Chapter 12
CHAPTER TWELVE
“What the hell did you do now?” Rick roars as he kicks my dressing room door shut. The bodyguards outside the door are on his payroll, so I know from experience they aren’t going to do anything to intervene.
But this is different than one of his usual tirades because I can hear Debbie Jo yelling on the other side of door to let her in, but clearly, Rick told his minions to keep her out.
I’ve never heard Debbie Jo yell in my life—and all my hackles are on full alert because something is really wrong if he isn’t even letting Debbie Jo come in here.
“What are you talking about? I’m getting ready for my show.” I stand and move away from my vanity. My curling irons are still on for last-minute-touch ups, and I do not want Rick to grab one of those if he’s in one of his rages.
“Your mother just called me, and apparently, your loser brother called her to inform her that I was mismanaging your career and that she needed to be aware.” He picks up a stack of metal coasters off the side table and hurls them at me one at a time, which I duck to avoid.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Rick.
I didn’t say anything to Wells. I don’t know what Wells told our mother, but it wasn’t me!
” I cannot let him hit me in the face right before I go on stage, and there is no way I’m cancelling this show when thousands of people paid good money to see me perform.
It’s not their fault that my stepfather is the absolute worst. A scuffle outside the door draws our attention briefly, and I take the opportunity to inch closer to the bathroom door.
The dressing room door flies open and Allie shoves one of the guards back.
“Try me, asshole. You know I have full access without restrictions. Get the fuck out of my way, you useless pieces of shit,” Allie barks at them and turns to take in the room, including the vanity mirror that one of the coasters just shattered. “What the actual fuck is going on in here?”
“This doesn’t involve you. This is family business.
You need to leave,” Rick snaps as spittle flies from his reddening face, jabbing his finger at the door, just as one of his thugs closes it while another holds a distraught Debbie Jo back.
He must really be off his rocker if he thinks Allie is going to listen to anything he tells her to do.
“I am her family, asshole. Unlike you—you just married her mother after your best friend kicked the bucket. Tinsley, are you okay?” Allie moves toward me, which is a mistake.
She should not move between me and Rick when he’s like this.
But God help me, I can’t tell her everything is okay when it so very clearly is not.
I am so incredibly tired of all the lies.
“No. I'm not ... none of this is okay.” I barely say above a whisper, but it’s loud enough for Rick to hear. He roars as he moves faster than I expect and his hands shove my shoulders back, throwing my entire body into the wall.
“What the fuck!? Rick! Stop! Rick, get off her! Help! Security! Come and do your actual job, you assholes!” Allie screeches as I assume the protective stance I am far too familiar with, knowing that Rick is going to strike again and all I can do is try to protect my face so I can still go out and perform for my waiting fans.
Allie is curvy like me, but she is all of five-five, and that might even be generous to her short stature.
But she is not one to back down, and after years of hearing about this behavior and us tiptoeing around the reality of my life, Allie is unwilling to ignore what’s happening in front of her face.
So, she jumps—right onto Rick’s back and wraps her arms around his neck in a chokehold like a ninja spider monkey.
I wish that’s where it ended, but Rick isn’t that easy to take down.
Cockroaches are never that easy to get rid of.
With a shake like a rabid dog, Rick throws her off his back and turns with his hand raised—despite my screaming at him to stop—and backhands Allie hard enough that she falls to the floor.
“You and your meddling family need to learn your place. Your dad thought he could tell me what to do too, but when it came to making hard decisions to pay off our business debt, I was the one that did what was necessary, and he was a fucking coward.”
What the hell is he talking about? My dad died from a heart attack when I was really young. What does that have to do with their debt …
His life insurance.
Wells told me that both our dad and his business partner took a ton of life insurance out on each other when their business was doing well and was successful as part of a buy-sell agreement to ensure they could keep things going should something happen.
That same life insurance is what bailed my dad’s business partner—Rick—and my mother out of the financial crisis they were in when my dad died.
I can’t process this right now.
I rush over to get to Allie and Rick delivers a swift punch to my stomach.
As I fall to the ground, I find myself thankful that he hasn’t hit my face—at least not yet.
But that blow was a hard one, and I think he might have broken one or two of my ribs.
I gasp for breath and try to brace for the hit I know is coming next.
But it doesn’t land.
I look up just in time to see Allie connect a large decorative lamp with Rick’s head. “You little bitch!” Rick covers his face as blood pours from his forehead while Allie jets around him, grabs my hand, and yanks us into the bathroom, locking the door.
I fling my arms around her as the reality of what she just witnessed sinks in—and how she stepped in to protect me from Rick. No one has ever protected me from that monster.
“Okay, it’s okay, we’re okay, Tinsley.” Allie squeezes me tightly. “But enough of this bullshit, yeah? Like seriously, can we be fucking done with that man?”
I nod my head as I try to catch my breath. We both jump as the door handle rattles and Rick pounds on it, yelling belligerently on the other side.
“Right. First things first, baby cakes, it’s time to call in reinforcements and get the fuck out of here and the hell away from him.
” She hands me my phone that she grabbed at some point before we made it to the bathroom.
“It’s time to call your brother—and tell him everything.
It’s so long overdue, honey. This ends today. ”
Taking my phone, I nod and unlock it, immediately calling my brother.
I wait as the call rings, but Wells doesn’t pick up, and eventually, it goes to his voicemail.
I’m not even sure what country he’s in today or if it’s the middle of the night wherever he is.
Rick continues to throw what I assume is his body up against the bathroom door.
I don’t know how long we have until that door gives way.
Allie gives me a panicked look, but it’s okay.
If I can’t reach Wells, I know who to call.
I just hope he’s still willing to come to my rescue.