The Hairdresser Diaries (26 page)

Kelly and Cole came back in the room with Nate, Landon, Jessie, and Tommy following. Kelly walked over to the side of the bed and looked me over. She shined a bright light pen thingy in my eyes and I grabbed it from her and threw it across the room and heard Landon laugh. Kelly on the other hand didn’t. She told one of them to get me some water. Jessie came back in within seconds holding a large glass. She handed it to me and I gulped it down.

“How are you feeling?” Kelly asked.

“Fine, now that you’re not shining that damn light in my eyes,” I said my voice a little scratchy. “And would it kill you to put some ice in here.” I held the glass out towards Jessie wiggling it.

She snatched it from my hands and said, “The bitch is fine,” and walked out of the room. I laughed and winced touching my side wondering why it hurt so badly.

Kelly looked at me and said, “You have a few bruises on your ribs, but I don’t think anything’s broken. You’re going to be sore for a while.” She looked calm but serious. I nodded laying back down slowly. Jessie came back in with another glass of water and ice.

She handed it to me and said, “Would it kill you to be nicer next time.”

“It might,” I said trying not to smile.

“Since I know you’re okay, I’m going home,” Jessie said giving me a kiss.

“Thanks,” I told her.

“I’m glad to see you’re alright. I must say, I have never met a girl as tough as you,” Tommy said as he gave me a kiss on the cheek and left with Jessie.

“Alright, she still needs her rest, everyone out.” Kelly started shooing everyone out the door when I started to protest.

“I’m not going to kick you guys out of your room.” I swung my legs over the side of the bed slowly trying to get out. “Besides I want to go home and sleep in my own bed.” I gripped my side as I tried to stand up, it was too painful.

“Tatum. Just lay your stubborn ass back down. You’re staying here tonight, don’t argue. Nate and I will stay in the spare room and you and Cole can stay in here,” Kelly said.

“What about Nala?” I asked and Kelly looked at Nate with pleading eyes.

“Is she house trained?” Nate asked not seeming to be happy with this situation.

“Yes, she’s good,” I said.

I looked at Cole and I knew it would be hard for him to leave even for a short while so I asked Landon if he could pick Nala up and bring her here. Landon said he would and I looked for my purse to hand him the keys, but couldn’t find it.

“It’s in the living room,” Kelly said. “I’ll get it.” She brought me my purse and I got the keys out for Landon. They all stepped out leaving Cole and I alone.

He sat in a chair off in the corner. I watched him as he closed his eyes and rested his head.

“Why don’t you come lay next to me,” I said to Cole.

He let out a sigh, but didn’t move. “Tatum, I’m sorry, I should’ve…if I didn’t…” he struggled.

“Don’t. Cole it’s not your fault. Nothing that happened tonight is your fault.”

“But I…” he leaned forward with his elbows on his knees and his head in his hands. “I’m not good for you.” He looked up at me.

“What are you talking about?” I said trying to sit up, but the pain all over my body was too much.

“I’m talking about this.” He stood up, gesturing toward me. “Ever since I met you, I haven’t been able to do anything except cause you pain.”

“Stop it and come here.” He shifted his weight and started to take a step forward then stopped. “Cole please, just come lie next to me,” I begged him.

He walked over to the other side of the bed and slowly, carefully sat down. I turned to face him, squinting at the pain it caused.

Instinctively he reached out to help then pulled back, but I grabbed his arm and made him come closer to me.

I held his hand and looked into his eyes and said, “You are the best thing in my life that has happened to me.” He tried to look away, but I forced him to face me. “This, all this, would have happened with or without you, but because of you, I’m safe. I’m here.

I’m right where I should be, with you.”

“How can you say that, I…” I reached up and touched his face and he held his hand against mine closing his eyes and letting out a breath. Then he lay down next to me and I wrapped my arms around him.

“Tatum, I was so scared. When I saw him…and you…I just lost it.”

“It’s okay, everything’s fine.” I comforted him running my fingers through his hair. “What exactly happened?”

“You don’t remember?” He sat up looking at me with worried eyes.

“I remember everything up until you got there. What happened after that?”

“It’s best you don’t know,” he looked down at his hand and I saw his knuckles were bruised and bleeding.

“I will find out one way or another. You can tell me or I’ll have someone else tell me.” I put my hand over his hoping he would be the one to tell me.

“Honestly I don’t know.” He looked up at me and I put his hand to my face holding it there, trying to help him find the courage.

His eyes met mine and a tear escaped. I watched it slowly trickle down his cheek and I had to look away. It pained me too much to see him upset.

“I hadn’t actually left, I was sitting at the other end of the parking lot near the entrance in my car texting Tommy…” he started.

“He was trying to explain to me what really happened, but I wouldn’t listen,” he looked down and I squeezed his hand. “I started to have a feeling, like something wasn’t right, like I knew something was very wrong, especially since I didn’t see you walk back into the club. I asked Tommy if he saw you and he said no and that the others said you weren’t picking up your phone. I started to get a sick feeling in my stomach and I drove alone back to where I last saw you. When you weren’t where I left you I got really worried so I called the others and they said they’d walk over to meet me. Then…that’s when…I heard it. I heard you scream and I lost it. I didn’t think, I just acted.” He paused like he was reliving it right there with me, and it sickened him. “When I didn’t respond back to Tommy they came running over and found my car and me, punching Logan, over and over again. They had to drag me off of him. I couldn’t stop. If they hadn’t shown up…I don’t know what I would have done.”

I pulled him into me and held him.

“When you weren’t responding, I thought…I don’t know what I would have done.” He could hardly get the words out and he shook his head from side to side as his voice trailed off.

I pulled back and held his face in my hands and said, “Cole, it’s okay. It’s over. You did nothing wrong, I’m okay and you’re okay. That’s all that matters.” He smiled slightly and I kissed him. Reminding him what really mattered.

There was a knock at the door.

“Come in,” I called. It was Landon and he was carrying Nala. “Nala!” I put my arms out for her and Landon carried her over to the bed and laid her next to me. She wagged her tail and licked my face and lay down between Cole and me. I scratched her ears and rubbed her belly.

“Thanks Landon,” I said.

“Need anything else before I go?”

“No, I’m good.” I looked at Cole and he said he’d walk Landon out. Kelly peeked in to see how I was doing and if I needed anything for Nala. I told her we were both fine.

“Just don’t let Nate know Nala was sleeping on the bed,” Kelly warned me. I smiled and she said goodnight. Cole came back in the room, lay down on the bed and began to pet Nala.

“I think she should sleep on the floor tonight,” he advised. I gave him a pouty lip but he just kissed me.

“Why didn’t you let Kelly look at your hand?”

“It’s fine.”

“No it’s not, hand me that first aid kit,” I said motioning to the one I could see on the dresser.

“Tatum…”

“Shush…hand it to me now.” He was starting to learn to know better than to argue with me. He handed me the first aid kit. I opened it up and took out some antiseptic and gauze. I cleaned all the dirt and blood from his hand, bandaged it up, and kissed it.

“Thank you,” he said smiling and he kissed my forehead. We lay down with Nala in between us and fell asleep.

The next morning I was still sore and Kelly made breakfast for us. I thanked her for everything before we headed home. Cole told me he didn’t want me doing anything until I was fully healed and that I should call off work for the next few days. The way I was feeling, I agreed.

For days we just lay in bed watching movies and reluctantly I went back to work the next week. But I went back feeling as good as new. I switched my schedule around so I could avoid working with Kayla as much as possible. Over the next two weeks Cole moved his stuff in and things were becoming a routine. I got up and went to work while Cole stayed home with Nala. He kept the house clean and always had dinner ready for me when I got home. Things couldn’t have been any better.

We avoided going out for a while, for fear of running into Logan, but from what I heard, he hadn’t been seen in a while. Cole wanted me to press charges, but after what he did to Logan, I was afraid it would come back to bite us in the ass and I just wanted to forget about it.

The following Saturday I got together with Kristi and Savannah to plan out her bachelorette party that we were going to have at the end of the month. I know normally the bride isn’t supposed to really know about it, but Kristi was picky and we needed some insight on what she wanted. She told us a night out with the girls would be fine. Being the known partier they put me in charge of the planning.

“How was lunch with Kristi and Savannah?” Cole asked when I got home.

“Good. They put me in charge of the bachelorette party.”

“Should I be worried?” he looked at me concerned.

I laughed. “No.”

“Have any ideas about what to do?”

“Well…I know she would like maybe a trip to the spa and she said she wanted a night out with the girls, but I want to take her somewhere different.”

“Where did you have in mind?”

“Somewhere besides here.”

“Hmm…” Cole said as he wrapped his arms around my waist. “How about Vegas?”

“Yeah…okay. Half of them can’t afford that. Nice try though.”

“Why not? It’s really not that expensive. Probably not any more than what you would pay for a spa trip and a night out here.”

“How do you figure?” I said pulling back to look at him.

“Well, in Vegas, when you go for bachelor or bachelorette parties they usually offer you different deals where a spa is included.

Here, you’d pay for that separate, plus dinner, plus a limo, plus drinks and shots and whatever else you plan to do. Why don’t you just check it out, what could it hurt to at least look.” He was right, it wouldn’t hurt to check out and compare prices and see different options. So that’s what I did.

After two hours of research, I was starting to learn Vegas was the better deal. I continued to compare prices and different packages until Cole coaxed me into coming to bed. I didn’t need much convincing after he started kissing me.

The next day at work I told Peyton Cole’s idea about going to Vegas for Kristi’s bachelorette. She thought it was a great idea and was totally on board. I knew Lulu would be mad, but I would make it up to her and promise to go with her another time. I spent all day at work talking to Peyton about the different things we could do while in Vegas and when I got home I called Savannah and told her what I had come up with. She loved the idea, but was concerned about the other girls who might not be able to afford it. I told her we’d work something out so everyone could go.

Savannah called the rest of the bridesmaids and told them our plan. There was only two who said she couldn’t come up with the money for it. Knowing Cole would probably pay for me to go I told them not to worry we would help them out. After I talked to Cole about it, that’s exactly what he did. He told me he would pay for me and give me money for the other girls who had issues coming up with the rest. I was starting to get accustomed to Cole paying for everything so I didn’t argue with him anymore about it.

I’m not going to lie, it was kind of nice.

I called Kristi and told her our plan to take her to Vegas for her Bachelorette party. She screamed so loud I had to hold the phone away to keep from going deaf. She told her fiancé about it and he liked the idea so much he thought he should do the same for his bachelor party. We planned to have both on the same weekend and go down together. Of course the boys would still do their own thing and so would the girls.

Kristi’s fiancé was Nate’s brother, which automatically made Nate the best man, and Landon was one of the groomsman. When they found out about Vegas they called me and thanked me for the wonderful idea, but I told them they should thank Cole, since it was his. They said not to worry they would and that Cole had to come along. I already had plans of taking him with me regardless.

With everything set I spent the rest of the week relaxed and trying not to think about the possible trouble we could get into Vegas.

Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, But by the moments that take our breath away…

- Unknown

Time just kept flying by and before I knew it I was packing for Vegas. Peyton called me every fifteen minutes asking what she should take and I told her to just take whatever. I ended up packing one large suitcase and mini one. Cole only had a small duffle bag.