by Beth Flynn
Grunt pulled into the motel and parked in front of Grizz and Kit’s unit. He didn’t see her car behind the office when he pulled in. I wonder if he found the guy that raped her? Maybe that’s why he wants to talk to me.
He parked and got out of his car when he heard a couple of hellos from the pit. He waved back absentmindedly, then knocked once and let himself in number four. Grizz was sitting in his recliner.
“Don’t sit,” Grizz said as Grunt started to sit down. He rose to face Grunt, suddenly looking very tall in the motel room.
“Don’t sit? Why not? What’s up?”
“I want you to face me like a man when I beat the shit out of you.”
Grunt blinked. “Beat the shit out of me? For what?”
“I need to know something.” Grizz’s voice was low, menacing. “Tell me now, because you won’t be able to answer me when I’m done with you.”
Grunt swallowed.
“You let me think you were a fag. I admit, I jumped to that conclusion based on what Axel reported to me. But you let me think it for a reason. And the only one I can come up with is because you’re in love with Kit. You want to spend time with her. My wife.”
The punch to his face caught Grunt off guard. He didn’t lose his balance yet instantly knew he wasn’t going to win this one. But he wasn’t going down without a fight.
**********
“Grizz beat you up and put you in the hospital? His own son? Because of me?” Ginny’s voice was almost a squeak.
“He beat the living hell out of me. I got my licks in too. I know I broke a couple of his ribs and gave him a black eye. We wrecked your place. How did you not know there was a fight there?”
“I think I remember that night. I came home once and number four looked like a bomb had gone off in it. Grizz told me two of the guys had come in and started fighting, and he’d gotten in the middle of it trying to break them up, which is how he got a black eye and a broken nose. You did that to him?”
“Yeah, I did that to him. He was bigger and stronger, but you have to remember, he’s the one who taught me how to fight.” A small smile played at Tommy’s lips. “I broke his nose? Really?”
“You don’t have to sound so proud of yourself.” She rolled her eyes. “What happened after that?”
“Axel got me in my car and took me to the restaurant, where we found Allen. Allen got me to the hospital, then flew me to Orlando on a private jet so I could recover near him. He called my work and made up some story about me being banged up. Maybe he told them I was mugged. I don’t remember. I do remember you asking me how my two weeks in Vancouver was.”
“Grizz told me you went on a business trip.” Her voice was small. Then something occurred to her. “Did he ever find out Axel deceived him by letting him believe you were gay?”
“No, I covered Axel’s ass. I told him Axel reported the truth to him. I did hang with a gay man. Allen stayed overnight with me at the penthouse a couple of times a month. Why wouldn’t Axel believe it?”
“But I saw you after that! I’m confused—we still spent time together. How did that happen? If he was so mad and he knew you were in love with me, why would he allow it? Something’s not right.”
“The first time I saw him after he beat the shit out of me, he told me he’d changed his mind, that it would be harder explaining to you why he wouldn’t allow our friendship to continue—and that he’d kicked the piss out of me. Or maybe he just wanted to keep me close, keep tabs on me. Besides, he knew damn well that I would never, never try anything with you after that beating. And I never did. That beating was just a warning.”
She let out a breath, stunned. So many secrets, so many lies. If she’d had her head in the sand, it certainly wasn’t her fault. “But Tommy, you still brought Cindy around after that. You still stayed in her penthouse. Why?”
“A few reasons.” He shrugged. “For her mostly; she still needed the ruse. And it was a comfortable situation. I lived in a million dollar condo close to work. And Cindy was a nice girl. We were friends. What else was I going to do at that point?”
Ginny shook her head, dizzy now with all the new information. “I’m still not sure I can understand why we were allowed to spend all that time together and Grizz never objected.”
What Tommy wouldn’t tell his wife, couldn’t tell her was that he knew why. When he went to see Grizz a few days before the execution, they spent almost an hour together walking in the prison yard. He was the same old Grizz when it came to Ginny. He was still pissed about the billy club incident that Leslie had revealed weeks earlier. He told Tommy he was lucky it hadn’t occurred to him to question it when he found out Tommy was pretending to be gay. He had no doubt if he’d thought of it back then, he wouldn’t have put Tommy in the hospital for two weeks. Son or no son, he would’ve put Tommy in the ground. Grizz had also been angry when he found out through Blue that Tommy had fathered one of Blue’s boys.
But then, Grizz went on to explain everything to Tommy, in great detail. Not leaving anything out. And after hearing about Grizz’s involvement in something that went way past the dealings of his criminal activities, Tommy could only stare at him with his mouth open. It all made sense now: Going to prison without a fight. Letting Tommy stay close to Ginny. Asking Tommy to marry her when he got arrested.
Now Tommy knew why and didn’t blame him one bit. He also knew why Grizz never told a soul. This was big.
“He was a criminal, Ginny. He knew he might need me one day. Need me to take care of you. I may have fooled him with the gay act for a little while, but it showed him something. It showed him that I loved you and I would protect you. Think about that. I didn’t come to him and offer to marry you when he was arrested. He came to me.”
She shook her head as she tried to take it all in. She needed a break.
“Do you want a refill?” she asked as she picked up his empty glass.
He nodded and watched her go into the house, closing the sliding glass door behind her.
Alone with his thoughts he silently berated himself for still holding back. But then he remembered. He had to. For her own safety.
His thoughts were interrupted when she came back outside, her cowboy boots thumping on the deck. She handed him the glass of water and took a seat.
“Going back to you being his son. Why was that so important to hide?”
“He had enemies, Gin. Enemies that could hurt me to get to him. He told me even Blue didn’t know—Blue who knows everything, never even knew Grizz was my father. It wasn’t until Blue went back to prison after finding Jan and his boys that Grizz told him about me.”
“Do you really believe Blue never knew you were Grizz’s son?”
“Yeah, I think I do. Grizz and Blue met when they were young, but Blue didn’t really know Candy.”
“When I heard them arguing, I remember she told Grizz something like how she’d introduced him to the people who put him where he was.”
“It wasn’t her. It was her dad’s friend; she was just trying to take the credit, inflate her importance. Candy flitted in and out of Grizz’s bed. He was young. He never remembered her crossing paths with Blue.”
“Let me get this straight. I’m having a hard time organizing the sequence of events here.” She took a breath and started ticking off the events on her fingers. “Leslie told Grizz during their face-to-face interview that you didn’t use the billy club to take my virginity. He somehow managed to beat her up in the prison, but was so angry with you, with us, that shortly after that, he gave her a phone interview and told her you were his son.”
”Pretty much.” Tommy nodded. “By the time I’d told him the truth behind it, he’d already cooled off and ordered a hit on her so it wouldn’t get printed.”
“I think it was a bit drastic for him to order a hit, Tommy, don’t you think? Grizz is intimidating. I think he could’ve made another type of threat. It’s just a magazine article.”
“Really, Gin? Think about how you reacted. Grizz d
idn’t want to die thinking you might find out and do exactly what you’ve done, which is walk out on me. He always wanted you looked after.”
At that, she slammed her hands down on the chair and stood up. “Looked after? I’m so tired of hearing this, Tommy.” Her eyes blazed. “It’s always been about protecting me. ‘Ginny is too sweet. Ginny is too innocent. We can’t tell Ginny. Ginny would be hurt,’” she mimicked. “Just because I went to church, tried to see the good in people, and looked at the world with a positive perspective never meant I was supposed to be treated like a child that had to be protected. I’m a grown, adult woman! I have an education and could support myself. I can think for myself, Tommy.”
“I know, Gin. I know. I’m sorry. We both underestimated you for too long. I’m sorry for that.”
“Go on.” She sat back down, crossing her arms.
“I told Grizz everything I told you tonight. I told him why I tricked him into letting me take your virginity. He didn’t like it, but believe it or not, he understood. Grizz had already realized by then that revealing he was my father would be so much more than just a little secret. It would’ve had a ripple effect that would’ve hurt Mimi. Finding out her father, me, was really her half-brother? I don’t need to tell you the shit storm that could’ve followed.” He closed his eyes and rubbed at the spot between his brows. “Anyway, I talked him out of the hit and asked him to have it dealt with so nobody got hurt. I meant it when I told you Sunday morning that the time for killing was over. He could figure out a way to stop Leslie from printing the article without having to kill her. He agreed and told me he’d already come to his senses and called it off.”
Ginny nodded at him and he continued. “Blue visited Leslie and told her that Grizz had a change of heart and not to print it. After that, and before Grizz’s execution, Blue finally heard from the P.I. he’d hired to find Jan and his boys. They’re grown now and don’t live with their mother, but the P.I. sent pictures to Blue. After seeing the pictures and actually speaking to Jan, Blue visited Grizz in prison a week or so before the execution.”
“Blue found Jan and the boys?” Ginny asked.
“Yes, and something came to light in Blue’s last meeting with Grizz that angered Grizz again. That’s when Grizz sent for me. That’s why I actually went to see him before he was executed.”
“Why did you have to go see him? Why couldn’t you handle it on the phone?”
“I needed to have a sit-down with him. I needed to explain something and it had to be done in person.”
“Why?”
“Because he found something out that made me look deceitful. Even though it happened a long time ago, years before the gay thing, it was fresh in his mind, and I was not looking good.”
“What are you talking about? What did Grizz find out?”
“I need to tell you about Kevin.”
Chapter Fifty-Four
2000
Kevin. Blue and Jan’s youngest son. Ginny swallowed hard. She used to babysit him and his older brother, Timmy, whenever Blue and Jan were in a pinch.
Ginny bit her lip and pressed on. “Is it true? Were there any tests done to prove paternity or anything like that? And I guess what’s more important: Do you believe Kevin is yours?”
“Yes. I do now. Jan tried to tell me he was mine, but I never believed it. Never wanted to, I guess. But Grizz showed me the pictures when I went to see him. He’s mine, Ginny. I don’t need a paternity test to prove it.”
They were both quiet a long moment.
“Leslie alluded to the secret, you being Grizz’s son, being put in the article Sunday morning when she called us on the phone. Grizz died two days before that. Whatever he was going to do to stop it, didn’t work.”
“Grizz died thinking it was handled. And it has been.” He put up his hand to stop her next question. “I know Leslie needed more convincing, Gin. I know it’s been taken care of, and I know nobody was hurt. He just never counted on her saying something to you before it was stopped.”
She nodded her head in understanding. She could see the relief on her husband’s face. They were making some headway with the secrets. The betrayals. The things that now seemed so easily explained away by Tommy.
Too easily?
Ginny knew there was still a lot more to tell. She could read her husband’s expression, knew what he was thinking. He thought she would be going back home with him tonight. But she knew she wouldn’t be. She still wasn’t ready. She still hadn’t decided what she believed and what she didn’t.
And whether she could live with any of it.
She gave him a level look. “Tommy, this hasn’t changed anything. All these secrets coming out. I still need time. You know that, right?”
He didn’t know what to say. He thought by sharing so much and being truthful, she’d come home. She’d realize it wasn’t all as horrible as she’d thought. But none of it was working.
He’d wanted to have this discussion in their home, needed to have this discussion in their home. Grizz had given explicit instructions about that. He hadn’t even gotten to the part where Jan blamed Grizz’s arrest on him. It was just too much information at once. He’d have to put that on the back burner until he could convince her to come home.
“No, Ginny, I don’t know that.” Tommy took her hands gently, but she pulled away. ”I know you’re taking in a lot of information, honey. But I don’t understand why you can’t come home to hear it. Why do you need to stay away from me? From our children?”
“Tommy, do not play the children card with me. Don’t even try it. This has nothing to do with our children, so don’t even attempt to go there. This is about our marriage. Maybe I can explain how I’m feeling in a way that you’ll understand. A way you can relate to.” She rushed on. The analogy had come to her this morning, and she liked it, “Let’s say you’ve been living in the same house for years. It’s not a perfect house, but it’s the only one you’ve known, and—and you love it and accept it because it’s yours. But many years later, you get a knock on the door. It’s some city official, and they’ve just realized your house was built on ground that is not stable. Something is wrong with the land it’s built on. You go and you pull out your original blueprint and you don’t see anything wrong. You have a legitimate design with an architectural seal of approval. You look back over it and see some things you could’ve changed to make it better, but it’s still a good house and you don’t want to believe it could’ve been sitting on some massive sinkhole this whole entire time that could swallow it up whole!”
“Gin, this doesn’t—”
“Let me finish! I know it’s not the same thing, but bear with me. A city official has just told you that the foundation you built your house on isn’t safe. You could be swallowed up in a second. So you start walking around your house and looking closer at all of the things you loved about it. And now that you’re looking at it, really looking at it up close, you see the walls were built using substandard products. They could crumble at any moment. Your roof and windows wouldn’t survive ten minutes in a bad storm. Maybe the paint on your walls contains harmful lead.”
Tears began to fill her eyes, and he did what she asked. He listened. “Your contractor betrayed you, Tommy. He cut corners at every cost, cheated you out of knowing what you were really living in. Every step of the way. Aren’t you angry? Aren’t you just furious? He tried to explain it away by telling you it was okay that you didn’t know. It was for your ‘own good.’” She laughed derisively, one tear spilling onto her cheek, and then another. “You could never have afforded to have the house of your dreams, the house he’d built, if he’d used superior building products. And he wouldn’t think of telling you he’d used low-quality materials to construct it. He reminds you that you would’ve never been happy in a house if you were worried it could collapse on you without warning. He did the right thing by not telling you what you were living in. He should be thanked and applauded for saving you from such distress. But you know
what, Tommy? He never once considered how you would feel when that sinkhole, or should I say stinkhole, started to swallow you up.”
Silence filled the air. He didn’t know what to say. She was right. Both he and Grizz were guilty of letting her live a life based on secrets. How much better would it have been if they had told her certain things as they’d happened instead of letting them all swallow her up now? He wasn’t being fair and he knew it. He tried to speak, but the words wouldn’t come.
“I’m only asking you for time, Tommy, and I think it stinks you aren’t even willing to give it to me. After all this.” Her tears were gone now, replaced by the cold anger. “You are being selfish, and I’ll be honest, Tommy. At this moment, I find that, that selfishness, a million times more repulsive than the fact that you slept with Jan.”
He didn’t get a chance to respond. Just then, she broke into a huge lopsided grin, staring at the sliding glass door that led into the house. “I didn’t hear a car pull up!”
Tommy turned to see what she was looking at.
“Surprise! Hi, Mom! Hi, Dad!” Jason walked out on to the deck, and Ginny enveloped him in a big hug. “Aunt Carter and Aunt Casey said I could help take care of the animals tonight. Why is your nose red, Dad? It looks like it was bleeding. Why was your nose bleeding?”
“Bumped it on the barn door, Jason. Nothing to worry about,” Tommy quickly said, forcing an over-bright smile of his own.
Carter and Casey had followed Jason onto the back deck. Quietly closing the sliding door behind them, Casey mouthed, “Sorry—he missed his parents.”
Ginny and Tommy knew she was right. Poor kid had spent a couple of days at the Reynolds’ while they were at the prison, and no sooner had Ginny picked him up to come home than she left for Carter’s. Then Tommy had left after one night, replaced by Carter and Casey. He would start suspecting something soon. And God only knew what was going on inside Mimi’s head. Ginny wrung her hands; she couldn’t help but worry about her oldest child.