Priest (A Standalone Bad Boy Romance Love Story) (59 page)

Tyler was twenty-seven years old to my
mother’s forty-five. He was a singer in a band that played the seediest bars in
Los Angeles. He hung out with a rough crowd and he had at least three kids that
my mother knew of that he had fathered out of wedlock. Wow, I thought,
sarcastically, I couldn’t believe she’d let that one get away.

I was trying not to say anything, but I
really wanted to help make her feel better about it so I said, “You’re probably
better off.”

“Better off?” she said in that
high-pitched voice she used when she thought I was completely wrong about
something. “How could I be better off? I have to move in with my daughter. I
had a home and I thought he and I were going to be a family…” I sighed. She
acted like losing a piece of shit drunk that cared nothing about her and
cheated on her to boot was the end of the world. It was the dramatic component
of it all that drove me crazy. She set herself up for these things…sometimes I
thought, just because she was unable to live without the drama. Since I’d moved
out on my own, I had lived as drama-free as possible because of it…until
recently, anyways. I glanced over at her. I was sorry I did. She was tearing up
as she said, “I think he cheated on me.”

“Hmm,” I hoped that sounded sympathetic.

“I don’t think it’s the first time. He
says he’s playing sometimes and when I show up at the bar, he’s not there, or
he sneaks out from the back right before some little skank comes skulking out.
Why? Tell me why he would want to be with that trash when he has all this
waiting for him at home.” She actually held her arms out when she said, “All
this.” She was really something.

“Mmm,” I said.

“I think I’m just too good to them. I give
them everything they want…whenever they want it…however they want it, if you
know what I mean…” I did, and now I was nauseated. I kept silent. That one
didn’t even call for a sound. She didn’t mention what they had all done for
her. “They take it all and then they leave me…they all leave me in the end…”

Finally I said, “That’s too bad, Mom.” She
continued to ramble on for a while. It was all “woe is me.” She acted like
everything that happened to her was someone else’s fault. The universe was out
to hurt her…she never took responsibility for doing anything wrong…it’s the way
she’d always been. I should thank her…it made me go the opposite direction. I
took responsibility for everything, even things that I shouldn’t. I was
relieved when my apartment complex came into view. I was fed up with listening
to her broken record.

We pulled up in my spot in the lot and she
proved she wasn’t done annoying me by saying, “Justin called me last night. He
really wants you to call him.”

“No! Damn it, Mom. Why are you even still
taking his calls? You said you’re not buying from him any longer…a recovering
addict does not need a dealer on speed dial, and I do not want to talk to him.”

“I don’t like the way you throw around
that word…addict. But anyways, he misses you, baby. I feel sorry for him. He’s
not trying to sell me anything. He just needs someone to talk to. He’s all
alone…you’re alone…”

“I’d rather be alone than with a man like
that. God, Mom! You of all people know what I went through with him.” I got out
and started taking her luggage out of the car. She came around to help and
said, “Do you have someone else, honey? Is that why you won’t at least call
him?”

“No, I don’t have anyone, but that’s not
the point anyways. I do not want Justin and I’m just appalled that any mother
on this earth would try and force her daughter into a relationship with a drug
dealer. Even being his friend would be too much and you know it.” I grabbed the
bags and headed for the apartment. She followed me and when we were inside I
dropped them and she said, “I just hate to see you alone, honey. You’re so
pretty. You should have a man around to appreciate you…while you’re still
young.”

“I don’t need a man in my life to define
who I am, Mother. I’m happy and I don’t feel lonely. I have a good life and
lots of friends. None of whom deal drugs. I have to go to work. The room is all
ready for you. Help yourself to whatever you want in the kitchen; I’ll be back
in a few hours.”

“Maybe you could just call Justin and say
hello. You don’t have to go out with him or anything if you’re with someone
else….” I closed the door behind me, cutting her off. She’d been in my presence
for less than an hour and I already wanted to kill her or myself. I wasn’t sure
which. It was probably good that I didn’t have a weapon right at that second,
or we may have found out.

I left her with her things in her new room
and I headed for work. I was thankful that it was the one place that I could
get some peace.

*******

I walked into my “peaceful place” just in
time to see Paul throwing a right hook at Mark. I was shocked for a few seconds,
wondering if it was a sparring match and maybe it had just gotten out of hand.
I saw Mark dodge it and throw one back. It almost connected with Paul’s jaw and
the look in Paul’s eyes as they focused on Mark’s face told me they weren’t
playing. I looked at Victoria who was standing behind the counter. She had a
helpless, horrified look on her face. “I didn’t know what to do; they just
hooked up all of a sudden.”

“Where the hell is everyone?”

“Greg’s in the back. Sam and Jeff aren’t
here.”

The other gym patrons were watching as if
it was an MMA match. Three or four other grown-ass muscled-up men and no one
was trying to stop it. Idiots! I went over and called out to Paul. He didn’t
answer me, being as he was too busy taking an upper-cut to his chin. So I tried
Mark who was also otherwise occupied. Finally I just stepped between them and
nearly took Paul’s fist to my gut. Thank God for his quick reflexes. His face
was bleeding and he’d worked up a sweat. I could hear Mark panting behind me
and talking shit. “Damn it, Jessie! I almost hit you!” Suddenly I was the one
being stupid. Men!

“What the hell is going on?” I asked him.
Paul didn’t answer me. He wiped at the blood on his face with the back of his
hand and continued to glare at Mark. Making sure I stayed between them I turned
and looked at Mark. “You want to tell me what the hell this is about?” He chose
the silent glare as well. “Okay, fine. Mark, you go home. You’ve had your
work-out. You can come back tomorrow when you’ve cooled down. This is only
going to keep going if you stay here and someone is going to get hurt or in a
lot of trouble.”

“Why do I have to leave? He started it!”

“I wouldn’t have if you didn’t have such a
big-fucking mouth!” Paul said. They tried to go at each other again and I pushed
on Paul’s chest with all my might. He was so fucking solid that it was like
pushing against a wall. I finally succeeded in pushing him a step back.

Then as I kept my back against him so I
could feel if he moved, I turned back to Mark and said, “Go, home, Mark. Now!
Otherwise I’ll get Greg to deal with this and you’ll both lose your privileges
altogether. You know he won’t tolerate this shit. Come back tomorrow in a
better mind-set and we’ll forget this happened.”

Mark mumbled under his breath but I watched
as he picked up his towel and his water and got his bag and left. I turned back
to Paul who still hadn’t stopped glaring at him. He was even staring him down
through the glass window as Mark go into his car. I shook my head and said, “In
the office, now.” He started to argue but the look on my face must have told
him I was serious. He headed for the office and I followed him. I thought this
must be what it was like to be the principal at a boys’ school. Way too much
testosterone. Victoria handed me the first aid kit as we walked past. I thanked
her and followed Paul into the office and closed the door behind us.

“What the hell was that about?”

“Nothing,” he said. He looked like an
insolent child. I opened the first aid kit and found some sterile gauze. I
opened the package and poured saline from the bottle in the kit on it. Then I
pressed it to the cut on his cheek. He winced. I held it there until it stopped
bleeding and then while I was cleaning up the dried blood I tried again.

“I thought you and Mark were friendly?” He
shrugged, still like a pouting child. “What did he say that pissed you off so
much?” He shrugged again. I sighed and pat his face dry with clean gauze before
applying a butterfly bandage to close the cut. “I don’t think it needs stitches.”
I dropped down into the seat next to him and said, “Please talk to me.”

“He’s just an idiot sometimes. I guess I
shouldn’t have gotten so mad.”

“You think? You can’t just punch people
for pissing you off.”

He rolled his eyes and said, “I know that.
I was just a little stressed out already and he started saying things about…”

“About what?”

“Nothing, it doesn’t matter. I shouldn’t
have hit him although I think he deserved it.”

“Tell me what he said.” I wanted to
understand if this was just an anger management problem or if Mark had really
gone too far.

“He was just talking stupid shit about…he
said something about ‘tapping’ your ‘sweet ass.’”

“Me?” I was truly shocked. Mark rarely
made lewd comments to me. He was usually one of the more respectful clients.

“Yeah. He said that he noticed we were
spending a lot of time together and that when I got to “tap it” if I hadn’t
already, I should let him know how it was; if it would be worth his time
pursuing it. Fucking moron.”

“Wow that surprises me. Thank you for
defending me, but truly, you shouldn’t have punched the guy.”

He sighed and with a genuinely remorseful
look he said, “I know.”

“Is it all the stress with Marie and
Mitch?” I was hoping that’s what it was. I hoped that he didn’t have a
legitimate anger problem.

“Yeah, that and trying to still
concentrate on what I need to do in order to win this championship title and
you coming into my life….”

“Me? I’m causing you stress?” I was a
little offended by that. I hadn’t put any kind of pressure on him at all as far
as I was concerned. I had even helped him with his sister.

“Yeah, I mean…it’s hard to explain but I
don’t usually talk to people about my life and how I’m feeling or what’s going
on with my sister, things like that. For some reason I feel comfortable sharing
all of that with you and sometimes I worry that I’m sharing too much.”

“I’m not going to tell anyone what you
tell me, if that’s what you’re worried about.” I was still a little insulted,
but it was nice to know he felt comfortable with me.

“I know. I don’t think you would…I’m
sorry. It’s just new and that’s where the stress is coming from.”

I took his hands in mine and leaned toward
him. “Don’t let me add to your stress, okay? Just trust that anything you tell
me will be kept in confidence and I will never judge you.”

He leaned in too and kissed me. I loved
the way his lips felt on mine. They were so soft, yet something about them was
powerful as well. He pulled back and looked into my eyes. He looked like he was
going to kiss me again but his phone rang. He looked at the face and then put
it to his ear and said, “Hello?” He listened for a few seconds and then said,
“Calm down…I can’t really understand you.” He pulled his eyebrows together in
the middle and I could see that he was worried by whatever the caller was
telling him. “Okay, it’s going to be okay.” His words were reassuring but there
was an undertone of panic in them. “I’ll be right there. Stay there.” He hung
up the phone and said, “I have to go, Jessie. We’ll talk later.” I watched him
open the door and leave. I had no idea what was going on, but I hoped that
everything would turn out all right.

CHAPTER
SEVEN

I hung out at the gym helping Greg out
with his clients and doing some office stuff for a few more hours after Paul
left. I kept hoping he’d take care of whatever was going on and come back. I
just wanted to know that everything was okay. I called him about an hour after
he left but he didn’t answer. I didn’t leave a message. I called him again
after two hours and this time when voice mail kicked in I said, “Hey, I’m not
trying to be intrusive, just worried. Call me please.”

At around two o’clock I hadn’t heard back
from him and I finally decided he wasn’t coming back. I sent him a text that
said:

“Leaving
work. Please let me know all is well.”

I got my stuff together and said goodnight
to Greg and Victoria and decided that I’d drive by his apartment and see if he
was there. I felt a little bit like Mitch…like a stalker, driving by to spy on
him. But if he was there, I planned on stopping, just to make sure that he was
okay. When I got to the apartment the first thing I noticed was that his big
truck wasn’t in its usual spot. That truck was hard to miss, but I drove
through the rest of the lot just to make sure. When I saw it wasn’t there, I
just went on home.

My mom was sitting on my couch watching
television when I got home. She had fixed herself all up and looked like she
was ready for a night on the town. When I was little and I’d asked her once why
she looked so pretty to just stay at home, she told me, “What if there’s a
fire, honey? Firemen are very handsome. I wouldn’t want them seeing me looking
like a mess.”