Always Yours

by Shelly Jones

  Eric comes over and takes Ava from me and I grab my phone out of my back pocket and send Ronnie a text.

  “Hey stud...where the hell are you and James??? We miss you guys. Call me or text me! Love ya sweet cheeks ;)” and I hit send.

  “Stud, sweet cheeks,” Eric asks with his eye brows up.

  “Oh stop, you want me to call you those names nicknames too?”

  He laughs, “No it’s ok.”

  My phone beeps...

  “Oh shit! I am so sorry we forgot to tell you guys we weren’t going to be in town. But hey I’ll send you a picture as to what we’re doing. I love you and tell everyone we say Hi and we love you all!”

  “Well what the fuck! They’re not even in town,” I say with a pouting face.

  “Maddie come here, the three amigos need to take a picture so they know what they’re missing out!” Maddie comes and sits next to me and Rachel. Eric takes a picture of us and we send it to Ronnie and James.

  “That’ll teach those bitches for leaving us,” Maddie says.

  My phone beeps again. It’s a picture of two sets of bare feet standing above the words, “Just Married”

  “Oh my fucking god! I’m going to kill them,” I shout.

  “What? Why,” Maddie and Rachel both say at the same time. I show them the picture.

  “Oh, those bitches,” Rachel says.

  Morgan grabs my phone and all of a sudden everyone is looking at my phone.

  My phone beeps again and I grab it from Travis.

  “Do you hate us?”

  Instead of texting back and forth I get on Voxer. “No, I don’t hate you, but Ronnie, I wanted to be there; we all did!”

  Ronnie gets on Voxer.

  “I know, we did too, but it was just a quick decision that we didn’t have time to think about much!”

  “Ugh, well we’re all toasting you and saying congrats babe!”

  “Thanks honey. We’ll be home soon and we’ll come celebrate and tell Maddie her ass better not go anywhere! I miss the shit out of her!”

  “Well stud you’re in luck, because I’m stayin’! So get your ass home so I can get my Ronnie lovin’,” Maddie says into my phone.

  “On it babe! We’ll be home in a few days.”

  “Alright love! Well we’re going to go get our drink on and do a little dancing and singing. Happy Fourth of July you two!”

  “Bye everyone, see you soon,” Ronnie and James shout through Voxer.

  “Wow I cannot believe they went and got married without telling us,” I pout.

  “Right? What the fuck kind of shit is that,” Rachel says.

  I look over and notice Parker saying something to Josh and Josh’s face got red like he was pissed. “Dude seriously you should just leave if you’re going to talk shit like that,” Josh snaps.

  “What the fuck happened,” I say walking over there by them.

  “Parker said some fucked up shit just now.”

  I turn and face Parker, “I have no idea what you said, probably don’t want to know.”

  “It was about Ronnie,” Josh says.

  “I figured as much. Keep your opinions to yourself as long as you’re in my house or on my property. If you don’t like our friends, feel free to leave. As a matter of fact who invited you?”

  “Brady did, because we’re bros.”

  “Oh yeah, you’re ‘bros’, that’s right. Just keep your fucking mouth shut about my friends.” I turn and walk away. He said something but I have no clue what he said.

  Ava is out in the pack and play. I grab a beer and sit down and relax.

  “We should play some high school shit music,” Rachel says in my ear.

  “You mean boy bands, Brittany Spears, BBMAK, shit like that? Yeah ok...I got this!” I wink.

  I head over to my IPod and go through my different play list.

  I start to laugh and hit play. “I Wanna Be Bad” By Willa Ford comes over the speakers.

  “No Shit,” Rachel shouts.

  Rachel, Maddison, Annie, Nikki and I start to sing and dance. The guys are rolling their eyes at us. Assholes are just jealous!

  The song ends, “What else you got in that magic iPod of yours?” Maddie asks.

  “I know...” I walk over and hit play again; “Can’t Fight the Moonlight” by LeAnn Rimes.

  Madison starts laughing, “This is the fucking song that won us the talent contest!” She starts jumping up and down. I look over at Eric and Brady and they’re laughing their asses off.

  “Whoa, wait. You guys did a talent contest?” Josh asks.

  “Yep and we kicked ass; junior year talent contest,” I reply.

  He just shakes his head,

  “Yep I remember that day. You all thought me and Brady ditched, but little did you girls know, Brady, Brody, Travis, Jeremy and I were standing in the back watching the whole damn thing,” Eric says.

  “No you weren’t,” I say.

  “Yeah we were. I think I actually have pictures at my parents to prove it. I’m sure I do.”

  Damn it! I was almost hoping he wouldn’t have been there, because I totally picked that song for him.

  The guys ended up getting revenge on us with our choice of music and decided to play “Baby Got Back” By Sir Mix-a-lot, “Whoomp, There it is” By Tag Team, “Buddy Holiday” By Weezer, “Hot in Heree” By Nelly and the famous “Thong Song” By Sisqo.

  “Are you fucking kidding me? ‘Baby Got Back’ I can deal with but ‘Thong Song’?! You guys are idiots,” Rachel says, but she’s laughing. Then they turned on “Ice, Ice Baby” by Vanilla Ice.

  Oh my god! Alright, it’s on. Battle of the songs, I got this! “That’s alright, we only played two. I’ve got more of our songs. Watch this!” When “Ice, Ice Baby” was over, I crank up “Bye Bye Bye” By N’Sync.

  We started doing the dance moves for the song. They just shook their heads.

  Next song came on “You Drive Me Crazy”by Britany Spears, followed “Shoop” By Salt –N- Peppa and our favorite, “Summer Girls” by LFO.

  I added one more for good luck “This I Promise You” by N’Sync. I walk over to Eric, “Dance with me?”

  “But it’s a boy band,” he whines.

  “Please,” I beg, giving him the sad eyes.

  He starts to laugh, “Alright fine. You win!”

  “I know!!”

  When we get done dancing the guys decide it’s time to light up the sky. We sit in our chairs while the guys go out in the yard and start lighting off fireworks. Deacon and Charlie are still awake while Olivia and Ava are passed out in the pack and plays. I watch Ava as the first firework goes off and she sleeps through it.

  “I can’t believe she’s slept through all of that,” Rachel says watching Ava.

  “I know. It’s crazy, but a good thing!”

  About an hour of them lighting off fireworks they’re finally done and no fires were started. Everyone is sitting around the fire looking like they’re getting ready to take off when I stand up.

  “I just want to say something quick before everyone leaves. This has been the best Fourth of July I’ve ever had. I’ve gotten to see people I haven’t seen in a while, hung out with people who I love dearly and I get to see daily, and best of all, Maddie has come to her senses has decided to come home and I am over the moon happy about that and most of all, I get to spend my first of many fourths with the man who has had my heart since day one in middle school. I am so happy he came to his senses too. Eric, I love you and thank you for coming back into my life and not only being here for me, but for Ava too.”

  “Tomorrow is a day that will begin a fight. If you call or come over and I’m a bitch, just remember I love you all and once I know life is safe, I’ll be able to start living again. I kind of feel like tonight was my last free night for a very long time.” I start to crack. I’m ready to start bawling. Eric notices me starting to shake and he jumps up and is by my side.

  “We love you too Katie. We’re all here for you, now
and forever,” Rachel says. Eric just wraps me in his arms.

  “Well guys, I think we’re going to go,” Maddison says, and one by one everyone leaves except for Rachel and Brady.

  Eric takes Ava in the house and puts her to bed. We sit outside for a little bit. “Well I think I’m going to head in and go to bed,” I say standing up.

  “Us too,” Rachel says.

  We say our good nights and go to our rooms. Eric and I don’t talk; all he does is crawl into bed behind me and wraps me in his arms. “I love you baby,” he says in my hair.

  “I love you more Eric,” I say back to him and I’m out almost instantly.

  Chapter 16

  Dean’s POV

  I’m laying here staring at these fucking walls like I have for the last four years. I get out in twenty four hours and I can’t fucking wait. It’s been a long four years and I know my life is never going to be what it was. I had everything going for me. I was done with college, had a good job in the IT Department at the hospital, money was great, but to top all that off, I had a little man.

  Hunter was his name, a mistake made with a chick from High School, but the best mistake in the world. Hunter means the world to me.

  I met Katie July 11, 2007 at one of my baseball games. A guy called Steve who I played baseball with and a good friend of Katie’s thought we’d be perfect for each other so introduced us.

  When I met her, that was it, I was hooked. She was one of the most beautiful girls I’d ever laid eyes on, she was sweet quiet and had a bit of a wild side to her. We started off slow but it didn’t take me long to fall for her. About a year into our relationship, Steve invited me out to the bar for a couple of drinks and I thought “What the hell. Katie has plans with her best friend so why not. I could use a night out!”

  “Glad you could make it out man,” Steve greets me with a hand shake.

  “Yeah, thanks for inviting me.”

  “Katie ain’t pissed you’re out is she?”

  “Nah, she’s with Rachel tonight.”

  “Oh, ok. One of those nights with her and Rachel...”

  I didn’t know what he meant so I just shrugged my shoulders.

  We played a couple rounds of pool. The last game was where it got fucked up and my life was never the same.

  I was getting ready to take my shot...

  “I’m in love with Katie, and I need you to break up with her,” Steve says.

  “What?”

  “I love her, I thought I could live without her, but I can’t, and I don’t like she’s with you or anyone. I need her and I need her now, but you’ve got to make yourself look like an ass. Let me be her Prince Charming.”

  Is this motherfucker for real? “What? Dude, I think you’ve had too much to drink...” I shake my head and take my shot.

  “What if I offered you five thousand dollars to do it?”

  “Dude, what the fuck is your deal?”

  “Dean I love her, she’s mine. I need her in my life and you’re going to give her to me,” he snarls at me.

  I’m thinking to myself this fucker has totally lost his fucking mind. “Steve, dude I get it, but I love her and I’m going to marry that girl.”

  “I don’t think you understand me. Five thousand dollars! You cheat on her and let her be mine, simple. You look like an ass with money in his pocket and I get the girl.”

  “The problem with that is, one: I don’t want your money and two: I’m keeping the girl. You had your chance since what, middle School, high school? You fucked it up. Thanks but no thanks Steve.”

  I put down my pool stick and walk over to my beer. He’s lost his damn mind.

  “Whatever man, you’ll change your mind and I’ll get what’s mine!”

  I stood there with a smile and nod my head. “Well man, I’ve got an early morning tomorrow. Thanks for the game. I’ll see you around.”

  “Yep, but Dean, think about it. Name your price!”

  I didn’t say anything. I just walked out of the bar and didn’t look back.

  Months went by and Steve was not giving up and he was starting to stress me out. He just kept on and on about it. At one point he offered me close to fifteen thousand dollars to cheat on Katie. It got to the point where I started lashing out at Katie and became a dick.

  With work, Steve, and trying be her boyfriend, my life was getting stressful and when I get stressed, I start to drink and it’s not just beer either, its tequila and Irish whiskey. Katie noticed my drinking too and she didn’t come right out and say anything, but would make little comments like “Do you want milk with dinner” and shit like that. It started to annoy me.

  The night I hit Katie for the first time, I had just finished a long ten hour day. I stopped over at Reagan’s to see Hunter and Steve was over there. He was playing catch with Hunter and it pissed me off. Of course he made some comment about me cheating on Katie and then Reagan walked up.

  “I know about what Steve wants you to do and I’d be willing to be that girl. Hell, if you want me to, I can just suck your cock because we both know how much you love it when I do that. Then she can walk in and he can have her and well, if you want we could fuck whenever you want.” She licked her bottom lip and gave me the ‘come fuck me’ look she’s good at giving, and yeah my cock was all kinds of happy and if Hunter wouldn’t have been there I would have slammed the bitch right up against the wall and fucked her brains out with Steve standing right there. Reagan is a good lay. I’d fuck her any day of the week and the things she can do with a blow job. Fuck me.

  By the time I got back to my place, Katie was in her, ‘where were you’ mood and asking me a million questions. I opened up the bottle of Whiskey and took a long drink of it right out of the bottle. Katie just took a step back and the look she gave me, it was a look of disgust and it pissed me off.

  “What,” I snapped at her.

  “Nothing...” she said quietly.

  “Bullshit, what the fuck did I do now?”

  “Nothing Dean, I’m just going to go home. It seems like you need a night alone,” she said grabbing her purse.

  “Can’t a man come home to his own fucking house and have a drink?”

  “I didn’t say you couldn’t. Jesus, I don’t know what crawled up your ass, but I’m going home. I’ll see you tomorrow,” she snapped at me.

  She’s never used that tone towards me and it just hit the wrong nerve. I walked up to her and got in her face. “Don’t you ever use that tone towards me. I am a grown mother fucking man who had a bad day and if I feel like coming home and drinking, then that’s what I’m going to do. I have a mommy already. I don’t need you to act like my mommy,” I yelled at her.

  I had her cornered in my kitchen. She tried to get away, but I wouldn’t move. I grabbed both of her arms and raised them above her head and pressed my body into hers. I’m going to fuck the shit out of her like I wanted to do Reagan a half an hour ago.

  “Dean, get off me please. Let me go home!”

  I started to laugh, “Don’t think so,” and I slammed my mouth into hers.

  Every time she tried to move my grip got tighter.

  “Dean STOP; get off me.”

  “Fuck you. You. Are. Mine, and no one is taking you from me,” I said into her ear.

  “Dean come on, please let me go,” she whines and I can see she’s starting to cry. That just pissed me off even more.

  “Fine, get the fuck out of my face bitch,” I snap at her and let her go. She took a deep breath and went to run away. Panic sank in and I grabbed her arm and threw her into the wall, I grabbed her face tight to make her look at me, “You tell anyone about this, I swear Katie, I love you, but it will be the last thing you do.”

  “Get. Off. Me. Now,” she shouted in my face. Some of her spit splattered on my face and that’s all it took. I raised my right hand and slapped her across the face.

  “Don’t you ever fucking spit in my face ever,” I screamed at her.

  She grabbed her face and got away
. She ran to the front door and left.

  I was going to chase after her, but instead I punched three holes in the walls.

  Two weeks went by and I only saw Katie a couple of times, Reagan kept on coming onto to me hard and I ended up fucking her a few times and I let her give me a blow job anytime she wanted. I was drinking daily. Sometimes I’d even go into work still drunk.

  Ever since that night I hit Katie, I pretty much didn’t give a shit anymore. I don’t know why I blamed her, it wasn’t her fault. It was Steve and Reagan’s fault. I loved Katie with everything I had in me, but the fucking shit those two did to me, made me question everything and the drinking helped, but it made me a mean mother fucker! I took my anger out by drinking and fucking Reagan daily. Reagan liked it rough and that was good because I was not into the sweet shit. I just wanted a good, rough fuck.

  July 1st, everything changed. It was a Saturday, we had plans to take Hunter to the park and I was going to make things better with Katie and me. I had my grandmother’s ring in my pocket and was going to ask Katie to marry me and I had stopped drinking.

  My doorbell rang and I got nervous. It was two in the afternoon and I figured it was Katie.

  I opened the door to see Reagan, “Hey...” she said, but wouldn’t make eye contact with me.

  “I thought I was picking Hunter up at your place?”

  “We need to talk.”

  “Come in, I guess...”

  She comes in and sits on my couch.

  “Ok two things. How are you and Katie doing?”

  “It’s none of your business.”

  “She’s breaking up with you today,” Regan blurts out. “She is going to make an excuse not to hang out with you and Hunter this afternoon, then come over tonight to call it quits, just thought I’d give you a heads up.”

  My blood starts to boil. Either this bitch is lying or she’s telling the truth. My hands ball into fists.“How the fuck do you know this?”

  “I heard her and Rachel talking about it at Denny’s when I was picking up the muffins for work yesterday. She didn’t see me there.”

  “Fuck,” I shout.

  Reagan gets up and starts to creep towards the door.