by Ines Vieira
“My boys are extreme and unique, I’ll give you that, and my Tony is an acquired taste, but one day I’m sure that the right girl will come along and soften those hard edges he got from his father,” Aunt Laura says, as she stares in the mirror ahead in front of her and her client.
Ah crap, now I feel like shit in making my Tia think about her ex-husband. Tony’s dad did some hard time for theft and larceny, amongst other things, when the boys were still toddlers. Once he got out, Aunt Laura made him chose between getting his act together for his family or leaving for good if he wanted to continue his criminal ways. Guess which road the douche chose? Yep, left Tia with four boys all under eight years of age and never looked back. Last time I heard he was living somewhere in South Boston in a tin can apartment. Appropriate, if you ask me, but still pretty shitty for my aunt and cousins. What I really couldn’t comprehend was why she never remarried. Hell, I don’t even think I ever saw her go on a date in all this time. She lived for those boys, and my cousins could be a pain in my backside when they wanted to be, but they put Aunt Laura on the pedestal she deserved. They adored her, and she was devoted to them in all the ways a mother could be.
I turned around and faced the large window of the beauty shop and watched people walk by on High Street busy in their Saturday morning routines. Some in a hurry to finish some last-minute Christmas shopping, others just taking advantage of the sunny day. God, I missed this place. Who would have ever thought that going to New York, one of the best cities in the world would make me homesick for the small streets of Plymouth? I still loved New York mind you, with all its busy streets and noise. The city itself felt like it had its own heartbeat and sometimes I did love being a part of it. But it wasn’t home. Home is definitely where the heart is, and right now my heart was still glued to the family that lived and breathed Plymouth air.
Mom’s salon was just a few shops across from my dad's store, and I could see he was as busy as mom was. Christmas was a great time of year for my parent’s businesses. The women that wanted to look their best came and saw mom and aunt Laura and the ones that wanted to have their home’s full of the best food went shopping at dad’s. I wish that Christmas was all year round, that way my parents’ money problems wouldn’t be an issue. But unfortunately, that was a pipe dream, and as we were accustomed by now, January would suck, as people usually overspent around the holidays and therefore had to cut down on the extravagancies. Getting your hair done was the first thing to go, and buying exotic food from dad was seen as an added expense that most people wouldn’t bat an eye at cutting down on. If my parents' store was in NYC, then they would probably make a killing all year round, but the people of Plymouth weren’t as affluent as some residents of the Big Apple.
I continued to look out the window as the ladies in the beauty shop went on about discussing the latest gossip when I see the pale blonde haired girl leave my dad’s store in a rush. No freaking way! Has everyone lost their minds? What the hell was she even doing at dad’s store anyway? Without giving it a second thought, I get my winter coat from the coat rack and start putting it on.
“Hey, are you ditching me?” Cass asks, while my mom adds the finishing touches to her hair.
“No, babe. Be right back, just need to give a word of advice to an unwanted element,” I say already at the door and feeling the cold air hit my whole body, but not cooling my temper any.
Mom looks out the window and immediately sees who I’m going to harass and frowns at me.
“Jessica, get back inside. I don’t want you near any trouble, and that girl is neck deep in it. Close the door and sit down,” she says in a monotone voice not even looking at me while she continues to fluff Cass’s hair. Like hell, I’m going to play nice.
“Yeah, that’s not going to happen., Be back in a jiff.” I waltz out the door but not fast enough to not hear both my mom and Cass call out my name in protest. I put my hands in my coat pockets and run to the other side of the street while looking both ways for any passing cars. I’m just a few steps behind her, but the girl is in a definite hurry to get to where she needs to go.
“Candi,” I yell out. She stops and turns with the grocery bag close to her chest and eyes bigger than an owl’s on her heart-shaped face staring back at me.
“Jessica?” she whispers back in recognition.
“Oh good, you remember me, that makes it easier to skip through the unpleasant introduction,” I say bitterly.
Candi looks up and down the street, noticeably uncomfortable with my presence. She wets her lips, and I see that she is frightened as she scans the street. She fidgets from one leg to the next and doesn’t make eye contact once. I wish I could say that I brought out the fear in her, but my gut feeling is telling me that the girl in front of me is afraid of a bigger threat than me. My initial instinct of shaming this girl for even setting foot in my father’s store is replaced by the feeling of wanting to protect her from the real evil that is shadowing my family.
Candi continues to shiver and holds onto to that bag of groceries for dear life which makes her seem younger than her twenty years. I exhale slowly frustrated that I hadn’t even considered that she wasn’t an enemy, just another one of my uncle’s victims instead.
“Candi, are you okay?” I ask while slowly getting closer to her and placing my hand over hers. She’s startled by my genuine tone, or maybe by the question itself. I don’t think this girl is asked about her wellbeing very often.
Candi is one of those classical beauties. Those types of girls who are beautiful without even trying. Long pale blond hair, crystal blue eyes and the face of innocence. Although she is a couple of years my senior, just one look at her is enough to know that this frail creature is hungry for protection and love and is still a very fragile young girl. If she ever had any self-love or confidence at all that was shattered years ago. If there ever was a light that shone in her eyes, it is long gone now. I can see how appealing that must have been to a conniving predator like Hector. He must have wet his lips silly at how easy Candi would fall for his allure.
“Yes, I’m fine. Thank you,” she answers meekly, but the sincerity in her gratefulness for my concern is gut-wrenching. I nod reluctantly as I know damn well the girl is not fine.
“So, the coward made you get some of his favorite foods from the homeland at my dad's shop, huh? Ironic how just a couple of months ago he torched the place, but now has you shopping there for him.” She winces and lowers her head to the ground. Crap, it’s not her fault he’s an asshole. There’s no use in shining a beacon on something that she is probably very well aware of by now.
“Sorry, Candi. I didn’t mean to snap at you. It's not your fault my uncle is a world-class jerk.” I let out another frustrated sigh and squeeze her hand again, although this time I miss her hand and get her wrist instead. She flinches and pulls away from me awkwardly, and that’s when I see it. Her white porcelain skin that probably covers her whole body is now streaked with a faint blue and black mark on her wrist. Bile rises in my throat as I look in her eyes and they speak volumes to me. Even if she doesn’t say one word confirming who marked her this way, I already know.
“You’re not fine, Candi. You’re not fine at all, are you?”
Her face turns a deep shade of red, and her eyes yell out her shame and guilt for entering into a relationship with someone who is more monster than man, but before she is even able to say another word, I see the devil himself wrap his arm over Candi’s unstable shoulders. I didn’t even see him coming. Shit!
To anyone looking at both of them, they would probably see an extremely handsome dark-haired man being affectionate to his much younger lover. I saw it for what it truly was, though. With just one touch, he reminded her of his dominance and of the power he held over her. As he squeezed her to his side, his hand spanned out on her forearm; he also relayed the message that she was his property. To other people that didn’t know any better, they would see this as devotion, to me though I saw his claim to her and the threa
t that she was his and only his to play with. A diversion that he didn’t want to be messed with. Not even by me.
“Well, well, well! Look who we have here. My little niece and my girl chatting it up on this lovely Saturday morning. It warms my heart,” Hector smirks, while Candi lowers her eyes to the pavement again. I’m almost positive she’s mastered this stance around Hector’s presence. Shrinking next to him, hoping she’s invisible enough for him not to turn his sights on her. I know that I should feel fear as well, but I don’t. All I feel is disgust, hatred, and anger towards my uncle and it will be a cold day in hell before I shrink in front of him.
“You don’t have a heart, Hector. You can’t warm something you don’t have.” My words are full of venom, but his reaction is as if I just made his day.
“Now, now Jess. Is that any way to talk to your family?” he laughs out.
“You’re no family of mine.”
“How quickly you’ve forgotten how blood is thicker than water. Have you also forgotten all the happy times we have spent with each other over the years? One discretion and all those sweet memories disappear, is that right? I even taught you how to ride a bike.” He grins at me and then places a kiss on Candi’s cheek, playing the good boyfriend role for any curious onlookers that pass by us.
“Lay off the sauce, Hector; you're becoming senile. You didn't teach me shit. Isaac was the one that taught me how to ride a bike. Not you. Never you. Isaac.”
The mention of his son’s name immediately changes his whole demeanor. Isaac’s name is enough to get a rise out of him as I see the glimmer of annoyance in his deadpool eyes.
“Well, I’m sure I was the one that taught the boy, so him teaching you should give me the same credit,” he spits back.
“I doubt you taught Isaac anything either then how to take a punch.”
He slowly lets go of Candi’s arm and takes two steady steps closer to me so that we are eye to eye with each other. It’s not even noon, and I can already smell the sweet fragrance of malt liquor on his breath. I straighten my shoulders and keep eye contact with him, making sure he knows he could never intimidate me. I’m just glad he’ll never know how slivers of sweat run down my back faced with his cold stare.
“I didn’t teach him well enough it seems. The pussy still ran away instead of fighting like a man, hiding away with his whore mother and my money.” his tone laced with disdain. His black eyes hold the glimmer of retribution, and it’s the first time I’m actually happy that neither Isaac or aunt Evelyn were anywhere near Plymouth. Before I could defend my cousin, I felt someone pull me back away from this ungodly predator. Next to me is an out of breath Cass with her hand on the crook of my arm backing me to her and a very stoic Quaid by her side.
Just great! Like this couldn’t go wrong enough, karma had to go an add Quaid to the mix.
Wonderful!
“Is everything alright here?” he asks, not once looking at me but directing the question to the man in front of me.
“Peachy,” I reply not hiding my sarcasm.
“Cassandra Mackenzie, well aren’t you a sight for sore eyes. Still growing up nicely I see.” I almost gag at Hector’s lustful browsing of my best friend, and I see how quickly she pales at that one comment. Candi looks even more ashamed at his blatant ogling of Cass and tries to look away at anywhere but at Cass’s panicked expression. Hector, though has other things in mind. He puts his arm around Candi’s shoulder and brings her chin up to meet his eyes with his other hand.
“Cass, you’ve met my Candi before, haven’t you? Yes, I’m sure you girls must have gone to the same high school at one point, right?’” Even though the question was delivered to Cass, Hector's prominent stare into Candi’s baby blues forces her to reply.
“I was a junior when the girls started freshman year at Riverside,” Candi solemnly answers. He brushes her hair tenderly away from her face and continues to stare deep into her very being.
“I thought as much, sweetheart. Wouldn’t it be fun if you invited Cassandra over during this Christmas break? I’m sure you girls have a lot of things in common. Maybe even a sleepover to reminisce on old times. I bet we three could have a lot of fun together.”
Cass lets out a small gasp, and a silent Quaid immediately pushes Cass behind him. I don’t know who pisses me off more right now. Hector’s manipulative way of telling his girlfriend that he wants a threesome with her and his son’s girlfriend, or Quaid fucking Stevens coming to Cass’s rescue.
“I guess the rumors are true. You are a vile piece of filth,” Quaid growls, and my uncle finally acknowledges his presence with a tight grin.
“Cass, you never cease to surprise me. I guess that whole wholesome look is just a smokescreen. How quickly my son has been replaced with last year’s football star. Such a shame he’s not here to see it.” He shrugs letting go of an even more embarrassed Candi. He starts to tap his finger over and over against his lower lip and starts looking at all of us as if in deep thought, but true to Hector fashion it’s just another performance so he can slay us with his next remark.
“If only there was a way to get in touch with him and let him know how his high school sweetheart is spreading her legs for anyone that looks her way. Jessica, you wouldn’t know how to reach him, would you? I feel it’s my fatherly duty to warn my son that his girl is as much of a whore as his mother. I guess he really did turn out more like me than I gave him credit for. We both seem to prefer trash,” he smirks triumphantly, and I lose all my inner cool and fling myself at him.
“You son of a bitch!” I only get a few good solid slaps in before Quaid holds me back in his arms and locks me still to his hard chest. I fight hard in his embrace, wanting desperately to wipe off that smug smile on Hector’s face, but Quaid doesn’t budge.
“I think you’re done here,” Quaid’s undertone is clear. Hector has crossed a line, and now Quaid would make sure that Hector couldn’t take another step without repercussions.
“But I was just getting started.” He stares into my eyes with a lopsided grin egging my anger on.
“Move away, before I make you move away. I’m sure it’s fun for you to terrorize young girls, but I think you might feel differently facing someone your own size.”
Hector smirks at Quaid but pulls back. Yeah, Hector would have his hands full with Quaid alright. Both of them are approximately the same height and size, and although Hector might have experience in breaking bones, Quaid has youth on his side, so the stamina would run far longer at beating Hector into the pulp that he deserves.
Hector gives all three of us a departing bow and places his arm again over a very shaken Candi. He places a hand on the cheek that I was able to get my hands on and sees a small trail of blood. A departing present from my nails on his skin.
“My offer still stands, Cassandra, so feel free to visit Candi anytime. I won’t hold your new boyfriend’s unpleasant attitude against you. Jessica, please extend my hellos to your father and be detailed in our little chat this afternoon. I won't forget it, and hope to return the favor soon,” he says looking at the speck of blood on his finger and eyeing me with the promise that he will, in fact, pay his own form of vengeance for my aggression.
“Oh, and another thing, if you do hear from my son and wife, please don’t forget to tell them that they never stray too far from my thoughts and I look forward to our family reunion sooner rather than later.” With the departing threat still hanging over all our heads, he turns away and strolls off down the street with his young prey following every step next to him.
“I think I’m going to be sick,” Cass finally lets out, with her arms wrapped around her waist. Quaid still has his arms around me and my adrenaline to charge at Hector is diminishing with his absence, which makes me feel all too aware of the sandalwood scent and warmth of Quaid’s body at my back.
“You can let go now, you know? I won't race after the asshole for round two,” I shrug him off acting annoyed that he was still touching me. ‘Acting’ being
the operative word here since my body was fully enjoying his proximity a little too much for my liking.
“So that was Hector, huh?” Quaid asks still looking down the street making sure Hector didn’t decide he needed to add another two cents to one of the most uncomfortable conversations I have ever had in the middle of the street.
“Yep, that was the asshole in the flesh. Kind of makes you feel real special being in the presence of pure evil, doesn’t it? Brings a smile to my face every day knowing that fucker roams the streets freely to do all the damage he wants and no one puts an end to it.”
Quaid lets out a small smirk in agreement, while Cass starts to gain back some color in her cheeks. Encountering Hector like this must have brought back all the reasons why Isaac had to leave her and everyone he cared about behind. I still held hope that one day both he and Aunt Evelyn would return, but not while that piece of shit still lingered on here. Even though a selfish part of me wanted him to come back to us, to bring my best friend joy again, I knew deep down that him leaving was for the best. God knows what Hector would have done to my aunt unprotected. I cringe a little every time I recall that afternoon in my own damn house where Hector went and lost all control on both of them. No, Hector was a dangerous menace, and if Isaac and Aunt Evelyn thought their best chance to get at a normal life was fleeing the state, maybe even the country, I couldn’t hold it against them.
I just wish that Hector’s vile temperament didn’t have to leave so much suffering in its wake. My father was suffering even though he didn’t show it, my grandmother was also a wreck even though she refused to talk about it, and Cass was nothing but a shadow of her former self. That hurt most of all. Not only did I have to see my best friend suffer silently but also because if she was hurting this much, I knew it in my bones that Isaac was just as devastated. Life was cruel, and sometimes the bad guy really did win in the end. Even though Hector feels wronged by his family and cheated out of his revenge on my aunt, he is still living the way he always had. Not a care in the world with a new warm body next to him to harm and mangle the way he feels fit.