Chapter 22: Serena Grey

-- SATURDAY, APRIL 15, 2006, SENIOR YEAR --

"Elyse Laughton is dead."

I blinked twice before arching both eyebrows, hearing her words and yet absolutely certain of the identity of the young woman standing on the porch in front of me. "Dead? Uh ... You're going to have to explain that one."

She sighed, "It's a long story."

"I'm willing to hear it."

"Oh, for God's sake, Ben," Sasha grumped as she pushed past me and stepped out onto the porch. "Let the girl inside!"

With a weak smile, Elyse let Sasha grab hold of her hand and lead her inside. Since they were all still in the house and eating breakfast after this morning's five-chicks/one-dick orgy, Peyton, Andie, Jamie, and Casey had all come to the end of the hallway, curious to see who was at the door. Elyse took one look at them and stopped in her tracks. "Oh, dear. Am I interrupting something?" she asked with a wince.

I looked up at the four girls awaiting us, Andie and Jamie dressed in their slinkiest and Peyton and Casey having appropriated a dress shirt and a baggy T-shirt of mine, respectively. Technically, each of them was clothed, but it was obvious that their attire was designed more for sexual seduction than coverage. "What? No, no. These are my ... friends." I hesitated before the last word. The term 'harem girls' didn't seem appropriate. "We're just having breakfast. Are you hungry?"

Elyse eyes lit up at the mention of food. I grimaced, wondering just what kind of hellhole she'd crawled out of to look so rabid at the prospect of breakfast.

"Shouldn't we get her cleaned up?" Sasha asked pointedly before blushing in embarrassment. "I'm sorry; I don't mean to imply that you're dirty or anything. But--"

"No, it's okay," Elyse muttered. "I'm probably filthy right now."

"Let her eat something first," I suggested. "Maybe something light, like toast and some juice? Then you can get cleaned up and eat some more."

"Thank you, Ben. You're very kind." Suddenly, Elyse's face twisted into a grimace. It didn't appear to be physical, but she was feeling some kind of emotional pain. And as a deep frown creased her features, I couldn't help but reach out and wrap her up in a fierce hug.

"Ohmigawd..." I breathed while she started crying into my shoulder. "What the hell happened to you?"

She didn't answer except to keep crying. So I just kept hugging her while she shuddered in my grasp. And I hugged her. And I hugged her some more.

Eventually, she quieted down and the shuddering subsided. Breathing deeply, Elyse went so still in my arms that I began to wonder if she'd fallen asleep on my shoulder. But when I pulled back just a bit to look down and see, she stared back at me through tear-streaked eyes.

"I'm sorry," she muttered quietly.

I furrowed my eyebrows. "Sorry for what?"

"For being here. For putting this on you. You don't owe me anything, and after what I did to you when we were younger, I deserve for you to put me right back out on the street."

I gave her a stern look, and my answer was already out of my lips. I didn't think about it, didn't stop to worry about the consequences of my verbal commitments or wonder what kind of shit I was getting myself involved in. It was kind of a hallmark of my decision-making process, the White Knight instinct that the girls around me either appreciated or derided, depending on the situation. There weren't any immediate thugs to beat up, but I was jumping into the fray without a moment's hesitation. And I promised her right then and there, "I will never put you out on the street. I don't know what the hell you're messed up in, but nobody is going to hurt you on my watch. Got it?"

She started crying again.

This time, though, the waterworks didn't last very long. Instead of just standing there, I led Elyse into the living room and put her on a chair at the dining table. Sasha had left us the first time Elyse broke down crying, and she'd already arranged a plate of toast, eggs, and orange juice on the placemat.

With heartfelt gratitude and moisture in her eyes, our new guest looked up at me and the five girls around her before saying, "Thank you. This is already more than I'd hoped for. Thank you all."

"You're welcome," Sasha said, sitting down on the chair beside her and reaching out to rub the back of her hand. "Whatever it is that you're going through, you're in the right place now. I'm Sasha. That's Peyton, Casey, Andie, and Jamie. Ben, I gather, you already know."

"Elyse and I went to high school together," I said quietly.

She had already taken a bite of the toast – three actually – but the dirty, dispirited, and disheveled young woman shook her head in the negative before staring off vacantly. She fought to swallow the food in her mouth, and once she did, in a haunted voice, she began, "I told you, Elyse Laughton is dead. My name..." She blinked, and her shoulders visibly sagged before she turned and gave me an apologetic look while she finished, " ... is Serena Grey."

The name thing was still confusing me, but Peyton wouldn't let me interrogate the poor girl. She and Sasha took charge, with Peyton insisting that explanations could wait and that we should let the poor girl eat, and Sasha leading the way into the first floor bathroom so that "Serena" could take a shower.

Casey was already following them, I think more curious than interested in helping out. I, of course, was expressly forbidden from entering, and Peyton ordered Andie and Jamie to keep me occupied. Nobody was in the mood for Andie's and Jamie's usual method of "occupying" me, so the girls settled for grilling me about Elyse and our background while we sat on the living room couches. Five minutes later, Casey joined us as well, having left the actual Elyse-support to Sasha and Peyton.

I told the three girls what little I knew of Elyse. I mentioned her being the Cheer Captain and a social rival to my then-girlfriend Adrienne back in high school, although I didn't bother to go into details about her seduction attempt during Spring Break or any of the other drama she'd caused me. I explained that I'd only seen her twice since then, the first time my sophomore year when we'd had a chance encounter on the street, and the second time almost exactly two years ago at a party in the hills. Again, I didn't mention the circumstances around those meetings. I certainly wasn't about to tell them about the triple-penetration or the Voyeur Room at Carter's house.

"So that's it? A girl you barely knew in high school and only bumped into a couple of times in the last four years has come to YOU for help?" Casey looked skeptical. "I don't buy it. There's more to the story you're not telling us."

I sighed. "There are details around the manner in which we bumped into each other that I'd rather not go into right now, but I'm honestly as mystified by her arrival as you. I have no idea what she's been through to end up looking like that, nor why she'd come HERE of all places. I'm serious: I barely know the girl, and I certainly have no clue why she's telling me she's dead and that her name is 'Serena Grey'."

Jamie frowned. "Are you SURE she's your friend from high school, and you're not mixing her up with someone else you know?"

"I'm sure," I stated seriously. "She's Elyse Laughton ... or at least, what's left of her."

Andie hadn't said much, and she still didn't. Instead, my bottle-blonde "cutie" merely wrapped her arms around me in a hug, laying her head on my shoulder and squeezing me just to let me know she was here for me. I appreciated it and patted her forearm.

Casey and Jamie spent the next couple of minutes asking me questions, mostly further variations on 'How do you know her?' and 'Why would she come to you?' When I didn't come up with anything new or relevant, they switched gears to talk about Elyse's physical condition.

"Did you see her dress?" Jamie wondered aloud.

"Looked like she'd been wearing it for a few days," Casey replied with a nod.

"And she wasn't wearing any underwear, period."

"I noticed the lack of bra. You sure she didn't have any panties?"

Jamie shrugged. "I didn't see a line. Maybe she had a G-string or something else ... maybe. But that dress was pretty sheer."

"And it was filthy. Like she'd slept in a gutter last night."

"Or something. Her hair and face were all messed up too. Did you see the bruises? They're faint, but you can tell someone's been beating the shit out of her."

Casey made a face.

"We should loan her some clothes," Andie finally spoke up. "She's a lot bigger than me, though. Jamie, do you have something that'll fit her?"

Jamie nodded but replied, "Sasha went upstairs during breakfast and got some of hers, already."

Casey stared off into space, shaking her head slowly. "What the hell happened to that girl? I mean, you hear about people falling into some bad shit, like in the news. But I've never seen someone look so wrecked. Hey Ben, was she always skinny like that?"

I shook my head. "Not like that. She had a good figure. Liked to keep herself slim, mostly her ego if I remember. But she'd never been anorexic or anything. Definitely not ... hollow ... like that."

"Did you see how fast she finished off that plate of food?" Jamie said, her voice still full of amazement. "I mean, how long has it been since she ate anything?"

Casey suddenly sat up. "You think she escaped from somewhere? Like, maybe somebody is gonna come after her? With like guns and shit?"

Andie's grip around my neck suddenly tightened. "Maybe we should call the police."

"Not a bad idea," I agreed. "But I think we should at least let her explain a little more about her situation. If there's someone after her, then hell yeah we'll call. But there are scenarios under which the authorities would bring her more problems than solutions. The last time I saw her, she wasn't exactly ... well ... in a normal situation. But at the same time, she didn't look like she was being held against her will. She was with her boyfriend, and they were into a pretty intense scene and all, but not like this."

"What WAS it like?" Casey asked. "Sex? Drugs?"

I shrugged and nodded.

"Really BAD shit?"

I grimaced. "Not my kind of scene, which is why I never went back. But like I said, she seemed to be comfortable with where she was at. Then again, that was two years ago. A lot has apparently happened since then."

It turned out, that was a major understatement.

Elyse was a brand new woman when she came out of DJ's old bedroom. Sasha and Peyton had taken the time to really clean her up and dress her in one of Sasha's comfortable pajama sets. They'd even taken the time to let her apply some makeup, and despite her skeletal figure and gaunt cheeks, Elyse was still a strikingly beautiful young woman.

Now devoid of the dirt smudges and with her bruises covered by foundation, nothing marred the elegant structure of her face. Her prominent cheekbones were model-esque, and the makeup enhanced the shape of her already alluring green eyes. Already standing 5'11", she looked even lengthier with her slimmed-down physique. Yet whatever weight she'd lost in the past two years, she hadn't lost much definition in her tits. They were still very big, very round, and very firm, especially as they were now supported by a borrowed bra. Plus, those extra inches of height left a strip of her bare belly exposed between the hem of her pajama top and the waistband of the matching pants, and I'm somewhat ashamed to say that despite the gravity of the situation, I couldn't help but feel sexually attracted to her.

But the beauty of her body aside, there was no escaping the deep frown on her face. One look at it and any sense of arousal was dashed. I sat up straight and watched as she approached me before coming to a stop in front of the couch, looking at me expectantly. But I was so busy checking her out from head-to-toe that it took Andie poking me in the ribs to make me say anything.

"You look nice," I managed to croak.

Elyse gave me a small smile. Canting her head to the side, she asked, "Can we talk?" Her eyes darted to Andie, still draped around me, as well as to Casey and Jamie. And then she added, "Alone?"

"Oh, of course," Andie chirped, letting go of me and sitting back.

"Sorry," Elyse apologized. "You've all been so kind, but--"

"Don't have to explain," Jamie interrupted. "It's okay."

I got up off the couch and gestured toward the stairs before leading the way. Elyse followed, and Sasha and Peyton headed for the couches to join the others. No doubt Jamie and Casey would grill them as much as they had just grilled me.

I went straight to the armchairs in my sitting area, and Elyse closed my bedroom door behind us before joining me. I chuckled to myself, thinking of all the really intense conversations I'd had in these two chairs over the past year. I already knew this would be one more.

"So about the name..." I began, eyebrows raised as Elyse sat down opposite me.

She perched on the edge of her seat, knees together and arms across her midsection, her palms holding onto both elbows. Clearly nervous, Elyse glanced out the window for a moment before fixing her gaze on the floor between us. "Yeah, the name thing..."

"Do you want me to call you 'Serena' or something?"

She made a face. "I'd rather you didn't. THEY called me that." She trailed off without explaining who 'they' were.

"Um, okay. 'Elyse' it is. But now I'm even more confused."

She took a deep breath and exhaled for a long few seconds. She was clearly trying very hard to maintain her composure, and her head was bowed as she fidgeted with her hands in her lap. "The short answer is that legally, I'm not Elyse anymore. My driver's license says that my name is Serena Grey. That's the name I've used – the name they've called me – for the last several months."

I blinked twice, surprised and even more confused than before. "Okay, maybe you should start at the beginning. Or actually ... maybe you should start with why you're here. You're 'Elyse' to me and that's what I'll call you. But I guess what's really important is what you think I can do for you."

She winced and looked up at me with large, luminous green eyes. She took a deep breath and blinked several times, clearly concentrating with furrowed eyebrows. And when she spoke it was with the careful diction of one who had rehearsed what she had to say.

"I know you don't owe me anything. And I know I don't have much to offer you." She stopped, blinked a few more times, and almost nervously fiddled with the top button of her borrowed pajama top, as if she were readying herself to open it. "But I came to plead for help. I won't ask for much: just a roof over my head and maybe a meal or two. I can't stay on the street anymore, and I'm really hoping you'll ... you'll..."

She began sniffling as her rehearsed speech started breaking down. I waited a moment to see if she'd recover herself, but when her face twisted into a grimace and she clenched her eyes shut as if in pain, I reached out to reassuringly rub her knee. But the instant my hand touched it, she jerked away, twisting both knees to the side as she recoiled against the backrest with obvious fear in her eyes.

"Hey, hey!" I exclaimed instantly, raising both hands in the air as I backed away. Sitting upright in my own chair, I kept my distance and explained, "Not trying to hurt you."

Blinking rapidly, Elyse studied me for a few seconds, weighing my words before nodding rapidly. I started to relax, but when her head kept nodding rapidly with no sign of stopping, I started to worry about Elyse's mental stability.

But she explained while nodding, "I know you're not. I know ... I know..." Her voice trailed off as her gaze turned to the side while she kept nodding, as if in doing so she could convince herself of my innocent intentions. All of a sudden, she stopped nodding, and she looked over at me with an apologetic expression. "I'm sorry. After everything I've been through, I think I'm just a bit jumpy about guys touching me unexpectedly."

"No touching, got it," I said with an exaggerated smile and my best impression of open, honest eyes.

"I'm sorry I reacted that way."

"You don't have to apologize."

"No, I do. I mean, I didn't have a problem with it when you hugged me by the front door. Actually..." She blushed as she glanced up at me. "I kinda liked it. It felt nice. I don't remember the last time a guy just ... hugged ... me. At least not without him wanting ... well..."

I grimaced as her voice trailed off. "The last thing I want to do is make you uncomfortable, alright? I'll keep my hands to myself."

Pursing her lips, Elyse nodded and straightened herself back out again, although she was still bent over with her hands in her lap. She went quiet and furrowed her eyebrows again, trying to figure out what to say next.

"So back to what you think I can do for you," I began. "Roof over head, a few meals: those are easy. I've got plenty of space, and we've got plenty of food."

"I don't have any money," she said, her head bowed in shame. "I honestly have nothing to pay you with."

"I'm not asking for payment."

She took a deep breath, and as she exhaled she rather nervously glanced up at my face. "Where I've been, everything has a cost."

"Well, I might ask you to do a couple of chores around the house," I said breezily with a smirk. "Do the dishes, fold my laundry, go take notes in class so I can sleep in, that sort of thing, and we'll call it square."

Elyse snorted, quite loudly and quite rudely, and she blushed bright pink as she covered up her mouth and nose with one hand. I knew she'd been thinking about sexual favors as payment, and apparently my response bemused her.

"Really," I began more seriously. "I'm not going to ask anything of you. You're clearly in need, and I already promised I'd never put you back on the street. I want to help you, no strings attached, alright?"

Elyse started crying, and she'd gone back to hugging herself with her palms on both elbows. As her face turned ugly and she bowed her head, she looked so pitiful and frail that the instinct to reach out and physically comfort her kicked in again. But I remembered the way she'd reacted when I rubbed her knee, so I held myself in check for about three seconds.

Still, she kept on crying and I didn't know what else to do, so I reached forward again, quite deliberately and quite slowly as I showed her my hand and let her see me approaching all the way. This time, Elyse didn't recoil as I touched her shoulder and began rubbing it. And after a few seconds of doing that without any adverse reactions, I moved over to kneel beside her chair. And for the second time today I wrapped her up in a warm hug.

As before, it took a little while for Elyse to calm down, but eventually her tears stopped and her breathing was slow and steady. Her face buried against my shoulder, she went still enough that I wondered again if she'd fallen asleep. But when I turned my head to look down at her, she took a deep breath and sat back in her chair, wiping at her tears with both hands.

"I'm sorry," she muttered. "I don't mean to keep breaking down on you."

"It's okay," I replied gently. "I can't imagine what you've been through."

"No you can't," she mumbled even more softly, and she threatened to start crying again. But inhaling deeply, she forced herself to remain calm and finished wiping away her last tears.

"I just want to help you," I said sincerely.

"You've already helped me," she replied, her voice sounding stronger as she sat up a little straighter. "Just by letting me be here. You ... well ... I guess Sasha and Peyton ... have fed me and clothed me and let me feel safe for the first time since ... since ... Fuck, I don't remember the last time I was someplace safe, but I feel safe here.

I nodded. "You are."

She eyed me a little warily. "I'm sorry, but I've heard that before. Kind man off the street, looking like the type who wants to rescue the damsel in distress. And then in the middle of the night I find his hand over my mouth and his erection pressing against my hip while he..." Her voice trailed off.

I shrank back in my seat, trying to appear as unthreatening as possible. "That's not me," I stated softly.

"I know." She did that nodding thing again, continually nodding while she repeated, "I know, I know, I know. You're not that kind of guy. You've been nothing but kind to me since you opened that door. You haven't leered at me, or tried to cop a feel. You've talked to me like I was a human being, not a toy."

I grimaced, thinking of what kind of people she must've been around who didn't treat her so kindly.

"Look, I really have no reason to trust you," she began, desperate hope in the eyes of a still wary face. "I don't know you; you don't know me. But you said you wouldn't put me out on the street and I want to believe that. Despite being lied to by every guy I've ever been around for the past three, four years, I want to believe you. Because even though I don't know you, I know Adrienne. I know her secrets, I know what she went through, and I think I know what you've done for her. And now she's a world famous supermodel jet-setting around the globe."

I arched an eyebrow. "You ... thought I could do the same for you or something?"

Elyse barked a short laugh, and flashed me the first genuine smile I'd seen from her in a long, long time. Shaking her head, she replied, "No. Of course not. But... (sigh) ... I've pretty much hit rock-bottom here..."

She trailed off again, her eyes unfocusing as she returned to some dark place I couldn't imagine, nor did I really want to. I waited her out, and at length she started talking again.

"You really don't know where I've been or what I've had to do for the last few months." Pursing her lips and still hugging herself, she continued with an almost catatonic stare to nowhere, "It's ugly ... and filthy ... and I don't even really want to think about it, especially about these last couple of days. But I'm trying to crawl out of the hellhole I've put myself in, and really, I have nowhere else to go."

"Nowhere? No other friends or relatives?" I arched an eyebrow, but tempered my skepticism when she shrank before me. "Not trying to foist you off on someone else. It's just that I find it hard to believe I was your number one option. C'mon, you barely know me and have no reason to believe I won't take advantage of you."

Shaking a little with nervousness, Elyse started doing that nodding thing again. "You won't ... you won't..." She blinked a couple of times before muttering, "Adrienne promised me."

That rocked my head back. "Adrienne? You've actually talked to her recently?"

"Just this morning." She let go of her elbows and glanced out the window. Keeping her gaze there, she continued explaining, "Took forever to get through her handlers and actually get her on the phone. It was her idea that I come to you, actually."

I furrowed my eyebrows at that.

Elyse looked back at me and shrugged. "She gave me your address, and she also said she'd call you, but I'm guessing you two didn't get in touch?"

With a frown, I dug into my pocket to retrieve my cell phone. I certainly hadn't talked to Adrienne or gotten any messages from her this-- Oops. I guess I had. My phone's Call Log showed both a missed call and a voicemail from Adrienne, and I also had a text that read: call me back asap. Im snding elyse to u.

Checking the timestamps, I gathered that Adrienne had been trying to call me while I was on the phone with Kim this morning, and I must have been so engrossed in that conversation that I didn't notice the call waiting beeps. Afterwards, everything had happened so fast that I simply never checked my phone until just now.

"Um, okay..." I muttered. "I was pretty busy this morning and must've missed her call."

"Busy? Yeah, I'll bet." Elyse's eyes darted downward and to the side, in the vague direction of my living room which would currently be occupied by five scantily-clad coeds. A look of apprehension filled Elyse's face, her wariness coming back. "What's with that, by the way? I'm trying to trust here. I really have nowhere else to go, and I want to believe so badly that I'm not making a huge mistake coming here for help. But I'm sorry, the last few guys I knew who kept groups of girls around them for pleasure were not very nice men."

"Carter?" I asked quietly.

Elyse picked her eyes up, looked at me for a moment, and averted her eyes once more. She shrugged noncommittally.

"Even after all this time, you're still with him?"

Head down in shame, she sighed, "Him ... others ... just part of that scene..."

I grimaced, and given her current state, I felt the need to explain, "We're not friends, you know, Carter and I. We only met the couple of times."

"Oh I know. If you were friends, believe me I'd have seen you more often. You probably would have fucked me a few times by now as well." The bitter tone in her voice made it clear that such a sexual encounter wouldn't have been entirely consensual.

"Yeah, well ... I'm not like him."

"I hope not..." She wouldn't look at me as she went back to hugging herself and doing that nodding thing again. "But the thing is ... the jaded part of me sees five girls wearing skimpy PJs, you know? And I get to wondering what kind of leverage you're holding over them."

I held my hands up straight away. "It's not like that. We're all friends. You just met them; do they seem like they're here against their will? Every girl downstairs is here by her own choice."

Elyse stared off behind my right ear, and she swallowed thickly. "I always had a choice, too," she mumbled. "But my choices were always between a rock and a hard place, forced choices to the point where I really had NO choice."

I blinked. "Elyse ... what HAPPENED to you?"

She sighed and looked away. "Crystal meth happened to me."

"You became an addict?"

She snorted. "I think 'addict' is putting it mildly."

"But you're not anymore."

"Of course I am," she scoffed before shaking her head sadly. "I'm just ... I'm just trying to crawl my way out of the hole."

"So that's what this is about? Escaping Carter?"

She shook her head and started staring vacantly behind me again. "No. Carter's an asshole, and he's a manipulative, sociopathic bastard, but he's never held me against my will. I was always free to walk away, only ... well ... It was my choice, you see. My choice ... My choice..." she mumbled in a haunted tone, as if it were a mantra that had been drilled into her time and again.

I sensed her drifting again, and I leaned forward and put my elbows on my knees. The movement drew her attention, and she snapped back to reality.

"I always had the choice to leave," she explained with a resigned sigh. "But I couldn't. In the end, no matter how much it hurt, I always chose to stay..."

I frowned, not quite understanding.

"I chose that until now. This isn't about escaping Carter. This is about escaping my addiction." Elyse started crying again. "If anything, I'm going to need YOU to hold me against my will."

Hold her against her will? What? My sense of alarm rose as she began choking up, her breathing erratic, with panic in her eyes.

Thrusting her hands forward, she presented me with her wrists and practically sobbed, "Hold me here, alright? Don't let me go back to him. Don't let me go back to the drugs, no matter how much I scream at you and order you to let me go."

I put my hands on the armrests and rolled forward onto the balls of my feet, instinctively putting myself in a better position to defend myself as Elyse's eyes got wilder and her movements became more spastic.

Her lips quivering, she shook her head and let the tears roll while crossing her arms over her chest and gripping her own shoulders so tight I thought her fingernails might draw blood. She started rocking back and forth, whimpering and crying while she explained, "I've tried this before, you see. Tried and failed. I've asked other friends to protect me from myself, to not let me go back to my addictions. In the end, they always caved." Shaking her head, she added bitterly, "Everyone always caves."

I wanted to tell her I wouldn't cave, that I'd succeed where others had failed. But the fact was that I didn't know enough of what the hell was going on to make empty promises like that. And as much as I wanted to reassure her that I was here to help, I couldn't stand the idea of only being the next in line to let her down.

Elyse started laughing out of nowhere, a crazed look on her face before she abruptly stopped and looked at me with the saddest, most haunted eyes I'd ever seen on a human being. Shaking her head slowly, she cried again and whimpered, "Maybe they cared too much to see me in that kind of pain, even though everyone knew it was in my best interest that I break free. Maybe they didn't care that much about me, remembering too much of the grief I'd caused them so that deep down, they really wanted me to fail. I dunno."