Текст книги "Let Me Love"
Автор книги: Michelle Lynn
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Текущая страница: 18 (всего у книги 18 страниц)
Epilogue
Dex
Pink and Purple balloons blow in the wind from their spots tied down in every corner of the yard. A giant Princess jumpy thing is anchored to the well-manicured lawn. For a guy who didn’t want the suburbia dream life, he sure has it now. Trey moved out the next day after finding out Chloe was the daughter he placed for adoption. Not that it was the deciding factor, I’m sure it would have happened regardless.
My ass has been sitting in this plastic chair for the past hour as kids run around me, screaming and crying. I love my little pseudo nieces and nephew, but all of these kids at once are a bit much for me. If all that wasn’t bad enough, their parents are here too. The youngest parent still has Kailey and Trey by at least six years. They’re all far removed from their college days, which leaves me to hang out with my friends. Which would be great if I wanted to hear about Jessa’s cervix and Sadie’s incessant wedding talk. Not like I don’t hear it enough around the house. Twenty-four fucking seven, she’s on the phone with her mom or Brady’s sister Maura. I can’t wait until they get married, so it all stops, but I’ll be long gone before then. No way will I live with a married couple. Rob and I have talked about getting a place of our own, so we’ll see.
Trey walks out, calling Chloe over to blow out her candles. If the kids, their parents, or my friends weren’t enough to drive me insane today the fact that Trey’s whole damn lot of living relatives fills the yard seals it for me. His mom won’t let it rest that I’m the only one here without a girl. Jessa looks at me, knowing Sam’s arriving in a few weeks when the baby comes.
I sigh thinking about Sam. No one believes us, but it truly is casual between us. She’s the girl version of me. She likes to get off, and I don’t mind being the one to do it. I went out to visit her once, and it was fun. We rented a hotel room and fucked all day and night. As far as talking or getting to know each other, nope. We watched a lot of Ridiculousness on MTV and laughed our asses off getting drunk. We have a good time together, and I’m eager to see her in a few weeks because man does she have some skills in the bedroom.
Chloe runs over and sits in her queen chair, ready to blow out the candles. After she makes her wish, all her friends fill the empty chairs while Trey and Kailey begin passing out the cake. Finding this as my time to escape, I sneak into the house. There’s barely an inch of wall space that isn’t occupied with a picture of someone. Jen, Caden, the girls, Drew. Everyone is up on display.
“Hey, man, how are you holding up?” Trey comes in searching the freezer.
“Fine. Shit, man. You’ve done a one-eighty,” I remind him, like I do every time I see him. I can’t help it, I miss my wingman.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah. You should try it sometime.” He smirks my way. Brady and Grant follow inside next.
“Jesus, can you please tell her to stop mentioning how much she’s dilated and how exactly the doctor figures it out? Come on, man,” Brady sighs, shaking his head at Grant.
“No way, you tell her. She’s eight and half months pregnant, hormonal to the fucking max. She’s uncomfortable and cranky one minute and all lovey to me the next. I’m not telling her anything but yes until the baby pops out,” Grant says with the conviction of a man trying to stay alive on the battlefield, and we all laugh.
“Tell your girl to quiet down on the wedding talk. It isn’t the fucking royal wedding or something. Fifty billion people will not be watching it,” I say to Brady.
“You can tell her, but she thought Jessa was bad. If she only saw herself in the mirror.” Brady shrugs. “But the hell if I’ll say something.”
“You’re all pussy whipped. Let’s do a Vegas trip or something,” I try to rally them.
“Jessa’s due any day,” Grant says.
“We have the wedding expenses,” Brady adds.
“Look around, man, do you think I’m going anywhere?” Trey chimes in.
‘You all suck,” I say. “Where’s Rob? He’d have my back.” I pretend to look around the room.
“He said he couldn’t make it. Another car race.” Trey digs the ice cream out, and Kailey’s already there to grab it from his hands. “Thanks, babe,” he says and kisses her on the cheek.
“He’s really into that car shit lately,” Grant mentions. “Every time we’re over, he’s in the garage.”
“Yeah, it’s his second love, after himself,” Brady jokes, and we all laugh.
“Let’s at least go up there one night. Trey, you could race the Charger?” I try to gather them up again.
“Maybe I’ll go, but I’m not racing,” Trey sits down at the table, and we all pull out our own chairs and join him.
We continue to talk for a while. Trey gets up to say goodbye to the other kid’s parents and his family. Soon the girls find their way inside, luckily the talk of placentas and tulle have been replaced by music and television. Grant slides a beer to me from across the table, and I clink it with him before downing half of it.
Kailey and Trey join us after everyone has left. Chloe plays with her new dolls, sharing with Tara. Drew passed out on the floor. Trey’s mom scoops Drew up and disappears upstairs while his dad ushers the girls to take a bath.
“We have this guys. You go outside and enjoy yourselves,” Pete, Trey’s dad instructs us. Kailey and Trey don’t have to be told twice as they grab some more beers and rush outside. Trey lights the tiki torches, and Kailey unplugs the inflatable. We all sit around their porch table, and Trey pulls out a deck of cards. Now this is what I’m talking about.
“Strip Poker?” I question, and they all stare at me like I have three eyes.
“Fuck you, Dex, you think I’m going to let you see my girl naked?” Trey says, winking at Kailey. “Although you’re missing something pretty spectacular.” She giggles next to me, and I want to lean over and vomit.
“I’ve already seen her,” I mention, and Kailey slaps me over the head.
“WHAT?” Trey stands up, peering down at me.
“I accidentally walked in on her once,” I tell him, and his nostrils start flaring.
Kailey cocks her head to the side and gives him a long sigh. “No, he didn’t, he’s just joking, baby,” she says.
“Do you think we didn’t all hear you every time you told her to ‘make sure you lock Dex’s door’?” I give my best Trey voice. Lame as it might be.
“So, you didn’t, right?” he persists.
“No, man, I’ve never seen your girl naked,” I laugh, and Kailey joins with me.
“Thank god. I was seeing red there for a minute,” he sits back down and shuffles the cards.
We end up playing poker, but no stripping involved. For hours, we rip each other apart and laugh remembering stories. Grant and Brady start talking about when they were younger, and Brady, Trey, and I go back down memory lane as freshman. It’s like old times except the three women they all love sit next to them. I can’t help but feel like the odd man out, not that I want to join them. It actually scares me that what’s happened to them is going to happen to me. That some girl will walk into my life, and I’ll be them in three months.
Hours pass by and suddenly Elena, Trey’s mom is at the screen door. “Trey, Chloe’s screaming, and I can’t calm her down. She’s calling for you.” Trey bolts up, and Kailey follows. Minutes later Kailey emerges back through the door.
“Is she okay?” Jessa asks.
“Yeah, she has them on and off. Usually when she’s thrown off her routine or overtired. Trey’s calming her down now. He’ll sing her their song. It’s like a magic spell that calms her down.”
I excuse myself from the table to use the bathroom when my phone buzzes in my pocket. I pull it out, but I don’t recognize the number, so I let it go to voicemail. After I finish taking a piss, my phone alerts me of a voice message.
“Hi, Dex, It’s Hank down at Weddles. I thought you’d want to know a pretty hot dirty blonde you know is here. She’s been playing for an hour and losing kinda bad. Figured since you guys have always been so close, you might want to take care of this yourself. “Fuck me, what the hell is she doing there? Why the hell is she tossing her money away, she has always been so against “the lifestyle”?
Sneaking upstairs, hoping to catch Trey to say goodbye. I don’t really want to explain myself to the others. I hear his voice from the top of the stairs. He’s lying with Chloe, singing “Elderly Woman Behind a Counter In a Small Town” by Pearl Jam. It’s an incredible sight to see him with his daughter, the love he has for not only her, but all of them emanates from him daily. Not that I would ever tell him. Once he finishes the last of the lyrics, she’s fast asleep and he slides out from beside her. Quietly he shuts the door and points me down the hall.
“Sorry, man, I gotta go.” I shake his hand, and he pulls me into a one arm hug. “Great song by the way. It really fits the two of you.”
“Yes, it does. I feel like I’ve never been apart from her.” His face has a sappy look of contentment. “Thanks for coming. Thanks for her dollhouse. She loves it.” Trey says.
He walks me to the door, and I venture outside alone. I climb into my truck, figuring my night just took a turn I wasn’t expecting.
When I arrive at Weddles down in the city, I walk through the door, into the dark and dingy shack of a bar. Old men are slumped over in their chairs, half naked working girls, peering my way. I nod to Hank and the others before knocking on the red door in the back hallway. When Jeff sees it’s me, he opens the door, and I spot her in the middle seat among a bunch of middle-aged men. Sitting back, I watch her for a while. She’s playing stupid, not at all like her usual style. Sloppy and all over the place. The only thing she has going on for herself is the men keep flirting with her and underestimating how talented she really is at a poker table. I wish I could wait and see if she can turn this around, but when the bald comb over guy next her reaches around and kisses her under her ear I can’t wait patiently anymore.
I’m out of the old vinyl chair I’m occupying before he can sit straight into his own chair again. Ivy behind the table spots me coming and holds her deal, knowing I’m about to steal one of her players. When my hand wraps around her bare arm, she jolts up. Those gorgeous sky blue eyes swim into mine shocked to find it’s me. Yanking her off the stool, the men whine that I’m taking her away. Ivy does her job and quietly settles them down with a joke, making them forget the whole scene entirely. Once we escape into the dingy cover up bar, she tears her arm out of my hand and whips around to face me.
“What the hell? I had them,” she tells me. I haven’t seen her this angry since high school when I beat her boyfriend at blackjack. She’d begged me to take it easy on him, to let him win, but fuck that.
“You didn’t have them. You’re under by over five bills. You’ll never make it up, and pretty soon Len will come in and stop it himself. Why the hell are you here anyway? Aren’t you the one who hates this scene? Everything and everyone who’s involved?” I remind her of heated words she spoke to me not only four months ago.
“I do. Just let me go back in there.” She’s digging into her pockets, no doubt searching for more money.
“Hell no, you stay here.” I signal to Hank to get her a drink and position her on the stool. Since she already appears as though she’s had her fair share of drinks tonight, she’ll probably happily accept what Hank offers her.
I retreat back to the room, walking past the poker tables and through the black curtains. Len’s there like I assumed, eyebrows raised and a tight smile. Digging into my pocket, I toss the bills on the table in front of him, and he picks up the money. Motioning for me to take a seat, I happily pull out a chair and join him. “She’s been here a few times, there are rumors around town,” Len begins to tell me.
“Why didn’t anyone call me before? We know she’s not involved in all this.” I lean up, resting my elbows on the table.
“I thought you left her a long time ago?” he coyly questions, lifting his dark amber liquid drink to his lips.
“We just went different paths. What are the rumors? Ralph?” I question, already knowing the answer.
“Who else? He’s a damn fuck up.” He shakes his head. “She’s in the thick of it, Edge.” He refers to me by the nickname my dad and Ralph gave me the first time I made the right picks when I was nine.
I sit there for fifteen minutes, letting Len fill me in on what I should have been told by either her or my damn dad months ago. Why am I surprised they were covering up Ralph’s fuck up again? Who the hell knows! He’s given her a damn life filled with nothing but heartbreak and poverty.
Len says he’ll alert me if he sees her again, but we both know he won’t. Not unless he needs me to bail her out again. That’s exactly why I’m taking control of this situation whether she likes it or not. She’ll fight me every step, so I’ll keep my new found knowledge to myself until she’s ready to reveal what’s really going on.
She’s slumped over the bar when I return, her dishwater blonde hair splayed across the dirty ass wood in front of her. An empty shot glass rests in her hand. The clothes she’s wearing filthy with stains. Her sandals are missing a strap across the top. She’s a fucked up mess, but my mess to clean up now.
“What the hell, Hank?” I question him, and he shrugs his shoulders.
“Thought she wouldn’t mind forgetting her problems for a while.” He ventures down to the other side of the bar, completely ignoring my now dilemma.
Picking her up, I swing her over my shoulder, and she groans. “If you’re going to puke, you better damn tell me,” I holler at her, but she doesn’t move.
She flops down on my seat when I lift her off my shoulder. Her head falls to the side, and I notice her long mascara stains and smeared red lipstick. I could kick his ass for doing this to her again. Why can’t he just leave her the hell alone, let her live her life without his fucked up problems.
“I’ve missed you,” she mummers, and I wish I could say the same. I do miss her, just a very different version of her.
I shut the door and walk around the truck, and I’m about to climb in when I spot her old Volkswagen. Walking over to the dented car with rush spots covering the whole back end, I shake my head that she still drives it. It’s a miracle the piece of shit runs. I peer through the windows and it reveals what a shitty friend I’ve been to her over the years. Blankets and a pillow are strewn across the backseat, with fast food wrappers and piles of clothes fill the passenger seat. She’s been living out of her car, I say to myself in disbelief. I try the door handle and roll my eyes finding it unlocked. Scooping all her clothes in my arms and a suitcase she has a few toiletries in, I walk back to my truck. Tossing it into the truck bed, I slide into the driver’s side. Her head rests against the window and light snores escape her nose. She’s still beautiful even in this state of dysfunction.
I start the truck up and pull out of the parking lot. I have to keep telling myself, it’s not her I’m upset with, it’s him. Actually a whole shitload of people now.
We pull up to my house, and I carry her up the stairs. It’s dark and quiet as I lay her down in Trey’s old bed. I take off her shoes and shake my head at her filthy feet. She begins to nuzzle into the pillow as I pull the blankets over her body. Man, she’s just as I remember. After she’s tucked in, I go back out to my truck and grab her stuff. I throw her clothes in the washing machine, and take the suitcase upstairs. I’m about to escape the room when I hear the wrestling of her movements on the sheets.
“Dex?” she whispers staring at me at in the doorframe.
“Hey, Chrissy, it’s me. Sleep tight, I’ll just be next door.” When the door shuts, I take a deep breath. My life’s axis just shifted again.
Dex’s Story – Can’t Let Go (The Invisibles #4) COMING Summer 2014
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20891833-can-t-let-go
I would appreciate if whether you liked LET ME LOVE or not, to please leave a review. Reviews are a key component for spreading the word regarding Indie authors & their books. Thank you!
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Acknowledgements
My first thank you is to Elizabeth Aguilar. This story would have been so much less without your input and guidance. You saw something I didn’t and lead me through Trey and Kailey’s story with patience and unwavering dedication to not only me, but the characters as well. The hands on treatment you give your clients shows how invested you are in their art of writing and storytelling. Thank you for the hours of phone calls and constant Facebook messaging while developing the story of Trey and Kailey.
Next is my family. My husband, who allows his wife to fade off into plotting land, which results in me asking him to repeat himself numerous times. And the man, who brainstorms ideas with me, helping me get into a man’s head at times. I love you! I thank my patient children, who draw me away from the world of books. Two little beings that have the ability to bring me to tears of laughter and love. Without you, I fear my life would be filled behind a computer screen, never seeing the light of day.
Heather Davenport, Book Plug Promotions. Thank you for your tremendous organization skills. My cover reveal, book blitz, and tour for Let Me Love all done flawlessly as normal.
My cover designer, Sommer Stein with Pear Perfect Creative Covers. As with all my others, Let Me Love is beautiful. Thank you for never letting me accept anything less than LOVE!
My street team. Oh, how I love you all. Without all of you, I’d be nowhere. I appreciate all the hard work you go in order to get my name out there and help people discover me and the characters and stories I’ve created.
To all the Bloggers, who have signed up for the release events, thank you for taking on The Invisibles Series and Let Me Love and helping me spread the word amongst readers.
Most of all, thank you to all the readers. If you didn’t take a chance on Indie Authors every day, this book would have most likely never been written much less published. Thank you.
Michelle Lynn
www.michellelynnbooks.com
Goodreads
@michellelynnbks
Book Peddler’s Editing (Editor)
www.bookpeddlersediting.com
Sommer Stein (Cover Designer)
Perfect Pear Creative Covers
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