Something to Believe In (The Renegade Saints Book 4) (26 page)

I was so tired from being in the pool with the kids that morning I wound up falling asleep in the dressing room lounge for almost two hours during sound check. I woke up to Ty kissing me and laughing.

“Wake up, sleeping beauty.”

I wrapped an arm around his neck and hugged him, which made him laugh more as he covered my body with his and snuggled against me.

“I was exhausted,” I murmured. “Don’t fire me.”

“I’d never let you go, Freckles. You’re my happy place.”

The sound of several voices saying
ah
or
how sweet
broke through my sleep-induced fog. Opening my eyes, I turned and found Devon and her crew filming us. I buried my face against Ty’s neck and laughed before pushing him up so we weren’t taking up the entire couch. Instead of sitting side by side, he pulled me onto his lap and cuddled me against his chest.

Eventually we had to separate to eat dinner and after we finished eating I went back to work. The show was amazing, as usual. Fortunately by then I had my second wind, so running around was no problem. Once the meet and greet was over, we headed back for the hotel.

Tyson and I walked into the lobby holding hands and laughing about how excited I was about the next portion of the tour. We were leaving the following afternoon for France, and I couldn’t wait. It’s safe to say we were in our own little bubble until someone stepped in front of us and blocked our path.

“Hello, Tyson.”

He schooled his face quickly, but there was no missing that he was not happy to see the woman standing in front of us. Not one little bit. I looked the tall woman with dark hair over and wondered who she was. My guess was she in her mid-forties, which ruled her out as a former lover.

“What do you want?” he hissed.

“I’m your mother,” she said tersely. “I don’t need a reason to see my son.”

My eyes widened as I stared at her. I’d never heard him mention her even once. Then again, I’d never heard him mention any family.

Before Tyson could say anything, Gavin stomped forward with Leah to stand right next to us. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to see he was pissed.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” he snapped. “You’ve got nerve showing up here to bother him—”

“I’m sorry, did I indicate I wanted to speak to you?” she spat. “The business I have here is with
my son
. Stay out of it.”

“Bitch, I’d love nothing more than to throw you out onto your fucking ass,” Gavin said coldly. “Keep talking and it’ll happen.”

My jaw would’ve been on the floor but I was too worried about Tyson to react to Gavin. Ty was like a brick of ice next to me, and people were starting to notice that something was off. I could hear the murmurs as they tried to listen in and figure out what was going on.

Leaning into Ty I whispered, “People are watching.”

He squeezed my hand and let out a heavy sigh before looking to his mother.

“If you insist on talking follow me,” he barked.

She followed alongside him as he went for the elevator. Gavin and Leah stayed with us as well. Gavin was clearly unwilling to leave while Tyson’s mom was around. Almost more than the tension I could feel radiating off of Ty, the anger I saw from Gavin scared the shit out of me. Gavin was Mr. Calm. I’d never seen him riled or angry until Ty’s mom showed up out of nowhere. I clung to Tyson and watched Gavin as he ground his jaw and glared at her. As we entered the elevator I looked over at Leah to see what her reaction was, only to find she looked almost as angry as he was.

It was obvious I was the only one in the elevator not in the loop.

When we got up to our floor, Ty stalked to the door before sliding the key card through it angrily. The second the light turned green, he flung the door open and we all piled in. He held onto my hand like I was his anchor as he watched his mother warily. None of us sat down.

“What. Do. You. Want?”

She rolled her eyes at him like he was stupid. “You know damn well I’m here because I didn’t get my quarterly check.”

If I thought Gavin was mad before, I was wrong. Leah actually had to grip his arm to hold him in place.

Tyson, on the other hand, laughed.

Darkly.

“No more checks. I’m done with that shit,” he declared.

“Done? Done!” she squawked. “There’s no done, Tyson. You owe me everything.”

“I owe you nothing,” he growled. “You’ve been extorting me for years and I let you because I didn’t want anyone to know the truth. Those days are over,
Shelly
.”

Her eyes went wide as she gaped at him. “What?”

“You heard me. Fuck lying and fuck you. I’ve already given the interviews and let the story out. You can’t blackmail me now that there’s nothing to hide.”

She exploded angrily, spittle flying out of her mouth as she screeched at him. “You’re ruining everything. How can you do this to me? I’m your mother!”

“That’s not how I see it,” he said dryly. “You’re just a selfish woman who didn’t give two fuckin’ shits about her son until he was rich and famous. It was you who told me if people knew they’d judge me. It was you who told me it needed to be a secret. And it was you who made me pay for the last decade for you to keep it. What the fuck kind of message did you think you were sending me about how much you cared?”

She shook her head at him angrily. “I kept it a secret for
you,
” she argued. “You would’ve been a joke if people had known what happened in that house. People would’ve felt sorry for you and you’d never have gone anywhere! I’ve done the best job I could supporting you.”

“That’s bullshit. I lived in hell and it damn near killed me!” he bellowed. “Where the fuck were you when I was dying? Where were you when I couldn’t sleep at night? Where were you?”

“I’ll tell you where I was,” she spat. “I was saving us from the humiliation of having people know what went on in that house. I was covering for your tears and your temper tantrums so people didn’t realize you weren’t wrapped all that tight. I did whatever I had to do to keep from being judged because of you and your pussy of a father!”

I felt the rage in him and it scared the shit out of me. I was sure he was about to go off, but I was wrong. Instead, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath before opening them again and nailing her with a look.

“Get out and don’t you ever, ever come back. I haven’t said much about you in the interviews but if you piss me off, I will. I’m sure your little country club cunt friends would love to hear about what a lying sack of shit you are.”

“Don’t you dare talk to me like that! I don’t know who you think you are you crazy piece of—”

I let go of Ty’s hand and got ready to rumble. Gavin stepped forward as I did, and I waved him off. The bitch was through insulting Tyson and I was going to deal with it personally.

“You need to giddyup on outta here because I’m fixin’ to lose my temper and it’s not going to be pretty,” I drawled. “Your son doesn’t need your attitude and I won’t listen to it.”

Her head reared back as she glared at me. “Just who in the country fuck do you think you are?
My
son owes me money and it has nothing to do with you.”

I stepped closer and got right up in her face. “You have five seconds to get the hell out of this room before I cream your corn.”

She looked over my shoulder at Ty incredulously.

“You’re going to let this… this
trash
talk to me like this?”

“My woman isn’t trash and she can talk to you any way she wants. I won’t lift one finger to help you if she decides creaming your corn is in order. I’m not giving you another cent, ever. No matter how angry you get or what insults you throw at me, I’m done. Get out and don’t come back.”

I think she’d have taken her chances with me if Gavin hadn’t stomped past her and opened the door. Within a matter of seconds two of the tour security guards were entering the room to escort her out. She fought at first, but then seemed to realize Tyson was serious and she wasn’t going to get her money.

“I always knew you were garbage,” she spat.

“And I always knew you were a bitch,” he retorted.

“I wish you’d never been born,” she screeched.

I could tell by the expression on her face she’d meant to hurt him with her words.

Before I could slap her silly, Ty wrapped his arm around my waist and held me to him. “She isn’t worth it,” he murmured.

She went without another word. After the door closed behind her and the security guards, Tyson relaxed his hold on me and spun me in his arms.

“You okay, Freckles?”

I gaped at him. “Am I okay? Who cares about me! It’s you I’m worried about.”

He kissed me then, softly and reverently. We only pulled apart when Gavin cleared his throat.

“She’s right,” he said when we turned to face him. “Are you cool with what just went down?”

Ty took my hand in his and traced his thumb over the palm of my hand as he nodded.

“We both know that was a long time coming. Did it suck? Yeah. But I set this into motion the day I told Devon the story. If that didn’t do it, calling my accountant last month and telling him not to cut her any more checks did the trick. One way or the other, this was going to happen.”

“It shouldn’t have,” Gavin said tiredly. “She’s an asshole.”

“That she is,” Ty admitted. “I appreciate you being here and having my back. It means everything.”

“I’ll always have it,” Gavin answered.

Ty let go of me for a few seconds then, just long enough for the two of them to do one of those weird man hugs where pounding on the back was apparently part of the protocol.

I liked Gavin a hell of a lot before that night. But seeing the way he had Ty’s back made me feel nothing but love for him. I loved everyone who stood by Tyson. He deserved it.

We stood together, my head resting on his chest, as Gavin and Leah said goodnight.

After locking the door, he pulled away and turned to me.

“It’s time for me to tell you about my past.”

I
guided her to the couch and let her get comfortable while I grabbed us two waters. On the way back, I surreptitiously grabbed a box of tissues as well. I’d known what I was about to divulge to her was going to be painful for us both. When I sat down, I faced her nervously.

“What I’m about to tell you is something I’ve kept a closely guarded secret since it happened. Only a very small handful of people have ever been told, and I thought it would always stay that way.”

“Everything started to change about eighteen months ago, around the time we started talking about retiring. It hit me that I’d been living a lie since I was twelve years old. Worse than that, I finally realized that by keeping everything secret, I was denying the best parts of myself. By letting the story out I’m hoping there’s a chance to make a difference in someone else’s life.”

She took my hand in hers and rubbed it encouragingly. “I’m here for you,” she assured me. “Take your time.”

I nodded, rolling my head from side to side on my shoulders as I chose my words carefully.

“My dad was the boyfriend of one of my mother’s roommates after college. There were four of them sharing an apartment, and of the bunch, the only person my mom didn’t like was Dad’s girlfriend, Margaret. I think it was because she was jealous. Dad played in a band—bass, of course—and my mother had a crush on him. She always told me how impossible it was to believe he was with Margaret when she was right there.

About a year later, Dad and Margaret were on a break. Mom saw her window and decided to go for it. They slept with each other for about a month before they agreed they had nothing in common. Mom was a little slow on the uptake and didn’t realize for quite a while that she was pregnant. By the time she had it confirmed, Dad and Margaret were back together. She’s never admitted it, but I think the primary reason my mom kept me is because she wanted to stick it to Margaret. It damn sure wasn’t because she had maternal feelings.”

I thought back over the circumstances of my birth and had to force myself to hold my temper. My mother had always been a piece of work.

“When Mom had me she didn’t give me my father’s last name. He wasn’t even listed on my birth certificate. Allen is her maiden name. She was a complete bitch, only letting him see me when Margaret wasn’t around. I give him credit—he could’ve walked away in disgust and written me off, but he didn’t. He fought hard, and when he finally started making some money to give to her, Mom started letting him see me more often. I was just a toddler when Dad and Margaret had a baby of their own, my sister Alexandra.”