CHAPTER 12
It was fairly warm and muggy out already in Atlanta as the Memorial Day weekend arrived. Tristan and I had showered together. I had opted to wear a cute sun dress and sandals. He was not the Bermuda shorts type. He put on a pair of light khakis and a polo shirt I had bought him that matched his eyes. I figured if Trey had a tie to match his eye color, my Tristan would have a whole shirt to match his.
I felt a bit wicked today. Maybe it was because I knew I had to be around that Amber bitch. I had inserted one of my remote controlled silver bullets. Tristan and I had played with this before at the club’s Christmas party. It was more fun with crowds around. Today wouldn’t actually be representative of a crowd, but still I felt like I needed some self-imposed pleasure.
We had put the food in a refrigerated thermal bag and loaded it into the car. We were nearly at Trey and Tylar’s when I handed Tristan the remote.
“Here,” I said, “You hang on to this and feel free to push the controls as needed.”
He didn’t recognize it immediately, but once he did, a slow smile spread across his face. He shoved it into his pocket giving me a wicked grin.
“You can’t scream this time,” he teased. “Everyone at the Christmas party thought you were having some type of seizure, remember?”
“That was because you over-did it, Tristan. So remember that. If you don’t want me screaming then you need to gauge the momentum of this thing.”
He leaned over and kissed me. “You are a trip, Gina.”
Trey had the grill going when we got there. Preston was playing in the yard with Jean. Tylar was fussing around the kitchen when I got in there.
“Gina, did you remember the baked beans?”
“Yes Ty. Have I ever let you down?”
I helped her finish up the preparations. She said we would keep the side dishes inside until the hamburgers and hot dogs were ready.
Trey hollered in that Amber and her guest had just pulled in.
“Showtime,” we both said in unison.
The cookout went well, all things considered. Amber’s date happened to be a defensive end for the Atlanta Falcons which made Trey and Tristan practically giddy. He was a thirty-something, very tall, very buff black guy by the name of Darin Wright. He had that sexy, athletic thing going on, big time. I had nudged Tylar during the introductions as he was shaking Trey and Tristan’s hands. I had wanted her to get a look at the size of his hands. Her eyes had widened perceptibly. I had then lip synced the word “Ouch.” She had managed to suppress her giggle.
Trey had caught the whole exchange between us and gave Tylar one of his notorious frowns of disapproval.
(Oh get over yourself, Hot Nazi. A girl can still look for Chrissake!)
It amazed both Tylar and me that Darin wanted anything to do with Amber, as pretentious as she was. He seemed very down to earth and congenial; not some pumped-up NFL celebrity type at all.
“I bet Amber has never watched one freaking inning of football,” Tylar hissed to me as we carried the dirty dishes back up to the house.
“Yeah and I bet she’s never watched a quarter of baseball, either,” I replied. Tylar gave me a puzzled look before it dawned on her that I was being funny.
“Smart ass. You know what I meant.”
“Well, he sure is a hit with Tristan and Trey,” I said.
“Exactly. That is exactly what she wanted to do. She knows Trey is a die-hard Falcons fan.”
“So is Tristan,” I replied.
“Hey, did you notice that Amber didn’t offer to help us clear or clean up?”
“Why should she, Ty? She’s out there spoon feeding that famous ‘Better than Sex’ cake she brought to your spousal unit and my stud.”
We both broke into a fit of giggles on that one.
Jean came inside the house just then with Preston.
“You two go on back out there with the rest of them,” she said, “I’m putting Preston down for her nap and then I’ll finish up in here.”
“Thanks, Jean,” Tylar said, giving Preston a kiss on her cheek.
“Come on, Gina. Let’s go talk football with Darin.”
This ought to be good, I thought.
Trey and Tristan had pummeled Darin with questions about the upcoming season’s schedule. They were talking about who was picked up in the draft; who was traded, who was walking on as a free agent. They were clearly in hog heaven.
I had noticed Amber looking at Tristan a few times, but in all fairness, she had paid a lot more attention to Trey today. She wasn’t paying all that much attention to Darin, though. Perhaps I could assist with that.
They had moved the lawn chairs over to a shady grove of trees. Amber was sitting on a chair between Trey and Tristan; I took a chair on the other side of Darin. Tylar sat on an empty chair on the other side of Trey. It was odd that Amber wasn’t sitting in the chair I had taken. It was closest to Darin.
As soon as there was a lull in the man talk, I got Darin’s attention.
“So, Darin,” I said sweetly. “Has Tony Gonzalez decided whether he is going to retire after eighteen seasons or not?”
I saw Trey and Tristan look over at me quickly; Tristan’s mouth twitched into a smile.
“Well Gina, he hasn’t declared as of yet. If I were a betting man, I’d say the odds are 50-50. We may not know until training camp officially starts.”
“Oh come on, Darin,” I said in a teasing, flirty voice, “You must have some locker room skinny you can share with us.”
“No ma’am, you all will probably know before we do with ESPN always seeming to have the scoop before the franchise coaches, general managers and even the owners know.”
He chuckled good-naturedly. He was right about that.
“Oh, don’t even get me started on ESPN,” I said, taking this topic as a cue to start discussing everything I had heard on ESPN regarding the Falcons, good and bad. It wasn’t difficult since Tristan had the sports channel on constantly.
I was clearly dominating his attention. I was waiting for Amber to notice and get her ass up off of that chair next to Tristan and take her place next to her man. So far she appeared oblivious to it.
Darin was nodding his head as I continued on about ESPN.
“What did you think about ESPN making the claim that the Falcons were going to cut Turner before Dimitroff had even announced it to the team?”
“I know,” he said, his fork slicing into his piece of Amber’s dessert. “That was some crazy shit.”
“I mean, I totally understand that things in sports happen quickly, but to announce something that up until that point was purely specul----Whoaa!”
Darin stopped chewing and stared at me with a look of alarm on his face.
I was squirming now in my chair.
“Are you okay, Gina?”
(Tristan had activated the remote on my silver bullet!)
Now Tylar and Trey were staring at me not sure whether they should be alarmed or not. Tristan sat there looking smug and impassive.
“Yes,” I laughed, “Just the little one kicking.”
“Oh, let me feel,” Amber said, finally raising her ass out of that chair to come over and lean down. She put her hand on my rounded belly, which is clearly a ‘no-no’ with pregnant women. I didn’t want to appear rude, so I remained silent for the time being.
She moved her hand all over my belly. It was starting to get weird.
“I can’t feel anything,” she said, a look of disappointment crossing her features. She was now resting her hand on my belly waiting.
Just then I got another round of vibrations from my silver bullet compliments of Tristan. I squirmed around in my chair.
“Is it moving again? I can’t feel it.”
“Okay. I’ve got to get up and walk this off,” I said, taking her hand and removing it from my belly. I got up and walked over to the chair she had just vacated, shooting Tristan a dirty look as I sat down next to him.
As soon as the conversation started back up between Darin and Trey, Amber sat down next to her date. I turned to Tristan.
“Nice move, Tristan.”
“Hey - it got you over here where you wanted to be, didn’t it?”
I had to smile at him. He knew me so well and yet he wasn’t scared off.
He leaned over and gave me a kiss; his eyes were sparkling with affection. Tristan loved me, I was sure of that. He didn’t seem the least bit phased or affected by Amber. I looked up then and saw Amber staring at Trey as if she wanted to devour him. When she saw me watching her, she quickly looked away, finally giving Darin some attention. I glanced over to see if Tylar had caught it but she had dozed off in her chair, her head resting against Trey’s shoulder.
When we got home there was a message on our landline voicemail that my mother had called. She wanted me to call her back at my earliest.
I phoned her back. She picked up the phone recognizing our number on her called ID.
“Oh Gina Marie, I have bad news,” she wailed, clearly upset.
(Oh God! Is Daddy okay?)
‘What is it, Mom?”
“Angie is dead. Leo found her this morning. She died in her sleep. They think it was a heart attack.”
“Mrs. Camerucci?”
“Yes, yes. Angie Camerucci is gone. My best friend; your godmother is dead, Gina.”
I talked to my mother for a few more minutes trying to get her calmed down. This was major for her; Angie Camerucci had been like a sister to her. She was my godmother and like an aunt to me.
My mother was going to call me the following day with the arrangements. I couldn’t tell my mother that I didn’t want to come back for the funeral. She would wonder why. I had nothing to tell her. I had nothing that I was prepared to tell her.
Tristan was coming out of the shower, towel drying his hair as he caught me on my way in.
“What is it, babe?”
His eyes were looking into mine. He knew something was wrong even though he had been in the shower when I returned Mom’s call.
“Oh it’s nothing, Tristan. My mom’s best friend - and my godmother - passed away suddenly. She apparently had a heart attack and died in her sleep. Mom’s really upset.”
“Well it sounds like something to me, babe. Are you alright?”
“Yes. I’m fine, Tristan. Mom is calling tomorrow to let me know the funeral arrangements, but you know, I think I’m going to explain to her that I can’t make it.”
“Why would you do that, Gina? Were you not close to this person?”
“Mrs. Camerucci? Yeah, sure. She was like an aunt to me. I knew her from the time I was born, I guess.”
“Then why don’t you want to make the trip? At the very least, it will probably be the last trip you will be able to make there before the baby arrives.”
“I just don’t think I should leave you alone to handle the club and all.” I saw a frown cross his face; I knew that he wasn’t buying my excuse, damn him.
“Gina, you work two shifts a week. I think we can get someone to fill in for you.”
“What if I don’t want to go, Tristan? Maybe I just don’t fucking want to go!”
I started past him into the bathroom to start my shower. He was right here, pulling me back to him. He tilted my head up so that I was forced to look at him.
“Are you going to tell me what the problem is, Gina? I didn’t think that we had secrets from each other.”
I wasn’t going to let him pull that number on me. We sure as hell had secrets. I knew that for a fact. When I didn’t answer him immediately, he stuck the knife in a bit deeper.
“Well, apparently you have secrets from me, I guess.”
My temper flared instantaneously at his comment.
“Oh no you don’t, Tristan. Don’t you dare act as if you haven’t kept secrets from me, because I know better.”
He furrowed his brows trying to get a clue as to what I was talking about. He was soon going to find out.
“I’m not following you, Gina. What secret have I kept from you?”
“I want to know when you fucked Amber.”
“What? Amber who?”
“Oh for Chrissake! Amber Stratton? The bitch sitting next to you today at the cookout? The bitch that is constantly watching your every move?”
“I have never fucked her! Hell, I barely even know her. What kind of craziness is this, Gina?”
“You tell me, Tristan. She obviously knows you! She is the one that talked to Ian at the bar weeks ago. She is the one that told Ian you have a big cock; and what is more, she is the one that told Ian about your little devil’s fork birthmark that I fucking found on your ass! The one that you didn’t even know you had. Explain that!”
“I can’t explain it, but I damn well will find out what it’s all about. I promise you that!”
I turned away from him to start the shower; he grabbed my wrist and whirled me back to face him. He was still determined to find out what he thought I was hiding from him. He had my wrist in a tight grip.
“Oh, I see. What are you going to do, Tristan? Slap me? Shove me around a little bit? Show me whose boss? You don’t see me curling up in a little ball out of fear, do you? Go ahead, slap me, hit me with your best shot; you fucking know that you want to!”
I watched as his facial expression morphed into confusion and revulsion at the thought of doing harm to me. Why had I said that to him? I knew he was not that type of man. Nick was; Tristan wasn’t. He released my wrist and gently pulled me against him. His hand went to the back of my head, gently stroking my hair. He lowered his lips to the top of my head, kissing it and whispering to me.
“You tell me when you’re ready, sweet baby,” he said softly. I’m here for you, okay?”
I nodded into his chest. I hated when he got all emotional like that with me. There was no call for him to treat me as if I was fragile.