Chapter Twenty-Five

 

The ceiling seemed to stretch on forever as Scarlet lay on the studio floor. She had been there for a few minutes as other dancers bustled around her, gathering their belongings.

Her night with Alex was still fresh in her mind. She could still feel every inch of him, and it made her entire body tingle.

Nora and Jason came into view over her. They both smirked. “Hey there, renegade,” Jason said.

Scarlet made a face as Nora reached down to pull her up.

“What’s your deal?” she grinned. “One minute, you freak and run off, the media puts you in the middle of a scandal, and now you’re dancing better than ever with a silly little smile on your face. You’re nuts if you think I don’t know what happened. I know!”

“We know!” Jason gestured between them.

“Hell, I think even Madame Adele knows.” Nora laughed.

Scarlet tried to quiet her friends down.

“The ballerina and her bodyguard,” Nora and Jason chimed in unison. Nora executed a perfect pirouette, before mock-fainting into Jason’s arms.

Scarlet sighed. “Give me a break.”

“You had sex.” Nora pointed a finger, still upside down in Jason’s arms. “You had great sex with Alex!”

“Nora.” Scarlet’s eyes widened as she glanced at some of the remaining dancers who weren’t even paying attention.

Nora straightened up, breaking away from Jason. “Oh, pffft.” She threw them a dismissive wave. “Like these bitches don’t already talk about everyone behind their back. I want to know what happened.”

“I could use a good sex tale, too,” Jason said with a sigh. “But Ivan is in one of his ‘I’m acknowledging you’ phases, so I’m just going to go make my own.”

Ugh. Scarlet was about done with Ivan, who kept throwing out passive-aggressive remarks about her absence the day before. His French accent made them sound so much more pompous. Ivan’s main concern was Ivan. He didn’t even care that two dancers were missing. Her protective instincts kicked in when she knew the man was just using Jason.

She frowned. “You shouldn’t be his beck-and-call boy. You’re better than that.”

“Girl, it’s just sex.” Jason shrugged and scratched his head of black hair. “I’m not expecting anything else. I usually get free dinner out of it.”

Nora and Scarlet looked at each other, then back at Jason.

“Well,” Nora said, tentatively. “If you free up, it’s Wine Wednesday and I have a bottle of Pinot Gris chilling in the fridge.”

Scarlet dressed over her practice clothes, shoving the disposable phone into the soft pants pocket. It was a reminder that she couldn’t let her guard down, even if the day appeared ordinary.

“Not tonight.” Jason winked. “But thanks for the offer.”

He bounded out of the studio, and was gone before Scarlet and Nora reached the door.

Scarlet walked into the main hall, looking for Alex. When she didn’t see him, she retrieved her phone and texted him to inform him she was going to the locker room to change before they left.

Nora was tapping her foot impatiently. “Well?”

“Well what?” Scarlet played dumb.

“Don’t make me tit-slap you,” Nora said. “Tell me what happened!”

Scarlet let out a sigh, hoping she didn’t sound too content. “I mean, I just don’t want to seem too happy right now since… You know…”

“Since Victoria and her lackey disappeared?” Nora raised an eyebrow. “Come on, you know Vicki probably staged everything for attention. It’s okay to not give a crap.”

Scarlet opened her mouth to respond, but hesitated. Nora’s remark, while not completely out of character, was callous, despite Victoria’s reputation.

Nora followed Scarlet to the locker room. A few of the showers in back were on, making the area heavy with steam. Most of the ballet dancers had filtered out, leaving the area quiet except for the distant water spurting from the showerheads.

Scarlet and Nora sank down onto the bench in front of their lockers.

“And,” she went on. “Not to sound like a horrible person, but with her gone, I’m dancing her parts.”

Scarlet winced. “Nice, Nor.”

“What?” Her friend lifted her hands and smile mischievously.

Scarlet tilted her head at her friend. “This is kind of serious. I don’t think it’s for attention. Victoria could be—”

Nora ran a hand through her spiky blonde hair. “You’re overthinking. There’s nothing we can do about it, anyway. The police are on it. That’s why I’m not worried.”

Scarlet looked at the ground and nodded slowly.

She had no choice but to keep the truth from Nora. Alex asked her to say as little as possible and mentioned Edward didn’t want anyone uttering the words “human trafficking,” especially to Nora who had already been a target. Edward didn’t need Andrej Brevic to know his daughter was almost sold into sex slavery. People would start to find out soon, anyway, but Alex said he hoped they could resolve it before it got worse.

Wishful thinking.

“So,” Nora said. “Tell me about you. Tell me something good, something sexy, something I can take vicariously to my dreams tonight.”

Scarlet’s face twisted back into a smile. “You’re incorrigible.”

Nora held a hand to her heart. “I know! But you have to admit, this is all frightfully romantic.”

Scarlet brought her knees up to her chest as she balanced on the narrow bench. “It was an interesting night.” She picked at her toe shoes before she began to untie them.

“Give me more details,” Nora ordered.

Scarlet’s cheeks flushed with embarrassment. “Not sure where to start. It’s really kind of a crazy story.”

“Crazy?” Nora asked. “Like Britney Spears’ 2007-breakdown-crazy, or Dave-Matthews-Band crazy?”

Scarlet took a deep breath as she kicked off her toe shoes. “Well, turns out, three years ago, Alex tried to rescue Lena. He was the last person to see her.”

Nora’s eyes widened. “Like, how would that conversation even start? ‘Hey, sorry I saw your best friend die, but…’”

Scarlet reached up to mess with some of the loose strands of her messy bun. “He was wounded trying to save her. He has this massive scar on his side. He told me about the last moments he spent with her. He didn’t have to, but he did.”

Scarlet didn’t want to go into more detail. Some parts of the story were for her to keep close to her heart. She breathed in the steamy air and closed her eyes.

“And so, some sort of divine fate really brought him to North Pointe to protect you?” Nora put her hands up to her cheeks. “Holy cow. I thought the reporter was on crack. This is like … Nicholas-Sparks crazy.”

Scarlet opened her eyes and looked over at Nora. “Then we … you know.” She smirked.

“You slut.” Nora chuckled. “I can’t believe this. Your night consisted of getting swept away by the elusive, hot bodyguard with a tortured past. And then there’s me, who had to help Jason organize his shoe closet.”

Scarlet laughed. “I’m sorry. I just … I don’t know.” She took a deep breath, unable to keep the smile from her face.

“Uh-oh,” Nora said pointedly. “You’re super-gone over him. Are we talking L-word, or what?”

Butterflies fluttered in Scarlet’s stomach. They hadn’t let up since the night before. She was feeling good, even if bad things were happening.

“I don’t know.” She shrugged. “It’s hard to think about all that while Victoria and Lily are—”

“Oh, please,” Nora said, rolling her eyes.

Scarlet frowned. She wanted to tell Nora exactly how serious the situation, but she held her tongue.

“I mean, Victoria gets to shit on everyone around here.” Nora said. “I guess I just don’t care if something happens to her. She kind of deserves it.”

Scarlet tilted her head at her friend. “Harsh.”

“Just keeping it real.” Nora smiled, pawing at some of the steam that had gotten noticeably thicker. “Let’s talk about good stuff. I don’t want to talk about Vic and Lil.” She shifted her attention to the back of the locker room where the showers were still running. “We’re in a drought, assholes!” Nora shook her head and muttered under her breath. “I swear.”

Scarlet looked around, noticing the rising steam that cast the room in unsettling silence aside from the buzzing of the florescent lights overhead.

“Is anyone even back there?” Nora called, taking a few steps forward.

There was no answer. Scarlet quickly rose to her feet, her inner alarm ringing in her head. “Nora. Let’s get out of here.”

“Wait,” Nora said. “Do you hear that?”

Scarlet paused and tilted her head to the side.

“Sounds like…” Nora took another step. “Crying?”

To Scarlet’s left, down the row of metal lockers, a shadow moved, making her jump. “What’s that?” Her eyes darted around the room.

Nora turned her attention back to Scarlet. “I didn’t see anything.”

“Come on.” Scarlet reached out for her friend. “Let’s just go. I’ll change at home.”

“Shh.” Nora held up a hand. “I know I heard someone.”

“This place is empty,” Scarlet said.

The panic rose swift, locking up Scarlet’s knees. She kept glancing around the darkened area of the locker room, hoping the moving shadow was just her imagination.

We’re safe here, Scarlet told herself. The building is full of people.

Nora walked slowly toward the back shower area. Scarlet took a deep breath, reaching into her bag for something she could use against any unknown danger.

Not the Taser, she thought. There’s too much steam…

Maybe that was the plan. Scarlet didn’t want to think about how she and Nora could be walking right into a trap.

Among Alex’s other safety precautions was a small bottle of pepper spray. She grabbed it and caught up to Nora.

The shower room was an expansive white and black tiled area with a bunch of showerheads lining the wall. The floor sloped a little to allow all the water to drain into the middle of the room. Scarlet tried to see in, but the steam was too thick.

“All the shower heads are on,” Nora said. “Full blast...”

Scarlet’s inner alarm began to full-on scream as she realized how hot the water must be to make so much steam in the open locker room.

She waved her hands to clear the steam in front of her, then reached over to the nozzle nearest her and shut it off.

“It’s scalding hot,” Nora commented.

She took a step onto the tile and made her way to the middle of the room. Scarlet clutched the knife in her hand, and looked around.

“Oh, my God,” Nora breathed, looking down at her feet.

Scarlet followed her gaze to the drain in the middle of the floor, where a small river of red was steadily draining with the water.

Blood. “Let’s go get someone.” Scarlet pulled at Nora’s arm. She wanted to get them out of the room. They weren’t safe. Scarlet could feel it.

In response, Nora let out a scream.

Scarlet’s eyes traveled to where her friend was looking.

A little more steam cleared to reveal a naked woman lying propped up against the far wall, positioned like a life-size doll sitting on a shelf. Her long, dirty blonde hair was partially stained with blood, and her head hung down, hiding her face. Her arms hung lazily at her sides, her legs spread wide, one twisted in an unnatural angle. The hot water ran down onto the woman, making her skin a bright red.

Scarlet quickly turned off the burning showerheads along the wall as Nora fell down to her knees in front of the woman, pushing her head up.

“Lily,” Nora choked.

Scarlet’s eyes widened. Blood still ran down from a wound on Lily’s head. One eye was blackened and swollen shut, and there were trace bruises along her cheek, neck, and jaw. The woman let out a weak whimper.

“Holy hell.” Scarlet’s legs threatened to give out. “Her face…”

Lily’s good eye fluttered a little, and she started to breathe erratically. Her eye widened as she focused on the women. She managed to shake her head a little and lifted a shaky hand.

“It’s okay, Lil.” Nora tried to reach out to her.

Lily jerked and began to whimper.

“She’s in shock,” Scarlet said. “We have to go get someone. You shouldn’t move her.”

“Get me a towel or something,” Nora said.

Lily shook her head and continued making her distressed noises, unable to communicate.

The sounds, like that of a wounded animal, dug into Scarlet’s ears, making her stomach churn. Scarlet swallowed back the bile rising in her throat and reached over to a basket of towels at the edge of the room. She tossed one to Nora.

Lily continued to shake her head in agitation, lifting her arms to shield herself from an invisible enemy.

“We’ll get you help, Lil,” Nora said, covering the woman up as best she could. “Everything will be all right.”

Lily let her arm drop back down to the floor, defeated. Her head lolled back against the wall and she passed out.