The sight that greeted her when she finally gathered up the courage to open the door wasn’t of Bennie Lenday. It wasn’t even of Prince. It wasn’t of Lynn. It was of Rick. The man’s hazel eyes widened when he took in her appearance.
“Oh my God!” he cried, appalled. “What happened to you?”
“I fell,” Alyssa said automatically.
She turned on her heels and went inside. She didn’t bother to tell him to come in; she didn’t have the energy. She heard the sound of the front door closing again and of his footsteps hurrying after her. She didn’t go to the kitchen; Lenday’s spit was still on the floor and she didn’t have the heart to clean it up right now—the humiliation was still burning too fiercely within her. Instead, she veered for the living room and once there let herself flop heavily down on the soft cushions of the couch.
Rick sat uncertainly next to her. “Can I get you some water or anything?”
“I’m fine,” she said.
He lifted a dark blond eyebrow. “Sure you are,” he said, his tone dripping with irony. “Seriously, darlin’, what happened?”
Alyssa shrugged. She watched him past the cloth she still held pressed up to her nose and instantly knew she couldn’t lie to this man; he would see right through her. Just like Prince, Rick had seen too much to be fooled that easily…possibly to be fooled at all.
“Promise you won’t tell Prince?”
“Scout’s honor,” Rick said immediately.
Alyssa suddenly felt like throwing up. “That’s what he said, too,” she said before she could stop herself. “When he said he just wanted to talk.”
“Who’s ‘he’, sweetheart?” Rick asked gently.
Alyssa hesitated. She took a deep breath. “Benedict Lenday.”
Rick’s eyes hardened at record speed. “Bennie was here?”
“He left just before you got here. I’m surprised you didn’t cross paths.”
“I’m coming from Prince’s,” Rick said absently. “I guess I came from the opposite direction.”
“How is he?” Alyssa asked.
Rick shrugged. “Confused as hell. You’ve got quite a hold on him, girl.”
Despite the circumstances, Alyssa felt herself blush.
“So Bennie did that to you?” Rick asked, nodding to her bleeding nose and the bruise that was rapidly blossoming across her right cheekbone.
“Yeah.”
“Why?”
Alyssa blew out a frustrated puff of breath. “He came to tell me I should go back to Canada and act like Prince doesn’t exist.”
“And I’m guessing you weren’t too happy with that?”
“Yeah,” Alyssa said quietly. “I told him I wasn’t going to do it.”
Rick cringed. “Bad move.”
Alyssa’s eyes flared. “Well, I’m not going to do it,” she growled fiercely.
Rick smirked and held up his hands in surrender. “Whoa. Easy there, tiger,” he said, chuckling. “I know you’re not. But Bennie didn’t need to know it.”
“Even if I had lied, he would’ve found out.”
“Yes,” Rick conceded, “but you would have bought yourself some time. And trust me, when you’re dealing with Bennie Lenday, time can be of the essence.”
Alyssa stared at him. “I get Prince told you about why I’m still in town?”
“He did.” Rick smirked. “He doesn’t like it either.”
Alyssa huffed. “I don’t care if he likes it or not. I’m getting him out of here. Period.”
Rick looked at her, impressed. “You’ve got balls,” he said. “That’s why I want to help you.”
Alyssa stared at him, intrigued. “How?”
“I don’t know yet,” Rick admitted. “But I came by to tell you that you have an ally. Possibly even an inside man,” he said with a wink.
Alyssa gave him a small smile. “Thank you,” she said sincerely. “You don’t know how much that means to me.”
Rick nodded and reached out to take her hand, squeezing in support. A comfortable silence descended upon them.
“You’re not going to tell Prince what happened with Bennie, are you?” she asked after a few moments, breaking that silence.
“I think I should,” Rick nodded. “I mean, think about it,” he said quickly when Alyssa opened her mouth to protest. “It’s perfect.”
Alyssa frowned, confused. “What do you mean?”
“I mean, he’s mad at you right now, isn’t he? He’s trying to push you away, right?”
“Yeah,” Alyssa said gloomily, scowling as she remembered her fight with Prince from the previous night. “So?”
“So, I’m pretty sure that if he knew you were hurt, he’d come rushing over in a second. And that’s exactly what we want, isn’t it? You can’t save him if he’s not around.”
Alyssa thought about it. It sounded reasonable enough, and yet she was unconvinced. “I don’t like it,” she admitted after a moment. “Who’s to say he won’t get pissed off and confront Bennie? That could get him killed.”
Rick had begun shaking his head even before she had finished her sentence. He gave her a small, bitter smile. “Believe me, Prince isn’t that stupid. We know how to deal with Bennie by now.”
Alyssa cringed. She didn’t want to imagine how they had learned. “All right,” she finally said, relenting. “You can tell him…I guess.”
Rick’s smile broadened. “You’ll see, he’ll be back here in no time.”
“And then what?” Alyssa asked, feeling weary and disheartened all over again. “He doesn’t want to be saved. He acts as though he doesn’t think it can be done, or as if he thinks he doesn’t deserve it.”
“I guess it’s a little of both,” Rick admitted. “But that’s also where you come in to play. You need to change his mind. You need to make him see that he can be saved and, most importantly, that he deserves it.”
Alyssa arched an eyebrow. “Most importantly?” she repeated. She wasn’t sure she shared Rick’s priorities. To her, the most important thing was to get Prince out of there. Whether or not he thought he deserved to get out was something they could work on later.
“Self-esteem is everything,” Rick said, and he looked and sounded like he believed it. “Until he thinks he deserves it, he’s not going to let you take him anywhere, even if you find a way.”
Alyssa thought about it. It made sense…sort of. It made sense given the circumstances and given the damage that eight years of living like he had lived must have done to Prince’s psyche, as well as to his body.
She nodded her understanding.
“So why are you here?” she asked then.
“I came by to ask you not to give up on him,” Rick said. “But I see I didn’t need to worry about that.”
“No,” Alyssa said fiercely, “you didn’t.”
Rick stayed for a short while after that. He insisted to return part of the favor she had done him when she had patched him by helping her clean up. After that, he was gone, claiming “club business”…a sentence that sent shivers down the whole length of her spine.
Now that she was alone in the house, she locked both the front and back door and went upstairs. She stopped by the bathroom and looked at herself in the mirror. The bruises were already evident. She would be black and blue by the next day, and she had no idea how she was going to explain that to Lynn. There was no way she could avoid her until she was completely healed, but there was also no way she could tell her the whole story. Even if Lynn had offered to help her, she was still very reluctant to involve her in her rescue plans for Prince.
She wondered what would happen now. She wondered if Rick was right, if Prince was really going to rush over to make sure she was all right—which she wasn’t, by the way. It was barely noon, and already she felt like she was ready to go to bed and call it a day.
She wondered if her being hurt would be enough for Prince to forgive her for “outing” him to his father. She wondered if he would care that Bennie had threatened her so strongly this time. And then she shook her head, because she was being stupid. Of course Prince would care. He thought he could cover up everything and anything, but Alyssa could still see right through him when it came to certain things.
She couldn’t pinpoint the moment when she had first figured it out, but she was sure he had never stopped loving her, just as she had never stopped loving him. Prince was still in love with her, and the only reason why he was pushing her away was to protect her. Alyssa knew this, and she wasn’t going to let him.
Still, even with the fact that she had just found a new ally in Rick, she was beginning to feel doubtful about her chances. Rick seemed to think that it could be done, that she could really get Prince out of Pinebrook. But Alyssa was starting to have her doubts. She couldn’t even go behind Bennie’s back for two days. How was she supposed to sneak one of his own away without him noticing?
She walked out of the bathroom and to her old bedroom, and she let herself fall upon the mattress of her old bed. This room used to bring her comfort. This house used to bring her comfort. Not anymore. It was silent now. No advice or shelter would come from these walls, and Alyssa had never felt so utterly, completely alone in her life.