by S. J. Bishop
"Wake up, ding-a-ling," the guard said, knocking on the bars with his baton. "You’ve made bail."
I sat up in bed and watched the guard unlock the door. I was almost afraid the guard was playing a cruel joke on me. Other than Olivia, no one had come by to see me, not even Ava. Of course, it was Ava’s boyfriend who had landed me in jail in the first place.
I’d spent the night thinking about the situation that had put me here and decided that it wasn’t Ava’s fault. Well, not entirely. I was still mad at her, but I felt bad for her too. What must it be like to be in an abusive relationship with a psycho like Myron? I kept thinking about poor Lily. She wasn’t safe around Myron. I wondered if he’d ever hit Lily like he had Ava, and my blood boiled.
"You comin’ or what?" the guard asked. I stood up and walked out of the cell. My hair felt greasy and my eyes were dry. They hadn’t exactly given me the five-star treatment.
It hadn’t taken long for me to wear out my welcome here in Dover Chase. I had been greeted warmly but my hometown-boy-made-good charm had quickly worn off. I’d been arrested one too many times, gotten into one too many fights. I could tell people thought I wasn’t that small town boy they’d all grown up with. They saw me as a rich snob who thought he was better than everyone who still lived here. They weren’t entirely wrong about that either.
"Hannah." I’d assumed it was my parents who’d bailed me out and was preparing to be lectured on the ride home. It was a relief to see my sister. She hugged me before slapping the back of my head.
"What is the matter with you?" she asked as I waited for my release papers. "My wedding is tonight. Can’t you stay out of jail for one day? They’re gonna kick you off the team." Her eyes flashed with anger but there was also concern behind them.
"It seems they already did." I said.
Hannah turned back to me; I could see her anger was replaced for the moment with worry. "Are you serious?"
I nodded. "The thing is, it’s not my fault."
Hannah threw her hands in the air. "Not your fault, not your fault. You’re a broken record, Carter. It’s never your fault."
"Yeah, but this time it really isn’t."
"You were mad at Olivia and so you took it out on someone else. Or maybe you were just jealous of Ava’s boyfriend and so you beat him up. You broke his nose, Carter!"
"Good."
Hannah stared at me as if I was a total stranger, and I began to worry. If she felt like she couldn’t tell who I was anymore then it was doubtful that the rest of the world would believe me.
"Wait till we get outside, alright? Let me explain."
Hannah drew her lips together but said nothing more for the time being. When we were finally seated in Hannah’s car, she started it up and sat there with it running.
"Are we going?" I asked, anxious to get away from the police station.
"Not until you tell me what’s going on. You said you’d tell me everything when we got outside."
I took a deep breath. I really didn’t want to talk to my sister about my sex life, but I was starting to feel like I had nowhere else to turn. Ava probably didn’t want to talk to me right now. My parents were undoubtedly pissed at me. The whole town seemed against me. Hannah was the only one who might understand.
"You were right. Ava and I, we’ve been..."
Hannah’s eyes widened and a gigantic grin sprung up on her face. "I knew it! How long has this been going on? Oh boy, you two are in such trouble. When I talk to Ava later—"
"No, don’t," I said. "It might get her in trouble."
"With who? Myron? Why should you care? You guys obviously aren’t friends."
"Yeah, but I think maybe he and Ava... I saw him hit her after your rehearsal dinner. That’s why we started fighting."
Hannah stared at me, shocked. "He hit Ava?"
I nodded. "Yeah, and I think he might have kept hitting her if I hadn’t come along."
"Oh no," Hannah said. "I can’t believe Ava would date someone like that." Her head snapped towards me, her eyes flashing. "You defended her!" She hugged me tight for a few seconds and then drew away. "Is Myron Lily’s father?"
"I’m not sure. That would be my guess. It seems to me like he and Ava must have been going out for a while. It probably wasn’t the first time he’s hit her."
"Poor Ava. No wonder she’s been so weird lately."
"Yeah, except it kind of pisses me off, you know? Here I was, trying to do the right thing, and she hasn’t said one thing to the cops to help me. If she just told them that Myron was beating her, this would all go away."
"Abused women never want to reveal the abuse though. Remember that made-for-TV movie I did? I played an abused housewife. I know what it’s like."
I snorted. "Yeah, you know firsthand what an abusive relationship is like because of the fake abusive relationship you were in for a movie. Hannah, you realize how pretentious that sounds, right?"
Hannah looked irritated but she said nothing. "Well just stay away from Myron. He sounds dangerous."
"Will do. And listen, I don’t want you worrying about all this today of all days, alright? It’s your freaking wedding day. You should be relaxing and enjoying it."
Hannah’s face turned red.
"What?" I asked.
"It’s just... I’ve been thinking..."
"Uh oh," I said, already knowing where she was going with this. Hannah could over-analyze something to death. "Hannah, stop thinking. You’re getting married. This evening."
"Yeah well, what if I’ve changed my mind?"
"Have you?"
She hesitated. "I don’t know. Something about the way that Erik was laughing at Ava during dinner last night... it made me think maybe I don’t know him as well as I thought I did."
I had no real response to that. I’d never cared much for Erik.
"What about you and Olivia?" Hannah asked suddenly. "Are you guys still together?"
I shook my head. "No way. She’d rather manipulate me than love me. I’ve got better things to do with my time than waste it with her." Hannah nodded. We sat in silence a moment longer, lost in our own thoughts before Hannah finally pulled out of the parking lot.
32
Ava
I’d never been to Myron’s apartment before and didn’t exactly relish the idea of going there now. But there was no way I was going to talk to him about this at the restaurant. I kept looking over my shoulder as I stood on the landing at the top of the stairs. I wanted to make sure I had the option to run for it if anything went wrong. My heart was racing as I knocked on Myron’s door, making certain to keep the street in sight. People walked past on the sidewalk and I relaxed ever so slightly.
Myron opened the door. His face was badly bruised. Large patches of purple and black layered themselves over his skin. His nose was covered in a thick white bandage. His expression changed from boredom to shock when he recognized me. "Ava!" he cried. He broke into a big grin and opened the door wider for me. "Come in."
Wow, Terri couldn’t have been more right about him. The fact that he could go from appearing friendly and harmless one minute to a violent attacker the next sent chills up my spine.
"Thanks, but I don’t have a lot of time. I’ll just stay out here." I hoped that sounded nonchalant. I didn’t want Myron thinking I was scared of him.
Myron frowned but said nothing.
"I just wanted to ask you a favor," I said, licking my lips.
"You mean another favor?" Myron asked, his tone hard and sarcastic. "Because it seems to me I’ve already done you plenty."
"Right, of course. I appreciate your playing along at dinner the other night. Pretending to be my boyfriend and all."
His lips thinned and his eyes darkened. "It wasn’t all bad. I rather liked kissing you."
I glanced back at the sidewalk. The street was easily visible from Myron’s door but that didn’t mean I should linger on his doorstep longer than necessary.
"Listen, can you just, you know..." It h
ad seemed so simple when I was walking over here. I would stand outside and demand that he drop the charges against Carter and if he refused I would threaten to go to the police. Only now that I was standing here with his dark eyes fixed on mine, I couldn’t seem to get out the words.
"No," Myron said, tilting his head and staring at me. "I don’t know."
"Can you..."
"Fuck you?" Myron asked, completely serious.
My eyes widened and I took a step back. "No. That’s not at all what I meant."
Myron leaned against the door-jamb, his eyes laughing at me. "Oh, well then maybe you better spit it out. I’m getting mixed signals here." His lips turned up in a grin. "By the way, I’m happy to accommodate you regarding the fucking should you change your mind later."
My heart began to race. I had to get out of here. Myron was acting like a completely different person from the one I worked with.
"Can you drop the charges against Carter?"
Myron’s eyes turned black. "You must be joking. You were there. You saw what he did to me. You know he broke my nose."
I couldn’t believe Myron. He was acting like Carter had beat him up for no reason. "Carter was only defending me Myron. You hit me. Or have you forgotten that?" Shaking, I pulled back my hair to reveal the bruise on the side of my face from where Myron had struck me.
Myron smiled. "That was an accident," he said.
"An accident?" My mind couldn’t grasp the absurdity of what he was saying. He had struck me hard, and on purpose.
I couldn’t tell whether or not Myron really believed what he’d said. I hoped he knew he was lying. The idea that he might believe what he said was far more frightening to me than his lies. If he really believed it, that would indicate some sort of break with reality that I wasn’t qualified to judge, but which I was certain was representative of some form of insanity.
"Tell you what," Myron said, stepping out of the doorway and onto the landing with me. I stepped backwards until my back was against the wall. "I’ll drop the charges, provided that for once, you do me a favor."
"Wh-what favor?" I squeaked. I could hardly breathe.
"I think you know." Myron reached out and groped my breasts.
I jumped away from him and almost fell down the stairs. "I’m not sleeping with you," I shouted.
Myron smiled. "Suit yourself. Doesn’t matter to me if Carter goes to jail. I think he’s scum. He deserves what he gets."
"Myron—"
"Just let me know if you change your mind. The offer’s always open." He closed the door and I retreated down the stairs. I walked to Piccadilly’s, which wasn’t far, and searched for Terri. She was sitting out back on a cigarette break when I found her.
"Hey," I said.
Terri smiled at me. "Hi, you working today?"
"No, I’m on at Y-Mart later but I’m off here."
Terri laughed. "Then what the hell are you doing here, you crazy girl? Get out of here before Steven sees you and puts you on. Enjoy the day with Lily." I was struck again by the camaraderie I felt with this woman, who worked so hard to care for her ailing parents.
"I just wanted to ask you something," I said full of seriousness.
Terri’s laughter faded and she looked at me with questioning eyes. "Shoot."
"Myron... do you know anything about him?"
"Other than the fact he’s a weirdo?"
"Yes," I quipped. "Other than that."
"Well, only rumors. And you know how rumors are."
"Yeah, I know." There’d been enough rumors circulated about me over the last three years. I didn’t need to be told rumors were usually false. But still, sometimes rumors were more like myths. Based on truth. "What rumors?"
"Well," Terri said, putting out her cigarette. "Some people say he used to be up in Wentworth."
"The mental hospital?" I asked, my face going pale.
"Yeah."
"For what?"
"Don’t know. Some people say he killed his family. Some people say he set fire to his town. I don’t think anyone really knows. And anyhow, it’s just a rumor, like I said.
"Yeah, a rumor." But I left Piccadilly’s thinking that based on Myron’s recent behavior this was one rumor that might not be quite so saturated in lies.
33
Carter
I sat on the stairs in my parents’ home, drink in hand. The doorbell rang. I didn’t much want to see anyone just now. My parents had reamed me out for landing in jail again. Hannah, who at first had been enamored with the idea of me and Ava getting together, had grown increasingly angry with me the more she thought about it. She had demanded to know when Ava and I had started seeing each other, and when I’d refused to tell her, she’d kicked me in the shin and stormed off to her room.
No one wanted to talk to me just now, and I didn’t particularly want to talk to anyone either. The doorbell rang a second time and I finally got up. If it was someone for Hannah’s wedding, I’d better let them in. I was halfway to the door when I saw the shape of Ava’s face through the glass. It was blurred but distinct enough to me that I had no doubts it was her.
The last person I wanted to see right now was Ava. The doorbell rang again and I heard footsteps rushing from the hall. I scooted into the study that was just off the entranceway and closed the pocket door. The footsteps grew closer and when the bell rang a fourth time I heard Erik yell, "I’m coming! Hold your freaking horses already."
I heard the front door open and inched the pocket door open just enough for me to see. Ava stood outside.She looked startled to Erik.
"Hello," I heard her say. "Er, is Carter here?"
Erik looked at Ava and even from this distance I could tell he was checking her out. I forced myself to stay put despite the urge to deck him.
"Well hello," Erik said, turning up his charm. "Come on in."
"Thanks," Ava said. Her voice seemed to relax. and she walked into the foyer. Was the jerk winning her over?
"So where’s Carter?" Ava asked.
"Oh, I don’t know. He’s around somewhere." I watched as he moved closer to Ava. She took a step backwards.
"Is Hannah here?" she asked.
"Yeah, she’s upstairs, getting ready. It’s the big day, you know."
My anger was growing stronger by the second. I could see what Erik was up to, even if Ava couldn’t.
Erik stepped closer to Ava, who backed up until she was touching the wall. "Um," she said, confused by Erik’s behavior. "Maybe I’ll just look for Carter then." She tried to step around Erik but he put out a hand to stop her.
"What’s the rush?" he said.
I felt the blood rush to my head. My heart was thudding in my chest.
"You know, I didn’t have a proper bachelor party. What do you say you and I sneak off somewhere for a half hour and you give me a farewell-to-bachelorhood present?"
Ava’s eyes widened and I saw the helpless and infuriated expression in them. When Erik actually leaned in and kissed her, I couldn’t take any more. I burst through the study door, almost breaking it when it stuck, and stepped towards Erik full of fury.
"Whoa, man," Erik said, backing up. "I don’t know what you think you saw, but it was a misunderstanding, alright? She came on to me."
I didn’t wait to hear more. I pushed Erik outside the house, ready to deck him if he uttered one more lie. "Get the hell out of here! I don’t want to see you again."
"That might be a problem," Erik said. Now that he was outside, in the open air and free to run if he had to, he felt a little stronger. "I’m marrying Hannah in a few hours. I can’t just leave."
I grabbed a vase off a nearby table and smashed it on the ground. "Okay, okay," Erik said, hurrying off before I could smash his face next.
I turned around and saw Ava standing there. My first impulse was to go to her, take her in my arms, and kiss her till her lips turned to fire. Then I remembered I was mad at her.
"What do you want?"I asked her. "Come to gloat?"
"Gl
oat?" Ava asked. "What would I be gloating about, exactly?"
I shrugged. I realized I was being stupid and petty now, but I couldn’t seem to stop myself. "That your boyfriend got the best of me in the end. He’s pressing charges and I’m off the 49ers."
"You’re off the team?" Ava asked, her face turning pale.
"That’s right. Are you happy?"
"Of course I’m not happy," Ava cried. "Why would you even say that?"
"Because it’s your boyfriend who’s doing this. I was only trying to help you the other night. But hey, if you’d rather be stuck in an abusive relationship with a loser than tell the police that I was defending you, then I guess that’s your call."
I moved past her and Ava’s arm reached out and caught my shoulder. "I came here to tell you how grateful I am for what you did. Myron’s never hit me before. I was just as shocked as you were."
"Sure, that’s what all abused girlfriends say."
"It’s true!" Ava said, anger flushing her face. She was as worked up as I was now. "And I’ve already talked to him about dropping the charges."
I hesitated. "You did? What did he say? Will he do it?"
Ava looked down. "Yes and no."
I raised an eyebrow. "Yes and no? What does that mean?"
"It means he will, but only if I... do him a favor."
"Well then do it," I snapped. I couldn’t believe how dense Ava was being. If there was a way to fix this then why would she hesitate?
Ava’s eyes began to tear. "You don’t understand," she said. "Myron... the favor... it’s not something I want to do."
"So what?" I yelled. "You think I wanted to land in jail for you? Whatever it is, just do it so I can get out of this. We’re talking about my career, Ava. My whole life."
Ava’s eyes spilled over now and tears ran down her cheeks. "But I... I don’t think I can do it."
"Then I hope you can live with yourself after you destroy my life." I slammed the door behind me and left Ava alone. I heard her let out a long, low sob before she ran off and left me just as equally alone.