No Curtain Call

Chapter 4

"Wrecked her? How?"

"She was the sweetest girl you'd ever know. A lot like you, but she was completely innocent. Never had a boyfriend. She was young, only eighteen, and now, looking back, not prepared for a life with a band, especially not one with Acton."

"What did he do to her, Colton?" I asked, standing up after everything was cleaned up. 

"She fell in love with him, and he didn't. He never even touched her, but she fell in love with the way he acted with her. Late one night, after a concert, she found him backstage screwing a girl who looked exactly like her, but wore skimpy clothing and swore like a fucking sailor. Acton apologized to her, but she thought he would never be interested in her unless she dressed and acted like the women who paraded around him all of the time. So, she started acting and dressing like that. Her plan failed, and Acton kept on ignoring her because he knew I was in love with her. I tried to get her to stop, but all she saw was Action." Colton kept rambling on and on, as his story became more and more personal. I had to try and get him to slow down long enough for me to decipher what he was saying. 

"One night, after a gig, we found her outside in a back alleyway after searching for her for a couple of hours. She had disappeared in the middle of the concert, and none of the guards had noticed. Her skimpy dress was torn to shreds, and blood stained the lower half of her body." Colton looked directly into my eyes. "She was raped, Anya. Perhaps because the way she dressed was provacative, but she thought she needed to be someone she wasn't in order to get Acton to love her. He destroyed her."

"Wait just a second," I said, holding up a hand. "Did Acton rape her?"

"No, of course not. Acton might be a bastard, but he wouldn't rape someone." Colton scoffed, looking at me as though my question was stupid.

"Then it wasn't his fault. It wasn't your friend's fault, or Acton's fault. It is the bastard who raped her who is at fault here. Not Acton," I said, feeling the need to defend Acton in this situation. 

"But he was the one who made her believe that she needed to be better. Because of him, she got the sick notion in her head that she needed to be someone she wasn't in order to get his attention," Colton spoke up for his friend. 

"Acton never told her to change. Acton never told someone to rape her," I challenged.

"He's still a bastard. How could you be on his side? You've seen how he treats women. You're already trapped in his web, aren't you?" Colton glared at me, like how a man would look at a traitor. 

"I'm not taking sides, Colton!" I raised my voice and crossed my arms across my chest. "But it's no one's fault. I'm sorry about what happened to your friend, but it's no more Acton's fault than it is yours. It's no one's fault," I softened my voice as Colton's shoulders slumped and his face turned red. "Colton," I murmured, as I heard soft cries coming from him. I opened the door to the bunks, led him inside, and closed the door behind us. 

"I loved her, and she was raped." Colton cried as I sat him down on an empty bunk and sat beside him to comfort him. "She was a shell of the girl she had been. Her parents are furious at me, and used to send me death threats. They entrusted her to me not to let her get hurt."

"What was her name?"

"Her name is Cara. Cara Jones."

"Where is she now?" I asked, knowing that he needed to talk and let his feelings out. God knows how long he's kept it inside without talking about it. 

"She's living with her parents. She turns nineteen in just two weeks."

"How did you two meet?" I asked him, and he smiled a small grin.