Saved

by Lee Heaven

  Tyler had Theo pinned to the ground by his throat before I could even blink. “You put your hands on her I will kill you,” Tyler seethed with pure hatred.

  “Tyler let him go,” I pleaded as I pulled on his arm. Tyler finally let go and backed up a few inches running his finger through his hair. I turned to Theo, “Did you fuck Emily?”

  Theo looked at me confused for a few minutes. Maybe, trying to put a face to the name. Somehow I got the feeling Theo fucked a lot of girls and didn’t bother to get a lot of their names.

  “Emily? You mean that sweet little blonde chick you were dating?” He chuckled while shaking his head. “Yeah I fucked her. She used to show up here all the time. She used to tell you she’d have a modeling job and then she’d show up here for a few days and let me tie her to the bed and fuck every hole she had. Loved it up the ass like you wouldn’t believe.”

  I was pulling Tyler back off of Theo as his fist hit him in the face over and over again.

  “Did you get her pregnant,” I asked when Tyler finally let him go.

  Theo was laughing, both at Tyler and at my question. “Fuck, I’m sure you can even tell I’m not the father of that little girl. She tried pinning it on Tyler.” He looked at Tyler again, “Yeah I saw the news. I knew that she was trying to get at your money.”

  I smacked Theo upside the head when the two of them wouldn’t stop staring at each other. When he turned his hate filled eyes on me I backed up a few steps. I really shouldn’t have smacked him, but I just couldn’t help it. “Not her daughter, you ass. She had a son a few weeks ago. Is he yours?”

  His face twisted as if he couldn’t believe what I just said. “If it is, she never said a word to me. It’s possible I guess. I never used protection. We fucked morning, noon and night. Finally had to call Sissy over to keep that kid of hers from screaming all day.” He turned to Tyler. “You remember Sissy. That hot ass teenager down the street. She’s nineteen now. Let’s me stick it in her ass all the time. Loves it in the ass while she licks some other chicks’ pussy. Didn’t know that till the day Emily walked in on me shoving it in Sissy, stripped her clothes off and shoved Sissy’s face in her pussy and wouldn’t let her head go until Sissy got her off four times. Hottest fucking shit I’d ever seen. Had to change the sheets after that day, those two squirted all over my bed, it was like a river coming out of both of them.”

  This guy is so crude. Yeah Tyler and I go at it like fucking teenagers, but really sleeping with nineteen year olds, your own brothers’ girlfriend and god knows who else. Theo is the complete opposite of Tyler. Tyler is generous where Theo is selfish. Tyler is soft and loving where Theo is hard and scary. Looking at Theo now, in real life, I knew I choose the right brother.

  “Listen Fucker,” Tyler hissed at his brother. “I had a DNA test done. It says that my DNA is the baby’s father DNA. Since you and I are twins, we have the same DNA, since I know for a fact that I never slept with Emily after Payton was born, Cage has to be your kid.”

  “I ain’t claiming him. Is that what Emily’s trying to do? Get me to claim her freaking kids? Does she not realize I have no money? You think the bitch would know by now that everything I have is actually yours and I mooch off you.”

  Tyler’s foot connected with Theo’s face. I scrambled to pull Tyler off his brother to keep the beating from getting worse. “Take a walk, Tyler, please,” I begged till he walked away. I turned to Theo, “Touch me and I swear to god I will let him come back and finish you off.” I walked over into the kitchen and started pulling drawers and cabinets open till I find some towels. I pointed at a chair, Theo pulled himself up off the floor and plopped down in front of me in the chair I was just pointing at.

  I dabbed at where blood was dripping on his cheek, chin and lip. His electric blue eyes were locked onto my face the whole time. If I didn’t know better I would have thought it was Tyler staring at me.

  “You gonna let me fuck you?” He asked after a few minutes.

  My hand connected with his cheek hard enough to turn his head sideways.

  He chuckled. “You’re a good one I can tell. I asked Emily that and she dropped her pants without a second thought. Don’t think that girl was ever faithful. She was all about the money. If she wasn’t going to get it from Tyler, she would somehow get it from me. She never learned that he barely gave me a thing. I live in his house, drive his car and he pays all the bills, but besides that I barely have a thousand dollars in the bank account.”

  “Why would you sleep with his girlfriend?” I asked as I pressed the towel to a spot on his split lip.

  “He’s always had everything come easy for him. School, sports, girls, my parents even. I’ve always ridden his coattails.” It was then I saw it. He was just a broken little boy living in his brother’s shadow, trying his damn best to get out of it but no one ever gave him a chance. Somehow I had a feeling everyone just expected him to fall in line and live up to be an equal with Tyler instead of letting him be himself. It was also then that I realized he never fought back, just took whatever it was that Tyler hit him with.

  “Emily killed herself a few weeks ago. Left her kids sitting on our doorstep. Didn’t even bother to check and see if someone was home, just dropped them off and left.” Theo’s eyes turned sad as he looked at me. “Cage was only three days old, wasn’t even in a baby seat, just placed inside a diaper bag and covered with a blanket.”

  Theo closed his eyes and let out a big breath of air. Something about that bit of information affected him. But he didn’t say a thing, kept it all to himself.

  “You’re almost thirty, isn’t it time to stop blaming your brother and grow up? I’m sure you got a brain of your own, I’m sure you know how to do something. You want to live like this for the rest of your life, waiting for someone to give you money? Get out there. Do something for yourself. Make your own money. Find a woman to love and have a family of your own.”

  “I don’t have many skills,” he admitted in a small voice. It was a defeated voice. “No one ever gave me a chance. They always paid attention to Tyler and his amazing baseball skills. They fawned over him in high school. Cheered him on when he was drafted into a minor league team. Then they were dead. Gone. Just like that. Tyler left, went back to his baseball career and signed a multi-million dollar contract. I was left behind again. He moved on with his life and I was stuck.”

  I placed my hands on my hip and looked at him. “Whaaaaa,” I said to him making it sound like a babies cry. “Boo hoo hoo, woe is me. Nothing was handed to me. You think you’re the only one who’s ever had it hard in their life. I’ve spent the past ten years getting the shit kicked out of me by my ex-husband every day. No one came and saved me. No I had to save myself. I had to walk away from the broken eye sockets, the broken ribs and arms. At some point I looked at myself in the mirror and didn’t like what I saw. Didn’t like who I became. I had to grow a pair of balls, grow up and make a life of my own. And you know what? I did.”

  “I’m good at working on motorcycles. I’m building one in the garage.”

  I pulled my phone out of my pocket and scrolled through my contacts until I saw my Cousin Steven’s name. Pressing it I put the phone to my ear.

  “Yo, Cous!” Steven says as he picks up the phone.

  “What up? Got a question for you. You still looking for an apprentice?”

  “Yeah, thought I found one but he’s dumber than shit. Gonna have to fire him. What you got?”

  “Tyler’s brother, Theo. Can you give him a try for me?” I asked holding my breath a little, hoping for all hope he’ll give me a yes.

  “Send him down tomorrow. Ten am. If he’s even two minutes late tell him not to even bother. I’m not babysitting just because he’s your man’s brother.”

  I smiled at my phone. “He’ll be there. Later,” I said as we disconnected the phone. I walked back over to the one island and pulled out the pad of paper and pen I saw when I was looking for a towel. I wrote the address, number, my cousin’s name
and ten am. I handed it to Theo. “It’s your one get out of jail free card. I won’t do anything else for you ever. My cousin owns a custom bike shop down in Henderson. Not sure what the pay is, but he’s willing to give you a try. Ten am tomorrow. Don’t bother showing up if you can’t be there on time. That means ten on the dot. Not ten O one, not ten O two. Ten on the dot.”

  “Why?” he asked looking at me like a lost little boy.

  “Everyone needs a little help if they can get it. Most get it when they are teenagers and their parents teach them that. I’m sorry yours didn’t. I’m giving you that chance now. But unlike a teenager, you are a grown man. So unlike a teenager who I would give slack to and try to guide, I’m only giving you one chance. Show you’re a real man and maybe just maybe if you can prove that, your brother would give you a chance.”

  I placed the towel on the counter and walked away. I wanted Tyler. I wanted to wrap my arms around him. I wanted his love more than anything right now.

  I found him pacing in the front of the house walking back and forth from the edge of the drive up halfway to where a grand marble fountain stood. I watched as he paced back and forth for a few minutes. His hair was a mess as his fingers kept dragging and pulling at it. He finally looked up at me and he charged toward me. Grabbing me up and looking me over for signs of me being hurt.

  I smiled at him and placed my hands on his cheeks pulling his face down to mine. I saw the smile on his lips the second before mine crashed into him. He pushed his body into me and pinned me against one of the marble pillars.

  “Take me gambling tonight,” I whispered against his lip. “I’ve never been before. I want to go stick pennies in a machine and win thousands of dollars. I want to sit at some poker table and loose some money because I have no idea how to play poker. I wanna know what keno is and I want to win some money playing it. Take me to the strip and let’s blow some money.”

  “I don’t think they have penny slots anymore, Darlin’” his smile widened at me. “I think they all take quarters.”

  I wrapped my hand around his and pulled him toward the car as I laughed. I looked over my shoulder and I saw Theo standing in one of the floor to ceiling windows. I waved a little over my shoulder. I heard Tyler give a small growl as he shoved me in the car and closed the door.

  All Theo wanted was for someone to see him as him, not as Tyler’s brother. Not as half a set of twins. Not as the screw up brother of the famous baseball player. He just wanted someone to take a chance on him. And that’s what I did. I took a chance with him. I gave him that little life line he was looking for.

  I smiled and laughed with Tyler all the way to the strip. I held on to him tightly as we walked through the lobby of the Wynn Las Vegas hotel. I stood there laughing and telling the receptionist, ‘no we didn’t need a three bedroom suite, that a regular room would be fine.’ We didn’t plan on spending that much time in the room. We just needed a place to crash for a few hours before our flight tomorrow afternoon.

  ~~~

  The ding on the slot machine has me jumping up and down and hugging the old lady next to me. We’ve been talking and playing slots together for the last three hours, moving from one machine to the next. But finally all my pay off has worked. The machine is going crazy. Lights, sirens, music, it’s all attracting everyone to look at me.

  The screen is blinking a number I can’t even imagine ever being in my bank account. Five hundred, sixty eight thousand, four hundred and three dollars. Holy fuck! On a god damn fucking slot machine I just won half a million dollars. FUCK!

  The old lady next to me, Amelia, Is clapping and smiling at me. I’ve learned over the past three hours that she is a widow, her husband of fifty three years passed away a few years ago. Their one and only son has taken a CEO job in Spain and she hasn’t seen him or her grandkids since her husband’s funeral and before that it was every other year sometimes longer that they saw each other. My heart broke when she told me that. But a minute later I was hugging her and laughing. She had just told me that she lives in the city, in fact she lives about ten blocks from my building. I told her that minute, that every Sunday as long as I was in town we would be having family dinner. Sunday dinner was something Sarah and Decker started a few weeks ago. She’s been on complete bed rest and doesn’t get to see many people so Decker and Maggie sat down and decided that Sunday dinner was now going to be a staple as long as the team was in town.

  I left Amelia with a hug and a promise to send a car to pick her up two Sunday’s from now when she was back in town. Tyler found me as I was standing at a teller window waiting for my money to be paid out. A check was handed to me and Tyler’s mouth fell to the floor as he looked at the number. I giggled as I told him I won it and a hundred grand more on a slot machine. He just shook his head with a wide smile on his face. I was handed a second envelope and I wrote Amelia’s name and room number on it. I handed it back to the teller and she promised to get it to Amelia by morning.

  Tyler wrapped his arm around my shoulders and brought me in for a kiss. “Come with me,” he whispered against my lips. “I want to take you somewhere special.”

  I shoved the check into my purse and followed Tyler out to a waiting car. We took a short ten minute drive and pulled up next to a glass and brick building. A man waiting on the curb walked over to the car opened the door and climbed in, sitting on the seat across from us.

  “ID’s please?” He asked.

  Tyler reached into his back pocket and pulled out his wallet, handing his license over to the man. When I hesitated Tyler reached for my purse and pulled out my wallet handing over my ID. The man who climbed in the car went about writing a bunch of stuff down on the paper attached to the clipboard he was holding. After a few minutes he returned our ID’s to us and then turned the clipboard around.

  “Sign,” he said as he handed the pen over to Tyler. After Tyler signed he handed the pen to me and pointed to a line where I needed to sign. I looked at the paper and couldn’t tell what it was, Tyler’s hand blocked all the words.

  I looked up into his face and he was smiling. A huge ‘I’m so in love with you, just trust me and sign this paper’ type of smile. “Sign it darlin’” he crooned at me. I took the pen from his hand and scribbled my name.

  Tyler handed the clipboard back to the man sitting across from us. The man went about writing a few more things and then got out of the car with a mumbled “I’ll be back in five minutes.”

  “Tyler?” I turned and silently asked him what was going on.

  He pulled me into his side and kissed the top of my head. “Just trust me,” he said as he tucked my head into his neck. A few minutes later the door opened and the man was standing there again. “Thanks Max,” Tyler said as he grabbed the papers that were being held out to him.

  “Any time Tyler. Mom and dad were hoping you were going to be around for a few days and come for dinner,” Max smiled at us.

  “Tell your parents next time. We’re only here for the night. Have to be back in the city tomorrow.” Max and Tyler shook hands and then Max was gone.

  “Tyler?” I asked again.

  “Max was my neighbor growing up,” was the only explanation he gave me. As the car pulled away from the curb he pulled out a white silk scarf. Wrapping it around my eyes he tied it behind my head. “Just trust me darlin’” he repeated again.

  The car went a few more blocks, there was a left turn somewhere, but we were only in the car for a few more minutes before the car stopped and the door was opened. Tyler slid out of the car and took my hand to guide me out. I could hear people walking and talking but it wasn’t as busy as being on the strip. I hear a door open and close behind us. Someone greets Tyler and then we’re ushered into some part of a building.

  “Stand there and don’t move till I tell you,” Tyler says as he places a kiss on my lips. I hear him walk off and I want to rip this blindfold off my face and find him. Or run for the hills because I have no idea what I’m in for or where I am. “Go ahead
darlin’, take off the blindfold.”

  My hands slowly move up to the scarf covering my face. As I removed the scarf tears flooded my eyes. Standing only a few feet from me was Tyler, he still was wearing that I’m so in love with you smile. Behind Tyler was another man and sitting in the seats was Theo and some girl I don’t know. A lady standing off to my left walked over and handed me a small bouquet of white roses.

  I walked up the small aisle to Tyler and barely heard a word the man was saying. Before I knew it we were both saying I do and kissing. When Tyler pulled away I smiled up at him and he said, “Sarah’s going to kill us.”

  I couldn’t help but laugh because it was so true. “We’ll just keep it between us for now. Then we’ll give her the wedding she’ll want.” I looked over to see Theo smiling at us. “Your brother?” I asked.

  Tyler shrugged, “He like’s you. Called to tell me what you did for him. Called to tell me how you didn’t even know him and you gave him a chance. Told me that I should keep you. That you were good. I realized I never gave him a chance like that. Maybe he needs one. Maybe we can build from there.”

  “Tyler, has he ever hit you back when you guys get into it?” I asked.

  Tyler thought about it. I can see him going back over all the times they’ve gone at it over the years. “Not since we were kids,” he finally admitted.

  “Ever wonder why?” I asked and he looked at me confused. “He loves you. He just wants to be accepted. He wants to be accepted by you, but he wants you to accept him for who he is.”

  Tyler shook his head and looked a little defeated, “I need to give him a real chance.”

  “Just like you gave me a chance,” I smiled at him. He smiled down at me. “Now take me back to the hotel and screw me like a good husband should.”

  Tyler threw his head back and laughed. He turned to walk out the door of the chapel when Theo walked in front of him. Theo extended his hand. “Congratulations,” he said with a slight smile. I’m surprised he could smile at all with the way his lip was split. Tyler shook his hand and looked over at the redhead that was with Theo. Theo pointed to her “Mary Beth, she cleans the house. Cooks for me. Generally, makes sure I don’t destroy the house or my life.”