The Price of Fame: A Price Novel (The Price Novels Book 2) (6 page)

“You should go. We might even let you have a handicap,” Brady teased.

“Another time.” I headed out to the garage.

I grabbed the keys to that same silver Stingray we’d taken to the drive-in on our first real date here in LA. I loved that old car. It seemed like the perfect car for this trip.

Dad met me in the garage. “Hey, are you OK?”

I nodded. What was I supposed to say?

“OK. Well, your mom and I are here for you. You know that, right?”

I nodded again, not looking at him.

“Well, go have fun. We can golf anytime.”

“Thanks.”

Arden was waiting in the living room when I got back. “I put some clothes together for you.” She pointed at a bag by the front door. “Unless you wanted something in particular.”

I picked up the bag and held out my hand for her. “Nope. Sounds perfect. Let’s go.”

The first thing I did was drive through Starbucks. I knew she’d missed her caffeine. Not that I wanted to remind her why she could have it now, but it just felt normal to get it. We needed some normal right now.

The weather was beautiful. It was the perfect day for this. We were both quiet for about an hour. Finally she asked, “What did you tell work?”

“Family thing.”

She nodded, understanding. She leaned her head back in the seat and closed her eyes.

After a couple of hours, I pulled off in Del Mar, at this quaint little mom-and-pop-looking restaurant. She opened her eyes. “Are you hungry?” I asked. She nodded, and we went inside.

We had left LA behind, and it was great. No one was paying us any attention, and I was extremely glad.

Once we were seated in our little booth in the corner, I opened a sticky laminated menu. Arden crossed her arms, pulling her palms into her sleeves. I reached across the table and grabbed the tip of one of her pinkie fingers.

She looked up at me, and a tear rolled down her face. I moved next to her, putting my arm around her and pulling her head onto my shoulder. “It’s OK,” I whispered, kissing the top of her head.

She said nothing but sniffed, wiping her face with her sleeve-covered palms just in time to look up and give her fake smile to the young female server bringing us our drinks.

“Are you ready to order?” the server asked, never looking up from her pad.

“No, we still need a minute,” I said, and she looked up at me.
Damn!

“Uh. OK.” She smiled and walked away.

“Great,” Arden mumbled.

“Hey. I just wanted to get out of the house, baby, but if you want to go back home, we can do that. We don’t have to stay here. We don’t have to go anywhere.”

She tried to smile. “I know. And I’m glad you did. I just can’t think of anywhere I want to be right now.” She grabbed my hand and smiled. “I’m OK.”

I noticed our waitress and one of her coworkers looking at us and talking to each other. Arden let go of my hand, announcing, “I’m going to the bathroom. Let’s get this over with. Order me a cheeseburger while she’s over here.”

I let her out. By “this,” she meant smile and be all Hollywood Slayde for the two servers. Though that was the very last thing I felt like doing at the moment, I knew it was necessary to have any peace for the rest of our time in here.

I ordered our food and handled the little meet and greet really quickly before Arden made it back. She plopped down across from me. “Is it over?”

I laughed. “I hope.”

She mostly picked at her food, but a few bites were really all I ate myself, so it was a quick meal.

On the way to the car, Arden said, “I’m kind of thinking going to a nice hotel and living off pay-per-view and room service sounds amazing right now.”

I felt a smile creep across my face. “Couldn’t agree more.”

We drove to the Ritz Carlton in San Diego. While she took a shower, I ordered us decadent chocolate cake and her favorite wine.

She emerged in a fluffy white robe and wet hair moments after room service left. “Wine?” she asked.

“Yes. Unless you want something else.”

“No, that’s perfect. Thank you.”

She smiled a little, handing me her glass. I poured us both a glass, took a sip of mine, and then went to take my own quick shower.

But when I came out to join her, she was lying on the bed, crying. I lay next to her and hugged her but let her cry.

“Why did this happen?” she asked.

“I don’t know, but it’s not your fault. I do know that.”

“I didn’t listen to you. I was so concerned about my residency that I neglected my body. Like I always do. What does that say about me as a mother? As a wife?”

I made her turn over and face me. “It says nothing about either of those things. It was probably going to happen anyway, baby. You couldn’t have done anything to stop it. Between 10 and 20 percent of pregnancies end in miscarriages. That’s a lot.” She looked up at me with a questioning look. “Google,” I said.

She almost smiled. “You Googled it?”

“I Google everything. If I die, please destroy my phone and laptop. My Google history alone would kill my mother of shock.” Noticing that this was lightening her mood, I continued with my insanity. “Anywhere from midget porn to “do birds fart?” Google.”

She burst out laughing. “Midget porn? Really, Slayde? Please tell me why.”

“Hello, haven’t you ever wondered if midgets have midget penises or regular-size ones?”

Laughing still, she said, “No, but now I need to know what your findings were.”

“Ahhh, proportional to the rest of the body.”

She hugged me, laughing. “Seriously, I love you.”

“Yeah, I know.” She squeezed me, and I kissed her forehead. “Love you more.”

She let out a deep sign. “We’re gonna be all right, huh?”

“Yep.”

She relaxed into my body, and that gave me peace. I knew as long that as she could deal with this, we would be fine.

After our two days off, we both went back to work. It was probably for the best. Sitting home dwelling on it wasn’t going to change it, nor was it going to make it easier. Staying busy and going back to normal life was all we could do at this point. So that’s what we did.

A
day later, I had a day off. I didn’t want to sit around my house thinking, so I invited Kevin and Whitt to come over to cook out and drink beer. Arden wasn’t supposed to be home until the next night, so I went to sleep after they left without cleaning up.

But when I woke up in the morning, Arden was home. She wasn’t being quiet either, which meant that she was trying to wake me up. She even turned on the light in the bedroom before looking through her drawer for a shirt.

“Why are you home?” I asked.

She turned around and glared at me. “What do you mean, why am I home? Was I not supposed to come home?”

Damn, she’s grouchy.
“No, I just didn’t expect you until tonight.”

“So that’s why the house looks like it does?”

“It’s not that bad.”

“Well, I’m not cleaning up after you. I’m exhausted.”

“I didn’t expect you to. Like I said, I didn’t expect you home until seven tonight.”

She turned off the light and got in bed, turning her back to me. “It’s on the calendar, Slayde. Where my schedule always is.”

I wasn’t thrilled about being up before 8:00 a.m. on my day off, but as pissed as she was about the state of the house, I decided I had better clean it up. I went into the kitchen first to grab a Red Bull, and for curiosity’s sake, I looked at the calendar. Sure enough, there it was, like she had said. Her schedule. I also noticed that they were supposed to be delivering my new Range Rover today. I needed to hurry up and pull the kitchen and grill area back together and spotless before that.

The house was messier than I remembered. Maybe I drank a little more than I thought. By the amount of empty Miller Lite bottles, someone had. But it didn’t take that long to get it all back to normal.

Arden was still sleeping, and I definitely didn’t want to wake her up. I didn’t have a death wish, but I did have to go back in there for my clothes.

I slowly opened the door and tiptoed to the closet. I even shut the closet door before I turned on the light. I was pretty proud of myself. Maybe I could be a ninja or a spy in my next movie. I grabbed my clothes, turned off the light, and headed out to go use the guest bathroom.

“Slayde,” I thought I heard her say.

I turned around to see if I was hearing things, but she was awake.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you up. I cleaned up the dishes and my mess out by the grill. I’m going to take a shower before the dude from Range Rover gets here.”

“Come here.” She moved the covers back like she wanted me to get in the bed, so that’s exactly what I did.

“I’m sorry I left the kitchen a mess. I wasn’t planning on it still being that way when you got back. I drank too much, obviously, and passed out before cleaning. I didn’t expect you to clean up after me or anything.” I was hoping that would be enough.

“How much time before the guy with your car gets here?”

“About an hour or two, I think.”

“Well, go take a shower and come get back in bed with me.” And there it was, forgiveness. She didn’t have to tell me twice.

After we made up, she fell asleep, and I lay in bed with her until the guy called and said they were on their way with my vehicle. About twenty minutes later, I buzzed them through the gate. I went outside to meet them and check it out. I loved all my cars.

I always dealt with the same guy at Range Rover. It was easier that way. He was smart, he knew what I liked, and he always let me know about anything new. He usually drove my old vehicle back, but I was giving that to Taylor this time, so he had to have someone follow him. He had brought a provocatively dressed girl in her early twenties with him. She was very flirtatious and loud.

It was hot, and I really didn’t want to do all the paperwork in the garage, but I really didn’t want to bring this chick in my house, where my already-not-so-happy wife was trying to sleep. But I really didn’t have a choice. I’d look like a total prick if I made them wait outside.

I did warn them that my wife was asleep and I didn’t want to wake her. Which was code for “Bitch, don’t talk,” but she obviously didn’t know that code. She hung on me and laughed boisterously while I was trying to write. I did the paperwork as fast as I could, but it wasn’t fast enough. I heard the bedroom door close and cringed. Arden was awake.
Great!

Arden didn’t look thrilled to see this girl with her tits hanging out flirting with her husband in her kitchen—which I totally understood. I had to do something smart. I put my arm around her and said, “Baby, I’m sorry we woke you up.” She didn’t say anything. She just smiled, but I knew that smile.

“You remember Doug from Range Rover.” I pointed at Doug.

“Good to see you again, Mrs. Price.” He reached out and shook her hand.

“And this is—” I stopped and looked back at the girl. “I’m sorry, what did you say your name was?” I realized I wasn’t sure that she had even told me.

“Lexi,” she said, “Remember, like your mom.”
Thank you, Lexi!
I wanted to scream.

Arden smiled at me but was polite and shook Lexi’s hand. “Nice to meet you, Lexi. Can I get you something to drink?”

“No, thanks, Mrs. Price. We have to get back to the dealership,” Doug said. He obviously sensed the vibe my wife was giving off. He grabbed Lexi’s arm, and they left.

I couldn’t help but laugh when I turned around and saw Arden’s face. She looked mad, but I didn’t really think she was. “What?” I said.

She took a diet soda out of the refrigerator. “You know what.” She looked at me out the corner of her eye, and I could tell she was trying to keep from laughing. “You expect me to believe that you didn’t remember her name?”

“I really didn’t.”

“Probably because you were too busy looking at her huge boobs to pay attention to anything else.” She was smiling.

I wasn’t really sure what to say to that. My wife was unbelievably beautiful. On a scale from one to ten, she was a fifteen, hands down. However, she only weighed 105 pounds soaking wet, and her boobs were the right God-given size for her body. I wouldn’t have changed a thing about her.

“You couldn’t miss them if you tried. They were pretty ridiculous,” I finally said, and we both burst out laughing. I was glad she had a good sense of humor.

“Maybe I should have asked for the name of her doctor,” she said sarcastically.

“I don’t think so. I love you just the way you are.” I went up behind her and wrapped my arms around her waist and started kissing her neck.

“So, are you really going to sit here and tell me that girl wasn’t flirting with you?”

“Maybe a little.” I couldn’t help but laugh.

Arden always said girls were flirting with me, but I usually didn’t notice. And of course it totally aggravated her when I said I didn’t notice. According to Arden, there were millions of girls out there who wanted to date me, but I didn’t know what she was talking about. I thought the fact that I was clueless about that should make her feel good. It meant I was not paying attention to any other woman but her—and I wasn’t.

I fell in love with Arden the first day I saw her in Paris. Ever since then, I hadn’t thought of anyone else. It took her a little longer to come around, but that was OK. She grew up not being able to depend on or trust anyone but herself. She always tried to convince herself that she didn’t need anybody, including me. It took me a long time to convince her otherwise, but my persistence paid off, and it was worth it in the end.

Later that afternoon I was going to bring Taylor my old Range Rover. Dad had told Taylor he would buy her a new car when she got her license, but she said she wished she could just have my Range Rover. I thought that was a safer idea than him buying her a little sports car or something. Taylor had no idea I was giving it to her. She had just always been impressed by it. She was getting her license in a month, so it all worked out. My dad of course had thought it was a stupid idea; he only gave in because Mom talked him into it.

I drove my new vehicle to my parents’ house; Arden was going to bring the other one over in a little while.

“Hey, Tay, where are you?” I yelled when I walked inside. I found her sitting by the pool with some of her friends.

I saw her say something to her friends, and they all started giggling. She always got pissed if I flirted with her little girlfriends, so that’s exactly what I always did.

“How are all you beautiful ladies doing today?” I asked before sitting on an empty chair right in the middle of them. They all turned red and laughed.

I could tell Taylor was irritated, and I loved it. “Oh, stop it. He’s a normal human being. He’s gross, and he picks his nose.”

I was shocked. “I do not!”

“Go inside, Slayde. We are trying to tan.”

“All right, I was gonna show you my new car, but I’ll leave.” I always showed her first. She loved cars as much as I did. We came by it honestly; Dad had a whole warehouse full of cars.

She looked interested now. “What is it?”

“Another Range Rover.”

“Why? Your old one was pimp.”

“It was what?” I laughed. She looked at me and smiled. “OK, I agree. It was pimp.”

“I can’t believe you got rid of it. You’re crazy.”

“Who said I got rid of it?”

“Well, why do you need two?”

“I don’t. I was gonna give you my old one.”

“What?! Are you serious?” She was screaming and hugging me and jumping up and down. “I love you, I love you, I love you. Where is it?”

“I thought I was gross and I pick my nose.” She punched me in the arm. I laughed. “Arden’s bringing it in a few minutes.”

Mom walked outside. “What is going on out here?”

“I just told Taylor about her new car.” As I spoke, Arden drove up in the old Range Rover and parked.

“Oh, I see.”

“So now Dad doesn’t have to buy me one, and he can’t take it away,” Taylor said.

“Wrong,” I said. “Just because I gave it to you doesn’t change anything. Mom and Dad are your parents, and they can take it away from you whenever they want. So don’t push it, little monkey.”

Dad pulled into the garage as we were about to go back into the house. He walked toward us, glaring at the vehicle, working his jaw back and forth. “I thought I said we weren’t going to do this,” he said.

“No, you didn’t. You said you didn’t care,” I snapped back.

“I said no such thing.”

“Yes, you did, baby,” Mom said to him.

He gave her an ugly look that infuriated me. He could be such a bastard. He said to both of us, “Whatever, the two of you run this damn house anyway. I don’t even know why I come home.”

I could tell Mom was upset. She didn’t say anything, and she turned around and walked inside. Arden followed her.

“What’s your problem?” I asked him.

“My problem? Nobody in this house has any respect for me. You all spend my money and could care less what I think about anything.”

“I don’t. That would be your other son, Brady.” I was furious at this point. “And if that’s what you’re so pissed about, this should be right up your alley. You didn’t pay for this—I did. You’re such an ass, and you don’t deserve her. You don’t deserve any of us.” I started to walk away, and he grabbed my forearm. I turned and looked him dead in his eyes. My heart was pounding, and my breath was heavy. I wasn’t gonna back down. He must have thought better of it, because he let me go and looked away.

I went in to look for Mom. Arden was sitting outside with Taylor and her friends. Mom was upstairs. I knew going up there was only going to piss me off more. Mom always made excuses for Dad no matter what he did. It drove me crazy. He and I had butted heads about 50 percent of my life, but it got worse after graduation. I had been offered a full scholarship from three different colleges to play baseball, and I turned them all down so I could study abroad. He was livid. He had set up trust funds for Brady, Taylor, and me so that we would start receiving money each month after we turned eighteen. When I made the decision not to play ball, he took mine away. Mom was furious with him, but I didn’t care. I didn’t want his damn money. That was just one more thing he could hold over me.

The whole mess caused a huge division in our house, and the person who took the worst of it was Mom. I hated him for that. Eventually he changed his mind, but I only believed he did so to keep Mom from leaving him. Ever since then he always insinuated that she and I ganged up on him, which wasn’t true. He was just usually wrong, and I wasn’t going to agree with anything I didn’t believe in.

I walked outside and looked at Arden, who was sitting in the chair I’d vacated earlier amid all Taylor’s friends. She took one look at my face and hugged my sister, and we left.

“You OK?” Arden asked once we were both in the car.

I rolled my eyes. “Typical Dad.”

“I’ve never seen him act like that.”

“Well, now you see the real Zac Price. I guess now that you’re family he won’t sugarcoat everything for your benefit anymore.”

She didn’t say anything else. I grabbed her hand and kissed it, and she smiled at me.

It had been a long day, so we decided to go home and relax by the pool, drink some beer, and grill out. I went inside to get the steaks for the grill and saw her phone lying on the counter with a bunch of text messages from Eric.

I couldn’t very well open her text messages—that would be psycho—but I couldn’t just pretend I didn’t see them either. I didn’t want to end this day in a fight over that jerk, but I wasn’t sure I would be able to bite my tongue either. I was going to have to say something. I walked outside with the steaks and her phone and set the phone on a chair.

“Was my phone ringing?”

“Nope.”

She gave me a funny look and climbed out of the pool to see what I was being short with her about. I saw her expression change, but she didn’t say anything for a minute while she texted him back.

“Were you going through my phone?” she asked.

“No, do I need to?”

“I don’t know, Slayde. Do you think you need to?”

“I don’t know; what good that would do? It wouldn’t change anything. Look, I don’t want to fight with you. I went to get the steaks and your phone was lit up because he had just texted you, all right? I wasn’t being nosy.” I didn’t look back at her until I heard the phone ring.