Heavy Metal (A Badboy Rockstar Romance) (20 page)

Now that Brandon was back from Europe, we both had some pretty major decisions to make.  But neither of us seemed in any hurry to make them.  Brandon was worn out from being on tour for so long and I, well, I was worn out from life.  So we didn’t rush into anything.

Instead, we stayed together in my cramped little basement suite, enjoying each other’s company.  We read books together, Brandon sprawled out with his head in my lap as we sat in comfortable silence.  On my days off from the diner, we took long, leisurely naps together, our arms wrapped around each other.  And we even made out a little.  Okay, actually we made out a lot.

As time went on and I began to accept that Brandon truly did love and want me, I began to relax.  No longer afraid of his rejection or judgment, I was able to truly enjoy being intimate with him.  Maybe I was even ready to try other, scarier things with him...things that involved being naked in front of him.

“Are you going to quit your job soon?” Brandon asked me one afternoon as I was getting ready for my shift at the diner.  “It’s up to you, of course, but I’m just wondering.”

“Yeah, I think I will,” I told him.  “We can’t stay here forever – or at least I don’t want to and I’m pretty sure you don’t want to either.  I guess at some point I have to accept that Mittens isn’t coming back.”

“I’m really sorry about your cat, Hayley.”

“So am I.  You know, I think I’ll give my notice today.”

“Great.”

“Now that I think about it, I’m not sure why I’ve stayed at the diner as long as I have.”  The stares I got from some of the townspeople who were convinced I was a drug addict and former prostitute made me uncomfortable.  I was over it.  I hesitated and then asked, “Would it be horrible for me to up and quit today, without giving any notice?”

“After what Carl has put you through?” Brandon asked.  “No.  I say go for it!”

“Hmm, maybe I will.  But I want to at least talk to Cesar first and make sure I won’t be leaving him in a bind,” I said.  “I don’t want to inconvenience anyone except Carl,” I added with a grin. 

“He deserves it.”

“He made me do so much unpaid work,” I recalled.  “He acted like he owned me and my labor should be free.  Actually, I would be surprised if he even managed to keep up to date on his paperwork after I left.  His property taxes and fire insurance were due last month but I doubt he even realized it since he was so reliant on me handling everything for him,” I commented with a roll of my eyes.

“Not much of a businessman, is he?  Not much of a man either, for that matter...”

“Not really.  But enough about him!  So uh, if I’m quitting my job today, I suppose we should probably about our future sooner rather than later,” I pointed out.  “Maybe we could talk about it tonight after work?”

“How about tonight we celebrate you quitting your job and
then
talk about our future?” Brandon suggested.  “I’ll swing by the diner and pick you up after your shift.  Then, if you’re not too tired, I’ll take you out someplace nice.”

“We might have to drive to the city to go someplace nice,” I pointed out with a smile.

“That’s fine.  It will be like old times,” he replied with a grin.  “Maybe we can even get a room at that same hotel we stayed at the first night we met.  I’ll give them a call and see if they have any vacancies.”

A shiver of anticipation went through me at Brandon’s suggestion.  This time we wouldn’t have separate rooms – not that I wanted one.  He hadn’t been pressuring me at all about sex, but it had been on my mind a hell of a lot lately.  I was pretty sure I was ready...and tonight seemed like as good a night as any!

“I’m going to take a bath,” I blurted out, barely able to contain my excitement.

“I thought you had to go to work right away?”

“I do!”  With that, I disappeared into the bathroom to shave my legs before the big night.

“So you’re quitting for good this time, huh?” Cesar said with approval.  “Good for you, Hayley.”

We were standing in the middle of the diner, all alone for the time being.  The coffee crowd had already cleared out and it was too early for dinner, so it meant we had a much-needed lull.  I had broken the news to him that I wouldn’t be coming back and he was taking it exceptionally well. 

“You’re sure it won’t be too much trouble if I stop showing up after today?” I asked for the third time.  “I don’t want to cause you any inconvenience.” 

“Don’t worry about it,” Cesar reassured me.  “I’m actually going to be starting a new job in a couple of weeks.  I haven’t told His Royal Highness yet, but I probably will on Monday.  You do what you’ve gotta do, alright?”

“Thanks for understanding,” I told him with a smile. 

“Thanks for being so awesome to work with,” he replied.  “You – and Angie, back in the day – were always the best part about coming into work.  God knows Carl made it miserable.  But you two ladies...you were great.  You
are
great,” he corrected himself.  “I’m going to miss you, kid.”

“I’ll miss you, too!”

“Hey, there is one thing you can do for me, if you want.”

“Name it.”

“Carl wants me to go get his sports memorabilia shit from his storage locker after work,” Cesar told me with an eye roll.  “Why he can’t do it himself, I don’t know.  He’s such a lazy asshole.  I told him I’m supposed to take my kid to karate class tonight but he didn’t care.  Do you think you could possibly go grab the stuff for me?”

“Carl has sports memorabilia in storage?” I asked incredulously, thinking he already had more than enough at the apartment.  “That’s news to me.  Though I guess I can’t say I’m
that
surprised.  Anyway yeah, I’ll go grab the stuff for you.  All of it?”

Cesar nodded.  “He says he wants to put it up in here – he’s coming by a bit later to hang stuff up on the walls.  I think it will look ridiculous, but whatever.  You can take my truck,” he offered, knowing I didn’t have a car.

“Actually, my boyfriend is picking me up after work, so I’ll get him to drive me,” I said, delighting in getting to refer to Brandon as my boyfriend. 

“You’re sure it’s no trouble?”

“Positive,” I smiled.  Then I happened to glance out the window.  I saw a familiar figure standing across the street reading the various flyers for bake sales and fun runs that had been stuck onto a light standard.  Parked a short distance away was the car he had rented.

“Oh, speak of the devil, there’s Brandon now, actually.  I think this is the fifth day in a row I’ve seen him wandering aimlessly around town - the poor guy must be bored to death,” I chuckled, knowing he was also happy to be able to walk around freely without being recognized.  “Maybe I’ll get him to take me over to the storage locker now so we won’t be running late tonight.”

“Sounds good to me,” Cesar agreed, handing me a small silver key.  “See you later.”

*****

“Is this the right one?” Brandon asked me a short time later.  We were standing in front of a storage locker, the rental car parked a short distance away, its engine still running. 

“Yeah, it’s the number on the key,” I nodded.  We opened the door and saw the small space was cluttered with all kinds of junk Carl had bought.  “No wonder he was so stingy about money,” I muttered.  “He was throwing it all away on this shit.”

“God, look at all of it,” Brandon marveled.  “Who the hell needs three identical foam fingers?  Oh wait, make that four.  I’m pretty sure the guy has a problem!”

“Quiet!” I suddenly hissed.  “Did you hear that?”

As we both stood there in the dimly lit storage locker listening, the distinctive sound of mewing could be heard.  I knew that cry.  It tugged at my heartstrings immediately and I flew into action. 

“Mittens!” I called out, hurrying inside.  “Here kitty!  Where are you?”

When my sweet little cat emerged from the shadows meowing insistently, I could have wept.  I scooped him up and he immediately nuzzled up against me, purring up a storm as he butted his head against my chin.  He wasn’t gone forever after all.  He was alive and well, cuddled up in my arms just like he was meant to be.

“What the hell is your cat doing in here?” Brandon demanded after he’d allowed me a moment to have a joyous reunion with the furry little critter.  “Carl must have been keeping him here.  Look, there’s even a litter box set up over there.  Oh, and a food dish, too.  That lying bastard knew where your cat was the entire time!”

Suddenly it was all making sense, and the lengths to which Carl had gone in order to control and manipulate me even after our breakup were astounding.  I had never been angrier at that awful man than I was at that moment.  I was so irate I was practically seething!

“Take me back to the diner,” I growled.

Brandon knew better than to argue with me.  Instead, ever supportive, he dutifully did as I asked.

*****

“You disgust me you pathetic, lying bastard!” I screamed as I stormed into the diner.  There were a few customers in there now, but I didn’t care what they thought.  All I cared about was wiping the smug smirk off Carl’s face once and for all.

After a brief stop at the gas station so Brandon could fuel up the car and pick up some (mostly healthy) snacks for the road, we’d arrived back at the diner.  I had been so angry I had jumped out of the car before it had technically even stopped moving, not bothering to wait for Brandon. 

I was determined to give Carl a piece of my mind, and nothing was going to stop me.

“What the hell?” he demanded from where he sat at the counter, his mouth full of pie.  Crumbs went everywhere when he spoke.  It wasn’t exactly classy but then neither was he.

“You’ve had my cat this entire time!” I said accusingly.  “You kept Mittens at a storage locker and lied to me about him being lost! You were just trying to keep me here in town, weren’t you?  You couldn’t stand the thought of me leaving you so you let me think my cat had run away, you manipulative, insecure asshole!”

Cesar was standing in the entrance to the kitchen now, listening intently.  So were the customers – they were getting a real earful, not to mention a long overdue look at Carl’s true colors.  And I wasn’t finished yet.

“You lied to everyone about me having a drug problem!  You told people I was a prostitute!” I hollered.  “You were so pitiful you couldn’t accept the fact that I didn’t want to be with you, so you invented your own twisted reality and spread ugly rumors about me all over town.  How sad is that?  You are a pathetic, sorry little excuse for a man, Carl.”

“How dare you come in here and speak to me that way in my own diner?” he bellowed, rising to his feet and moving toward me.  Suddenly Cesar appeared, seemingly out of nowhere.  When the normally jolly cook took a menacing step forward, Carl thought better of what he was doing and stopped in his tracks. 

The jingle of the bells above the door had barely even registered, but then I heard that deep, husky voice I knew and loved.

“Excuse me ladies, but would you mind leaving?” I heard Brandon ask the open mouthed women who were watching the whole ordeal unfold.  “I’m very sorry to interrupt your meal – here, your dinner is on me,” he said, handing them some money before holding the door open for them and ushering them out.

When Carl noticed Brandon, his eyes widened as recognition set in.

“What’s he doing here?  You fat, ugly whore!” Carl screamed, completely losing his shit.  “You need me!  No one else wants you!  You’re garbage!  You’re absolute garbage!  That asshole doesn’t want you!”

“Actually,” I told him with a smile, “he does.”

When Carl realized his words no longer held any power over me, he looked like his head was going to explode.  It was actually sort of comical.  A small part of me wanted to stick around to watch him have a full out tantrum like a spoilt two year old...but I had wasted far too much time on him already. 

So instead, I turned on my heel and walked toward Brandon – and my bright future.

“I quit!” I called over my shoulder triumphantly.

“I quit too!” I heard Cesar announce.  “Now get out of my way you stupid douche, I have to go take my kid to karate class!”  He caught up with me at the door and gave me a high five before hopping into his truck and driving off. 

“That felt so damn good,” I whispered to Brandon gleefully as we got into his rental car, where Mittens was quite happily parading around on the dashboard.  “Did you see the look on Carl’s face?  Priceless!  Oh, and thanks for not hitting him.”

“I don’t know why you wouldn’t let me,” Brandon grumbled.  “I really wanted to!”

“I didn’t want you to hurt your hand again, princess,” I told him with a grin. 

He laughed.  “Sorry I’m not manlier.”

“You’re perfect exactly the way you are.”

“So are you,” he said, leaning over to kiss me as Mittens looked on with great interest.

“Should we get out of here?” I suggested.

“Yeah, in a sec,” Brandon agreed as he rolled down his car window.

He reached past me then, opened up the glove compartment of his rental car and fumbled around inside.  Then he extracted a lighter.  A moment later he found the pack of cigarettes he was looking for and lit one.  He popped it into his mouth and took a long drag.

It pained me a bit to see him still struggling with his addiction.  I had thought we were both making progress.  I had managed to stop purging and was slowly but surely getting my binging under control as well.  I had been under the impression that Brandon was kicking his own addiction in the butt, but maybe I had been mistaken. 

As I watched Brandon smoke, I said nothing.  He already knew what he was doing was a terrible idea, so he didn’t need me to nag him.  Besides, he had been nothing but supportive so I felt I owed him the same courtesy.  At least he was considerately smoking with his head out the window rather than making me and the cat breathe it in.

But then it seemed Brandon had a change of heart.  After only a puff or two, he pulled the cigarette out of his mouth and tossed it out the window.  Then he muttered, “Hang onto the cat,” before stepping on the gas.

“Whoa, Brandon, slow down!” I exclaimed, surprised by the way he was driving.

Brandon simply smiled and sped out of the parking lot right as Carl came charging out of the diner waving his fist in the air like a crazed lunatic.

It wasn’t until about three minutes later when we turned a corner that I happened to glance back at the diner and see smoke.  I did a double take and realized there were flames shooting out of the roof.  I gasped and looked at Brandon.

“Did you...?”

“Did I what?”

“You did!”

He winked at me.  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said with a sly smile.  “But for what it’s worth, Carl probably shouldn’t have left all those gas cans lying around outside the diner.  They’re a fire hazard.”

“What gas cans?”

Brandon winked and said nothing.  Then, almost as an afterthought, he casually added, “Oh, by the way, I decided today is the day I officially give up smoking.  I finished my last pack and I’m not going to buy any more.” 

“Holy shit, you burned Carl’s diner down for me!”

“Oh, is that what you think?” Brandon asked innocently, neither confirming nor denying it. 

We drove in silence for a few minutes, and then met three fire trucks speeding in from the city, lights and sirens on.  They formed a strange little parade as they squealed into town.  There was no question in my mind as to where they were headed.

“Too bad they didn’t respond quicker,” Brandon commented, not sounding sorry in the slightest.  “The place is probably nothing but ashes by now.  Hmm, I sure hope Carl remembered to renew his fire insurance.”