Starburst (17 page)

“Nothing
really mom, I’m fine.”

“You
don’t look fine Alley, you look like hell. When was the last time you ate?”

Alley
had to think about it, and she didn’t think she had eaten at all the day before,
but then remembered the granola bar that she had before she went to see Maria.

“I
will go make us something delicious, will you come down?” she asked, and Alley
nodded her head.

She
filled the tub full of hot soapy water, and it did feel sensational and
relieved a lot of tension. She sat in the water until her mother came in to
tell her lunch would be ready in fifteen minutes.

Her
mother made a delicious orange glazed salmon, and it brought tears to her eyes
once again because unlike Gloria’s Salmon, hers tasted just like Trevas’s had,
and she had to pick up her glass of wine and chug it to keep her mind off of
it.

“Were
you thirsty?” her mother asked, watching as she downed the whole glass.

Alley
continued to be in her slump for the next few days and nights. Her mother would
find her crying and would beg her to tell her what was wrong but of course she
never would. Finally, on Saturday morning things started to fall into place for
Peyton. Alley had undressed and gotten into the tub when her mother came into
tell her to come down for breakfast.

She
entered the empty room and picked up the black necklace lying on the bed next
to the MP3 player. She tried to open the locket and the magnets pulled apart in
her hands, just as Alley entered with a towel wrapped around her.

“What
are you doing?” she yelled. “Don’t touch my stuff,” she demanded, fuming and
grabbed the necklace from her mother’s hand. She was so mad at her for invading
her space, but instantly felt a surge of fear for Trevas.

“Who
is that Alley?” she wanted to know.

“None
of your fucking business,” she shot back and pulled the leather around her
neck. “Get out, I want to get dressed.”

“Alley
is that the bodyguard that your dad hired for you?” she asked, and Alleys fears
were now real.

“No.
leaves me alone.”

“I
‘m going to find out, so you may as well tell me. Did something happen between
you and this supposedly bodyguard?”

“His
name is Trevas, and no, nothing happened,” she demanded, and wished she hadn’t
just said his name like she was defending him. “Leave me alone,” she commanded
again, wanting her out of there and away from the conversation that she
couldn’t have with her.

“Come
down and eat,” her mother said, and Alley told her she was fine, and she left
her.

Peyton
went into her office and called Fletcher.

“Hey
beautiful,” he answered as he sometimes did.

“Fletcher,
I think I know what is wrong with Alley,” she stated.

“What?”
he wanted to know, losing his playfulness.

“I
just found a locket with hers and this bodyguard that you hired picture. One is
of him on a motorcycle, and the other side is the two of them. She was standing
in front of him, and he had his arms around her very intimately.”

“I
will be there in ten minutes,” he stated and hung up.

Alley
was sitting on her bed, and her mother could tell that she had been crying
again.

“Alley
you need to come downstairs for a minute,” her mom requested.

“Why?”
she wanted to know, and the fear took over again, and her knees began to shake.

“Because
your dad is here and he wants to talk to you.”

“You
called dad?” she screamed.

“Alley,
come down, right now,” she demanded and walked out.

Alley
tried to compose herself, trying to come up with a story about the pictures.
How could she explain the closeness without it looking like what it really was?

She
walked down, and her dad was at the bottom of the stairs. She couldn’t read his
look and couldn’t tell if he was mad or not.

“Alley
there is someone here that wants to talk to you,” he said softly. “It’s okay,
honey, don’t be afraid,” he added, and Alley wanted to know what the heck was
going on.

She
turned toward the living room, and the police officer stood from the black
leather sofa and her heart sunk to the floor.

“You
called the cops?” she screamed at her mother.

“No
Alley, I did,” her dad told her. “He just wants to ask you some questions.”

“About
what?”

“Hi
Alley, I’m, Lieutenant Marx. Can we talk briefly?

“No,
I have nothing to say to you. What do you want?” she screamed, and looked to
her dad with his arm supportively around her mother.

The
police officer took her hand and guided her to the sofa, and he slid the
ottoman closer to her.

“Alley
did Trevas Evans touch you in any way?” he asked, getting right to the point.

“No,
never,” she lied. “This is stupid. I have nothing to say to you.”

“Alley,
you are not in any trouble. I’m here to help you.”

“I
don’t need your help. Trevas never did anything, leave him alone,” she
demanded.

“Did
you and Trevas have a relationship, Alley?” he continued with the probing
questions.

Alley
was so close to telling the officer where to go, but stopped herself with her
acquired mouth trick. “I’m not answering anymore of your stupid questions,” I can’t
believe you called the cops,” she screamed at her dad.

“If
I’m not under arrest, I’m done here,” she insisted, standing and looking down
at the cop.

She
stormed off back upstairs, glaring at her dad as she passed him.

“I’m
sorry Mr. Fletcher. There is really nothing I can do without a complaint from
the victim and Alley says that she’s not a victim. I can’t even question the
suspect at this point,” The police officer explained. “If you can get anything
out of her, feel free to give me a call,” he told him, handing him a business
card.

Alley
stormed back downstairs five minutes later. “You blocked his number?” She
screamed at her dad.

“Yes
Alley. I did, and I don’t want you anywhere near that man. Do you understand
me?”

“Did
you call him?”

“Yes,
I called him, and he knew that the police were coming here to talk to you.”

Alley
couldn’t say anything. She didn’t know what to say. How could this be
happening? She didn’t think things could get any worse. She had to figure out
how to talk to him. She had to tell him that she didn’t tell, that she never
said a word, but how? She couldn’t do anything without a babysitter.

“I
fucking hate you,” she screamed at her dad in the most hateful voice that she
could muster.

Peyton
came to her, crying on her bed once her dad had left. She lay beside of her and
tried to put her arm around her, and she sat up.

“Why
did you do that? Why did you call dad?”

“Alley
if a grown man touched you in any way, we want to know about it.”

“He
didn’t fucking touch me.” She almost screamed that he loved her, but she didn’t
because she wasn’t sure that he did. Why would he leave her to deal with all of
this on her own?

“Alley
stop yelling,” her mom demanded in a soft tone. “Tell me what it was then if he
didn’t hurt you, why are you so upset and moping around like some suicidal nut
case?”

Suicide,
that’s it,
she thought, testing the word out in her mind.
That would
make it all go away,
and she dismissed it as soon as she thought it. She
knew that Trevas would never forgive himself if she ever did something like
that.

“I’m
not talking to you about Trevas. I want to talk to him.”

“We
don’t want you talking to him Alley. He is a grown man and we think he took
advantage of you.”

Alley
gave up, she wasn’t going to yell anymore, she wasn’t going to cuss anymore,
and she was just giving up. She was done talking. She walked out of the room
and down to the pool.

She
sat on the side and put her feet in. If she could just talk to him, she
thought. She wanted so bad to know what her dad said to him and wondered if the
cops had come to question him too.  She hoped that he would know that she would
never say anything, and hoped that he didn’t either. Why did she have to be so
different? she pondered, why couldn’t she be like all of the other rich kids,
and be happy with new cars, the parties, the clothes, better yet why couldn’t
she have been born into a normal family like Trevas?

Trevas
tried her phone too, right after Fletcher had called him and told him that he
was going to rot in prison, and if he ever touched his daughter again he would
personally kill him, but Fletcher blocked his number from her before calling
him. Trevas wondered too, what she had told Fletcher. He couldn’t believe that
she would do that. Was she that mad at him, that she would take the chance on
him going to prison?

The
following Saturday, Trevas was sitting in his new favorite chair when his door
buzzer went off, and he let Chase in.

“Is
this shit true Trevas?”

“What
are you talking about?” he asked, and walked away from the door to let Chase
in.

“I
heard the cops were at Peyton Paxton’s house talking to Alley about you,” he
explained.

“Who
told you that?” he asked, and was scared for his life now.

“Jake
escorted Jane Shiloh today, her and Peyton Paxton are really good friends, and
overheard the phone conversation of her talking to Peyton Paxton.”

“I
couldn’t tell you, I don’t know.”

“Where
you fucking her Trevas?”

“She
isn’t that type of girl, and I would appreciate it if you didn’t talk about her
like that,” he replied with an even tone and frowned eyebrows.

“Oh
my God,” he exclaimed. “You are in freaking love with her.”

“What
the hell do you want Chase?” he finally asked.

“Come
out with us tonight. Get the hell out of this house. You have been cooped up
here for three weeks.”

“No.
I don’t want to go out.”

“Come
on Trevas. Meet us at the Breeze around nine. You need to get out and forget
about this girl before you end up going to prison over her. Just think about it
okay?”

“Yeah
sure,” he replied, knowing that he wasn’t going anywhere.

Trevas
really wasn’t going anywhere, not until he ignored the call from Selena and
then listened to the voice mail.

“Hey
sexy, I’m in the neighborhood. Chase said you were back in town. I hope you are
just in the shower or something. I’m going to stop by in about twenty five
minutes. See you in a little bit.”

Trevas
looked at the clock, took a shower and shaved the fastest that he had ever done
in his life. He grabbed his keys and drove around for a while before deciding
to stop in at the Breeze for one drink. Just long enough for Selena to give up
and leave him alone.

He
found Chase and Sarah’s table, and ordered a drink and really didn’t want to be
there. He was only having one drink and was leaving. He was leaving faster than
that if Chase had anything to do with it.

“Come
on man, let’s get out of here and go to Route 57,” he coaxed Trevas.

“I
just got a drink, what’s your hurry?”

“I’m
just ready to go. They have EPCOR, playing over there tonight.”

Trevas
downed his drink. “You guys go ahead. I think I’m going to call it a night.” He
got up to follow them out, and knew then why Chase wanted to get him out of
there. He just happened to glance toward the bar, and saw Alley with some buff
guy, covered in tattoos and probably not too much older than she was.

“Just
keep waking Trevas,” Chase warned when he stopped.

Trevas
watched as the guy kissed on her neck, and they were laughing. He watched Alley
shake her head yes and follow him out toward the back.

“Come
on Trevas, she’s not your problem. You can’t go anywhere near her, and you know
it.”

Trevas
pushed his way around Chase, and headed for his car, hoping that he didn’t make
it out of the parking lot before he spotted them, and Chase just shook his
head.

Trevas
burned rubber, squealing the tires as he raced around the side of the building,
and spotted the guy, only because he had stopped just before pulling out to
throw some sort of flyer off of his windshield.

He
didn’t make it in time to pull in front of him and stop him, but did follow
him.

He
took his cellphone from his pocket and called her dad. He wasn’t about to go to
jail for saving her from some pervert.

“What
the hell do you want?” Fletcher answered, knowing the number now.

“Do
you know where you daughter is Mr. Fletcher?” he asked, just as angry.

“Yeah
I do, she is at her moms and you stay the fuck away from her.”

“Guess
again, I just watched her leave with some idiot at the Breeze.”

“Are
you serious?” he asked alarmed now. “Why did you let her leave with him?”

“He
was taking her out the back when I saw them. Don’t worry, they’re right in
front of me. He’s not getting out of my sight.”

“Tell
me where you are. I’m on my way.”

“They
are heading north on Willard.”

“Her
mother is beeping I will call you back,” Fletcher said and was gone, knowing
that Peyton was calling to tell him she wasn’t there.

Trevas
followed them to a shady side of town. He could see the guy reach over and kiss
her every now and then, and if she wouldn’t have been in the car, he would have
run him out of the road. His phone rang just as they were pulling into the
parking lot, of a not so nice hotel, the kind that you could rent by the hour.

“They
just pulled into the Duce hotel on Palmer,” he told Fletcher. “I will call you
back.”

“What
the hell is she doing there?”

“What
do you think she is doing here Fletcher? I will call you back. I’m going to go kill
the son of a bitch.”

“Don’t
do anything stupid Trevas, I have to pick up her mom, and we will meet you
there.”

Trevas
parked right beside of the shiny red sports car, and neither of them paid any
attention because the guy was all over her.

Trevas
jumped out, and opened his door and threw him to the ground by his jacket.
Alley was out of the car, and in his face in about three seconds. Their eyes
locked momentarily and then she started screaming at him.

“What
the fuck are you doing here?” she screamed, and before he could say anything
the guy was on his feet swinging.

Trevas
punched him in the gut, bringing him to his knees, and then turned back to
Alley.

“What
the fuck are you doing here?” he asked her the same question.

“What
the hell do you think I’m doing here?” she screamed, and the guy was back up
and coming at him.

Trevas
punched him in the face this time, and when he went down he got on top of him
and punched him five times, and Alley was screaming at him to stop.

Trevas
pulled the bloody faced guy to his feet, and he was dazed. “Get in your car and
get the fuck out of here before I Kill you.”

The
guy wasn’t coming back swinging anymore. He stumbled to his car and backed out
slowly and finally made his way out of the parking lot.

“You
are un-fucking- believable Trevas. What are you doing here? How did you know I
was here?”

“I
followed you from the Breeze. You promised me you wouldn’t go back in there.”

“You
quit, I don’t keep promises to cowards.”

Trevas
got quiet and just looked at her. She was wearing jeans, his t-shirt and
sneakers.

“What?”
she yelled.

“Did
you tell your dad about us Alley?”

Alley
settled down too.

“No,
my mom found the locket with our picture in it, you know the one that you told
me not to do that. They don’t know anything. My dad called the cops, and I told
them nothing happened. Don’t worry about it. I would never do that to you.”

Trevas
couldn’t talk. He was so happy to see her, and he didn’t want to be mad at her.
He didn’t care about the pictures, the cops, her parents he just cared about
her, and he missed her like crazy.

“I
miss you Trevas,” she said, quietly after a few moments of silence.

“Come
here,” he whispered, and he leaned up against his car and took her in his arms.
He held her face and kissed her knowing that he had about ten more minutes, and
her dad was going to pull in.

“Alley
I want you to stop moping around and crying all the time. You are young, live
your life, be happy.”

“I
don’t want to be happy without you Trevas. How can you just walk away and not
care.”

“Alley
I care so much, and if I could change it, I would. I never in a million years
imagined that I could love someone like this, and I am not sure I like it.”

Alley
smiled up at him. “Hurts like hell, doesn’t it?”