Only This

by Hadley Quinn

  Jay was looking from Tyse to Teague, realizing he was missing something major. Finally he said, “Obviously there’s more to this than just that dickhead being at his best.”

  Teague didn’t reply, and Tyse knew that he was trying to respect his privacy. But since he was the one that brought it up, Tyse took the liberty of trying to explain without going into detail.

  “Let’s just say a certain dickhead paid me a visit at work and claimed he was just giving me some ‘friendly’ suggestions.”

  Jay paused for a few seconds before shaking his head. “I wanna hurt him so fucking bad.”

  “You and me both,” Teague added dryly.

  Tyse felt terrible. So many pieces of that conversation with Max were coming back to him, but so was the advice that Teague had given him right after. He’d supported him one hundred percent, most likely knowing he would eventually suffer the repercussions right along with him. In fact, Tyse was pretty sure Teague had been expecting it.

  “What can I do to make it right?” Tyse asked.

  He immediately thought of Sarah and all the promises he’d made her. He’d made her those promises because it was how he truly felt. He wanted to be with her and he’d been willing to fight his family for her. How he felt still hadn’t changed, but he suddenly worried that giving her up would be asked of him.

  He’d already fallen in love with her.

  “Don’t sweat it, man,” Teague shook his head. “It’s seriously not your fault and I hope you don’t feel that way. Like I said, if it’s worth it to you like you say it is, I support you all the way. Don’t let them bully you.”

  “What the hell am I missing?” Jay asked with confusion, looking between the two of them. He looked specifically at Tyse and added, “If this has to do with—” He paused and glanced toward the kitchen to make sure the girls were still occupied. “If this has to do with what I think it does,” he said quietly, “I’m going to seriously hurt him.”

  “It does, but I don’t want you involved in any of this,” Tyse told him.

  “I already fucking am,” Jay retorted angrily. “This is bullshit. What the hell did he say to you?”

  “He told me if I continued seeing a certain female I’d be rocking the boat, and then some threat about being thrown out of the boat and held under.”

  “Oh my God,” Jay chuckled bitterly, but he seemed too pissed to speak for several seconds. Tyse wondered if he was taking a moment to simmer his anger or was trying to come up with a solution.

  “Let’s not talk about him anymore,” Teague finally said. “I think for now it’s better to just enjoy the day with each other and be grateful for all the good things in our lives right now. I’m not going to let my brother get to me today. He played nice for a few months but it looks like his act is over. There’s no changing his maliciousness any time soon.”

  The three of them watched the game, but Tyse could feel the mood had turned melancholy. He was glad when the girls joined them, bringing appetizers, smiles, and an overall distraction to Tyse’s worries.

  Melanie had Cade with her, but Tyse quickly took possession of him on the couch where he sat with Sarah. When his earlier concerns started to creep back into his thoughts, all he had to do was watch Sarah cuddle with the baby and all of his doubts washed away. There was no question in his mind that she was worth the fight with his family no matter what kind of misery it caused him. But if Max was intent on making everyone else miserable as well, Tyse worried about how far he was going to take it.

  Would he be able to keep everyone out of the crossfire?

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  “I almost died when Jay sang that song to Melanie,” Sarah laughed as Tyse drove her home later that evening. “How does he come up with lyrics on the spot like that?”

  “I have no idea,” Tyse answered honestly. “He’s pretty witty, but also shameless and not at all shy.”

  “No, not shy,” Sarah laughed again. “But I didn’t realize he played the guitar too.”

  Tyse gave her a side-glance. “Too?” he questioned for some reason.

  “Oh come on,” she scoffed with a smile. “Ali told me you are really amazing.”

  “She over exaggerates.”

  “Sometimes she does, but I totally believe her this time. Before I can continue with this relationship any further, you’re going to have to play for me.”

  Tyse laughed with amusement. “Continue this relationship any further?” he repeated. “Is this blackmail?”

  “Nope,” she shook her head fervently. “Not at all.”

  “Uh huh,” he replied dryly. “You’re taking advantage of the fact that I’m a sucker for you.”

  “Oh?” she asked with a wicked smile.

  “Mmhmm.”

  He took Sarah’s exit while she lightly laughed. The day had been amazing with her and he couldn’t imagine spending another Thanksgiving without her.

  “I totally missed out on the proposal story!” Sarah said suddenly. “I was talking to Camryn and her uncle when Melanie was telling Brandon how Jay proposed.

  “Oh, you missed out,” Tyse smiled, shaking his head. “I have to give it to my brother… He is a clever little shit and pulled it off.”

  “So what did he do?” she asked eagerly.

  Tyse was intrigued by the way she was so excited to hear about it. He could assume that most females were mushy over that type of thing, but even he had been impressed by Jay’s efforts.

  “So he tells her he’s got a special date for her,” Tyse begins. “She gets all excited, demands to know where he’s taking her. Melanie cannot stand surprises,” he added as a side note. “She pesters him and pesters him until he finally shows her this brochure for a muscle car show down in Venice.”

  “A car show?” Sarah asked skeptically.

  “Yep, that’s what Melanie said,” he laughed. “But it’s Mel, and she’s happy to do just about anything, so she’s excited just to be with him and agrees. So Jay books a room at a hotel since he wants them to stay the night. Again, she’s just super excited to be there with him. She even goes to the car show that night, has fun, they go out to eat… The next morning he orders room service, they have a nice breakfast, and he convinces her to come to the window by saying, ‘Hey, check it out, it’s another car show and it’s just for you.’ So she goes to the window…”

  He paused for dramatic effect as he pulled down Sarah’s street.

  “And!?” she squealed impatiently.

  “And he got the entire car show from the night before to spell ‘MARRY ME’ with their cars in the street below.”

  Sarah’s mouth dropped open. “No way!”

  “Yeah,” Tyse nodded with a laugh. “He thought Melanie was going to piss herself.”

  “She just might have,” Sarah agreed. “That’s really amazing. Good for him.”

  “Yeah, I was impressed.”

  “Well not only that he put so much effort into it, but that it was so…him. That’s really cool.”

  “He’s definitely unique.”

  “I agree. Your family—the ones you choose to be around—is really important to you. And I can see why.”

  It felt good to hear her say that. He’d been anxious about how the day would turn out and was glad she had so much fun.

  “Oh shit,” she suddenly spoke under her breath.

  “Oh shit what?” he asked, trying to follow her gaze. There was a gray truck parked in front of Sarah’s place, and before Tyse even stopped his car, she was opening the door. “Hang on, babe—”

  She was already stepping out, so Tyse stopped the car as quickly as he could twenty feet from the driveway. Sarah immediately jogged to the door of her apartment on the side of the house, so Tyse jumped out and caught up to her.

  “What’s going on?” he asked as she stuck the key in the lock and opened the door in a matter of two seconds.

  She flung the door open just in time to see Ali and some guy spring up from the couch. Tyse thought Sarah was
going to absolutely flip out on them, but she didn’t.

  “Get the hell out of my house,” Sarah said calmly as she pointed to the door. “Both of you.”

  The guy gave her an arrogant, defiant look at first, and then he smugly reached down and buttoned his pants. Tyse noticed that Ali had been discreetly trying to straighten her clothes, but she wouldn’t look at either of them as she got up from the couch.

  Tyse stepped aside as the kid brushed past him for the exit. He wouldn’t look at Tyse and headed straight for his truck. But just as Ali made a move for the door, Sarah said, “On second thought, you stay here and we’ll have a little chat.”

  Ali rolled her eyes and stopped with a groan. “Give me a break. Haven’t I been humiliated enough?”

  “Ha!” Sarah laughed sarcastically. “You break into my house to have sex with your boyfriend and it’s my fault you’re embarrassed? You want to know what would be even more embarrassing? Me marching over to your house and having a little chat with your parents! How would you like that!?”

  “You wouldn’t dare?” Ali narrowed her eyes.

  “Oh? You really think I wouldn’t? Sit your ass on my couch right now and convince me why I shouldn’t!”

  Sarah stood there waiting with her arms crossed over her chest, but Ali didn’t move.

  “Nothing happened with Robby. That’s when you walked in. There was never a chance because you came in and screamed at him.”

  “I didn’t scream at him—”

  “Yes you did! And now I have no idea what he’s going to think or say to his friends or how he’s going to treat me!”

  “Well he’s not worth it if he can’t respect you properly,” Sarah told her.

  “Easy for you to say,” Ali replied. “You didn’t have any boyfriends in high school. How can you even relate?”

  “No, not exactly,” Sarah agreed. “I was boy crazy, but I was just shy and didn’t know how to act around them. But I do know that if they can’t respect you, they’re not worth your time.”

  “You know nothing about Robby, so why do you think you can give me advice?”

  “Ali,” Sarah sighed. She rubbed her hands over her face and said, “I know that you’re going to argue anything I say to you, so how ‘bout you just go home, okay? I want to have a serious conversation with you, but it needs to be your choice. You can let me know whether you want that or not.”

  “Or what? You’re going to tell my parents? What do you really think they’re going to do, huh?”

  “Hey, have a little respect,” Tyse cut in.

  He didn’t know if it was his place, but he was tired of this girl’s attitude toward Sarah when all she ever did was try to help her. Ali looked surprised that he even said anything to her, but he didn’t care.

  “If I were you, I’d realize that this could be a lot worse than it is. You think Sarah really likes putting up with your shit? You think it’s fun for her to deal with this kind of stuff and then all you do is treat her with disrespect? Smarten up, Ali. She only wants you to be safe and happy. ‘Tattling’ on you isn’t a priority on her list. Now go home before I march my ass next door and share a few words of my own with mommy and daddy.”

  Ali seemed stunned, but maybe Tyse misread her expression because her mouth finally closed and she stormed out of the house with tears in her eyes.

  Just great. He makes teenaged girls cry.

  He looked at Sarah and sighed. “I’m sorry. Her attitude pisses me off and I lost my patience.”

  Sarah didn’t seem mad at him. In fact, she smiled when she shook her head. “Don’t worry about it. I think it might have actually done some good.”

  “I make girls cry,” he stated dryly.

  Sarah laughed out loud as she came his way. She wrapped her arms around him and laid her head against his chest. “She’s okay. I hope I didn’t freak out too bad, though.”

  “With that girl, I think it’s okay to freak out once in a while.”

  She scoffed, and then laughed. “So you’re saying that I really did freak out?” She leaned back to look at him, waiting for an answer.

  “Nah, not really,” he shook his head. “It could have been worse. I was kinda waiting for you to go full force ninja on him. That might have been cool.”

  She smiled and then exhaled a deep breath. “I don’t like that kid and I warned her about him, but it’s not going to do any good to say ‘I told you so.’”

  “No, it won’t. Just support her in whatever way you can while she works through it. If I can help, I will.”

  “Just knowing you’re there is enough,” Sarah told him. “Thank you.”

  “Any time,” Tyse kissed the top of her head. “Just let me know when I can play my hero card and kick someone’s ass.”

  Sarah laughed again and held him tighter.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  “Try not to lean forward too much,” Tyse instructed. He watched Anna Evans do another lunge as she winced. “That’s better. Keep your knee right over your ankle, no further.”

  Anna finished her set and paused. “God, it hurts,” she exhaled with a tiny laugh. She took in another deep breath of air as if trying to breath through the pain.

  “You’re doing awesome,” Tyse praised her. “You’re actually further than I expected. Just make sure you’re cooling down enough and take care of yourself when you get home. You still need to do your light stuff at home everyday.”

  “Yes, boss,” she joked with a smile. “I do everything you tell me to.”

  “Good,” he nodded.

  Anna automatically headed for the treadmill to cool down. Tyse was about to sit on a yoga ball next to her and ask if she’d changed her mind about her surfing career, but he heard loud voices in the hallway. He stepped toward the door just in time to see his grandfather enter the room, an angry scowl on his face. He had a newspaper or something in his hand and he slammed it down on the counter.

  “Are you kidding me?” he asked in a low voice.

  Thinking that something was seriously wrong, Tyse headed for the counter to see what had been so important that his grandpa had to interrupt a therapy session. When he saw that it was actually a tabloid disgracing the white surface, Tyse scoffed.

  “Whatever it is, I don’t really care,” Tyse told him.

  “Oh, well you sure as hell should,” Neil growled at him. “Look closer!”

  At that point there were a couple of employees in the hall, confused as to what was going on. They were either waiting to see what Tyse was going to do about the unwelcomed visitor that wasn’t supposed to be in the private therapy room, or they were too scared to remove The Neil McCallan from the building themselves.

  “I don’t care what a damn tabloid says about me,” Tyse said again. “And this is a private facility. You’re not allowed back here.”

  Neil raised his eyebrows like he couldn’t believe a person would actually say that to him. He even said, “I hope I didn’t just hear you correctly. I am your grandfather, goddamn it. This is family business.”

  Tyse sighed to keep his composure. “Bringing me tabloid stories is not a matter of life and death.”

  “It sure the hell is,” came the pissed off retort. “Look at the fucking front page, Tyse,” he added through clenched teeth.

  Tyse grabbed the paper off the counter forcefully. He looked at the cover and saw a picture of him with his arm wrapped around Sarah as they walked. From what he could tell, it was after he’d taken her to dinner a week ago, a few days after Thanksgiving.

  The caption read: McCallan Do-Over For the Douglas family. The sub-caption added: Is it love, another publicity stunt, or revenge for a scandal cover up?

  Tyse took a second to compose his thoughts and said, “I don’t care about this shit. It’s never going to stop.”

  “If you would open the damn paper and read the article, you might care a little bit more,” Neil narrowed his eyes. He stood there and actually waited, like he expected Tyse to comply right then and the
re.

  “I’m working and don’t have time for this right now,” he answered. “We can talk later if you’d like. I’ll be at the studio in—”

  “Read the goddamn article, Tyse,” Neil spat as quietly as his anger allowed. “I suggest you put off your appointments for today and take care of your family’s business instead. You at least owe us that.”

  Tyse was ready to flip his shit. Anna was grabbing her things, finished with her cool down and no doubt wanting out of the war zone. She spoke a quiet goodbye to him and slipped past them through the door.

  He looked at his grandfather and paused briefly before saying, “Why do you care about whatever’s in there? I thought you were opposed to tabloid news.”

  Neil reached over to the door and slammed it shut behind him so they had privacy. “If it’s one outrageous article, I don’t really give a shit. But it’s come to my attention that it’s spreading everywhere all of a sudden. I want you to explain what the hell is going on! You’ve been dating this girl? Even when I advised you not to?”

  Tyse bit his tongue and flipped open the tabloid paper. If it got his grandpa the hell out of his business, he’d get it over with.

  After twenty seconds of skimming the article that contained “inside information” from several “undisclosed sources,” Tyse had read enough. It was filled with speculation made to sound like fact, although the subject matter was pretty much spot-on. It brought up the incident with Olivia Douglas and the McCallans five years ago, suggesting that Max and the McCallans had covered up a “scandal,” and then Olivia shied from the public’s eye for the next few years after most likely being paid off to keep quiet.

  “I wouldn’t blame Sarah one bit for wanting revenge for something they got away with because of their money and notoriety,” an undisclosed source stated. “That family is full of secrets and lies and I’ve been victim to them, too.”

  Tyse furrowed his brow. He was sure a lot of people had been screwed over by the McCallans, but that “victim” caught his interest.

  He looked at his grandpa and shrugged. “What exactly do you want me to say? This is stuff that was in the tabloids four or five years ago, right?”