Bittersweet Revenge by J. L. Beck

to tell him my name? Then it hits me… I don’t have to tell him my name. I’m prettier than they let on. A fire I’ve never felt before consumes me, and in my thoughts, all I see is red.  I have to clench my fist, digging my nails into my hand to hold back from clobbering this Rex look alike in his stupid fucking head.
    “Excuse me asshole, but I’m not a slut, whore, call girl, or someone that you can pay to have sex with you. I don’t take money for blow jobs, and I don’t appreciate you talking to me like I’m any of those things. So if you don’t want punched in the face right the fuck now, back off.” I’m seething, no raging with anger. A devious smile plays on his lips, and it takes everything I have in me to hold back from hurting this guy.
    “Actually you can call me Ryder, all my ex’s call me asshole, although honestly you’re not in that category yet.” His smile gives me the shivers and not in a good way, if this guy is in fact Rex’s brother, well, I already hate him.
    “Well Ryder”, I sneer. “Leave me the hell alone, I don’t know you, nor do I care to.” I pull away to leave, but realize I have nowhere to go. I have no idea where Rex is, Mimi and I are fighting, and I almost wish Corey was here. Almost.
    “Where are you going, I’m not done talking to you.” He says in a tight voice, while grabbing my shoulder to turn me around. In that moment my first reaction is fear, because I’ve already told him to leave me alone and he’s not taking no for an answer. Second is to punch him, because let’s be honest he’s already been warned. So I do just that, I clench my fist and swing blindly hitting him right in the cheek. He releases me, clutching his face, as I shriek out in pain.
    My fist is already turning black and blue as I hold it to my chest. The look on Ryder's face is anything but happy, and suddenly it occurs to me that I stood up for myself, and I punched somebody in the face. I would do a victory dance, but my hand’s hurting like a mother.
    “You little fuckin’ bitch.” He says gritting his teeth, eyes bulging out of his head, his face growing redder, and his fists clenching. Fear is etched on my face, and I let out a squeal before running toward the stairs. At this point I would rather be anywhere than where I am right now, even if I end up running into Corey.
    Taking two stairs at a time, I make it to the balcony in no time flat. I scan the crowd below for anyone I may know, but between the music and strobe lights I can’t see anything, let alone someone I would know.
                I feel someone’s hand on my back and turn around defensively ready to punch whoever it is straight in the face. Mimi’s mass of brown hair, catches my vision stopping me right in my tracks.
                “Hey are you okay?” She asks a concerned look on her face. I know fear is clearly written all over mine so I do the only thing I can to comfort myself, and I grab her in a hug.
                “It’s okay, whatever it is, it’ll be okay.” She says trying to comfort me. The words begin to flow from my mouth like an over flowing river dam. I tell her about Ryder and how I had to punch him, how I ran from him and how alone I felt.
                By the time I pull away from her to look at her face, she seems angry, but she’s also looking at me like I may have done LSD or something.
                “I’m not making this up Mimi, I want to leave. I don’t care about finding Rex right now. I care about getting out of here before I get approached again.” The thought of leaving Rex here without telling him makes me sad, but the anger I have towards him takes place of that sadness. Why didn’t he tell me?        
    “Okay. Okay.” Mimi says, looking as if she still doesn’t believe what I’m saying. This whole incident is frustrating, and a whole lot more than I can handle. All I wanted was one normal night, and I got