Flaming Hearts (Beyond Reality Book 2) (14 page)

After a long, hot shower and a short nap, Becky felt a hundred percent better. It was amazing the amount of stress she felt lifted from her shoulders as a result of not being on the show or around the set anymore. She wasn’t sure how long she’d have to stay in the hotel, but she figured someone would let her know the show was over. They were, after all, paying the bill. She should be thankful of that, considering how pissed Eddie was at her.

Becky decided to make her way downstairs to the restaurant. She was starving. She was looking forward to a nice big salad and a bowl of soup. She was seated in the restaurant near the front window. It was interesting to watch the comings and goings of the other guests from the lobby. Lord knew she didn’t have anything else to entertain her. She ordered her food and it didn’t take long for it to arrive.

Eating and not having to carry on a conversation at the same time was awesome. It was just as great to not have to worry about a camera catching her with food in her teeth or dribbling down her chin. It was awkward to eat and know you were being filmed.

Just as she was finishing up her soup she noticed a limo pull up in front of the hotel’s lobby. She watched as two men got out. Holy crap! It was the twins, Derek and David! She about choked on her soup. This wasn’t happening! She thought she’d gotten away from Derek by leaving the show, but somehow it looked like Marissa didn’t choose to keep him
or
his brother on the show. Becky wondered how that came about. Marissa had been adamant that both men be allowed to stay. After all, she’d said, you couldn’t split up a pair of twins. Becky knew she’d have to avoid them at all costs. It was better if they didn’t know she was here.

That would be easier said than done. As per the contract rules, contestants weren’t allowed to be seen “out and about,” so they were essentially kept prisoner in the hotel. They were allowed to freely roam the grounds, but they weren’t supposed to leave. In some ways it was worse than being on the actual show. She couldn’t image what the men like Ned and Oliver had gone through. They left the show in the first ceremony and had been at the hotel a long time.

Later that night, Becky finally tried to call Dean. He didn’t answer, which wasn’t totally surprising as his dad had said he probably wouldn’t have any cell service where he was going, so she left him a message. She didn’t mean to be cryptic, but it was just too complicated to try to explain everything that had happened over the phone.

Hey Dean,
she said softly after the beep sounded, letting her know she could leave a message.
I miss you. I hope everything is going okay with your job. Your dad told me a bit about what you’re doing, I hope that’s all right. I know you’ll make that woman feel safe. I know I always feel safe when I’m around you. I know you won’t let anything happen to me. Anyway, some stuff happened on the show today, nothing bad, but it’s kinda complicated and too long to tell you in a message. I’ll talk to you soon and tell you all about it. Be safe. Don’t worry about me and hopefully I’ll see you soon. I wanted to tell you as well, that…well…if you still want me to, I want to stay here and get to know you better…okay, well, call me when you get back. Bye.

After sitting around her hotel room for a few hours, Becky was bored. The thought of sitting in her room watching any more boring television wasn’t appealing. Even though she hadn’t seen any television the entire time she’d been in the production house, it just wasn’t cutting it. She supposed she’d been weaned off it.

She’d eaten a late lunch and, while she wasn’t hungry enough for a full dinner, Becky figured she could get an appetizer and that would tide her over. She could’ve ordered room service, but she was already going stir crazy. She decided she’d just go downstairs and grab something quick and get back up here to her room.

As she made her way into the restaurant she saw Derek, his twin, and some of the other men from the show in the bar area. They’d obviously been there a while as they were loud and quite drunk.

Becky shrugged her shoulders and went into the restaurant. She’d just stay away from the bar. Soon after she ordered, Derek and his twin suddenly appeared at her table.

“Can we join you?” Derek asked snidely, pulling out the chair and sitting without giving her a chance to answer him.

Becky’s heart rate doubled. Crap. This was not good. This was not good. This was not good. She hadn’t talked to Derek after he’d tried to rape her and she hadn’t seen him other than at the last ceremony. David also sat down and didn’t say a word. That was almost creepier than if he’d said hello or even if he’d said something rude.

Derek leaned close to her and growled, “You bitch, you ruined my chance to be famous and my chance with Marissa. You also ruined his chances too,” pointing toward his brother.

“But I didn’t make you leave.” Becky tried to explain, shrinking back into the squeaky pleather of the booth. She looked around, hoping to see someone, anyone, that might notice what was going on and help her. Of course, no one was around.

“Yeah, well, after you left, Eddie changed the game and would only allow Marissa to keep one more guy. She decided if she couldn’t have both of us, she didn’t want either of us. So because you decided to quit, we had to leave. It’s directly your fault, cunt. You have to pay for that!”

Becky’s heart almost stopped. She had no idea Eddie would do anything so drastic. She figured Marissa would be able to choose two men to stay in her place. No wonder Derek was so pissed. It was also pure Marissa to decide to ditch both Derek and David. What good was one twin to her? It wouldn’t pull in nearly enough attention. Becky swallowed hard and tried to think of something to say to get herself out of the situation.

Derek dragged her out of the booth by her arm, squeezing in the same place he’d gripped her the day before. Becky opened her mouth to protest, to scream, something…after all she was in a public place.

Derek gripped her arm even harder, digging his fingernails into her skin cruelly and said, “If you say anything, you’ll only make it worse for yourself. You want to make a scene? Go ahead, we’ll claim that you’re bipolar and having an episode. Who do you think they’ll believe? You? An ugly fat hag? Or us? Gorgeous, muscular twins who are only concerned about their poor crazy sister?”

Becky shut up. She was scared to death. What were they planning? Maybe she could talk them down when they got out of the restaurant. David still hadn’t said a word, but obviously was supportive of anything his brother did. He threw a twenty dollar bill on the table to cover her meal and the three of them walked out of the restaurant and to the elevators.

Becky noticed they were going to the eighth floor. Hers was on the fourth floor.

She swallowed hard and finally said, “What the hell are you doing, Derek? Let me go, seriously, get over it.” She pretended to have more bravado than she actually had. “This is ridiculous, what will this do? Get you back on the show? No, it’s only going to make things worse!” She tried to reason with him as well as David. “David, seriously, I had nothing to do with you getting kicked off the show. You can’t be serious.” When both Derek and David ignored her, she resorted to pleading with them.

“Please, guys, don’t do this. Let me go. I’ll go back to the set and say whatever you want. I’ll tell Eddie I want back on the show and you can come back and I’ll choose you both. I swear it. Please…” Her voice fell off as they dragged her down the hall to room eight twelve. Where the hell were all the guests? Why wasn’t anyone around?

Derek opened the door and pushed her in the room with David following close on their heels. Becky knew once they got her in their room she was screwed. She watched as the hotel door closed behind them. David turned to the door and locked it while Derek dragged her to the bed.

* * *

Becky woke up the next morning slowly. She tried to roll over and gasped. She hurt everywhere. She looked around. She was alone in the room. She thought frantically…where were Derek and David? Did they leave her alone momentarily with plans to come back and continue where they left off? Becky painfully pulled herself to a sitting position. She was naked. She could see her clothes strewn about the room. She shakily stood up and forced herself to gather up her clothes. She wanted out of this room now. Finally, mostly dressed, she made her way to the stairwell. She didn’t want to chance using the elevators in case the twins were making their way back to the room. She walked down the four flights to her floor and cautiously opened the door. The hallway was empty, thank God. She went to her room and slipped in, miraculously her room key was still in the pocket of her pants. She walked numbly to the bathroom and stared at herself in the mirror.

Even she was shocked. Her face looked like she’d gone three rounds with a boxer. She had two black eyes and her face was swollen to twice its normal size. She opened her mouth and saw that her front tooth had a chip in it. She didn’t remember when that happened, but she supposed it had been when Derek had hit her…one of the times.

She sat on the toilet seat and tried to get her breath. Her chest hurt, probably because she’d been held down. David had sat on her chest at one point because she wouldn’t stay still. Her arms were covered in bruises from being held as well. She’d fought them until she’d finally passed out.

She stifled a hysterical laugh at the black permanent marker all over her body. Apparently the twins had a problem with alcohol and being able to get it up. They’d tried to rape her, but the fact she wouldn’t quit fighting them combined with the alcohol in their system wouldn’t allow them to be able to hold an erection.

When they couldn’t get their dicks to cooperate they’d gotten out the permanent marker. For some reason they thought it would be hilarious to write all over her. The words were obscene in their starkness. Whore. Bitch. Cunt. Fat. Cow. Stupid. They’d tried to get creative and couldn’t really think of too many other derogatory words in their inebriated state. Most of the words were smeared. Some were illegible because again, Becky wouldn’t lie still and let them have their fun.

They’d also spit on her. Over and over. Calling her names and saying she wasn’t worth the ground she walked on. At one point she thought she remembered them having a contest to see who could hawk the biggest loogie and hit her in the face with it. She shuddered with revulsion.

She sobbed once and then ruthlessly choked it back. If she started crying, she didn’t know if she’d be able to stop. She continued to take stock of her body. The writing on her skin wasn’t physically painful, only mentally so. She was sore from being held down and fighting them. She could walk, so her legs weren’t broken, but she thought she might have a broken collarbone. It hurt like hell. She’d once broken her collarbone when she was little. A cast wouldn’t work. All they did was put her arm in a sling and told her to be careful.

Becky thought about what she should do next. If she took a shower she’d probably wash away any physical evidence Derek and David left on her, but would anything happen if she went to the police? She’d probably have to testify, and the last thing she wanted to do was see the twins again.

The hell with it. She slowly got up and stripped off her clothes. She was in a state of shock, she knew it, but she couldn’t deal with anything right now other than taking a shower to get clean and getting the hell out of there.

The shower was longer than she’d planned, but she just couldn’t get clean. She scrubbed at her face to get the feeling of their spit off of her. It hurt, bad, but she didn’t stop. The marker wouldn’t come off her skin no matter how hard she scrubbed. She used the washcloth and rubbed her skin until it was red and raw and she could still see the words. Cow. Bitch. Cunt.

She couldn’t stop remembering the laughs and the taunts and the pain as the men took turns holding her down and writing on her. As they swore at her as they tried to get it up. They hit her when they couldn’t and blamed her for being butt ugly and a cow.

Their words haunted her.

Finally, she made herself get out of the shower. Becky knew she’d ruined her best chances of the men paying for what they did, but it was hard to think. She did take the trash can liner out of the can and put the clothes she’d been wearing in it. She figured it might be better than nothing if she decided down the line to press charges, but that was as far as she could go in trying to preserve any evidence.

She got dressed again, jeans and a long sleeved shirt to cover her arms, and a sweatshirt. She couldn’t get warm. She knew it was shock, but she didn’t stop to think about it. She packed up the rest of her belongings and left the room. She didn’t even tell the front desk she was leaving. The hell with the show, the hell with Eddie, and the hell with the hotel.

She went out a side door and walked to the nearest fast food restaurant. She asked the manager to call a cab, and as a testimony to what her face looked like, he didn’t even question her other than asking if she was all right.

Ten minutes later she was in the cab. When the driver asked her where she wanted to go, Becky’s mind immediately flashed to Dean and his family. She shook her head. She couldn’t go there in her mind yet. But she did want to say goodbye to Star. Something pulled her toward the little coyote and Becky wanted to make sure she was okay before she left. She gave the driver directions, put her head back on the seat and closed her eyes.