Theresa scanned the hallways before slipping out of her room. She was about to turn the corner to reach Stephanie’s room when a lowered series of threats and warnings grew louder. She barely peeked around the corner to see Aj and Kevin arguing fiercely outside Stephanie’s room.
“Damn it Kevin, why the hell can’t you leave her alone? She’s not happy here at all, I wouldn’t be surprise if she left in the middle of the night. Then again since she probably can’t even get up from the bed I suppose you don’t have that to worry about. At least not yet. The only reason she even agreed to this was to attempt to reach you. Obviously it failed since you’re still the same stone cold bastard you always were. You know what, I hope she has enough sense to leave when she gets the chance…” The rambling from Aj was cut short once Kevin could stand it no longer. He shoved the shorter man against the wall with a hand clenching around his neck dangerously tight.
“Shut the fuck up Aj! She won’t leave. And she had to of known this was coming after all the talk. What else could she have expected? It’s her fault she agreed to this not mine.” He sputtered angrily, pushing the blame to the woman behind the door rather than himself.
“That’s a lie and you know it Kev…” Aj tried in a gurgled rasp. His breathing was getting harder as the veins in his neck began to bulge and his face grew a dark shade of red. Kevin suddenly dropped the younger man, shaking his head forcefully.
“It’s not my fault she’s so naïve. She should have known…”
“I doubt she would have ever guessed we would rape her tonight. But she didn’t scream or fight. She was, I’m guessing, trying to show that she isn’t as weak as you like to think she is.”
“Aj, I’m not gonna stand here and talk about this now…”
“Oh, you wanna sober up before you lose this argument. Believe me, either way you’ll lose!” Aj stated, as he watched Kevin’s tall lean figure retreat to one of the rooms down the hall, and disappear inside. Theresa remained silent, trying to absorb the conversation she had just eavesdropped on. She stared at Aj as he turned and tested Stephanie’s door before turning away and returning to his own room, a grief-stricken grimace posed on his handsome face. At that moment, even though she knew her heart should go out to him, she instead felt a bitter streak course through her.
**~~**~~**
Stephanie opened her eyes groggily to the sound of water running. She slowly attempted to sit up but found her entire body throbbed with the most excruciating pain that she gave up quite quickly. She barely grazed her gashed lip with a gentle fingertip to check if it was still bleeding. Thankfully the bleeding had stopped. She shakily adjusted the twisted sheets around her and stared at the harsh scarlet streaks along the sheets. She gasped softly and tried again to rise from the bed. This time, with every last ounce of strength she had left in her she shoved herself up from the bed and rose unstably to her feet. Her legs felt numb and weak, but she stumbled toward the bath anyhow, the bloodstained sheets serving as a covering for her. Opening the bathroom door, she found Theresa testing the temperature of the running water.
“Ah, good, you’re up. I thought you might want a shower, and I brought some supplies over for ya.” She gave a sympathetic half smile and helped her over to the tub. Once Stephanie was under the spray of steamy warm water, Theresa searched her bag for a small box of pills. She popped two out from their foil encasement and read the directions while handing the round white-blue pills around the shower curtain.
“What are these?” Stephanie tried to ask, her voice catching in her throat in the middle of the question.
“They’re morning-after pills. Ya know, just in case. But it says here, you’ll be prone to heavy bleeding for a few days.” Theresa explained, wrinkling her nose out of habit.
Stephanie gazed at the two small pills in her palm and felt vile rise in her throat. Glaring at the slowly dissolving tablets, she let the water rinse them from her hand. She brutally scrubbed her skin with the rough washcloth provided and felt her tears mingle with the cooling water hitting the top of her head. She turned the knobs slowly and the water rapidly changed from comfortably cool to punishingly hot. The water scalded her skin causing pink-tinted patches to rise on her flesh. She sank to the floor of the bathtub, and released the painful tears that had been banished away the night before by exhaustion.
Theresa noticed the steam overpowering the tiny room and opened the door to ventilate the room of the mist. She walked over to the shower and tugged the curtain open an bit to find Stephanie sitting on the bottom rocking back and forth with her arms about her knees. She could feel the heat from the water pressing against her and shut off the water altogether. She grabbed a towel and touched Stephanie’s red shoulder with it, trying to sooth her. She helped her stand, wrapping the towel around her. She led her friend to a chair in the main room and switched on a lamp to survey the damage. She immediately noticed the bite marks on Stephanie’s lower lip and her arched brows knitted together.
“Who bit you?”
Stephanie’s head tilted to the side then realized she meant her lip. “Me.”
“Well, you really chewed it good. That is gonna hurt like a bitch for a while.” Theresa stated, “Well, can you manage to get yourself together or do you need help?”
Though her tone was sympathetic, Theresa gritted her teeth softly. Stephanie mumbled a soft reply and headed for the bathroom, grabbing one of the hotel robes along the way. Theresa began to tidy up around the room, trying to block out the hauntingly familiar scenes playing in her head. She was almost thankfully when a light knock sounded in the room. She hurried over and pulled the door open, shocked to find the one person she didn’t expect to see there.
“What the fuck do you want, Aj?” She asked venomously and began to shut the door.
“I needed to check on Steph and make sure she alright…”
“Oh how touching you care so much about her well-being!” Suddenly in a blind fury her fist connected with his jaw. Stephanie walked out of the bathroom in time to see Theresa going after Aj. She quickly stepped between them to prevent anything more. When Theresa had calmed slightly Stephanie hugged her, then spun around and hugged Aj tightly to her. Had she been able to speak she still wouldn’t have known what to say to thank him, but to show her gratefulness she kissed his cheeks.
“Thank you.” Her voice was strained and hoarse but he understood and kissed her forehead then her injured mouth softly.
“Just heal fast, baby-doll. We don’t want you unable to travel. Just rest here for the day.” Aj advised, petting her damp hair and hugged her again, carefully so as not to hurt her delicate frame. She nodded and moved away from him, headed for the rumpled bed.
“Theresa, may speak with you in my room please?” Aj asked quietly, rubbing his jaw thoughtfully.
“Like hell I’d ever go anywhere with you, ass-hole!” Theresa hissed under her breath, but found herself being led out of the room by the wrist. Once his door was shut, Aj whipped around to face her.
“What the hell was the cheap shot for?”
“I thought it was quite deserved!” Theresa grumbled, taking a seat in one of the chairs by the table.
“Look, do you honestly think Steph would have willingly come up and hugged me if I had done anything to hurt her last night?” She didn’t answer, only glared at him for a moment before turning away. “Then what is it, why am I suddenly the bad guy here, when all I did was try to protect her…”
“Because you wouldn’t do the same for me. You didn’t do that for me!” She shouted standing suddenly from her chair. Aj looked a bit shocked by her outburst but hung his head to hide the shame swimming in his eyes. “You didn’t even attempt to protect me. And all I can say is that I really hate you!”
Theresa started for the door, her own vision blurry from tears. Aj caught her arms as she tried to leave, surprised when she actually began to fight against him. She kicked and struggled until they both grew tired of fighting. He tried to touch her face and kiss her but she shoved away and walked to the door. He let her leave that time, feeling his heart crumble miserably.
**~~**~~**
“Where’s Stephanie?” Donna asked when she noticed Theresa fixing Howie’s hair.
“Oh, um, she wasn’t feeling well this morning and I told her I’d take over for the night so she could rest.” Theresa answered quickly, not looking up at her as Howie got up from his seat and Nick sat down in front of her.
“That damn girl has been nothing but trouble since I hired her. First she starts fights with the dancers, causes problems with the guys and now is putting us 20 minutes behind because she didn’t feel like working tonight…”
“Donna, that is not true, she never started any of the fights with the dancers…” Theresa was cut off by Donna’s harsh glare.
“Oh then why did Christina tell me that the black eye she has was caused by Stephanie?”
“Because she was trying to get her fired. I was the one that gave Chris the black eye, because she deserved it. And if you really wanna know the truth, she never caused any problems with the guys, they started the problems by being ass-holes to her. And finally, we aren’t 20 minutes behind, only 10 minutes, because, I’m done.” She stated forcefully, shoving Nick up from the chair before the mirror.
“Theresa, you’re already skating on thin ice. Don’t let that smart-ass mouth of yours get you in even more trouble. I’ll have a talk with both you and Stephanie tomorrow morning in my room. You be sure to tell her that.” Donna said in a firm tone, turning to leave the room. She faced the crowd gathered in the room before leaving. “Guys, get your butts on stage now!”
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