Bring on the Rain (34 page)

She stared at him a moment then left
him.

A sound echoed through the parking lot,
making her look over her shoulder.

Coy was lying against the car. His arms
over the top, cussing, sobbing, raving like a mad man.

~*~

Brook called the house on the cell
phone. She was in some part of the hotel she didn’t recall walking
to. She got no answer. Shaking hard enough to make her lose hold of
the phone, she picked it up, and called another number.

“
Hello?”

“
Ruby…is
Mom…there?”

“
Yes. Brook! What’s wrong,
you s—”

“
Just put my mom on!” Brook
yelled on a moan.

“
Brook?” came Madeline’s
worried voice.

“
Mom, come and get me.
Please. Come to the back lot. Please, Mommy.”

“
Oh God, oh God. What’s
wrong? Are you hurt?”

Brook slid down the wall, her whole
body racked by sobs. They were dicing her voice as she begged,
“Please, Mom, hurry.”

~*~

Madeline hung up and told
Ruby, “I should have brought my car. Come on.” She was shaking all
over. “
Jesus. Jesus
please
.” She had not heard her daughter
sound like that ever. Nightmares were playing themselves out in her
head. Her heart was racing.

Ruby didn’t bother to turn off the VCR.
They didn’t even put their shoes on or turn off lights. They ran
out of the house and to the van. When Madeline got in, Ruby started
backing. She was shaking just as bad. They flew onto the road,
breathing hard and half-crying.

“
Oh God, please,” Madeline
kept saying, eyes burning out the windshield at the oncoming cars.
“Please…”

“
Where to. Where to?” Ruby
muttered nervously as they zoomed into the crowded lot.

“
The back lot.”

The big van swung, tires screamed, they
weaved through until they reached the dark lot, where the staff
usually parked.

“
There she is,” Ruby said as
the headlights struck Brook.

Madeline jumped out and went running.
Her bare feet silent on the black top. “Brook.” She reached her
panting.

Brook’s wrap was on the ground, her
purse beside it. Her whole head was quaking and tears gushed out of
her eyes.

Madeline picked up the things. Brook
took the cell phone and threw it against the hotel wall. It
clattered to the concrete in pieces.

Brook stumbled to the van, leaving her
to follow. She opened the side door and climbed in. Madeline
climbed in with her. As soon as the door closed, Ruby sped
off.

Ruby said, “Where to?”

“
Just…” She carefully
touched Brook’s shoulders with her hands. “Brook? Do you want to go
home?”

Brook shook her head no. Then suddenly
fell against her, sobbing her heart out.

Madeline said with thick tears in her
voice, “Drive around, Ruby, okay?”

Ruby did. The windows down and the
sound of Brook’s broken crying echoing through the vehicle. Ruby
took some back roads and tried to see past her own tears, wiping
her nose now and then.

Madeline was rocking Brook in her arms,
holding her tight and stroking her back. She could feel the slim
body knocking against her with every harsh moan that tore out of
Brook’s throat. Her heart broke too. She kept swallowing lumps,
trying to stay semi-calm and failing. The gut-wrenching sounds were
eerily familiar. Echoes of her own long-ago heartache.

It took a long time for Brook’s sounds
to turn to shuddering hiccups. Her teeth were chattering and she
was curled up in ball, her head on Madeline’s lap. She stroked her
hair and realized the van had stopped.

Madeline looked past the seat to see
Ruby lying against the wheel, her shoulders shaking, crying
silently.

Brook pulled down a Navaho blanket that
was draped over the seat. She put it over herself and rolled until
she was looking up at Madeline. Her pretty makeup was smudged, her
nose red, eyes swelled, and skin chalk white. She started to talk
in a raw whisper, “He told me, he was going out for a smoke. I
thought he was too turned on…from waltzing with me.” She pressed
her lips tight, her chin quivered. “He was...screwing Karla on the
hood of a car—screwing her.”

Madeline felt ill. She stroked Brook’s
hair, making herself stay silent.

“
I stood there, not two feet
away, and heard them and watched them. It was like I couldn’t move—
like, I kept waiting for everything to dissolve and not be real,
and they never even saw me.” She closed her eyes a moment, to blow
her nose. She went on, “When he did, I could see it, his pants were
still undone. And he held out his hand to me…same hand…that…” She
set her teeth and groaned, then made a gagging noise and
shuddered.

“
I’m sorry, I’m sorry.”
Madeline gathered her tight. “I’m sorry.”

However, Brook shuddered again and sat
up. She looked at Ruby who was now sitting back, smoking! Something
she hadn’t done in three months.

“
Got anything to
drink?”

Ruby looked around at her, tears still
on her face and in her voice. “Let’s go to my house, okay, you’re a
grown up now, a girlfriend. We’ll let you in on what your mom and
me do when these things happen.”

“
Okay. I don't care.”
Brook’s lips trembled. “I can’t go home yet. Oh, God. Karla. I
wonder how long it’s been going on? How long she planned…. I swear,
if he comes to the house I’ll…”

Madeline said, “Let’s take it one thing
at a time.”

Madeline was afraid of what would
happen if she got a hold of Coy or Karla right now. Every primal
instinct she had was over the top. She would beat both their asses
if she saw them.

They arrived back at Ruby’s
cottage-style house, hurried inside and Ruby let Brook shower and
change into some borrowed shorts and top. They piled into the cozy
sitting room, all facing each other and seated in thick cushioned
cane chairs. Ruby poured Brook a glass of expensive wine. The room
was only lit by a bit of full moon sky coming through the French
doors beside them.

They drank a couple of glasses in
silence, hearing muffled night sounds. Each looking inwardly at
their own experience with Copper Creek men. Each knowing how sharp
and prolonged the hurt was how it affected the rest of your life.
How love took you high…and let you fall too damn fast.

Finally, Brook laid her head back,
smoothing her wet hair and murmuring roughly, “I can’t believe I
was so blind. God, how arrogant to think he kept a hard on over me.
I thought he loved me! I thought, he was dying for me. How stupid
is that?”

“
We’ve all been there,” Ruby
said, “It’s not you, it’s him, don't blame yourself for loving
someone.”

“
I wonder how long they’ve
been screwing. When I think about all the times, we took her with
us. All the secrets I told her. Dammit! She’s been my friend.”
Tears seeped thickly out of her eyes and clogged her voice. “They
weren’t supposed to do this to me.”

“
No they weren’t,” Madeline
agreed softly.

Brook raised her head and looked at
them through a pool of pain. “I planned on giving myself to him
tonight. He knew that, he said he was going to make it perfect,
romantic and…” She laughed hollowly. “I’ll never forget the sight
of them, the sounds. He was moving the whole car.”

She shuddered and muttered, “Friggin
bitch.” She broke down again and covered her face a moment. “I’m
sorry. Mom, but I can’t stand this. It hurts bad…I can’t breathe…I
don‘t mean to cuss. I feel bad, I hurt.” she rolled to her side and
pounded the cushion with her hands, crying hard.

“
I know baby.” Madeline went
over, held her until she calmed down.

Brook breathed in, shook her head. Her
voice was hoarse. “So, what do y’all do? Give me something,
anything; I think I’m going to die here.” Brook moved away from her
mom. She got up, smoothed her hands over her face and smoothed her
hair back, then started pacing. She was feeling brittle. “What time
is it, about nine?”

“
About.”

“
Mom,” Brook looked
desperate. “Mom…don't let me lose my mind.”

Madeline went to her again, grabbed her
hard, and shook her gently. “You listen to me, you are strong, and
you are a whole person. This pain does not personify who you are.
You hear me, Brook! Look at me. I’m telling you right now, you will
not let those two destroy you.”

Brook bit her lip and then rasped, “I
loved him, I loved him. I’ve never wanted anything or anyone so bad
in my life, and he made me feel…like I could walk on
clouds.”

Ruby got up too and pulled herself
together. “I was your age, but I fell for a Copper Creek boy, and I
did lose it. I am telling you, I let the pain consume me. I begged
him. I followed and spied on him. I lay in front of his car, for
pity sakes. Brook, you know about your mom and Mitch, it was the
same for Jude and me. We are standing here telling you, yes, yes it
hurts, it’s like dying, we know. Love with them is like a drug, a
deadly poison.”

She hugged the young woman and held her
by the shoulders. “I went all the way, I gave my body and soul to
one. You got lucky in many ways, you found out first. I wasted
years of my life on pain.”

Brook told her, “It doesn’t matter.
They both have screwed me anyway. My best friend too, it’s the same
to me. Everything we said to each other, all the
tenderness.”

The tears dripped down. “How can that
be? How can a guy reach in your heart like that and touch you deep
and it not be real? How can they play you like that?” She shook her
head.

“
Hey, it was probably just
sex.”

“
Don't. If he’d been…I was
going to… He knew.” Brook shoved her hands through her hair. She
murmured, “Maybe it’s because I’m small breasted. Or I don’t have
t—”

“
No Brook, don't even,”
Madeline cut her off. “It’s nothing to do with your body, or you,
you’ll only give the pain more power by taking yourself
apart.”

Brook looked out the French doors,
watching the moon sparkle in the in-ground pool. “I’m getting mad
now. I want to scream my head off.”

She grit her teeth and looked at Ruby.
“Fuck them. I hate them both! I hate them for playing me. I was
good to Karla…I have never hit on her boyfriends. I put up with her
shitty attitude all year and she… and Coy! It makes me sick I even
let him touch me. He…said he’d never touch another girl. She was
moaning—”

Madeline looked at Ruby. “I’m going to
make a phone call.” She left.

Ruby kept talking to Brook. When
Madeline came back she said to them both, “Come on, we’re going
out.”

They left in the van, and swung by an
all-night mart and bought some clothes for Brook.

Besides the road, laughing, they
dressed her, used make up from Ruby’s purse, and then headed to the
Tavern. They parked out back and Madeline waited for Brook to put
on lip-gloss.

“
What’s going on?” Ruby was
brushing her hair, smiling.

“
I called Sunny, Brook’s not
old enough to get in the back, but everything will be cool. Let’s
let her burn this out, not sink in it like we did.”

Ruby nodded and handed Brook the brush
then waited while Madeline slid her headband back on.

Brook looked pale. It was obvious she
had been crying. She had on jeans and a nice top and sandals, her
hair dried and gelled the way it usually mussed out.

She glanced at them. “Am I getting
drunk?” She looked downright hopeful. Too damn angry.

“
Whatever you want,
girlfriend.” Ruby laughed.

They went in the back door, struck by
the sound of the band on stage and noise from the crowd. It was a
loud and high-speed night. The band played electric dance music. A
kaleidoscope of color swilled over everything and
everyone.

Madeline led them toward the
bar.

Ashley was behind it, but Rafael was
waiting. She found out later, because Sunny called him.

He looked sexy in his purple silk shirt
and black slacks and hip leather shoes. His wavy hair was falling
over one eye and his earring glinted. Just what Brook needs,
Madeline thought.

The music and beat was ear thudding.
She laid her purse on the bar and whispered in his ear, as Ruby and
Brook took a seat. Rafe looked ready to whip ass, but he nodded and
went over to Brook.

Both Ruby and Madeline saw his face
turn sensual as he spoke a long time in her ear. Brook wore a half
smile on her lips and was blushing horribly. He took the seat next
to Brook, ordered her a soda, and then leaned in, talking to her a
long time until the song ended.

Madeline heard the last bit as she
sipped something stronger. She needed it.

“
The world is big,
querido.
Don’t you let go
until you’ve got what’s yours. He did not take anything from
you,
si
. You still
got it, you got more than they do, you got class, baby girl. You
think you ain’t a woman, cause your friend is a
puta
.” He whispered something in her
ear and kissed her cheek.