Loving Her (23 page)

“I highly doubt it. Most likely Conner will frame it and hang it in the barn.”

I rolled my eyes, imagining him getting off on one upping me.

By the time we rolled into the hotel lobby it was getting dark. We’d stopped by a drive-thru and loaded up to take it back to the room and eat. Our coats were wet from the rain, so we removed them before doing anything else. Once we entered in the elevator and the doors closed, I looked over at my wife, who was already looking at me. I did something without regard in that split second.

I hit the emergency stop button, and the elevator came to
a halt. Miranda’s eyes got huge as she looked around and realized what had happened. “Oh my God! What did you do that for?”

“What? On television it stops and you can start it right back up.” I pushed on our floor, but nothing happened. After a few more seconds, the red phone for emergencies started to ring.

“Hello?” Miranda had her arms crossed, and she wasn’t thrilled about our predicament.

“Sir, we’ve alerted the elevator company of the issue. Are you the only passenger?”

“No, it’s me and my wife. Can’t you just reset it?”

“Unfortunately, an elevator mechanic needs to come and reset it. Are there any medical conditions that we need to know about? Are you and your wife okay?”

“We’re fine.”

“It might take an hour for them to come. I’m very sorry for this, sir. I’m going to call the manager and see if we can credit your room for one night because of the inconvenience.”

“That would be great. Thanks, dude.”

I hung up the phone with a smile on my face, sat down, and started pulling out the food that we’d bought. “You need to sit down, baby. It’s going to be a while before they come.”

“Are you fucking kidding me? How can you be so calm about it?”

I took a bite of fries and smiled as she sat down across from me. “Because we’re getting our room for free tonight due to the elevator malfunctioning.”

“Shut up. Are you serious?”

“Dead serious.”

She grabbed her food out of the bag and started laughing. “Only you would get so damn lucky.”

I cocked my brow and smiled. “Speaking of lucky, how about you take off your clothes and give me some elevator sex?”

“How about you take off your clothes and beg?”

“Will it get me laid?”

She scrunched up her face and shook her head. “Probably not.”

I can’t say I didn’t try.

Chapter 30

Miranda

It took an hour and forty minutes for the man to come and reset the elevator. I almost peed my pants because I had to go so badly. Ty insisted on talking the entire time, and I was ready to drop kick him to knock his ass out for some peace and quiet. Even our phones didn’t have service, so we couldn’t call or talk to anyone.

My eagerness to get into the room was obvious, and I was pretty sure my husband knew to give me some alone time. He retreated to the balcony without saying anything to me.

When I came out of the bathroom and found that he was still out there, I decided it would be a good time to take a nice hot bath. I went back into the bathroom and started the water. Once I undressed, I got in even before it had filled up.

It was nice, feeling the hot water soothing every inch of my body. Within seconds, I was closing my eyes and enjoying the peace and quiet.

I heard the slider opening and closing, but he didn’t come into the bathroom for another few minutes. When he did, he was completely naked. He walked up to the tub and just stood there. “Can I join you?”

I moved my legs to the side. “Do you promise to behave?”

“Maybe.”

I could tell from his grin that making that kind of promise was hard for him. Ty wanted to be himself around me, and acting like a moron was as real as he got. “You know bickerin’ is a sign of affection?”

“Duh,” he said as he climbed into the large tub.

“What were you doin’ out on the balcony for so long? It’s too cold.”

He grabbed my foot and started massaging it. I closed my eyes and felt like I’d just died and gone to heaven. “I was playing that stupid game. I’ve been stuck on level three hundred for two weeks. I’m ready to throw my damn phone in the ocean.”

“Would it make me seem old if I just wanted to lay here until we get pruned up? This feels amazin’, and I really don’t want to move.”

It wasn’t just the foot massage. I was one-hundred percent relaxed, which was something that never happened at home. I wouldn’t want to change my life for anything, but a break like this was definitely something that I’d consider doing again.

Ty dropped my foot and grabbed the other, working his hands into my sore toes. “I always said you’d turn out to be a cougar.”

I kicked my foot away from him. “Shut up! Cougars are single. I’m not!”

He chuckled, getting a kick out of making me freak out. “Okay, but if you were single, you’d totally be a cougar.”

“You’re hopeless. The next time I come here, I’m coming alone.”

Ty grabbed my legs and pulled my body on top of his. He wrapped his arms around me and stuck his face down against my collarbone. I felt his lips kissing me, and as much as I wanted to ignore him, I couldn’t help but enjoy the way he made me feel.

When our lips met, I could immediately feel something growing underneath me. I wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed him harder, knowing where this was headed. I was ready and willing to forget about all the times he’d driven me crazy in the past twenty-four hours.

His touch felt amazing under the water, and I found myself starting to explore his wet skin. I massaged the base of his shoulders while our tongues played together during our full-blown make-out session.

Things were heating up again, and the pressure growing under my ass indicated that Ty was ready and willing to take things to the next level. Far be it from me to deny him something that we obviously both wanted. I closed my eyes again and reached down, grabbing a handful of his stiff shaft. I couldn’t help but begin to stroke it, getting off on hearing Ty moan. Instead of letting him take control, I positioned him at my entrance and shimmied around before allowing it inside of me. It went in hard, with the water fighting against it. The pressure was intense, so I lifted up until it was almost out and sat back down on top of it again.

We both made sounds as our bodies reacted to the physical pleasure we were giving each other. Ty reached around and grabbed my ass, squeezing it and using it
to set a good pace. Just when it was starting to feel like the room was spinning out of control, he pushed me off of him, shoving me to the other side of the tub, and lifting my legs up against my chest. He slammed his body into mine, splashing the water out onto the floor. This time when he entered me it was rough, and I felt like it was ripping me inside out. He rammed into me harder with each thrust, holding my legs up above my head the whole time. The water kept going into my mouth as the waves came to my side of the tub. I reached for his shoulders and then his neck, tightly putting my hands around it, like he got off on.

It made it go faster, and the look on his face was nothing but pure lustful intent. He wanted to get off and it sent me into a sexual frenzy. The rougher it was, the more it turned me on. Ty bit down on one of my legs as he pushed them more into my chest. It felt like he was hitting bottom, filling me up as far as it would go.

I dug one hand into his hair and pulled him in to kiss me, to tease his tongue with mine. I licked his lips, each time pulling away before he could get to me. When our mouths finally met, I couldn’t hold in the pleasure any longer.

My body bucked, and he matched my movements. Our bodies slammed together, and then finally, all at once, they came to a halt.

Our lips met one last time, slowly savoring what we’d just experienced together.

Then we were interrupted by the sudden ringing of one of our phones. At first we chose to ignore it, continuing to savor each other’s embrace.

The phone kept ringing, over and over again.

Finally Ty got up and walked out of the room, coming back in still dripping with it in his hands. “Hello?” He hit the button and put it on speaker.

“It’s Mom. I’m so sorry to call you so late, but we didn’t know what else to do. Bella’s missing.”

“What do you mean?” I sat up in the tub and looked directly at Ty, who had the same worried look on his face.

“We went to dinner, and I put the boys in the bath when we got back to our room. Bella was outside with John, and they were talking about what we were going to do tomorrow. He said he walked inside to get their sodas, and when he came back out she was gone.”

I jumped out of the tub and ran towards my purse, where my phone was. Ty was still trying to get details from my frantic mother while I desperately dialed Bella’s number. We’d given her the phone in case she got separated from my mom. It was for emergencies only, and then we were taking it away again as soon as she got
back. It rang three times before the voicemail picked up.

I was standing there, naked, shaking, hoping and praying that my child was okay, that she hadn’t been abducted, or worse.

I was so frantic that Ty came in, still on the phone with my mom, grabbing me and trying to get me to sit down. Instead I paced around the room, knowing we were too damn far away to do anything.

I dialed Bella’s number again and she picked up. Ty put the phone down and listened to me, talking to our daughter.

“Bella, it’s mom. Where are you? Are you okay?”

She wouldn’t answer.

“Bella, you answer me, right now.”

“What, mom?”

“Where are you? Grandma is frantic.”

“I don’t want to talk to her about it anymore, Mom. Tell her to stop. I’m not going back there until she promises to stop.”

“Stop what, baby? What is grandma doin’?” I was crying so badly that I could barely speak.

“Tell her to stop tryin’ to talk to me about daddy. She doesn’t understand. Nobody understands. It will never be the same. Nobody knows how I feel. You both lied to me. It’s all lies.”

“You’re so wrong, sweetie. Where are you, Bella? You can’t run off like this. A stranger could have grabbed you. I’ll tell her not to talk about daddy, but please, go back to grandma. I need to know you’re safe.”

A few seconds later I could hear my mother on the other phone. “I see her. I see her coming around the corner. We’ve got her.”

I was more relieved than angry, finally able to breathe knowing she was safe. “We’re goin’ to come and get them.”

“That’s not necessary. I’ll take her inside and make her sleep with me. We’ll be home tomorrow. I’m sorry I had to call you. She wouldn’t answer when I tried her phone. I didn’t know what to do.”

“Mom, it’s fine. She’s not her usual self right now. It’s not your fault.”

“You two stay there and get some rest. We’ll leave first thing in the morning and meet you at home.”

Ty and I both hung up the phones and looked at each other. Enough was enough. We couldn’t go through more of this. It was tearing us apart and this time we felt like something terrible had happened.

He wrapped his arms around me and wouldn’t let go. I’d heard of children being defiant, especially at her age, but this was out of hand and ridiculous. It wasn’t like we told her Ty wasn’t her dad and he didn’t love her. It was the exact opposite.

“What are we goin’ to do?”

He kissed me on the top of my head. “Whatever it takes, baby. We’ll do whatever it takes.”

I was afraid of what that answer meant, but was still too shaken up to consider our options. For now, our daughter was safe and that was all that mattered. Everything else was going to have to wait until morning.

Chapter 31

Tyler

I couldn’t take it anymore, and I sure as hell couldn’t get any rest knowing that things had gotten to this point. The problem was that I didn’t know what else to do. It had been weeks, and nothing had changed. Izzy hated me, and she wasn’t giving me any inclination that it was ever going to change. I waited until Miranda went to sleep to make the call. I knew it would change everything and piss her off, but I was out of options to fix my family.

This was a last resort, my last possible hope for getting back what we once had.

It was late and I was fully aware that they’d be in bed, but I dialed anyway.

Colt picked up after two rings. His voice was groggy. “Yeah?”

“Hey, it’s me. Look, I’m sorry to wake you up, but I need your help.”

“What’s wrong? Is everyone alright?”

I pinched the bridge of my nose and tried to fight the emotions running through me. “Colt, everyone is fine but me. I can’t take this anymore, man. I’m losing her.”

“Who? Randa?”

“No. I’m losing Iz. She hates me, dude. She hates me so much that she almost ran away from Karen and John tonight. The kid is damaged from all of this, and she’s made it clear that she wants nothing to do with me.”

“She’ll come around. It takes time.” I wasn’t convinced that it was time she needed.

“It’s getting worse instead of better.”

“What do you want me and Savanna to do?” It felt good that he finally included her with things that had to do with me. It was about time.

“I think I have a resolution, but Miranda ain’t going to like it. In fact, I know she’s going to flip out. She may even leave me. At this point I don’t know what else to do.” I was starting to tear up, thinking of not only being without one of my girls, but both of them.

“It ain’t goin’ to come to that, Ty. This is just a bump in the road.”

“For however long it lasts, I know I can’t keep up with what we’ve been doing. That’s the reason for my call. I have a plan, a sort of last resort plan.”

“I think I know what it is. You want her to come here, don’t you?”

It broke my heart hearing him say it out loud. “I need to know if she really hates me or not. I need to know if separating us will help. I don’t know what else to do.”

All of the sudden the voice on the phone changed, and I realized that Colt must have put our call on speaker. “We’ll keep her. She can come stay with us. One week with Colt and she’ll be begging to go home.”

“No offense, but that’s what I was thinking, too. Her biggest problem is how spoiled she is. I’ve turned her into a brat and now I’m paying for it. Listen, this is temporary. I’m not asking you to raise my child. I need her to stay there for one month. Come Thanksgiving, she’s back with us, whether she wants to be or not. Plenty of kids hate their step-parents.”

“You’re not her step-parent, and don’t you ever let me hear that again.” I could hear that Van was mad. It comforted me to know that the family all considered me Izzy’s real father.

“Right now I’m nothing to her. She can’t hate me anymore than she already does. Plus, she’s still pissed at Miranda.”

Colt was back on the line. “We’ll do this for you, under one condition. You
drive her to us. Spend a good five hours in the car with her alone. Remind her over and over what she means to you. Tell her how much losing her hurts you. Don’t hold back. She needs to know that the pain she’s feelin’ is exactly what you’re feelin’.”

“We’ll have to make some calls to the school, to see if we can either get her work or transfer her temporarily. Plus I have to run this by my wife, and I’m not real sure how that’s going to go.”

“Call us when you know something, cuz. We’re here.”

“Thanks, Colt. It means more than you know. I’ll talk to you soon.”

We hung up and I stayed out on the balcony. It was freezing, but I was too upset to care. I felt like sending Izzy to Kentucky was like giving up on her. This whole plan could blow up in my face, and I’d be left in the same situation. Still, I knew that Iz felt safe with Colt and Van and that they’d keep her in line. She’d have Noah, which could turn out to be a big mistake, but I was willing to do anything to get back into my daughter’s good graces. Nothing had felt the same for me since that moment when she found out the truth.

I only went back inside when I was calmed down enough. If Miranda saw me so upset she’d want answers, and I needed to prepare myself more to be able to tell her what I wanted to happen.

I found her sleeping as I entered. She looked so peaceful, and I almost didn’t want to wake her to tell her something that I knew she’d be upset about.

She stirred when I sat down on the bed, and I knew it was now or never. “Baby, I need to talk to you. I made a decision, and maybe I should have talked to you first, but I’m out of options.”

She looked confused as she rubbed her face and turned on her side to give me her full attention. “What’s wrong?”

“I talked to Colt. He’s agreed to let Izzy come stay with them for a month.”

I could almost see her overreacting, even before it started to happen. “You what? How could you make that kind of decision without me? I’m her mother, Ty. Don’t you think we should have discussed a decision like that? I can’t believe you did this.” She sat up more and pointed at me. “You need to call him back and tell him never mind. It ain’t happenin’. She’s not movin’ to Kentucky.”

I stood up and paced around the room, unable to let this option go. “Miranda, think about it. She’s suffering, and so are we. It’s not forever. I asked them to keep her for four weeks. I get that it’s a long time, but what other choices do we have? We’re losing her. I’m losing her. It’s killing me and you know it. Please. I’m begging you here. Please let me try to save our family.”

She got up on her knees and put her hands on her hips. “You think that movin’ her out is goin’ to help?”

“Right now she thinks that she’s in control. She’s purposely trying to hurt me, because I hurt her. I get it, and if I could take it back or make things better, I’d do whatever it took. We’ve tried being nice and even taking away her favorite things. Nothing has changed and you know it. Even Colt agreed that if we send her away she’ll realize what she’s giving up. I’m not doing it because I don’t want her around. I’m doing it because I want my daughter back.” I could feel myself starting to get emotional, and it was stupid to hide my feelings from someone that could read me the way she could. “Miranda, I don’t have to tell you how much I love Iz. She’s my sunshine. Without her in my life, I feel like I can’t breathe. This silence between us is killing me. I can’t take knowing she’s in the next room resenting everything I’ve ever done for her. I hate all of this. Can you honestly tell me that we have any other options?”

She shrugged and looked down, and I looked away to wipe my eyes.

“Have you considered that this plan of yours won’t work? Ty, I can see how hurt you are, and I’m hurt too. I want Bella back as much as you do. I just don’t want to get my hopes up and have this not work. I don’t want to count on it, because I know how much it hurts when it doesn’t go the right way.”

I climbed on the bed and put my hands on her knees. “Baby, I won’t stop trying until things get back to the way they were before. I can’t let myself.”

Miranda pulled away and lay back down. She flipped over and hugged her pillow. Sobs followed, and I knew she needed time to think. I don’t think she was angry at my plan. She was just hurt that I’d arranged it without her.

After a couple minutes, when I realized that she wasn’t going to discuss it anymore, I climbed under the covers and decided to try to get some sleep.

I wish it would have been easy to close my eyes and pretend that everything was going to go as planned. After talking to my wife, I was more convinced that this plan of mine could go as badly as all the other things we’d tried before it.

If Izzy wanted to separate herself from me, I was going to give her the space she wanted. I was going to send her as far away as I could and hope and pray that it would bring her back to me. I had to try this, because if I had to spend one more day of her hating me and doing everything she could to hurt me, I was going to lose my mind.

For hours I lay awake, just staring at the ceiling. The more I thought about things, the more anxious I’d become. Now my wife was furious with me, so much so that she’d gone to bed and refused to talk it out, after we’d promised never to go to bed angry. We were supposed to be having a romantic getaway, and instead we
were ending it like two people that didn’t want to be near each other.

I was afraid of this, afraid
of losing my wife because I let my own selfish emotions get in the way. We should have been working together to solve things, but I found myself pulling away from everyone.

I looked over at my sleeping wife and ran my fingers through her blonde hair. She meant so much to me, my whole family did. I didn’t want to be estranged from any of them. My boys needed their father and my wife needed her husband. I just wished that my daughter needed her daddy, the way I needed her.

Chapter 32

Miranda

I wasn’t just angry that Ty had called Colt and Van. I was hurt that he’d not included me in his plan.

The next morning I woke up, anxious to get on the road and get home. I didn’t want to piddle around at the beach when I knew what awaited us.

Ty was quiet, offering to drive, but saying nothing as we loaded up the car and got on our way. I hated that we were fighting when it was more obvious than ever that we needed to stick together. Bella was determined to form a wedge between us, and we were letting it happen, without even realizing that it was.

Even if I didn’t agree with Ty’s idea, I felt obligated to see it through, because I would have done anything to make things go back to the way they were before.

I cuddled up next to him as he drove, and finally after about an hour, I’d made my decision. “Are you sure Colt and Van are okay with all this?”

He clenched his jaw. “They said they’d do anything to help us.”

“She’s expectin’ to be punished when she gets home, so I guess we can tell her then.”

“At first she’s probably going to act happy about it. I’ve tried to prepare myself for that.”

He was right. She’d want to be with Noah and be away from us. It could only be expected. “I know, but I trust you, Ty. If you think this could bring her back to us, I’m willin’ to try it.”

He reached over and grabbed my hand, but kept his eyes on the road. “Thank you, baby. I felt like shit last night over it. The last thing I wanted to do was upset you. I don’t want to fight, not with you or our daughter.”

How was it that we were going through such drama? What had we done to deserve it? I thought we’d been through enough when Bella had gotten sick. I figured that our problems were over when she’d started getting better. Now, we had another catastrophe on our hands. “I don’t want to fight either, especially considerin’ that I’m goin’ to be a mess until she’s back home with us.”