Out at Home (16 page)

She stormed out of the living room and locked herself away in the bedroom.

Taylor fidgeted nervously on the couch. Her eyes darted back and forth between the door and the clock. Tabby had called nearly forty-five minutes ago and said they’d landed and were on their way home. Tabby wanted her to come over - she wanted to talk to her about the photos. Alex, too.

Taylor was still deciding whether or not to go.

The team had played an early game in Green Bay and had flown home immediately after in order for them to rest up for the upcoming series with San Diego. Taylor knew she’d not be able to avoid them as tomorrow was a travel day for San Diego and the Racers had a day off.

Standing, she started tidying up her already immaculate home. Her frantic brain was overloaded with questions. Should she go? Should she stay home and lock herself away again? Should she just call Brady? Confront him alone?

She sighed and plopped back down on the couch. Zoey had forwarded the email to Tabby and Taylor figured Brady had to have seen it by now. He’d stopped calling her, at least. She had no idea if Jason was still with the team or if he’d crawled back under a rock, as Tia had so elegantly put it.

The shril ring of her cell startled her and she jumped out of her thoughts and grabbed the phone. It was Tabby again.

“Taylor, you need to come over,” Tabby urged, forgoing any kind of polite greeting.

Taylor sighed. “I know. I will.”

“Good. You need to hear the whole story.”

“Is….” Taylor swallowed nervously. “Is Brady there?”

“Yeah. And he’s very upset. You need to talk to him. You can talk to him privately here if you want, don’t worry.” Taylor nodded. “Okay, I’ll be there in a few.”

After the call, she dashed to her bedroom to change. She threw off the grungy shorts and t-shirt she’d been moping around in and put on her favorite pair of cropped pants with a white halter. She didn’t know why, but for some reason, she didn’t want Brady to see her looking such a mess.

She washed her face and put her long hair back in a neat pony tail. She slipped on her flip flops, shoved her phone into her messenger bag, and headed out the door. She took a deep breath as she got in her car and started on her way to Tabby’s.

***

The trembling in Taylor's hands increased when she pulled up to Tabby's house and saw all the cars parked in front.

What was everyone doing there? Hadn't Tabby said that no one would be there but maybe Brady?

No. No, she hadn't. But still - this was ridiculous. How was she supposed to face everyone after she'd been screwed over by Brady again?

She parked behind Tia’s car, taking calm, relaxing breaths. Her first instinct was to run back home and hide - but something else inside of her told her to keep her head up and face these people. They probably wanted to explain somehow - stick up for Brady. They were
his
friends, after all, not hers.

She'd let them have their say. Hell, she might even pay a bit of attention to whatever it was that they wanted to say. But she was
not
going down the Brady Nolan road again. She was done with him.

Figuring that they were probably sitting on the deck, drinking beers and cooking burgers, she opened the gate and slipped through, figuring she might as well face it and get it over with. That’s what her father would tell her if he was there. She grabbed at the locket that was tucked neatly under her shirt to draw strength as she stepped onto the deck.

“Hi,” she said weakly.

All heads turned to look at her. Tabby rushed forward to hug her and she couldn't stop thinking that these people were Brady's friends.

“How are you?” Tabby gushed as she wrapped an arm around Taylor's shoulder, leading her to a chair.

Taylor shrugged as she took the seat Tabby had indicated. Inside she was trembling like crazy but on the outside she was managing to hang onto a cool façade.

“I’m okay.”

Her eyes roamed the deck, seeing who exactly was there to witness her latest humiliation. Zoey sat across from her; Alex sat on the rail with Mark, while Tia and Kyle huddled near Brady in the corner. She briefly caught his eye before ducking her head.

“You want something to drink, Taylor?” Alex asked, getting to his feet.

“Just water, please,” she answered.

He dug a water bottle out of the cooler near his feet and walked it over to her.

“Relax,” he whispered. “We just want to explain what happened.”

She nodded, swallowing a lump in her throat. She would not break down. Not here, not now.

“Zoey forwarded that email to me,” Tabby started, taking a seat next to Taylor. “She also told me what Jason said to you before we left on the road trip.”

Taylor just nodded numbly as studied the condensation on her water bottle. She hated how everyone present knew - and hated how they all thought they had to stick their noses in her business. Why couldn't they leave her alone to lick her wounds? Why couldn't they just let her tell Brady what a prick he was so she could be on her way?

She couldn’t look at Brady even though she could feel his eyes burning into her skin.

“Maybe they should talk this out alone,” Mark suggested.

“No,” Brady said loudly, jumping to his feet. “I don’t care who hears this. It’s just a load of shit and you all know it anyway.” Taylor’s eyes widened at the tone of his voice but she bowed her head again. What happened to the courage she'd summoned before entering the backyard?

Her hand instinctively reached for the locket.

“Listen to me, Taylor,” Brady said as he stood over her. “You know I’d never do that to you. And you know what a jerk Jason is. He kept pushing Gretchen on me that night and I kept pushing her away. Yeah, she kissed me, but I didn’t return it. I shook her off me and told her to stop. I don’t want her. I only want you.”

Anger surged through her veins and she stood to face him. “Really? Didn’t look like it from my point of view. And what about that last picture, huh? The one where you couldn’t wait to get her in that hotel room?”

He barked out a sarcastic laugh. “She was drunk. I was helping her to her room. She was trying to get me to join her but I wouldn’t. I asked Jason to help me with her but he kept telling me to just give her what she wanted.” Kyle walked over to stand next to Brady. “It’s true, Taylor. Brady called me to help and when I got there, the door was wide open and I could see that she was all over him and wouldn’t let him go. Jason was laughing and egging her on. We finally unlatched her from Brady and left. By that time, Jason was nowhere around.”

“What I don’t get,” Brady continued, shooting her a cold glare. “Is why you didn’t tell me what Jason said to you.” Taylor shrugged, steeling her spine. “Because I knew you’d laugh it off like you do everything he says. He is your best friend, after all.” Brady’s glare hardened. “He might have been at one time, but he’s not any longer. I see what he is: I’m not totally blind. Don’t you know you’re more important to me than he could ever be?”

“I….” she stammered, not knowing what to say, her resolve quickly weakening.

“Yeah, I know,” Brady said, the anger rising in his voice. “You still don’t trust me. I don’t think you ever will so what’s the point?” She bowed her head and swallowed back the tears trying to surface. She wished more than anything that she hadn't come. She wished that she would have just stayed home.

“Forget it,” Brady muttered as he pushed past her and stomped out the gate.

“Brady, man,” Kyle called as he chased after him. “Hang on.” He disappeared out of the gate behind Brady.

Taylor dropped back to her seat, keeping her head down. Her mind frantically tried to process what had just happened.

“Taylor,” Tabby said in a soft voice as she took her hand. “I think Brady has a point.” Taylor's head shot up as she looked Tabby in the eye. “No.”

“Think about it,” Tabby continued. “He’s done just about everything he can to show you that he loves you and he was sorry for what happened but it doesn’t seem to be enough.”

Taylor yanked her hand out of Tabby’s and stood. “I forgave him for all that high school crap. You mean to tell me that if someone emailed you pictures like that of Alex, you wouldn’t question it?”

“Of course I would,” Tabby agreed. “But I would’ve asked him about them.”

“Taylor, he was extremely angry when Tabby showed him those pictures,” Alex added. “He told us that he’d never cheated before. He said he hated people like that. And he told us he’d especially never do that to you.” Nodding, Taylor bit her lip.

“Honey,” Tia said from her corner. She got up and walked over to the rest of them crowding around Taylor. “You’ve had so much to deal with, I know. You lost your mother and then had to move to a new town and not only take care of a little brother, but your father also. I know I wasn’t there at that time, but I know what you went through.”

Edging away from everyone, Taylor stood up to pace. “That has nothing to do with this situation.”

“Maybe it does,” Tabby put in. “Maybe you’re so used to being the…I don’t know…victim, that you just automatically assume you’re going to be wronged again.”

“I do not enjoy playing the victim,” Taylor said, appalled. She stopped her frantic pacing. “Do you all actually think I
like
feeling this way?”

“That’s not what she’s saying, Taylor,” Zoey pleaded. “She just means maybe you jump to the worst conclusions because of everything that’s happened in your life.”

“Taylor, they’re right,” Tia added.

Taylor turned to Tia, jaw dropped. “You’re supposed to be my best friend and you’re siding with them?”

“No one’s siding with anyone,” Tia said, approaching Taylor slowly. “But I’ve known you longer than they have and I know your history. And I think that
because
of your history, you decided he was guilty without even giving him a chance to explain.” Shaking her head, she dropped it and watched as her tears fell to the wood of the deck. “Why are you persecuting me? I’m not the one who had my picture taken with some tramp in a hotel room.”

“No one’s persecuting you,” Tabby said.

“Look,” Taylor said in resignation, lifting her chin. “I need to get out of here and figure this out for myself.” She hurried out of the gate, ignoring their calls. She jumped into her car, gunned the engine, and zipped out of the ritzy subdivision. She yanked her sunglasses off the visor and forced them over her eyes to hide her tears from passing motorists.

Something vibrated against her stomach. Glancing down, she noticed that she hadn’t removed her messenger bag when she'd hopped into the car. Her cell phone was going off inside so she pulled over, unbuckled her seat belt and removed her bag.

Retrieving her cell phone, she checked the screen. It was Tia.

She jammed her phone back in her bag, red hot fury roiling in her gut. She had absolutely nothing to say to any of them.

Angry fire shot through her veins as their words penetrated the thick cloud of despair lingering in her head. She buckled up, checked her mirrors, and entered traffic again.

What right did they have? Why did they think they had a say in her relationship with Brady? And how had they all of sudden become experts on her life?

She drove around for awhile, realizing she had nowhere to go. Finally, she exited the highway and headed to a little tavern she had frequented with Josh in early spring while he'd been working on a story. No one would think to look for her there and she desperately needed a break.

She sat on a stool at the bar and smiled at the bartender. He recognized her immediately.

“Taylor?” he asked with a smile. He wasn’t handsome in the movie star sort of way, but his charming grin probably melted many hearts. “You’re Josh’s friend, right?”

Taylor nodded. “Yeah. How are you, Ray?”

“Good. Is Josh joining you?”

Her heart sank to her knees. “No, I’m here alone.”

Frowning, Ray leaned his forearms on the scrubbed bar. “Everything okay?”

With a shrug, she gave him a weak smile. “Yeah. Just had a long day and since I’m not much of a bar hopper, I thought I’d come here. I remembered how nice this place was.”

He snorted. “This dump? What’ll you have?”

“Just a beer, please,” she requested, reaching inside her bag for her wall et.

He pushed a bottle in front of her. “No. It’s on the house. It’s not very often someone comes in and calls this place nice.” Three hours and eight beers later, Ray came over to check on her. The little tavern was starting to fill up and he’d had to leave her on her own to take care of his many customers.

“Ray,” Taylor said, her head spinning. “Do you know what I’ve always wanted to do but never have?”

“What’s that?” he asked, amusement sparkling in his dark eyes.

“A shot of Tequila.”

His brows rose to his hairline. “Seriously?”

She giggled. “Yeah. It looks so cool.”

With a lift of his shoulder, he grabbed a bottle full of amber liquid off of a high shelf behind the bar. “Okay, but there’s a method.” He put two shot glasses, a salt shaker, and two wedges of lemon on a napkin on the bar. “Some people use lime but I prefer lemon.” He filled the shot glasses and pushed one at her. “First, you have to lick your hand between your thumb and index finger, then you sprinkle a little salt on that spot. After that, you lick the salt, do the shot, and suck on the lemon. Got it?” A wobbly Taylor nodded, trying to focus on his instructions. Watching as he licked his hand, she mimicked him. He sprinkled the salt before passing the shaker to her. She did the same and waited until he smiled and nodded. At the same time, they licked off the salt, drank the shot, and then grabbed the lemons.

She shuddered and her eyes watered as the liquid burned its way down her throat. She sucked on the lemon, hoping to relieve the awful sensation, but ended up coughing horribly. Ray chuckled and placed a fresh beer bottle in front of her.

“Drink that. It’ll help.”

She couldn’t even smile her thanks - instead she grabbed the bottle and chugged half of it. She set the bottle down and looked at Ray through blurry eyes. “Wow, that was awful.”

Ray laughed. “Yeah. Aren’t you glad you did it?”

She giggled. “Yep. Shal we do another?”