He just laughs at her. “Don’t worry, beautiful. You’ll get your chance to see what it’s like to be with a real man.” He strokes the side of her face, making her stomach turn. “So pretty, it’s a shame he had to have you first. But don’t worry, I bet he hasn’t had you here.” He thrusts his hips, digging his erection into her behind and driving her even more desperate to get away. He applies more pressure with the knife against her throat, just in case she had any illusions that he was just using it as a prop. “I wouldn’t want to cut such a pretty face, but I will if you make me.”
“What the fuck?” Wesley’s voice makes her knees go weak with relief. “Jimmy, what the hell are you doing here?”
Isabel’s eyes widen at the realization that Wesley knows this guy, the guy who followed her, the guy who only a few seconds ago threatening to rape her. She feels the man stiffen behind her, as if he’s bracing himself for whatever’s about to happen. However he knows Wesley, he’s clearly a little afraid of him.
“Let her go, Jimmy.” Wesley’s voice is a growl. Even in the gloom she can see he’s looking past her, at the man holding her.
Jimmy laughs patronizingly. “What are you going to say next, Raeburn? ‘It’s me you want, not her’!” He laughs again and loosens his hold on Isabel, giving her a little more room to breathe.
“Let her go, Jimmy, and I may decide not to kill you.” The coldness in Wesley’s voice leaves her in no doubt that it’s not an idle threat.
“So I was right.” Jimmy sounds more than pleased with himself at the revelation. “You have gone soft on us.” Isabel feels him shake his head. “And for what? For some pussy?” He leans his head down and licks her cheek, making her want to retch. “She’s top shelf pussy, I’ll give you that, but what are you thinking, man?”
Isabel sees Wesley tense his whole body, as if he’s about to strike. His voice is quivering with anger. “Is that what you think? That I’ve gone soft?”
Jimmy shrugs expansively. “Well why don’t you tell me, Wes? You haven’t been on your best game on these last couple of jobs, letting the scum we pay you to take care of off too lightly. You were supposed to cut that guy’s fucking hand off tonight and you barely left him with a scratch! The Devil Dogs can’t afford mistakes like that, Wes. We need people to know they can’t fuck with us!”
“What have you taken, Jimmy? How much? It must’ve been a lot to give you the balls to come after me.” Wesley’s voice is deceptively calm. The quick glance he gives Isabel tells her this little exchange is for her benefit. It’s only then that she realizes what he’s talking about. She had been too scared to take on board exactly what is going on, but the calmness of Wesley’s tone focuses her mind. Jimmy is high, and if he’s high it’ll be easier for her to overpower him.
“Oh, you know, Wes. A little bit of this, a little of that. We’re not all fucking dry as dogshit like you, Wes.” Jimmy laughs at his own joke, relaxing his grip on her even more.
Isabel uses the moment to her advantage, awareness coursing through her that she may not get another chance. She twists her body, pulling as far away from him as she can, spinning around to slam her knee into his crotch, hard. She feels the impact as she hits pay dirt and Jimmy goes down, clutching his groin with both hands, dropping the knife.
She breathes heavily, feeling strangely elated at the outburst of violence. She feels a hand on her shoulder and allows Wesley to pull her back and away from Jimmy. He moves her behind him, using his body as shield to protect her from this psycho.
“Are you all right?” Wesley doesn’t take his eyes off the other man, but his hand is still on her arm, as if he needs the physical touch to make sure she really is safe.
“I’m fine.” Isabel is proud that her voice doesn’t wobble.
“Good.” Wesley’s nod is curt, his attention fully on Jimmy who has stood up and is now advancing towards them. “Because he won’t be.”
Isabel sees the glint of steel in Jimmy’s hand and she tries to tell Wesley to stop, that the other man is armed, that she doesn’t want anything to happen to him. But her mouth seems to have lost the ability to form words, all she can do is watch what’s unfolding before her, a spectator.
Wesley doesn’t show any fear. Instead of dodging and feinting, he sprints towards the other man, catching him by surprise. He barrels into Jimmy, knocking him off balance and down onto the ground. Isabel hears the knife clatter as it hits the porch stairs and she breathes a sigh of relief that it’s been taken out of the equation. There’s a little bit of grappling on the ground, but Wesley easily overpowers the other man, pinning him underneath him on the ground as Wesley straddles his stomach.
“You want to see how soft I’ve gotten?” His words are delivered without emotion and without him pausing for breath, as if he hasn’t even broken a sweat during the scuffle with Jimmy.
He doesn’t wait for Jimmy to respond; instead he proceeds to show him just how dangerous he is. Wesley punches the man over and over again, delivering blows to his ribs and face. Isabel hears the sickening crunch of bone as he breaks the other man’s nose. But he doesn’t stop there. He carries on punching him, pulling his arm back and delivering blow after blow. Jimmy has long since stopped fighting back; it’s all he can do just to try to ward off the punches that Wesley is throwing.
“Wes.” Isabel’s voice is low and full of fear. She can see what’s about to happen and she knows that she can’t let it. If she doesn’t stop Wesley, he is going to kill Jimmy. “Wes. Stop it! It’s enough!” Her voice is stronger this time, but she’s rooted to the floor, frozen and unable to move, hypnotized by Wesley’s rhythmic pounding. “Wes! Stop!” She’s virtually screaming now and she finally seems to have broken through the haze of Wesley’s anger.
He’s breathing hard, but his arm has paused its downward trajectory towards Jimmy’s face. He seems to be struggling against himself.
“Wes, you’re not like him.” Isabel’s legs are finally obeying her and she places her hand gently on his shoulder, trying to will him into believing what she’s telling him.
Slowly he drops his hand and stands up, looking down at Jimmy as if it wouldn’t take much to change his mind and pummel the man to death right there and then. “Get up.” The hate in his voice is palpable.
Isabel is about to intervene, to say she doesn’t think Jimmy is able to stand on his own two feet when he proves her wrong. Slowly, groggily, he gets to his knees, clutching his face and his chest. Now that she’s closer, she can see the mess that was once his face. It doesn’t take a doctor to figure out he’s in bad shape.
“Get up.” Wesley’s patience is clearly running out. He grabs Jimmy by his arm and yanks him up to his feet. Jimmy looks like he’s about to collapse again, but Wesley is holding him up, leaning into his face to make sure nothing he’s about to say is lost.
“You get out of here now and tell the Dogs that if they’re worried about me going soft, they can find another enforcer.” He leans in even closer, not giving the other man any space to breathe or move away. “You don’t ever come back here. You leave Isabel alone. You don’t even say her name out loud. And you better pray that I never see you again, because if I do, there won’t be anyone on this Earth who’ll be able to stop me. I’ll kill you.” The expression on Wesley’s face clearly tells the other man this is not just an idle threat. He doesn’t say anything, just looks down at his feet, not wanting to provoke him any further. “Now get out of my sight.” Wesley gives him a shove, sending the man tumbling down the porch stairs.
He lies there sprawled out on the grass for a few moments before he somehow manages to pick himself up and half-run, half-limp out into the darkness. Isabel stares out after him, her mind still reeling by what’s just happened.
“Let’s get inside.” Wesley takes her hand in his and gently leads her back to his bedroom, setting her down on the bed.