“I’m sorry,” Ben said and she just nodded, still looking at her hands. She sighed and looked at him with a forced smile. “How about you? I know you’re with Trish and I’m getting vibes from Rochelle that you might have had something with her.”
“I have people at home.” Ben didn’t feel up to explaining that complicated situation. To deflect he found himself making a confession. “I’m an orphan as well. My parents were killed by a drunk driver when I was five. No other family so I was dumped into the foster care system too. It was… bad for me.” Ben looked out over the grounds. The rain had begun in earnest and they watched it for a while.
“Are these the scars you don’t like talking about?” Rain asked gently.
Ben’s eyes found hers and he saw the depth of her compassion there. He saw her pain. She knew. She’d been there. He nodded as his jaw clenched.
Rain nodded in return. “It won’t stay inside. It leaks out. For me, I was so angry! That rage made me violent. I- I hurt people. Bad. I was so young.” she said quietly, watching the rain fall.
They were quiet for a while just… being.
“It’s leaking out for me too.”
Rain looked over at Ben. His cheeks were wet but he seemed unaware of it.
“I- I can’t stop it.”
“Then don’t.”
Ben looked at her. “It hurts too much.”
“It’s only truly bad the first time.”
His eyes widened as something replayed behind his eyes.
“NO!” he yelled as he jumped to his feet and rushed back into the room. Rain jumped from her chair and ran after him. She caught her foot on the robe he dropped and fell hard. She heard the room’s door close behind him as she tried to suck air back into her lungs.
She pushed herself to her feet and ran out into the hall. She thought she saw him disappearing down the stairs to the lobby. She ran to catch up still wheezing. He couldn’t have gotten far. She took the stairs two at a time and ran out into the center of the lobby but no sign of Ben. Maybe he went to see Trish in the spa?
Rain ran across the lobby and down the hall into the spa. She looked around for Ben or Trish but only saw some of the ladies from Dream’s entourage.
Then she spotted someone out the window running down the path towards the beach. It could have been Ben!
She rushed back to the lobby and followed the same path to the beach. The rain was still coming down pretty hard and visibility wasn’t good but she could run faster than Ben. She’d catch him.
“Trish?”
The redhead heard her name called as she rested back in her chair at the back of the spa. Her mudpack was slowly hardening on her face. If she opened her mouth it would crack and all this work would be for naught.
“Mmm!”
“It’s La’Shia. Rain just ran into the spa looking panicked and ran back out. My girls spotted her running towards the beach.
“Shit!” Trish sat up and pulled the cucumber slices off of her eyes. She saw La’Shia looking nervously at her.
“I don’t know where Night is but it didn’t look like she was being chased. She seemed to be chasing someone else.”
“Ben. FUCK!”
“What’s wrong?” Rochelle woke with a start. “Something happened to Ben?” She pulled the slices from her eyes and looked around.
“It’s ok, I got it.” Trish said and dropped her robe on the chair as she stood. She still had her bikini on but her shoes were upstairs. She ran barefoot through the spa and out through the lobby towards the beach. The rain began to soften the mud on her face and it ran down into her eyes and stung. She stopped when she reached the edge of the property and used the shower to quickly scrub her forehead clean. She shook her hands clean and wiped the water from her eyes. As she opened them she caught a flash of motion then a fist struck her in the temple. She crumpled to the ground stunned. She felt herself being roughly tugged off the path into the bushes.
“HEY! HEY!” Rochelle screamed as she ran down the path towards them. The man leapt into the bushes and ran further into the jungle, crashing through the brush to get away.
By the time Rochelle got to Trish she was sitting up tenderly holding her head and her assailant was nowhere to be seen.
“Fucker sucker punched me,” she moaned.
Suddenly they heard screaming coming from the jungle. The women looked at each other as the screams went on and on becoming more shrill. Then silence.
“Ben. I hafta find Ben,” Trish slurred but she couldn’t stand on her own.
Rochelle helped her up and pulled her towards the lobby. “You are in no shape to help anyone! I want someone to look at that cut on your temple! NOW!” Trish let herself be guided back to the lobby. Thomas rushed out into the rain and helped Rochelle walk Trish back under the roof. La’Shia, Dream, Killah and one of the ladies were watching and staying dry.
“What happened?” La’Shia asked with a frightened look on her face. Dream’s expression was closed off and his body was stiff.
“Someone… someone hit me. My eyes were closed. Fuckin’ hurts!” Trish said. She was still slurring slightly.
“I only got a glance of the man as he ran into the jungle when I screamed. It was dark by the shower but he was pretty big and he was pulling Trish off the path,” Rochelle explained.
Killah pulled out a white cloth and gently dabbed the cut. “Fuck. Dream. Look,” he said, his deep voice rumbling in his anger.
“Could have been anyone,” Dream said, his voice tight.
“Look at the SHAPE OF THIS MUTHAFUCKIN’ CUT! IT’S-”
“ENOUGH!” Dream screamed at his friend. He turned and rushed off. La’Shia watched him go, her expression swinging between angry and confused.
Rochelle turned to Thomas. “Do you have your phone?” He nodded. “Please take a picture of the cut and send it to me and Trish. I’ll give you the addresses.”
Thomas took shots from a few different angles. Rochelle helped him send the pictures to them.
“It’s stopped bleeding but you are going to have a very large bruise. You might have a concussion.” Killah said. The group looked at him. “What? My dad was a boxer. I know things.”
“The cut’s from Night’s ring, isn’t it,” La’Shia said to the big man.
He frowned but nodded. “It looks like it.”
“Whoever it was started screaming in the jungle shortly after he ran off. I think it was a man’s screams.” Rochelle said and Trish just nodded. “If he shows up injured then you’ll know.”
“Ben and Rain. I need to look for them.” Trish said. Rochelle felt better as her slurring was gone but there was no way Trish was going back out there.
“No, you are going to your room to rest. I will take you there myself. Rain can take care of Ben for now.”
The woman in question was jogging down the beach towards a downed tree. She saw someone sitting on the log staring out at the ocean.
She slowed and walked cautiously forwards until she recognized Ben. He was breathing hard from his run.