Star Bright (31 page)

“
Edna, I said
that’s enough!” Dave yelled, moving in between them. He looked at
Maria, who stood pale and frozen, dazed as tears ran down her
cheeks, “Michael, take Izzy upstairs.”

“
No!” he said
harshly, rubbing the tears from his face with the back of his hand,
“I’m staying here with mama, they should leave!”

Edna looked down at
Michael’s angry face, it immediately sobered her up. She looked
back at her daughter, horrified about what she’d said, “Maria... I
didn’t mean it.... I’m sorry.” she sobbed.

“
He knew
everything about me, that’s great.” Maria whispered, the dazed look
still in her eyes, “He paid child support, that’s wonderful.” her
burning eyes shifted and focused on Miguel, “He paid my medical
bills, that’s fantastic and very generous.” acid spewed with each
word, “If not for the two generations of Martinez you have never
met in your life.” her jaw clenched tighter, as more tears made
their way down, and the intensity of her fierce gaze began to bore
holes into Miguel, “Why in the hell didn’t you save the woman you
love so much from that demon and the hell hole she lived in for
years?”

Miguel moved closer to
her, his own eyes full of tears, “I wanted to save you, but at the
time I couldn’t...”

“
Why not and
why are you here now?”

“
I’m here to
fix my mistakes as a father and erase every trace of him from your
life.” he answered, with a clenched jaw.

“
Erase every
trace.” she laughed, “It’s a little too late for that, do you want
to know why?” She pulled Michael to her and pushed back his front
hair, exposing his scar, “Reason number one.” she pulled the head
band off and pushed back her own hair, “Reason number two.” she
pulled her shirt up and her pants down below her lower waist to
expose three cigarette burn marks on her waist bone, “Reason number
three.” she turned around and pulled her shirt up. Her skin was
darkest there and Ricky’s initial’s R. S carved on the small of her
back, “He said that was his favorite spot.”

Dave ran to her and
pulled her shirt down, then held her tight against him. He felt
like he was going to retch with disgust, if he saw any more. He now
understood the fear that gripped her like a vice at the mere
mention of Ricky’s name, and her anger against Miguel, to make it
worse, her father knew this was happening to her and yet did
nothing, “Maria, that’s enough.” he whispered, wiping his tears
away with his knuckles.

“
No its not,
I’m just getting to the good part.”

“
María, please no.” Edna cried.
She
couldn’t take remembering all of it, and if she did she risked
hating Miguel herself. She saw the pain in his eyes and his face
stayed expressionless, quietly listening to Maria. If he also
listened to more of it, it would most definitely kill
him.

Maria didn’t think it was
enough. She wanted someone apart from herself, to blame for the
hell she had lived in for years, and her father was fat enough for
the roasting. She tried to pry out of Dave’s hold, but he wouldn’t
let her go, so she turned to face Miguel. She wanted to show him
more scars, yell, tell him how Ricky raped her when she was
unconscious, and how she had to face the humiliation of giving
herself to him, just to avoid getting beaten. She wanted to explain
in gory details, how Ricky enjoyed torturing her when he carved her
up, like some piece of wood, how he would beat and burn her just
because he was bored. She wanted to tell him how it felt to be
scared of her own shadow, and how she prayed for death when she
felt she couldn’t take any more of the abuse. She wanted to make
him feel the pain she felt, because he chose not to be a father to
her.

But she couldn’t bring
herself to say it. It was too embarrassing, to humiliating to say
out loud. After leaving her, she wasn’t going to give him an
opportunity to look down on her, and she also didn’t want Dave to
be disgusted with her, no one wanted a dirty sex slave as a wife or
as a mother. That particular degradation she would keep to
herself.

She needed to leave, to
get some fresh air and clear her head, to get out of the
suffocation her father had brought. She couldn’t stand it anymore,
the memories, the pain and the anger. She wanted to forget again,
to be the Maria Martinez, the future Mrs. Greer that she had slowly
began developing into, before the grave of her past life was dug
up.

“
Dave, let go
of me.” she spoke softly, pushing out of his hold. She rushed to
the door and grabbed the car keys from the table.

“
Where are you
going?” Dave asked, chasing after her.

“
I need some
fresh air.” She opened the door and ran for the Prado before Dave
could stop her. She got in the car and drove away fast, leaving a
yelling Dave on the drive way.

Dave pulled his phone out
of his pocket and dialed quickly, as he walked back to the house,
“Johnson, Maria just left, have someone follow her.” He slammed the
door closed and stomped back into the living room, heading straight
for Miguel, “You son of a bitch!” grabbing his shirt in a fist,
“All that time you knew and you did nothing!”

“
Dave stop.”
Edna pulled his fist down, “Where is Maria?”

He gave her a lethal gaze
and bit his teeth down. He had a few words for her, but he couldn’t
insult her in front of Michael, what he wanted to do most was throw
them out of his house, “She’s my business now, so don’t worry
yourself about her.”

“
She’s our
daughter!” Miguel yelled, his first sentence after a very long
cowardly silence.

“
Really?” Dave
stepped away from him, “It doesn’t seem so, especially after how
Edna just crippled her.”

“
I’m sorry. I
was so angry I didn’t realize what I was saying.” Edna
cried.

“
I want my
mama.” Michael yelled running to the door. Dave chased after him
and hugged him tight against him. Michael should never have heard
or seen the ugly scene. Dave should have had the two cents to get
him out of the room. He was just grateful Izzy was too young to
understand anything.

“
Your mom
needs a few minutes alone, she’ll be right back.”

“
No! I want
her now!” he yelled, squirming in Dave’s arms.

Dave held him so that he
could look into his eyes, “Have I ever lied to you?” Michael shook
his head, “We had an agreement remember? It’s now my job to protect
your mother, remember?” Michael nodded, “I’m doing just that. She’s
safe, she just needs a minute to clear her head, okay?” He nodded,
then dropped his head on Dave’s shoulder and began
crying.

Dave walked back to the
living room and picked up his whimpering daughter. Edna moved
forward to help, but his cold gaze stopped her. Dave took the kids
and went up to his room with them. He was mad, sad and a whole
other set of emotions he couldn’t put into words, nor describe and
never felt before. This day was supposed to be a happy day for his
family, instead it turned out to be a tragedy. He also needed a
time out, then maybe, when he felt calm enough, he’d get his
business with Miguel over and done with and the pair out of his
house before Maria got back.

Dave came back down with
a baby monitor in his hand, he wanted to hear the kids in case one
of them woke up. The kids were safely tucked in bed, Maria was
still driving around, tailed by one of his people, and he felt,
after a few glasses of whiskey, calm enough to go downstairs and
talk to Miguel, without attacking him, before he threw him
out.

He found them on the
couch, Edna still crying, after half an hour in Miguel’s arms. He
felt sorry for her, but not enough to forgive her for what she said
to Maria. He sat down in the seat opposite from them and stared
hard at the pair before he spoke, “Before we discuss anything about
Ricky, Edna I want you to tell me everything that happened to
Maria.”

“
She won’t say
a word.” Miguel answered.

“
I’m not
asking, I’m demanding it.”

“
She wouldn’t
want me to tell you.” Edna spoke, her crying finally
over.

“
I’ve watched
and helped her move from a scared little girl to a strong woman,
which you single handily just shot to hell. I have a right to know
if I’m going to be able get her out of that hole again, which you,
again, just poured a truck full of sand in.”

“
Hey, take it
easy will you?” Miguel defended Edna.

Dave turned to him with a
cold look, “She wouldn’t be in that hole in the first place if you
had been a father to her.” Miguel shot off the couch, his hands
clenched in fists, with a murderous glimmer in his eye. Edna pulled
him back down and held him there. Dave just stared at him, his lips
pulled in a tight smile, unshaken by the threat. “Start talking!”
turning his gaze back to Edna.

Maria pulled up at Nate’s
apartment building. She stared at it for a few moments before she
willed herself to get out of the car and go in. She was still a
little scared after the burglary, but she doubted they would come
back, after all, they didn’t find anything valuable, so why would
they come back? And since she had forgotten her wallet in her haste
to get away, the apartment was the only option left.

Maria wanted just one
night of rest, before she went back to her life of worrying and
taking care of everyone else, apart from herself. She didn’t have
to worry about Michael, he was with Dave, and Edna was with Miguel
so she was safe too.

Maria lingered at the
door for a moment before she put the key in, but she didn’t turn
it, all she could think about was that the burglars were in the
house, “Yeah, they would lock the door right, after they’ve cleared
out the place.” she said sarcastically to herself, as she turned
the key and pushed door the open. She stood at the door way and
flipped the switch on and waited, she might be a silly coward, but
experience had taught her a good lesson.

The last time she blindly
walked into a house without doing a quick sweep for danger, the
back of her head was kissed by a baseball bat, she still had
migraines because of that.

When she felt there was
no danger, she went in and locked the door behind her. Dave had the
place cleaned up and a double bolt lock installed on the door. He
had most of the things fixed and those that were completely ruined
replaced. Dave had been a heaven send, to make her life easier and
happy, but she still had to tell Nate, it was still his apartment
that was trashed.

“
Oh, Nate has
far worse things to worry about.”

Maria jumped, a cold
frightened shiver running down her back. Her body went limp,
releasing the keys from her now cold fingers. She didn’t dare turn
around and face him, she didn’t want her eyes to confirm what she
heard.

Ricky shifted from behind
the bamboo frame around the bed. He watched her frozen frame and
smiled to himself. He loved seeing her riddled with fear, shaking
like a leaf in a breezy cold. Knowing he instilled such fear in
her, gave him more satisfaction than bedding her ever did,
forcefully or willingly.

“
When they say
something is too good to be true, honey it usually is.” he said
with a laugh, twisting the tip of his pocket knife in his fingers,
“Turn around, I want to see your face.”

Maria wanted to raise her
hands to cover her ears, but she couldn’t reel up the strength to
do so. She shut her eyes and tried to block out his voice, to take
herself to another place, another world safe and far away from
Ricky. She was going to stay strong, and she wasn’t going to fold
because of him ever again.

How was it possible he
found her?

“
I said turn
around!” He yelled, moving closer to the couch.

Maria’s body tightened
and a quiet cry escaped her lips. Her determination was quickly
melting, turning into a familiar fear. She bit her lips together,
muffling her whimpers, as tears streamed down her cheeks. She felt
squeamish, sensing Ricky’s nearness to her, and all she wanted to
do was pull her skin and wrap it tighter around herself and just
hide.

Ricky stomped to her,
then he fisted her hair in his hand and pulled her around to face
him. Maria cried out and held her lips tight when he pushed her
face closer to his. He brushed her cheek with the back of his
fingers in a caress that felt tender and yet irritating and
disgusting to Maria. She pulled her face away, but he pushed it
back, painfully tugging at her hair.

“
I completely
forgot how beautiful you are.” he spoke softly, running his thumb
gently over her lips. Maria pulled her lips into her mouth and bit
down on them, “Why don’t you want to look at me?” His voice was
edgy, his temper quickly rising. He pulled her and held her tightly
against him. Maria whimpered again, but she didn’t dare look at
him. The feel of their bodies touching made her skin crawl, looking
at him would only make the ordeal more torturous. “I look like I
just walked out of a horror movie, don’t I?” He pulled her hair
down, forcing her to look at him, “Don’t I?”

She stared directly at
him for the first time since she walked into this nightmare. She
was astounded she didn’t fall to pieces, crying and begging like
she usually did, instead she felt secure. She would most probably
die that night, but she felt secure because Michael wasn’t here. He
was going to live, without her, yes, but he was going to live a
safe life with Dave.