Bayou Stix Series: Bayou Stix Limited Edition Box Set

by Skye Turner

  Opening my eyes, Cruz is staring at me with his arms crossed over his chest. His arms are bulging in his long sleeved t-shirt. They’re so defined I’m mesmerized. Finally, I focus on his face and realize his eyes are narrowed on me and his lips are tight. He asks flatly, “Care to share what that was about and who exactly that was?”

  I sigh and straighten from the wall. Here we go. “Not really, but I will. That was my sister… AnnaBeth… Bellaforte.”

  His mouth goes slack and his arms fall limply at his sides. “Bellaforte? Did you just say Bellaforte?!”

  “I did. I’m a Bellaforte.”

  He takes a step back and when I try to walk toward him, he holds his hands out to ward me off. “Bellaforte? Like the political family Bellaforte? One of the richest families in the South?!”

  My stomach drops. Great. I knew this would happen. I glare at him. “Yes, that one. My name is Tifanie Jeffries-Bellaforte. I don’t use Bellaforte for obvious reasons.”

  He takes a few steps back and turns his back to me. What is he thinking? This is why I don’t use my family name! I don’t want the shit that comes with it. I’m not like them. I don’t give a shit about money or titles. I only care about hard work and earning what you deserve. He keeps his back turned to me and I can see him taking deep breaths.

  I walk over to him and touch his back. The muscles are so tight. He’s as stiff as a board. “Cruz? Hey, I’m not like them. I don’t use the name because I’m not like them. I’m still me. I’m just me.”

  He turns to me and his eyes are once again bleak. Whatever ground we’d gained, we just lost. His walls are back up.

  He steps forward and my hand falls. He says, “We need to get Liam’s grandfather. It’s why we’re here. We need to get them up there to see the baby.”

  I nod as my chest hurts. I hold it in and push it down. This is not the time to hash it out about who I am. Or who he thinks I am. I’m me. I’m the girl he knows. The girl he’s spent time with over the past few months. He knows me. I just need to remind him of that. Who I am is not my name. Who I am is who I choose to be!

  I look at the parking lot and see an older couple slowly making their way to the entrance. I ask Cruz, “Is that them?”

  He looks at me briefly and in his eyes I see a hint of something I can’t explain, but he masks it before he looks to the parking lot. He nods “It is.” And he jogs to meet them. I don’t know what else to do, so I head into the parking lot too and meet them all.

  Cruz introduces me. “This is Tifanie. She’s a paramedic and a friend to everyone.”

  Wow, ok then. I’m a friend to everyone. Nothing personal at all there. Son of a bitch. I could kill AnnaBeth. She’s such a fucking snob. I can’t stand to be around them. It’s why I’m NOT around them all. My grandmother is the only one I can stomach. I do feel bad that I might have missed the party but why couldn’t AnnaBeth just send a damn invite like a normal person?

  Oh, that’s right, she’s not a normal person. She’s a fucking Bellaforte!

  La-Di-Fucking-Da!

  I shake myself out of my mood. These are Liam’s grandparents and this is a happy occasion. I put it aside for now, but Cruz and I are talking about this. He’s not going to just push me away because of something like this. It has no bearing on me and no bearing whatsoever on what’s happening with us! He’s not getting away over something I can’t control.

  Nope, not happening. You might be stubborn, Cruz Edwards, but I have you beat!

  I’m the queen of stubborn!

  Chapter Nine

  Cruz

  What the fuck?! Tifanie is from the richest and most influential family in Louisiana?! Are you shitting me right now?

  I can’t even deal with that. I can’t deal with that on top of the bullshit with my felon sperm donor and the upcoming tour. Not to mention that we’re at the hospital and two of my best friends, my family, are having their first baby. I’m not dealing with this shit.

  I can’t be involved with her. She’s a Bellaforte. I’m the child of a black woman and a white rapist. No, any illusion about Tifanie and me was just firmly shattered. People like her don’t get involved with people like me. It doesn’t happen. It can’t happen.

  It’s not happening.

  Thankfully, Paw and Ms. Verna showing up allow me to leave the conversation with Tifanie. I run across the parking lot to meet them and leave her in the entrance to the hospital. Maybe it was shitty, but I can’t handle all this right now.

  I see her face when I introduce her to Paw and Ms. Verna. It falls and the hurt is visible before she hides it and smiles at the older couple. “Hi. I’m Tifanie. It’s nice to meet you. We just came down and things are progressing rapidly up there. I think Baby John will be here very soon.”

  Paw looks at Tifanie and as he takes in her appearance, he smiles. “Hello, Miss Tifanie. Aren’t you a pretty thing?! Did you know that John was Liam’s brother’s name?”

  I can see the wheels in her head spinning, but she smiles and says, “Thank you, sir. I did not know that. But, that’s awesome.”

  Paw looks at me and then at Tifanie. “It is. John is here with us today and that baby has one hell of a Guardian Angel.”

  I can see the confusion on Tifanie’s face. I decide to enlighten her. “John was a soldier. He was killed in action in Afghanistan years ago.”

  She gasps. “Oh my. I’m so sorry. I—I didn’t know.”

  Paw pats her hands. “Walk with me, pretty girl.” Tifanie takes his hand and they walk ahead with him telling her stories about John. I hear Paw say, “It’s alright. God knows what he’s doing. We don’t always understand the why when it happens, but eventually it makes sense to us. John was a good boy. A good man. He’s left quite a legacy.”

  His words send a pang to my heart.

  Before I can dwell on them, Verna takes my arm. “Walk an old lady up? Nothing like having a good looking man on your arm to make everyone jealous.” She winks at me.

  I chuckle lightly. “Yes, Ma’am. Of course. How are you, Ms. Verna? How was traffic on the Basin?”

  She tells me about their trip and how excited they are to see the baby, Liam, and Clove. Tifanie has held the elevator for us and we all pile on. As the two elderly people talk back and forth and bicker, I look at Tifanie across their heads. She’s looking at me and she looks sad. I rapidly look away and I think I hear her sigh.

  I’m sorry, but it has to be done. I’m no good for her. She’s better off with someone in her own class. Someone more… like her.

  I can’t think about all of the “what could have beens.”

  It’s just after 4PM when Liam pops his head into the hall and says, “He’s here! John Zachariah Christianson is here! Seven pounds, seven ounces, and seventeen inches long! He’s gorgeous! He looks just like his momma, but he has blue eyes!”

  We all cheer and cat-call our congratulations as he mutters that he needs to get back in, but he’ll be back out with photos shortly. He also says that in a few minutes they’ll let people in to see Clove and the baby after they clean him up and get her situated.

  We’re all so elated. Blue and Lexi say they are running to the Gift Shop and tear off toward the elevators with Bradi and Erik hot on their heels. All the other guys high-five and Dade passes out cigars he bought just for the occasion.

  Looking around, I see Tifanie off by herself, leaning against a wall. I watch her while she stares at the floor and come to a decision. I cross the hall. As I approach, her head rises and she looks at me. It’s been a long day and some of her hair has escaped her ponytail, so wisps are here and there. She looks gorgeous. I tamp that back and stand next to her, propping my foot against the wall.

  She turns her head. “So, a healthy baby boy. That’s great. I’m happy for them.”

  I smile. “Yeah, they’ll be amazing parents. I’m proud of them both.”

  She nods and taps her fingers on her pants legs before she straightens. “I’m going to head out. I know this is private and
I don’t really fit in here.”

  I know I should stop her, but I can’t. I think it’s best that she goes.

  She pauses like she expects me to stop her, and then she smiles sadly. “I’m also going to give you some space. I know that my name is a big deal… to you.” I stare at her. “It’s not to me. I don’t use it. I don’t. I’m not a Bellaforte, Cruz. I’m Tifanie Jeffries. I’m the same girl I’ve been. I still want what I want. And that’s you.” My mouth pops open. She holds her hand out to silence me. “No, you don’t talk right now. I’m leaving. I’m going to go home and drink some wine. Or Fireball, I could probably use the whiskey. But I’m not staying away. You and me… that’s something real. We have something and my name doesn’t change that. You know me.” She reaches out and touches my face. I let her. “You know me. Whatever is going on,” she taps my forehead, “in here. I’m going to give you a night to stew on it. But tomorrow, tomorrow I’m coming back… guns blazing. I’m not walking away. You’re not pushing me away.” She leans up and gently brushes her mouth against mine before stepping back. “I’m going to fight for you, Cruz Edwards.” I can’t speak. I just stare at her. She smiles at me. “Be ready.”

  She turns on her heel and walks away, leaving me in a stupor in the hallway of the hospital, surrounded by my friends, my family… the only other people who have ever fought for me…

  Jessie brings me back to reality. He speaks from behind me. “Damn, man! That girl is dangerous!”

  Turning, I look at him and he sees the look of utter bewilderment on my face. He laughs out loud and I see Jude and Dade high five. Jessie grins. “You’re going down in flames, dude!”

  Shaking my head, I flip them off and walk away. I hear them laughing behind me. I need to make a phone call. I promised Clove I’d call my momma. I need the distraction of talking to her and telling her about the baby anyway. I can’t even let myself think about what Tifanie just said to me.

  Dade calls after me, “Where you going, man? You’re not leaving, are you?”

  I wave at him. “No, I’m going to call my momma. Clove wants me to tell her about the baby and ask her to come visit.”

  He nods and says, “Ok, make sure you come back. They’re going to want to see you.”

  I reply, “I wouldn’t just leave, Dade. Just going to go out front to call Momma. I’ll be back.”

  I call my momma and, as I expected, she’s extremely excited to hear that Clove had the baby. She tells me that she’s grabbing all the gifts she bought and she’ll be on her way. Now why am I not surprised she bought a lot of gifts?!

  I hang up after telling her to call me when she gets here so I can help her lug up all her stuff and she says she will. I need to head back inside, but I want a minute to breathe, so I find a bench and sit down. There’s a really nice lake with a fountain and ducks out front, so I just watch it and allow my mind to clear.

  I guess I was spaced out for a few minutes, because I never even heard anyone approach me, but a body plops down next to me on the bench. Looking over, I see Jude. He stretches his long legs out and leans back as he looks at the water. “Hey, man. Everything cool?”

  I stare at a family of ducks in the water. It’s a momma duck and five little ducklings. They are furiously splashing in the water. It looks like she’s teaching them to dive. I watch them for a bit before I answer Jude. “Yes and no.”

  He looks at me. I stare ahead, just watching the ducks, but I see him incline his head as he watches me. “You know you can talk to me. You also know I won’t push, but I’m going to give you some unsolicited advice.” I look at him before looking back at the water. “I don’t know what’s going on with your birth father…”

  I interrupt him. “Sperm donor. Not my father. Not in any aspect…”

  I see him nod from the corner of my eye. “Ok, your sperm donor. I don’t know what’s going on. I know he’s out of prison. I know he’s contacted you.” I look at him and swallow. “I know what he did to Corrin. That’s all I know. I don’t get in your business, man. But, I am here if you need me. You know that.

  “I also know that something is up with you and Tifanie.” I grip my jeans. “I don’t know what’s happening there either, but, I saw you today. You were looking at her. She was looking at you. Neither of you were looking when the other was. Then, you headed down here to get Paw and you both came back tense. You made it a point not to look at her. I heard what she said…” He looks at me again. “Cruz, she’s a Bellaforte…”

  I nod. “She is.”

  He shrugs. “So what?!”

  I look at him incredulously. “So what?! So, she’s a member of a political family. A major one. She’s filthy rich. I’m a bastard and the son of a rapist. She’s white blue-blood and I’m mixed! Her sister looked at me like I was the mud on the bottom of her five-thousand-dollar heels!” I shake my head. “We don’t mesh. We don’t belong. I’m bad for her.”

  He sits up quickly. His face is red and I can see the veins in his head popping out. “Do you hear yourself? So fucking what? Yes, Tifanie is white. You’re mixed, but, I don’t see Tifanie dwelling on that! No, I see you dwelling on that. We, the band, we’re your friends. We’re your family. We care about you! And none of us give a shit about where you come from. So, some ignorant people give you shit about your skin color? So what? Fuck them! They don’t matter, Cruz! The only people who matter are the ones who care and we do. Tifanie does!

  “Yes, it sucks what happened to your mother. It fucking sucks and the fact that any man would do that to a woman makes me sick, but that… that has nothing to do with you! Yes, it’s why you exist, but that act, that evil… that is not you. That’s him!

  “I don’t want to see you push away the one person who is strong enough to put up with you and help you tackle your demons because you’re scared she’s too good for you. That is her choice, Cruz!”

  I’m staring at him in awe. That was a pretty impassioned speech.

  He sighs and stands up. “Come back inside. Liam sent me to find you. Clove wants to see you.” I stand too. “I’m sorry I came at you so hard.” He bumps me with his shoulder. “I just care, man. We all do. I don’t want you to go through what I went through. I lost Lexi for seven years, Cruz. Because I was stupid. Because we both were. I don’t want that for you. You have a chance at something pretty fucking amazing here… Tifanie is good for you. She’s what you need. She’s what you deserve. Don’t miss out on that because of something that has no relevence.”

  I don’t answer him. I just clap him on the shoulder and we walk back into the hospital side by side.

  The thoughts racing through my head now are ten times worse than they were when I first headed outside. Instead of things getting clearer about Tifanie, they just seem to be getting more and more confusing!

  Chapter Ten

  Tifanie

  “Yo, Tif. Where are you, girl?” Ty calls out to me as we sit in the trailer during a lull in calls for the day.

  Looking over at him sprawled out on the couch, I roll my eyes. “Sorry, what?”

  He chuckles and sits up. He stretches and his back pops. “Where are you? You’ve been staring into space for the past half hour.”

  I pull my legs up and tuck them under me in the recliner as I focus on him. “I’m sorry. I didn’t sleep that much last night. Some stuff happened with Cruz the other night and then things got weird yesterday. He backed off some, but I told him I wasn’t going to let him run.” I shrug. “I don’t know where we stand… again.”

  Ty rubs his sage eyes and leans up on his knees as he observes me. “What do you mean? Tell me what happened and I’ll try to decode for you.”

  I laugh. I know he’s trying to help, but I can’t get into it without sharing very personal stuff about Cruz and I just don’t know if I want to divulge info that is not mine to share. Even with Ty. I kind of feel like that would be crossing a line.

  Reaching over and snagging a few pretzels from his bowl, I crunch one as I think about wh
at I can actually tell him. “Ok, well you know he’s got some stuff going on. Well, I know about it now and it’s a big deal. I’m not going to tell you what, because that’s not my place, but it’s a big deal.”

  Ty roughly asks, “Is he married?”

  I chuckle. “What? Married?! Um, no. He’s not married. He’s actually single. It’s nothing like that.”

  He frowns and cradles the back of his head as he leans back and looks at me. “Well, ok good. Fill me in on what you can then.”

  “Well, long story short is he thinks I’m too good for him. He knows my name…”

  That gets Ty’s undivided attention. “Your name? You told him?”

  I shake my head emphatically. “Nope. I did not. I would have. I was going to, eventually, but not now. People flip when they find out and I don’t use it. You know that. I don’t even mess with that money. I support myself!”

  He nods in agreement. “I know you do. You bust your ass for everything you have. Your accomplishments are all your own Tif. Anyone who knows you, knows that!

  “But, if you didn’t tell him, then how did he find out?!”

  I roll my eyes. “AnnaBeth!”

  Ty coughs. “Your sister, hoity-toity, AnnaBeth?”

  I chuckle at his description, but it fits. AnnaBeth is indeed hoity-toity. She’s picture perfect. A mindless sheep who cares more about breeding and social standing than anything. If you don’t have large sums of money in the bank and the name to back it, you are nothing to her… and the rest of my family. I’m nothing like her… like any of them.

  “Yeah, my sister. I was at the hospital with Cruz yesterday. Clove, you know the pregnant girl with the kidney stones call we went on a few months back?! She’s married to Cruz’s bandmate and her brother is dating Melonie.” He looks confused. “Dr. Bird.”

  He nods in recognition. “Oh, sexy Dr. Melonie Bird and the call that changed your life and got you hooked on Drummer Boy?!”