Chapter Two
Burned Out
As the plane lowered itself from the creampuff clouds, Kelly sat back and smiled. San Juan, Puerto Rico. She had been so terrified that Test was going to figure everything out and race to the airport, but she had found that her paranoia was unfounded as she boarded the plane. She had dressed casually in pink trackpants and a black halter top at Krissy's, not wasting time to get dressed at home, with the risk of Test coming home in a drunken stupor, smelling of whiskey and Rebecca DePietro's perfume. Her bleached blonde hair was back in a high ponytail and she wore a giant pair of black sunglasses to hide the bruise on her face that was located just under her orbital bone. It couldn't hide the cut on her lip, but she wasn't too worried about that. That could easily be explained. It was the bruising.
There was an elderly lady that was sitting beside her in the aisle seat, who was trying to get a glimpse under her sunglasses, but didn't have the heart to ask what caused the purplish bruise under Kelly's eye. The woman's prying eyes slightly annoyed Kelly; all the times she had been bruised and hurt, and the people just stared without offering assistance. Not that Kelly would have gone for it, in all likelihood. But at the same time, where was human decency when a woman was being abused and nobody even bothered stepping in to help? Hell, even her parents stayed off in the sideline, adopting that "you made your bed, now you have to lie in it" mentality, while playing sympathetic to her plight.
The plane landed at around five o'clock in the evening, and Kelly gathered her things together as the elderly woman made her way off the plane. Slinging her purse over her shoulder, Kelly began her slow exit from the plane. Her mother had called her at the airport to tell her that Carlito was going to be there waiting for her arrival. He was apparently enthused about having some company join him on the lonely, desolate grounds.
Carlito was pacing back and forth impatiently, waiting for Kelly to arrive. He had to admit, he overshot his timing and got to the airport about an hour early. After an awful tuna sandwich from the vending machine and coffee that tasted like motor oil, he was now pacing a trench in the main area, waiting for her arrival. His excitement was a little more than obvious by the way he glowed as he paced back and forth, but he didn't really care.
He had always been in love with Kelly, ever since they were kids. He had always inquired about her to her parents whenever they came to visit without her, which started more and more frequently when she was about fourteen.
It had been six years. He couldn't believe he hadn't seen her in six years, and he wondered if she had grown up into the beauty she always was. Her parents had alluded to her being in some sort of trouble when they had called him to say Kelly was flying out, which was why she would be under the watchful eye of Carlito in San Juan. And if it killed him, he would see to it nothing ever troubled her again.
He saw a peek of bleached blonde emerge from the plane and something told him it was her. She saw the afro from several feet away and he heard her excited voice squeal, "Carlito!" With that, she ran over to him and hugged him tightly. Her childhood companion, after all these years, had grown into a handsome man. She even had to admit that the afro worked for him. But it was huge.
"Kelly, great to see you again," he replied in his thick Caribbean accent. She smiled and sized him up. Six foot four. Without the afro he was five-ten, dressed down in a button-down light blue shirt and khakis.
"Great seeing you again, Carlito. You look incredible," she replied.
"So do you," he answered. She laughed.
"Now I know you're lying," she teased. He extended his arm to her and she took it, and they went towards the baggage check to go and gather her luggage.
The ride back to the house was surprisingly quiet, and a little bit awkward, with Kelly gazing longingly out the windows, lamenting at all the years she had missed out on the beauty that was San Juan. Test had forbidden her to come four months ago because of Carlito. He suspected there was something between them, and Kelly had to admit that he probably wasn't lying. The attraction between the two had been there since she was about fourteen, which was when she stopped coming to San Juan. She was a tad slight nervous; just how much did her parents tell Carlito about her life since she had last been out here?
"So," Carlito began, an attempt to make idle conversation, "you miss San Juan in your absence?"
"Yeah," she admitted without turning her gaze back to him. "It's so beautiful here."
"You should see the house," he informed her. "It's exactly how you remember it."
"You the head caretaker now?" she asked. He nodded.
"I have a older guy by the name of Savio Vega that comes in around once a week to take care of the lawn," Carlito confessed. "Taking care of the house in itself is a full-time job." She nodded. When Carlito's father had passed, her family had offered him housing in their place and the permanent title of caretaker. He was about twenty at the time, so she was about fifteen. She hadn't made it to the funeral, but she had sent her condolences with the family before they traveled out to attend the funeral. Carlito had always been grateful that her parents had given him the position of caretaker. Kelly could sense it, but Carlito was a proud man and probably never would have admitted it. Some things just didn't change.
They pulled up to the iron gates and he buzzed in the code that swung it open. They drove through slowly and she was breathless when she saw the place in such pristine condition. No wonder her parents had been singing the praises of Carlito so much. He was right; it was exactly how she remembered it. "You remember where your room is, right?" he inquired. She nodded. "It's just the way you left it."
"Oh, God," she replied.
"I was nice. I went in and removed the New Kids on the Block poster." A smile broke on Kelly's face and she chuckled.
"You're a lifesaver."
"That's what they tell me."
Through the gap between her glasses and her face he could see the purplish bruising under her eye and he wanted to ask, but he didn't know if by asking she would get defensive. Her parents had informed him as to the purpose behind her move to San Juan, and he was going to know the truth one way or another. If it killed him, he vowed he would know the truth and do his best to protect her in her new surroundings.
Up in her bedroom, Kelly was unpacking, the sunglasses still on her face. She was determined to wear them until the bruising went down to that ugly yellow. She was hanging up a blue minidress in the walk-in closet that she had missed wearing since she had married Test.
Carlito was right; her room was just the way it had been left, with white walls and white carpet with airy pink curtains and a pink canopied queen sized beds. Even the cherrywood dresser had been restained and looked as new as the day it had been bought. She continued to unpack.
"Your parents said you got married."
She jumped and turned around to see Carlito. "Carlito!" she breathed. "You scared the hell out of me."
"Wanted to make sure everything was okay," he replied. He crossed the room and sat down on the bed watching her put away her things. "So, your parents said you got married..."
"Don't remind me," she grimaced. She was determined to build a new life for herself, one that didn't involve Test. She was hoping that one day she would find a man who cared for her as much as Carlito did over the years. She cocked an eyebrow. "Still inquiring about me after all these years?"
"To be fair, you did stop coming here. I had to hear about you somehow."
She smiled and hung up a red dress. She sauntered over to him and sat down close beside him on the bed. She could feel his sudden discomfort. "I have to admit, after all these years, I've missed you," she replied, giving him a kiss on the cheek. He turned around and began to pull at her glasses. She put a hand to his to make him stop.
"Come on, Kelly. You're seriously not going to wear those twenty-four seven are you?" he inquired. Realizing she couldn't win, Kelly withdrew her hand and let him pull the glasses from her face. He had to admit, he was surprisingly caught off guard to see the severity of the purple bruise under her eye. The cut on her lip could be explained by anything, but this...this told him everything.
"Your husband do this to you?" She slunk back down to the bed and stared down at her hands, embarrassed. "Kelly, come on, be honest with me."
She took a deep breath. "He started doing this just after we were married. It was usually over...things."
"Things? What kind of things?"
"I'd see somebody I knew that was a man, and I'd be cheating, and he'd strike out. Or I wouldn't have everything ready by the time he got home..." she could feel the tears stinging behind her eyelids, threatening to break loose. "Eventually, I stopped leaving the house unless he told me I had to, and I started learning tricks."
"Tricks?"
"To cover up the bruises. The ones that can be covered by clothing were fine, but it was the facial stuff that was difficult. Foundation wears off and it doesn't really get the job done anyway." She shook her head and laughed to herself. "I can't believe that I'm sitting here, telling you about this bullshit."
"You need to talk to somebody, Kelly," he replied. She wiped her eyes. "Why didn't your parents do anything?"
"I wouldn't let them, and I don't think they were comfortable getting involved. Test is a big guy. When my mother found out about the abuse, she wanted to send my father after him, but I made her promise not to tell Daddy. I know at a point he wasn't buying the 'I fell out of the shower' excuse, but he couldn't prove anything. And I was so stupid, I probably would have backed Test if anything happened."
"Come here," Carlito replied wrapping an arm around her shoulder. They hugged. "If it's the last thing I do, he's not going to get his hands on you again."
They sat in her room for an eternity while she cried into his shoulder.
