Forbidden For Me

Gabriela

I drag myself from bed still unwilling to face another day, I change quickly and leave still having coffee. Every day I feel less like working, eating, even getting out of bed. All I wanted was to wake up from this nightmare that was not having my mother around anymore, the nightmare that my life had become since the day I opened up to a man.

"Good morning, sunshine." I tease Ane, who was already waiting for me in front of Monty's.

"Good morning, bitch." she says throwing the rest of her cigarette on the floor.

"Was it a good night?" I ask looking at her hungover and tired face. " It will kill you." I murmur pointing at the cigarette now crumpled on the floor.

Not that it made much difference to scold her about the habit of smoking, Ane hardly listened to anything, she seemed to be in a marathon to sink.

"It sucked, I kicked the guy after we had sex on the couch. And for your information, going without food will also kill you young lady, but what the hell, in the end we'll all die anyway." I nodded my head. It was the only certainty we had in this life, no matter how good, bad, honest or a total asshole you were, death would come.

" Bitch sorry, I'm a fool." She ran off with words when she noticed my frowning eyes.

Ane didn't have a filter, she spoke her mind, but she was sensitive to people around her and when she noticed that she had reminded me of my mother she regretted it.

My mother passed away six months ago after suffering from breast cancer, now it was just me.

"You're right, everyone dies and yes you're stupid, but one of the few who put up with me."

"Unfortunately, I can't help it." she replied more relieved returning to smiling.

We were not best friends who hug and kiss, exchange confidences, just talked about our day to day, she hid as many secrets as I, but in the middle of our mess we took care of each other, even in a strange and cold way.

I had already given up understanding how Maryane came to this city, in fact did not even know where she was from. But she was like that, with her expressive green eyes and her flashy blonde hair, running away from everyone who tried to learn something from her past.

And even though I knew her class didn't suit this little town in the middle of nowhere, I never pressured her to talk about her life, I had my own demons to hide.

"How about the girls come in to work? Or do you want me to take it out of my salary?"

We both faced each other with real revulsion, working to pay the bills sometimes means working for that kind of shit like Monty, who owns the diner, unfortunately that hole was one of the only ones that paid a decent salary in that town.

The customers who passed by, except the drunks on duty of course, always came back thanks to Ane, Nana and me, who prepared a wonderful food.

Our routine was to clean up first, cook while serving the tables and clean up before leaving. If we were lucky, I'd be so full of customers traveling down the road that drunks would be looking for the bar across the street.

"Why hasn't Nana arrived yet?" It was past one in the afternoon, she always arrived around eleven, sometimes delayed, but never this much.

Nana was our guardian angel. The little lady who stood by my side as we faced my mother's illness, when I started working here, after my mother died and protected us every day when disgusting men tried something hard with both of us.

"I'll call her." Ane said already taking her cell phone from her pocket, but even before she unlocked the cell phone Monty entered the kitchen scaring us.

"Your darling Nana isn't coming today, she said she's sick, looks like she's got the flu. God knows that old lady could have died already." The creep finished the sentence talking more to himself than to one of us. "And keep that fucking phone, you don't get paid for it." He spit out the words before he left.

He was a prick! God knows that if I didn't need this job I would have broken this wretch's face by now, which didn't stop us from cursing him every once in a while.

"Do you know anything about it? When she left here yesterday she was fine."

"We'll keep an eye on each other and take care of each other, when we get out of here we'll stop by Nana's house to check it out." I say trying to look strong in front of Ane.

The truth is that I had never been here without Nana, Monty was one of the men who tried at all costs to put his dirty hands on one of us and since I came here there was a day that Nana did not keep us company.

That wretch did not deserve be compared to a human being, he and his whole troupe could be anything but people of character and that left me terrified, because there was not much that they were not able to do to get what they wanted, I was afraid he'd been able to do something to Nana.

But thanks to any force in the universe our afternoon was so hectic that we barely saw it and was faster than I thought. The problem was that during the night the flow was higher, mainly of drunks, so we had to redouble the attention to each other. Any longer and we'd be out of here.

The bar was crowded as always and Monty did not stop around us, it seemed that there was nothing illegal to do out there because he spent the whole damn day watching us closely.

My distrust was big, he was no good and my fear was that he would attack Ane, so even inside the kitchen I tried to keep an eye on the salon always seeing where she was.

I had just delivered a request to her when the door behind me opened making me jump, the back door leading straight to an alley between the bar and the pig's house.

"What do you want here?" I questioned trying not to look scared and keep the cranky pose, even if my whole body trembled.

"I own this place, I can go anywhere I want without having to explain myself to you." The skinny man spoke, he smelled of cheap cigarettes and alcohol, even when he did not drink the stench did not come out of his body.

I stood at the counter, pretending to go back to work, but I was actually looking for the knife I use to cut meat. Monty passed behind me, causing me a chill and reached the window through which we passed the requests, when the wood slammed against each other my body jumped and I ran to the door, but he pulled my hair so hard that tears filled my eyes.

I turned my body with the knife in my hands, focusing on sticking the steel anywhere on his body and running away from there. But Monty went faster and held my wrist laughing at me.

"You're a brave bitch, but not as brave as I am."

I pushed my body against his, using my weight to unbalance it and make it crash against the stove, tears trickled down my face as he pulled my blouse, tearing the fabric and hit me with a slap, but I managed to get rid of him by throwing his body back and making him hit a hot pot, dropping all the sauce on the floor.

I ran and managed to open the door, but the disgusting hands held me and he threw me to the ground.

My back hit the cold floor so hard that air escaped from my lungs. I felt his body over mine and opened my eyes in time to see his closed fist hitting my face hard.

Oliver

I do everything for my sister, thanks to that I'm stuck in a car on a six-hour drive. When I found her I would kill her. What the hell did she have to do with her friends at a party in this town

I arrived at the hotel from where she had called me and found her in the lobby sitting on a small sofa, shrunk in the tiny dress. I searched the place that looked more like a flea house than a real hotel and I cursed myself mentally for not putting a leash on this impulsive girl. How could she be so stupid?

"What the hell did you think coming here?" She stood up as soon as she heard my voice and ran towards me, throwing her arms around my neck, hugging me tight and disarming me.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry." She kept saying she was still stuck with me.

I pushed her away just to look at her better, her eyes were red from having spent the whole night awake for sure, not because she was thrilled to see me since she loved to do these whenever she had the chance.

"Are you okay? Did someone do something to you?" I asked examining your body.

What the hell, why did these girls have to dress like that? Her dress did not leave much for imagination, which made me even more nervous to imagine could happen to her there alone and wearing that shit.

I took my suit and put it on her shoulders as I pulled her out of that dump.

"I'm fine, when we got to the guy's house I realized that the weather was not cool and decided to come look for a hotel and stopped here."

"What man, Magie?" I growled angry that I took risks because of some idiot.

"Ashley came looking for a friend of hers, she wanted to stay with him and..."

"This girl is crazy, I swear I'll still make her stay away from you."

"She is my friend."

This crazy girl kept putting Magie in the middle of her craziness. If they hadn't practically grown up together I would have given her a fright that would have made her run to the other side of the planet. " Come on." I muttered shutting my thoughts and pushing her into the car, believing that shit was over. Until we passed a diner and she begged to stop. "Look at this place, we're not stopping here!"

"I haven't eaten anything in ages, brother. Please."

She insisted on her best dramatic way, those goofy eyes and I just gave in, telling myself it was just because I didn't want this devil to get sick during the return trip.

I ordered Jack to turn around and looked at the place when we stopped in front, I hoped that at least there was something decent to eat there. Mag did not wait any second came running, sometimes I wondered how this girl had not yet died, but I remembered quickly that she had me, a thin line that held her from falling into the abyss of the world and would continue so.

When I walked into the bar it was not as terrible as it seemed from the outside, if you took out the worn out furniture, the cheap cigarette smoke, the low light and the drunks, that is all. Not even to close deals I would stick myself in some hole like that.

I grabbed a napkin from the table and passed Mag in front of the chair before sitting down, as she watched everything around with curiosity. Jack had been sitting on a stool in front of the bar counter and talking to a woman, who I realized was the only waitress there.

"What will you have?" as imagined the woman came to meet us, very unfriendly.

"I want a burger with fries, and a milkshake." Mag asked expectantly, almost salivating instead.

"What about you?"

"A bottle of water." The girl left still scribbling on her pad.

"God, you have to eat something." Mag grumbled in front of me, making me snitch.

"I will eat, when I get home, which is clean and I can trust the provenance of the food."

"You sound like a lady talking like that, you know?" she teased while snooping on her phone starting to ignore me.

"Respect Mag, respect!" I warned her seriously, I was not happy to be away from our territory and could be attacked at any time.

She had recently come out of adolescence, was already nineteen, but the annoying behavior of teen was still there, her behavior only worsened if added to the inconsistency and the fact that she was spoiled. At her age I was already running the business of our family for a year.

It didn't take long for the smell coming from the kitchen to hit me and make my belly snore, if only I had eaten at home before leaving in search of this crazy, but no, I had come straight from the office when I knew she was stuck in that hole almost for a whole day.

After a few minutes I heard a female voice coming from the kitchen warning the waitress that the order was ready.

"A burger with fries and milkshakes for the girl." The waitress said delivering the order and turned to me. "And a water for the big boy." spoke with mockery dripping from every word when she put the bottle on the table.

I ignored the woman and focused on Mag, the food was looking great and the smell was killing me. I caught a potato still staring at the plate in front of me, when I noticed Mag was looking at me and smiling. I snorted at her determined to call the girl back and ask for something.

I was finishing explaining my order when we heard a loud noise of something falling in the kitchen, diverting all attention from the waitress to the kitchen door, the window that until a minute was open, Now it was closed and the woman next to me beat her impatient foot waiting for me to finish, then ran to the door with an expression of despair.

After a few failed attempts to open, she turned to the wooden window behind the counter, beating desperately.

What the hell could be going on? The woman turned to the people in the hall with a distressed look as she pleaded for help, but none of the drunkards in the room heard her.

Until she got Jack's attention, when she begged him directly. Hell, why did he have to get into it?

"Sir, the lady said they have a woman locked inside the kitchen with their boss." He communicated when he got close enough to our table with the waitress on his tail.

"And what do I have to do with it?" I questioned looking at them both.

If a couple wanted to have sex in the kitchen I had nothing to do with it, in fact, would not even want the food they were having sex on.

"You asshole, she could be raped right now!" the waitress ranted angrily.

"Fuck." I grumbled annoyed at being bothered, I rubbed my face getting up and already walking to the door. I tried to open it and then break it down, but nothing worked, so I turned to the window to have some success, but only heard fighting noises. At that moment I saw red. "Shoot that door Jackson!" roared, he shot the handle without hesitation and I walked in at once.

The kitchen was small and it was a mess, there was a pot on the floor and a red sauce poured all over the place. Then in the back against the wall I saw a thin man leaning over a body looking at me scared.

Oliver

I didn't think twice when I was determined to finish Rat. I took it from the woman who was curled up on the floor and hit two punches without sparing the force that deposited in the blows, just wanted to make him bleed.

He even tried to fight, but I was in devil mode, just pulled his arm back with all the force making the scream as he heard something move.

"You can scream, you filthy bastard!"

I hit my knee on his stomach and he fell to his knees, so I let go of his arm and kicked his face making him fall to the ground with blood flowing from his face, which was now beginning to become unrecognizable. He did not move, just remained static like a frightened worm before his death.

"Enough!" I heard a faint voice as I pulled him by his collar.

I hadn't finished with him, but I raised my head in search of the voice that made me stop and saw my sister, Jack and the waitress watching everything, but there were none of them.

I turned the other way and saw the woman, who was curled up on the floor, now standing with a messy brown hair, almost covering her entire face, with the torn shirt looking wild. But his face was frightened, with a reddish tinge on his cheek and a little of blood in the corner of his mouth.

I dropped the man on the floor before his request and heard the worm moan in pain, making me take deep breaths and control myself so as not to start all over again.

I wanted to know why she stopped me, when clearly she had been injured by the bastard, the only indication that he did not rape her was that her pants were still in place, but it was clear that it was his intention and he would have succeeded if I had not arrived on time.

The next second, she passed me trying to be strong and walk straight, without even looking at me or saying anything else.

"Better take your bitch with you or I'll kill her!" the old bastard screamed from his place on the ground and I took a good look at the fragile man he was.

The blood that ran down his face didn't even make me satisfied. I wanted to skin my fists by punching him and when the damage be done I could open his disgusting body in half.

"Break it all." I whispered to Jack as I walked away.

He started by the bar throwing the chairs against the wall of bottles, then throwing a table against the window of the entrance and when we saw all the drunkards were breaking something too.

I looked for Mag, in the middle of the confusion she had managed to distance herself and all I wanted was to get out of that place soon. I spotted her near the waitress and the other woman already outside the diner.

Something in that brunette caught my attention in a strange way, I could be a fucking gangster, but did not condone rape, it was the thing I hated most, men believing they could force defenseless women to that. Nothing a good torture wouldn't solve. But she clearly didn't want help.

"Magie!" I shouted for his attention. "Let's go."

"She's hurt, we should at least take her home."

I didn't know what she was thinking, but that wasn't a joke or a party that went wrong, we didn't know those people, we were out of our area and without our men. It could get pretty ugly anytime.

"We've done too much, if she wanted some help would have asked!" I talked been hard so that Mag understood and end up the matter.

But I only had time to push her into the car before I heard tires burning on the asphalt thanks to the quick maneuver to close the street, the black truck stopped in front of those women, preventing them from following their path.

The girls turned to run back to where we were, but two armed men jumped out of the car, already pointing two pistols at them, making them paralyze in place.

"What the fuck!" I growled, one look at Jack and we were both ready to blow the bastards. "To the ground!" That's all I screamed before I sunk my finger in the trigger.

The womans had the notion of getting out of our way by crawling away as the shots began to sound from both sides.

The men stared at us surprised, obviously they did not expect competition. One of the shots hit one of them in the abdomen, causing the man to fall to the ground, while Jack shot straight into the chest without stopping until the comb was empty, when I turned to the car the driver ran away from there, leaving one of his friends still alive in agony on the ground.

"Are you okay?" Jack asked when we got to them.

"Now you ask? After you have shot at us?" the brunette screamed furiously. Now she looked more wild, with fear appearing only in the deep of her eyes.

"Listen here girl, we saved your life twice in the last few minutes, a thank you would be the least!"

"Oh sure. Thank you so much for screwing up my life, leaving me jobless and in the crosshairs of criminals." she growled loudly.

"If you didn't work for these kind of people, you wouldn't have that kind of problem."

"Is it my fault now?" she questioned getting closer while still staring at me. "I've never had this kind of problem until today. My problems I could handle, but that..." said pointing to the lifeless bodies behind her.

The woman was so close that her warm breath was beating against mine and I could see up close the beautiful, expressive brown eyes.

"Are you okay?" the waitress asked interrupting her friend and pointing to my abdomen.

I had not noticed yet, but as soon as I looked down I saw the white shirt bathed in red liquid and saw the hole where the bullet had gone through.

"What a fucking, boss. We need to hurry, urgently!" Jack screamed already pulling the phone out of his pocket, probably to call the doctor who answered our calls.

I was still stunned looking at the hole in my skin and wondering how I had not felt the shot, when the hands of the wild panther held the hole in the shirt and tore for analyzing the wound better.

"The bullet went right through, luckily it didn't pierce anything, but you'll need stitches." She said taking off her own shirt and pressing against my wound, making me squeal with the sudden pain, she didn't mind used just tank top against the cold night wind.

"Ane, give me her jacket." Ordered and the blond did so, without hesitation, while I followed everything frowning, suspicious of her attitude.

"Is he okay?" Mag asked behind me already, shocked by the scene in front of her.

"What are you doing out of the fucking car?" I growled angrily overflowing. We were all out in the open and we could get hit like ducklings.

"We need to go boss!" Jack cried impatiently.

I looked at the woman in front of me, who tightened her shirt while tying her friend's jacket to hold everything over the wound.

Two strangers, you'd have to be crazy to take them with you. Especially me, knowing that my life was far more dangerous than what they witnessed today.

That was out of the question, help in any other way ok, but to put them inside as if they were two lost puppies who need of shelter, i coulnd't.

I was trying to rationalize the whole situation, but then why the more I looked at her trying to stop the bleeding as if her life depended on it, did I feel a desire to take care of her grow? Why did the damn idea of leaving her there seem worse to me than putting her in my life? What the fuck is this Oliver?