Chapter Text
END OF MARCH 1999
UNIVERSITY OF DETROIT MERCY
“Don’t touch me!” Beth screamed as Anthony pushed her up against the wall and held her there tightly, leaving no room for her to maneuver.
She has come with him to a party his friend was throwing off campus, even though she should have been studying for her finals. Anthony had not given her a choice.
“Listen bitch,” he forcefully whispered into her face, digging his blunt nails into the skin of her wrist, which he had pinned at her sides. “I’ll do what I want.”
He didn’t give her a chance to retort, his hand coming up to backhand her in the face before he pushed away from her completely.
Beth fell down to her knees, clutching her face in disbelief. She could taste the metallic taste of blood as it welled up in her mouth. Her blood.
“Look what you fucking made me do!” he yelled, startling her out of her shock. He paced back and forth in the tiny room he had co-opted, running his fingers through his hair.
The door opened and young woman that Beth didn’t recognize walked in.
She didn’t look towards Beth at all, her focus strictly on Anthony.
“You’ve been summoned,” she told him, her voice full of meaning that Beth couldn’t pick up on.
“Fuck,” Anthony cussed, looking towards Beth just once before shoving past the brunette in the doorway and storming out.
With the door open, Beth could hear the heavy bass of the music. It was drowned out slightly when the brunette closed the door and finally looked at Beth.
“You need to leave,” she stated simply.
Beth spit out a mouthful of blood and glared at the other girl.
“I’m Marisol,” she introduced with a sigh, coming over to kneel before Beth and gently lifted her head up to examine the bleed.
“Busted lip and the beginnings of a nasty bruise, but otherwise unscathed…your face at least,” she amended when she noticed the bruises already emerging on Beth’s wrists.
Beth just stared at her, afraid that this might just be another one of Anthony’s cruel jokes at her expense. It wasn’t the first time someone in his circle appeared to be helping her, before truly selling her out to Anthony.
“He’ll only keep hurting you if you stay,” Marisol continued, “I’m giving you a chance to leave, but you need to leave. Out of the school and out of the city. He’s..dangerous. He’ll only get more so. You don’t know him. Not really.”
“I think I know enough,” Beth admitted finally, “I know he’s part of the Detroit Partnership.”
Marisol froze for a second before nodding, “Yeah he’s not exactly quiet, is he? But he’s not just a part of it. He is it. Get out while you can.”
With those parting words, Marisol stood up and left.
Beth stayed in the empty room for another few seconds before getting up and stumbling to the window. They were on the ground floor, so Beth pried open the window and slipped out.
She took Marisol’s advice seriously.
Dean had been calling recently, telling her how much he missed her, and how he was leaving school to take over the dealership.
She hadn’t entertained the idea before, but now it seemed like her only safe option. Dean was nice. He had never hit her. She could force herself to settle for him.
Those were her thoughts as she walked the twenty minutes to campus. Those were her thoughts as she packed up her stuff, throwing it into whatever bags she could find. Those were her thoughts as she dialed the phone with shaky hands.
“Dean? Hey, it’s me…Beth. I’ve been thinking about what you said…”
He never did ask her about the bruises. Dean was good at avoiding the obvious.
* * *
PRESENT DAY
DETROIT
“Mark—”
“Don’t,” Beth said cutting him off with a voice that sounded a lot more confident than she felt, “call me that.”
He looked taken aback for a second, probably not used to being spoken to like that. He recovered quickly with a soft chuckle.
Rio kept his arm strategically placed around her, looking unbothered, but a quick peek in his direction showed the slightest tick in jaw. He was irritated.
“How on earth did Beth Marks gets rolled up in this world…again?” Anthony mused to himself loudly, looking around the table at the others sitting there.
Beth stiffened, but she would not allow herself to cower. Not in front of him, Not again.
The conversation stalled as a man with a microphone started speaking. A birthday party, Beth reminded herself. This was a cover, but the show would proceed.
A young girl dressed to the nines in a beautiful flowing gown entered the room. Beth feigned interest in the ceremony that was going on. It gave her a reason to avoid Anthony.
She felt the exact moment Rio lifted his arm up off of her. She didn’t even get a chance to miss his warmth before his hand reached against her body and found her thigh. He was still focused on the front that was a sweet sixteen, but his thumb rubbed circles on her dress clad thigh.
They were in a weird place right now, with everything that had gone down between them in the last couple of months, but she’d pick the devil she knew over the literal devil any day of the week.
Rio would at least tell her why he was killing her before shooting her in the face.
* * *
Beth made an escape to the bathroom the moment Anthony was distracted by something else.
She locked the door behind her before staring at herself in the mirror. She took a deep breath to center herself. She was a grown ass woman, and she had come a long away from that scared little girl that just wanted to be loved.
There was a soft knock on the door, then a familiar “Yo.”
She moved to unlock the door.
Rio stepped into the small place and shut the door behind him.
For a moment, she flashed back to the last time they were in the bathroom together.
She looked at him through the reflection and saw him looking back. His mind seemed to go back to that night as well.
She hated how sinfully good he looked all dressed up. It made it so much harder to hate him for the crap he put her through with her own operation.
He closed the distance between them, still watching her in the mirror as he pressed himself into her back.
“What he do to you?”
Her non-answer seemed like answer enough for him.
“He has a reputation for that,” Rio said finally, his gaze drilling so deeply into her own that she felt like he could see the abuse that Anthony had inflicted on her. The abuse that she thought she let go of, thought she had gotten over, and moved past.
“I hate him.”
“Good.”
“I hate you too.”
“Even better, darlin’.”
She turned, and without thinking, she grabbed the collar of his shirt and dragged him down to her. Her lips crashed against his in a bruising kiss.
His fingers immediately reached down to the hem of her dress, pulling it up to hips, leaving her standing in front of him in a pair of lace panties.
She reached for his pants, but he pushed her hands away, “Nah, we don’t got time for that.”
Instead, she watched as he sank down to her knees. He didn’t bother pulling her panties down, just pushed them aside. He met her gaze for a second before giving her a smirk.
Beth did her best to bite back a moan as he fingered her clit. It was embarrassing how wet she had gotten from just that single bit of contact.
She could feel him watching her, adjusting his teasing based on the way her body reacted. God he was barely even touching her, and still she felt ready to explode.
“I thought we didn’t have time,” Beth gritted out between soft sighs of pleasure.
“I always got time for this, Elizabeth,” he said, as the gravely tone of his voice intensified.
He maneuvered one of her legs over his shoulder, and then replaced his finger with his tongue.
Beth grasped that the sink, clenching her hands around the rim to ground herself.
Her worked her slowly, still teasing her, just shy of giving just enough.
“Fuck,” Beth moaned, no longer able to keep it in, “God, Rio.”
That seemed to have done it, because his fingers were now thrusting into her at a devastating speed as he sucked on her sensitive clit, rolling his tongue over it until it almost hurt.
Beth couldn’t help the sounds her body emitted as he coaxed the orgasm out of her, continuing to torture her with his devilish tongue long after he needed to.
She moved her leg off his shoulders and tried to stand on her own weight, but her legs weren’t quite there yet. Luckily, Rio seemed to be able to hold her up just fine.
“You good, Ma?”
“Yeah,” Beth nodded slowly, “I’m good.
He nodded, before stepping back for a second to reach behind him to pull down paper towels out of the dispenser. He held them out for her.
Beth did her best to clean herself off.
Rio leaned against the door watching her pull her dress down.
Once Beth was ready, he opened the door, and then held of his hand for her.
She let him clasp his hand around hers and lead them back out to the party.
The bathroom break had been worth it. She felt more centered, more confident. She hadn’t been ready to play in this world back then, but she wasn’t that same little girl anymore.
She had grown from that, and she wasn’t going to let him have any more power of her.