26. Montana
twenty-six
Montana
Talon: ANSWER YOUR PHONE.
Atlas: Call me ASAP
Dylan: You’re MINE baby girl.
Rocky: Killer?
“Montana, I think you need to wake up,” Autumn says as she’s shaking me.
I groan, and as I roll over, I realize it's really fucking bright out. Why is she waking me up? What time is it? All these questions are swarming in my head as I get out of bed and head to the bathroom. I brush my teeth and put my hair up in a messy bun and walk back out to see Autumn sitting at the edge of the bed.
“Okay, I am semi-human again, Wait, where’s Marley?”
“She left earlier. Something about her sister needed to get picked up from her friend's house.” Autumn replied.
“Oh, ok. Then what’s going on? Why are you waking me up then?” I ask confused.
“Are you really Romeo Taylor's daughter? There’s a video that’s gone viral on TikTok that says you’re his daughter. And that bitch Holly posted a video of pictures of you two with the proof of who you really are.”
My breath catches in my throat and crippling fear takes over my whole body. “No. No. No. This cannot be happening right now.” I whisper.
Grabbing my phone, I call my uncle back first.
“Atlas, I don't know how this happened! What happened with the software? I thought that no one would be able to post anything. I will fucking end her, Atlas. I can’t believe she would do this after fucking my boyfriend. This isn’t how I wanted Rocky to find out. I can't lose him.” I’m pacing back and forth trying not to cry.
“I don’t know, Montana, but I promise I will figure it out. Rocky Savage. That's your boyfriend?”
“I’m not doing this right now; this is exactly why I didn’t want you to know. I’ll call you later.”
“Monti, wait, I’m sor—” I hang up the phone, dropping to my knees and the dam breaks, I start crying.
I feel some arms wrap around me, and Autumn’s there holding me while I cry.
“I didn’t want it to come out like this. Why would she do this to me?”
“Shhh, I don't know. I'm sorry this happened. You should call Rocky. He’s been blowing up my phone.”
“I don't want him to hate me,” I whisper looking up into her blue eyes.
“He won't hate you. Rocky is so obsessed with you, and if I’m correct—and I feel like I am—he’s in love with you.”
“No, you’re wrong. He's going to leave me now. He’s going to want nothing to do with me.” I get up and run to the bathroom and lock myself in there. This is what I get for keeping secrets. I knew this could happen, and I'm usually strong, but now strength is the last thing I feel. All I can think about is how my feelings are bickering with each other, like in the Disney movie Inside Out.
I hear her knocking on the bathroom door, but I don't want to answer. I just want to cry and be by myself.
She stops knocking after a while, and when I walk out of my solitary confinement, she’s not in my room anymore. Well, there we go, I’ve lost yet another person, so I wander into my room towards my bed to hide under my covers and cry myself to sleep.
There is a knock on my door, and it opens. I see Talon and he comes and lays in the bed with me. I didn’t realize it's been hours since I fell back asleep, and the sun is setting.
“Monti.”
“No, please don’t say anything about the video. But can you tell me one thing?”
“What?”
“Does he hate me?” He pulls me into a hug, and I cry on his shoulder.
“No, he doesn’t hate you. He’s upset, but so worried about you.” He kisses my forehead.
I sniff and look into his eyes and see that he is telling me the truth. I just don't know what else to do other than cry. I know this is my fault. I should have told him, but I wanted to stay in our little bubble for a bit longer. I didn’t want it to come out like this, but damn.
“Why would Holly do this to me? I haven't even talked to her since I left. I don’t understand. I didn't do anything to her! Why does she keep trying to ruin my life?”
“I can take a wild guess as to who and why, but I have no proof,” he says as he holds me. There isn’t much he can say to make me feel better. I know I need to talk to Rocky, but I don't want to look into his eyes and see anything other than the way he always has.
“Please, just talk to him. He is going crazy not knowing how you’re doing.”
“I just wasn’t ready to burst our bubble. I wanted us to stay in it for a while longer. I was going to tell him, I swear it.”
“I know, Monti. I know your reasons, but he deserves to know them too.”
“I know. If he is going to dump me over this, I want it to be in person.”
“Montana Karissa, you are the biggest drama mama like our moms.” He laughs at me.
“Karissa?” Rocky’s voice shocks me.
Talon and I turn our heads and see Rocky and Autumn standing at the door looking very confused.
“Yeah, that’s my middle name. I’m named after my mom's best friend.”
“Well, I guess we have more to talk about today than I thought.”
“Talon, Autumn, can you give us some time to talk?” Rocky asks, not leaving any room for discussion.
“Sure,” Talon replies as he kisses my forehead and walks out of the room, pulling Autumn with him and closing the door.
Rocky’s standing by the door, and I can’t bear to look at him. I don't want to see him angry with me.
“Was this what you wanted to talk to me about? Who you really are…?”
I nod my head. “Yeah.”
“Why, Montana? Why didn’t you tell me? Did you think I would use you?”
When he finishes speaking, I look up into his eyes and see that he’s hurt. Not angry. I think that’s what makes me break down and cry again. I shake my head, because no, I don't think that at all. My heart drops.
Swallowing down the lump in my throat, I need to be open and honest with him. “No, Rocky, I don't think that at all, I promise you that.” I sniff and continue. “Growing up with my dad and uncle being in the spotlight, I hated it. When I was younger, people only wanted to be my friend because of who they are. I'm sure you can understand that with who your dad is. What Autumn went through? I did too. I had one friend who I thought was the best. I thought she didn’t care about fame and shit. I was wrong, oh, was I so wrong. She wasn’t my friend at all. I didn’t know that she felt like she needed to one up me at every turn. Atlas, being a wiz kid, well, he’s a fucking computer genius. He made this software to delete images of me that would out who I am. We’re still close, but even he didn’t know about you and me until that video came out.”
“Are you ashamed of me? Do you even want to be with me?”
I close the distance between us, and look into his eyes when I say, “Baby, yes, I want to be with you. I’ve never felt like this about anyone. I’m absolutely not ashamed of you. The reason I didn’t want it to come out is because I was trying to protect you.”
“What do you mean? It’s not making any sense to me.” He shakes his head.
“If it came out that you are dating Romeo Taylor’s daughter, what would that mean for you? I never want to get in the way of your dream. Other teams wouldn’t even look twice if they knew that you and I were dating, because they would assume that you would play for this team. What if you don’t want to stay in Minnesota? I didn’t want you to resent me. I want you to play anywhere you want. I wouldn’t want to be the one to hold you back.”
He’s standing there silently, just looking at me.
I hate his silence. It is literally killing me right now.
“If you’re going to break up with me, can you just do it already? It’s going to hurt, but I won't blame you for not wanting to be with me anymore. I’m so sorry I didn’t tell you sooner. I was planning on it. I swear it. Can you please say something?” I look back down and pick at my finger cuticles. It happens a lot when my anxiety kicks in.
“Montana, look at me.” I look up at him and he grabs my hands and continues on. “I’m so fucking hurt that you didn’t tell me, but I understand why. I knew you had a secret, but I was waiting for you to come to me and tell me. I understand your thoughts of not wanting to hurt my career. If a team wants me, they’ll fight for me. I know your uncle Atlas has been sending the scouts to the games. But let me ask you this, if I didn’t want to stay in Minnesota, would you come where I’m drafted?”
I look at Rocky, and into his beautiful gray eyes. It’s the easiest answer. “Of course I would.”
“That’s all I ever need to know. Knowing that you would come with me means more to me than anything. You know when you meet someone who is selfless, down to earth, feisty and beautiful inside and out, it’s rare. You and I are meant to be. We’re endgame, baby.”
He walks to the bed and pulls me onto his lap and holds me.
I know we’ll be okay.