Without considering the time of the day, I put on one of Colt’s t-shirts and climbed into my bed, alone.
After being overwhelmed with anxiety, sleep came fast and I didn’t fight it. I woke to knocking on the front door and looked over at the clock. It said that it was after ten. I’d been asleep for a good eight hours. Just to be proper, I threw on a pair of shorts before walking downstairs.
When I opened up the door and saw who was standing there, I couldn’t believe it was real. I had to be dreaming.
Chapter 16
Colt
I missed my wife and girls, but I had to admit that I was having a pretty darn good time. Noah was in heaven. After we’d spent the weekend sightseeing and visiting all of Zeke’s favorite places, we spent the next two days lounging around the house.
Zeke and Noah were getting to know each other and it wasn’t half as bad as Savanna and I had imagined.
He and his wife really did live pretty normal lives. Sure, they were filthy rich and surrounded by an entourage of very emo folk, but when we were all alone they were as normal as you could get.
Zeke had told me ahead of time that they were having a get together to celebrate the end of his tour. His other band mate’s wives were taking all the kids to an amusement park and Piper had offered to take Noah. This was another thing that Savanna would have frowned upon, but the last thing I wanted to do was hang out with a bunch of women and kids all day. I just figured I could have the night off from being a guard dog to my son. I’d planned on relaxing for the night, possibly catching a game on television or having a beer by the pool. I never expected to be thrown into a party that could possibly cause me to be a divorced man.
The people didn’t start showing up until after dinner. By that time, the caterers had already set up everything on the first floor and out in the pool area. Alcoholic beverages could be found every ten feet and I appreciated that Zeke and Piper had the decency to make sure my son wasn’t in the house.
After at least fifty people had showed up, I was starting to realize that the party list didn’t just include band members. Another dead ringer was the fact that slews of half dressed females were pouring in by the minute.
I grabbed a six pack of beer and several mini-sandwiches and found my way through the crowds, up to my room. The last thing I wanted to do was party with these people. I didn’t even understand how Zeke was doing it, considering he was a recovering addict himself. No wonder it was so difficult for celebrities to kick the habit for good.
Once I got up to my room, I took my shirt off and got comfortable on the bed, knowing I was going to fall asleep there for the night. I flipped through the channels until I came across the basketball championship game. The series was tied and this game would determine the winner.
I’d watched the whole game, while listening to the crowd of people and music coming from the lower level, but when there was only two minutes left, two giggling broads came barging into my room. I sat up in the bed, looking at them paying me no mind at all. “Hey, this room is taken!”
They looked at each other and giggled. “The more the merrier, right?” They approached me from either side of the bed. I looked down and remembered that I wasn’t wearing a shirt. This was not an invitation like they thought it was. “Seriously, I’m a married man.” I backed myself as far as I could on the bed. They climbed on either side.
“Every man in this house is married. That means nothing, honey.” In one instant the girl was whipping off her top and kneeling in front of me shirtless.
I wasn’t sure what her friend was doing since I closed my eyes. “You got the wrong idea. I ain’t interested in this type of thing.”
When I felt one of them grabbing my arm, I pushed her away and jumped off the bed. The half naked one just sat there with her hands on her thighs. “Are you gay? The hot ones always are.”
“No! What the hell? I ain’t interested in you because I got a family back home and I don’t think my wife would appreciate me shackin’ up with other women.”
They looked at each other and smiled.
I shook my head and walked out of the room. There was no way I was going to be caught in that type of predicament.
It took a while to find Zeke. He was laying under a canopy with three topless girls around him. “Colt! Did you decide to join the party?”
The naked girls were groping each other, paying me no mind.
“No! I didn’t decide to join in on this nonsense. I was tryin’ to relax in my room when two crazy women busted in. Who has a million dollar home with no locks on the bedroom doors?”
Zeke laughed at me. “Look around you, Colt. This is the high life, man. For once why don’t you sit back and enjoy yourself. Nobody will know!”
I was obviously not getting anywhere with this guy. Apparently, his wife was fine was him being around naked women. I guess that was why he was in those magazines with other women.
“When are the kids gettin’ back? I don’t want my son seein’ this!”
He ran his hands through one of the blonde girl’s hair. “In the morning. Piper knows to stay away until everyone is gone.”
“You didn’t ask to keep him overnight. Savanna ain’t goin’ to like this.”
“She’s not here, Colt. Come on, dude. Just let yourself unwind. You don’t have to cheat to have a good time with these ladies.”
“Just give me Piper’s number so I can call my son.” I waited for him to write it down, before walking away from Zeke so I didn’t put my fist into his face. I couldn’t call Savanna and tell her any of this. She was going to kill me. This was what she’d warned me about.
I got to the far side of the pool area and sat down on a large lounge chair. The party was completely out of hand. Topless women were running all around the pool area and jumping in the water. Guys were getting loud, like they’d had way too much to drink. There was some kind of platform in the center of the pool that some girl was dancing around on. Of course she was topless. Male and females in the pool were cheering her on to remove her shorts. I shook my head when I watched her shimmy out of them.
I wasn’t a pussy. I’d been to strip clubs and had exotic dancers all over me before. This was different. Once I met Savanna, those days were over for me. I had no interest in being turned on by another woman. She gave me everything I needed.
Knowing that every corner of the house was filled with these types of women, I figured there was no way around it. I grabbed a beer and sat back down in the far corner lounge chair. The dancer danced and the other women ran around naked and fondled each other. It was like every teenage boys wet dream.
I thought about my cousins Ty and Conner and what they would be doing if they were sitting where I was. Without thinking about what I was doing, I pulled out my phone and took a picture of the madness. I sent them both the photo, with the caption of ‘wish you were here’.
While I was hating it, they’d be so jealous.
The party lasted until five in the morning. The crazy females that had been dancing around and giving the shows, were all passed out around the house. They still weren’t covered up. All I wanted to do was get to my bed and go to sleep. When I got to my room I found the two girls, completely naked, asleep.
“What the fuck?”
It only took me a second to turn back around and look for another place to lay my head. Seemingly, though, everywhere I turned, there were people. Trashy women were sprawled all over the place. I’d even found a couple having sex in the garage.
This was not the kind of thing that I ever wanted my son to know about. If I would have found out that Noah came to visit and was exposed to this kind of nonsense, someone would have been put in a grave.
After exhausting all other sleeping options, I headed back to my room to kick the girls out.
I looked around the large bedroom. Then I thought about what these women had been doing for all this time. Suddenly, the urge to kick them out of my room was gone. My bed had been soiled by some
freaky sex-fest. Back in college, I would have loved to see what had happened.
After walking over and covering up the girls, I grabbed a throw and two pillows and went to sleep on a fancy rug in the bathroom. It was extra plush and felt like it may have been real fur. Another thing I liked was that this particular room did have a lock on the door.
I didn’t want any naked girls thinking they could creep on my shit while I was trying to sleep. I also didn’t want anyone walking in the room and assuming that I’d been involved with them. All I needed was to go home and be kicked out of my own house. Living with my mother was never going to be an option. I had to do my best to make it out of this damn trip with my dignity and marriage intact.
Chapter 17
Savanna
I stood in the doorway staring at Ty. He had his hands crossed against his chest.
“What are you doing here?” I repeated.
He looked back and I noticed a cab was sitting with the engine running. “You got any cash? This dude says his credit card machine ain’t working.”
I rummaged through my purse and handed him my whole wallet to go through. I think I was just so shocked that he was standing in front of me that I couldn’t comprehend what I was actually doing.
When he came back inside, he had a small book bag on his back. He sat it down on the chair and walked over to me. Before I could say anything, Ty pulled me into a tight hug. “I got here as soon as I could.”
“What are you doing here?”
“I’m taking care of my best friend, like I said I would. Geesh, do I have to spell it out?”
I plopped down on the couch and watched him sit next to me. “You shouldn’t have come. What did you tell Miranda? She must think you’re up to something.”
“Miranda is fine. I would have brought her with me if Amy wasn’t due to pop a baby out of her vagina any day now. Besides, she thinks I’m here to help out while Colt is gone.”
I didn’t want Ty holding information from his wife. This was just a big fat mess. “You should go home, Ty. I will pay for the ticket. I’m fine. It was just a false alarm.”
I went to stand up and he grabbed my arm, pulling me back down on the couch. “Not so fast, Wonder Woman. Look me in the eye and tell me that nothing is wrong.”
I opened my eyes wide and looked at him, but the words wouldn’t come out. I could deny it all I wanted, but I knew that he would see right through my lies. I covered my face with my hands. “I can’t talk about this with you, Ty.”
He pulled one of my hands down and held it. “I’m here because you need me to be, whether you will admit it or not. I have no hidden agenda and I sure as hell don’t want your money. Like it or not, you’re going to tell me.”
I could have sat there and beat around the bush until he gave up, but I knew that come morning, he would be hounding me for answers again. I had to face the fact that he was the only person around who was supporting me. I wished it was Colt, although, I knew he was where he needed to be. Life went on, even if I ended up having cancer or not.
“Do you promise not to tell anyone, especially Colt?”
He nodded. “Yeah. Now just spit it out. I haven’t pissed since I left the airport and the three beers I had before I got on the plane are ready to come back out.”
“Just forget it! This is hopeless. You can’t even be serious for three seconds.”
I was getting so frustrated with him. For Ty to hop on a plane to come to my rescue was just surreal. I knew he cared about me. We were family and that’s how it should be, but I just couldn’t believe that he would drop everything to make sure I was alright.
“Go to the bathroom and we can talk when you get back.”
Ty got up and headed down the hall. Since I’d slept for so long, it felt like morning for me. I grabbed a bottle of wine and a beer out of the refrigerator. After I had a glass, I met Ty back in the living room.
“Ugh, oh! We need alcohol for this discussion?” He seemed as worried to hear my news as I was to say it out loud.
I poured the red wine into my glass and drank half of it before answering him. “My doctor found a lump in my breast.”
He said nothing.
I couldn’t look at him. I was so afraid of what he was thinking. Ty look a long drink of his beer and shook his head like it was hard to swallow. “Van, you have to tell Colt.”
I put my hands over my face. “I can’t tell him yet. I have to know how bad it is first.”
He reached over and pulled me into his chest. “Please don’t cry. Dammit, woman! I knew it was something like this. Why do you think I got here so fast?”
I let Ty continue to comfort me. “I didn’t want everyone knowing. Right now, I don’t know how serious it is. How can I explain things when I don’t even know what to do myself?”
“When does Colt get home?” He asked.
“He won’t be home until Saturday,” I cried. I just wanted him to be holding me and doing what Ty was trying to do. I appreciated it so much, but it wasn’t his job.
“I’ll stay until Colt gets home. Miranda is fine with it. I sat her down and told her how upset you were and how you had called for her. She wanted to call you right away, but thought you’d get pissed at me for telling her that something was wrong. With Amy on the verge of popping out another little kid, she didn’t want to leave. She sends her love and said that when you’re ready to talk, you know how to find her.”
Miranda and Ty had always been there for me. Their love continued to grow, as well as the trust that they shared. No matter how much the man joked, she knew he was always just going to love her.
“I kind of figured you would tell her.”
He rubbed my shoulder and made me look up at him. “What’s the next step?”
I shrugged. “They are doing a biopsy on Thursday.”
“I’m going with you.” He was adamant.
I shook my head. “You can’t! Colt will kill you!”
“Van, here’s the way I see it. You haven’t told Colt anything. He’s busy protecting your son and you don’t want to interrupt that. I get it. The thing is, you can’t go through this alone. Maybe I was the last person on earth that you wanted to know this information, but I do know. Now, it would be impossible for me to let you go through it alone.”
This was the side of Ty that not many people got to see. His emotional side was usually camouflaged by humor. “What if I don’t want your support?”
He cocked his eyebrow and laughed at me. “Of course you do.” He reached over and grabbed both of my hands, then pulled them up to his lips and kissed them. “Everything is going to be okay, Van. Just pretend I’m Colt.”
I pulled away. “You’re nothing like him.”
“You’re right! I still have a set of balls, where Colt lost his man card years ago.”
“You just went from hero to asshole in ten seconds flat.”
He patted my leg. “I’m going up to the guest room to get some sleep. Just as a precaution, I’m locking the door. I know it’s going to be hard for you to resist the real man sleeping a few rooms down.” He winked and got up off the couch.
“Eh, how does Miranda put up with you?”
He was halfway up the stairs. “Be nice or I will do an upper decker in all of your toilets!”
I threw my hands in the air. “Oh my God! Go home!”
“See you in the morning!” He yelled.
When I finally got up to my room, and locked my own door, I thought about having to call Colt and let him know that Ty was at the ranch. Since he hadn’t been in a good mood for weeks, I couldn’t imagine him being happy about it.
Knowing that I wasn’t going to get much sleep, since I’d already slept so long earlier, I grabbed my Kindle and started on a book that I had on my to-be-read list.
I finished the whole thing before sleep came again, and when it did, I kind of wished it hadn’t.
I had horrible nightmares of being dead and watching my kids grow up without me. I saw my
daughters grow up without a mother and Colt becoming so old and lonely. I dreamed of Noah being a rockstar and getting emancipated from his father.
Each dream was worse than the one before it.
By seven in the morning, I’d had about enough of them, so I went downstairs to make some coffee. Once I had my cup, I went into the living room to relax before Ty woke up and started getting on my nerves.
A vibration caught my attention and I noticed that Ty must have left his cell phone downstairs when he went up to bed. After it buzzed so much that it got on my nerves, I grabbed it just to turn off the notification.
Seeing that the message was from Colt, made me want to know if Ty had told him he was coming. Curiosity got the best of me, as I opened up the message.
I couldn’t believe my eyes.
It had to have been some kind of joke.
There was no way my husband was around naked women and sharing the pictures with his cousin.
I couldn’t stop looking at it.
The caption…that caption said it all.
I was hurt, jealous, mad and a bunch of other things all in one. Colt was going to hear me loud and clear when he picked up the phone. While still holding the phone with the incriminating message, I ran toward my bedroom to grab my phone.
Ty stopped me in the hallway. “I was looking for that.”
I put it behind my back. “I need it for a minute.”
“Did you lose yours?”
“No! Just…I need it, okay?”
I no sooner spun around, when I felt him grabbing my arm. “Hold on! What could be so important that you have to use my phone?” He snatched it out of my hand and looked down at the opened screen. A huge grin formed on his face. “Holy shit! This is awes…err, it’s terrible. It must be just a joke. I send him naked pictures all the time. He probably Googled it.”
“You are doing that thing you do!”
He looked all innocent. “What thing?”
Blinding Trust Page 12