That was my first thought, then I caught on the tone of her voice and the pissed off look she had and my next was run Cal run.
What did he do, the fucker tempted fate and rolled his eyes. Tayla was the coolest strongest chick I know besides my girl and I wanted to comfort her the minute I saw the hurt roll in. She hid it quick, miss independent, but I saw it and decided then and there Cal was an asshole. I hated when chicks cried.
I didn’t know what to say so I did the guy thing and took a shot pretending like fuck I never asked. Tay said nothing when she turned and walked out, herSmartphonein her hand like usual. I wondered if she was onFacebookupdating her status to ‘pissed the fuck off’.
“Dude.” I say when she is safely outside. Cal rolls his eyes and groans.
“She’s hot.”
“Dude, it’s Tay.”
“Dude, I know.” He says and wiggles his brows like a complete douche.
I just shake my head and decide my work with the band was done and I was wasting precious time with Sassy. I took the remaining shot glasses and an empty bottle of beer up to Howie thanking him again for the place.“Catcha' tomorrow douche.” I yell to Cal over my shoulder and shrug on my jacket anxious to get to my girl.
“What were you gonna ask Noah earlier?” Cal asked, a rare moment for him to show his concern for anything non TAT related. He wasn’t heartless, the opposite really. He was just a lover of life and smiled his way through the ugly shit in the world. His words from earlier had shocked me just as his seriousness now.
It took a minute to answer, not sure if I dared ask the question. I knew I needed to know though, and I didn’t know if Cass would ever be able to tell me it all. “How bad it really was.”
Cal kept his head down, his eyes on the empty mug in his hand as he tilted it on its edges in circles against the table top.“It was awful man.”
I didn’t move. I knew I was about to step into a nightmare and I couldn’t fucking move. “Define awful Cal.”
He let the mug go just to start chipping at the wood on the table his eyes never seeking mine out telling me what I was about to hear was bad.“I had come home for a family reunion remember that? It was just after we signed and Noah made this big deal about coming home too, saying he missed Candey and Carrie?”
“Yeah, I remember.”
“Chad was on a plane the next day when Noah called him and told him what happened. We all knew that Cory had put his hands on her before, but we knew they were married and she was beyond listening to any of us saying we were wrong that Cory would never touch her. We new telling you would wreck you…” He looked at me then, his eyes rimmed red from unshed tears, the crack in his voice didn’t go unnoticed. “Man, I couldn’t take it when I saw her Shame. I walked in and if I didn’t know better I never would have believed that it was Cassa in that bed.” He shook his head as if trying to shake the memory. The thought of what he saw made my skin crawl.
“She was beaten within an inch of her life, fucking unrecognizable. And then the hatchet job he did on top of the beating, knowing the pain she must have been in. It was too much man. I left, told her I was there if she needed me, but I couldn’t take seeing her like that. I know I don’t spout love and family when it comes to us and that it seems all I care about is the band. But I care man.” His eyes drilled into me and I felt my own eyes moisten at his words. “I hated knowing what she went through, I hated that I couldn’t look at her because of how bad it hurt me.”He told me, slapped his chest, and used the back of his hand to wipe his face.
“I'm a man and men don’t do that shit to another man unless they touch your female, let alone fucking a chick up like that... What he did to her…” He was shaking his head no again. “I left, couldn’t handle it. Men are supposed to be strong and able to deal but I couldn’t. I didn’t see her again for a month. I called though, I called her everyday Shame. I bailed and came back to Cali and went on a week long bender by myself. I hid out and tried to drink away the image of what he done to someone I care about like blood.”
I couldn’t take it. I went to the table and placed my hand on Cal’s shoulder in comfort knowing he was already low I didn’t want to make it worse by hugging him or some shit. Guys don’t deal with emotion, we brush that shit under the fucking rug and leave it there for years if we can. I could see how bad this was eating Cal. He felt like a let down. He didn’t see how cool he was. How sometimes running is best. Had he stayed and forced himself in that room to see the evidence of evil, it would have wrecked him and Cass would have known in return affecting her too. This is what I meant by some of us just aren’t made to bear the weight of this shit on their soul. Calvin Dorian is one of those people. Cal had a loving mom and dad, three brothers a dog and a white picket fence. Dinner was on the table at six each day and bedtime came with ‘I love you’s and ‘sweet dreams’. Noah, me, Chad, Carrie and even Candey… we had it different. Cal had been untouched by the darkness until that day.
My mind went back to when the guys came back from Washington. They all seemed a little sad, but I chalked it up to home sick. Cal though, Cal didn’t seem right for months and I knew why now. I can't imagine bearing the weight of that secret after seeing what he saw. Noah was right, they did bare the weight of her nightmare for me.
“You gotta let it go Cal.” I said the words I knew we all needed to heed.
“No, I gotta get it out man because the fucking guilt eats at me and I want you to hear it from me dude.”
I didn’t know what else he needed, but I would stay as long as he needed. Howie was still behind the bar, I assume dinking around with shit knowing we were in some deep talk at the moment and wasn’t about to kick us out. I made a mental note to tell Tayla to pay double the price I was paying originally because Howie was good fuckin’ people.
“Noah was there from the crack of dawn until midnight, told the nurses to fuck off that he wasn’t leaving. I don’t know why, but Cass clung to him and it seemed she never wanted him to leave.” I knew it was because he knew it all, the pain, the humiliation of being in that bed. He had seen Carrie there, been there himself. It was in Noah’s nature to try and fix ugly. Noah would never let ugly take one of us. He was the rock in our roll, strong as fuck? Yeah strong as fuckin’ fuck.
“Chad handled all the media shit. He talked to the press and told Tayla every dollar in his account was as good as the paparazzi’s if they kept her name out of it. We all learned everything had a price. Noah threw money, I did… we covered it as best we could and the shit still leaked. So we made sure you were free from it. It was a long shot, but we did it and I have never regretted it Shame not even now. Every PR event we went to, Tayla made threats to every talk show host, mag and TM fucking Z that it was not allowed in the interviews and any discussion or violation would result in a law suit. We waited on pins and needles every time for the bomb to drop.”
He had gathered his strength and was no longer crying, but the anguish over it all was still evident. Howie came by with a pitcher of beer and set it on the table with two chilled mugs.“On the house boys. You need me, I’ll be in the office doing paperwork. You boys stay as long as ya like, I got hours worth of accounting to account for.”
We gave the old man, our thanks, and I decided to triple the rate for the rental.
“We all started breathing easier once Carrie and Chad got back together. Cassa had started calling or texting us and letting us all back in again. But the entire thing changed us all. We started making moves to keep her safe. Chad and Noah found Drake right after the attack and after signing him we had a guy from Drakes firm keeping tabs on Cass. We all knew that when the day came that you learned of the attack, we wanted you to know we always had her back. A little too late, but we pay for that every-time we see her.”
“Cal, you gotta let the guilt go man. If there is one thing this whole nightmare showed me, it’s that Cassa is strong, fucking strong, and she fights man, like I never thought someone could. Hell, she doesn’t see it, but in the end she knows she’s loved and taken care of. You did right by her.” I wish like hell I could bear the burden for him. Cal had seen the dark and I don’t think he ever came fully back from it.
“It’s Noah and Chad that made her strong, though Shame.” He looked away then and now curiosity was gonna kick my ass.
“Explain?”
