His knee comes up and slams against my chest, and for a second all I can see is stars.
I can feel myself dragged to my feet, hands grabbing under my arms, pulling me up.
“Get off me!” I struggle out of the hold. I spin around and lunge back at him, forcing him to take a few steps back.
“Fuck you, asshole,” he slurs.
I whip my hand back to slap the smugness of his face and feel it make contact.
There’s a scream.
“Anca!” Cadence yells and I spin around to see Anca stumbling back, her hand holding her cheek.
Oh my god. What happened?
“Anca!” I yell, but before I can take a step towards her, a fist slams into my cheek and knocks me to the ground.
“Jez, no!” She screams again, just as he looms above me. I reach up to cover my face, but he’s pulled away before he can hit me again. I can just make out Brad and Sebastian dragging him out the door as I sit up, my vision blurry.
“Come on, Marius.” Cadence and Hailey pull me to my feet.
“Where’s Anca?”
“Don’t worry, she’s fine, we gotta get out of here. Now.”
I can just make out the flash of camera phones in our direction as someone throws a sweater over my head as we rush out of there and into a waiting taxi.
“Guys. What happened?” I ask as soon as the taxi pulls away from the curbside.
“Anca… she got hurt.” Cadence said, her face tight.
“Fuck. BY who?”
“By you, Marius. By you.”
The stars come back and blind me and I lay back against the seat as the world falls down around me.
***
“Where’s Anca?” I say as soon as I open the door to the joint hotel suite.
“What the fuck is he doing here?” Jez spring up from his seat, before Brad pulls him back down, patting him on the shoulder, whispering something to him.
I ignore him, even though it’s hard to, with my aching cheek reminding what just happened between us.
“She’s resting, Marius. Probably just let her alone until the morning,” Sebastian replies, walking over to me and Cadence, who lets him lead her over to the couch.
“Just leave her alone from now on.” Jez says, his voice tense, even as he tries to stay in his seat.
“It was an accident, man. You’ve got to know that.”
“Do I? She was doing fine.”
“You didn’t see what I saw.” I plead with him.
“You want to know what I saw? I saw YOU hit Anca.” He glares at me, his eyes accusing.
God. What have I done? “I didn’t see her there, man. Come on! You know I wouldn’t hurt her.”
“Do I?” He asks again.
“Jez…” Brad cuts in, but there’s no point.
Jez jumps to his feet and takes three steps, pressing his chest against mine and his fingers against my shoulder.
“All I know is that you went over there, even when I told you not to, and she ended up with a bruised fucking cheek. And that you caused it. So, hot shot, how the fuck do you think I should feel? Would YOU trust you?”
He’s right. Of course he’s right. “I’m sorry, man. I’m so sorry.”
“I’m not the one you should be apologizing to.”
“I will, I’m going now.”
“No! You stay the fuck away from her. I thought… I thought if there was anyone I could trust to treat my sister well, it would be you. I’m not going to make that mistake again.”
“Jez!” We turn to sound of Anca’s voice. Her face is red and her eyes even redder.
“Anca!” We both run to her. But Jez pushes me back hard, and I stumble against the coffee table.
“Stop! Enough! Both of you! Enough!” She yells and runs out of the room.
Jez turns to me, acid in his eyes.
“I said it to you before, but now you better fucking listen to me. You stay the fuck away from my sister. Just stay away.”
Anca
I’ve never been an extrovert.
Even in my most outspoken, outgoing moments, there’s a part of me that feels like I’m floating out of body and watching myself play act for a moment, hiding from the shy, quiet girl inside.
My memories are filled with trying to survive the trauma that colored each and every one of my days since my losing my parents.
That kind of life really doesn’t crave any more drama.
I don’t search for movies with rollercoaster love stories, romance novels with implausible twists and turns before getting to an unsatisfying ending; my heart is already barely held together by the scars of my childhood pain.
I crave contentment.
Simplicity.
The quiet joy of lying in Marius’ arms and his sleeping breath in my ear.
I never wanted anything more than that. I didn’t want the burden of Jez’s hurt. Of that look in his eyes that two of the people he trusts most in the world have succumbed to their own selfishness to betray him.
It taints it, it taints everything.
And even as I sit here, remembering the wild look on Jez’s face as he lunged towards Marius, I can’t help but think, they are so alike.
Unable to see past their own egos to see me for who I am.
A soft knock on the door pulls me from my memories of the night.
I open it and a sliver of bright light from the hotel hallway splits my dark room in two.
“Hey.” Marius says, his voice low. His head leaning against the doorframe. “Can I come in?”
I open the door a little, and move to the side letting him step past me and then close the door behind him. He walks over to the open window; there’s the barest glow from the moon filtering through.
We stand there in silence for a moment as our eyes adjust.
“Anca.” He reaches out and I bite my lip, trying not to flinch as he cups his cool hand against my bruised cheek. “I’m so sorry.” I don’t say anything. I’m not sure what there is to say. “I didn’t see you there, it was an accident.”
“I know.” I whisper.
“You-you believe me?”
“Of course, I do. I know you wouldn’t try to hurt me on purpose.”
He pulls his hand away and he falls to his knees, his face in his hands. It takes everything I have not to wrap my arms around him.
There’s a sob and when he pulls his hands away, his face is wet with tears.
“Thank you.”
“What for?”