Loyalty (RiffRaff Records Book 4)

by L. P. Maxa

  When I opened the envelope there was a letter, and another smaller envelope inside.

  Katie,

  At some point before our dad passed away, he wrote us each a letter. I found them when you were a baby and I’d come home and was cleaning out their closet. I read mine that day, and I’ve carried it with me ever since. But until tonight, I hadn’t pulled it out in almost eighteen years. I should have re-read it sooner. I should have memorized the words he’d left me. The instructions he didn’t know he was giving.

  He told me to take you to the places he and I had seen and to teach you to surf. He told me to love you like he loved me. He wanted you to be free. He wanted you to live a life full of adventure. I promise, I’ll spend the next eighteen years making up for the last. Although, he would have hated you living in L.A., so I at least got that one right.

  I’ll miss you next year. But. He told me to teach you to surf, so maybe I can come down for lessons every weekend? I should have given you your letter on your eighteenth birthday. I should have given it to you when you learned to read. I can’t explain it, but it was like no time ever felt right. And now I know why.

  My dad and I came to London when I was sixteen. We stayed in this hotel and he let me get drunk at the hotel bar. That’s not happening for you. Sorry, Bug, baby steps. But since this is the first time you’ve been in another country, and you happen to be standing in the same suite he put me in…Suddenly, it’s the perfect time.

  Love you,

  Dad.

  My hands were shaking as I tore open the other letter. I wanted to cry and smile and laugh. I wanted my dad to stay asleep, but at the same time I wanted him to wake up. I didn’t have things like this, things that were only between me and my father.

  Baby Girl,

  Sorry, we don’t have your name picked out yet. I like James, your mom thinks it’s only a boy name. Once you’re here and you get a name, I’ll add it to the top of your letter. If it’s not James, well, your mom won. She usually does.

  I hope I’m old. I hope you’re old. I hope you’re sitting next to your brother surrounded by y’all’s families, smiling at the memory of what an amazing man I was. I hope I made you proud. I hope I was a good dad. I’m going to try my hardest, baby girl. I promise I will. Your mom says it’s all about balance, that we need to let you live, but give you the skills to live well.

  If I died too soon, I’m sorry. The thought of not seeing you grow up makes me feel like I can’t breathe. But, if the unthinkable happens, please know that I love you. I love you and your brother more than anything else in this whole damn world. Let him help your mom raise you. Let him be there for you the way I would have been. He’ll make mistakes, he’ll fumble, but be forgiving. He didn’t have the best role model at times.

  No matter how tough and aloof he tries to act, he cried when he heard your heartbeat for the first time. And if he denies it, it’s recorded and saved on a zip drive in my office safe. I’ve got to go now, baby girl, it’s your mom and my anniversary. She’s massively pregnant, don’t tell her I said that, and she’s always hungry. I can’t wait to meet you. I can’t wait to hold you for the first time. I can’t wait to see your brother fall instantly in love. I can’t wait to watch you live, baby girl. I don’t want to miss a single second of your life. And I won’t, I swear, I’ll always be with you.

  Love,

  Dad

  Tears were cascading down my face, unchecked. I missed him in that moment. I missed the man I’d never get a chance to meet so fiercely that my chest ached.

  “Bug.” My dad scooped me in his arms. “It’s going to be okay. We’re going to be okay.” I clung to him, taking comfort in the familiar scent of my dad.

  “I hate that he’s gone. I hate that I never got a chance to know him.” I usually kept thoughts like that to myself. I didn’t want to hurt my dad’s feelings. I didn’t want him to think I didn’t love him.

  “I hate it too.” He kissed my head, rocking me like I was a still a baby.

  “Thank you, for my letter.”

  “I’m sorry I kept it for so long,”

  “No.” I shook my head. “The one you wrote me. I love them both. I’ll carry them both with me. Always.”

  Epilogue

  Cash

  I walked into the apartment, kicking Crue’s shoes toward his room and out of the doorway. My twin had his own place, but he had a room here at mine too, in case he needed it. And it seemed he needed it—a lot.

  After Crue had betrayed Avory, he’d lived in a blind stupor for a week solid. Then he’d attempted like hell to get her back. He’d begged and groveled at her feet for nearly two months. But she wasn’t having it. When he told her he was going to live at home and go to UT like Halen, Avory asked her parents if they’d send her to a boarding school for her senior year. He’d backed down, not wanting her to leave the compound, and came to Cali with me instead. He went to class, but that was about it. My baseball coach had offered him a spot on the team when he ended up here, but Crue had turned it down.

  He didn’t go out, and he didn’t hook up. I was pretty sure all he did was booze, weed, and sleep. He was depressed, but he refused help from any of us. Halen told Katie that Avory was doing okay. She had done the cheerleading thing, hanging out with friends and laughing her way through her senior year—still a little social butterfly. I didn’t share that information with my twin; no reason to add salt to an open wound.

  Landry was pregnant again, and Beau said he was going to propose to Halen over Christmas when we were all home.

  “Hey, sorry I’m late. Traffic was crap.” Katie came through the door and dumped an arm full of cloth—we were in Cali now—grocery bags on the kitchen counter.

  “Why didn’t you call me? I would have helped you bring these up.” I held my arms out and she jumped into them without hesitation. She wrapped her long legs around my waist and I sat her next to the sink.

  “I was on the phone with my dad.” She rolled her pretty brown eyes. “He’s coming to visit next weekend.”

  I groaned and dropped my head to her chest, my voice muffled against her breasts, “Again? Baby, that’s like the fifth time in two months. The surfing here isn’t even that good.”

  She put her hands on my face, lifting it up. “We both knew that this would happen. We talked about it way back, before we decided to move in together. And if it’s anyone’s fault, it’s yours.”

  “He’s your dad.”

  “Yes but you are playing baseball, and now that the season is underway it gives him the perfect excuse.” She pouted like she felt bad for me for being the cause of our trouble. “He cock blocks you under the guise of being supportive.”

  When we’d moved to California, Katie wanted to live alone. She’d never done it before and she said it was something she needed to do. So, the first semester, I’d lived in Malibu with Crue, and my girl had lived in L.A. by herself. Second semester? We said fuck it and got an apartment in Santa Monica. We were making a life for ourselves that had a rhythm that was part SoCal, part Texas. One thing never changed, though. We loved the hell out of each other every single day. Honestly and openly. No secrets, and no lies.

  “I think it’s time we have a talk with him.” I pushed her dark hair off her shoulders. “If he’s going to come visit all the damn time maybe he should get his own place here and stop bunking with us.”

  She locked her legs around my waist and fisted her hands in my hair. She put her lips against my ear, whispering, “How ‘bout we change the subject for an hour or so?”

  My dick was already well on its way to hard, but her breathy little moans got it the rest of the way there in a heartbeat. “Are you trying to seduce me so you don’t have to stand up to your dad?”

  “Well course I’m trying to seduce you, for God’s sake, and I’m doing a damn poor job of it.”

  I pulled back so I could see her face. “Quoting Bull Durham?” I shook my head. “You play hard, Katie Baby.”

  The RiffRa
ff Records saga continues with Evie’s story

  – Sanctuary

  TEENAGER TO-DO LIST:

  Get hit on by a rock star

  Go to a lake party

  Go to a pasture party

  Drink alcohol

  Dance with strangers

  Skinny-dip

  Smoke a joint

  Trespass

  Sneak out

  Sneak in

  Get a tattoo

  Stay up to see the sunrise

  Watch Bull Durham

  Tip a cow

  Be naked

  Fall in love

  PLAYLIST

  “Sunrise” – Ryan Bingham

  “Drunken Poets Dream” – Hayes Carll

  “Silver Wings” –Aaron Watson

  “Wanna Rock and Roll” – Cross Canadian Ragweed

  “Road Goes on Forever” – Robert Earl Keen

  “Best of my Love” – The Eagles

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  L.P. lives in Austin, Texas with her husband, daughter, three rescue dogs, and one adopted cat. The fish died. She is a full-time writer, and part time business owner. L.P. says she loves to read as much as she loves to write, and reading a good book is her reward after writing one. In her spare time, she fosters puppies for a rescue organization based in Austin.

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