Chapter 16
This new budding love between Cara and Seth was such a pain in the ass.
Austin’s dedicated, strong, reasonably level-headed assistant slash pretend future wife was so frail and weak.
Cara leaned on Seth to be her rock through the turbulent emotional storm of admitting her into the rehab facility.
The results of Cara’s devotion and need made Seth a very concerned emotional wreck who hated leaving her there alone.
They were sickeningly sweet with one another.
The only complication came with the cloak-and-dagger deal required in Austin’s life.
They were forced to drop Cara off at the hospital door as inconspicuously as possible. Then Austin and Seth hit the road, putting as many miles as they could between the rehab and themselves. Cara just hadn’t cooperated.
She’d refused to leave Seth, clinging to him like he was some sort of life preserver in the deep dark haze of her life.
They coerced Austin into flying across the country, giving Cara a little more time, and throwing the paparazzi off their trail.
They were seen together in New York, walking into the national headquarters of one of his corporations.
They walked in the front doors and straight out the back garage door.
From there, they were immediately driven to a new charter jet registered under another fictitious name.
It was now three entire days since he left the farm, and the three of them flew overnight to the Arizona rehab waiting for them.
It was a full twenty-four hours since Austin had talked to Kitt on the phone.
He’d told Kitt he wanted to be home yesterday, but as the day wore on his last nerve, Austin texted Kitt and, like their apparent pattern, Kitt began the all-day process of distancing himself from him.
The space Kitt put between them aggravated the hell out of Austin, making everything just a little more difficult.
He was edgy, angry, and trying hard not to snap.
During the plane rides, Cara wrapped herself around Seth, letting him play the hero.
Austin didn’t begrudge them, he just resented a life where Kitt couldn’t do things like this with him.
The realization that day might never happen hurt his heart.
His mood plummeted, and the need for Kitt to respond to a simple message became so much greater.
If all they were ever going to have together were secret moments and hidden conversations, Kitt couldn’t continue to hide from him any longer.
It drove Austin to a mental place where he swore he texted Kitt about every hour trying to get him to respond.
Seth stayed with Cara for as long as he could while Austin would have rather been in and out of there in about five minutes.
If he could have found a way to shove her from the plane and onto the doorstep of the rehab without causing her too much bodily injury, he would have taken the option.
Instead, they rode with her in the back of an ambulance with full sirens blaring overhead.
It felt incredibly ridiculous and extreme to Austin.
He got the no-windows deal, but the sirens and stopping traffic as they rushed to the facility…
yeah, no. It felt like a very bad, real life action movie with him starring as the bumbling lead detective.
Austin also couldn’t figure out why he couldn’t just stay on the plane and wait for Seth’s return.
For some reason, he was needed, or the tears would start back again making Cara far too emotional to deal with.
Seth decided to come to the farm for a few days of recuperation before they hit the press with the split of Austin Grainger and Cara Collins.
Afterward, Seth would be needed back in LA to help field all the calls and questions coming their way.
As it stood now, their publicists were concocting a plan to say Cara asked for the split, requesting her privacy and time off from filming.
Austin would be unreachable for comments.
He prayed he was able to stay hidden until the whole thing blew over.
Austin scheduled a third private jet to fly them from Arizona to Texas after they got Cara safely admitted into the rehab facility.
This time, they flew into Houston, and went straight from the plane to the waiting car.
They drove the five hours to Austin’s farm by themselves.
Austin had promised to be home twenty-four hours ago.
He could only imagine what Kitt let himself believe about him not returning on time.
Last night, or early that morning, Austin had stayed on the phone for close to two hours, listening to Kitt breathe as he slept.
He’d kicked back, just thinking about what Kitt looked like while he slept, and the sweet-sounding apology he gave right before he fell asleep.
It was at those moments when Kitt was tired, Austin found he fully let his guard down.
Those were the best moments of them all.
Austin had hung up when he heard Kitt’s alarm sounding.
He didn’t want to be caught doing something as needy as listening to the object of his desire sleep.
That would just destroy the good standing of his man card and cause it to be temporarily revoked.
Austin drove most of the way home with nothing more on his mind than Kitt.
Seth was zero company. He was on his smartphone doing business or writing messages to Cara the entire way back.
Austin could have used the distraction. After several days of contemplating Kitt’s on-again, off-again attitude, Austin had come to the conclusion he wasn’t quite sure where he stood.
It seemed so easy for Kitt to distance himself, and that scared the hell out of him.
When they were together, Austin really felt like they were together, but when they were apart, it was like Austin didn’t exist to Kitt at all.
As he drove, his thoughts strayed to a memory of Kitt’s dad, something from his youth. It was wrong to think so badly of a dead man, but Austin hated the stories Kitt would tell. This one faded memory wouldn’t fully form in his mind, and he reached for his phone to call his father.
“Dad, it’s Austin,” he said on the simple yello his father gave.
“I know, Son. Caller ID’s a great new tool.” His dad chuckled at his own joke.
“Listen, I won’t keep you, but do you remember the story with the Kellys when I was younger?”
“That’s vague even for you… There were many Kelly stories. He was always stirrin’ something up,” his dad answered back.
“I can’t really remember. It was the one with the ice cream and Kitt,” Austin said, trying to dig into the recesses of his mind.
“Yeah, that’s a bad one. I don’t know how he didn’t ruin that boy. I heard the Kelly boy went off to college and did all right for himself. We all thought he’d turn out to be a complete wreck with a father like his.”
“He isn’t at all. He’s a good man, very respected down here from what I can tell.” Funny how the need to defend Kitt superseded the need to know whatever memory his mind tried to come up with.
“Well, that’s a total surprise. Kitt, right? Kitt had a lot going against him growin’ up,” Austin’s dad said.
“Tell me the story I’m thinking about.” Austin tried to speed his father up.
“Let’s see…Mr. Kelly. None of us were allowed to call him anything other than Mr. Kelly.
He was so full of himself, which was nothin’ but full of shit.
He’d be so proud to take his son out and discipline him in front of everyone.
Said it made him a man, and we needed to learn from him.
It was like he was tryin’ to teach us how to raise our own children.
At least, that’s what your mom always thought.
This one time, he bought Kitt an ice cream and himself lunch.
He set the ice cream in front of Kitt, who couldn’t have been older than five.
So, Mr. Kelly ate his lunch. Every time Kitt went for that ice cream, he got smacked hard, and then Mr. Kelly would encourage Kitt again to eat the ice cream.
It went on like this for the entire lunch.
The kid never got the ice cream, but got beat up pretty bad.
When he started cryin’, he got spanked in front of everyone for embarrassing Mr. Kelly and sent to the truck.
You know back then you didn’t get in the way of a parent disciplinin’ his child, but if I remember correctly, several of the moms in the area still called the sheriff that day. ”
“That’s how he was raised his whole life?” Austin asked.
“Yeah, the best I remember. It didn’t matter what the kid did or thought, he was always wrong, and Mr. Kelly had a temper.
His dad would whip him wherever they were and Kitt took it.
One time on the football field, Mr. Kelly got mad at a play Kitt called.
He stormed out onto that field, jerkin’ Kitt around by the face mask until he shoved the boy down on his knees right there in the middle of the field, in front of everyone.
He kicked him and stormed off, tellin’ the coach to pull Kitt if they wanted to win. It wasn’t right.”
“Kitt’s a good guy,” Austin said quietly. His heart did more than hurt for the little boy and now the grown man. Kitt deserved so much better than he got.
“You’ve seen him?”
“Yeah. What happened to his mom?” Austin had always wondered why she was never mentioned.
“Mr. Kelly married a city girl. She came down to the ranch. It lasted about two years before she was gone. Young and pretty, but not a dime to her name. She couldn’t stand up against Kelly. He kept the boy, she left. As far as I know, it broke all contact between them.”
Austin listened to his dad and drove thinking it all over. It helped explain a lot.
“Dad, I’m gonna buy a couple of quarter horses. I might need them to come up to you,” Austin said.
“Whatever you need, Son.”
“I’ll draw up the paperwork. Get the offers made. I’ll be paying more than they’re worth, but I think they have racing potential. You’ll need to get a good look at them. See about a trainer when the time comes,” Austin said.
“Are they to know it’s you?”
“Not on the front end, but I think eventually it will be unavoidable. I love you, Dad, tell Mom ‘hi,’” Austin said.
“You too, Son.”
Austin ended the call. That story he just heard had stayed with him through the years, but he hadn’t associated it with Kitt. After a few more miles passed, Austin called Mike.
“Hey, do we buy our hay from the Kelly ranch?” he asked, avoiding the polite pleasantries
“It’s the plan. Unless you want it changed,” Mike replied. “We’ll bale our own next year.”
“I want you to buy more than we need,” Austin said. “Figure out whatever’s left and buy it. I’ll ship it up to my dad or something, or there has to be an organization to donate to. Maybe a school or something?”
Mike gave a moment of pause before a simple, “Okay… Yeah, the schools around here’ll take it.”
“What’s up with everybody getting so quiet on me? Buy extra hay for us, but figure out what he’s going to have left. Do I need to contract it now, or something like that?”
Mike was silent.
“Kitt’s become a good friend to me. They’re struggling and I’m not.
No need for that. Also, there’ll be a couple of new arrivals.
They’ll need room in the barn until I can get them up to my dad’s.
It would be better to keep these two close, and again, let me remind you of the very strict confidentiality agreement you have. ”
“Okay, I’ll take care of it.” Mike’s voice grew more serious. Austin heard the confusion in it, but he didn’t ask any questions which Austin found he liked the most about Mike.
“Cool, I’ll be home late tonight. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Ten-four, boss, and I’ll call Kitt now. It’ll help him out.”
“Thanks and be convincing! Figure what’s gonna be left, I’ll take care of getting someone to contact him for it.
He’s not overly receptive to help, so keep it on the down low.
I’m bringing my agent with me for a few days.
We’ll be down at the barn in the morning.
Bye.” At that, Austin disconnected the call.
Austin decided then, regardless of Kitt’s stubborn, hard head, he was helping the Kelly ranch.
He’d buy whatever services Kitt offered, and he’d pay him over the asking price.
Buying hay, some of his show animals, and using his AI program on the farm was all he could think of right now, but more would come to him.
One thing Austin had to offer Kitt was money.
He had more money than he could ever spend in ten lifetimes.
If money would ease Kitt, then he’d make sure that was one less thing on his plate to worry about.