Anyone else might have been busted for breaking kayfabe. Only William could get away with the gorgeous mistress and showing up at the funeral of his biggest rival. All because of who he was. The tension between the two men was so obvious that Billy wondered for a minute if they would simply shake hands or lock up like they do in the ring.
Glenda picked up on it too and turned on the charm to get William’s attention. It was her daughter’s funeral and all week she’d been the only rational one in the whole bunch. That woman constantly amazed everyone with her grace under pressure.
“Is this your future son-in-law?” William asked, turning his attention back to Paul after paying his respects to Glenda.
Paul looked at Billy and Lizzie as if he’d just noticed they were standing beside him. Billy took a step back from her just to be safe. That only made her tighten the grip on his arm, despite the way her daddy glared at them.
“Billy’s just here for moral support,” Glenda chimed, making the save.
William gave Billy a sly grin as he shook his hand, making it obvious that he knew the deal with the two of them. Lizzie had been getting awful brave about sneaking up to his room even when Paul was home. Not that he was complaining about finding her waiting when he got in from a show. It sure did make the time fly on his thirty days of supposed celibacy.
“Would you get a load of that?” William pointed out the last person Billy expected to see in that chapel.
Carol Ann stood at the back of the room wearing a very out of place red dress, her hair all done up like she’d just come from the beauty parlor. When she got fixed up she did look a lot better than she had that rainy night in Raleigh. Surely she wasn’t going to come up and speak to Paul right in front of Glenda and Lizzie.
William must have been thinking the same thing because he said, “Dinera, why don’t you take Lizzie to freshen up in the ladies room?” He made a show of flashing the Rolex on his wrist. “It would do her good to give her a break before the service gets underway.”
Dinera led Lizzie and Glenda out the side door, keeping both of them from noticing Carol Ann headed straight toward Paul. Billy and William both watched Paul light up the instant he saw her.
“You can thank me later.”
Paul and William might not be all that fond of each other, but it always seemed like they had each other’s backs.
“She was screwing her tennis coach.”
“I’ll be damned. Who would have thought Lois had it in her?” William actually laughed. “Only in a fairy tale would her plane go down like that. If I didn’t know better I’d think my darling wife did some of that witchy hocus pocus on your behalf.”
“Tell me about it,” Paul admitted, “I guess I just got lucky. For once karma was a bigger bitch than Lois.”
“If only lady luck would smile so kindly upon my life.” Turning to Billy, William said, “My Dinera will probably outlive us all.”
Billy didn’t know what to say to something like that, so he was glad to see William catch the eye of a pretty blond and slip off to say hello to her.
Paul and Carol Ann embraced longer than necessary as she expressed her condolences. She whispered something in his ear and he just beamed. So much for him looking like the grieving husband, it was a wonder he didn’t keep Carol Ann at his side through the whole service.
To hell with what he thinks.
Billy put his arm around Lizzie and held her as tight as he could.
Chapter 10
“Who wants peanut butter pancakes?”
There went Lizzie’s idea of sneaking in the backdoor to make Billy breakfast – Gran hovered over the stove wrapped in a chenille bathrobe that matched her pink sponge hair curlers.
“I’ll take some, please.” Billy let go of Lizzie long enough to plant a good morning kiss on Gran’s cheek.
“Daddy didn’t come home last night, did he?”
“Nope, and you’d better be glad he didn’t since he wouldn’t be happy about you sleeping in Billy’s room.”
“Maybe I just ran up there to invite him over for breakfast.”
“You’ve been up there since you got back from the funeral.” Gran flipped a stack of pancakes from the skillet to a plate and handed it to Billy without blinking an eye over their indiscretion. “Go on and fix him a cup of coffee and stop trying to work a worker.”
“I love you Gran.” Lizzie gave her other cheek a peck.
“I love both you gals.” Billy laughed and grabbed a link of sausage before sitting down at the table.
“Well, I’m just glad you’ve got Billy here with you, seeing as I’m going to head on home today.”
“Maybe when I’m wrestling up in Asheville next month I can bring Lizzie with me for a visit. I’d like to go see where my mama is buried while we’re there.”
“You know my door is always open.” Gran placed another platter of pancakes on the table. “You kids go ahead and eat while I get gussied up for my drive.”
Billy scooped up the last dollop of syrup from Lizzie’s plate just as Paul came in the back door still wearing the suit he’d had on at the funeral.
“Good morning kids.” He poured a cup of coffee and joined them at the table.
Lizzie sucked in her breath, expecting her Daddy to scold her for being alone with Billy. Surprisingly enough, he didn’t seem to notice she was wearing Billy’s sweatshirt over her flannel PJs or have any clue she hadn’t slept in her own bed since the big divorce argument. Maybe because he figured he was just as guilty as they were, what with going off to wrestle and carry on with that woman before he’d even given her mother a proper funeral.
“Lizzie, baby.” He looked up at her as if searching for the right words. “I had a talk with Mr. Kaplin and he’s agreed to let you find a friend of mine a new house here in Charlotte.”
“My first client!”
“You’ve got some nerve.” Billy slammed down his mug.
That’s when it hit her – the friend was his mistress – the woman he’d been seeing in Raleigh.
“Billy, would you please excuse us. I need to talk to my daughter in private.”
“No, Billy’s not going anywhere.” She grabbed hold of his hand. “He already knows more than I do. Why should he be the one to leave?”
Her daddy just nodded, “I don’t suppose there is any easy way to do this.” He took his time sipping on his coffee before saying, “I’d like for you to meet Carol Ann and our son… your brother.”
“My what?”
“I was thinking we could sell this place. We’ll find you a nice apartment closer to work. I’ll cover your rent and-”
Lizzie finished his sentence, “you’re going to go shack up with another family. In a house you want me to find for them.”
“I want us all to be a family.”
“Billy’s right, you’ve got some nerve.”
***
“Just something small and not too far from Presbyterian Hospital – I’m a nurse and I’ve already been offered a job in the emergency room."
“Now Carol Ann, you don’t have to work anymore. Not unless you just want to.”
“I want to. I love my job.”
Lizzie couldn’t get over the way her daddy was mooning over this plain as dirt woman. Compared to her mother, the infamous Carol Ann was downright homely. She looked like she’d come straight from her job interview in a poorly cut navy blue suit. That frosted pink lipstick made her face look sallow and only set off a pointy chin. Her hair was a limp dull shade of brown. In fact she looked more like a mouse than a woman her daddy would fool around with.
Her brother on the other hand – Paul Jr. was a chip off the old block. He had inherited every feature of her daddy’s that Lizzie would have wished upon herself. That dimpled smile, huge brown eyes, thick dark hair with just the right amount of wave, and long eye lashes. There was no denying he was a Bryson.
Not that he was doing much smiling. He looked about as thrilled as she was over their instant family. Lizzie hadn’t rea
lized she was being rude by staring until he squirmed in his seat. She just couldn’t help it. She couldn’t take her eyes off the living breathing proof of her daddy’s infidelity.
The more her daddy talked, the less Lizzie cared. Billy and Gran were all the family she wanted. If he would leave them alone, she would gladly stick a for sale sign in the front yard of the only house she had ever lived in and then go sell Carol Ann her dream home. A sale was a sale and anything was better than typing her life away. Her own apartment would mean no one would be watching to see where Billy might be spending his nights.
Chapter 11
“You know what today is?” Billy asked.
“All I know is that tomorrow we’ve got a day off.” Paul laughed smugly. “I bet the house drops without me on the card in Asheville.”
Paul opened the convenience store cooler and grabbed a Coke instead of his usual post match six-pack of beer. Billy hadn’t seen him take a drink since the funeral. An even bigger shocker was that he hadn’t seen Paul with any woman but Carol Ann. He’d blown off a smoking hot blond waiting for him out back after the show in Shelby and acted like he didn’t even notice any of his regulars in any other towns.
“Carol Ann’s right I do deserve a day off once in a while. I’m taking her out for her birthday and if the weather holds, I might get in a round of golf. What are you planning on your day of freedom?”
“I was thinking I’d take Lizzie to lunch tomorrow. It’s the 26th. My month is up.”
“Indeed it is.” He handed Billy the change from the twenty he’d broken to pay for their sodas. “Go on and take her out, my treat.”
“Thank you.”
“Just don’t go getting any ideas and you’d better not get fresh with her.” He laughed. “It’s only lunch, not your honeymoon.”
“I’ll be on my best behavior.”
“You’d better be if you know what’s good for you.”
They had gotten to the building early so Paul could get his son in the ring for the first time. Paul told the ring crew to go take a powder so his kid could experience the business from the ground up. Billy had set up more than his fair share of rings through the years and it was a good thing, since he pretty much did this one all on his own. The kid had been blown up before they even set foot in that ring for their workout.
This territory had good rings, but he knew that kid’s side was gonna be bruised from running the ropes until they were both heaving for air. Once Paul actually got down to working some holds, it was apparent that the kid might have gotten his daddy’s looks but not his athletic ability.
Billy had volunteered to take the submission moves after Paul made the kid scream on the first hold. Hell, Paul could have stretched any man in that damn building, and they all knew it without him tying Billy in knots. Paul had scared that poor kid half to death. He didn’t even want to imagine what Paul would do to someone he didn’t like.
“Do you think I was too hard on him?” Paul pointed towards where PJ, as he’d already dubbed the kid, sat in the backseat cradling his sore ribs.
“You’re gonna have to give him some time to learn. He was nervous with all the people hanging around, what with being your son and all. He’s got some tremendous shoes to fill.”
“I wish I could have got him started a lot sooner. I figure I’ll get him training with me every day I’m home, eating better and all.”
Paul was a workout fiend and his fitness was legendary. He began every day with a long run and 500 Hindu squats, spent every afternoon in the gym on the weights, more of the squats, pushups and sit ups to warm up before every match, then he’d go nonstop in the ring for 30 to 60 minutes and always have the best match on the card.
“He’s going to have the height, just got to put some more weight on him before he starts working.”
“Have you asked him if that’s what he wants to do?”
Billy hoped that wasn’t the kid’s dream since he really couldn’t image PJ ever being able to wrestle an actual match in front of a paying audience.
“He’s a Bryson. It’s in his blood.” Paul slid into the driver’s seat and started the car. “Of course you want to wrestle? Don’t you son?”
“I ahem… I want to work at the hospital like Mom. I want to go to medical school at Duke.”
“Duke? No kid of mine is going to that sissy school,” Paul shook his head vehemently, “When I was your age I already had every college in the South recruiting me for both football and wrestling. I let them court me, knowing all along I’d go to Georgia, just like my old man.”
“My science teacher at my old school was going to help me with scholarships.”
“My family doesn’t need any handouts. If you want to be a doctor, I can afford to send you to any damn school you want to go to, even if it is Duke.”
Paul was eating the kid alive so Billy said, “I reckon an academic scholarship is just as impressive as an athletic one. Maybe more so, since if he’s gonna be a doctor he can take care of us when we’re old and beat up.”
“Speak for yourself,” Paul said. “I plan on working until the day I die in the ring and I’ll probably be pushing ninety when I keel over.”
“You sir, are a freak of nature,” Billy laughed, relieved that Paul had lightened up and was laughing right along with him.
“Tell it to the NWA. They voted Crockett down again on putting the strap on me. I swear that Dinera must be working that voodoo shit on all of those promoters to keep the belt on Will. If she only knew about that slutty redhead he’s so whipped over.”
Remembering how William had covered for Paul with Carol Ann showing up at the funeral, Billy said, “now you know you wouldn’t ever go to Dinera with his personal business.”
“I want the world title, just one good run. Then maybe I could someday walk away from this crazy business and start a new life with Carol Ann.”
Billy didn’t like Paul even thinking about doing that to William. As good as they had both been to him. He wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for William’s one phone call.
“Thought you said it was in your blood,” Billy reminded him. “You’ll never leave the biz.”
“There’s going to be a Bryson wearing that strap someday. If Paul Junior doesn’t make it then it will be one of Lizzie’s kids. With Bryson and DuBois genes her boys will be wrestling machines.”
How about with Bryson, DuBois and Dalton genes? Billy wanted to add, already fearing him stretching his future kids as soon as Lizzie popped them out. Maybe they would be better off with a cute little girl that looked just like her beautiful mama.
“I’m not even a Bryson,” PJ. said meekly from the backseat.
“That’s only a technicality. My lawyer will take care of that as soon as Carol Ann marries me.” He shook his head, frowning in puzzlement. “She’s wanted that ring on her finger for over twenty years and now she’s saying it wouldn’t be proper for us to get married so soon after Lois passed.” He chuckled. “Shit happens and that plane exploding couldn’t have happened to a more deserving shrew.”
Billy turned just in time to see the kid’s eyes widen in shock as Paul kept right on ranting.
“Good fucking riddance, Lois. She’s probably nagging the hell out of Satan to where she’ll get her way even in the afterlife. Lizzie is the only good thing that ever came out of her and I wish with all my heart Carol Ann had been my daughter’s mother instead of Lois fucking DuBois.”
Billy and PJ both just sat there letting him get it all out.
“If only Glenda hadn’t conned me into marrying her daughter. Now Glenda, holy hell, she fucked my brains out almost from the day I started in the territory right up until she married that rich old geezer. He bought her the hotel up in Asheville and she cut me off, told me to go for Lois. I should have known what I was getting into when the little prude wouldn’t even put out until she had that rock of a ring weighing down her finger. And what a letdown it was when she did give it up. Nothing at all like that damned Glenda.�
��
Paul obviously didn’t need liquor to spill his guts out. Here he was stone cold sober, telling Billy and his newly acquired fifteen year old kid way more than they ever needed to hear.
“If it hadn’t been for those damn DuBois women, me and Carol Ann would be celebrating our twentieth wedding anniversary and my son would have been raised right.”
Paul adjusted the rearview mirror to where he was looking right at the kid, “I bet you’ve not even had a girl yet.”
Too embarrassed for words, PJ must have shaken his head.
“My kid’s a virgin." Paul sneered with disdain. “Now Lizzie, she’s staying that way until she’s married. Boys are different - you need to sow your wild oats.”
Billy wanted to say, that’s what you think. However, he didn’t want his head ripped off. All he could do was keep quiet in fear of what Paul would do if he knew about their lovemaking.
“My dad hooked me up with one of his rats when I was fourteen. Told her I was seventeen and she bought it. That was one hell of a summer on the road with dear old dad. Hmm,” He turned off the radio as if he was about to propose a serious question, “Now that I’m off the market, the girls will be lining up for a shot to break in my boy. Who should I pick to do the honors?”
Billy wasn’t about to make any suggestions.
“Rita’s about your age, but she’s so clingy.”
And a whiny brat, Billy wanted to add.
“Naw, she’d be lost without me there to tell her what to do next.”
“Katie or Elena, both of them are A list, hell both of them together that night up in Norfolk.” Paul paused, obviously savoring a memory before turning to Billy. “Did you get a load of Elena’s tits when you had her out in the parking lot?”
Billy just nodded.
“She’s stacked, and damn, the way she sucks a dick. She would be too much for the kid. I’ll let you keep her, Billy. I think it’s going to be Katie… cut little blond, good fuck… yeah, Katie it is. I’ll set it up for your spring break.” He nodded as if it was all settled. “In the meantime, Billy, you really gotta get both those girls together. They’re roommates and they’ll do the girl on girl stuff for you too. Almost makes me wish I hadn’t promised Carol Ann I wouldn’t cheat on her now that we’re legit.”
Desire Page 6
