody
! She thought to herself.
I'm going to track him down and kill him!
She stood up and threw her blanket down onto the chair making her way to the kitchen. She pulled the coffee can and filters from the cabinet and prepared a pot off Folgers french vanilla. She sent Brad a text and asked if he'd heard or seen Cody. When the coffee was finished she poured a cup and sat down at the little table in the kitchen. She pulled the blind open to the window next to the table so she could see out. She sipped her coffee and made a face when it burnt her tongue. As she blew down into the cup to cool it off she stared out the window and saw birds hopping around and squirrels scampering through the trees. She imagined how peaceful it must be to live in the forest and frolic around all day. No worries of war and crime or disease. She decided then and there that those squirrels had it made.