“This will teach you not to fuck other people’s girlfriends, you son of a bitch,” Jim barked, grunting with pleasure with every blow he delivered to Kyle’s hunched over body.
By now, people had started to crowd the parking lot, but Jim didn’t care. He was not done kicking Kyle’s ass for fucking his girl. He stopped clobbering Kyle’s stomach but only because he wanted to deliver some angry blows to Kyle’s pretty face.
The first punch crushed Kyle’s jaw. The force of the savage blow snapped his head back and made him see stars. His vision blurred. His jaw throbbed. He tasted blood in his mouth. But Kyle still didn’t try to fight back. He was too drunk and also too depressed. He didn’t care if Jim pummeled his face to dust. Kyle figured that if Jim beat him unconscious, he wouldn’t have to be awake to deal with the excruciating pain smothering his heart.
Before Jim could punch Kyle a second time Phil, the bartender, showed up.
“Step away from the kid, Jim, or you’ll be sorry,” Phil said. Jim’s threatening tone and the sound of a fire arm being locked and loaded stopped Jim cold. Jim twisted his head to look behind him and saw Phil standing behind him and pointing a rifle at his head.
“Hey man. Put the gun down,” Jim pleaded, laughing nervously, his voice shaking. He released the grip he had on Kyle’s t-shirt and turned around holding his hands up. “Take it easy, buddy. The kid and I were just having a friendly chat about respecting other people’s property. That’s all.”
Still sobbing and shaking from the ordeal, Tara mouthed an ‘I’m sorry’ to Kyle before getting in her truck and burning some rubber trying to get out of there as fast as she could.
Kyle remained on his knees, rubbing his jaw and trying to regain his senses. His abdominal muscles were so sore, he couldn’t get up and there was a string of blood dripping from the corner of his mouth. If Phil hadn’t showed up, a guy as angry and big as Jim would have probably killed him or done some serious damage to Kyle’s handsome face.
“Get the fuck away from the kid, you foul piece of garbage, before I put a bullet between your eyes,” Phil growled, not caring that the bar patrons were out there witnessing the confrontation and hearing him threaten Jim’s life.
With his hands still up and afraid to turn his back to Phil, Jim walked away from Kyle and strolled towards his bike parked a few feet away. Phil kept the aim of his rifle on Jim until Jim and his bike had driven out of sight.
After scaring Jim away, Phil helped Kyle up. “Are you okay, kid? What the hell are you doing messing around with a guy like Jim? Do you have a death wish or something?”
Kyle did not answer, mainly because Phil was right about the death wish part. But he was still grateful to Phil for saving his ass.
“Thank you, sir,” Kyle said to Phil while rubbing his still throbbing jaw.
“You don’t look so good, son. Maybe you should go to a hospital and get yourself checked out,” Phil suggested.
“No. I’m fine. I’m just a little sore. That’s all,” Kyle replied. He was still sore and a little disoriented from both the alcohol in his blood and Phil’s upper cut, but didn’t think he had suffered any serious damage.
“You need to call someone to come pick you up, son. If you don’t do it, I will. I’ll call your mother, and I bet you don’t want me to do that.”
Phil was right. The last thing Kyle wanted was to alarm his mother. If Mrs. Garrett knew of the things her son had done that night, she’d have a heart attack. So Kyle did not argue with Phil. He pulled his phone out of his jeans pocket and called Casey, one of his cousins, to come pick him up.
When Casey arrived a few minutes later, Phil told him everything that happened. Phil asked Kyle to leave the keys to Mrs. Garrett’s car with him so he could drive the car back the next day. But Kyle refused and gave the keys to Casey instead.
After thanking Phil, Casey dragged Kyle to his car and shoved him in the front seat.
Alarmed by the story Phil had just told him and Kyle’s run-down appearance, Casey tried to get Kyle to open up to him. Casey had noticed how strange Kyle had been acting since he arrived in Montana. He knew Kyle was not the type to get drunk and pick fights in bars with guys three times his size.
“What is going on with you, man? When you arrived yesterday, you were so happy. A few hours later, you’re moping around like someone died and then lock yourself in your room. What’s gotten into you?”
Kyle stared out the car window. “It’s nothing, Casey. I’m fine. I just need to be left alone.”
“Are you sure? I don’t like seeing you like this. I’m just worried about you man.”
“I told you I’m fine.” Kyle turned to look at his cousin. “I need to ask you a favor, though. Don’t tell my mom about what happened tonight. I don’t want to worry her. I also need you to go back to the bar and pick up my mother’s car. It needs to be back in her driveway before she gets up. Otherwise, she is going to figure out everything.”
“Sure thing, man. I will wake my brother up and we’ll go back there. Don’t worry about it.”
A few minutes later, Kyle and Casey arrived at Kyle’s mother’s house. Kyle breathed a sigh of relief when he saw all the lights at the house were still off. Inside, everything was quiet. Everyone in the house was still asleep. Kyle made Casey promise again that he wouldn’t tell anyone, especially his mother, about what happened. Casey promised again and dragged Kyle upstairs to his room.
Alone in his room, Kyle threw himself on his bed and closed his eyes. Pain, fatigue, and the alcohol swimming in his blood stream made him fall asleep quickly. He was thankful for that. He needed to escape his reality. Reality had become just too painful to bear. The last forty-eight hours of his life had been a total and complete nightmare, and he needed a break from it.
****
Back in New York the next morning, Abby’s phone alarm woke her up at the crack of dawn. Brianna’s arms were still around her. She tried to get out of bed as quietly as possible so as to not wake Brianna up, but she failed.
“Good morning, pretty girl,” Brianna yawned, pulling Abby back on the bed and tightening her arms around her. “What are you doing up so early?”
“I have to go. I need to go home, shower, and get to work.”
“Why so early?”
“It’s my turn to open the bookstore.”
“I don’t want you to go,” Brianna whined. “Please stay a little longer.”
“I can’t. I have to leave now.” Abby managed to wrestle Brianna’s arms away and got off the bed.
“What are you doing after work?” Brianna asked as she watched Abby search for her clothes scattered all over the bedroom floor.
“Nothing. After work I’m free. Why?”
Brianna got off the bed and wrapped a sheet around her naked body before stepping towards Abby who was zipping up her dress.
“I’m going to be at rehearsals for the musical all day and part of the night. How about you come over tonight and we have a quiet night in. We can order pizza and watch a movie or just hang. What do you say?”
“Sounds perfect. I will see you tonight then.” A quiet night was not what Abby had planned for them that evening. But she didn’t want to let Brianna in on her little plan. Another reason she needed to leave early was because she needed time to prepare the surprise.
After putting her clothes and shoes back on and gathering her bag and phone, Abby stepped towards the front door and Brianna followed her there.
“I’m so glad you’re moving in here,” Brianna smiled. “I like waking up next to you, but without you having to run out of here at the crack of dawn.”
“I know. I’m sorry, but I already promised Jeremy I’d open the store today. I promise I’ll make it up to you when I see you tonight.”
With a brief kiss, Abby and Brianna said goodbye to each other that morning, and Abby went home.
In the cab, on the way to her apartment, Abby checked her phone for messages or calls from Kyle. She was surprised to not find an
y. Kyle had never gone twenty four hours without calling or texting her. Concerned, Abby dialed Kyle, but the call went straight to voicemail. She called him again from the apartment before leaving for work and again on her way to the bookstore. Abby got Kyle’s voicemail every single time. She also texted him several times, and nothing.
After many failed attempts to get Kyle on his phone, Abby called Kyle’s mother. Mrs. Garrett, who was thrilled to hear her future daughter-in-law’s voice, told Abby Kyle was fine but still asleep. After some chitchatting about the reunion and other things, Abby asked Mrs. Garrett to tell her son to call her and then hung up. With the knowledge that nothing bad had happened to Kyle, Abby went on with her day.
Chapter VI
Kyle woke majorly hung over later that morning. He was sorer than he was the night before. His head was pounding, and his jaw still hurt. The glare filtering through his bedroom’s window was making his hangover worse. Lying on his stomach, Kyle reached behind himself and pulled his phone out of the back pocket of his jeans. He looked at the time and saw it was almost noon. He dropped the phone on the bed and buried his face on the pillow.
He could only remember bits and pieces of what happened the night before. Abby’s betrayal, however, he remembered vividly. It was the one thing he could not forget but wished he could. He wished he had never met that conniving, deceitful girl. He wanted to go back to sleep so he wouldn’t have to think about his cheating girlfriend, but the nausea building in the back of his throat forced him to get off the bed and find something to throw up in.
Holding his pounding head with his hands, Kyle dragged himself to the bathroom where he spent a good half hour throwing up with his head inside the toilet. He stopped retching long enough to hear a soft knock on his bedroom’s door.
“Kyle, honey? May I come in?” Mrs. Garrett asked from the other side of Kyle’s bedroom door.
Kyle wiped his mouth and staggered out of the bathroom. “Come in, ma.” Kyle grunted while collapsing back on his bed and lying on his stomach.
Mrs. Garrett walked in, holding a cup of hot tea and a bottle of pills. She sat down on a chair next to the bed and placed the tea and the pills on the nightstand.
“What’s wrong, sweetheart?” she asked. “I just got off the phone with my friend Margaret. She told me you were at her husband’s bar last night. She said you were falling down drunk and got into a fight with a very scary man.”
Kyle grunted and pulled a pillow over his head. He mentally cursed Phil and his loose lips. The last thing Kyle wanted was for his mother to find out what happened the previous night. But now that she knew, Kyle needed to do whatever he could to ease her mind. He flipped around to lie on his back and then sat up.
“It’s nothing ma. I told you. I’m fine,” Kyle lied, avoiding his mother’s gaze and reaching for the bottle of pills she had brought. After reading the label, he opened the small, plastic bottle and threw a couple of the pain pills down his throat.
Kyle’s attempt to downplay the previous night’s events did not work. His unkempt appearance and his refusal to open up to her were making Mrs. Garrett more worried than she already was. She handed Kyle the cup of tea so he could wash the pills down with it.
“No, Kyle. You are not fine. You are not the type to get drunk and then go driving. You took my car without my permission and didn’t tell anyone where you were going. What if something terrible had happened to you? And you definitely are not the type to pick fights with random men at bars. What is going on with you, sweetheart? Talk to me.”
“Jesus Christ, Ma,” Kyle snapped. “Would you stop treating me like I’m a little kid? I’m twenty-one years old for God’s sake.”
The harshness and loudness of Kyle’s voice startled his mother. He had never spoken to her like that. She took the cup from Kyle’s hands and placed it back on the nightstand. It broke her heart to see her baby spiral out of control like that. She felt helpless. She wanted to help her son, but Kyle refused to confide in her.
Kyle sighed, realizing his mother didn’t deserve his outburst. He reached over to hold her hand. “I’m sorry, Ma. I shouldn’t have snapped at you like that. I’m fine, really. Don’t concern yourself with me. Phil should not have told you anything about what happened last night. He is blowing it out of proportion. The fight was just a little misunderstanding.”
“I’m also sorry for taking your car without your permission,” Kyle continued. “It was reckless of me to go driving in the condition I was in. You’re right. It won’t happen again. I promise.”
Mrs. Garrett was not buying her son’s attempt to downplay what happened. Her friend Margaret had told her everything. “Margaret also told me what you were doing with some girl in the parking lot of the bar. How could you do such a thing, Kyle? How could you cheat on Abby just when you are about to propose to her? How could you do that to that sweet girl?”
Kyle chuckled bitterly and shook his head. He wished he could tell his mother that the girl she thought was so sweet and pure was nothing but a back-stabbing, lying, cheating slut. But he decided to hold his tongue for her sake.
“Look Ma, I don’t really want to talk about any of this anymore. My head is still pounding from last night, and I need to go throw up some more. Can we please drop it?”
“Talk to me Kyle. I’m your mother. Whatever is troubling you, tell me so I can help you.”
Kyle kissed his mother’s hand. “Thank you for caring about me so much, but you can’t help me on this Ma. No one can. So let’s just drop it please.”
“The only reason I’m being so nosy is because I love you, Kyle. I see you’re hurting, and I want to help you. You’re my baby, and I love you. I’m just worried about you.”
Kyle gave his mother a sweet smile. He was grateful that there was at least one woman in his life who cared about him and loved him unconditionally.
“I know Ma. Please stop worrying. You can’t help me with this, so there is no point in telling you anything. This is something I will solve once I get to New York. After I handle it, I will tell you all about it, but not now. Trust me on this. Everything is going to be fine.”
“Okay, sweetheart. I won’t ask you again. You should stay in bed until you feel better. I will bring you something to eat later.” Mrs. Garrett gave her son a kiss on the top of the head and walked out of the room.
Kyle flopped back on the bed and stared at the ceiling. He needed to get off the bed to take a much needed shower and change out of his stinky clothes. But he couldn’t summon up the will. Abby had robbed him of his will to live and his joy for life, and Kyle hated her for it.
He reached for his phone lying next to him on the bed and looked at all the missed calls and texts he missed. Most of them were from Abby. Kyle did not want to talk to her. He no longer trusted himself to feign civility towards her over the phone. But he realized that if he kept avoiding her, she might start figuring out he was on to her. He didn’t want her to suspect anything. He wanted to catch her red-handed in the act. Exerting a great deal of self-control, Kyle dialed his cheating girlfriend’s cellphone that morning.
Abby was in the middle of ringing a book purchase at the bookstore when her phone buzzed. She answered it immediately when she saw it was Kyle. “Hey, honey. Where were you? I’ve been calling you all morning.”
Fucking liar. Like you give a shit whether I live or die. Kyle wanted to scream those words at her. Instead, he counted to ten in his head and forced a smile on his voice.
“I know. I’m sorry. I went out with some friends last night, had too much to drink, and crashed. I just woke up and saw all of your calls and texts.”
“Are you alright?” Abby asked.
“Yes, I’m fine,” Kyle snapped, raising his voice. Realizing that he was giving away his anger, Kyle drew a long breath and reigned in his tone. “I just have a little headache. That’s all,” he added in a calmer, more subdued voice.
Abby was sensing Kyle was hiding something. He was being invasive and snappy, just
like during their last call. Abby realized he wasn’t going to tell her anything no matter how much she pried. So she decided to stop harassing him with her questions.
“Okay, then,” Abby replied with resignation in her voice. “Take care of yourself. I hope you feel better.”
“Thanks.”
“Listen, I have to go. I’m in the middle of my shift, and the store is really busy. Talk to you later?”
“Sure.”
Abby wanted to say something else, but Kyle didn’t give her a chance. He disconnected the call as soon as the word ‘sure’ came out of his mouth.
Abby removed the phone from her ear and stared at the screen, surprised that Kyle ended the call so abruptly. After putting the phone away, Abby continued to wait on her customers. But she couldn’t get the phone conversation with Kyle out of her mind. It bugged her how cold and distant her boyfriend sounded.
She also noticed he hung up without saying ‘I love you’ to her. Again. When they were apart in the past, they’d talk for hours on the phone and video chat often. During this trip, she could barely get a word out of him. He also raised his voice at her, something Kyle rarely did.
Still, it did not cross Abby’s mind that Kyle knew about her affair, and that was the reason he was acting the way he was. Abby blamed Kyle’s attitude on him being hung over and shrugged it off.
After hanging up on Abby, Kyle managed to get off his bed, shower and change his clothes. The headaches and the nausea had subsided, but Kyle decided to spend the rest of the day alone in his room. He was sick of people asking what was wrong with him. He just wanted to be alone.
Later in the day, his mother brought him some brunch, but Kyle barely touched it. He decided to spend the rest of the day sitting in front of his computer monitoring the location of Abby’s phone. He already knew Abby was cheating on him. But he figured that if he kept monitoring her, perhaps he could find some clues as to who she was cheating on him with.
While he waited for Abby to finish her shift at the bookstore, Kyle began to plot his revenge. He thought about pummeling the guy’s face to pieces, but doing that didn’t satisfy him anymore. Then the thought of shooting the guy in the face sneaked into his head. Initially, the thought disturbed Kyle a lot. He was not a violent person and was most definitely not a killer. But the more he thought about taking the guy out, the more he liked it. The idea of shooting the guy in the face and having Abby watch him do it made him happy.
Betrayal: Kyle's Revenge (The Betrayal Series) Page 6
