Chapter 12

I was fuming. How dare he corner me like that. I couldn't control the way my body reacted to him, if I could we'd be like before, when I felt nothing but unbridled annoyance. I had no idea how or when this lust towards him started, maybe it was always there but because he kept so far away from me I'd never noticed or maybe it was because lately my natural inclination was to fuck anything and ruin everything. Either way, being attracted to Raphael was out of the question. He was too far under Casey's thumb, a brother to Leo, Donnie, and Mikey but most of all I didn't like Raph, he was self-righteous, perpetually in a bad mood and constantly getting on my nerves. But the more pressing issue was he was a turtle and I was human. How fucked up was it that I was torn between wanting to jump him or jump on him. Maybe I should have taken up the hospital's offer for a grief counselor after all. I needed out of here. I'd been spending way too much time at the lair with them, with him. When the turtles were busy with training of their own, I slipped out the lair door and sprinted to the ladder. When I was topside, I rang Jackson and told him I was coming over. I needed to fuck this out, then I'd have a clear head to go to Casey's, lock all the windows and figure out what the hell to do while he was held captive on another continent. Jackson sounded hesitant and asked me what happened the other night I disappeared, I paused mid-step, completely forgetting the last time I'd seen him he'd have woken up pants half off and a dart stuck in his neck. I offered him a lame excuse of one of his buddies offering him some new drug and I left when the darts came out. "I'm surprised you did it actually." I said chuckling, trying to calm my nerves knowing any sane guy would tell a girl to kick rocks after waking up like that. He agreed after a long pause and I sighed in relief and told him I'd be there soon. It was much too early for any of his parties but I was sure we could make a party of our own.

::;

"Jackson." I called when I walked in, trying to mask the exhaustion in my voice. "Well, if it isn't the whore who's been sleeping with my boyfriend." Rachel's voice made my blood run cold. I'd heard it over the phone enough to recognize it. It currently had the fury of a woman wronged. "Hey Rachel." I said trying to keep my expression bored. "Where's Jackson? I'm supposed to be getting some bud from him."She got up off the couch and smiled. "So you're a whore and a liar? I can see why he likes you." She knew. I kept my mouth shut, not wanting to dig myself in a deeper hole. "Do you know what we do with whores?" She asked."We teach them a lesson, so they don't go around in an endless cycle of trash behavior." At that, four other women walked out of Jackson's bedroom. The same room I'd shamelessly slept with her boyfriend countless times. I could see the hatred in her eyes as if she could see the memories too."You should thank us, really, we're teaching you not to be a piece of shit." She sneered as she stepped forward, clearly wanting to be the first to punish me. They circled me slowly and my heart pounded furiously. "Rachel, do you really think Jackson is worth all this?" I asked hoping to sway her, hoping she'd call off her band of friends.Some of these girls were taller than me, heavier too. I'd never been jumped before, and I wasn't exactly welcoming the experience. My mom had been an hourglass, her curves hiding strong muscle but somehow, like her honey hair, that gene had missed me leaving me with a slim athletic build.These women probably weren't trained but Mother Nature's gift of being bigger and broader was going to be a bitch, I already knew it. "Sweetie, you fucked him. You brought this on yourself." She laughed before throwing herself at me, her friends following her lead. I covered my head with my arms and tried to block most of the blows while planting my feet. If they knocked me down I'd have no chance of getting back up. Not with how many there were, if I went down I'd have to pathetically take the beating. Their hits felt like a tornado of pain and it woke up something deep inside me. I let my arms fall and grabbed one of the girls by her shirt hauling her into me, crouching slightly and using her as a shield. She screamed and the blows stopped realizing they were hitting their own. I threw her away from me and launched at the closest attacker, knocking her down by the middle before rolling off to avoid the hand that tried to curl in my hair and kicked her straight in the gut, making her moan like she was going to retch. I pivoted so the others were in front of me now, and when one of the girls lunged for me I backstepped avoiding her messy punch. Her feet were clumsy and I saw in real time what that swipe thing was Raphael had accused me of doing when throwing my own punches. It made her swing wide making it easy to dodge. Her fist met open air, leaving me an opening behind her right shoulder as her momentum carried her forward. I punched her as hard as I could and slammed my foot into her back sending her pitching forward violently.It felt good, winning. It spurred something in me that felt dangerous.I didn't wait for them to rush me again, I picked one of the remaining and flung myself at her. She was tall, and it gave her an advantage as she braced herself like she'd played sports at some time in her life. I held my breath and tried something I'd never been able to pull off before. I cocked my leg back and bent my other leg low, my palms slamming into the ground as the momentum made my foot slice through the air, my calf slamming into her ankles, knocking her clean off her feet. I scrambled on top of her and she flailed against me, her nails scratching at my arms desperately but my fist flew into her face one, two, three, and four times before she was sobbing. I got off her and faced Rachel and her remaining friend, wiping my bloody knuckles on my jeans.I took a step towards them, fists raised and ready for another round. Rachel's face was increasingly pale. Her friend held her palms up, essentially waving the white flag and slid away from her, going down to check on their unconscious friend. "You're fucking crazy." Rachael said trying to stand tall as I walked towards her. I wiped at the blood from my lips on the back of my sleeve and stopped just as the tips of my shoes touched hers. When I grabbed her she flinched and let out a shriek. I could take my revenge for her getting her friends to help her jump me. But in truth, she had been right. I had brought it on myself. I was the same breed of trash as Jackson. "I'm sorry." Her eyes widened in surprise. I threw her away from me and didn't look back at them as I made for the door. One of the girls was crying now and it echoed in my ears as I left.

::;

When I walked in all four turtles were in the living room. I could tell they were talking about me by their angry voices and huddled shoulders. "Holy shit, Miya!" Mikey said when he saw me, quieting his brothers. I must have looked like a disaster. Blood all over my teeth, ripped shirt, bloodied knuckles. "What the fuck happened?" Raph barked jumping over the back of the couch. Rage rolling off him in waves."I'm fine. You should see the other girls." I said trying to joke. "Other girls?" Leo asked looking equally pissed as he was worried. "I got jumped. It's fine." "Fine?" Raph fumed."Raph." Leo warned, giving him a look that told him to cool it. Donnie came over to me and tilted my head to examine the damage. "Come on, I'll help you get cleaned up. I have a first aid kit in the lab." Raph went to come with us but Donnie leveled him with a stern look and told him to wait with Mikey and Leo. I tried not to notice the blazing eyes that watched me as I followed Donnie to the room they'd made into a makeshift infirmary and he told me to sit on the table. Embarrassed and bruised, I waited for him while he rummaged around the shelves."You wanna talk about it?" He asked pulling out saline and gauze. I shook my head as he wiped my chin and neck clean and inspected my teeth, handing me a cup of water to rinse them. "No serious damage, split lip, a few bruises to your jawline." He eyed my face closely looking for any other injuries."You might have a black eye, I see some bruising." When his fingers gently touched under my left eye I flinched a little. "Sorry, big hands." He apologized sheepishly. "You've got blood on your arm, are you hurt there?" I looked down and noticed spots of blood on my long sleeve. "Scratches, I think." He raised an eyebrow."From what?" "A girl I was hitting." He rolled up my sleeve and inspected the few areas where her nails had bruised and scraped through my skin. "Well, I hope you gave them hell." He said looking far angrier than I'd ever seen him look."I'm okay Don." I said putting my hand on his wrist, stilling his cleaning. I couldn't stand for him, or any of them to look so wounded on my behalf. Not when it was my own fault. Raph barged in, making the door slam open and found us across the room. "I want to talk to her. Alone." Raph said giving Donnie no room for argument."Go easy on her, she doesn't need another beating." Donnie said shoving the gauze and saline into his hands. Raph came to stand between my legs and I could feel how close he was to snapping. It made me shiver. "Tell me what happened." He demanded setting the supplies down next to me."I don't want to talk about it." I went to slide down but his hands grabbed my hips, slamming me back onto the table so hard the first aid kit supplies rattled. "You left." He seethed. "And then you come back looking like you lost a fight to a pack of dogs." I couldn't tell which pissed him off more.I looked away but he grabbed my chin forcing me to look at him. I winced as his fingers applied pressure to the bruises there. "Who did this to you?" "I did it to myself." I said glaring at him. "Jackson had a girlfriend. She and her friends were waiting for me at his place." His eyes burned."You went to his place?" If I'd thought he was angry before, it was nothing compared to now. I thought I'd seen Raphael loose his cool many times..but it was utterly eclipsed by the hostility currently in his eyes. "You're hurting me." I snapped pulling my face out of his hand. He whirled away from me, his chest moving up and down quickly as he attempted to calm himself, but smacked a tub of his brother's cleaning supplies off the shelf making it rain across the floor. I could get down, I could try and walk out but Raphael looked like an enraged bull and I was afraid to provoke him further. "He let this happen." He said turning back to me. "I'll kill him." He started off towards the door to the lab but I hopped down and ran after, rounding in front of him and splaying my hands on his chest trying to slow him down."Don't do that." I said trying to shove him to a halt.My feet slid against the smooth floor as he refused to be slowed. "He deserves it." He snarled. "I knew he had a girlfriend. I'm at just as much fault!" I admitted, shame blooming in my chest at admitting my nefarious transgressions to him. He growled and grabbed me by the arms, slamming me into the door so hard that my back protested in pain. "He saw a girl looking for an escape and took advantage of that. Then he let you take the beating for it." "That's all you see, isn't it. A fucked up little girl who needs saving." I spat full of resentment. He shoved me out of the way and slammed through the other door. I ran after him. "What are you going to do!" I yelled following him down the walkway past the living room. "I'm gonna repay him for every bruise, every cut that they gave you." He promised. "You can't let them see you!"I grabbed his arm and tried to keep him from grasping onto the door handle. "I already handled it. They've paid enough." I tried to get through his anger."He hasn't." He shook me off and stomped out of the lair.