by Hadley Quinn
“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.”
There was a pause in the room. Tyse studied his family members for a second, trying to read them. But all he got was Max giving him a long stare down.
“Look,” Neil sighed. Shaking his head, he paused for a moment as he glanced between the members in the room. “I don’t take sides when it comes to my grandkids. I try to look at a family situation like a business decision. It’s the only way to be fair about it all. But this has gotten way out of hand. There is no huge scandal; there is no big, hidden secret… It’s just a business deal with a lot of side drama, and now you know about it. I don’t want it to resurface and wreak havoc on my family again. Sarah seemed like a potential threat. I didn’t trust her, and I thought she was trying to work her way into the family for some kind of…retribution or something. I was trying to protect my family.”
Tyse felt a headache begin to pound between his temples. All he wanted to do was talk to Sarah.
“Where is she right now?” he asked no one in particular. “I just need to see her.”
There was no reply at first. Tyse looked around the room until Kellie said, “She’s staying with Rayne.”
Tyse stood up to leave but his grandfather said, “Sit back down.”
“No, I won’t,” Tyse retorted. “All you guys have done is made a big fucking mess of this and I need to make it right. I made her a promise and I’m going to keep it.”
“What kind of promise?” Craig asked warily.
“Answer this. Why did you guys go visit her at her house and what did you say?” Tyse demanded.
“It’s business, kid,” Craig replied.
“Then let me in on the little business secret,” Tyse growled through his teeth. “See, this is the problem right here. You people expect us to conform to whatever it is you say, but you don’t tell us a fucking thing.”
“It was only mentioned that we’d keep our mouths quiet if she kept hers quiet,” Grandpa answered. “If she’s going to be around members of this family, that applies to future incidents as well.”
Tyse looked right at him. “Keep quiet? Oh my God,” he exhaled, shaking his head. “I sure as hell hope you didn’t try to persuade her with money.”
“Tyse, just leave it the fuck alone, goddamn it!” Max shouted.
His voice actually seemed to echo in the room for a few seconds. Tyse watched him while he took a deep breath to calm down. Max was normally pretty suave and laid back. Cocky and arrogant as hell, but generally not so easily riled.
“Why don’t you tell me what else is going on,” Tyse said. “I know there is more to this. You didn’t want to talk to me about it before, so how about now.”
“I didn’t owe you any explanation,” Max narrowed his eyes.
“And how about now? Olivia Douglas was crushed after finding out she landed a movie role because of a business deal.”
“Every movie role is a business deal,” Max scoffed. “Learn the ropes, freshman.”
Ignoring the comment, Tyse asked, “Was there more to it? Sarah thought her sister was suffering from a broken heart because of you.”
“Good, I hope she was,” he shrugged.
“So you did break things off with her? Why?”
“It’s none of your fucking business.”
“You either start talking, or I start walking. Who knows where this is going to lead if you don’t step up and tell me what the hell happened.”
“Why is that any of your business?” Max retorted. “You need some pointers for how to dump Sarah on her ass? If that’s the case, maybe we can talk.”
“You self-righteous prick,” Tyse shook his head in awe.
“Max, why can’t you just see that we’re all trying make sense of this?” Jay asked with disbelief. “You’re a self-centered, fucking moron, you know that?”
“Shut the fuck up, Jay,” Max retorted. “I was pissed too, okay? And it wasn’t my call, all right? I only did what my boss told me to do!”
Everyone looked at Craig, who was sitting there silently shaking his head.
“This is absolutely getting out of control,” he said.
“Well guess where it started?” Teague asked his dad dryly.
“Her father didn’t want her making a spectacle of it, either,” Craig spat back. “It was better that they just split and not feed any tabloids. We could have made her look really bad if we’d wanted to, but we didn’t.”
Tyse looked at Max. “Real gallant of you, Hollywood.”
“Fuck off, asshole. Unless you were there and know what I went through, shut the hell up about it!”
“Whatever makes you feel better,” Tyse replied, mimicking Max from the conversation at his house. He shook his head with a sarcastic smile. He really couldn’t believe this so-called “family meeting.”
“Tyse, it happened over four years ago,” Neil said. “I try to keep my family’s reputation clean these days and I didn’t want a repeat episode with another Douglas girl.”
“Well I’m glad you feel so wonderful about your poor ethics,” Tyse scoffed. “But count me out.”
When Tyse turned to leave, Teague, Jay and Kellie stood too. They headed out the door with him, but after a second thought, Tyse returned to the room just as Max was standing. He hauled back and decked him right in the face, dropping him back into his chair.
“What the fuck was that for!?” Max shouted at him as he stopped the blood from pouring out of his nose.
“I don’t know,” Tyse shrugged casually. “I guess because you’re just a dick.”
He turned around and left the room, and Jay, Teague, and Kellie followed him.
He needed to find Sarah.
Chapter Thirty-Three
It was no surprise that there were paparazzi all over the streets as Tyse exited his grandfather’s driveway. Jay and Kellie were right behind him, and Teague behind them. Tyse breezed by the random spectators without even thinking before he realized he didn’t even know where the hell Rayne lived.
He pulled over a few streets away, and when Jay’s Barracuda pulled up next to him, Tyse opened his window.
“Follow us,” Kellie told him. “I know where she lives.”
He followed them south and then inland to Van Nuys. After navigating down a few streets, Jay’s car slowed down up ahead and Tyse saw Kellie’s arm point out the window to a beige st
ucco house on the right. They continued on and disappeared around the corner, so Tyse pulled up to the curb a few houses down and stepped out of his car.
There was no telling how Sarah was going to react to seeing him. He wasn’t even sure if she was here because he couldn’t see her car anywhere.
When he knocked on the front door, it took almost a minute before Rayne answered it. She just stood there for a few seconds, not looking very pleased.
“I have to see her,” Tyse finally said. “Please, Rayne. Let me talk to her.”
“I should punch you in the fucking throat right now,” she replied quietly, although there was a lot of vehemence in her voice. “I specifically asked you to keep what I told you a secret and you go and tell your family? What kind of person does that?” she scoffed.
“Tell them what?” he asked sincerely. “I would never betray anyone’s trust like that.”
“I don’t believe you.”
She went to shut the door on him but Tyse stopped it with his foot.
“Please believe me. The only thing I’m guilty of is promising Sarah that I could protect her from all of this. I should have known, but I let my arrogance get in the way. She knew my family better than I did, and I regret that more than anything right now. I swear to you I didn’t tell them a thing about what you told me.”
“And now what? Do you think that makes things better? Do you think it matters anymore? They fucking threatened her, Tyse. Threatened. Her. What the hell is that? It’s like the damn mafia or something. And then when she told them to fuck off, they offered her money. Can you fucking believe that? Well of course you probably can, they’re the McCallans. They think they can do whatever they fucking want to people.”
Tyse didn’t know what to say. He wasn’t even sure he should be here. He’d hurt Sarah so badly without even meaning to and the best thing he could probably do for her was to leave her alone. He felt like that was the hardest thing to do, though. All he wanted was to make it better, for her to forgive him. Even if she never wanted to see him again, he needed her forgiveness.
“Can you just…tell her that I’m sorry?” he finally asked. “I never meant for any of this to happen. I was so dumb. Naïve. I wish I could go back and change things but I can’t. I just want her to know that…I love her. I thought that would be enough.”
Rayne stared at him for a long time, so long that he started to feel uncomfortable. Little did he know, Sarah was behind the door and peeked out, slowly opening it further. Just seeing her made his heart stop. He could tell she’d been crying, but she also looked really worn down. Just knowing he was the cause of all that made him want to fall apart.
“I’m so sorry,” he said softly. “Please tell me what I can do to fix this, Sarah.”
Rayne left the front door and disappeared into the house. Sarah remained there in silence, but at least she was there willing to listen to him.
“I know I don’t deserve a conversation with you, but can we please sit down and talk? Even if you have nothing to say to me, let me do the talking.”
After a long pause, she opened the door all the way and let him inside. She led him to a couch and motioned for him to sit down, and then she sat on a loveseat perpendicular to him. He was beginning to wonder if she was never going to speak to him again.
“I went to your house and the lady told me you moved out,” he began. “Then I went to see my grandpa because I heard he paid you a visit.”
She frowned slightly, but still didn’t respond.
Tyse took a deep breath and slowly released it. “I had a sit down with my family. What they’re doing is wrong and I am in no way a part of it. You tell me what you want me to do and I’ll do it. I have nothing to say to them and want nothing to do with them. I don’t even run the recording studio anymore.”
She looked at him with surprise but didn’t say anything for a while. “Tyse, you love working there,” she finally said. “I don’t want you to give that up.”
“I love music, and I love working with new talent, but I refuse to do it there. I made a mistake in agreeing to it. I thought it was a simple business situation and that I could keep everything separate. But now I realize that anything with the McCallans is always so much more than that. I want no part of it.”
Sarah watched him for a few seconds and then sighed. “I’m sorry.”
“You have nothing to be sorry for,” he said adamantly. “Sarah, if I hadn’t been working there, I probably would have never met you. I wouldn’t trade that for the world, so I guess maybe it wasn’t a mistake. That day on the sidewalk changed my life and I will keep fighting to have that feeling every day I can. You are the most important part of all of this, nothing else is. You’re all I want, so please just tell me what I can do to make things right. Tell me how I can get you to trust me.”
She sighed. “Tyse, I trust you. I do. I just needed the time to sort through my thoughts, okay? I wasn’t running or bailing on you. I’m sorry it seemed that way, that’s why I told you it wasn’t goodbye. I was just…so heartbroken over all of this. And scared. Scared I was going to lose you. There are some things that just don’t make sense to me right now with your family. I don’t want trouble with anyone. Why are they so aggressive about this?”
He paused, trying to build the courage to tell her what more he knew.
“I already know about my father,” she spoke quietly, reading his thoughts. “About the deal with Craig?”
“Did they tell you that?”
“Yes,” she nodded. “Basically because they thought I already knew. And even though I’m not surprised, it has made me rethink everything with Liv. She led me to believe it had to do with Max. She was so heartbroken over him. I just don’t get it.”
He shook his head. “I know I’m missing something too, but I just don’t know what.”
They were both silent for almost a minute. Tyse had no idea what was going on with the McCallans. Anything that seemed like the truth was only laced with more lies. He wanted to stay out of it. All he wanted was to be with Sarah. He wished there was a way for everything to go away, but he knew that was impossible.
“Look,” he said softly, leaning forward to rest his elbows on his knees.
He waited for Sarah to make eye contact with him but she wouldn’t. It broke his heart that she looked so sad and disappointed.
“I am one hundred percent committed to you, Sarah. I told you that on our first date and I meant it. I feel that I mean it even more right now, though. I swear to you…” He sighed and shook his head as he felt the desperation set in again. “I swear this is what’s more important to me,” he motioned between them. She was now looking at him, so he looked her straight in the eye and added, “I’m in love with you, Sarah Douglas.”
Their eyes remained locked on one another until moisture filled Sarah’s and then she blinked, sending tears down her face.
“I’m in love with you too,” she whispered. “I’ve loved you since the stupid candy bouquet. I gained like five pounds from that because I ate everything in it. And I hated you at the same time,” she added with a sniffling laugh.
Tyse couldn’t help but smile, and then he chuckled. Leave it to a woman to state something like that. It’s not something he would have noticed or even cared about.
“Five pounds of my love,” he corrected smugly. “It was meant to be.”
“Hmm, I guess so,” she eyed him with a smile.
Tyse sat there for a few seconds in consideration. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a few guitar picks. He selected one that didn’t have any print on one side and set it on the coffee table. It was a green one, and he picked up the black Sharpie that he’d noticed on the end table and used it to draw a heart on the pick. Then he drew short lines over the outline, symbolizing stitches.
He held it out for Sarah and she carefully took it from him. She gave him a tentative smile and then looked at the pick in her hand.
“And what is this?” she asked softly.
She looked up at him for several seconds without saying anything. Staring at the guitar pick again she asked, “And you think it’s going to be that easy?”
He instantly shook his head. “Oh, no. But I’m willing to try until I get it right.”
Her eyes met his again, still shimmering with moisture. “Are you always this clever?” she smiled. “I knew from the start that you were, so maybe that’s a rhetorical question.”
She got up from the couch she was sitting on and sat next to him. Sarah slipped her hand into his and their fingers laced together.
“I promise to do the same,” she told him. “I know you’re not like your family, I just didn’t want to cause you any problems with them.”
“You’re not. In fact, you’ve helped me see more than I would have otherwise. Because of what you’ve shared with me, I see it’s better to cut my ties with them before I’m in too deep.”
“And you’re really sure about that?” she asked. “About the studio?”
“Yeah, I’m positive. And don’t worry about that at all. I’ve got my bases covered,” he smiled mysteriously.
She raised her eyebrows as she studied him for a moment, but eventually shrugged and said, “Okay, if you’re sure.”
“Never been sure of anything in my life as much as I am about you.”
Tyse could tell that affected her as her entire demeanor seemed to soften even more. She leaned her head against his shoulder and sighed. “What if I told you you’re perfect,” she whispered.
He barely smiled. “I’d say that’s impossible. Nobody’s perfect.”
“Perfect for me.” She lifted her head to look him in the eye. “Perfect for me,” she repeated quietly.
Tyse took her face in his hand and pressed his lips against hers, feeling the intense love and passion for this woman all over again. If he could have this every day of his life, there wasn’t a man alive that was more blessed than he was.