by Laura DeLuca
He shook his head. “We can’t afford that. Besides, I’ll have tomorrow night off for the engagement party.”
Rebecca rolled her eyes. “Do you really think trying to get our two families to co-exist peacefully is going to be a relaxing day off?”
He shrugged. “If things get too crazy, we can always sneak out the back door.”
Rebecca laughed and looped arms with him as they turned off the crowded streets and into the alleyway behind the restaurant. They were usually the last to arrive since they had the longest commute, so they were surprised to see Victoria standing beside the dumpster, still dressed in her street clothes. She wasn’t alone. As usual, Albert was beside her.
“You best tell those guys to keep their hands off you,” Albert ordered. “I ain’t gonna put up with other men touching my girl.”
“It’s part of the scene, Al,” Victoria told him. “What do you expect me to do?”
Albert huffed and grabbed hold of her wrist when she tried to pull away. “You were better off at the strip club. At least there no one was touching. They was only looking. And there you was bringing home at least a buck fifty a night.”
Victoria yanked her arm free from his grasp. “Yeah, well, you’re the one who made me take this stupid job.”
“You talkin’ back to me, hoe?” He slammed her hard against the dumpster behind them, making the metal rattle. “You know I don’t like no back talk.”
Albert obviously had no idea they were no longer alone. He raised his arm as though he meant to smack her. Victoria stumbled onto the concrete in her haste to back away, but it didn’t matter, because before he had a chance to strike, Tom grabbed his arm and twisted it behind him. At the same moment, Justyn stepped between Albert and his target, blocking Victoria from the line of fire.
“Is there a problem here?” Justyn asked, his voice eerily calm.
Albert probably wanted to scream a whole dictionary’s worth of unsavory words, but he settled for simply glaring. Tom released his arm and moved to stand beside Justyn. Both met Albert’s angry glare without flinching. Their arms were crossed, but there was no doubt they would start swinging if the need arose. Beside her, Rebecca felt Carmen grab hold of her hand and squeeze it. Rebecca was glad to know she wasn’t the only one getting nervous about the confrontation.
“My only problem is spoiled kids who don’t know their place,” Albert informed them through gritted teeth. “But it’s all good. You’ll get yours sooner or later.” He shot an angry glance at Victoria, who refused to meet his gaze. “So will you, Tori.”
Albert punched the dumpster before disappearing into the kitchen. The echo of it rattled through the alley long after he was gone. Rebecca and Carmen rushed to Victoria’s side and helped her up from the ground. She wasn’t sobbing, as Rebecca had first suspected, but instead, was more embarrassed than anything else. Her cheeks were flame-red, but even that flush couldn’t hide the fact that Albert had already managed to land at least one strike since the last show. There was a dark purple bruise under her eye the thick makeup applied couldn’t hide completely.
“You okay, girl?” Carmen asked.
“I’m fine,” Victoria barked, ripping her arm free from their grasp. “No one asked for your help, you know. I can handle Al just fine on my own.”
Justyn narrowed his eyes and gestured to her cheek. “Is that how you handle him?”
“You don’t know nothin’. I tripped, okay?”
Tom shook his head. “Sure, you did.”
“Whatever.” Victoria picked her handbag up from the ground. “I don’t have time for this, and it ain’t none of your business anyway. I’ve gotta get ready for the show.”
Victoria stomped off toward the dressing rooms. The others were surprised by her denials and lack of gratitude, but Rebecca recognized it for what it was—a defense mechanism. A lot of abused women made excuses for the men who hurt them, but it wasn’t fooling anyone. Rebecca and her friends still watched Victoria turn the corner with concern shadowing their eyes.
“I should teach that guy what it’s like to get slapped around,” Justyn said with a frown.
Rebecca huffed. While she agreed with the sentiment, she knew additional violence wasn’t the answer to Victoria’s problem. “I swear, Justyn, in most ways, you’re way more intelligent than most guys your age. But like every other idiot man who ever walked the earth, you have this stupid notion that you can kick anyone’s butt. Have you seen the size of Albert’s muscles?”
Justyn seemed offended. “I could take him.”
Rebecca only rolled her eyes. “See what I mean?”
“Well, in this case, he has backup,” Tom offered. “Seriously, that Albert guy is definitely bad news. He needs someone to teach him a lesson.”
“Just remember, you two aren’t always together,” Carmen reminded them. Rebecca was glad for the backup. “And I’m telling you two wimpy white boys right now that neither of you are going to be able to take that brother down on your own. Victoria needs to lose his sorry ass. That would be the best solution.”
Rebecca shook her head. “It isn’t always that easy. Maybe she doesn’t have anywhere else to go.”
Carmen snorted. “I’d rather sleep in a cardboard box than with that piece of trash.”
Rebecca couldn’t argue, but at the same time she had a feeling there was more to Victoria’s story than they knew. She was still determined to get through to her. Rebecca was actually glad to have the distraction of someone else’s problems to worry about for a while. She gave Justyn a quick kiss goodbye, and she and Carmen parted from the guys, who still looked slightly insulted by their girlfriends’ lack of faith in their fighting abilities.
They found Victoria and Petya in the dressing room at the makeup tables. Petya adjusted the gray wig she wore as Lady Beckinsdale that she would later rotate to a red hairpiece as scenes changed and she took on the role of the madam. The rest of the female cast were already dressed and waiting for the first act to begin.
Victoria had quickly changed into her flimsy costume, but she was struggling to cover up the offensive bruise with a bottle of foundation. When she failed miserably, she silently wiped away a few tears, and then pretended she had something stuck in her eye. Petya studied her with callous disregard as she added some rogue to her pale cheeks, but Rebecca remembered the way she felt after being attacked on her college campus. It was terrible to feel helpless, to feel like a victim. Seeing another woman in a similar position was something she couldn’t ignore.
“Why don’t you let me help you with your makeup?” Rebecca offered. “I’ve learned a trick or two from the pros at my art school. I bet I can make that bruise disappear.”
Victoria was unsure. “Really?”
“She can definitely do it,” Carmen assured her. “Becca has a magic touch when it comes to stage makeup. Trust me, Tori.”
“Don’t call me that!” Victoria snapped.
At the table beside them, Petya chuckled to herself, but didn’t speak as she outlined her bright blue eyes. Victoria and Carmen both shot Petya a dirty look almost simultaneously. Carmen had a notoriously short fuse that had gotten her into trouble more than once over the years, but she didn’t lose her cool with either of the other women. Rebecca was proud of her for biting back whatever nasty retort was itching to escape her full lips.
“Look, I’m sorry,” Victoria apologized and cast down her eyes. “It’s just … only he calls me that. I always hated that nickname. Call me Victoria, okay?”
“Sure, Victoria.” Carmen smiled. “No problem.”
After Rebecca slipped into her gown, she settled in at the lighted table with Victoria. Her movie set-quality makeup did a remarkable job patching up the damage. It took only a few gentle dabs, and the skin discoloration completely vanished. Carmen winked in approval as she admired Rebecca’s handiwork. Even Petya watched from her corner with curiosity, though she was obviously done with her own makeup.
“Look at that,” Rebecca sai
d when she was done, feeling proud of herself. “You’d never know.”
“Not bad,” Petya acknowledged with a smug smile. “But all the makeup in the world cannot make up for a lack of class.”
“Don’t listen to her.” Carmen waved her hand in dismissal once the Bulgarian beauty disappeared. “Apparently, even being a retired ballerina requires a pole to be permanently shoved up her ass. That’s why you never see a ballerina smile.”
Rebecca thought Victoria would laugh at that visual. Instead, she studied her reflection in the mirror before turning to Rebecca with suspicion in her dark eyes. “Why are you two being so nice to me? What do ya think you’re gonna get out of it?”
Carmen finally lost her patience. “Well, obviously not a thank you.”
“Carmen, hush,” Rebecca chastised and then turned back to Victoria. “I don’t expect anything. Except maybe to make a new friend.”
“Humph.” Victoria rolled her eyes. “I don’t have any friends.”
“Well, you do now,” Rebecca insisted. “Whether you like it or not. In fact, I’ve been meaning to ask you if you wanted to join me and my other friends at my house for my engagement party tomorrow night. It’s nothing fancy or anything, but Tom and Carmen will be there, and it should be fun, if I can keep my dad from killing Justyn.”
That actually made Victoria smile a little, but she didn’t respond with an affirmative to the invitation. Instead, she watched Rebecca as though she had three heads while she jotted down her address and cell phone number on a notepad lying on the table.
“The party starts at five,” Rebecca told her. “But feel free to stop by or call me anytime … and I mean anytime you need anything—day or night. I’m always available if you need a friend.”
Victoria understood the implications, and tucked the paper inside her handbag. “Thank you.” She actually sounded sincere that time. “I can’t remember the last time I had a real friend.”
Rebecca smiled. “Well, you have one now.”
“You have two,” Carmen added.
With the tension finally broken, the three girls chatted more casually as they put the finishing touches on their costumes. Victoria had a knack for styling and managed to get Rebecca’s hair to look more elegant than she imagined possible. Rebecca didn’t push Victoria to talk about what had happened with Albert, but she hoped she would be able to get through to her new friend eventually. It was going to take a little time for the trust to grow, especially when it was obvious Victoria had been hurt before.
A few minutes later, the three of them headed to the stage. The performance went beautifully, and Victoria was in high spirits as she went through her lines. Rebecca watched from the sidelines, scarcely noticing the cold draft that signified the doctor’s wife was close by. Grace was making her presence known quite regularly. To Rebecca she was starting to feel like another member of the cast—one who liked her more than her living, breathing co-workers.
Before long they reached the scene when Lucy gets beaten by one of her clients and goes to Dr. Jekyll for help healing her injuries. It was odd how the scene mirrored the current situation of abuse Victoria was facing in her real life. Justyn pretended to clean the wound caused by his alter ego, but as Victoria sang her ballad, it wasn’t Justyn’s but Rebecca’s eyes she purposely sought out across the stage.
“No one has ever showed such compassion to me.
No spark of kindness or gentleness did I ever see.
Yet, in your eyes I’ve discovered something new.
Something that seems almost too good to be true.”
It warmed Rebecca’s heart to see the honest gratitude reflected in Victoria’s expression. She knew she had accomplished something special. However, the good feelings didn’t last long. Rebecca spotted Albert at the back of the theater watching the scene unfold from the shadows. His apron was sprinkled with something that looked eerily like blood, and it made him appear even more menacing than usual as he glared up at the stage. He watched in silent fury as Justyn and Victoria feigned a kiss before she went on her way. The icy look in Albert’s eyes made Rebecca realize she might not have as much time to get through to Victoria as she thought. She had to break down those walls before her new friend wound up like Lucy—dead at the hands of a monster.
Chapter Nine
“Thank you so much for coming, Aunt Bea.”
Rebecca tried to be enthusiastic as she hugged what had to be the hundredth relative that night. Once she escaped from the grip of the overweight aunt who nearly smothered her, she smoothed out the blue cap-sleeve dress she had selected for the party. Her house was bustling with activity. The older people chatted in groups while her younger cousins darted under everyone’s feet and stole half the desserts from the buffet table her parents had set up in the living room. Rebecca’s mother was a caterer by profession, and she had arranged for a decent spread, but the staff of two servers was having a hard time keeping up with the large assembly. There were so many guests they were overflowing into the backyard, where the deejay had set up his equipment beside the ever-growing pile of gifts. Rebecca had almost forgotten how huge her family was until they tried to cram them all together under one roof.
Despite the large gathering, Justyn’s relatives were still easy to spot among the crowd. Darlene could have passed for a super model in her flowing black Bohemian skirt and dangling silver necklaces, and she certainly stood out beside the matronly women in their skirt-suits and flowered dresses. Beside her stood her husband Matt, whose blond dreadlocks reached to nearly the center of his back. He was wearing black dress pants, and Rebecca realized it was the first time she had ever seen him in anything other than jeans or his signature Guatemalan pants.
Carmen and Tom had arrived as well and were chatting with a group of old high school friends who had stopped by. However, there was no sign of Justyn. Rebecca glanced at her watch. It was almost six. The party had started close to an hour before. Rebecca knew she wasn’t the only one who noticed the groom-to-be was missing. Her father had been scowling for twenty minutes, but it wasn’t until she followed him into the kitchen to grab a few refreshments that he finally commented on the absence.
“So,” Mr. Hope said once they were alone, “do you think your fiancé plans to honor us with his presence this evening?”
Rebecca rolled her eyes. “He probably got stuck at work, Dad. Can’t you ever cut him a break?”
Mr. Hope shook his head. “Oh, Rebecca, I know you think you love this boy—”
“His name is Justyn, Dad.” Rebecca slammed a soda bottle down on the counter. “And I don’t think I love him. I do love him. That’s never going to change. Why can’t you accept him and be happy for me?”
“I’m not trying to pick a fight with you, Rebecca. I just … I worry about you. The life you’ve chosen—that this bo—that Justyn is leading you into, it’s not going to be easy.”
“Nothing worthwhile is ever easy,” Rebecca contended. “At least I’m pursuing my dreams. If the acting thing doesn’t work out, I’ll have my teaching degree as a fallback.”
“It’s still a big risk you’re taking with your life. I worry about what’s going to happen to you all alone in New York City next year.” Her father sighed. “It’s a natural instinct for any parent to try to keep their children safe. Someday when you’re a mother, you’ll understand what I mean.”
Rebecca almost dropped one of the champagne glasses she had started to unpack. She laid a hand on her belly and thought that day was going to come much quicker than any of them realized. But that certainly wasn’t news she was ready to share with her father. She had to at least warn Justyn before she sent Mr. Hope on a murderous rampage. Actually, letting Justyn know about the baby was something Rebecca hoped to accomplish before the night was out.
“I know you only want what’s best for me,” Rebecca told him. “But I’m all grown up now. You have to trust I know what I’m doing.”
Her father gave her a sad smile and reached out to touc
h her cheek. “This isn’t easy for me, you know. No matter how old you get, you’re always going to be my little girl. I find it very difficult to let you go.” He sighed again, even louder. “Sometimes I feel like I’m losing you forever. That this strange man I will never understand swooped in and stole my baby girl right out from under me.”
Rebecca heard the catch in her father’s voice as he spoke, and she felt her eyes get a little teary. She put down the glasses and squeezed his hand. She wasn’t sure exactly what to say to make him feel better. Then she remembered a similar conversation between Emma and her father in Hyde. The lyrics from their duet seemed more eloquent and fitting than any words she could come up with. She had to clear her throat first, but then Rebecca began to sing in a soft and gentle soprano,
“I will always be your daughter, father dear.
Losing me is something you need never fear.
You will always be the greatest man that I know.
But still you must learn that it’s time to let go.”
Suddenly overwhelmed by emotion, Rebecca’s voice almost cracked on the last note. Mr. Hope had to turn away to wipe a tear from his eye as well. “You do sing like an angel,” he whispered. “You’ve grown into an amazing woman, Rebecca. I really am proud of all you’ve accomplished. I hope you know that.”
“I know, Dad.”
Rebecca reached out to give her father a hug. He squeezed her with such sincere desperation it almost broke her heart. She knew she hadn’t quelled his anxiety completely. Nevertheless, there was nothing else she could say to make him understand she wasn’t going to be happy unless she was with Justyn, at least trying to fulfill their dreams of a life on the stage. Luckily, a second later, her mother’s shrill voice interrupted the awkward father-daughter moment. The shout was followed by a mop of brown hair peeking in through the kitchen door.
“Stan, are you still in there? What is taking so long? I need those drinks and trays out here now.”
