The Lyon Trilogy (12 page)

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"Char, hurry up before you let the
steam out."

"I don't know about this, El, smoking
in a steam room just seems like a cocktail for disaster."

"Oh pooh, Daniel's been doing it and
he seems fine."

"I'm not sure we should be using him
as a yard stick..."

"Never mind that, we have bigger fish
to fry...so guess who I got a call from?"

"Who? Pass it El you hog."

"Tina Sloan, she's Drake's...well I
guess you can say wife because they never got divorced..."

"Why's she calling you?"

"Because of Katarina of course, seems
that my boy, who I apparently raised very well, approached the chief, and get
this...asked him for Kat."

"What do you mean asked him for
Kat?"

I waited until her coughing fit was over
before retaking the joint from her hand. Don't ask me what the hell I was doing
getting stoned.

"He didn't ask for her hand in
marriage, he asked, or rather, told the chief, and I quote, ' you did your part
for the first eighteen years of her life, and now I'm taking over'."

"Oh wow, he said that?"

"Get that look off your face heifer,
cougar you ain't."

"Hey, I look good, chick."

"Yeah, for a coyote maybe."

We cracked up at our own silly jokes as I
rode the high of finally being on the road to having some grand babies.

"Shit, I didn't know Colton was such
a smooth talker...man."

"He's his father's son, let's hope for
Kat's sake that's true in more ways than one."

"You're a badass, El."

We were off again.

"Well, well, well, what have we here.
You two bombed?"

"Hey, doc, how the hell are ya?"

For the past three days I've been laying
low. I got an extra day because I made the mistake of flinching when I
accidentally touched one of my nipple piercings, which truthfully didn't even
hurt any more, just a little stiffness.

The other ones down below were still a
little uncomfortable, but not too much. Colton took very good care of them, and
me, so that I didn't get an infection or any other disaster.

Anyway, I flinched, and was ordered to get
undressed, and though I wasn't confined to the bed I couldn't do anything.

"Why don't I go get my things from
dad's today then?"

"Because, I don't want you bending
and lifting things just yet..."

"I read about piercings online, and
people said that it was quite alright to go on as usual..."

He just turned and gave me this look that
I clearly read as his signature 'the fuck I care?" So I closed my lips up
tight.

"As I was saying, I don't want you
doing anything. We'll get your things in a few. The boxes are for your personal
effects, books and knick-knacks, and all that girly shit. Don't bring any of
those fucked up clothes over here, or I'll start a bonfire in the back yard
with that shit."

"But I didn't really bring anything
else to wear, and..."

He opened his wallet and threw a black card
at me.

"So go shopping."

"Wha..."

"Go shopping for what you need."

"But, it has your name on it, so I
don't think they'll let me use it."

"Take carol or Elena with you. Trust
me those two would know what to do."

"But, I can't just take..."

"Had that conversation already, babe,
not going there again."

He continued getting ready for work
totally ignoring my angst.

Well, a part of me was excited at the
thought of shopping, and then as is the norm when dealing with Colton, there is
that other part that's not one hundred percent comfortable doing these things
so early in our relationship.

Colton of course didn't even let me get
the words out of my mouth.

"In fact, I think you should call one
of them to go with you, and have some fun. I'll be gone longer today than the
last couple days, so that'll be good, but nothing strenuous."

I guess I'm going shopping.

"Call me if you need me okay,
Angel!"

"Okay."

"And listen, buy whatever you want,
none of that bullshit. I know you don't get this yet, but I'm going to take
care of you from now on, and that means your food, your clothes, and your
shelter, that's on me. All that other odds and ends girlie shit you can take
care of if you want to, but I can cover that too if you want."

Color me crazy, but is this guy for real,
like seriously, who does these things? Not anyone I know or have ever heard of.

Jared's my friend, and he's a good guy,
but I know for a fact that he doesn't treat any of his girlfriends this way.

I would ask my mom, but our conversation
two days ago hadn't left much room for such questions.

I understood that she was afraid for me,
and that she will always be worried after what had happened, but she had really
gone off.

It's almost as if she was mad that I had
fallen for someone. I thought telling her about my coming out of my shell with
Colton's help would make her happy, but instead she seemed offended somehow.

When she'd questioned the rashness of our
relationship, and I'd started crying because she just wasn't hearing my side,
Colton had taken the phone and told her rather forcefully that no one was
allowed to make me cry or feel bad not even her. Then he'd hung up.

She'd sent me a text a few hours later
with just one word.

"Wow".

My thoughts exactly.

I haven't seen anyone in the last couple
days, but my phone has been almost glued to my ear. I've heard from his mother,
my father, Carol and Jared, and somehow I think Colton told everyone no
visitors for the next few days.

I wondered what excuse he gave them for
that but didn't ask.

After he finally left I called Carol up to
make plans for our day of shopping, of course she was excited, it’s, like, in
her blood.

Having been cooped up for so long it was
great to get out and about, and carol was full of ideas and suggestions,
especially after she realized that I had Colton's card.

Halfway through I'd had enough, not
because I was tired or anything, but because I'd already bought too much.

When I complained about the thousands of
dollars we'd already spent, and believe it or not we'd only bought
undergarments as yet, she'd whipped out her phone and called Colton, and then
passed the phone to me after squealing on me.

"Babe, seriously, I got shit to do
here, so buy the shit. If you don't, then I'll have to, and I've got shit lined
up for the next few weeks, so help me out alright."

Oh my word!

He just hung up after that, and my panties
were shot.

Of course Carol was grinning and hopping
up and down, and off we went.

"Well if it isn't Colton's flavor of
the month."

Damn, that thing sure got around.

"Jennifer, that's uncalled
for..."

"No, no, Carol, let it speak."

I hate this bitch, and I kid you not. Just
the sight of her makes me want to taste blood, not because she'd once shared
Colton's bed (though she'd never physically been in his according to him) but
because I could sense that she didn't want to move on, to let go, and after
tasting of the fruit, so to speak, I could certainly understand why, but she
wasn't his ex-wife, or the mother of his child or anything like that.

She was just one of a long line of nothing
special, so she had no jurisdiction, and if she thought I was too young or too
stupid to know that, then she was sadly mistaken.

She sneered at me from head to toe until
her eyes caught sight of my anklet.

"That's a Simon piece. Where did you
get that?"

Before I could answer, or not, Carol
intervened.

"Jennifer, just leave us alone, where
Kat got her jewelry is none of your business." She tried going around the
annoying twit to no avail.

Once again I spoke over her.

"It's cool, Carol, actually Colton
bought me this, and as he put it, it's to show the world I belong to him. You
should see the other jewelry he got me to go with it... oops, YOU can't, it's
private, oh well."

She hissed at me, as her face grew
increasingly redder.

Carol made a move to come between us, but
she was too late. Jennifer's hand connected with the side of my head before I
could block the blow.

The last person to put hands on me were
those boys, so I felt the fear begin to creep in, and felt the need to run and
hide away somewhere, but stronger and more persistent than that was Colton's
voice during our sparring matches.

I heard him in my head strengthening my
resolve, telling me I was worth fighting for, pushing at the fear that
threatened to overcome me, and lastly I heard him tell me to own my shit, and
to fight for what's mine.

Instead of the fear there was now anger.
Anger at all those who thought it was okay to prey on the weak.

Before that whole incident I would never
have let anyone get away with slapping me like that, so maybe Colton was right,
and maybe it was time to take the power back, and what better way than to wipe
the floor with this smarmy bitch.

I knew I was going to be okay when I
started laughing, which only seemed to enrage her even more.

"You know, it doesn't matter what you
do or say here, at the end of the day I'm still going to be Colton's girl and
you're not. As a matter of fact, before I forget, Carol, I might need you to
come help me pack up for my move into your brother's penthouse. I understand
you've never been inside, Jennifer, it's gorgeous."

Then I took some liberties with the truth.

"Colton even said I could redecorate
any way I want to, but it's already perfect so..."

I shrugged as though it was no big deal,
and no he hadn't said that, but I'm sure if I asked he'd let me, and knowing
that, I felt even more empowered.

This little speech had the desired effect
as the delusional nut job actually went for my throat.

This time I was ready though and blocked
her hands with one of mine while using the thumb of the other to jab her
jugular.

She dropped to her knees like a dead
weight, clutching her throat, and fighting for the breath.

The din that had surrounded me was
suddenly broken as I heard laughter and applause around us.

Of course, it's a mall, it would be full
of teenagers with their cell phones at the ready, and I had no doubt this would
be on YouTube in the next hour or so.

Apparently I didn't hit her hard enough
because she was climbing to her feet again. Damn.

I guess since it was my first time doing it
I'd pulled back a little, Colton had warned me about that.

As much as I would enjoy kicking her
snooty ass, I didn't necessarily want to end up a feature on YouTube.

Meanwhile Carol was on the phone trying to
call someone, but a crowd was gathering, and the bitch was back on her feet
with blood in her eyes.

"You fucking little bitch, how dare
you?"

"Jennifer, you need to stop, people
are staring and taking pictures for heaven's sake."

"Shut up, Carol, do you think I'd let
this little nobody get the best of me. I know all about you, yeah, I had a look
into your past, so why don't we tell these nice people here how you and your
friend lured those poor boys and then cried rape you little..."

I'm not sure she got any other words out,
all I know is my ears began to ring and my blood was up.

My first swing drew blood, but that didn't
stop me. I just kept going, and if she could or could not fight I couldn't tell
you, all I know is nothing connected to me, but I was wailing the hell out of
her.

I beat her for me and Donna and the hell
we went through, and I beat her for having the nerve to want to sink her filthy
hooks into my man. I'm not sure how long we were at it, and it didn't seem that
long at all, but the next thing I knew there were running feet coming towards
us, and mall security was trying to pull me off of her.

"Get your fucking hands off her
asshole."

"Oh shit." I looked at Carol
questioningly. How the hell had Colton made it here so fast? There's no way.

Greenville is at least an hour away
whatever; Colton was pulling me out of the guard's hands while most of his crew
surrounded Carol and us.

Jennifer was screeching about having me
arrested along with some other very imaginative threats, and the kids were yelling
that she'd started the whole thing and they had the proof.