Once again, I gave her an alias. It was becoming second nature for me to make up a name when I introduced myself to someone. This time I wasn’t real sure what I was getting into, so I figured it would be smart to give her another fictitious name. Besides that I could once again become someone else for a little while. When I was with Adlee, I was Tanner, the good ole boy who took her away from Paul.
The name Tanner came from the feed store across the street from the diner and Jones was just about as common as Brown or Smith, right?
As I sat in the diner each night I would stare out the window and see that store. So when we started talking I decided to become Tanner Jones with her. The creation of new identities shouldn’t have been so easy, but it really was. My contact was already working on my new identification. Money would do that for you. You could become anyone you wanted to be.
This was different though. It wasn’t like Sterling or Asher - I wasn’t going to marry Adlee. I was just going to give her a place to stay and help her feel safe, then she would go do her thing, and hopefully get married and be happy with someone who wasn’t the scum of the earth like, Paul.
***
“Where the hell are you at?” Becca asked with a growling undertone to her voice.
“Uh, Missouri,” I replied.
“What the fucking hell are you doing in Missouri? Do not tell me you have a wife there too. I swear to god I’ll kick your ass.”
“I do not have a wife here, smartass. I however do own a home here, remember? The chaos otherwise known as my life was starting to be too much to handle. I needed a break, so I took a little road trip.”
“Okay, then that’s acceptable. You getting married and getting another new name, is not,” Becca huffed.
“Okay, well I didn’t get married.”
“Goddamnit, what did you do? What name do I have to call you now?”
“You caught that, huh?” I asked.
“Yep, sure as shit did. What did you do now?”
“You should be proud of me, Becca. I saved this poor girl from a really fucked up situation. I may have also given her an alias, but that was just because I didn’t know what the deal was with the ex and I didn’t want him to cause me any problems.” Maybe if I kept telling myself that was the reason, I would start to believe it.
“Okay, that sounds feasible, sure, right.”
“Thanks, mother.”
“Smartass.”
“Now, now. Don’t be hateful,” I chastised.
“So, how are the wives of Daniel doing? Oh and the children of Daniel?”
“They are all great. Missing me, but I’ll go home to them soon.”
“Which ones?”
“All of them. I’ll spend time with all of them soon. I just need to get Adlee settled in, then I’ll get back to my normal running around like a chicken with its head cut off life.”
“You need to, Daniel. They all need you.”
“Believe me, I’m well aware of that, Becca.”
“Good. Now take care of business and get home to your family. Or families. Whatever.”
***
Falling in love with Adlee was not something I ever dreamed I would do. She was so lost when I found her - she needed me.
The first time Adlee and I made love was the day that Skye served me divorce papers.
Skye and I had a huge fight and she threatened divorce, but I never dreamed she would actually file the papers. I was angry and I needed to get away. Going to the country always eased my tension, so I went home to Adlee.
The feelings we had for each other had been simmering under the surface for a year, and my anger at Skye and fear for the future brought them to the forefront. Honestly, I didn’t mean for it to happen, but it did. It made me realize that I’d been in love with her for a long time.
Asking her to marry me was a spur of the moment thing. I didn’t know that she would accept. I assumed she would, but I really wasn’t sure. I was losing one wife and gaining another. And it all happened in a two week span.
I had to go home and make things right with Skye. When she asked me if I cheated on her, I did not lie. However, I may have slightly stretched the truth. I told her that Sterling Smith had never cheated on her and he hadn’t. Asher Brown was married to Lilly and Tanner Jones was marrying Adlee, so technically Sterling Smith was not a cheater.
The worst part of that whole situation was that I was starting to believe that to be true. I actually believed that I wasn’t cheating because they were all with a different guy. Albeit those guys were all me, but they didn’t know that.
Skye was once again happy with me, Lilly and the kids were happy, and Adlee and I were about to get married. Everything was looking up for me. All of my families were happy and it was all becoming a lot easier for me. I guess I was growing accustomed to all of it, now. Trying to equally split my time between them was still difficult, but it was becoming my routine. It worked for us.
The next few years were calm and normal. Life was good. Until the hang-up calls escalated and I found out how close he was to her. I had to do everything in my power to keep him away from her.
Before you read the rest of this please try to understand - I know that what I’ve done was wrong. It was unforgivable. I’m sure there’s a seat waiting for me in hell, but I don’t regret any of it. Yeah, I shouldn’t have hurt him. I should’ve just walked away, but that wasn’t possible. Too many things had happened at the hand of that man. The man was a fucking monster and he deserved what he got. I was happy to be the one to give it to him, I’m just sorry that my actions on that day just one week ago had to ruin the lives of so many innocent people. People who deserved so much more out of life.
Why? Why did it all have to end this way?
Epilogue~
One week ago
This asshole was a special kind of scum. There must be a special place in hell for monsters like him. There just had to be, otherwise I would lose every shred of hope I had in humanity. How a cretin like this was still walking around free was fucking beyond me.
For over a week, eight days to be exact, I’d been following him around. Eight days that should’ve been spent a hell of a lot differently. Watching him screw his way through half a dozen hookers and a couple of barflies was not my idea of a fun way to spend my time.
His appearance should’ve been enough to make these women sick. His hair was greasy and looked like it hadn’t been cut in months. The clothing he wore was old and dirty. The man was high or drunk constantly.
What kind of woman would sleep with something like that?
The kind with no self esteem or feeling of self worth. Oh and the kind that took money for sex, but I think nine times out of ten those things went hand in hand. He was scum, actually no, he was lower than that. He made me sick. The bastard apparently still had a thing for young girls, or at least those that looked young.
I watched.
I lurked.
I weaved my way into the den of nastiness that he called his life.
I waited.
Patiently.
It was time. If I was going to do something it needed to happen soon. I couldn’t put it off any longer. He had to be stopped and this time it had to be permanently.
His target had popped up on his radar and he was getting closer and closer. I knew who he was looking for and like hell would I let him anywhere near her. I’d die before he’d touch her again. Or he would. One of us wouldn’t make it out alive.
Tonight, he decided to visit a real high class establishment - a seedy strip club right off the interstate in a tiny town about 150 miles outside of Atlanta. This was definitely not my kind of place. From the outside it looked like a brown box. The only indication of what was inside was the “X X X - Girls” sign that flashed in neon red letters out front.
As I walked in the front door I saw that there were four stages with poles in the center. One stage sat in each corner. Around each stage were round couches covered in stained, ripped red velour
fabric. In front of the stage to the left of me, was a fat, balding old man getting his rocks off watching a chick stripping off her naughty nurse’s get-up.
Turning my head quickly so I didn’t see the man come all over the damn couch, I saw in front of the stage to the right of me a bunch of younger, clean cut guys who kept pushing the blonde dancer with the big tits onto the lap of one guy. I assumed this was a bachelor party, because I heard one of the guys say, “Come on, man. You’re gonna be stuck with Ashley for the rest of your fucking life. You’ll never be able to bury your face in some other bitch’s titties again. DO IT!”
The dancer pulled her top off and pressed her tits right into the poor guy’s face.
Most of these girls looked like they were on drugs, and honestly they probably were. Goddamn, I’d think they’d have to be to work in a hole like this. Glancing toward the back of the room I spotted the reason why I was here.
There were purple and blue strobe lights flashing all around the place. Apparently, they were hooked up to the speakers because they flashed in time with the beat of the music.
The current song blaring was Closer by Nine Inch Nails. How fitting for the situation.
This place was so damn classy it’s BYOB - bring your own bottle. All the creepy bastards had their brown paper sacks with their drinks of choice in them. This was the last damn place I wanted to be tonight, but when I saw him sitting there ogling the young redhead on the stage in the back corner, my reasons for throwing it all away came crashing back to me.
I couldn’t let him hurt anyone else.
I couldn’t let him find her.
This had to end and it had to end now.
He stood up and I watched him follow the redhead back to the hallway that led to the dressing rooms.
“Baby, come on. Please,” he slurred. Begging the little redhead, “Please suck me off. I’ll pay you, baby.” He got closer to her and I heard him whisper, “I can make you feel so good, baby. I’m not like those other guys. I ain’t no minute man. I’ll take good care of you.”
Standing at the other end of the hall, I could hear everything they were saying. It was clear that the girl was higher than a fucking kite. Her eyes were all glazed over, she was skin and bones, and her skin was white as snow. She’d do anything he wanted her to do and he knew it.
“Fifty bucks for head. A hundred and fifty for my pussy. You want my pussy don’t you baby?” she purred, falling back against the wall as she tried to keep her balance.
“Fuck, yeah I do. Where can we go? You got a place or you wanna just go out to my truck, baby?”
“There’s a room in the back. Come see me after my dance.” She reached down and grabbed his dick. “Just one more dance, baby. Then I’m all yours.”
He fell back against the opposite wall when she released him. She brushed past me as she floated by to take her place back on the stage. Her eyes met mine briefly, and the thought struck me - she’s somebody’s daughter. She’s somebody’s world. Somebody is missing her somewhere and probably praying that she is safe. Tonight I would make sure their prayers were answered. I could save her tonight.
He started toward me. “Hey, I fucking know you,” he slurred. When he got closer he said, “Long time no fucking see, you son-of-a-bitch.” He grabbed my collar and tried to pull me closer to him. My elbow fit across his jaw perfectly as I slammed him up against the wall. All of my body weight pressed against his neck. I could feel his heart pounding and the look in his eyes told me he knew what I was here for.
“You fucking slimy bastard. I warned you. I told you to stay the hell away from her, but you couldn’t listen, could you? You stupid asshole.”
I pressed my elbow harder against his neck. I couldn’t help myself. The need to hit him overtook me. Balling up my fist, I slammed into his jaw. Then with my elbow still firmly planted against his neck, I punched him in the ribs. The sound of them cracking didn’t deter me in the least. His face was just calling for me.
I had to hit him again. This time I got his nose. Blood gushed out all over me, and sprayed up onto the wall behind him. The creepy bastard was crying and screaming for me to let him go.
I couldn’t stop. Something inside me snapped and all I could see was her face and him hurting her.
I couldn’t live with myself if I let him touch her again.
I couldn’t let him near her.
He was too close.
He was going to get to her and what if I wasn’t there to protect her? Then what would she do? She needed me to do this.
I beat him until he was unconscious and all that was keeping him upright was the grip I had on his neck. The little bastard wasn’t heavy at all. I heaved him up over my shoulder and carried him out to my truck. I threw him in the front seat and quickly realized that I had not thought this through appropriately. My anger was blinding me. I couldn’t see through it, all I knew what that he deserved this. He needed to die. That was my first priority. I’d have to try to salvage everything else later. I couldn’t think about anything but justice for her. That was all that mattered in this moment.
He gurgled and blood came gushing from his mouth. There was no way I was going to ever get all of the blood out of my truck. I’d made the biggest mistake a murderer could make - I didn’t plan it out. I let my anger take control.
He continued to gurgle until he didn’t anymore. I knew that I’d accomplished what I came here to do, but now what the hell was I supposed to do?
I drove out as far into the backwoods as I could get. As I was driving along I happened upon an old cemetery. It was dark and the cemetery was small and looked abandoned. Damn, as I drove over the cattle guard and opened the gate, I noticed that some of the gravestones were from the Civil War days. That’s when I had an epiphany - what better place to bury a body? I noticed a small worn down shack in the very back corner of the cemetery. When I opened the door it fell off the old rusted hinges. An old shovel was lying on the ground. Grabbing a pair of work gloves out of the back of my truck, I went to work unearthing one of the graves. It looked like Mr. William Watson was about to have some company.
My name is Daniel Raider. But some people call me Sterling Smith. Others know me as Asher Brown. And a select few believe me to be Tanner Jones. I am the man who fell in love with three women. I am the man who lied to all three of those women and subsequently broke their hearts.
My story, their stories, our stories…the rest of the story, so to speak. I’ve thought about it all day.
So what’d they all have in common?
Did I see it?
Why did I choose them?
Why was I so drawn to them?
It was simple - they needed me and I needed to be needed. Needed to feel loved. To feel like I was saving them. To feel like I was making their dreams come true. To make them feel like they were better people because of me. In the end, I have to blame my father for all of this. I mean, he was the person who taught me that you could love people differently. The day he left us I listened to him explain that to my mom. He loved Brenda differently than he loved my mom, not more or less, just differently.
All of this started with Skye. I’d been living in New York for about a year. Being young and enjoying all of the zeros on my bank account. Meeting her was not something that I planned. Giving her a fake name just happened. Before long I was completely in love with her and enjoying being someone else for awhile.
Falling in love with Skye changed my entire world. She needed a strong man. You wouldn’t think that would be the case since she was so strong, but her outer strength made her weak inside. She’d never had to work for anything her entire life, so in the beginning it was a fun challenge to get her to surrender to me. If she wanted something her daddy gave it to her on a silver platter. Skye had never felt like she was worth much. I mean, she knew she was worth millions of dollars, but as a person she never felt like she was wanted just for being her. Not what everyone got from her name and social standing.
I was str
ong for her so she could drop her walls once in a while and just be Skye, not the rich heiress, but Skye the woman. I reminded her that she was more than the spoiled little rich girl that everyone thought she was. When she told me she loved me my world about came crashing down. I couldn’t believe she was finally saying the words. She’d never said those words to another soul and they meant more to me than she would ever know.
I was with her longer than anyone else. We were together for ten years and most of those years were very happy. We had our rough patches, but what married couple doesn’t? We always came around, because we knew we were meant to be. She was mine and I was hers, forever.
So meeting Lilly was a real shock to my system. She was not someone that I could walk away from. I can’t explain it and I probably won’t ever be able to, but I saw a future when I looked into her eyes. It was like I had to be with her. Yes, that makes me a selfish asshole, but at the time I didn’t care. Honestly, I didn’t think that I was doing anything wrong. I wasn’t going to marry her. Ha! That changed awfully quick. We were going to be a family. She married Asher, not Sterling. Asher and Sterling were two completely different people.
I know it sounds insane, but they were different people. Sure, they were both actually me, but nobody knew that but Becca. And she wanted to kick my ass because of it. But Becca was always my best friend, so she put up with all of my shit.
Lilly had a rough start in life, losing her parents at such a young age. She was looking for stability, and I felt the need to provide that for her. With Lilly I had the big house in the suburbs, the minivan, two kids, a dog, a cat, three fish and a guinea pig. Our lives were the definition of suburban family.
Being her Mr. Right was easy, because she was my light. She made my whole world brighter. When I found out Lilly was going to have my baby I couldn’t have been happier. With the life I was living I never planned on becoming a father. Up until that moment I was nothing but a cheater. I hadn’t branched out into polygamy yet. Eventually, I did sleep with Lilly while married to Skye, but once again it was actually Asher sleeping with her. So I rationalized that it wasn’t really cheating.
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