Maybe, Baby

Twelve

I turned my face away, guessing right away what he wanted. His lips brushed my jaw, and I winced. It was an instant reaction to lift my knee to his crotch, I felt him falling, and I went with him as he yanked down hard on my hair. My face hit hard on the wet sand, and soon my pants turned see-through with the seawater. I stumbled on my feet and pushed myself up. I cupped my cheek as I felt the burn on the side of my face. I had nothing with me, just the card key of my room inside the small pocket of my pants. I didn't want anyone to know what had happened. Taking a shortcut through the buildings, I arrived in my room without being seen, hopefully.

I was shaking from head to toe. I had crazy eyes and a scratch on the side of my face. I think it was when we stumbled down, and I had to slide my face over the hard sand. A free face scrub that had scrubbed away my skin. There was no way of hiding it from anyone, and he was for sure going to ask. I applied some face cream, but it only made it angrier and redder, so I washed it with cold water to lower the swelling. Not only had I been assaulted, but I bore the scars and bruises to prove it; the digit marks were all over my hips and upper arm. Good thing those were cover-able, but when I stepped out of the shower, they had become more visible, and it was apparent now what they exactly were. I was surfing the web for tricks on covering up scars with makeup when two hard knocks made me jump.

"Yes?"

"Open this door right now Dolores!"

I pushed my hair to cover my face and ambled towards the door.

"Hi." I said sheepishly and moved to the side to let him pass.

"Hi?" He blurted out, "Where the hell have you been?"

"Here." I said low.

"I been worried sick for hours, I had to pretend in front of all those people that the girl I had brought with me hadn't just disappeared." He was furious. His eyes were wild and dark, looking down at me with rumpled hair and breathing hard. "Your phone has been vibrating like crazy and I had to carry your sandals while you sat in your room playing with that damn computer."

"I'm sorry." It was all I was able to say.

"As you should be." He threw my sandals at my feet and turned around to walk out. He was almost out but turned slowly and walked back to me. "You never wear your hair like this, push it back."

"What?" I started to panic.

"Push your hair back." He ordered.

My stomach dropped. I felt cold inside. "No, I like it like this." I tried to be calm and collected. I really did. The thing was that he didn't buy it, he did it himself, and he pushed my hair back and saw the truth. I saw the shock, and I panicked and moved away, covering my face with shame.

"What happened?"

"Nothing."

"Dolly, I know you are clumsy but not enough to hurt yourself like that." I was cornered by his words and body. The bed was behind me. "Tell me."

"I don't want to ruin this trip."

"Tell me!" he screamed at me, making me back away and finally fall on my bed. He kneeled in front of me and watched as I sat down slowly. There was no need to cover my face, but I couldn't help but touch the tender area.

"It was Paul."

"That son of a b***h!" He punched the mattress right beside my thigh and stood up. I bit my nails as he paced around the room, brushing his hair, well, more like pulling it away from the scalp. He suddenly took out his phone and started to yell to whoever was on the other line. That's was precisely why I didn't want to tell him anything. It was all my fault. I should have stuck to him just like Sandra had told me to.

He made me tell him what had happened, how I had asked him to stop, and even when I had said to him that I was with him, Paul had pressed on until I hurt him and made us both fall down the sand. "He reeked of alcohol, I think he was just drunk."

"Don't try to excuse his actions." He cupped my arms, and I winced. "What the hell." My arms, his fingers were drawn on my skin, "show me where else. Do it!"

I slowly lifted my shirt and lowered my pants enough for him to see. "I'm going to kill him that bastard."

"No please."

I grabbed onto his arma and held it until he stopped moving. I didn't want this. I didn't want to be here anymore. I knew it was more than I could chew. I wrapped my arms around his waist, "I beg you, don't." The hardness of his back loosened after a few seconds.

"You can't be seen out there."

"I know." I moved away and touched my face.

"Let me see that," he said just right after he angled my face up towards him. He brushed the tender area, and I fought to stay still. I let him touch my hair slowly back, savoring the tiny sparks that erupted from within my skin. I knew that this would be one of the only times he would touch me on porpoise, so I lowered my arms and gave in. For him, it was an inspection, and I knew better. I knew the twirling sensation on the pit of my stomach was more warning bells than what my crazy head was thinking. "It started to bruise."

"It happens all the time." I whispered.

"Then I got to be more careful with you." It sounded more like he was talking to himself than me. For what it was worth, he could handle it any way he felt like it, but I wasn't going to say that to him, not out loud, no when he could hear me. "Stay in this room. Go crazy with room service, I will come see you when I have free time." And then he did the oddest thing, he kissed my forehead and left the room.