by Skye Turner
Corrin reaches out and takes my hand. Her hands have calluses, but are still soft. I look at her and feel slightly embarrassed at my declaration. Her face is lined with the force of her smile. “Some evil happened here today. In my home. I could be sitting here right now, shaking in the corner, about to crumble into a sobbing mess on the floor. But, I’m not. I’m here in the wake of that event with a beautiful woman who loves my baby as I’ve always prayed someone would love him. I’m here with you.
“You fight for my baby. You bulldozed his walls and I understand what a feat that was. You have a long and hard road ahead of you. Cruz is not an easy man. You can’t tear down a lifetime of hurt and shame in a few months. Shame he never should have felt to begin with because he’s done nothing wrong.
“God gave me that man. The way I got him I’ll never understand, but I do believe that God has a plan and I know that everything that happens in our lives happens for a reason. Yes, I was raped by a terrible man, a man who showed up at my home today and hurt my son, but that rape gave me that beautiful boy.” She glances at the couch before looking back at me and squeezing my hands. “His being attacked today and you showing up to be the one to care for him… I don’t believe in coincidences.
“You are here for a reason, Tifanie. This room has two women in it who are willing to fight for that man.
“You fight for my baby. You make him see in himself what you see… what I’ve seen all along. You make him want to take a chance. He wants it. He needs it. He deserves it. So do you.”
Tears are rolling down my face at her words. My chest is hurting from all of the emotion I’m holding in. His mom just not only gave me her blessing but told me that Cruz and I are meant to be together. I’ve been thinking that, but to have the mother of the man I love confirm it… there’s nothing better than that. Well, other than him saying he loves me too.
Putting my mug down, I lean over and hug her. She stiffens for a minute and then her arms come around me as she hugs me back. She whispers in my ear, “You’re going to make me beautiful grandbabies.”
Leaning back, I grin at her. We’re interrupted by Cruz moaning on the couch. He appears to be having a nightmare.
Corrin jumps up and starts rubbing his head. She looks at me in alarm. “He hasn’t had a nightmare like this since he was a child. Damn Lucian for doing this to him!”
As she murmurs soothing words to him, I check his vitals. His blood pressure and heart rate are elevated. I decide to wake him.
“I’m going to wake him up. He might flail, so please back up. I don’t want him to accidently hit you. It’s probably going to take a bit for him to understand that he’s here and not wherever he is in his mind.”
Tears are making trails down her cheeks and she looks pale, but she nods to me and with one last caress to his head, she steps back.
Standing near his hip, I call his name as I gently tap his chest. I don’t want him to jump and pop a stitch and I don’t want to be catapulted across the room if his instincts kick in and he lashes out. “Cruz. Cruz, it’s Tifanie. You’re having a nightmare. I need you to wake up.”
Nothing. I lean closer and start to carefully shake him. “Cruz, come on. It’s time to wake up. It’s just a nightmare. It’s not real.”
His moaning gets louder. I try harder. “CRUZ. I need you to come out of this. It’s a nightmare. It’s not real. It’s just a nightmare. Nothing in your mind can hurt you. Wake up. It’s not real.”
He groans and flops back against the pillows as he gasps. He mutters, “Sadly, that’s not true.”
Corrin leans over him and kisses his cheek. “Hey, baby. You’re ok. We’re all ok.”
He grimaces. “We’re not. You’re not. Lucian is back.”
She sits next to him and talks gently to him. I make a decision and leave them as I head outside to the porch to make a phone call.
Scrolling through my contacts, I find the number I need. Taking a deep breath, I press the button to make the call.
A crisp, no nonsense voice answers, “Senator Bellaforte’s office.”
This is happening. Speaking absolutely clearly, I reply, “Hello. This is Tifanie. Tifanie Bellaforte. The Senator’s daughter. I need to speak with my father immediately. It’s important.”
The stunned silence on the other end makes me smile. She recovers quickly. “Yes, Miss Bellaforte. Just a moment. I’ll put you right through.”
Within twenty seconds, I hear my father’s voice on the other end of the phone. “Tifanie. Are you alright?”
I sigh. “I’m fine, Father. I’m not calling for me. I need a favor. A favor you can help me with.”
I hear something hit his desk and roll before he’s back on the phone. “You need a favor from me?”
I nod though he can’t see me. “Yes. I do. Lucian Wormer is Cruz’s father. He raped and beat his mother. He’s out of prison and assaulted Cruz today in his mother’s home. I need you to make certain the charges stick and that the restraining orders are swiftly put through. I need you to get the word out about what he did today. I need you to do this… for me.”
I can hear him swallow. “Tifanie… you and Cruz…”
Leaning against the porch railing, I give it to him straight. “Yes Father. Me and Cruz. I love him. He’s going to be in my life. Whatever happens down the road, he’s going to be here. You can choose to accept it or not, but I love him. He’s in my life. I’m asking you to help me make certain that the man who hurt his mother… who attempted to hurt mine, your wife, gets what’s coming to him. I’m asking you to help me protect the man I love.”
I don’t hear anything. He doesn’t speak. Everything is quiet and I’m wondering if he’s going to answer me.
I hear a deep sigh. “Ok. I’ll make the calls.”
He will? “You will?!”
He lets out a surprised chuckle. “Yes, I will. You’ve never asked me for anything before. You make it a point not to ask us for anything. Everything you have and everything you do, is yours. You’re my daughter and I love you, so if you love this man, then he is obviously someone worth getting to know. I’ll make the calls.”
Wow. Is he accepting that I love Cruz?! I’m speechless.
“Oh, and Tifanie?”
“Yes, Sir?”
“How about bringing him to the house for brunch on your next free Sunday. I’d like to sit down with him… and with you.”
I smile. “Yes, Sir. I’ll talk to him and let you know. Thank you.”
He replies, “Do that,” and hangs up.
Leaning my head against the railing, I take a deep, deep breath before I straighten and head back into the house.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Cruz
I wake up and look around at the mossy green walls of my momma’s living room. I remember being woken up a lot last night… a lot. Tifanie stayed the night here to take care of me.
I try to sit up and my head protests, but it’s bearable. Slowly turning my head, I look around. The mess is cleaned up and the blood is gone from the carpet. I smell coffee brewing.
As I try to stand, I hear a sleepy, “How are you feeling?”
Grinning down at her as she straightens in the chair, I reply, “Like I got hit with a chair and then stabbed.” She has dark circles under her eyes, testifying to her restless night and her hair is flowing down her back as it circles her head. She looks beautiful.
She stands and grimaces as she pops her back.
Walking over to me, she looks into my eyes and says, “Any double vision?”
I smile as I look at her. “No, but then I could kiss two of you.”
She pulls back with a look of shock and chuckles. “You’re not kissing one of me. I need a toothbrush first. And damn, maybe I should have knocked you over the head a long time ago.”
Rubbing my head where it’s pounding, I smirk. “Not funny.”
My momma pops her head out of the kitchen. “Good morning, baby. Your phone has been ringing for a bit. You might want
to check it.” She smiles at Tifanie. “Morning, Tifanie. I have coffee and fresh waffles.”
I mutter, “Hey, dude with a brain injury. I don’t get any waffles?!”
Both of my girls smile. My heart swells. I wasn’t certain of how I’d feel with Tifanie and my momma being around each other, but they seem comfortable and my heart is strangely content.
With a little assistance, I get to the kitchen and we all indulge in waffles.
Four hours later, we’re curled up on my couch since Tifanie is insisting on my taking it easy and my momma was saying she wanted to go in to work; she is an architect. Tif brought me home and is babying me while I alternate between dozing and rolling my eyes at the Twilight marathon she has going on my TV.
After three movies’ worth of watching a shirtless teenager with a lot of muscles and a skinny white guy who appears to sparkle like diamonds in sunlight fight over a reasonably attractive white girl, I ask Tifanie, “What is the fascination with vampires anyway? Why is it sexy to bite people and drink their blood?”
She turns to me. “Really? It’s not the vampires themselves, I don’t think. I think it’s more that they live forever, don’t age… they’re sheer perfection. Well, except for the fact that you have to drink blood to survive. It’s what all humans want. And they have it, so it’s something we’re fascinated with.”
I mutter, “I don’t want to live forever.”
She leans her head on my chest. “I don’t either. But you have the looking perfect part down.” She kisses my arm, above my stitches.
Sighing, I mutter, “I’m far from perfect, Tifanie.”
Turning her head, she looks up at me. “I didn’t say you were perfect. You’re not. You are fatally flawed.”
Well, damn. Tell me how you really feel. I’m fatally flawed. What the hell?!
I frown and she presses her finger to my lips. “Hush. You’re flawed. You have demons. But we all do. You hold onto what happened to your mom as a crutch.” I shake my head. “No, you do. It’s your way of saying, ‘No, stand back. Keep your distance. I’m not worthy.’ But you are. What you fail to realize is that by pushing people away, by not accepting what’s freely offered, you’re not accomplishing anything.
“You are gorgeous. Like inhumanly gorgeous.” I shake my head in denial. “You are. You know it, you can see it. Yet, you refuse to accept it. But as beautiful as your face is… and it’s crazy beautiful, your heart is the most attractive thing about you. I love the face, don’t get me wrong.” She leans up and kisses the scruff on my chin. “The face is amazeballs. But the heart… the heart is what I’m after.”
Wow… she knows how to make a point. I can’t even understand why she’s so interested in me. Maybe that’s the problem though…
“Why?”
“Why what?”
“Why do you want me so badly?” I really want to know.
She looks at me and in all seriousness, she says as clearly as she can, “Because you deserve my love.”
Grabbing her, I pull her over me and kiss her. I kiss her with all of the things I can’t say with words in it. I try to tell her with my kiss that her loving me makes me whole. It makes me want to be the best man I can be… for her… and for me.
The sound of a lock and the door opening barely registers as I consume Tifanie.
A soft voice is at the door. “Sorry, guys. Excuse us. I’m so sorry to interrupt.”
Then a humored voice says, “You got cracked in the head and stabbed in the arm; your dick probably doesn’t even work. Stop leading, Legs, on.”
Tifanie pulls back from me and grins. “Your friends are here.”
Laying my head against hers, I mutter, “Why are we friends again?”
She climbs off my lap and I look around her. I see Clove standing there holding the baby. Liam is holding the diaper bag and smirking at me while wiggling his brows. Jessie is just grinning like an idiot and Blue is glaring at him and calling him a moron, while Dade and Melonie are holding delicious smelling bags.
Dade holds one up. “We brought food.”
Clove smiles at me and walks over. “And I brought little John to see his Parain Cruz.” She leans down and kisses my forehead before she sits and nestles the baby in her arms. Liam sits on the back of the chair and stares at the sleeping infant and the woman he loves. He looks up. “You ok, man?”
I gaze at the picture they present and my heart swells with… want?! No, no way. I’ve never wanted kids. Well, I’ve never thought I’d have kids. I’m not thinking about kids. Not my own kids… I’m freaked out enough that Liam and Clove asked me to be John’s godfather. No way I’m thinking about kids!
Jessie and Blue walk all the way into the room and my living room is suddenly bursting at the seams. Dade places the bags down on the coffee table and says he’s going to the kitchen for plates and forks.
Within minutes, I’m surrounded by my family as they all ask what happened and how Lucian got to me. Dade finally asks, “Why did he want to meet with you so badly anyway? What did he want?”
The thing that has me the most worried about everything that went down yesterday is that I don’t know what he wanted. He never gave a purpose for wanting to see me so damn badly. I’m worried that we haven’t seen the last of him. Thankfully, we did get the restraining orders and we were called first thing this morning that they already went through. That was insanely fast in my opinion. I thought it would take weeks.
Shrugging, I look around at the room. “I don’t know what he wanted. He never said. I got there and he was in the room with Momma. She was nervous and I flipped. I started screaming at him and things escalated from there. Before I knew it, he’d grabbed the chair and hit me with it, then he stabbed me in the arm with the broken arm from it before I was able to get control. He never said what he wanted. I’m thinking it’s not good, whatever it is. For him to flip out like that and immediately attack me… yeah, whatever he wants… it’s not good.”
Dade says quietly, “We have your back, man… whatever you need. There’re two reasons for the visit. One… we wanted to see for ourselves that you were ok. And two… Bradi is on her way over here for damage control. TMZ already has this story and they’re broadcasting it everywhere. We need to have a pow-wow to see how you want this handled.” He looks at me sadly. “I’m sorry, man. Your business is everywhere and I hate that Corrin is about to be subjected to this shit.”
FUCK!! I didn’t even think about that. I’m famous. Bayou Stix is famous and I’m in Bayou Stix. I never thought about the repercussions of the fight yesterday. SHIT! I need to call my momma. She needs to know what’s about to happen. Son of a bitch!
I want to jump up and rage, but I don’t. I hold it in. A hand on my knee brings me back. Tifanie looks at me. “It’s ok, Cruz. We’ll figure it out. None of that was your fault. Lucian is the one who’s going to get the fallout from this. Not you. Not your mom. But why don’t you go call her. I can go get her and bring her here if you want. It might be better to have her close until this blows over.”
“Tifanie is right. You need to get your momma and keep her here. People are going to swarm her like vultures. We can work with this. We can spin it, but it might be best if she’s here too.” We turn and see Bradi and Micah at the door. She walks in with her tablet already out. “I’m already working on something, but let’s get your momma here too so I can go over everything with everyone.” She looks at Dade. “Jude and Lexi on the way?” He nods.
Shit! Jumping up, I leave them in the living room and go call my momma. I hear everyone talking animatedly as I walk out.
As I dial, I feel a hand on my back. Turning, I see Tifanie. “I’m sorry. I know this is the last thing you want. I’ll help however I can.”
I nod at her as the phone rings. I don’t trust myself to speak right now.
Momma answers. “Hello?”
“Hey, Momma. It’s me. I’m going to come get you. You need to pack a bag that will last like a week. The media has the st
ory about Lucian and what happened yesterday. They are going to try to talk to you because of the band. Because of me.”
“I know, sweet boy. The phone has been ringing off the hook since you left and there are people camped on the street. I couldn’t get my car out of the garage to go to the office. You shouldn’t come here though. They’ll follow us.”
I don’t know what to do. I have to get her, but I can’t risk having them follow me back here either.
“Ok, let me figure it out. I’ll call you back. Close all the drapes and windows though and lock the doors. Pack your bag. I’ll call you back in a minute.”
I hang up and throw the phone against the wall! “FUCK!”
Tifanie picks up my phone and hands it to me. She says, “I’m on it. I’ll take care of it. Head back into the living room with your friends. And don’t get upset. It’ll make your head worse.” She leans up and kisses me lightly. “I’m on it. I’m not a Bellaforte for nothing.”
What does she mean? She’s going to involve her family to help?
Turning, we see Dade in the doorway watching us. “She’s right. She can do things we can’t. Let’s let her get Corrin and we can brainstorm here about what to do.” He claps me on the back. “It’s going to be cool, man.”
Nodding, I follow him as he leads me back into the room. The room filled with my friends. “Yeah.”
I’m trying to convince myself to believe him.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Tifanie
I was able to call my father and borrow one of their cars so it wouldn’t be anything anyone recognized. As I park my car at the mansion to pick it up, my mom meets me on the porch. She’s wringing her hands together and there are tears in her eyes. “It’s true? Lucian Wormer is Cruz’s father? He raped and beat his mother and she got pregnant? And then he showed up yesterday and attacked Cruz? It’s all true?”
I nod at her. “Yes, Mother. It’s true. Cruz is a good man. His mother is an amazingly strong woman.”