I summon all the air in my lungs and beg my brother, “JEZ! Please no!”
Somehow, Marius gains on him, and slams his body into Jez’s back, pulling him to the ground. I run to them, the air rasping in my lungs.
“Get the FUCK off of me, Marius! He can’t get away with this!” Jez struggles, but Marius holds tight.
“And he won’t, man. We’ll make sure of it. He won’t.”
“Jez!” I pant, catching up with him.
I fall to my knees in front of him. “Jez, please. It’s not worth it. You’ve hurt yourself over him before. I’m okay, see? I’m okay.” I look him in the eye and give him the biggest smile I can.
He doesn’t say anything, but his eyes fill with tears. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry. Oh my god, I’m so, so sorry.”
“Hey, hey hey… there’s nothing to be sorry for, big brother. I’m fine.” I nod, trying to get him to see that I really am okay.
There’s the sound of movement and we watch, as if in slow motion, the Maestro pull himself to his feet.
“You’re nothing but a two-bit talentless nobody. I can’t believe I wasted my time on you.” He spits, wiping blood from his mouth.
I close my eyes and let his words wash over me. They mean nothing to me now. I am free. I open my eyes again, just in time to see, Marius spring to his feet and run towards the Maestro. “Marius, stop!” I yell, reaching for him, but he’s too fast.
He leaps for the Maestro and I see the glint of the knife’s blade a split second too soon.
“Marius! He’s got a knife!” I yell as I run to them, ignoring the pain in my ankle. They fall to the ground as I reach them, rolling away as they wrestle. The Maestro pulls back for a moment and then his whole body thrusts forward. Marius grunts in pain, his body crumples, then lays still. The Maestro jumps back up to his feet and runs off into the night.
“Oh my god! Marius!” I yell, turning his body over, checking him for wounds. “Marius! Speak to me.”
“Uhhhhh.”
“Oh my god, where are you hurt?? TELL ME!”
“Fucker… fucker’s got a bony fucking knee.” He manages to say.
“Oh my god, are you okay?”
“No! I’m not okay, I’m going to have to cart my gonads around in a wheelbarrow for days, that’s how swollen they’re going to be,” he says, gaining his breath back.
“What? What about the knife? Did he get you?” My hands run all over him, but there’s no blood.
“You mean this knife?” Jez speaks up next to me, as he leans over and picks something up off the ground.
The knife is clean, blood free.
My head suddenly feels dizzy as I’m flooded with relief.
“Oh, she’s going down again.” I hear Marius say.
“I got you, sis. I got you.” I hear for the second time that night as I’m caught by someone who loves me. “You’ve had a rough night.”
Jez helps me sit on the ground, leaning back against him, as Marius slowly composes himself. “How-… how did you know I was here?”
I watch them give each other a look before Marius answers. “Where else would he bring you but the scene of your worst performance stage fright? Everyone likes to see the result of their work.”
“He’s not going to get far… you think your gonads are swollen.” I say, with no a small amount of glee.
“That’s my girl.” Marius grins weakly.
Marius
By the time we get back to the hotel, the others are crowded there, waiting for us. It doesn’t take long for the police to take our statements and we’re back in our hotel suites, all a little worse for wear.
I don’t leave Anca’s side, watching her every word, her every move, making sure she’s alright after her ordeal.
I don’t know how she can be handling it so well. I know if I’d gone through half of what she’d endured tonight I’d be either drowning the thoughts with Scotch or passed out dead to the world with exhaustion. But she’s still sitting here, answering everyone’s questions, over and over again, smiling and taking everything in her stride.
“Tell us again, how did it feel when you kicked him in the boy bits?” Brad asks, his face screwed up in horror.
“Well, why don’t you ask Marius, he got a good kneeful as well.”
“Ugh, don’t remind me,” I say, cupping my groin and moaning.
“Were you scared?” Emily asks, reaching out to pat Anca on the hand.
Anca nods. “Sometimes. Sometimes I was too busy trying to figure out how I was going to escape.”
“You’re so brave,” Emily replies. “I’m not sure how I would’ve reacted in the same situation.”
“You would’ve done whatever you could do to get back to Ben,” Anca tells her, and Emily gives her a smile of thanks.
“So, he’d been following you all this time?” Cadence asks, her face pale from the thought of her new friend going through such an ordeal.
“Well, I only know that he was at the last few concerts. But who knows. And who knows where he is now.”
“We’ll find him. Don’t worry. You’re safe now. We promise,” Dennis says from his spot by the door. And I know, he won’t rest until the job is done.
It’s close to 2 a. m. before the drama of the night catches up with everyone and they slowly, one by one, disappear into their own rooms.
Soon, it’s only Jez, Hailey, Anca and me left.
“Anca…” Hailey starts to speak, and Anca stops her.
“No… Hailey. I can’t hear you say ‘sorry’ one more time. This was in NO way your fault. If anything, if you hadn’t been there to tell them about the flowers, who knows where I would be right now.”
“Okay, how ’bout this, when the tour is all over, we go get so drunk we erase this night from our brains forever, for good.”
Anca’s body shakes as she laughs and reaches out to give Hailey a hug. “You have got a deal. You’re paying though I’m going to be unemployed soon.”
Hailey chuckles and finally lets Anca go of the hug. “On that note, I better go do some damage control, so that we don’t all end up unemployed.”
“Jez, can you maybe make sure she gets back to her room, okay?” Anca asks.