Blood's Nexus Read online

  Blood’s Nexus

  K.MacBurn

  Acknowledgments

  To my high school English teacher Mr. Burris, who braved my horrific grammar and penmanship to read the actual story and encouraged me to strive to be more.

  Chapter 1

  Taylor was grinning from ear to ear and hugging teammates as the scoreboard flipped over the final tally. This was how a high school Rugby career was supposed to end: with a hard-won championship! As captain of the team for two years, and despite a rough start, they pulled through to the end.

  Not to mention that universities would eat this up. She already had several partial athletic scholarship offers, so it wasn’t too far fetched to think a full-ride could happen.

  Back in the locker room, the celebration continued with lots of singing and a few tears.

  Taylor pulled on a snug black t-shirt and some ripped blue jeans while belting out, ‘We are the champions’ with the rest of the girls. It was only when Nicole and Samantha stopped in front of her, holding out a little black dress, did she realize they had other plans for that night.

  “We are going out, and we need to represent!” Samantha declared.

  “I am all for continuing this fun, but I would be much more comfortable in this,” Taylor insisted whilst pointing to the torn jeans.

  Samantha wiggled the dress with a sinister little smile.

  “You would look so smoking in this, and just for tonight can we please play dress up and get our party on?” she gave Taylor the biggest doe eyes, “I will be gone all summer, and this is our senior year; We won’t get another chance to do this.”

  Taylor looked to Nicole, for help. Nicole wasn’t being dragged into this argument, so instead chose to look anywhere else. Taylor heaved an exaggerated sigh.

  “Before I agree to this, where are we going? You will not drag me all over the city just so you can use a fake ID.”

  Samantha giggled.

  “No, no, nothing like that. We are going to Jason Harris’ house party. All the seniors will be there, including Drew.”

  Taylor rolled her eyes, but took the dress anyway.

  This was not the ideal way to end such an amazing day, but letting go a little, so that her friends would have a fun night out, wasn’t a bad idea.

  Taylor pulled on the simple black dress that showed off way too much skin to be comfortable. She tugged at the hem a little in the mirror, hoping it would stretch two more inches.

  Samantha and Nicole both gave a whistle as she exited the changing stall and stood in front in front of them, feeling self-conscious .

  Her ocean blue eyes seemed to pop in contrast with her long black curls, and smooth brown skin. These mostly being natural gifts as a result of her native heritage, along with high cheekbones and full lips.

  “Eeeeeiii!” Samantha squealed, hugging her. “Thank you! This is gonna be so great.”

  Taylor tried to look enthusiastic for her friend’s sake, while tugging at the hem of the dress, to no avail.

  As they pulled up in front of Jason’s house, it was obvious the festivities had already begun. She could hear the bass resounding through the house, along with the dull chatter of drunk students.

  Party-goers scattered beer cans and red cups across the lawn, along with an occasional splash of vomit.

  Taylor frowned, not being a huge fan of parties or drunks. She tried not to judge, but after so many run-ins with people too stupid to know when enough was enough, it was hard.

  Everyone greeted the champions with cheers and many congratulations as they entered the busy household.

  The trio gravitated to the living room first, where the infectious beat was flowing. Together, they danced for a while before Samantha wandered off to get a drink and find Drew.

  Taylor and Nicole ignored her, as this was typical behavior for Samantha. Soon enough, they were joined by a few more friends from the male rugby team.

  “What’s up ladies?” Pip greeted as he shimmied up beside them. Pip, or Pipsqueak, was one of the smallest players on the team, hence the name. He was about 5’4” and thin, but was the fastest by far.

  He smoothed back his red hair before taking Nicole’s hand and kissing the top.

  Nicole, standing about 5’8” without high heels, was an outstanding defensive player, with a build that matched the position. They made an odd couple with Pip being dwarfed considerable by his love interest, but appearances were not everything, and those two proved it.

  “Not much Pippy. How is your night going?” Nicole asked.

  “Much better now that the heavens have sent me an angel.” Pip replied while kissing the hand again.

  “Pip, buddy, do you have to be so sappy?” Dwight pleaded.

  Taylor smiled as Nicole shushed him.

  “You were saying Pippy?”

  The big guy pretended to gag. He then noticed Taylor standing there and had to do a double take.

  “Taylor?” he asked, almost unsure if it was her. “What the hell?”

  “Sam thought it would be fun to dress up.” Taylor admitted, eyes rolling.

  “And what do you mean ‘what the hell’?” Nicole demanded while mocking his tone. “She looks amazing.”

  Dwight back-paddled.

  “You are right, she is g-gorgeous. I-I was just a little shocked.”

  Taylor shifted and looked away. The only way for her to be comfortable was to be in the jeans and sneakers she’d originally planned to wear.

  Dwight gave her a little shoulder nudge.

  “Wanna dance?” he asked with a big goofy smile. Taylor had to grin back.

  “Sure.”

  Taylor had a good time after that. She danced, joked, and then got into some competitive games of Foosball with some of the male rugby players.

  She had just beaten the third challenger when Samantha burst into the room in tears.

  “What’s wrong?” Taylor demanded, grabbing her friend in a hug.

  “D-d-drew dumped me, a-and told me I w-w-was a no-good t-tease ‘cause I didn’t want to s-sleep with him. N-now he is downstairs making out with some f-freshman.” she sputtered.

  Taylor’s mouth thinned. She seemed calm while passing Samantha off to Nicole, and walked away with a most determined stride.

  “Oh no,” said Dwight.

  “This will not be good.” Pip agreed as everyone in the room rushed to follow her down the stairs.

  Sure enough, Drew and some girl were in the middle of sucking each other’s tongues out when Taylor spotted them on a sofa. Without a single reservation, Taylor grabbed the girl by the arm and removed her from the chesterfield. She was not the target though; The rugby captain locked eyes on the boy.

  “What the hell?” Taylor emphasized each word. “You think since you have been dating a month that, if she doesn’t put out, she isn’t worth keeping?”

  “I sure as hell wasn’t dating her for her personality.” Drew laughed, trying to sound tough in front of his friends. He got up to his feet, and gave Taylor a once over. “How about you and I head up stairs and you can try to persuade me otherwise? Or, maybe I’ll give you something good, then you can tell her what she is missing”

  He grabbed his crotch as he said it. The gathered crowd let out a collective gasp, and waited. Taylor wasn’t recognized for patience, and had been in enough fights they knew she would not let this slide.

  With an unreadable expression on her face, she stared back at him. He was bigger than her, taller by at least four inches, and outweighed her by forty pounds. He wasn’t an athlete, but wasn’t out of shape, either.

  None of it mattered.

  The rugby captain came in with a tight right hook, catching him square on the jaw which dropped him to the floor in a whimpering heap.

  It shocked the
crowd into silence. Taylor ignored them, as it wasn’t meant to be a public humiliation, simply a personal lesson. She grabbed Drew by the front of his shirt and stated to him.

  “You need to show women more respect than that. You aren’t worth our time.”

  She let go, then tried to walk away.

  “Bitch,” she heard him mutter. It was enough for her to turn to see him lunge forward. Dwight was the one to cut his attack short by another well placed right hook.

  Taylor gave her friend a little nod of thanks before turning attention back to Samantha.

  The taller teen wrapped an arm around Sam’s shoulders and hugged.

  “You deserve better. You remember that.”

  The crowd was laughing at Drew’s pitiful attempts to regain his footing and got so distracted by the show that they failed to see the North Ridge police department filing into both exits.

  “A little underage drinking going on, ladies and gentlemen?” Constable Hendricks bellowed over the crowd. All heads turned, and all let out a gasp of disbelief. The ones that ran were grabbed and cuffed before officers escorted them out to the waiting van. “You are all coming with us, we will sort out the drunk ones from the sober down at the station. You better believe we will be calling all of your parents, though.”

  Taylor sighed and stared up at the white ceiling and buzzing fluorescent light. The cell had been crowded with fellow students a couple hours ago, but now it was empty. Her mother and step father had been called, but no one arrived, leaving her to believe they had better things to do.

  She walked her bare feet up the cement wall then back down as she laid on the hard, wooden bench. Now and then, Constable Hendricks would come by to check on her before continuing his paperwork but he was the only visitor. It was the early morning when Hendricks popped in again.

  “Hey Taylor, I am off in fifteen minutes. I will drive you home. There is no need of you spending the whole night here. So, grab your stuff.”

  Taylor rolled to her feet and came over to the bars.

  “Did neither of them answer their cell phones?” She asked.

  “We got a hold of your stepfather, and he said he would come and get you when he finished, but that was two hours ago.”

  “Right,” she said, with a knowing frown.

  It made her stomach turn knowing Tex, her stepfather, knew she was waiting at the police station. The big man was a short-tempered asshole, and was not one to let things go.

  She carried her shoes out of the cell and followed the man back to his desk. As he was finishing up an uniformed officer jogged over.

  “Sorry to bother you sir, but I have a Tex Miller out front. He says he is here to pick up his wife’s daughter.”

  “About time,” Constable Hendricks mumbled. He motioned Taylor forward, and escorted her out to the front foyer.

  Tex was a massive man with sandy blonde hair, a thick jaw, and a charming smile for anyone he thought mattered. Wearing a formal suit with bowtie, everything was shiny and in its proper place.

  “Mr. Miller,” Constable Hendricks greeted, “Thank you for coming down.”

  “No problem, sorry I am late. I was at a charity dinner with some of my benefactors.”

  Tex was an archaeologist, of sorts, holding a nice respectable job up front, but when one dug a little deeper, it became clear he did a lot of shady things for large sums of money. Things that include smuggling, looting, and extorting.

  “It’s fine, Mr. Miller. We just didn’t want Taylor to have to spend the night. We picked her up at the Harris’ house party, but she wasn’t drinking; the wrong place at the wrong time kind of thing. There are no charges.”

  Tex looked over at her, taking in the dress and heels with a glance, but his eyes lingered for a moment longer on her bruised right knuckles.

  “Well that’s good to hear at least. We will get going then. It is getting late.”

  “Yes, I won’t hold you up. Have a good night. Oh, and Taylor, congratulations on the championship game. It was an impressive performance.”

  “Thanks.” Taylor said, turning and followed her step-father out the door.

  The game seemed like such a long time ago to the teen, the high long gone, replaced with a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach.

  Outside, a stretch limo was waiting to take them home. The driver opened the door, and stood as a silent sentry as they approached. Tex placed a hand on her lower back and guided her into the car first. Taylor tried not to flinch from the touch; once inside, she took the seat farthest away from him.

  As Tex seated himself, the smile disappeared, and turned to a scowl.

  The door snapped shut with an odd feeling of finality.

  “Embarrassing,” Tex sneered. “I didn’t even tell your mother I got a call to pick you up at a police station.”

  “I didn’t do anything,” Taylor sneered back, “I don’t even drink.”

  “And going out looking like a whore to top it off.” he continued as if she hadn’t spoken. Taylor folded arms across her chest as she could see his eyes lingering there.

  “It is a dress. It covers everything. Not as if it was any of your business anyway,” she retorted.

  “It became my business when I got that phone call that drug me away from important clients.”

  He was getting pissed, and his eyes swept over her again.

  Taylor knew the look. He had given it before.

  He grinned all of a sudden, and started to remove his jacket. Taylor tensed, her hands clenched into fists.

  “You ruined my night, so maybe I should ruin yours.”

  The two held each other’s stare. Taylor wasn’t about to back down to this slimeball; he had no problem taking what he wanted by force, but that didn’t mean she would give in.

  A quick glance revealed that there was nothing handy that could use for a weapon, nor was there anywhere to go inside the confined space.

  Tex laid his jacket down and shifted over to the other bench, closer to her.

  “This is going to happen. Why don’t you make it easy on yourself?” Tex cooed, a smirk creeping onto his face.

  “Or you can go fuck yourself, because if you lay a hand on me, I will go straight back to Constable Hendricks. I am sure he would love to have something on you.”

  “You wouldn’t do that. No one would believe a little savage like you over me anyway, not the cops, not even Mommy.”

  It was true, the last time Taylor had tried to tell her mother about how abusive Tex was, she had called the teen a liar, and threatened to send her away if she ever besmirched his name again.

  He could see he had hit a nerve, so he used it.

  “You know, if you loosened up, you could enjoy some benefits that come with giving me what I want. I know your friends are going to Europe for the summer. It would be nothing for me to get you a ticket.”

  Why he thought his step-daughter would be swayed so easily by something so materialistic was unknown, but she made her feelings clear.

  “You could take that money and shove it up your ass for all I care. There is nothing in this world that would make me want to sleep with you.”

  The scowl returned to his face.

  “Maybe I’ll just go home and show my displeasure to your mother. God knows she could use a nice back hand now and then.”

  Taylor’s anger faltered, and doubt crept in. The last thing she ever wanted to do was get someone hurt because of her actions.

  Seeing the hesitation, Tex reached out and grabbed the teens wrist, pulling her towards him. He leaned forward and kissed the soft skin below the thumb while still keeping an eye for any hostile movement.

  It took about ten seconds for Taylor to shake the insecurity from her mind. Her mother was a grown woman and could handle her own problems; it wasn’t as if Linda Miller would ever do the same for her.

  With that decision made, the rugby captain steeled herself for what had to happen now.

  She yanked her arm towards herself, hard enough to s
urprise Tex, but not break his grip. He pulled back out of reflex but as soon as he did, she went with the motion and put weight behind a well placed elbow.

  The bony part caught Tex under the left eye and busted it open. To stem the flow of blood, it he had to let go.

  Taylor retreated to the other side of the limo, poised to defend herself as he touched the wound.

  “You little bitch!” He exclaimed when blood dripped off his fingers.

  Taylor didn’t care. It was the second time someone had called her that in a twenty-four-hour period, and all because she wasn’t about to let some self-serving narcissist have his way.

  Any hope she had that he would leave it alone disappeared when he snagged her arm again in his strong grasp.

  Tex was a big man, and his sketchy background gave him a certain advantage for overpowering someone.

  They struggled for a long time before he pinned her to the limo floor. Taylor gritted her teeth as a forearm pressed into her throat. Pure stubbornness kept her from crying out; she would not give him the satisfaction.

  His free hand gripped her hip hard enough to leave bruises.

  “I told you! I told you this would happen.” Small flecks of spittle landing on her face from his snarl.

  Never one to give up, Taylor continued to struggle. She kept pushing on his arm as if trying to move it but in truth she wanted him focused on holding her down while she reached for an improvised weapon.

  The pump came off and was swung with all the power in her arm. The heel grazed across her step-father’s forehead making him flinch backwards. With a bit of wiggle room Taylor was able to strike up with her knee straight into his groin.

  All the strength had left his fingers, and Taylor took this as her cue to leave.

  The car hadn’t completely stopped when she jumped out the door.

  Gravel cut into her bare-feet as she bolted through the front doors of the mansion and up to her room.

  Her trembling fingers slammed home on a deadbolt. She stood there holding it for several long minutes before her knees gave out, collapsing onto the floor.

  Breaths came in fast gasps and her hands were shaking. She hated him, everything about him, and his mansion.