Magazine Quality

+++

Completely depressed, Patrick gave up at that. Of all the people on the entire planet that Karen might go out with, the worst possible choice from his point of view would be Terry.

Then he found out just days later that Karen had dropped out of school, no one had any idea at all of why. She was just gone one day, not a word to anyone.

For a couple of weeks, he felt completely miserable. Finally Jonas had enough, sat down and gave him a talking to.

"You need to get off of your dead ass and go get that girl! If you have to camp out in the street in the rain, do it, for God's sake." He said.

Finally Patrick called Margeret, figuring Karen was there, hoping she would at least talk to him.

"Karen is really unhappy right now, Patrick. She won't talk to anyone. I don't want to talk about it either over the phone, why don't you come by when you get home on break? I need to sit down and speak to you privately about it." She told him. She sounded completely upset about something.

Patrick had a sinking feeling about that, but there was nothing he could do until the semester ended.

The day he got home, he again called Karen's Mother, she asked him to meet her at a local Coffee shop.

"How much do you care for my daughter?" Margeret asked him the moment he sat down.

"I..I guess I am not 100% sure, but I think I was falling in love with her." He answered, as honestly as he could.

"I know she really does care for you, but she is afraid. Something happened and now she thinks you won't want her any more. She has always been very sensitive, partly my fault I guess."

"Happened? What happened?" Patrick asked.

"Karen. She was...raped. By that boy, that Terry. She told me when she came home, we even talked to the police but there were three of them and they all denied it. Even the woman that was there. So the police couldn't do anything at all. They tested her, put her through all of that, but he must have used a...condom." Her eyes were damp, she reached up and wiped at them.

"Oh, God, no!" Patrick put his head in his hands.

"She is afraid that you would go try to do something about it, and she doesn't want you hurt."

"I think I will get a gun and go...."

"That's exactly what she is afraid of, she doesn't want you to be hurt or get into trouble."

"Why in the world did she even go out with him?"

"She had that fight with Jennifer, that was over you. I know about that, you told me. Young men find it hard to resist....sex...and Jennifer is a very pretty young lady so I don't blame you, not really. But Karen did, and she was upset."

"But Terry?"

"Well, he started being nice to her, she was still mad at Jennifer...and at you..so when he asked her for a date, she decided to go."

"Oh, God."

"Young women can do some silly things sometimes, it was a mistake, she was angry with Jennifer...and you. Terry apparently did that deliberately, took advantage to get even with you for being with Jennifer."

Patrick sat there trying to think, his vision blurred from his eyes being wet.

"God, this is all my fault, what do I do now?" He asked her finally.

"It's not your fault, it is that terrible man's fault. Give it time, if you do care for her, let it show. She is still upset and frightened, but inside she is still my same little girl." Margeret's eyes were trickling with tears now.

+++

Over the next few weeks, Patrick went to dinner at their house many times, Karen at first was reserved and would barely respond when he tried to talk with her, but a few times it was like she would forget and the same happy young lady would come out.

Then one evening they were sitting on the porch, it was a balmy night. They had a slider bench out there, she was using her feet to slowly rock the two of them back and forth.

"Do you want to talk about it?" She asked suddenly.

"Only if you want to." Patrick answered, knowing exactly what she meant.

Karen went into detail, her words coming out in a rush, almost like if she stopped then she would not be able to go on. Patrick sat and held her hand quietly.

"He hurt me, ruined me. He made me...bleed." She broke down and sobbed, her face turned away from him.

"I am so sorry, Karen. But he didn't ruin you, you are still the same wonderful person."

"I don't feel that way, I feel...dirty."

Patrick held her as she sobbed quietly.

"Who was the other couple?" He asked when she finally fell silent.

"Stanley Porter, and a girl named Bella. I don't know her but Stanley is..."

Patrick nodded. He knew who Stanley was, a loud mouth jerk from back in high school that was always in some kind of trouble. He hadn't recognized him that night in the dark. He had heard rumors that he was now part of a biker gang but wasn't sure of it.

"Don't you do anything! If you got hurt that would just make everything worse!" She said.

"I won't, I have no plans at all." He lied.

"I'm really sorry, I wanted to be..pure...when I...?" She looked at him with her eyes large, her lip quivering.

"You have nothing to be sorry about, you still are the same person, and I still love you." Patrick told her.

She stared at him for a moment.

"You never said that to me before."

"I should have. I have loved you for a long time."

"God, I have loved you since we were little kids! When I found out that you and Jennifer...It was like the whole world ended right there!" She hugged him so tightly that for a moment he almost couldn't breathe.

"Jennifer is nothing at all compared to you." Patrick told her.

+++

Things got much better after that, there was no need to speak about any of that at all. Karen even allowed him to once again work on her scars with his fingers, he was cautious though until one day she asked him with a smile why he didn't kiss her there like he used to.

"I want to but..." Patrick grinned at her.

"Well, do it then!" She lay back with a smile. So Patrick did, Karen always seemed to love it when he nibbled at her bare breasts. It was also a delight to stroke her stomach, tickle her navel which she liked so much. He made no real attempt at more than that, though.

Once after they had spent literally hours petting in her bedroom, he came out to find Margeret sitting in her chair in the living room. She looked up at him and winked. He decided that Margeret was one hell of a woman.

+++

Patrick never mentioned to either of them, but he signed up for afternoon classes at a local Karate studio. For one thing, if they even had an idea that he had plans on trying to handle Terry they very likely would have thrown a fit, at least Karen would have.

Margeret he wasn't sure of, she probably would have taken Terry on herself given half the chance.

He only had a few weeks left before his classes started again, so he paid careful attention to what he was taught.

The parts that interested him were the elements of surprise, how to flick out a blow without allowing his body to telegraph the motion, angles that gave leverage to over power strength. There was no way in hell that he was going to ever become a well versed fighter in the short time he had, so he learned a few holds and ways to hurt someone badly and quickly.

One day the instructor demonstrated a hold he found fascinating.

"If you get a grip on someone just like this, I don't care how big or how strong they are, you will have them!" He said, lightly applying a choking grip which made Patrick's head swim in seconds.

He also used the weight room they had, forcing his muscles into total agony and beyond. Results are fairly quick when a person does that.

He had learned how to kick, the sound of his leg hitting the heavy bag had gone from a soft thumping sound to a very solid whack. The instructor pounded it into him over and over that the blow was not delivered at the object, but through it. Stretch exercises now allowed him to strike the very top of the bag with that satisfying sound instead of the middle.

All of that had added a more confident air to his walk. Margeret noticed that, she noticed everything.

"Have you been working out?" Margeret asked him one day. Patrick had dropped by, he was wearing blue jeans and a T-shirt, having just showered after a session at the studio. The change was subtle but obvious, his upper body had firmed up nicely and he now felt fairly solid at 170 pounds.

Even his legs had thickened and become limber.

"Yes, a little." He grinned at her when she asked.

"You be careful, honey." She told him with knowing eyes, then she just grinned. She didn't make any other comments, but Patrick knew he could hide nothing from that lady.

+++

The day Patrick left for school was tearful, he had tried to convince Karen to go back but she refused, saying she could never go back there and chance running into Terry again.

Patrick had plans of doing exactly that. Terry he knew would respond with violence if he stood up to him.

It took less than a week. Patrick was back living with Jack and Jonas, the new room mate was a young man named Carlton. Jonas and Carlton seemed to be quite close, Patrick just grinned to himself at that. Marcus had joined a ball team and was playing in the semi pros.

He had just walked into the lobby, when Terry came in with another jock he didn't know.

"Well, I'll be damned! The wimp is back!" He sneered. Patrick set his books down, turned and looked at Terry.

"You really are a piece of shit, aren't you?" He said.

"What? You little fuck, I will whip your ass!" He glared.

"I know what you did to Karen, you worthless bastard." Patrick told him.

"Yea, so what? The slut had it coming." Then Terry advanced at him. Patrick dropped into his stance, just like he had been taught.

"What the fuck is this?" Terry stopped and laughed, looking him up and down with a sneer, glancing back at his buddy who was standing there grinning.

Then he turned and swung a huge fist.

Every single aspect of Patrick's far too brief training went right out the window at that, he tried to backhand Terry in the abdomen but missed and hit his ribcage which had no effect at all. He felt the impact as Terry's fist struck home, it made his eyes blur. Then Terry was on him, grabbing him and slamming him down to the floor, knocking the wind out of him.

On sheer instinct, Patrick turned his head and sunk his teeth into Terry's right cheek. He bit down with all his strength, Terry let out a howl and pulled back. Patrick managed to get his left arm free, he leaned forward and slid his wrist behind Terry's ear, then rapped him behind the other ear with the knuckles of his right hand.

Terry's eyes glazed for a moment, Patrick rolled and twisted loose and was back on his feet in a flash. Terry was just starting to rise when the left foot hit him right upside the head with a resounding smack, he tipped over to his own left and put a hand down to the floor to catch himself.

When Patrick's right leg snapped out, it hit Terry full in the face. Blood flew from his smashed nose, he went over backwards as Patrick took one step forward. The next blow landed exactly where he aimed it, right between Terry's open legs.

A gush of air exploded from his mouth as he fell back. The other man's mouth was open in surprise, then he reacted and reached out to grab Patrick. He suddenly found the two smallest fingers of his hand trapped, Patrick shoved straight down, feeling the bones snap backwards. Then he rotated the man's hand, getting a rewarding high pitched scream.

He released the man's hand, knowing he was probably all done. Since the man was turned away slightly, Patrick side kicked him in the ribcage, he went straight forward and down.

The surprise was that now Terry was actually getting up, Patrick's second mistake was hesitating. Terry lowered his head and charged again.

Patrick punched him in the face, but Terry didn't even slow down as he bowled him over onto his back again. Fists flailed at him as he twisted and turned. He could hear the other man yelling.

"Kill the motherfucker!" The second man was screaming, Patrick got a glimpse of him standing there leaned over, holding his one hand with the other. He tried some chops to Terry's neck with the edge of his palms but it was hard to have any effect since he was jammed down on his back with the large man's weight on him. He felt his head swim, knew he was going to pass out.

"Fucking motherfucker, next chance I get I am gonna fuck your girlfriend again!" Terry growled, still swinging with all his might.

That did it. In a blinding rage, Patrick gave a mighty heave, managing to tip Terry's body off of him to the side. He rolled and got his arm around his throat, reached up and grasped his wrist with the other hand. Then he got his legs hooked, twisted him back with all of his might. Terry flopped and struggled, but he had the choke hold in deep.

Patrick clamped down with all the strength he had. The big body quit struggling, then went limp, Patrick kept the hold on, continued to bear down. He felt things begin to give in Terry's throat.

He knew he was killing the man, with his mind blurred in a red haze, he fully intended to.

Someone grabbed him, dragged him backwards. He let go, glancing back he saw it was Jack that had stopped him.

"Jesus!" Patrick heard someone else exclaim, he looked over and Jonas stood there.

"He came at me." Patrick said.

"Yes, we saw that, Jack and I were just coming out when we heard the yelling. You whipped him, you actually whipped him!" Jonas exclaimed, almost in glee.

Looking around, Patrick saw the other man was gone. Terry lay on the floor, Jack was now pumping away at his chest. Terry suddenly took a deep gasp.

"Much as I would enjoy it, it wouldn't do to kill this motherfucker. The asshole ain't worth the fucking trouble." He grinned up at Patrick.

Jonas grabbed Patrick and started wiping at him, he had gone and grabbed the medical kit out of the room.

"Man, you are chopped up, that was one hell of a scrap!" He said. Patrick just stood there and let him work.

A few minutes later, two policemen arrived. One of them was the same man who had arrived after the scuffle with Terry before. Jonas spoke with them, then they asked Patrick if he wanted to press charges.

"No. Hopefully this is the end of trouble with this guy."

"I doubt it, this makes at least four times we have had to put up with him, but it looks like you handled the situation. No problem, self defense, you have lots of witnesses." The cop grinned at him.

An ambulance crew arrived, Terry was still out. They tended to him, finally they had to run a tube down his throat to keep him breathing. Then they loaded him up on a stretcher and hauled him away.

"This guy isn't going to be able to swallow for a month!" One of them said as they rolled him out.

"He isn't going to be raping anyone for a long time, either. We know about that, too bad we can't hang him for it." The cop said, reaching out and touching Patrick on the shoulder.

That actually hurt, Patrick knew he was going to be very sore.

Jennifer came down the stairs just as they picked Terry up.

She looked at Terry, then at Patrick in surprise.

"What happened?" She asked.

"Your asshole boyfriend attacked me so I beat him up." Patrick grinned at her.

She just stood there blinking, with that same odd smile on her face.

"You did?" She asked, in surprise.

Patrick didn't answer, just retrieved his books and went to his room.

He felt sick inside, wondering how he had ever seen anything at all in Jennifer. She was beautiful, beyond belief on the outside. On the inside was nothing at all, he knew that now for sure.

+++

The story poured through the campus in just a few hours, Patrick found quickly that nearly everyone looked at him with a new respect. The smirks that he had been getting as a result of Jennifer's stories changed. Terry had bullied quite a few people, it seemed.

The other sudden change was that some of the women now showed an interest in him that they hadn't had before. But Patrick showed no interest in return, he had just one woman on his mind.

By the end of the month, he heard that Terry had been released from the hospital, he dropped out of school and left town.

Patrick just went back to his studies, and he called Karen each and every night. When he could afford to, he went home for a weekend so he could spend time with her. He was now spending far more time at her house than he was at his own folk's place. One evening at home, Patrick sat down with his parents and told them what he planned.

His Mother went into her bedroom came out and handed him a tiny box.

"This is my Mom's rings, honey. I saved them for you, for this day." Then she hugged him as his Dad grinned at him over the top of his ever present newspaper.

+++

On one of those weekends visiting, he had gone down to the hardware store to get a new faucet for Margeret's sink. He came back out with his purchase, had just opened the door to the pickup when he looked up and saw Stanley standing there. The man was dressed in biker's garb, his bare arms tattooed, his long hair stringy.

He hadn't really thought much about him.

They just looked at each other.

"What do you want?" He asked Stanley, after a few moments.

"I wanted to talk to you."

"About what?"

"That deal with your gal, that wasn't my idea."

"I didn't figure it was."

"Terry told us some stuff that wasn't true, so we have been looking for him. Then I figured since I was there you might be looking for me."

"I was, but now I don't care."

"That's good, there are quite a few of us." He grinned at that comment.

"If I wanted you, it wouldn't make any difference." Patrick told him.

"I didn't think so. I heard all about you." Stanley laughed.

"Hey, if you ever see Terry anywhere, let us know, OK? Our club women are one thing, but...You know how it is, we don't tell cops nothing." His voice trailed off.

Patrick knew about that, they had their own code. Some things are best to just let be.

"I don't think I will see him again, but if I do, I will take care of that myself."

Stanley looked Patrick up and down, grinned and nodded, turned and walked away. Patrick got in the truck and went home, everything seemed to be settled.

After he had taken a shower, he drove over and installed the faucet for Margeret. She thanked him and gave him a hug.

"Can I ask you a question?" He said.

"Sure, honey. Anything."

"I want to ask Karen to marry me."

Margeret's eyes almost instantly dampened.

"About time, Patrick." She said softly.

"Do you think Karen will like this?" He reached into his pocket and showed her the ring set he had gotten from his Grandmother, he had taken the stones to have them reset for her.

"She sure will, from you she would be tickled with anything at all but that is beautiful."

"Thank you." He told her, as she stood up and hugged him, kissing him lightly on the cheek.

Then feeling happy, he went over and tapped on Karen's bedroom door. He felt reasonably secure in what her answer would be.

"Come on in, Patrick." He heard her call out.

She knew it was him, of course. She also knew why he was there, she wasn't deaf. She felt giddy with happiness.

He stepped through the door to the rest of his life, a smile on his face.

Magazine quality. Patrick knew that was what waited for him. He had learned the difference.

Magazines just have pictures, real is what's inside.