by Daisy Allen
Marius takes off, his arms pumping by his sides as he makes ground on my brother. I follow, ignoring his plea for me to stay put.
“Jez! Stop!” Marius calls out to his friend. But his words mean nothing to Jez right now.
“I’m going to fucking kill you!” Jez shouts as he comes within feet of the Maestro.
I summon all the air in my lungs and beg my brother, “JEZ! Please no!”
Somehow, Marius gains on him, and slams his body into Jez’s back, pulling him to the ground. I run to them, the air rasping in my lungs.
“Get the FUCK off of me, Marius! He can’t get away with this!” Jez struggles, but Marius holds tight.
“And he won’t, man. We’ll make sure of it. He won’t.”
“Jez!” I pant, catching up with him.
I fall to my knees in front of him. “Jez, please. It’s not worth it. You’ve hurt yourself over him before. I’m okay, see? I’m okay.” I look him in the eye and give him the biggest smile I can.
He doesn’t say anything, but his eyes fill with tears. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry. Oh my god, I’m so, so sorry.”
“Hey, hey hey… there’s nothing to be sorry for, big brother. I’m fine.” I nod, trying to get him to see that I really am okay.
There’s the sound of movement and we watch, as if in slow motion, the Maestro pull himself to his feet.
“You’re nothing but a two-bit talentless nobody. I can’t believe I wasted my time on you.” He spits, wiping blood from his mouth.
I close my eyes and let his words wash over me. They mean nothing to me now. I am free. I open my eyes again, just in time to see, Marius spring to his feet and run towards the Maestro. “Marius, stop!” I yell, reaching for him, but he’s too fast.
He leaps for the Maestro and I see the glint of the knife’s blade a split second too soon.
“Marius! He’s got a knife!” I yell as I run to them, ignoring the pain in my ankle. They fall to the ground as I reach them, rolling away as they wrestle. The Maestro pulls back for a moment and then his whole body thrusts forward. Marius grunts in pain, his body crumples, then lays still. The Maestro jumps back up to his feet and runs off into the night.
“Oh my god! Marius!” I yell, turning his body over, checking him for wounds. “Marius! Speak to me.”
“Uhhhhh.”
“Oh my god, where are you hurt?? TELL ME!”
“Fucker… fucker’s got a bony fucking knee.” He manages to say.
“Oh my god, are you okay?”
“No! I’m not okay, I’m going to have to cart my gonads around in a wheelbarrow for days, that’s how swollen they’re going to be,” he says, gaining his breath back.
“What? What about the knife? Did he get you?” My hands run all over him, but there’s no blood.
“You mean this knife?” Jez speaks up next to me, as he leans over and picks something up off the ground.
The knife is clean, blood free.
My head suddenly feels dizzy as I’m flooded with relief.
“Oh, she’s going down again.” I hear Marius say.
“I got you, sis. I got you.” I hear for the second time that night as I’m caught by someone who loves me. “You’ve had a rough night.”
Jez helps me sit on the ground, leaning back against him, as Marius slowly composes himself. “How-… how did you know I was here?”
I watch them give each other a look before Marius answers. “Where else would he bring you but the scene of your worst performance stage fright? Everyone likes to see the result of their work.”
“He’s not going to get far… you think your gonads are swollen.” I say, with no a small amount of glee.
“That’s my girl.” Marius grins weakly.
Chapter Thirty-eight
Marius
By the time we get back to the hotel, the others are crowded there, waiting for us. It doesn’t take long for the police to take our statements and we’re back in our hotel suites, all a little worse for wear.
I don’t leave Anca’s side, watching her every word, her every move, making sure she’s alright after her ordeal.
I don’t know how she can be handling it so well. I know if I’d gone through half of what she’d endured tonight I’d be either drowning the thoughts with Scotch or passed out dead to the world with exhaustion. But she’s still sitting here, answering everyone’s questions, over and over again, smiling and taking everything in her stride.
“Tell us again, how did it feel when you kicked him in the boy bits?” Brad asks, his face screwed up in horror.
“Well, why don’t you ask Marius, he got a good kneeful as well.”
“Ugh, don’t remind me,” I say, cupping my groin and moaning.
“Were you scared?” Emily asks, reaching out to pat Anca on the hand.
Anca nods. “Sometimes. Sometimes I was too busy trying to figure out how I was going to escape.”
“You’re so brave,” Emily replies. “I’m not sure how I would’ve reacted in the same situation.”
“You would’ve done whatever you could do to get back to Ben,” Anca tells her, and Emily gives her a smile of thanks.
“So, he’d been following you all this time?” Cadence asks, her face pale from the thought of her new friend going through such an ordeal.
“Well, I only know that he was at the last few concerts. But who knows. And who knows where he is now.”
“We’ll find him. Don’t worry. You’re safe now. We promise,” Dennis says from his spot by the door. And I know, he won’t rest until the job is done.
It’s close to 2 a.m. before the drama of the night catches up with everyone and they slowly, one by one, disappear into their own rooms.
Soon, it’s only Jez, Hailey, Anca and me left.
“Anca…” Hailey starts to speak, and Anca stops her.
“No… Hailey. I can’t hear you say ‘sorry’ one more time. This was in NO way your fault. If anything, if you hadn’t been there to tell them about the flowers, who knows where I would be right now.”
“Okay, how ‘bout this, when the tour is all over, we go get so drunk we erase this night from our brains forever, for good.”
Anca’s body shakes as she laughs and reaches out to give Hailey a hug. “You have got a deal. You’re paying though – I’m going to be unemployed soon.”
Hailey chuckles and finally lets Anca go of the hug. “On that note, I better go do some damage control, so that we don’t all end up unemployed.”
“Jez, can you maybe make sure she gets back to her room, okay?” Anca asks.
He throws me a look and I know he’s reluctant to leave his sister. I mouth “I’ll stay with her,” though I’m not sure how that’s any more reassuring to him, and he nods to me, and then pulls himself to his feet and sighs.
“Of course I can, a Grammy Award winning artist’s job is never done. Milady?” he says to Hailey, holding out his arm. She laughs as she curtseys and lets him lead her down the hallway to her room.
I get up and lock the door and dim the lights.
“Anca.”
“Marius, whatever it is you want to say, can it wait until tomorrow? I’m… I’m so tired.”
“No… no. It can’t.” I run my fingers through my hair. There’s a little dried blood at the back of my ear that I hadn’t notice before. I wipe it on my pants and turn back to Anca, who’s laying back against the cushions, her eyes half-closed as she watches me.
“Come here,” she says, reaching out her arms.
I walk over, settling down next to her on the couch, careful not to jostle her in case I hurt her. I run my fingers along the line of her jaw; her eyes close as my fingers reach her mouth, trembling over the softness of her lips. I pull away and she murmurs something I can’t understand.
I lean in, my ear right by her lips. “What is it, Anca?”
“Stay with me. Please. Stay with me tonight.”
“I’m not going anywhere, baby. I’ll be right here,” I whisper b
ack.
“Promise?”
“A hundred thousand times.”
“I’m so tired,” she sighs, curling up against me.
I tuck the hair behind her ear and kiss her gently on the cheek. “I know. Just sleep. And when you wake up, I’ll be right here.”
***
She doesn’t sleep well. Every sound from the street makes her stir. At some point during the night, I carry her to the bed, laying her head on the soft pillow seems to help, and she finally settles into a deep slumber. I watch as her forehead smooths over, as she succumbs to sleep. And I succumb to the nightmares of what might have happened if we’d been too late.
It’s only just daybreak when I feel someone tap me on the shoulder. I open my eyes to see a sleepy Brad standing by the bed in a robe, gesturing for me to follow him. I slide quietly out of bed, making sure Anca is covered up and follow him to the outer room.
Everyone is there. Dennis, the rest of the band, Cadence, Hailey and Emily. The women look like they’ve been up all night.
“What’s up, guys?” I ask, rubbing my eyes. I can’t have been asleep for more than two or three hours.
“We need to do some serious damage control. It’s going to be all over the headlines about your fight on stage last night and Anca’s…”
“What? Her kidnapping?”
“No, the media don’t know about that, somehow we nipped it in the bud.”
“Then what?”
Emily cringes and looks at Hailey who sighs.
“Well, see for yourself.” She reaches into the folder she’s holding and hands me a newspaper.
The front page is a picture of me punching Jez on stage last night. With an insert of Anca kissing me at the outdoor concert in Nice. But it’s the headline that stands out, “ROCKY TIME IN THE CHAMBERS FOR ROCK CHAMBER BOYS” with the subheading ‘Little sister who stole bandmate’s heart, fails to steal the show.” I scan the article and it slams Anca for being some sort of groupie and causing a rift in the band. Mentioning her stage fright and then running off. It also incites ticket buyers to try to get a partial refund because they didn’t get what they paid for.
“This is utter and complete bullshit. Take care of this, Hailey. It’s your job,” I remind her.
“She knows. She’s been up all night killing the story where she can from popping up, but we can’t do it all,” Emily cuts in.
“Well, who cares. It’ll all die down by next week.”
“No, we need it to die down now. This whole tour was to support our album release, and we’re already getting calls about reducing orders and less airplay. We need to talk about what we’re going to do, and it has to start now.”
I can’t believe this. After everything, we’ve been through, I have to worry about what the public is thinking?
“I don’t care, guys!”
“Maz,” Sebastian starts but I cut him off.
“Don’t you even- I was there for you guys when your sex pics came out,” I wave my hand toward Cadence, “and how many scandals has Jez been in?”
“Marius, we had to do damage control then and we have to do it now.”
“And what do you have in mind exactly?”
“Well, there are two ways. One, we have to separate the band from Anca and the relationship as much as possible. Or two, show that we’re behind her 100%… but she needs to prove them she’s up to the challenge. We might have to do a special concert, or have her do the radio rounds for a few days.”
“No. She’s not a fucking show pony. I know she can do this. So do you.”
“Marius, we know. But it’s about reassuring everyone else.”
I scrunch up the newspaper in my hand, thinking about the beautiful, sweet woman in my bed right now. Her ankle and body bruised, her spirit broken. And all I can say is, “Everyone else can go get fucked. I’m not putting any more pressure on Anca now. You do what you have to. I’m going back to bed, because I promised her, when she wakes up, I’m going to be there.”
I turn and leave, closing the bedroom door behind me and climb back into bed, pulling her warm, sleeping body against mine.
“Mmmhmmm?” she murmurs, her lips against my chest.
“Shhhhh, go back to sleep, sweetheart. You’re safe. I’m here.” I whisper. And I’ll never ever leave you again, I promise her.
Chapter Thirty-nine
Anca
The sun is way up high in the sky by the time I wake up. Everything feels warm and bright. I look down, and a slightly furry arm is wrapped around my side and I smile, pushing back against the body next to me in bed.
Marius nuzzles his chin into the crook of my neck, his cheek slightly scratchy, making me squirm.
“What’s up, wriggly?” he murmurs, his voice still thick with sleep.
“Me, finally. It must be close to 11 a.m.” I say, interlocking my fingers with his.
“Who cares? Let’s stay in bed, order a greasy cheese pizza and watch rich people bitch about each other and eat $60 salads.”
“You mean... you and your bandmates,” I giggle.
“You little witch, you!” Marius rolls me onto my back, pinning my arms over my head as he tickles my chest with his chin.
“No!” I squeal as I squirm, with no intention of being let go.
“Oh yeah, you know you like it, sexy musician beard rash all over your neck, so they know you’ve been ravaged by me and my $60 salad-eating mouth.”
“You make it sound so sexy, tell me more,” I purr.
“See? I knew you liked it, wait until you here about what I can do with my $80 tofurkey- wings-eating fingers,” he growls, making a mock sexy face.
I pretend to shiver and give him a lusty wink. “You really know how to make a girl feel special.”
His face softens into a sweet smile, letting go of my arms as he drops his mouth down onto mine giving me a soft kiss. “That’s all you baby, all the special is you.”
I reach up, running my fingertip over his bruised cheek. It’s still purple and blue, the beginning of yellow edges denoting healing haven’t appeared yet. I lift myself up and kiss his wound gently, my heart aching that he’d been hurt because of me.
“Hey, hey,” he whispers, “why the sad face?”
“How are those wheelbarrow riding gonads of yours today?” I ask, and the smile breaks into a huge grin.
“Care to find out?” he asks, waggling his eyebrows at me.
I call his bluff and reach between us, sliding my hand over his groin. It hardens instantly, and he lets out a choked groan.
“I guess that answers your question.”
“No, I think we need to really make sure there wasn’t any lasting damage,” I say, my hand still running over his growing hardness and tracing my tongue along his neck. It’s sweet and salty like the sea air here.
Marius runs his fingers down my arms and down over my bare sides, digging gently into my thighs. I love the way he touches me. Like he can’t get enough. I sigh, moving my hand to slide under his briefs and wrapping it around him, stroking him as he moans against my mouth.
He hooks his fingers into the sides of my panties and eases them down my legs. I kick them off, and wrap my legs around his waist, rocking gently against him.
“I’m trapped,” he growls.
“You don’t sound too angry about it,” I giggle.
“That’s because you’re a witch.”
“But a nice one, one who lets you see her naked.”
“But I’m not naked,” he sulks, trying to pull his briefs down. I tighten my legs around him, stopping him and he growls again.
“Maybe you should ask the witch nicely to help.”
“Fine. Dear witch,” he starts, then suddenly rolls over, flipping me onto my back. In one movement, he frees himself of his briefs, his mouth enveloping my left nipple. “Beg.”
“Ugh,” I groan, his tongue on my nipple making my body involuntarily writhe. I rock my hips against him, but he lifts his body up.
“No. I
said, ‘beg.’” He whispers, his voice suddenly low and deep. He digs his knee between my legs, forcing them apart, as his hand slides down, fingertips caressing me.
“Damn. Marius. Don’t tease.”
“I’m not teasing, I’m telling you. You want it, beg.”
“Fuck you,” I growl, reaching between us and taking him in my hand again.
“No,” he says, brushing my hand away. “Witches need to learn some manners.”
He dips a finger between my legs, finding the spot he knows drives me crazy, and slowly draws circle around it.
“Oh, god.” I groan, feeling my whole body jerk.
“No, he’s not going to help you now. It’s me you need to beg, Anca. So beg,” he rasps, his finger rubbing faster and faster. How does he do this? Make me want him so bad?
“Marius… please.”
“That’s a start. How ‘bout I give you some incentive?” I feel a finger slide itself inside of me, and I bite down hard, tasting blood.
“Oh, fuck. Marius, I want you inside me. Please.”
“You know the words I want to hear, Anca,” he says, his finger joined by another, and I can think is I want to feel him inside me.
“Uh, fuck, Marius, fuck me, I beg you, please.”
“Good girl,” he growls into my ear. He pulls his hand away from me, gripping my hips in his hands and drives himself deep into me. “Uhhhh, Anca. Fuck.”
We fall fast into frantic rhythm, each thrust taking him deeper inside me. I rake his back with nails as he takes me closer and closer to my peak.
I open my eyes at the last minute and see him watching me. “Come with me, Marius,” I plead with him, and he nods, never pulling his eyes away.
“Anca, oh, Anca,” he moans over and over just as I reach my climax. Just watch him, watch as he reaches his, his eyes growing dark and round, as he gives me everything.
He falls against me, heavy but comforting. I wrap my arms around him, and know I’ve never felt more at home.
***
The shower’s running in the next room when I wake up again, sometimes later. My body feels both sore and satisfied at the same time. I try to ignore the bruised parts and focus on the fact that I’m safe and surrounded by people who love me.