I stayed mute as Latoya was standing in front of me, a neutral expression on her face. Her whole body was stiff, and her once bruised face seemed to have healed since I last saw her. A weird atmosphere settled in the loft, as not a sound was heard. Latoya's eyes were glossy as she was staring at me. When she took a step closer to me, her body started shaking, as if she would just crumble if she took yet another step.
"You were gone," she simply said in a barely audible voice. Apparently, this was my friends' cue to leave, as they both left the main room and disappeared in the hallway and to their room. "You were gone and you didn't even tell me."
"I was, but, Toya..." I sighed heavily, as I took another step forward. "I did tell you. Several times. I told you Michael planned this trip to Africa for months. Don't you remember?"
"N—No you didn't!" she raised her voice suddenly, and her eyes filled with tears. "I kept calling, a—and you weren't there! You were gone! How could you leave without even telling me?"
"Latoya, please calm down," I demanded gently, as I extended my hand for her to take. "Come on, come with me. Let's have a seat and talk about it."
"I—I don't want to seat down! I—I want to know why you didn't tell me!" she kept on crying, looking at me straight in the eyes. "You want to leave me too, that's why you didn't tell me?" she asked, yanking my hand away.
As she was doing so, I noticed some bruises on her wrist that she visibly tried to hide with multiple bracelets. In vain.
"N—No, this is not—"
"Then go ahead, abandon me like everybody around me! I should have known you'd leave at some point too, I'm so stupid," she said, as she turned around to leave.
"No, please don't leave!" I yelled, and grabbed her hand before she could make another move. "Toya, look at me," I begged, and she didn't budge. Her back was still facing me, and her eyes were still glued to the floor. "Please, look at me. I'm sorry, okay?"
"Are you, though?" she asked, turning around to face me again. "Huh?"
"Yes, I am truly sorry if I hurt you in any way because it was never my intention, believe me," I told her, squeezing her hand a bit. "But I swear to you that I did tell you I was leaving, Toya. I would have never left without telling you. You're family to me, I would never abandon you."
"But my entire entire family did, why wouldn't you, huh? What makes you different from them?"
"You abandoned them, they never stopped caring about you. Michael is worried, your mother is too. They love you, Toya, we all do," I tried to reassure her. "I'm sorry you felt abandoned, I'll make sure to make it up to you," I told her, as a tear escaped my eyes. Seeing her this disoriented made my heart ache. She wasn't herself anymore.
"You were gone," she repeated again, her eyes pooling with some fresh tears. "Y—You were nowhere to be found," she cried, and let herself fall in my arms. "I felt so alone, H—Hayley, y—you were gone."
I shushed her, rubbing her hair gently as I started crying myself. She was clearly in a state of shock, and no matter what I said, she couldn't forget the fact that I wasn't there when she clearly needed me. From the bruises on her wrist, I understood that Jack had beaten her, again. Anger was boiling in me when I realized how broken Latoya was because of him. He took everything from her: her trust, her self-esteem, and her whole life.
"I'm here now, I'm not going anywhere," I reassured her in a whisper as I had a lump in my throat. "I'm here."
"C—Can I stay with you tonight?" she asked, as she sniffled back her tears, holding me tightly.
"You can stay as long as you want," I told her, gently pulling away to look at her. "Did you tell... Jack you were there?" I asked, as it pained me to call this piece of trash by his name.
"Y—yes, he told me to go see you to catch up," she explained, wiping her tears away with the back of her hand. "We arrived in LA yesterday."
I nodded slowly, clenching my jaw. I hated the fact Latoya's husband always found the words to make him look like he wasn't that bad. By allowing her to come see me, a part of her probably thought he had a good side, when in reality, there was nothing good about this man.
"Come, I'll prepare some tea," I gently told her, as I wrapped one arm around her shoulders and guided us to the kitchen.
With difficulty, she sat on a bar stool around the kitchen island. This alone made me shiver, because it was clear that she had the same bruises she had on her wrist all over her body.
"I'm sorry I scared your roommates away," she apologized, playing with the ring she had around her index finger.
"Don't worry about them, they're probably talking about their upcoming wedding," I answered, as I put some water to boil on the stove.
"When is it again? I forgot."
"In ten days," I answered with a frown on my face. I didn't like the fact that she was forgetting so many things. "Did you hit your head or something? Or maybe you fell down?"
"I—I did, but I'm okay, I just hit my head pretty hard while coming in the car last week. Why?" she lied openly.
"Do you have any loss of balance, headaches, nausea?" I asked, switching to doctor mode.
"I—yeah, I—I do," she answered, confusion written all over her face. "What does it mean?"
"You probably have a concussion due to this... accident of yours," I said, trying to stay as neutral as possible.
What Latoya didn't know is that concussions also cause amnesia, obvious confusion and unusual irritability. She gathered all those symptoms.
"W—What? But how can I heal this?"
"You need rest, and to be away from any form of stress," I advised her in a professional voice. "It's not me, your friend, who says that. It's the doctor. I'm going to give you something to treat the headaches, but you definitely need rest, Toya."
She nodded her head, a ghost of a smile appearing on her face, probably because she finally realized I did care about her and her well being. "Michael's lucky to have you. H—how he is doing?"
"He's doing good," I smiled at the mention of my boyfriend, as I poured her a cup of tea. "He is a bit stressed out with the entire tour preparation, but he is excited too."
"His tour is going to be a huge success, as everything he does," she nodded, as she put her hands around the hot mug.
"It will for sure. He's extraordinary," I smiled, before I drank a sip of my beverage. "And why are you in LA? Are you going back to the studio?"
"Yes, I'm recording a few demos for the moment. Jack has apparently some work to do here as well."
As minutes passed, I could see Latoya finally relaxing, and it felt good. We spent hours just catching up, but jet-lag kicked in at some point, and I couldn't keep my eyes opened anymore. Before I went to bed, I gave Toya some sheets for her to sleep on the couch, but I could see something was bothering her, and that her worry and fear came back in an instant. She seemed terrified.
"Hey, is everything okay?" I asked right away.
"I—Is it okay if I sleep in your bed tonight... with you? I—I'm not used to sleeping alone anymore," she asked, and I smelled yet another lie. She was probably scared to be on her own in a house she didn't know. She didn't feel safe because all she was used to was terror. "I—I'm aware this is a weird request, I—I'm probably asking too much, I'm—"
"Stop talking," I cut her off, as I put both of my hands on her shoulders. "I don't mind sharing my bed with you. I'll do whatever it takes for you to feel safe here, alright?"
She just nodded, as a tear escaped her left eye again, and we both went to bed. Latoya's state was very alarming, and if I could help her get better, I was ready to do anything to pull her away from all this chaos that was surrounding her ever since she married Jack.
***
As I stirred in bed, I slowly opened my eyes, still tired from the late night talk I had with Latoya, and this incessant trail of thoughts that wouldn't let me sleep peacefully. It didn't quite bother her to have had a short night of sleep, because when I turned around, she wasn't there. The smell of fresh coffee and pancakes let me know that she probably took the initiative to prepare breakfast for the both of us, which I appreciated.
I rubbed the tiredness from my eyes, and went downstairs. As I predicted, Latoya was behind the stove, flipping pancakes, as the radio was playing lowly in the room. When she noticed me, a small smile appeared on her face even though her eyes had the same sad gleam they had the night prior.
"I hope you're hungry," she told me as I sat around the kitchen island in front of an empty plate that Latoya quickly filled with food.
"You didn't have to do this, Toy. But I appreciate it," I smiled sincerely, as she poured me a cup of coffee.
"It's the least I could do to thank you for letting me stay," she answered sincerely. "Oh, Carl and Alice left a note for you," she said, handing me a little piece of paper. "I didn't read it."
"Thanks," I smiled, and opened the little piece of paper. "Went cake tasting, be back around noon. Love you, Al," I read out loud, and brought a hand to my forehead. "Right, it was today."
"Is everything alright?" Toya asked in a soft voice.
"Y—yeah, it's just that I forgot while I'm supposed to be planning this whole thing with Alice. They both have a lot of work, so since I'm on sick leave I volunteered to help them with it all."
"Don't be too harsh on yourself, they didn't forget and that's all that matters," Toya reassured, patting my shoulder. "I feel like this is my fault, though, I—"
"No, it's not your fault," I cut her off. "Don't worry about it. As you said, at least they didn't forget and went to their appointment, and it's all that matters."
Toya just nodded, and went back to flipping her pancake on the stove as I started eating.
"I love weddings. They're always pure moments of joy," she admitted, a small smile touching her lips. "I wish everybody was there for mine, and that it didn't have to be so quick."
"I'm sorry you didn't have the wedding you deserve," I told her, and she just shrugged it off. "Maybe you'd like to come to Alice's? It should be a fun night, I'm sure you'd have a great time. Plus, Michael is going to be here."
"I—I don't know," she shook her head, watching down. "I have to return to New York in a few days."
"You have to, or Jack wants you to?"
"I—," she started, and sighed heavily. "I just follow him wherever he goes, he is my husband and my manager so I just go where he wants me to go."
"What if we both go see him and ask him if he's fine with you coming to the wedding? We could say you're my plus one?"
"I—I don't know Brit, I'm not sure he would let me go. I have a lot of work to do, I have to be in the studio tomorrow."
"And you will. Come on Toya, let's go ask him," I encouraged.
I really didn't want to see this man, but I also didn't want her to be alone with him.
But I had a plan.
I knew that Jack was afraid of Latoya going back to her relatives, because all he wanted was to control her, and for her to turn her back on her family. However, he believed that, as long as she was with me, she wouldn't have to interact with her family at all. My plan was to convince him to leave Latoya with me until the wedding, so that it would give me some time to make her realize how toxic he was to her.
"Okay," she gave in with a shrug. "I guess we could ask him."
And just like that, the plan was on.
***
The elevator dinged, which could have been the signal that my stress had reached its top as well. Whenever I had to be around Toya's husband, uneasiness and disgust filled my being. I took a look at Michael's sister
beside me, and her stare was empty, as her body automatically walked to their hotel room. With a trembling hand and a heavy sight, she opened the door, and put a fake smile on at the second she set foot in the room.
"Honey, it's me! Hayley's here too!" she announced, as she closed the door behind us.
"Hayley?" he asked joyfully from another part of the suite. "There she is! Long time no see!" he said, as he greeted me with a hug, totally ignoring his wife. I tried not to flinch under his touch, but it was probably one of the hardest thing I've ever had to do. "How are you? Was the sleepover... interesting?" he asked with a cheeky smile, and I felt the urge to slap him across his devilish face.
"It was fun," Latoya answered, the same fake smile plastered on her face.
"I was talking to Hayley... honey," he said, clenching his jaw.
"I uh, I'm great! Thank you for asking," I forced a smile. "How are you?"
"Fantastic! Come, let's go grab a cup of tea," he offered, as we all migrated to the living room of the suite. "Latoya, baby, can you take care of it, please? I need to catch up with Ms. Thames here."
"Sure thing," she muttered before she disappeared out of the room.
"So tell me! I heard you were on vacation, but silly Latoya couldn't remember where. Where did you go? Were you with your boyfriend?" he casually asked, as if we were long time friends.
"I was in Africa, on the East coast. I did some humanitarian work there with children in need," I half-lied, nervousness filling me.
"Alone?"
"No, with colleagues," I lied, trying not to sound too dry in my answers. "One of them is getting married in nine days, to my best friend. I'm the Maid of Honor."
"That's wonderful! Marriage is such a beautiful thing," he grinned, as Latoya reappeared in the living room. "Right?" he asked her, and she just smiled with a nod. "So who's gonna be your date, huh?"
"Speaking of that," I started, as I cleared my throat, taking my empty cup of tea in between my hands. "I was thinking about taking Latoya as my plus one. Would you mind?"
"OH! Oh, I get it now," he laughed loudly, which got me confused. "You like girls, huh?"
"Wh—"
"It's fine! Totally fine!" he cut me off, as he wiped away tears of laughter from under his eyes. "I'm not judging you. You have taste in women if you're hitting on my wife," he wiggled his eyebrows and laughed again at his own joke. "
I let out a loud, exaggerated chuckle and decided to just let him think about whatever weird fantasies he had. "You're something else. You're hilarious!"
"I've been told," he bragged, as he pulled Latoya on his lap. "You know what? I'll leave you both some time together to explore... whatever you want. Why don't you stay with Hayley until the wedding, darling?"
"Honey, I don't think—"
"Oh that's a wonderful idea!" I exclaimed, interrupting her in the middle of her sentence. "I could use some help for the last details of the wedding. I'm the one in charge of the organization, and I could use a hand."
"Well, that's settled then! I'm going to be very busy for the next couple of weeks, so I'm glad Hayley will be... taking care of you," he smirked, and I felt nauseous at that very sight.
"A—Are you sure?" Latoya asked for clarification.
"Positive! I know you're safe with her. Right?" he asked, looking back at me.
"She is for sure," I gave him a big, fake grin.
"As long as she stays away from her family, I'm good with it," he told me, and I nodded in understanding. "They never truly appreciated her talent, it was always about Michael, Michael, Michael..."
Hearing his name coming out of his mouth made me clench my fists that were on my lap. I hated the sound of it, he didn't deserve to be allowed to say his name.
"Yeah, he's not even that good," I lied again, waving a hand, as Latoya gave me a look.
"He's terrible to be honest. I've been in the field for ages, and I can tell he's not even special," Jack added, and I nodded again. "I like you, Ms. Thames. I'm glad my Toy has someone trust-worthy around her."
"Oh believe me, I'm glad she has too."
The plan is on, fucker.