43 ~ Sweet as a Compote-3

I couldn't believe I ever dated this piece of... "Excuse me," I said in a very calm and patient voice. "Maybe Ben doesn't care about me, maybe you're right about that. But don't you dare speak of him like that!" He looked shocked at the words that were flying out of my mouth. "Ben is a thousand times the man you'll ever be! Maybe he's a little vulgar, but I don't care! Maybe he says hurtful things, but I don't care! Maybe he does bad things sometimes, but I. Don't. Care!" Rick laughed mockingly, getting over his initial shock of me standing up to him. "You don't care? You're blind, Charlotte. You're blind if you can't see what kind of person he really is!" My eyes widened as I felt an emotion I haven't felt in a long time. Fury. "I know what kind of person he is!" I shouted angrily my hands curling into fists and my eyes blinking rapidly from the sudden onslaught of tears. "And he's better than you!" Suddenly, my head whipped to the side, making my neck crack. It took me a few seconds to realise that the stinging pain I felt in my cheek was from the slap Rick had just given me. And from the looks of it, he had more where that came from. My free hand touched my throbbing cheek gently. "I-I can't believe I ever dated you," I murmured. "Oh, you better believe it, you stupid whore," he muttered, raising his hand again. I flinched away, pulling at my arm frantically, but he was too strong. "Leave me be!" I cried. "I never did anything to you!" He laughed, a crazy glint in his eye. Even when he was drunk, he was stronger than me, and that was absolutely terrifying. I sucked in a breath, astounded at how manic he looked. Just as he was about to slap me, a deep voice made him freeze. "Don't touch her." "Benny!" I cried in relief, struggling against Rick again. Ben's dark, furious face was directed at Rick, his hands clenched tightly. "Let go of her, Dick." Rick growled, pulling me violently towards him. I yelped in disgust as he wrapped his arm around my neck so tightly that I couldn't breath. "Not until I have my fun with her. I promise, Benjamin, you can have her when I'm through." I whimpered, making Ben's gaze snap to me. His eyes darkened with concern and he took a confident step forward. "If you don't let her go right now, I can't promise you'll leave here without a few broken bones." I shivered at the sound of his deadly voice, but I knew Ben would never, ever hurt me. Rick's hold tightened on my neck, getting a shocked gasp from my mouth at the sensation of my eyeballs almost popping out. "You come any closer, and I'll kill her, Fisher," he threatened. Ben's expression darkened with anguish as he looked at poor, little, defenceless me. What would Jackie Chan do in a situation like this? He'd probably do a flip and knock Rick out with one little flick to the forehead. Unfortunately, I wasn't a karate master, so I'd have to deal with my girlish survival instincts. I glanced at Ben and smiled before slamming my foot up behind me into Rick's little junior, causing him to let go of me as he fell to the ground in pain. I scrambled away from him to Ben, who was running towards Rick. "No, we have to go," I urged, grabbing onto his steady hand. Ben took one last, disgusted glance at Rick, before kicking his balls again and taking my hand back up. I laughed as he pulled me away quickly. "Was that really necessary? I thought I got him pretty good," I complimented myself as we ran. He glanced back at me, the anger not yet leaving his face. "You have a girlish kick. That would've only kept him down for a little while," he mocked. "I hope you stopped his ability to have babies," I told him teasingly. "Lottie, come on," he said. "You were freaking out earlier because your crazy friend Ginny wasn't being careful, but here you are, completely brushing off what happened to you! What if he had done something, Lottie? What if you weren't able to kick him down in time? What would I have done without you?" I touched his shoulder, almost jogging to keep up with him. "Ben," I said softly. "I-I'm sorry. I just don't know how to...how to deal...with what just happened." I shuddered and started rubbing my eyes to get rid of the tears that started prickling at the corners. I took a deep breath. He was right. What if Rick had gotten to do what he wanted? Where would I be? "Don't be sorry," he said, sighing. "I'm sorry, I should be taking care of you. Are you okay?" "I'm okay, Benny. Thank you for helping me. You saved me." Ben suddenly stopped, causing me to crash into him. "What you said back there..." he said nervously, scratching the back of his head. He glanced a look at me, and turned away quickly at the curious smile that I had on my lips. "Yes?" I urged. "What did I say?" "A-about the trusting me and stuff," he muttered, not looking at me. I pursed my lips at the cute expression on his face, but managed to keep it in because I knew he would probably not appreciate that. "Did you mean it?" he asked, almost hopefully. I looked at him, almost incredulously. I've told this boy I loved him and he still had to make sure I meant it? "Of course I mean it." "Lottie, can I tell you something?" I took his hand and smiled. "What's up?" "I love you."