Rising Up: Finding Me book 1 (13 page)

Imogen

This is why I didn't want Mason to tell anyone else.  Unless it's happened to them people just don't get it, they always think it’s easy to just walk away from a violent relationship and there be no consequences.  Page forty seven is enough to decide whether they are with me or going to turn their backs and walk away. 

I think Mason will be with me and Maddie too, but Lake is a bit of a hard one to work out.  Oh well, time will see.  I wander down the street and into the bar hoping Tammy is working today.

"Hey girlfriend," she calls over to me as I walk in.  "Jeez, you look like you're having a shit day, what can I do for you?"

"I just needed to get away from some crap that's going down back at Mason's, and guess what?  You are the only person I know away from work, aren't you lucky."  My voice breaks and I start to cry. "Shit Tamsin I'm sorry I didn't mean for this to happen."

"Hey poppet, don't worry.  Look come and meet my friend Amber and then you'll know two people here."  Managing a weak smile I walk over with her.  Amber is very sweet and is tiny, like a little doll, but very pretty.

"Hi Imogen, I've heard about you from Tammy, you're very pretty."  This comment takes me back, but I manage to stutter a thank you.

"Look Red, why don't you take Ginny back to our place for a while, my shift finishes in a couple of hours, so if you're still at our place we can hang out."

"Um, I don't know."  I'm not sure if I want to go someplace I don't know.

"Sure you do, come on it's not far."  Amber grabs my hand and we walk out.  I'm a bit confused as we walk towards my apartment block.

"Um, Amber why are we going to my place?"

"Oh!  I’m sorry I thought you knew we live there too.  Come on."

We travel up in the elevator when I notice we are heading for the top floor.  "Er, Amber why are we heading for the penthouse apartments?  I really don't want to see Mason and his cousins at the moment."

"That's okay we won't see them.  My dad owns the building that's why we live here.  I'm the typical spoiled daughter."  She laughs at this thought.

"Wow, I didn't expect you to say that.  Are you at the same college as Tammy then?"  We've reached her door undetected for which I'm immensely grateful.

"Yes, and we've been best friends since the day I walked into her dorm room, but she went though some rough stuff a few years ago and  it surfaced again, so we needed to move out of the dorm, and I asked Daddy, and he came up with this."

"Well if I were you I would consider myself very lucky."

"I know, and we are, Tamsin is one of the strongest people I've ever met, and she is one of the toughest and most loyal friends you could ever ask for.  I'm very lucky to have her in my life."

I can see that this admission has been heart felt and I'm not going to pry, I mean let’s face it, I'm hiding enough skeletons in my closet to fill a graveyard.  "I think that she is as lucky to have you as a friend as you are.  My best friend is just as important to me and she is probably going ape shit right now because she doesn't know where I am”.

"I'm not going to pry but why are you here.  Not that I don't want to be friends with you but I've met the guys you are friends with and hells bells they are a handsome bunch!"

"I'm going through a bit of problem with a difficult ex, and all of a sudden I had a lot of eyes staring down at me, and it was a bit more than I could take, so as usual I took the coward’s way out and bolted, I will probably call them in a little while."  I start to laugh.  "I told them to call me when they'd sorted their shit out, but failed to tell them I was going to turn my phone off."

"I like you Imogen, you're my sort of girl.  We are going to be great friends.  So what do you feel like doing now?  Do you want to wait here for Tammy or go out for a bit?"

"D'you know I fancy going shopping.  I need a new phone and a new laptop.  Are you up for a bit of retail therapy, we can call Tamsin and tell her where we are."  I look hopefully up at her.

"That sounds like a damned good plan, my reading list has just come through so if you don't mind hitting the bookstore then we are most definitely on."  She squeals and jumps up and hugs me and it's so genuine and heartfelt that I can't help smiling and hugging her back.

"Right then, I need to change into something a bit more respectable, so are you okay to come down to my place, unfortunately my dad doesn't own the building so I'm not lucky enough to live in the penthouse." I laugh at this and thankfully Amber covers her mouth with her hands and giggles.  I'm gonna seriously love this girl.

We make our way stealthily to the elevator.  Amber looks up and calls.  "Quick they are on their way up we need to get in this one like now."

We are both giggling like crazy.  "Y'know it's only a couple of floors down we could've taken the stairs."

This sets her off into more laughter.  "God, you're so British nobody over here would think of taking the stairs."

"Well that just shows why you are such as lazy nation, no wonder your obesity levels are so high!"

"You bitch!  Just because you're about ten foot tall and as skinny as a rake, you can't bitch our whole nation."  Laughing away we exit on my floor.

"Well you're hardly gonna win any eating contest any time soon you're tiny."  I’m smiling hard at this sweet funny girl.

I find some decent clothes and we head off to the mall again.  Amber sends a text to Tammy who agrees to meet us as soon as her shift finishes.  We spend the next hour happily shopping and talking about any random shit that comes into our heads, and I realize I really like this young quirky girl, and the afternoon only gets better when Tamsin joins us.

Finally after a long afternoon I have a new mobile phone, Tamsin calls it my 'cell' but that's not going to be easy to get used to,  I've got a new Macbook pro which I'm very excited about.  We've also been through just about every clothes and shoe store in the whole mall, but I am now the proud owner of a pair of kick-ass cowboy boots that I'm very excited about. 

I hope Mason likes them, and I'm brought up short when I realize that this is the first time I've thought of him.  He must be going out of his mind.  I stop the girls.  "I haven't turned on my mobile all afternoon.  Mason is going to be seriously pissed off with me."

Tamsin rolls her eyes.  "First it's called a cell and secondly turn it on and call him now, we're about finished.  Why don't you ask him to meet you at the bar?"

I smile at her knowing she has said exactly the right thing.  "Okay, here goes."  I take a deep breath and turn it on and oh my god it's full of texts and messages not just from Mason but Maddie and Lucas too, I don't even bother to read them but I turn my mobile, whoops! Sorry cell, around to show the others and they laugh.

So I bring up his number and press the call button and hope for the best, obviously he answers on the first ring, but what surprises me is that unlike Jake he doesn't sound angry but relieved.  "Hi Sweetie it's me.  Yeah I'm okay, I know you've been worried but I'm good.  Look I'm on my way back to the bar do you want to meet me there in about twenty minutes?"  I look up at Amber and she nods her head. 

"Yeah Mason I'm still here, I know my love, I'm sorry too.  Are you coming on your own?  Yeah I think that would be best, I'm not sure I'm up for your cousins just yet.  What?  I know Mason, I know.  I love you too.  See you in a few."

Tamsin grabs my arm and after we've picked up all our purchases we set off, and boy am I smiling.

Mason

My head is in a serious mindfuck.  Where the hell is she?  Tamsin wasn't in the least bit helpful but I'm happy to know she is with friends.  After reading page forty seven all I want to do is find her and hold her in my arms.  I sent the others away, there wasn't much else we could sort out without Ginny's permission.  I feel very sorry for Maddie, she seems so lost, and after she read the notes her tears and anger summed up everyone else’s emotions. 

How the hell could someone do those things to her?  Just as I was clearing all the paperwork up and putting it back in the folder, a memory stick falls out along with a thick A4 envelope.  Thinking it had fallen in there in the packing process I decided to check to see what it was.  Nothing could ever have prepared me for the contents, pressing enter a video pops up and I see about four or five men leaning over a bed, all of them are naked and stroking their erections, but when the camera pans to the bed I can see Imogen naked and crying, her face is cut and bruised and she has a black-eye.

Her hands are tied up tight over her head painfully stretching her out.  I can see and hear everything that's happening.  The cries of encouragement from each man as they slap and pinch Imogen’s breasts and genitals, one man is pulling her hair back and has his cock so far down her throat she is choking and gagging.  The main instigator is Jake Williams as he tells them to fuck her harder.

I can hear her pain as she cries for them to stop, but a hand covers her mouth.  Another man starts to masturbate over her face until the hand is removed and he fucks her mouth hard making her choke before pulling out to come over her face laughing as he does. 

This goes on for at ten more minutes as each man takes his turn in abusing her.  The shouts of joy as each one comes over her face and body.   Jake eventually finishes her off himself by turning her over and violently taking her ass, to the cheers and yells of encouragement. 

I don't even think she is aware anymore and by the end of the recording she is unconscious, but I can see the blood covering her body.  The laughter and high-fives they give each other causes me to retch as the bile rises in my throat.

This sick bastard and his friends are going down for this, I don't care if Imogen protests I am going to find these bastards. 

Pulling the envelope open, a batch of glossy photographs fall out, these are of Ginny again tied up and blindfolded, it looks like there are only two other men and they are both fucking her. The rest are the same sort of thing, it's the same five men but never all together and never as violent as the video.

Thank God no one else was here to see this.  How the hell am I ever going to mention this to Imogen, in the end I decide that I'm not, I can’t.  She may still decide not to take things any further, I'll wait and see if she mentions it. 

I can’t believe she lets me touch her let alone make love to her, I’m not sure I would be so trusting and open if I had been violated so dreadfully.  She really is the most amazing woman I’ve ever met, and I love her so freaking much.

I spend time clearing up the apartment and fretting about where Imogen is, and what she is doing.  I must have sent a dozen text messages and a fair few voice mails, but just when I was about to give up and go to Lake's, my cell rings.  Thank fuck for that!

"Imogen babe, are you okay?  I've been really worried."  We agree to meet at the bar in twenty so I grab my shit together and lock her folder in my study.

I get there before her, and after grabbing a beer I take a table in a quiet corner, and wait watching the door even though I know I'll sense her before seeing her.  It doesn't take long before my spine starts to tingle and she walks in looking so beautiful and happy, surrounded by shopping bags, but what surprises me the most is that she is with the tiny girl who lives in our building. 

How do they know each other?

But when Tamsin walks in behind them I realize that she must have moved in too.  Well it really is a small world.  Ginny is looking round for me and then when she sees me a huge smile bursts over her face taking my breath away.  God I love that woman, everything I've seen or read this morning is wiped out of my mind as she walks towards me.

"Hi Sweetie, sorry I've been gone so long, but I went shopping with Amber and Tamsin.  I think you've all met before."

Standing up I reach across to take all the bags off her and place them down to pull her to my body, and slowly stroke her face before gently kissing her lips.  A small moan escapes from her mouth into mine and I swallow it down shuddering at her response.  "I've missed you so much this afternoon babe."  I kiss her again and we sit down.  "Hi Amber, hi Tammy.  Thanks for looking after her this afternoon.  Can I get you both a drink?"

"No it’s okay Mason, I think you two should be alone to talk."  Amber turns to Ginny and gives her a big hug.  "You've got our cell numbers Ginny, please give us a call and we'll get together soon."  She kisses Imogen sweetly on her cheek and walks away with Tamsin.

Imogen looks at me carefully, her eyes guarded as she tries to assess my reaction.  "Did you read it Mase?"

"Yes babe and my heart broke for you.  The others were equally horrified and I don't think Maddie is going to get over it any time soon, you're gonna have to talk to her."

"Yeah I know." 

Pausing, she looks at me trying to decide whether to ask me the next question, and I really don't want her to.  But she does.  "Was there anything else you saw?"

"Oh babe, please don't make me talk about it."  The tears are building in both of our eyes.

"Did you watch it or look at them with the others?"  Her voice is monotone and bland.

"No darling, I was on my own, and I will never share that with anyone ever."