The Shadow Grove Chronicles - Book I: Fated Reunion

VI - A Shoulder to Cry On

I pulled up outside the large brick building Becca used for her home and art studio. The windows in the upstairs loft were lit and I saw her pull back the curtain when she heard my car pull up. The side door opened quickly soon after, as though she flew down the stairs, and she waved at me to come in. I still felt coldly numb as I walked into the studio part of the building, barely noticing the colorfully painted murals that covered her walls or the stacks of paintings on framed canvas that leaned against any vertical surface where there was room.

I plopped down on her old battered couch that sat off in the center and faced the large flat-screen close to the cast iron stove that she used as a heater, staring blankly at the void beyond the glass of its unpowered screen. Becca sat down on the other end of the couch and watched as I tried to form my thoughts into something that could be more easily understood than the string full of gibberish that my tongue felt like it wanted to make instead.

I stammered too many times for me to get it out, so I just unlocked my phone and navigated to the video I had taken of Derrick and Lady Amelia in the VIP room. It wasn’t a long video, but longer than I had remembered it being. I’m fairly sure that I was in some form of emotional shock when it was taken, my mind playing tricks with my sense of time. Hearing the music in the background brought me back to the scene, watching her lower herself on what should’ve only been mine.

I was getting angry again as the feeling I originally had over witnessing Derrick’s betrayal washed over me. After a few minutes, she handed me back the phone and went into the kitchen to pour me a highball of something brown and alcoholic, handing it to me. It burned as I gulped the whole glass down in one go, sputtering on the harsh and fiery taste.

“Bourbon, straight up. It’s meant to be a sipping whisky but considering...” She shrugged then sat back down, closer to me this time. The weight of her body shifted mine as she relaxed into her seat.

“Take your time, chica.” She had a worried look across her face as she watched me open and close my mouth several times, trying to say something, anything, looking like a fish gulping air.

It took me a bit more time. Seconds? Minutes? I waited for the bourbon’s full effect to take hold in my middle before I tried to speak, the whisky doing its work to slowly unknot my tongue.

“I am so furious right now, Becca. I want to do something stupid. Like... Like burning his clothes out on the front lawn, or going back there right now and cutting his d**k off.” I was shaking again. I was so irate. “Maybe ripping out a few clumps of her hair and scratching up her pretty face while I’m at it.”

“I can bet, dear. But I wouldn’t go after her. She was just doing her job. It’s Derrick’s ass you ought to be mad at. He’s the one who paid her. I saw that bill that was stuffed into her lingerie.”

“I don’t really care. I’m just so– so– so f*****g pissed right now…” I could feel hot tears starting to well up in my eyes and I let out a horrible, gut wrenching sob.

“Oh, hon… What do you really want to do about this?” She rested a hand on my shoulder and pulled me into a tight hug as my tears started to stream down my face. I buried my head into her chest.

“I’ve been so unhappy for so long,” I said between wails. “He’s been such an asshole, even without me knowing about… Well, this! My cheek still hurts like f**k from last night when he smacked the s**t out of me, after accusing me of sleeping around on him… Me cheating on him! The f*****g balls he has! I tried so hard to carry on for the sake of the girls. I just can’t deal with this. I want him gone.”

She flashed a grin. “How gone are we talking about here? On a scale of one to ten, how badly do you want him hurt?”

“Ten. An easy ten,” I said.

“So, you want his corpse to disappear?” There was a twinkle in her eyes as she said this and a savage grin. It scared me a little.

“No, maybe seven and a half then. He’s still my daughters’ father. He needs to be in their life.”

“So paraplegic then?” I smiled. I knew she was being intentionally hyperbolic. At least I thought she was… “I have a few favors that I could call in. If you want, it could be done by the end of the night.” There was a dead seriousness in her voice as she said that. I slowly untangled myself from her arms so I could look at her face. Her eyes were cold.

“Beccs I’ve known you for ten years and I have never heard you talk like this. What gives?”

“I’m going to be honest with you, gorgeous. I’ve held a torch for you for a very long time, but I knew you weren’t lesbian, or even bi. So I didn’t bother you like that, honestly preferring your friendship instead of scaring you off and out of my life entirely. If only so I could continue to enjoy looking at you.” She winked. “You really are a very beautiful woman, Allie. He hurt you though, badly… I want to return the favor.”

I looked at her carefully and could tell that she was telling the truth. It warmed me a little. I loved having her as a friend, but there were a few things in my past that I hadn’t mentioned to her… However, if there was a time I would walk on that side of the street, she would be the only woman possible that I would consider as a partner, I felt that close to her. I gave her a tight hug.

“No, I don’t want him to be hurt, physically. Well, maybe a little. What I really want is for him to know my heartbreak as my own…”

“May I offer a suggestion?” She wiped a tear from my cheek with a finger and flicked it off onto the “living room” floor.

“What’s that?”

“Go back to the house and pack up go-bags for you and the kids and come back here. Also, give me your phone real quick.”

I handed it back to her and she connected it to her laptop sitting on a shelf of the TV stand. I watched as she opened up a window and quickly navigated through my phone's internal storage to the Camera directory and copied the video I took onto her computer. She opened another window and uploaded the file onto a cloud drive and set it up so I had access to it. My phone beeped as the share invite notification was received in my inbox.

“Now, he can’t just disappear the evidence and you can use it later. Even if he were bold enough to come into my place to get my computer, he won’t have access to all of the copies.”

“When did you get so tech savvy, Rebecca?” I was impressed.

“I have picked up a lot of things in my somewhat evil and lecherous life, sweetie. This I picked up from a boyfriend I had… Let me see here… Ten years ago? I think his name was James. Maybe Jason? I don’t know, it’s not important. What is important is that you go and get the kiddos out of that house. Preferably before he gets home and the shitstorm really begins. They don’t need to see that.”

She was right. Although I did kind of wish he would show up early just so I could take out my frustrations on him, he was most likely going to be gone until very late. I checked my phone. It was close to one o’clock. On the Fridays when he went out, he would be gone until maybe four or four-thirty.

“Would you come with me? Just in case?”

Her eyes softened as she responded with a smile, “For you, dear friend? Of course!”