by Hadley Quinn
The positive aspects of life. Tyse needed to focus on them. Why had he left Arizona? To find his brother and sister. And in that, he’d discovered more to life than he thought possible. Teague had become an amazing friend, and Kellie and Jay meant the world to him. But had he known he’d be reeled in and then hung out to dry by the rest of the family, he wouldn’t have accepted conditional kindness from anyone else. He had been warned, but while his pride had told him he was too intelligent to be taken advantage of, his heart wanted to please everyone anyway.
That never works, and he knew it before he even made the decision to try.
Tyse put his car in reverse and backed out of the driveway. He grabbed drive-thru, barely eating half of it. He was still thinking about Sarah as he drove toward the studio. He didn’t know if he was actually going to get any work done, but the drive was maybe just a habit to him. However, he drove by the floral shop first, just to see if she was there. The ‘closed’ sign was flipped and it dawned on him that it was a Saturday evening. The shop wouldn’t have been open anyway.
Automatically he drove straight to her house. He got out and knocked on the door several times, only to get no answer. Her car wasn’t there, but he kept trying anyway.
“Excuse me, can I help you?” a woman asked from the corner of the house. She was an elderly lady, but she looked pissed off, like Tyse was trespassing.
“I’m looking for Sarah,” he turned to face her. “Do you know when she’ll be back?”
“Probably never. And get off my property right now. If you people don’t stop coming around, I’m going to—”
“Wait, ‘you people’?” he asked cautiously. “What do you mean? I’m her boyfriend.”
The woman stared at him for several seconds before she finally pursed her lips and sighed. “Yeah, I guess you do look like him,” she said.
“Have reporters been coming by here?” Tyse asked her for some reason.
“Pssh, nonstop,” the woman grumbled. “There’s one right there,” she pointed across the street and down a ways.
Tyse followed her motion and spotted a green Malibu parked at the curb. He eyed it for a few seconds, even though he couldn’t make out the driver at all. It looked exactly like the car that had chased Teague’s truck that one night. It even had a dent in the front right fender.
“Your family has been here too,” the woman seemed to add as a side thought. “And don’t ask me about any of it because I don’t know anything. I only saw them and bodyguards, and then the reporters showed up after they left.”
She turned for the house but Tyse called, “Hey, hey wait a second.”
“I don’t know anything,” she said, turning to face him.
“But who was it that you saw?” he asked.
He waited for half a minute as the woman stood there debating an answer for him. “I grew up in the Neil McCallan era,” she said at last, a guilty smile on her face. “I would recognize him anywhere.”
Tyse gave a slight nod as he turned for his car, but he stopped when she added, “But the other two were with him also. His son and the one grandson. They all came to see her.”
With a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach, Tyse didn’t respond. How could he with so many thoughts rolling around in his head?
“And just so you know, she moved out,” the woman added. “Just up and left.”
Tyse could have been surprised, but he wasn’t. All Sarah had ever wanted was privacy. It didn’t matter what the truth was or what facts were in her past, Tyse knew for certain that all she wanted was to be left alone.
He got in his car to drive away, but as a last thought, he pulled up to the green car on the street and rolled down his window. The driver already had his window down too, but looked like he was going to roll it up any second.
“How’s the stalking going today?” Tyse asked.
Tyse could tell that the guy knew who he was. He’d probably been sitting there snapping photos while he’d been talking to the landlady. The telescopic lens in his hand was evidence enough.
“You here to give me some quotes for an article?” the pudgy man smirked.
“What exactly are you looking for?” Tyse asked. He wasn’t willing to give up any information, but out of curiosity, he wanted to know what the hell was so interesting to these guys.
“You and Sarah still together?” he asked. “Where is Olivia Douglas? Are you rebelling against your family by having a relationship with her sister? Is she using you to get back at them? Is it a publicity stunt? Is your family trying to run her out of town? Bribe her with hush money?”
“Hush money for what?”
“For what happened between Olivia and Max. I know it was covered up.”
“What was covered up?” Tyse asked. It had never been in his interest to talk to these people, but it was too tempting. Whether or not it was going to come back and bite him in the ass, he didn’t know, but he was feeling pretty desperate at this point.
“Didn’t he break things off with her and she got back at him by accusing him of hiding something?”
“Are you asking me this?” Tyse smiled sarcastically.
The guy looked uncertain for a moment. “Well, uh, that’s what happened. I’m just asking it as a rhetorical question.”
“Oh is it a rhetorical question?”
The reporter paused, his eyebrows furrowed. “Uh, well…”
“And why did Sarah suddenly resurface with me? The new McCallan in town. Another industry outsider. What kind of headlines did we hope to make?”
The guy was speechless. He sat in his car, unable to respond at first. Finally he stammered, “Well, uh, I think that, uh… Well that’s what I wanna know!” he finished, seeming flustered. “Why are you asking me questions?”
Tyse laughed out loud. “Why are you asking me questions?” he countered back. “Come on, man. Who fucking cares? I took a huge shit this morning after I danced to Spice Girls. Put that in your damn tabloid.”
The reporter gave him a confused look. “Wha…? That’s not even…”
“Sure it’s news. It’s just as good as the shit that you write about. And it’s all you’re gonna get. ‘Cause I’m not gonna tell you what you want, what you really really want.”
The guy absolutely did not know how to respond. He sat there with a stupefied look on his face.
“Oh, and Grandpa Neil told me to tell you he’s got enough for now,” Tyse added. “You don’t have to spy on me anymore.”
The guy looked confused. “But I haven’t got what he—”
He stopped short, realizing he’d been duped.
“Haven’t got what?” Tyse asked with a curious smile. The guy wouldn’t talk after that. “Well I’d say you’re fired,” he added with a laugh. He put his car back in gear and said, “Oh, and by the way… Learn how to fucking drive. If you ever chase me down like that again, I will hunt you down and run your sorry ass over. Do you understand me? And you can quote me on that.”
Tyse burned rubber on the street and left his nosy ass in the dust.
***
Tyse’s next stopped wasn’t planned but it was definitely necessary. He pulled up to his grandfather’s mansion in Malibu, parking his car right in the middle of the circular turnaround out front. Normally he’d go all the way around to the back of the house, but he didn’t waste the time.
He walked right inside as the housekeeper was just opening the door for him. He barely mumbled an apology to her as he hastily walked through the house looking for his grandpa.
“He’s with the others in the media room,” Meredith spoke, trying to be helpful. “I’ll go see if—”
“No, it’s fine. I’m sure he’s expecting me.”
Tyse went straight to the back corner of the house and opened the door to what he considered to be a large, fancy office. “Media room” was just a superficial title.
What Tyse found completely caught him off guard. Not only were Neil, Craig, and Max in the room, but so were Kellie,
Teague, and Jay.
Chapter Thirty-Two
They all seemed surprised to see him—except Max, who sat in the corner in an oversized plush leather chair, his arms folded across his chest, looking pissy with a resentful glower on his face.
“What the hell is going on?” Tyse finally asked. “Saturday night family pow-wow without me? Or should I say…about me?”
“It’s not what you think,” Kellie spoke.
“Yeah, man, have a seat,” Jay said. He motioned to a chair next to him but didn’t look at Tyse.
“I think I’ll stand,” Tyse replied. “Just tell me what’s going on.”
“Now that you’ve joined us, it might take a while, so make yourself comfortable,” his grandfather said. Tyse couldn’t help but notice that Neil looked worn out.
Tyse reluctantly sat. No one said anything for a while, but just as the silence was about to slowly murder him, several looks were exchanged until Jay was the one that spoke to him first.
“So here’s what we’ve been told so far,” Jay shrugged. “Dan Douglas made some special little business deal with Craig to get Olivia the part in the movie in the first place; Max and Olivia agreed to pimp themselves out to each other on their own; somehow a lot of douchery ensued and everyone became completely mind-fucked with their own stupidity; and in the end, the media seems to be the only ones that even gained anything from it all. Big fucking surprise.” He took a deep breath and let it out. “That’s the gist of it. Did I miss anything?”
Had Tyse not been so wound up with emotions from the weekend, he might have laughed at his brother’s ability to be so damn candid about everything. Leave it to Jay to put it in simple terms.
“Well that works for me,” Teague agreed. “I’m so glad it didn’t take you sixty minutes of hot air to bullet point all of that, man.”
He gave Jay a fist bump.
“You two smartasses can just back off, okay?” Craig growled at them both.
“Oh come on, seriously?” Teague laughed. “None of this is worth a fucking meeting over. Publicity stunt? No surprise. Shady business deals? Gotcha. Now tell us why the hell you needed us here. Have we gotten to that point yet?”
“Okay, first of all,” Tyse cut in. “What business deal? What kind of deal was made between you and Dan Douglas?” he asked Craig.
Tyse watched his uncle take a moment to respond. When he did, his face was blank and expressionless.
“Olivia’s father governed the bands that we wanted for the movie soundtrack, so in exchange for that deal, he wanted her cast in the movie with Max. We knew it was going to generate huge publicity for both the movie and the soundtrack. It was a mutually beneficial arrangement.”
Tyse took a moment to let that sink in. “So when did Olivia find out about it?” he asked knowingly.
Pause. “Not until after the movie came out. ”
“And what happened because of it?”
Craig paused again. “She confronted her father, she confronted me, she confronted Max… She was a little upset.”
“You think?” Tyse scoffed.
“Simple casualty of the industry,” Craig shrugged. “She wanted the limelight and she got it. If she can’t deal with how things work sometimes, then she’s in the wrong line of business.”
Tyse couldn’t help but notice Max’s reaction at that point. He no longer looked smug, but completely bitter.
“And what about you?” Tyse asked him. “Was pretending to be a couple with Olivia worth it?”
He narrowed his eyes at him and shook his head. “The relationship between her and I was not fake,” he answered evenly.
“You didn’t date just to get more attention for the movie?”
“No. Despite the lies you may have been told, she and I were an actual couple.”
“So what happened?” Jay spoke up. “She realized what a complete self-centered ass you were and bailed?”
“They weren’t that serious about each other,” Craig interjected. “They decided to go their separate ways. And then she somehow found out about her father’s deal with me and she went completely ballistic, threatening to expose us, expose her father… The drama wasn’t necessary. A bit of money seemed to calm her down, so we went with it.”
“So you paid her five hundred grand to drop it?” Tyse asked.
“Yes. It was another business reassurance.”
“Oh, ‘business’,” Tyse laughed sarcastically.
“You give and take, Tyse. Maybe you’ll learn that someday. It might make you successful in your endeavors and not leave you broke and out of a job with zero respect in your corner.”
“I do just fine in my professional life, thanks. And I don’t have to fuck anyone over to do it.”
“You’re saying we fucked over Olivia Douglas?” Craig smiled.
“Well I would think that completely devastating someone’s life could kind of be considered as fucking them over,” Tyse nodded.
Craig studied him for a few seconds, but Max’s movement caught his eye. He still seemed to have a certain look on his face, like he was not comfortable with the current conversation.
“Kind of like you’re fucking us over?” Craig asked Tyse evenly.
“Knock it off, Dad,” Teague growled at him.
“I’m devastating your life?” Tyse countered with disbelief. “Oh please, do enlighten me! You guys are the ones in my business, making Sarah’s life miserable! What makes you think it’s okay to do that to her? Stupid tabloid stories about me and Anna Evans? Sending sharks after me to get some kind of information you can use to your advantage?”
“What?” Jay and Kellie asked at the same time.
Tyse looked at his grandfather directly with that one. He could tell that Neil realized he’d found out.
“It was our only option,” Craig shrugged, like it wasn’t a big deal.
“Your only option?” Tyse exclaimed. “Only option for what, exactly? What did she ever do to deserve all this shit from you guys? Seriously! Leave her the fuck alone!”
“You really don’t get it, do you?” Craig asked evenly, leaning forward onto his knees. “I don’t fucking care if you are new to this family, but when we tell you back the hell off of something, we expect you to do it, do you understand me?”
“Dad, lay off,” Teague growled at him. “This isn’t the kind of shit he needs right now. We came here to come up with a solution, not make things worse.”
“A solution for what?” Tyse questioned angrily.
“A solution to this entire media mess with you, Sarah, and them,” Teague motioned to Craig, Neil, and Max. “It needs to stop.”
“None of this is Sarah’s fault,” Tyse said. “I had no idea family secrets were going to involve the one girl I was interested in getting to know since I’ve been here.”
“Well move on,” Max told him. “There are a thousand chicks that are way better than her. I’ll point you in the right direction.” He sat back with an arrogant smile on his face and crossed an ankle over his knee.
“Fuck you,” Tyse told him.
“Knock it off,” Neil sighed. The room was silent for a few seconds before he added, “Tyse, I don’t want this to become a big family feud. The McCallans don’t need war against each other when we have enough to deal with from the outside world. We need to stick together.”
“Look,” Teague sighed, shaking his head. “If you say you want us to stick together, then don’t ask us to choose sides, and furthermore, don’t add to the problem by threatening people.”
“When my family’s reputation is in danger,” his dad cut in, “then I sure as hell will do what I can to save it. This situation was bad enough five years ago; now it’s worse because someone’s family loyalty was a little thin,” he motioned to Tyse.
“Thin?” Tyse scoffed. “You expect my loyalty right off the bat, yet you automatically mark me as the bad guy when it involves him?” he motioned to Max.
“Shut the fuck up, newbie,” Max scowled. “You
brought this on yourself. You came to my home and questioned me about something that was none of your business! Don’t you think we’ve given you a lot of slack?”
“Are you tooting the innocent horn?” Tyse asked him. “Because I’d really like an explanation from you that I would actually believe.”
“You don’t deserve my time, rookie,” Max replied. “Try earning my trust first.”
“No, I agree with Tyse,” Jay spoke up. “Seriously, the three of you tell us that Max isn’t guilty of anything this time and that we need to suck it up and take sides with you, but none of us even care about his life. I’m not trying to sound like a dick, but it’s just how I feel. The only reason we are here is to support him,” Jay motioned to Tyse. “All you guys have done is give him a fucking smoke screen run around. Now tell us why the fuck we should believe Max. I wouldn’t trust him to change the water in my fucking fish bowl.”
Tyse felt a sense of pride wash through him. This situation was ridiculous, but he was happy his brother had his back.
“I agree,” Teague added. “Call me crazy, but why in the hell would I ever be suspicious of you,” he smiled at Max sarcastically.
“I can’t say that you haven’t helped me out of a bind or two,” Kellie said to Max softly, “but I’m with them. You haven’t exactly sported your stoic colors the last few years.”
“So just side with them, then,” Max answered with a scowl.
“Fuck, I’m not siding with anyone,” she said. “I’m looking at this objectively and I just think it’s really unfair what you guys are doing. You tell us ‘Do this, don’t do that, don’t ask questions,’ and why the hell shouldn’t we? Tyse found a girl and took a chance on her. Some weird circumstances came into play, but why can’t you work with that? Support him, and deal with your shit second for once.”