Underestimated Too (22 page)

‘Holy fuck, dude,’ Derik exclaimed, watching my
striking, beautiful wife descend the stairs.

She was wearing a red gown, slit clear up her right
leg with skin showing well below her breasts. I had to shake my own head and
remind myself that she was nothing, that she didn’t mean anything to me.”

“Do you remember that day, Morgan?” Deidra asked,
noticing the small smile, I was trying to hide.

“Yes, I remember it well. Drew actually had to pick
up his jaw when he saw me,” I grinned at Drew.

He smiled back, with half a smile.

Why was I so in love with this man?

Drew resumed his story, “Grabbing her elbow and
shoving her in front of me, I demanded, ‘Let’s go.’ Unable to keep from looking
at her ass as she moved to the back seat, my eyebrows rose. I was glad Skyler
was out of town. I closed the glass between Derik and the backseat. I guess
that was a little trait picked up from Michael too. He liked privacy and made
it known that his business was his business. Morgan scooted closer to the door,
afraid that I was going to touch her, I presume. I wasn’t, not yet anyway.”

“That’s exactly why I scooted away, but you smelled
amazing,” I teased.

Drew smiled and continued his narration, “I gave
Morgan instructions on how to act for the night, ‘You don’t speak one word
here. Do you understand?’ Morgan nodded so I continued. ‘If Mr. Callaway speaks
to you, you’re to say nothing but yes or no.’

‘Mr. Callaway?’

‘Yes, he’ll be the one in a wheelchair, older
gentleman. Just smile a lot and stay by my side. Do not answer any questions
that you know nothing about. If he asks if you’re happy and have everything you
need your answer is to be yes. You got it?’

‘Who is he?’

‘Don’t worry about who he is. Follow my orders,
Morgan or you’ll be sorry,’ I warned with a patronizing threat. She didn’t
reply. She was too flabbergasted by the Vegas strip, the mesmerizing lights,
and the multitude of people, bringing the city to life.”

“I was mesmerized that night. I remember feeling so
excited to be in Las Vegas. It was a dream come true. Well, not really, it was
more of a dream come Drew,” I decided. It wasn’t like Drew was ever going to
let me explore the city. He still wouldn’t let me do that.

Drew laughed at my last comment and continued. “Derik
drove us right downtown to the front door of Cascadence, an elaborate, maybe a
little too extreme dwelling for the richest of the rich. My plan was to make an
appearance and get the fuck out of there as soon as I could. Maybe Morgan would
fall ill or something. I wasn’t staying. I walked in front of Morgan, and Derik
walked behind her. Jena met him at the door. I shot him a dirty look when he
introduced Morgan as my wife.

‘What? She knows what’s going on,’ Derik argued.

‘Keep your mouth shut,’ I warned both him and
Morgan, shifting my eyes from one to the other.”

“You were with Skyler that night,” I said, sitting
up straight. It dawned on me while thinking about that night. Drew left the
room and went with Skyler that night.

“I was, but nothing happened,” Drew answered.

“Yeah, sure. I have got to be the stupidest woman on
this planet. Can you fix that, Deidra?”

“Morgan, we didn’t really like each other then. What
is your deal? Will you let me finish? You’re the one that wanted me to talk,
remember?”

“You know why, Drew? Because I have nothing to talk
about during that time. I wasn’t out fucking anyone else. I wasn’t jumping on a
plane every week. I wasn’t chasing every short skirt in Vegas. I wasn’t fucking
doing anything because you wouldn’t let me,” I accused, raising my voice.
Deidra never said a word. What the hell were we even paying her for?

“I want to talk about that, Morgan, but not yet.
Okay?” Drew calmly said, wrapping his fingers around my wrist.

I jerked it away, and crossed my arms, waiting to
see what else Skyler and Drew did that night. I would get up and walk out if he
talked about fucking her.

Drew continued with the rest of his story, “I shot
Morgan a stern look. ‘I’m going to step out for a second, but I have Derik
watching you. You don’t talk to Mr. Callaway or anyone else while I am away
from the table, understand?’

 Morgan obediently replied, ‘Yes.’

I excused myself after returning Morgan to our
table. I didn’t have to look far.

Skyler was just through the doors, pacing the floor,
wrathfully. ‘That’s why you told me not to hurry back. You wanted me out of
town, didn’t you, Drew?’

‘Shhh, come here, Sky. It’s not what you think.’

‘Then what is it, Drew? Who the hell is she?’ Taking
a deep breath, I spilled.

‘I should have told you about this months ago. I
should have let you know why you couldn’t come to the mansion and why I had to
keep you hidden.’

Skyler was obviously confused. ‘What the hell are
you talking about?’

            Hesitantly,
I confessed, ‘Morgan is my wife.’

Skyler’s eyes widened in shock, her expression was
disoriented like she couldn’t respond. ‘Morgan? Your wife?’

‘Yes, I didn’t think she’d still be here. Callaway
changed his will. He left it all to his granddaughter, Morgan.’

‘Drew, you’re making no sense. How can Callaway have
a granddaughter? Michael was his only child.’

‘Michael is her father. He told Callaway about her
the day he died. Callaway insisted that I either marry her and take care of
her, or pack up and move on without a dime. I didn’t have a choice, Sky. I was
hoping he’d be dead by now. It wasn’t supposed to be for this long. I thought
for sure he’d be dead by now. She was supposed to be out of the picture by
now.’

 ‘You have a fucking wife?’

‘Skyler, it’s not like that.’

‘Do you have sex with her?’

‘Of course not. We don’t even see each other. She
lives upstairs in her own room. I didn’t even want to bring her to this thing.
Randal made me.’

‘Why didn’t you tell me?’

‘I told you, I didn’t think she’d still be here. Callaway
is supposed to be dead.’

‘So what, Drew? Am I supposed to just be the other
woman? You know I’m not going to do that. I can’t believe this. What? Is this
like some sort of joke? Are there hidden cameras around here? This is absurd,’
Skyler blurted going from one sentence to another.

‘Skyler, come here,’ I demanded, pulling her into my
arms. I couldn’t lose Skyler. I loved Skyler. I’d been in love with Skyler
since the first time I saw her almost three years ago. ‘Just let it ride for a
little while. I’ll figure something out,’ I promised her, and then pulled away
from her when the door opened. Callaway was running his mouth about my new
wife. I couldn’t be seen with her.

Skyler shook her head, knowing exactly what had just
happened, why I pulled away. ‘You look me up when you’re ready for me. I’m not
playing second best to you or anyone else. You should know that about me, if
you know nothing else. Do you really think you’re the only guy that wants me?’ she
asked, looking at me with pure disgust. I knew Skyler was right. Skyler was
beautiful. She’d have another man on her arm before the night was out. That
infuriated me even more. I wasn’t sure I could handle seeing that. I watched
Skyler walk through the swinging doors and right out of my life.”

“And I was once again the cause of all your
problems,” I stated, looking to Drew. “I don’t want to hear the rest. I know
the rest. I know what happened that night, every last detail, and I don’t think
we need to discuss it,” I assured him.

“How about we just talk about how you were feeling
that night, Drew, leave out the specifics?” Deidra offered.

“Okay, well, you remember what happened in the—”

“Clearly,” I assured Drew.

But Drew, again, kept on talking. “I ordered Morgan
to go to her room as soon as we were in the door. ‘Retire for the night,’ I
said, seeing Rebecca. She scurried off to her quarters behind the kitchen. I
noticed the look of encouragement she transmitted to Morgan as they dashed in
different directions. I went up the stairs and headed down the cold, dim lit
hall. Glancing up, I reminded myself to get rid of the ugly paintings lining
the wall to Michael’s room. Paintings of dead safari animals that the two
Callaway men had shot over the years. That was one thing I never did want from
either of them. I hated the thought of shooting an innocent animal for
pleasure. The air was heavy and thicker than smoke before I ever reached his door.”

Door? Whose door.

 “I felt a surge of nervous energy when I placed my
hand on the handle of his bedroom door, another room I wanted to burn to the
ground. I hadn’t been in that room in years, never felt the need to ever go
back in there until now. I wouldn’t even go in there when Michael was dying and
my mother begged me to come and say hi. I wanted him dead, I was only there to
console my mother, not him. I knew Michael had a toy box. I’d seen it and I
wanted to find it. His daughter was going to play and entertain me.”

I sucked in an unnoticeable long breath of air. That
was a bad night, a really bad night, and hearing Drew describe things I knew
nothing about, left me feeling helpless. He blamed me.

“I pushed open the door to the dark room, feeling
death linger from Michael’s absence. Nobody had touched it since he’d passed.
Pill bottles aplenty, a half bottle of water, and needles decorated the night
stand. The hospital bed had been stripped and flattened. The chill in that room
left my skin feeling like ice, and I shuddered from the unwanted sensation. Strolling
over to the adjacent door, I peaked in but didn’t walk all the way through. The
empty mirrored room was just as I remembered. Michael’s grandfather had built
the room for his daughter, Randal Callaway’s sister. It had one of those
stationary dance bars running across the mirror, a small bath, and an apartment
sized refrigerator. I wouldn’t wish that torture on anyone. You can’t even
begin to know what spending days in a locked room with nothing but darkness
does to your sanity. I eventually learned, or tried to anyway, to do what
Michael wanted me to do. Some things still landed me in that room and I’d end
up doing them anyway.”

“Drew? You were locked in the gym?” I asked shocked.

“I was, and you want to know what I thought about as
I stood there?”

 “What?”

“I thought about you. I wondered if you were always
so wet because you secretly liked the things that I did to you.”

“Drew,” I warned with a look. Why the hell did he
freely say whatever was on his mind in front of this woman? Was he right? Had I
always liked it? “I didn’t like that night,” I assured him thinking about it. Well,
not all of it anyway.

“Let’s stop here,” Deidra requested, looking at the
ticking clock over our heads. She probably had the next screwed up couple to
get to. I wondered if there was anyway another couple could be as screwed up as
we were. Nah, not likely.

I spent the next couple weeks with Alicia, trying to
get them ready to move into Callaway’s estate. Celeste had men working in the
kitchen, redoing the ugly tile, having new carpet laid in the baby’s and
Vincent’s room, new carpet in the master and living room, and having a wall
knocked out to open up the dining room to the living room. Alicia wasn’t happy
about any of it. She was fine with it the way it was, but like me, she did what
Celeste wanted.

“Alicia, how can I get a copy of Michael’s death
certificate?” I asked, holding the tiny baby while she painted pink trees.
Nicholas played with an unused paintbrush, banging it on the paint pan Alicia
had given him. He could care less about the diaper-bag full of toys. He had
something new.

“What do you mean? Doesn’t Drew have that
someplace?” she asked, not turning to look at me while meticulously outlining
the pink with a darker pink on a branch.

“I can’t ask him. You should know that by now.”

“What do you want it for?”

“I found a key to a deposit box. That’s where I went
when Drew called you that day. They wouldn’t give me access without
identification.”

“What do you think is in the box? Why not just give
the key to Drew and tell him?”

“I don’t know. I want to see it before he does. I think
he forgot about it.”

“I don’t think so.”

“Why do you think that?”

“Because he was here a couple weeks ago, tearing the
office apart, looking for a key.”

“He was? Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I didn’t know it was important, and I didn’t know
you had it. You should probably just give it to him.”

“I can’t now. He’d be furious because I didn’t tell
him.”

“Tell him you found it today, cleaning or
something.”

“No, just don’t say anything to Celeste about it.
I’ll wait. I need to get in his office, do some investigating.”

“Like that’s going to happen. You’re watched in every
room of your house. You can’t even get out of the man’s sight.”