The Bad Twin (13 page)

He interrupted her. “I’m serious. Promise me you won’t tell her.”

“I’m not promising you anything. If it wasn’t so late, I would call her right now.”

Rose was about to walk away, when she heard him say, “If you do, I’ll tell her you made a pass at me.”

She spun around and headed back in his direction. “Come again?”

Marcus had a smug look on his face. He said, “I think you heard me. Now we wouldn’t want that, since you guys have made some progress.”

Rose was five feet ten inches, and although Marcus still towered over her, it didn’t stop her from getting as close to his face as she could. She shouted, “I don’t take too kindly to threats.”

“It’s not a threat. It’s a promise. If you say anything, I will tell her how you got drunk and tried to seduce me. Simple as that.”

John could tell Rose was getting in deeper and deeper. “Come on girl. Maybe we should just leave.”

Marcus agreed. “Yes. Remember. Violet never has to know and we’ll all walk away happy.”

Rose stormed off the dance floor, with John close behind her. “John. I could kill him. He’s cheating on my sister and now I can’t say anything because if I do, he’s going to lie on me and claim I made a pass.”

John placed his arms around her shoulders. “If you like, I can be there with you when you tell her. I normally wouldn’t get involved in other people’s drama, but if you care about your sister, you must tell her.”

Rose leaned on John and cried. “We’re getting close again and what if she doesn’t believe me?”

John wrapped his arm around her and offered her some advice. “I really don’t know what all is going on with you and your sister, but I’m sure it’ll all work out. Just ask yourself one question. If she eventually finds out you knew about this, what do you think she’s going to say or feel?”

As John walked her to the elevator, she responded, “I don’t know. I honestly don’t know.”

“Sleep on it. Don’t make a decision tonight. Do you need me to come up to your room with you?”

“As fine as you are John, I think I’ll pass this time.”

John chuckled. “Alright, now that’s the Rose I know.” They hugged and as the elevator door closed, she waved good-bye and blew John a kiss.

Although she had plenty to drink, she ordered another margarita and a hamburger from room service. After she ate, she sat on the couch in her suite and flipped through the channels on the television.

No luck in finding anything that caught her attention, she turned it off, grabbed a blanket and went and sat in the long patio chair on her balcony.

***

Just when things were looking good for Violet and me, this happens. I could kill the lying bastard for what he’s doing to my sister, to me.  I know he’s not going to stop seeing that woman. They never do. She’ll believe whatever wild story he comes up with and he’ll still be juggling my sister and her. There has got to be a way.

***

Rose continued going back and forth in her mind with the pros and cons of telling Violet. She came to the conclusion that she would have to let Violet find out what type of man she was dealing with on her own. It didn’t feel right, but she couldn’t think of any alternatives.

VIOLET

Yawning, Violet got out of her car and tried to shake the feeling that her Monday wasn’t going to be good. The first thing she encountered when she got to her office, were messages from several board members concerned about the center’s activities. After she returned the first call, she was informed of an emergency meeting being held later that evening and she was asked to be in attendance.  The previous night, she stayed up trying to figure out who could have stolen the funds and why.

***

What am I going to do? I have no clue where the money is.  At this point, I don’t know who I can trust.  I know it wasn’t Janice. At least I hope not. Look at me; I even doubt my best friend.  It must be the stress. Okay. It’s not me. It’s not Janice, so it only leaves one other person and that’s Carlton Larson the Funds Manager for our district. It’s going to be hard to show I didn’t take it, but if I can find out how to prove he did it, I can clear my name.

***

Violet leaned back in her chair and rubbed her temple. She sat up when she heard the sound of Janice entering. Janice closed the door. Violet said, “I guess you’ve heard about the emergency board meeting tonight.”

“Yes. I was coming to check on you. You know we’re in this together,” Janice stated as she took a seat.

“I was sitting here thinking about it.  We both will be under the firing squad, me more so than you, but you’re the Assistant Director, so they’ll be looking at us both.”

Janice balled up her fist. “I’m pissed. All of the time and effort we’ve both invested and these snotty nose folks are going to accuse us of embezzlement.”

Violet reached over the desk and squeezed Janice’s hand. “What we need to do is prove Carlton took the funds and our minds need to be clear, so try to control the anger.”

“I don’t know how you do it. You’re going to be officially accused tonight of doing something with the funds, but yet you sit here asking me not to be angry.” Janice shook her head.

Violet leaned back with a solemn look on her face. “Trust me. I’m livid right now. I can’t let what he’s done ruin what I’ve tried to do for the kids, for the community. These people have trusted me and I will do whatever I have to, to clear my name. I can’t be consumed with anger. It’ll only deter me from finding out how to prove I’m not guilty.”

“I hear you, but I’m not as good as hiding my emotions as you are and don’t forget we’re both in the hot seat, not just you.”

“I thought about everything last night and we need to have a strategy going into this meeting.”

While they were brainstorming, Violet’s cell phone rang. “Hello.”

She heard what sounded like planes in the background. “Hi. I’m back in town and I wanted to see what you were doing tonight, so I could drop off the gifts I bought you and tell you about my trip.”

“Rose.  Welcome back. I’ll have to call you later. I have a lot of things going on right now, so I don’t know when it’ll be.”

Rose sounded disappointed. She asked, “What’s going on? Is there anything I can do to help?”

“No. Unfortunately I have to take care of this myself, but thanks for asking.”

“I’ll send Tina, my assistant, to your office around noon or to your home later on tonight with your gifts. I have some things I need to catch up on anyway from being gone for a week.”

Violet tried to rush her off the phone, so she could deal with her problem. “Sure. Either one works for me. We’ll talk later. I have to go now. Talk to you soon.”

Violet took a sip from her cold coffee. “Eww. That’s nasty.”

“So the drama queen is back in town?”

Violet chuckled. “Now Janice. Be nice. That is my sister you’re talking about.”
“Okay, I will.  I’m glad you ladies are working through your differences.”

Violet smiled for the first time in days. “I am too.  It’s been a big relief.”

They finished going over their plans for the meeting.  They worked way past lunch and weren’t aware of the time, until Tina showed up with several gift bags from Rose.  Janice left to go get them something to eat.  While waiting on Janice to return, Violet opened up her gifts.

She placed a call to Rose. “Hi. I wanted to let you know I got the gifts. Thank you.”

“You’re quite welcome. I was hoping you would like them.”

“These figurines will go perfect in my collection and I love those bracelets.   My favorite one is the silver one.”

“You’re talking about the piece that has a heart shaped face with the turquoise stone surrounded by little diamonds?”

“Exactly.  I have the perfect outfit to wear it with.”

“I’m glad you like your gifts and I hope we can get together later on this week to catch up.”

Janice walked back in with their lunch, so Violet ended their call. “I’ll call you later and we’ll set something up.”

After a full stomach, they were able to concentrate more and devised a strategy for exposing Carlton, the real culprit in the entire mess. The first phase of their plan would be made at the board meeting.

ROSE

I’m glad to be back in the States.  I enjoyed my trip up until the run in with Marcus. I still can’t believe he’s such a snake in the grass and had the nerve to threaten me. Queen Rose.  A part of me is glad Violet was too busy to see me. I don’t know how I’ll be able to face her knowing what I do.  She deserves a whole lot better than trash like him.

***

Her phone rang. “Hello.”

“Rose. This is Carmen.  I’m glad to hear you’re back. Are you ready to start going on tour?”

“No. I mean yes.”

Carmen gritted her teeth. “Now, we talked about this before you left to go on vacation. People want to see you perform and I have the perfect concert tour lined up. You won’t be the headliner, but it will satisfy your fans need to see you.”

“What do you mean, I won’t be the headliner?”

“Rose dear. You only have one CD out and you’re good, but promoters want to see a profit, so they have to have a good headliner. An artist that’s more established, you understand me now?”

“I guess. I’ll only do it, because you’ve put up with me for so long.”

Carmen let out a sigh of relief. “Good. I will fax over the papers in a few minutes. Call me if you have any questions.”

Rose hung up with Carmen and turned the fax machine on.  After reviewing the papers, she signed them and faxed them back to her.

She unpacked everything and was now ready to relax which was hard to do, because she kept playing the whole scene with Marcus over and over in her head.  She decided to make herself an apple martini to ease her mind.  Nothing Rose did would erase the fact that she was caught in the middle and didn’t know which way to go.

Her and Violet were finally getting their lives on track. Even being a small part of Violet’s life brought joy to her heart. They still had a long ways to go to becoming friends but at least they were talking to each other and spending a little time together. She wouldn’t admit it to anyone, but she had led a lonely adult life.  Her attempts at making friends always resulted in one of two things. Some of the women would be too competitive or accuse her of trying to steal their man. If it were a man she was trying to befriend, he would make a pass, so she basically became a loner.  She made sure she kept good working relationships with the other actors and crewmembers on the movie sets she worked on. She would socialize with everyone, but didn’t let anyone too close to her. 

***

I can’t let this man ruin my relationship. I have to think of something to do. I’ll set it up so she finds out, but not from me. I’ll teach him not to mess with the Purdue sisters.

***

Rose was heavy in thought trying to think of a way to expose Marcus, when her doorbell rang.  Since Tina was given the afternoon off, she got up to answer. She could see the imprint of the man through her stained side glass window. She swung the door open. “What the hell are you doing here?”

Marcus responded, “You can either let me in or we can discuss this out here.”

Rose moved out of the way and motioned for him to enter. “You’re not welcome here. So please tell me what this visit is all about.”

With a smug look on his face, Marcus responded, “You don’t have to be rude. I wanted to make sure we were on the same page. You slipped away before I could confirm.”

Rose didn’t move. She lifted her hand and shook her finger in the air. “Marcus. It’s like this. We both know your little game. I have to admit you’re good, but there is no way I’m going to allow you or anyone else to come in between me and Violet again.”

He smiled. “So it means you’re going to keep your mouth shut right?”

“What that mean is, you need to break it off with my sister.”

The smile left his face. “I can’t and won’t do that, because I care for your sister,” Marcus stated.

Rose leaned her head back and let out a strange laugh. “You what? Let’s break this down once more. You lie to her and tell her you’re spending time with your parents. You take another woman on a rendezvous to another country. You threaten to ruin her relationship with her sister and you want to call that caring. Please!”

Marcus leaned in closer to her as if to make sure she understood where he stood on the subject. “Look here. I care about your sister and if you don’t interfere, I will be marrying your sister.”

Rose pushed him back and said, “I can’t believe what I’m hearing. You are full of crap. I’m not going to allow you to ruin her life.”

“I have no plans to ruin her life. What she doesn’t know won’t hurt her. You just keep your mouth shut and things will work themselves out.”