The Legend (31 page)

“I don’t
want to go.” I voiced my concern, not that it meant anything these days. “I
want to stay home.”

“You know
what? You’re a jerk.” Casten said completely serious all of sudden drinking the
same milk Tommy just did.

“Tommy
just drank from that.”

“Asshole,”
he spit the milk back in the container.

“That’s
awesome.” Tommy said apparently satisfied and then stood. “Let’s go. Traffic is
a bitch this time of the day.”

We left
around noon that Wednesday night for Jacksonville Beach. My parents owned a
condo there which Casten had somehow talked them into using for the night. It
must have been my mom’s permission he obtained because dad would have never
allowed that sort of thing after the street fire incident.

All I knew
was that I just wanted to get this over with and get on with the wedding. This
whole thing had gotten way out of hand. I was beginning to understand why Tommy
had never got married. Just the wedding was enough for most to say, “Nah.”

Feature – Jameson

“I can’t
understand why you would let them go there alone.” I shook my head at my wife.
“Casten isn’t even fifteen yet and Axel has no clue what he’s in for with Tommy
and Willie with them.”

“Oh just
let them be boys.” Sway said curling up on the couch with her ice cream and a
book. “Axel would probably like it if you went.”

“It’s his
bachelor party. Why would he want his dad there?”

“For moral
support,” she sighed giving me a look of don’t be stupid. “Think about who
went.”

She had a
point. Tommy was
not
an adult. I don’t care how old Tommy was and Cole
had an arrest record worse than Spencer and I combined. If I was honest with
you, I was sure Willie had been to prison at some point in his life, or
recently.

After an
hour, I decided to take Spencer with me to Jacksonville. They needed
supervision. I wasn’t having my condo set on fire too.

Spencer
was all for a night of partying but I had to remind him we were going for
supervision and not to act like children.

We were
only about two hours behind the boys so when we got there, I didn’t think it
could be that bad already.

I was
wrong.

Casten,
Willie and Tommy had Axel strapped down with tie downs dumping shots of
Fireball down his throat while he kicked and screamed and Lane took pictures
and Cole video tapped it.

It was
like a torture chamber.

Axel was
never a big drinker. He was more into racing and didn’t have time for alcohol.
They were determined to get him drunk tonight. And I do mean determined.

“You guys
are going to kill him.” I told them setting a case of beer on the granite
countertop in the kitchen.

Axel was
squirming around coughing and gagging and mumbling something about leaving and
killing his brother.

Casten
leaned back in his chair with his fingers linked behind his neck and an amused
look on his face. “Uh-huh.”

Axel
jumped up and tackled him knocking him to the floor.

“I swear
to god Casten, I will kick your ass if you don’t stop.” He let him go after
that and stomped down the hall to the bathroom, locking the door. “Leave me
alone!”

Casten’s
grin was getting wider as I got worried about what he had actually planned. His
lips curved into a broad smile. “This just keeps getting better and better.”

“For you or him?”
I laughed taking a beer from the case.

“Me,
naturally,”

It took
nearly four hours to get Axel out of the bathroom and I think the only reason
he came out was because he was hungry.

Spencer
and I sat back with our case of beer and watched the night unfold. The boys
were entertaining and reminded me a lot of us in ways. It was like being an
outsider to some of the madness we created at their age.

To our
surprise, Axel willingly started drinking around ten that night when Casten
showed him a picture Arie took of Lily and a strip poll. Apparently, he told
her he wouldn’t do anything crazy, turns out; she didn’t exactly say the same.

So while
his soon to be bride was pole dancing, he was behaving. That all changed after
that text message and I saw a side of my son I never knew existed. It was
actually like watching a video of
myself
at nineteen.

“It’s my
fucking bachelor party! Where are the girls?” Axel was loud, crude and
wondering where the entertainment was.

Casten
assured him it was about to go down when the doorbell rang.

I nearly
fell out of my goddamn chair when this girl walked in wearing nothing,
absolutely
nothing
and climbed in Axel’s lap while
Cherry Pie
by Warrant
blasted through the room.

He looked
as though he wanted to die. Pretty much the same reaction all of us had, aside
from Casten and Tommy who’d supposedly arranged this.

“I’m
leaving.” I told Spencer and walked outside while the girl wiggled around on my
son’s lap. He was so drunk at that point; I doubted he even realized what was
happening.

I snuck a
couple glances from the balcony to be sure Axel didn’t do anything he’d regret
in the morning but other than that, I stayed out of the way.

That was
until Tommy came out.

“Jameson?”
he called completely shit faced and stumbling onto the deck outside.

“Yeah?”
I leaned
forward in the chair I was sitting in so he could see me by the railing. “I’m
out here.”

“We have a
tiny problem.” Tommy appeared, red faced and nervous.

“What?”

“The cops
are here for a noise disturbance.” He said shuffling his feet, a sure sign
Tommy had fucked up.

“I told
you the music was too loud.” I stood reaching for my beer.

“That’s
not exactly the worst part.”

My eyes
narrowed at him as his hands rose quickly defending himself. “I had no part of
this.”

Pushing
past him, I heard the pounding on the door while Casten was laughing
hysterically on the floor with the girl and Axel. “What’s this?”

“Part of
the problem,” Tommy said on the verge of laughing himself.

“What’s
the problem then?” I pressed throwing a blanket over the naked girl.

“Well
...
” Tommy squeaked suppressing a laugh. “She’s
an actual prostitute and we have three kids here under age and drinking.”

They
can’t be serious?

“Please
tell me you’re joking?” More pounding on the door occurred with more laughing
from the boys and the girl. “How in the hell did you get a prostitute?”

“Open the
door sir, this is the Jacksonville police!”

“I know
that—just a minute!” I hollered and turned back to Tommy and Lane who suddenly
appeared with Spencer.

“They’re
...
oh god.” He chuckled taking in the scene in
front of him. “What happened in here?” Spencer asked smiling at the girl who
was now standing.

I leaned
over and covered her with a blanket again but she just shrugged it off and
danced down the hall to the bathroom.

“Hold up,
I’m coming with you.” Cole followed her. “I’m not waiting around for the
police.”

Lane
pushed Casten, who wouldn’t stop laughing, down the hall. “Hide in the closet
giggles.”

I turned
to Spencer, Willie and Tommy. “Keep your fucking mouths shut.”

Willie
rushed to the sink and then puked in it.

Drawing a
deep breath, I pulled open the door. “Hello officers. Sorry about the noise.”

Tommy and
Spencer snickered behind me. It’s hard to believe they were in their forties
but had the mental stability of an eighteen-year old.

“Can we
come inside?” One officer asked while the other peeked over my shoulder.

“I’d
rather you didn’t.” I smiled politely. “My wife and I are celebrating our
anniversary. If you know what I mean.” I waggled my eyebrows at the end hoping
they bought the story.

The
officers exchanged a glance and then smiled. “Just keep it down, Mr. Riley.”

I never
said my name. Oh
fucking
well. If my fame got me out of a potential
legal issue from a prostitute and underage drinking, by all means, let it.

“Thank
you.”

When I
closed the door, Tommy and Spencer burst out laughing and Willie puked again.

“Listen
you assholes,” I grabbed Tommy by the shirt and kicked Spencer when he fell to
the ground. “Clean this place up and get that girl out of here!”

Walking
back into the bedroom where the boys were, I chuckled at their conversation in
the closet.

All four
were crammed in a small closet with the girl, still naked.

I stood
outside for a moment, listening. It was clear I had no idea what they were
actually talking about.

“By the
way,” Cole said. “I hate to point this out right now but people go to prison
for this shit.”

I assumed
he was talking about the prostitute at this point so I opened the door.

“Nice.”
Casten shook his head at Cole, disgusted. “Where the
fuck are
your balls these days?”

“Ask your
sister.” Cole replied cockily.

I don’t
think he actually thought before he said that. After all, she was his cousin.

“My god,”
Casten slapped his shoulder, “you’re not very bright, are you?”

“No, he’s
not.” Lane added shaking his head at his younger brother. “She’s your cousin
dude, that’s
really
wrong.”

“All
right, let’s go.” I said smacking the door with my fist so they all noticed me.
“Get out of the closet.”

The girl
was so drunk by that point that she was curled up in Axel’s lap, sleeping. Axel
wasn’t any better as he was passed out drooling.

I took my
boys and left. I wasn’t about to let either of them get arrested and more
importantly, sleep with that girl.

Casten
wasn’t willing to leave and put up a pretty good fight but surrendered in the
end when I told him he could find a new place to live if he didn’t leave with
me. I had a feeling he’d be thirty and still wanting to live at home. As long
as he continued to work, I didn’t see that big of a problem with it. Don’t get
me wrong, no one wants their kids living with them forever but Casten wasn’t a
bad kid and didn’t take advantage of us. He just liked living at home.

I blamed
Sway for that. She fed him too well.

“That was
the greatest night of my life!” Casten announced stumbling into the car.

“You said
that the night you set the street on fire.” I reminded him buckling Axel in who
still hadn’t woken up.

“At that
time it was the greatest night of my life
...
until
tonight.”

On the way
home that night, I thought about what I’d do if my kids never moved out.

Axel had
his own place now but after Aries’ ordeal with Brian; I didn’t want her moving
out. And Sway didn’t want Casten moving out for obvious attachment reasons.

We were
screwed.

Sway was
up, in bed, going over schedules when I got home around six that morning. I
dropped Casten and Axel off at his condo and hurried home to be with her. I was
somewhat relieved that I left the rest of those jerks in Jacksonville because I
knew they’d be invading my house tonight if they would have come with us.

“How’d it
go?” Sway asked snuggling against my side. Her cold feet pressed gingerly to my
bare legs testing whether I’d move them away. I didn’t, instead I let her warm
them against me.

“It was
horrible.”

“Why?”

“Your
‘baby boy’ hired a prostitute.”

“He
didn’t?” she looked up at me horrified. “You’re joking, right?”

“Nope,” I
pulled the blankets up higher and leaned over to flick the switch for the
fireplace.

“That’s
not good,” Sway said snuggling back against my chest.

“You know
...
these last two will never leave.”

“That’s
all right.” She smiled kissing my cheek. “I kind of like them.”

Like I
said, it’s not like they were mooching from us.

Arie was
working on Axel’s fan club and his charity with Children’s hospitals. She also
took care of his website, Facebook and Twitter accounts making sure they all
stayed up to date.

And
Casten, he was still in high school. When he wasn’t in school, he worked at the
JAR Racing with the boys and frequently traveled with his brother to learn more
about what Willie and Tommy did. He was taking an interest in being a crew
chief, something I knew he would be good at.