One Man's Trash
Page 8
She stopped in her tracks.
“Thanks.”
She looked back at him. A smile slid across her face. He smiled back and closed his bedroom door. That was one of the happiest moments in her life. A few days after that, she watched from the back of a courtroom as the judge sentenced him to seven years in prison for aggravated battery.
“Diamond? You still there?” Ryan’s voice echoed in her ear.
“Yea. Yea, I’m still here.” She wet her lips.
“I was calling your name like fifty times, girl. I thought you had hung up.”
“You did not call my name no fifty times.” She laughed. Ryan always made her laugh no matter what BS she was going through.
“Okay it was more like five but still.”
“Anyway, Mr. Exaggerator, I need one of the hugest favors ever from you.”
“You name it.”
“I need you to ask Ryder if he still has that CD that I gave him a few days before he went to jail. Tell him that my life depends on it. Well more like my potential career. But you get the point. This is extra serious.”
“Wait, you gave Ryder a CD before he went to jail? What was on the CD?”
She paused. Shit. This was supposed to be a secret that she took to her grave. She hadn’t told anyone about the CD. Not even Kimmy. Apparently Ryder never mentioned anything to Ryan either. Stupid JT. Now she had to tell her best-friend that she’d been secretly in love with his brother since she was old enough to spell the word love.
She sighed and covered her eyes with her hand. “I wrote a song for Ryder, recorded it on a CD, and gave it to him a few days before he went to jail. I sang the song for JT when we first met. He put me on the spot to sing something and that was the song that came to my head instantly. He recorded the song but promised that he would delete it. He didn’t. He stole it. I have to prove that it’s mine and I can’t do that unless I get that CD.”
“Wow. This sounds like a scene from Young and the Restless. More like Young and the Songless.” Ryan laughed at his bad joke.
“Somebody got jokes!”
“I’m sorry. I’m such a bad friend. I shouldn’t laugh but I’m trying to comprehend the fact that you didn’t tell me that you wrote a love song for my brother. I didn’t know you liked him like that. I mean, I knew you thought he was cute but, wow.”
It was more love than like. But she wouldn’t dare tell Ryan that. He would probably just laugh at her.
“I will definitely ask Ryder for you. I’m supposed to go by there today.”
“Oh, Ryan, thank you so much.” Her spirits lifted.
“Diamond?”
“Yeah?”
“What will you do if he doesn’t have the CD anymore?”
Now that was the million dollar question. If she was on the game show, Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, that would be the question to send her home. There was no other way to prove that it was her song without the CD.
“Ryan, I honestly have no idea.” Final answer.
ELEVEN
Diamond got permission from her boss to take a few days off from work to sort out the issue with the song. She flew back home to Atlanta. Her mom greeted her at the airport. She had briefly explained what happened to her parents, but she planned to go into more detail after she took care of this music business. Her mom pulled up in front of the mailbox of Ryder’s house that he rented from an old high school friend of his.
Diamond checked her reflection in the visor’s mirror. The last time Ryder had seen her she was overweight, wearing glasses, and extremely shy. She applied more lip gloss to her already glossy lips. She pulled her hair to tighten the ponytail holder and snapped the visor shut.
“You look beautiful dear. He’ll be impressed.”
Diamond brows furrowed. “Who’ll be impressed?”
“Ryder.” Her eyes crinkled in the corners.
“Mom, I’m not trying to impress Ryder.”
“Okay, if you say so dear.”
Diamond kissed her mom goodbye and got out the car. She slowly walked up the driveway. Her tummy knotted. She had pictured the day that she would see Ryder again so many times in her mind. Not once had she pictured it being this soon or under these circumstances.
She pressed the doorbell. It chimed throughout the house. She studied her reflection in the mirror. She had chosen a white tank top, denim shorts and white flip flops. Casual yet sexy. Sexy? Did she just refer to herself as being sexy? Diamond smiled at her reflection. There was a first time for everything.
About a minute later, footsteps moved closer to the front door. She stepped back when the door opened. Her breath caught in her throat. Ryan pushed open the storm door and she exhaled a sigh of relief. “Hey, Ryan,” she said.
“Hey, come on in.” Ryan pushed the door open wider. She brushed past him and entered into what appeared to be the den. It was bare except for an old plaid couch. Something that definitely had seen better days. It probably had come with the house. She couldn’t see Ryder purchasing that thing.
Ryan led her into the kitchen. Ryder stood from the table when she entered the room. Only Ryder Gillian could spend five years in prison and walk out looking like he just left a photoshoot. He wore gray sweats that hung a little baggy around his athletic frame and a black wife beater, probably Hanes. He looked like a Hanes guy. For some reason, the image of Marky Mark in his Calvin Klein days popped into her head. She bet Ryder was hiding those Marky Mark abs underneath that tank top.
Just the thought of seeing his naked body sent a wave of desire all over her. Ryan placed his hand under her chin and pushed her mouth closed. She looked at him. Oh. My. Gosh. She was practically drooling over this man and didn’t even know it. “Sorry. I don’t mean to stare. It’s just—”
Ryan grinned. “We know. Trust me, sometimes I can’t believe he’s here either.” Ryan nudged her with his elbow. He thought she was drooling because she couldn’t believe Ryder was home after all these years. But she was drooling because her feelings for him had rushed back into her heart as strong as they were when she was growing up. Maybe stronger.
“Long time no see, huh?”
His voice was deeper. Was that possible? Or maybe it just sounded deeper because she hadn’t heard him speak in forever. At least he could speak right now. She answered his question the best way she knew how, with a nod.
“If I didn’t know that you were coming over I wouldn’t have recognized you. You’re definitely not the Diamond I remember.”
She shook her head in agreement that she wasn’t the Diamond that he remembered.
Ryder lowered his head and put a hand up to his face to hide a smile. Diamond looked at Ryan with pleading eyes. He had to save her from making a complete ass of herself.
“So Diamond, I explained to Ryder what happened with JT and told him that you needed the CD. So why don’t we discuss that since we’ve gotten reacquainted.”
Diamond blinked slowly. If she didn’t break out of this Ryder induced trance he was going to think that she was the same shy girl from back in the day. She was not that girl. She was not even a girl. She was a grown woman. She used to wish to be older so that he would finally look at her like a woman. Now she was older. Hell she was even sexy. And you know what sexy women do. They talk. Not drool.
Ryan took her by the arm and led her to the seat in front of Ryder and sat in the seat beside her.
Ryder’s green eyes held her gaze. She cleared her throat and rested her hands on the kitchen table.
“Where are my manners?” He lightly touched her hand. “Would you like something to drink?”
She shook her head. Speak Diamond. Sexy women speak. “No, thank you.”
“Okay.” His pearly whites brightened his face. “So I had the pleasure of seeing your performance on YouTube the other night?”
She rested her head in her hands. “I watched that horrible video like a hundred times I’m sure. Each time I watched it I just wanted to crawl up in a hole somewhere and never show
my face again. I don’t even know what came over me. I just heard those words and I was like—”
“Imagine how I felt when I heard it.”
How did he feel? She studied his chiseled face. He was too perfect to be human. He was probably created in a lab somewhere like the lady from Weird Science. A beautifully tanned Ken doll with green eyes and jet black hair.
“I couldn’t believe that was you onstage,” Ryan said.
“I couldn’t believe it was me either and I was there. You know me, I always try to avoid confrontation. But there I was…confronting. I don’t confront people.”
“You did for that song,” Ryder said.
Diamond looked into his eyes. “I did…for that song.” He nodded. She glanced down at her arm. If she moved her arm a few inches to the right, her wrist would be kissing Ryder’s wrist. The hairs on her arm pricked up as if a wave of energy was passing from his body to hers. An energy that heated up her entire body. She crossed her legs and hoped that Ryan couldn’t feel the warmth emanating from between them.
“I never told anyone about the CD. But I listened to that song almost every night before I went to jail. So yeah, that song meant a lot to me and when I heard that dude singing it, I couldn’t believe it.”
“Well I didn’t give it to him. As you could see from the video, I was totally upset about the whole thing. I mean, I completely made a fool of myself reacting like that but, I was in the heat of the moment I guess.”
“It’s understandable.”
There was that light touch on her hand again. Was he trying to torture her? Diamond repositioned herself in her seat. Who knew a touch as light as a feather could send such a strong surge of electricity through her body. If his feathery touches did this to her. Just imagine what would happen to her body if he actually caressed her. “Oh, my,” she breathed.
“What?” Ryan asked.
“Huh? What?” She looked at Ryan puzzled.
“You said oh, my. What are you oh my’ing about?”
Shit. She said that out loud? “Oh…oh my…this stuff. Yeah. Got me crazy. You know. Oh my.” She laughed it off. “So, Ryder, umm, do you still have the CD?”
Ryder looked at his brother. “I left everything in my room.”
“Well then it should still be at your house then.” Her eyes grew wide. “I’m sure your parents didn’t throw out any of your belongings.”
“Our parents moved since then, remember?” Ryan stated.
Where was that red Easy button from Staples when you needed it? Of course this wouldn’t be that easy? “Yeah, that’s right. Well where would they keep his stuff?”
“I know that they put a lot of his stuff in the attic. We could check there.”
“You can check there,” Ryder corrected his brother.
“Why not we?” Ryan asked.
Ryder shook his head. “I haven’t talked to mom and dad in years lil bro. I’m not sure if I’m ready for that yet. I hurt them.” Ryder lowered his eyes. “I hurt them.”
“Ryder, mom and dad love you no matter what. They want to rebuild a relationship with you, man. Trust me when I tell you that. If you would have continued to allow us to come to visit you we would have been there every single week. I promise you.”
Ryder looked up at his brother. A sadness rested in his eyes. They stared at each other as if sending a secret telepathic message to one another. A brother’s bond. A connection strong enough to withstand years of silence. “I’m not ready.”
Ryan dropped the matter. “I will go look in the attic then.”
“Thanks,” Diamond and Ryder said in unison. They shared a smile.
Diamond shut the door to Ryan’s car and buckled her seatbelt.
“How does it feel to have Ryder home?” she asked.
Ryan started the ignition. “It’s unbelievable. I’m happy he’s home but he’s put me in an awkward position with my parents. I told them that he’s out, I had to. I didn’t want it to get back to them from someone else. But with him not wanting to see them face to face, they are a little hurt. Grateful that he is at least talking to me but still hurt all the same.”
“Does he seem okay? Like mentally? Emotionally?”
“When he first got out, he seemed to be a little depressed. I mean I could definitely understand. His whole world was shifted yet again. It’s basically a new lifestyle. He’s a free man but there are still some limitations because of his past. I’m trying to be there for him as much as I can. I even thought about deferring my enrollment into med school so that I can make sure that he’s getting settled and to just spend more time with him.”
“I’m sure Ryder didn’t agree with you deferring med school.”
“Nope. He said that was the last thing he wanted me to do.”
“I’m still sort of in disbelief. Like he’s actually home.” She shook her head.
“Yeah, I could tell you were in disbelief. Your mouth dropped to the floor when you saw him.” Ryan laughed.
“Whatevs.” She nudged him playfully. Ryan pulled into her driveway. “Thanks hun, for your help.” She kissed his cheek.
“I’ll let you know what I find.”
She hopped out the car and ran into the house. Her parents were sitting in the living room watching old reruns of Good Times.
“Hey, folks.” Diamond flopped down in between them like she used to do when she was younger.
“Diamond, you are getting too big to squeeze into this tiny space now,” her father said.
She wiggled her butt to make more room. “I’m never too big.”
Her parents laughed. “I wanted to talk to you guys about what’s going on right now. Do you want the good news or the bad news?” she asked.
“Good news,” her mom answered.
“Okay, good news. My boss at Tri Records liked my writing so much that he offered to present some of my music to the higher ups in hopes that they could use some of my material for their artists!”
“Oh my! That’s not good news…that’s wonderful news! Congratulations baby!” Her mom gave her a smooch on the cheek.
Her dad gave her a high five. “Now the bad news,” he said.
“Okay, I’m not going to go into a lot of details but I will give you the bullet point version. The guy I was dating, JT, was an aspiring singer, being the great girlfriend that I was, I got him a meeting with my boss at Tri Records. I wrote a song for him to put on his demo. They loved the song so they told him to bring two more songs to the table to present to the Board. Before I could work on the songs with him we broke up because he cheated on me. He then broke into my home and into my safe and stole all my music journals.”
A small gasp escaped her mom’s mouth. Diamond continued, “I didn’t report the break in because I have all those songs backed up and copyrighted. I changed my locks because, apparently he had made a copy of my key and now I have a security system. Fast forward a few days to the listening party for Tri Records, JT performs and he is singing one of my songs.”
“Did you tell him that you have the copyrights to all your songs?” her dad asked.
“Yes, sir. But…this song was not one of the songs in my journal. This song is the one I recorded for Ryder years ago before he went to jail.”
“Ryder Gillian?” her dad asked
“The one and only.”
“She has a crush on him.”
“Mom!”
“Oh hush, I think it’s cute.” Her mom laughed.
“Anyway.” Diamond looked at her mom sideways. “Long story short, I have to prove that I own the song. And the only proof I have is the CD that Ryder has. Or had.”
“And we are just hearing about all of this?”
“Dad, I didn’t want to worry you guys. It was nothing that I couldn’t handle on my own. It’s my first time being on my own. I don’t want to be calling my parents every five minutes. That’s not being independent.”
“I’m upset that you didn’t call the cops when he broke into your apartment.”
“Speaking of key,” her mom interjected, “why did he have a key to your apartment?”
“I had a key to his.”
“So. No man should ever have a key to a woman’s apartment unless he is paying the bills. Keep that in mind the next time you get a boyfriend missy. You hear me?”
“Yes ma’am.” See this was why she didn’t tell them everything. But she had to admit. That was good advice.