Just Ride: Legion of Guardians (8 page)

K
ylie
:

After that big blow up with Razor, I stayed up all night trying to figure out how to avoid the man at all costs. The only thing that needed to happen was spending the rest of the week with Will while he was still in town. Shay would cover the carnival, and Lori would cover the game on Saturday. Hell would freeze over before I would voluntarily be in the same room with that son of a bitch.

The next morning before Shay could even go to work at the doctor’s office across town, I went in on how the evening at the movies went. That was my girl, so I told her every sordid detail and fuck if I didn’t feel like a stupid whore.

The more I thought about what happened, the worse I felt. Around eleven that morning, my father texted me that he got us lunch at my favorite restaurant. That was one way to do it, since I hadn’t seen him yet.

When I arrived, my dad was already there.

“Hey baby, how are you?” He asked.

“I’m good, Dad. How are you these days?”

“Better, when my daughter acknowledges that she has more than one parent?”

Ah, he was in one of those moods.

“Sorry, Dad. I got caught up. How’s the office and everything going with the re-election?”

“That will take care of itself. I want to talk about you. Why did you end the tour?”

“There were some complications and …”

“Are you pregnant?” he interrupted me. “Sick, or did you quit because of some guy?”

“No, dad.” I was laughing at his assumptions. “Nothing like that. I just had to take care of some personal things.”

“Does this have anything to do with your mother?” He asked.

I had mastered the art of lying since I was a teenager, but that question caught me off guard. It was almost like he knew something and was testing me to see if I would lie. As I formed my mouth to answer, a waitress came to take our order. My dad told the lady what we wanted because I always had the same thing. The beef tip salad with a side of fries. Then she took our drink orders and left.

“Are you on a diet?” I asked after she left with his order of a diet coke.

“No, just watching my intake. The doctor told me I was on the verge of diabetes, so I’m trying to be conscious.”

What?

This was not happening again. I was only thirty-fucking-two, and my parents were sick and having major shit happening to them. I couldn’t take it.

“Kylie, what’s wrong?” My dad’s face went pale. “What’s wrong?”

“I just.” I hiccupped as I felt the hot tears running down my face. “I just can’t deal, dad.”

“What?” he was up on his feet.

“You’re sick. Mom’s sick. What the fuck is going on? How am I supposed to deal with all of these things? I just can’t.” I was shaking my head and picking up my purse.

“Your mother is sick?!” He exclaimed.

“Yes, Dad. Breast cancer. She swore me to secrecy, but I can’t keep something like that. It’s not good, and it’s not getting better. That’s why I stopped touring. She needs help, Dad.” I was full-on crying in the restaurant with my dad standing over me.

My dad did not get angry often, but when he did it was not really pretty. I was also not in the place to argue with him, so I stood to leave.

“I’m s-sorry, dad. We can do this another time.” I raised my hand as he looked at me backing out of the restaurant.

“Kylie,” he growled, but I shook my head and left with stinging tears streaming down my face.

It felt like my entire world was crashing down around me. The rocks and solid foundations in my life were no longer stable. My dad, the big strong mayor, and my mom, the fierce lady to be reckoned, with were both at fragile places in their life. Their health was causing two seemingly invincible people to be taken down. My mom was deteriorating right before my eyes, and now my dad has issues too.

I. Could. Not.

I got into my car and drove and drove. I don’t even know where I was going, but I just drove until I couldn’t see anymore and had to pull over. My heart was broken, my head hurt, and I felt helpless. All the money in the world would not fix this situation. It did not matter who we knew or who we helped. When your body failed you, that was it.

My fist started to bang on the steering wheel. It wasn’t fair. They were good people and didn’t deserve this shit. People like me who gave assholes blow-jobs in the back of a motherfucking movie theatre deserved this shit.

“Fuck!” I screamed to no one in particular.

After more screaming and banging on my steering wheel, I tired myself out and finally decided to head back home. It took a lot longer to get home than it did to get to wherever I was, but when I pulled up, Razor’s truck was in the driveway along with Shay’s car.

Just great.

When I walked in, I saw that my mom’s walker and some other things were missing. Shay emerged from the kitchen and said, “Hey Girl, everything alright?”

“Yeah?” I said and looked around.

“Your dad was here and took your mom with him. He said she would be staying with him from now on. He says he expects to hear from you as well.”

“Oh my God!” I gasped.

Wow!

“Where’s Will? Did you go to the carnival? And why is Razor’s truck here?”

“Will is upstairs playing with Mace and Razor. We all went to the carnival, and they loved it.”

“Good.” I tried to think.

“What’s wrong, honey?”

Shit. Anytime Shay called me honey, that meant she was serious and she knew there was something wrong that was equally as serious. I must have looked a mess.

Tears started rolling down my eyes and Shay was on the move. Neither of us was sentimental people. We were tough, but really we weren’t.

“Oh honey, what’s going on?” She asked.

“They’re s-sick.” I stuttered. “They’re both sick and I…I…can’t d-deal.”

“Oh, yes you can.” She pulled me towards her and we embraced as she rubbed my hair and my back. “You can deal. You’re one of the strongest women, I know.”

“No, Shay. These are m-my parents.”

“I know. I know.” She let me cry on her shoulder some more until we heard a creak in the floor.

We both turned to see Razor standing on the bottom stairs with a sleeping Mace in his arms. I wiped the tears from my eyes and said, “Thanks for letting Will tag along.”

He didn’t respond, just laid Will down on the couch in the living room and walked towards me. His face was wiped clear of emotion, but his walk was deliberate.

“Uh, okay. I’m going to uh, go now.” Shay patted me on the back and tried to back away.

“No, Shay. I gotta talk to you,” I held on to her and looked her way, hoping that she could see the plea in my eyes that I didn’t want to be left alone with him.

“
O
kay
, I’ll be in the kitchen then.” She nodded, and I let her go.

When she passed the threshold, I turned to him and said, “Thanks again.”

“We need to talk,” he said with a measured and deliberate tone.

“Razor, I cannot talk right now, okay?” I shook my head. “I thought about what you said, and you’re right. Everything is too fast, too soon.”

“I never said that,” he interrupted me.

“No. No, you didn’t.” I leveled my eyes at him. “I’m saying that. I’m agreeing with you about the differences between us. I’m young, and I have a lot going on. Especially right now. And this,” I pointed between the two of us. “I can’t deal with this, okay? So, I’m saying all that to say, I agree that I’m too young for you.”

“Kylie, I was frustrated and I didn’t mean that shit.” My head reared back as I started to shake it back and forth.

“No, no. Razor. You meant what you said. You might not have wanted it to come out quite like that, but it’s true. Come on. Let’s be real. You were right. Fuck, I’m saying you’re right.” I sighed. “Look, I’m really tired, and I need to catch Shay up on some shit.”

“You’re making a mistake,” he growled. “Don’t do this.”

“I’m not doing anything but handling my shit. I’ve known you for what a week? We shared some times, but please don’t make it seem like-”

His quick strides landed him right in my space as he lowered his head and growled , “Don’t you dare try to stand here and make our time together seem like it was nothing to you. I call bullshit and you’re a goddamn lie if you do.”

That made me nervous.

What? He’s admitting that he had feelings for me?

Shit. I couldn’t handle this right now.

More tears started coming to my eyes, then I said, “Razor, I can’t handle this right now, okay?”

He leaned up and said, “Fine. Don’t handle it now, but it will be handled. You let me know the day and time, and I’ll be there. If you show up, Kylie, then so will I. What I won’t do is play these little games of, there was no us to begin with because we both know there was. No matter what that bitch said, it was your name I called out. That was even before we got together, so that should tell you something. You know where to find me.”

He turned around, grabbed his son, and left.

“Uh, he called out your name when he was coming with Bonnie?” I heard Shay whisper.

I shook my head.

“Girl, now that’s some funny shit.”

That’s Shay. Ear to the ground about everything except her own shit.

“It wasn’t funny at the time. I mean, what does he want a goddamn cookie because he was fucking another woman and thinking about me?” I lifted my hands and quickly dropped them. “I don’t have time to be running after no biker and wondering who he’s fucking and be happy because he said my fucking name. Fuck him.”

“Damn, girl.” Shay walked into the living room and sat with me. “It’s true what he said. It was more than what you are trying to make it?”

“I don’t know.” I sighed. “I think I got caught up, you know. Like it was just me alone.”

“It sounds like it wasn’t just you. So, if that’s true, then maybe, just maybe, this may be the real thing.” Shay tried to reason.

“Shay, love you. I do. But this one,” I shook my head, “leave it alone. Like you want me to leave your mystery lover alone and whatever the hell happened between you and the Guardian’s VP. Leave this one alone.”

She raised an eyebrow and then said, “Okay, chica. Okay. I just don’t want you to miss out on a great opportunity.”

I scoffed, “Yeah, the opportunity to get my heart broken.”

“No, the opportunity to have something you’ve never had: A man who will mend that broken heart."

Shay raised her hands up like she was surrendering and said, “Okay, tell me about your parents.”

I let it go. She was wrong. Razor Willis wouldn’t mend my broken heart. He just broke it further.

We stayed up until the wee hours of the morning. Shay let me cry, hug, and even fall asleep on her. She even called out of work, which was what best friends did.

Will woke us up and asked if we were playing with makeup all night. We barely had our eyes open, but we laughed at him.

“No, Will. You hungry?”

“Well, why is makeup all over the mirrors? Every mirror in the house.”

“What?” I raised up off the bed.

“Uh,” Shay looked up as she was still half asleep. “What.”

I didn’t know if the boy was still dreaming or had a nightmare, but like any good auntie, I rose out of my bed to see what the issue was. When I walked into my bathroom on the second floor, there was writing in bright red lipstick on each mirror scrawled with words ranging from whore, slut, double-crosser, and biker dick.

“Auntie?” Will jerked me out of re-reading the words over and over again.

“Will, go back to your room.”

“Okay, but it’s on all the mirrors,” he said, and then left.

Oh my!

“Shay!” I yelled. “Get down here!”

She came running down the hall, yelling, “What’s up?!”

“Look!” I moved out of the way so she could see everything.

“Holy shit!” she gasped. “What the fuck?!”

“Right. Will says this is on every mirror in the house.” I looked at her.

“We need to call the police.” She left to go grab her phone. “I’m going to take pictures.”

Fifteen minutes later, the police arrived and we explained our night and what we woke up to this morning. I also called my dad who said he was on his way. When he arrived, he was beyond livid and concerned.

“You can’t stay here!” he barked.

“Dad, I’m not leaving. We just need to get a better security system or something. Come on.” I had to plead with him.

“Kylie, with all the things going on around here, the last thing I need is to have to watch over you as well. I got your mother, and it would be best if we were all under one roof. I can take care of you all, and I will.”

My father was trying to make a case for me to stay with him and that was not going to happen. In an attempt to minimize the little history there was, I replied to him with, “There hasn’t been much. A few phone calls, some letters when I was still in the band, but nothing recently. Just a few obscene-like phone calls with nothing but heavy breathing on the other end.”

“There were phone calls?” The sheriff asked.

“Yes, sir. That was it.” He jotted it down, and then said, “Let me say this. If this guy is following you like that, then you might want to take your father up on his offer.”

The problem was not that my dad couldn’t take care of me, but because I was thirty-two years old. I didn’t need a babysitter. This was beyond ridiculous. It could have been some kid playing a prank, but I knew better. Those words already haunt me. Slut, whore, biker dick.
What the fuck
? I didn’t want to leave or escape. Shit, I wanted to stay and live my life. I was thinking of searching for jobs here, and now that dad had mom, I could work full-time. It was a relief to have help. I just wanted to ride this out. I didn’t want to be holed up at my dad’s place. I wanted to be free to move around if needed. Being a prisoner would not work for me.

“Dad, I’m not running from this, okay?” I tried to project my voice so he knew I wasn’t playing. “It’s not okay to leave. I’m not. So, we’ll have to figure something out.”

He looked at me with a contemplating gaze, and then he conceded, “Fine.”

Honestly, if I would have known that he was about to do next, I might have reconsidered staying with him.