The Marked One (The Marked Series Book 1) (15 page)

“Maddy.” She grabbed her friend into a hug, taking care not to hurt her. “You could never interrupt when it comes to you being safe. Promise me you will never not call me again, okay?”

Madeline sobbed and held tightly onto Aaliyah. “Okay,” she said in a teary reply.

“Don’t you need to see a doctor or something? How much does it hurt? Are you okay? Maybe we should go to the police and report this,” Aaliyah was panicking.

“It hurts, but it’s fine, really. Please just stay here for a few nights. I don’t think he’ll come back, but I don’t want to be alone. My thoughts, they’re…” She trailed off.

The plea broke Aaliyah’s heart, and tears trailed down her own face. She was furious and sad and wanted nothing more than to make her friend feel safe again. “I’ll stay for as long as you need me to,” she promised and held onto Madeline, who was still shaking as she cried. Aaliyah only wanted to hurt the man who had hurt her friend.

Chapter Ten

Aaliyah had only seen the damage Rick had caused the next day, when Madeline was still asleep and her shirt had exposed the area. Why Madeline hadn’t said it was as bad would forever bother her, but numerous darker contact points covered the enormous blue-and-purple bruise.

“Maddy,” she whispered a few times, until Madeline woke up and faced her with sleepy eyes. “Aren’t you in too much pain?”

“Liyah, I told you. I am fine,” Madeline protested.

“Yes, but you could have a broken rib or something? There’s a few bruises that look like they might need a doctor’s attention, which makes me worry, because if Rick just kicked you, how hard did he go? For how long?” Aaliyah knew it was out of line, but she had never seen anything like it and she was frustrated that she wasn’t able to help Madeline.

Madeline got up. She groaned and faced Aaliyah. “Please, it’s over and I just want to forget about what had happened.” Aaliyah wasn’t having it, but as she was about to speak, Madeline continued, “I don’t ever want you to understand this, but forgetting is the only way I can try to not—”

“If I’d been here, it wouldn’t have happened,” Aaliyah said, the words that had made her question everything. That had made her wonder. If she had rather put her own life on hold and came to Madeline, if things might have turned out better, maybe Madeline wouldn’t have gotten hurt? She knew she would then have likely lost a chance of getting Tristan back, but it still outweighed the fact that her friend would’ve been safe.

Madeline came to sit on the bed next to Aaliyah. She sighed, looked at her hands, and whispered, “I was lonely in a way that I was the one who called him.”

Aaliyah frowned. She was shocked and confused.

“I lied, okay? For the first time he wasn’t the one coming to me. After the call with you, after hearing that you were finally going to do the right thing with Tristan, I didn’t feel so empty. It made me realise that if I ever want to forget about Uzochi, I needed to realise that I deserved better than Rick, who only uses me.”

Uzochi was Madeline’s “the one that got away,” and with her stating just his name and admitting a feeling Aaliyah hoped to never experience, she understood why Madeline had been a little off the last few weeks. He was everything to her when they they’d first met. Aaliyah even remembered that he was on one of the first portraits Madeline ever sold.

She caringly grabbed Madeline into a hug. “I’ll always be here for you, and I promise you that you will find someone that will be a far better person that Rick could ever be.” Pulling away, she caught Madeline’s doubtful smile, so she decided the best way to cheer Madeline up was to distract her, before they both sat sobbing the entire day. “So, how about we get some breakfast? I tell you something about
The Marked One
, and we get that butterfly portrait done.”

“Thanks, Liyah,” Madeline said. She used the back of her hand to wipe away the tears and got up. “Now, tell me about
The Marked One
first. It’s like my baby!” Madeline was back to how she always was, and it made Aaliyah realise it was likely more of a safety mechanism and ultimately it made her see exactly why they were fit to be friends.

***

The day had gone longer than she had expected. Madeline had been talking about destiny for most of it, because it had turned out that Tristan was the one who bought
The Marked One,
which caused them to get together. Then came the tracing of her special mark, which once again took forever, but when Madeline had lined it up to form the butterfly with a portrait she already had of the mark they had done before, Aaliyah could see a quite interesting form, though the end product was still a mystery.

Thereafter, the day consisted of Madeline lazing about until she conked out. Aaliyah didn’t bother to cover her mouth as she yawned. She was working on the conclusion of her report.

Her cell phone rang and in an attempt to not wake up Madeline, she ran to the bedroom. It was who she had been waiting to hear from all day.

“Hello, Tristan,” she said cheerily as she fell back onto the bed.

“You sound utterly pleased, which is a good thing.” He sounded relaxed.

“I’ve been dying to hear what you wanted to ask me.” She didn’t hide her curiosity.

“I decided I’d rather not.” She hoped to hell he was teasing, so she kept quiet. “I take I’m not getting off that easy.” Again she held her tongue, enjoying the mischievous smile creeping onto her lips. He chuckled. “So, here goes. Would you like to accompany me to a fundraiser? I know you aren’t a fan of crowds, but I would rather want to attend, knowing you’d be with me.”

It was the last thing she expected, but she understood why he must’ve been uncertain to ask her. Her smile had fallen, but still the thought of going to a fancy soiree with him was making her mind runaway in wonder.

She sat upright, her finger tangling with the crochet throw at the foot of the bed. “When is it?” She delayed to decline, while still knowing that on the one hand she really liked the idea.

“This Friday, and I know you won’t like me saying this, but I really would like you to be my plus one, so I’ll take care of all the trimmings for you.” Her mind went loopy, so she made a sound to express her confusion. “A dress, to have your hair done and makeup and whatever else you need.”

“Oh, uhm, damn, I didn’t even think of those things. Would there still be time to get a dress?” It was the USA, not South Africa, let alone Cradock, where an evening gown was usually reserved for matric farewells and weddings. “That was a dumb question, but are you cer—”

“Aaliyah, obviously I’m sure.”

She bit her lip, afraid to say the next thing on her mind, but she gave in and did so anyway. “Isn’t it too early for you to be seen with someone else at an event with photographers?”

He was quiet for a moment, possibly trying to figure out what she meant, with her wide-angled attempt to say what she didn’t like to think about. “You being with me won’t change anything. People already know about me and…Valerie not being together anymore.”

How did I get to this point in my life?
was her first thought, but she knew it was simply because she really wanted to be with Tristan and she understood the situation. It might have been odder than anything she had heard of, but it was what it was.

“Sorry, it’s just a little strange.”

“If you really aren’t comfortable with it, I will completely understand.” He meant every word, which made her feel relieved, but then also made her realise she wanted to be there so he would know she meant to give their relationship her all.

“I will go with you, but what is the event even for?”

“An animal shelter is having a benefit.” She could hear the building excitement in his tone.

“That sounds nice. Well, then I suppose I will try find a dress tomorrow,” she said more enthusiastically.

“There is a designer that wants to sponsor a dress.” Aaliyah felt a little high. “It is just how these things go,” he added when she stayed quiet for too long.

“I get that. It just made me realise again how different our worlds are. I ate cup noodles this evening and Friday I’m going to a fundraiser.” It sounded a little mean, but it was the truth.

He gave a chuckle and added, “I want you to be happy.”

She belted out, “Real smooth, Tristan.”

“Well, prepare yourself for much more of that to come.” He didn’t seem to realise what his words intended or he maybe did, but Aaliyah knew he meant it in a reassuring way.

Then Madeline walked into the room, winked at Aaliyah, and headed into the bathroom.

“Hold on for a moment.” She headed back to the living room, feeling a little shy, knowing Madeline would hear. “Anyway, I’m at Madeline’s still, going to stay here for a few days, which would likely please you.”

“And here I thought I might have to worry about rats breaking into your place and keeping you hostage,” he said jokingly. She could only smile. Then Isabella began to bark ferociously in the background.

“What on Earth is happening there?” Aaliyah worried for a moment, but Tristan was quiet. “Tristan?”

“God damn it, Ivan,” he cursed from the other end of the line.

“What? I was just making sure you were awake,” she heard Ivan’s reply with an ever-cheerfulness to his tone.

“Just wait,” Tristan said. “Sorry, Ivan has made it an awful habit to freak Isabella out every time he gets here by coming in through the sunroom.”

“It’s a shorter walk.” Aaliyah only just made out Ivan yelling, which caused her to giggle softly as Madeline plopped back down on the sofa next to her with her ear against the phone.

“Well, I need to go. Ivan brought papers that need to be signed and sent before the end of the day.” Ivan again gave a snippy remark, but this time he was too far to be heard on her side of the line.

“That might be a good thing, because Madeline is kind of listening in.” Aaliyah pulled away, which made Madeline laugh at her.

“The people we need to deal with,” Tristan said.

“Menaces, I say.” Madeline stuck her tongue out. “But I actually do need to get back to writing my report anyway.”

“I believe it’s going well?”

“Pretty much. I just hope Prof. Li approves it,” Aaliyah said, worried.

“You’ll be fine,” he reassured her and it made the fuzzy feelings inside her grow. “Good luck with that and I’ll send the details of the designer to you, so you guys can work something out. Goodbye, Aaliyah.”

“Thank you, Tristan. Miss you,” she said without thinking and saw Madeline all but having a little celebration on the other side of the sofa.

“Miss you too, bye,” was the last he said with utter glee. He ended the call.

“I miss you, baby,” Madeline teased with a very sexy tone. Aaliyah threw her with a throw pillow, which didn’t do anything to stop Madeline from moving closer to begin her inquisition, “
Sooo
…”

Aaliyah gave Madeline a sideways look, but she couldn’t contain her smile as her excitement spilled over. “He asked me to go to a fundraiser with him.”

Madeline seemed momentarily indifferent, but then she freaked out. “That is so fucking awesome! Damn, we need to go get you a dress right now.” Madeline bolted off the sofa.

“Already done. I suppose being who he is, everybody would want their name associated with his, so—”

“This is like movie star treatment shit.” Madeline was looking much more like herself, which only showed how she used it all to distract from her own issues, but, at least in Aaliyah’s mind, it was something. Madeline sat back down on the sofa. “This has to be the coolest thing ever!” She gave her a hug around her side and leaned her head against her shoulder. “Total fairytale.”

***

Time flew by over the next few days. Aaliyah had gotten her report in, began a new project on the aquatic insects of two marinas in Pittsburgh, and she had already done her final fitting of her dress on Wednesday. But before any celebrating was going to be taking place, she first had to go see Prof. Li with her zoological project’s results.

Professor Li was to leave on Friday to do a project at the Arctic Circle with some of the greatest minds out there, so trying to figure out why there were anomalies in the data had Aaliyah a little jittery. Her results all seemed to have failed, and she had decided to not ask Dr. Ramadan and Prof. Dennis-Patrickson for any help, which was likely why she had no idea what the results meant. It made her feel a little unworthy of the opportunity she had been given, because she was certain that handling a project on her own was part of the test.

She knocked on the door. “Come in,” Prof. Li said from the other side. Aaliyah entered the office and Prof. Li sat behind her desk, looking as stern as ever, but something in her eyes reflected expectation. “Take a seat and get your notes ready,” she said and took a sip of tea.

Aaliyah gave a half-smile, sat down, and took out all of her things. Straightening her shoulders, she took one last deep breath. “I think I failed the project completely.” She placed the results table on the desk, searched for a graph she had printed out, and looked Prof. Li in the eyes. “I know I was supposed to find out how abundant the aquatic insect life on the shore of the Sharpsburg Islands Marina
is compared to Peggy’s Harbour and how the different locations from where the river basically enters the city and exits it influences it all…but I kept getting anomalies. It was all just a fail,” she said, afraid of what Prof. Li was going to say next.

“I heard you hadn’t asked any of the mentors for help with this,” she stated and Aaliyah knew the prof would’ve talked to the other mentors, but it still made her feel uneasy, so she kept quiet. “Well, that is something you need to get used to, Ms. Labuschagne. We are all here to help, so give me the results so I can see what you came up with.”

She handed over her very confusing notes, trying not to cringe, as she saw the Prof’s brows rise. Swallowing the lump of fear in her throat, she said, “I tried to keep all the data as categorised as possible, but after identifying up to genus when it just came to the mayflies, I was losing track of it all and—”