Out From Under

by Selene Chardou

  “It wasn’t like that. Trinity is staying out here now and we used her and her friend, Kelly, as witnesses. It was a wonderful experience and I don’t regret it…but it would have been nice to have more friends and family. I just thought no one, especially you, would want to see us go through with it and that hurt my heart, Tal.”

  “Well, now that we have cleared that up, I’ll see you tomorrow. Enjoy the rest of your night. Love you.”

  “I will. Night and love you too.” I smiled as I ended the call and set my phone on the coffee table.

  For the first time since the deaths of Tristan and my parents, I could glimpse happiness and it was truly a wonderful feeling to grasp. Maybe I wasn’t destined to spend the rest of my life hopelessly depressed and confused after all.

  Chapter Eighteen

  LINX AWOKE TO find his beautiful bride curled in his arms. Kissing her softly on the forehead, he got out of bed and walked directly to the bathroom.

  As he began the shower, it immediately occurred to him that he was actually married and the thought brought a smile to his lips.

  Despite his hardcore rocker appearance and “don’t give a damn” attitude he wore , he was really the “settling down” type. He couldn’t help the way his brain was hard-wired and while Trista’s immediate response was to question if it was real, his only thought had been that he’d never been in a relationship that felt more open, honest and sincere.

  Cassidy’s main purpose in life had been to get Linx to put a ring on her finger, one that he’d fought for a long time. Yeah, their sex life had been smokin’ but other than a shared upbringing in Boston, they had zero in common. She liked to go out to various clubs and bars with her friends, get drunk, high, and then run home to have mad, kinky passionate sex with him. He was more of a homebody type who, after hanging out with the band when they were just getting started, liked to indulge in either action-adventure, drama, horror or even the occasional chick-flick film while drinking a Heineken on the couch.

  Someone like Cassidy always managed to meet the wrong people and in L.A., it wasn’t any different. She got high on coke, crystal meth, marijuana; she drank like a fish and partied like a rock star. Her whole crowd was into that and it was no surprise when her best friend, Tiffany, moved out to L.A. Tiffany had reunited with her on-again/off-again boyfriend from Boston, Niko, and everything else—including the tacky wedding and the nasty divorce—was history.

  Even when he and Cassidy married, she didn’t change her ways. When Winter’s Regret became famous, she was tabloid fodder for In Touch, Society Magazine, US Weekly and The Daily Mail for stumbling out of clubs with friends or being caught shit faced with smeared makeup. Her biggest mistake, and the reason for their break-up, was sleeping with Seth shortly after she found out she was pregnant with Jimi. Linx could forgive a lot of things, but fucking one of his best friends while she was expecting his child wasn’t one of them.

  He’d never told anyone, not even Niko, the real reason behind their divorce. He’d publicly blamed it on the partying and his own infidelity, which he knew would get him caught by the media. Although he allowed her to file his brother slash attorney found out the truth and used it to their advantage.

  Most ex-wives married to successful rock stars got really nice alimony checks. Cassidy wasn’t the sharpest tool in the shed and didn’t realize her amount was considered paltry in comparison.

  Yes, she got to keep the house and lived mortgage free; he also paid for the Nanny and the utilities as well, but as far as he was concerned, she was still a drain on his finances.

  Linx finished up his shower, dried off and entered the bedroom to find Trista up and about. She paced as she spoke on the phone with someone.

  “Listen, I can’t talk about this now and it’s not my fault! Don’t you dare blame me for the WKs coming after you, Trey. You were the one who started in on the rampage and went all Natural Born Killers on their ass, so you clean up your own goddamn mess.”

  She stopped pacing once she looked in Linx’s direction and listened to her brother on the other end before she scoffed loudly.

  “What?! You want me to lend you money from my trust account? Absolutely not! You’re a fucking Bastard—let your club protect you. If anyone is at fault for the deaths in our family, it’s your sorry ass for getting involved in a gang. You knew they were doing something illegal and could get people killed. But no, you wanted to be a bad ass—”

  Linx listened to Trista, as her brother said something to her. She rolled her eyes and shook her head.

  “I can’t do this, not today, Trey. I already have to meet with Talia and Sasha in Summerlin. I can’t come by to see you—”

  He began to dress in a pair of tight, yet slightly baggy, black jeans and a blue flannel, short-sleeved shirt. It wasn’t the most original of outfits, but it would do for today. He knew they would need to keep a low profile, especially if they were meeting with Trista’s brother. He was pretty sure that would probably happen now that she was screaming like a banshee at him over the phone.

  “If you’re so fuckin’ broke then how can you afford to stay at Caesars Palace? Sometimes I’m ashamed to call you my brother.” Trista ended the call, threw the phone on the bed, and strolled to Linx, wrapping her arms around his waist.

  “What’s going on, babe?”

  She was fighting back tears in those gorgeous blue eyes of hers and swallowed hard. “Trey shot Brooklyn Decker. He’s at Carson Tahoe Medical Center in Carson City suffering from a collapsed lung. There isn’t a warrant out for Trey’s arrest yet, only because the patient is doped up on pain medication, unconscious and can’t speak to the cops.

  “As soon as it happened, he high-tailed it out of there and drove all night on his Harley to get here, because like everyone else, he knows about our marriage.”

  “Wait a minute…we left him in L.A. last night.”

  “They left for Nevada as soon as I stood him up at Talia’s. The shooting went down sometime this morning…around three-thirty or so. He drove here directly from Carson City and got here a couple hours ago; he checked in at Caesars Palace. Now he calls me, claiming he’s broke, and doesn’t know what to do because when he gets found out, all hell is going to break loose.”

  “How much did he ask for and where does he think he’s going to go?”

  “We have a charter in Vancouver. I assume he’s just going to stay up there until the heat dies down.”

  “Washington state? Or Canada?”

  “Canada.”

  Linx wrapped his arms around her neck and pulled her closer to him. “Oh, and what’s this about a meeting with Talia and Sasha? Our financial manager lives in Summerlin but I do know his wife and Talia are best friends. Why are we meeting at his house? What does he have to do with us getting married?”

  “Nothing, to be honest. You don’t have to speak to Paul about anything unless you need to change your life insurance policies or anything else financially related. We’re meeting Tal and Sash there because they stayed at their house last night. Sasha wants a statement from us so she can report it to the media to get them off our backs.

  “Talia always stays with Jerrica because they both went to Vassar together. She avoids the Strip at all costs and I highly doubt she wants the paparazzi getting wind she’s briefly in town. Plus, I don’t think she likes hotels much anymore. The six month tour soured her opinion of them and she would rather stay with friends than in some anonymous yet luxurious suite.”

  “How do you know so much about her relationship with Jerrica?”

  Trista stared at him intensely before she arched one of her perfect brows. “She’s my cousin. They both went through some real bad shit together when they were in college. She never confided in me what it was but it’s scarred her for life and she’s still messed up after all this time.

  “There’s not much I don’t know about her but that was one aspect of her life she’s always been really closed off about. Other than that, I know Tal was a songwr
iter for Introspect Records before Seth offered her a job as a keyboardist in your band and told her she could sing back up—”

  “Yeah, I know, I was at that meeting when he offered her the job,” Linx interrupted softly before he sighed out loud. “I have to admit at the time I was completely against it. That is, until she saved our asses on tour. Without her, I don’t know what we would have done. I love her to death now and know she has resurrected the band.”

  “Well, she’s got three best girlfriends from college. Autumn, who travels between L.A. and New York; Savannah, who lives in New York; and Jerrica, who’s married to Paul and lives here in Vegas. They moved from New York late last August if I’m not mistaken. She wouldn’t dare come all this way and not spend time with Jerrica. Of her three best friends, she and Jerrica have always been the closest. Now you know why even if neither of us are aware of the specifics.”

  Linx sighed, kissed her brow, and looked her in the eyes. “So, what are we going to do about your brother’s situation?”

  Trista stepped back and broke their intimate embrace. “That, dear husband, will have to wait until after I take a shower. I don’t want to talk about him until I am squeaky clean and dressed. Just thinking about his issues make me feel dirty.”

  “That’s a bit harsh, don’t you think?”

  “I can’t get harsh enough where Trey is concerned.” She ran a hand through her hair. “He always has a way of showing up when I can’t deal with him. Right now is really bad timing on his part and I hate he’s involved us with whatever shit he’s gotten himself into because ignorance is bliss. I would rather not know what he was up to because he makes us both accessories to his crimes after the fact. Trey knows the law and still does crap like this anyway…just because he can.”

  Linx watched her walk into the bathroom and tried to understand his feelings for his new wife. He knew he loved her and wanted to protect her, keep her safe, regardless of any cost. If her brother was bullying her over money, he would go to the bank and get the cash. It meant nothing to him, but Trista’s peace of mind was everything and that’s all he wanted for her.

  If anyone deserved to be happy, it was his beautiful, damaged bride, who still seemed to wear the weight of the world on her shoulders like a fucking scarlet letter.

  LINX LAUGHED AGAIN at one of Paul’s jokes, before he decided that the band had one of the coolest financial advisors in the world. Paul took care of not only the band’s financial interests but also their personal ones as well. Trista had reminded him of something very important and he spoke to Paul about it: updating his life insurance policies.

  All of Linx’s money and possessions would now be split three ways with his boys each inheriting a third and Trista would get the rest. He signed a stack of revised paperwork before they joined the women back in the sitting room.

  He’d also decided that they had the most perfect family. He and his wife, Jerrica, had two sons, both under the age of two, and they were content, carefree and their life was a tranquility of love and happiness.

  It was something Linx had always desired from Cassidy but she wasn’t wife material, not like a college-educated woman like Jerrica, who balanced work and family with ease. Of course, she also had a live-in nanny from Belgium who helped her out, though she took care of her children as well. The nanny was there for help, not to be a substitute mother.

  He wished Brady and Jimi had the same, but Cassidy used them like an ATM machine and perhaps that’s all they were to her. The two, toe-haired, blue-eyed boys were merely a nuisance in her life that the “Nanny” would handle. She spent very little time with the children, and they relied more on Hanna, the German nanny, than they did on their own mother.

  “Hey, Space Cadet,” Talia snapped her fingers in front of his face, forcing himself to stop contemplating about his overly complicated life.

  “Yeah?” He looked at her, smirking. “Sorry, I just took a vacation in my own head for a sec.”

  “No problem with that, but can we talk outside for a minute?”

  Linx stood and followed Talia out to the back yard. It was classic desert landscaping with a swimming pool, hot tub and also a professional barbeque pit. He sat down on one of the comfortable, cream lounge chairs in the shade. The sun wasn’t strong but he was glad for the reprieve.

  “You want something to drink?” Talia asked him as she grabbed a Heineken and an Evian.

  “Sure, thanks. How did you know they keep a mini refrigerator out here?” He hated that he’d asked the question as soon as it left his lips.

  “Jerrica is my best friend and I have been here a few times since we’ve been back from tour.” She sat down on the lounger next to him and caressed her baby bump. “Gah, he kicks something wicked. I can’t believe Jaden’s mother had so many kids, if he was as bad as this one is now. I think this is my first and last baby.”

  Linx swigged from his Heineken. “How has he been? Still battling it out with Faith?”

  Talia rolled her pale green eyes and glared at him with annoyance. “What makes you think I want to talk about that fucking cunt? I can’t stand her and she’s just using the history they have together while she still gets high. The bitch is toxic and I’ve already told Jaden that if he chooses to stay with her, he won’t have access to his kid unless he comes by alone to see him. I don’t want my baby anywhere near that junkie whore.”

  “Whoa. Sorry, I didn’t mean to pry.”

  “Yeah, well you did and I hope I satisfied your curiosity.” She sipped from her water and placed the bottle on the small circular glass table that separated the two loungers. “I didn’t come out here to talk about my personal drama, Linx. You married my cousin and that’s cool with me, even though she’s only eighteen. I know a lot of people will judge you for that—I don’t because Trista isn’t your normal eighteen year old. She doesn’t care about hanging out at the mall and gossiping with girlfriends. I don’t think she’s had many girls as friends other than her brother’s girlfriends.”

  “I won’t hurt her, Talia.” He swigged from his beer bottle again. “I know what you are going to say because she asked me last night. I couldn’t, in good conscience, sleep with her and not be married to her. There is just this…fragility about her, like she’s a wounded butterfly. All I want to do is keep her safe.”

  “I know how you feel about Trista, Linx. I saw it the first time you two met. It didn’t surprise me that you two got together, but I was shocked the way you went about it. Marriage, Linx? I love Trista—don’t get me wrong—but she’s fucked in the head, and not in a good way. She’s got emotional issues coming out of her eyeballs and she isn’t ready to love anyone; she can’t even properly love herself.”

  Linx’s heart pounded in his chest as he gazed into Talia’s eyes. “What are you trying to say, Tal? That my wife is some kind of psycho bitch out of Single White Female? You think I don’t know she has issues? I know, because I have been with her nearly every day for almost two months. I know she’s been severely fucked up by the death of her parents and Tristan.”

  “It’s not just that. The shit she’s seen. Yeah, she’s strong—I’ll give her that—but there is only so much a person can deal with before they snap. Trey was her world and when he joined the Demon’s Bastards, she followed him around like a lost puppy. She’s been around murder and mayhem her whole life, Linx. Her parents and Tristan…they aren’t the first time she’s dealt with death, though it is the first time she’s been this close to it.”

  Talia seemed to size him up before she bit her lip. “I got a friendly visit from the FBI just about an hour after Trey left last night. They asked me really strange questions and their first question was about Trista’s whereabouts. I told them I didn’t know, because I really didn’t at that time and I wasn’t going to lie. I don’t know what they want with Trista, but they seemed a bit too eager to speak to her.”

  “What are you trying to say, Talia? My wife is wanted as a criminal?”

  “It’s doubtful.
I said she’s been around violence almost her whole life, but she’s never killed anyone…at least, not that I’m aware of. I think they probably want to talk to her about Trey or her parents’ death, but they aren’t going to get anything out of her. She wouldn’t rat out the Bastards. No way would she let her brother do anymore time.”

  “Trey’s has been to jail?”

  “Try the Northern Nevada Correctional Center—are you sure you’re a rock star? You’re terribly naïve to be one.” Talia stood and looked down at him. “He’s a convicted felon and spent six months of a two year sentence inside. That was when he was twenty-one—he’s your age now, so if he takes a swing at you for marrying his baby sister, don’t be too surprised. He’s always been extremely protective of her.”

  “Shit…we’re supposed to meet him after we finish up here.” Linx stood as well and sighed. “What’s the point of this speech you’re giving me? I get it; Trista has issues, and I will give her the space she needs to work out her problems. I’ll pay for counseling if she needs it, or wants it. Money isn’t an issue. I entered this whole arrangement with my eyes wide fucking open. It doesn’t change how I feel about her or why I love her.”

  “And why do you love her?” Talia placed one hand on her baby bump, while the other caressed her lower back. “The question isn’t rhetorical, Linx. I seriously want to know what you see in an eighteen year old, damaged woman, who is far older in her years, mentally, than she should be. Don’t be fooled by those baby blues—they have probably seen more horrible shit go down than you when you lived in South Boston.”

  “Why do you love Jaden? The guy is a major prick and he’s just stringing you along.” Linx bit his tongue before he said anything else that would hurt Talia. “I fell in love with your cousin after we actually became friends. We’re able to talk about everything. She told me about the death of her parents and brother…how Trey was in the Bastards MC and how much she saw and went through as a teenager.