Silver Bay Song (5 page)

“You obviously don’t know her very well, Skylar is no lady, she just an uptight tease who needs to be taught a lesson.” Keith growled pushing his groin against me. I was pinned to my front door.

“I suggest you back away from her now and I’ll let you walk away, if you don’t, I will make you.”

“I’d like to see you try,” Keith smirked and looked at me, “trust me, man, she’s just a slut…” Kaden grabbed hold of him and pulled him away from me. Swinging him around, I clutched my shirt over my body and lifted my purse from the ground.

“Call her a slut again and you will be drinking food through a straw for weeks,” Kaden threatened.

Keith smirked and looked at me, “Tell your guard dog to let me go,” he growled. Kaden stepped back from him and Keith straightened his shirt. “Spend all your money on a girl to have her use you all damn night,” he grumbled as he went to walk away, “Don’t you call me again, frigid bitch!” he added,

WHAM!

Kaden hit him, he fell into my bushes and staggered to stand.

“I warned you, keep your mouth shut; now, get the hell out of here.” Keith said nothing and hurried away, scurrying to his car. I felt so stupid.

“Are you okay?” Kaden asked as Keith’s car roared up the highway.

“Yes,” I sniffed. “Thank you. I have no idea why he thought he could do that to me.”

“Well, if you go out with assholes like that, you have to expect them to treat you like shit.” He grumbled and walked away.

He thought I asked for it, maybe I did, I knew one thing though, I would never allow a man near me again.

Six

Kaden

Why did I agree to go on a stupid date? I know she said it wasn’t a date, but a guy and a girl going out for dinner, it is usually considered a date. I paced my living room all damn day, I could have kicked myself, all I had to do was say no, but she is so damn pretty and with the sea breeze blowing through her hair like that, I found her impossible to resist.

I watched her leave the house with a spring in her step, she looked sensational and I was going to hurt her, she didn’t deserve that, no one did. I waited for her to get back and watched as she almost skipped inside with bags of shopping.

I showered and shaved, changed into clean jeans and a white shirt. As I brushed my teeth my hands began to shake again, so bad that I dropped my toothbrush. What if that happened while we were eating? What if she thought I was drunk again. No, no, I could not go through with this, I had to tell her that I had made a mistake.

I had it all in my head, everything I wanted to say and instead I acted like a dick and let her down with a bump. The hurt and humiliation registered in her eyes instantly, I did that, just by a few words I had knocked all of her confidence out of her and I was amazed at how surprised I was to see her leave shortly after I stood her up with another guy.

He looked an ass-wipe if I am honest. Checking his looks in the mirror before getting out of his car, then after knocking on the door he breathed into his cupped hand to check his breath. I expected he felt lucky, any guy who had to chance to take her out would feel like that. She was an exceptional woman and watching her leave with him didn’t sit well at all.

I tried to watch TV, but in truth, I watched the clock more. A little after eleven I decided to take a swim, I thought it would clear my head. I thought that the cool water rushing against my body would rinse her out of my soul, but it didn’t and like a big brother waiting for his younger sister to get home after her first date, I waited for her. Sat on my porch in the dark, listening to the waves and Misty crying in the darkness of the house, I waited for her. Twiddling my thumbs, jigging my knee up and down, I sat and waited and waited. Just after one in the morning, the gold beams of his car’s headlights pierced the darkness.

I sat up in my seat when he walked around the car and helped her out. She was drunk and giggling, she was silly drunk and people who are silly drunk do stupid things. I was right to be concerned, I stood when I heard the struggle and in seconds I found myself standing behind them as he pushed her against the front door. He was rubbing his hands all over her body, and when he pulled open her shirt, I clenched my hands into a fist.

No man should ever use bad language in front of a lady, that was how I was raised, so to hear him insult her like that, it only made me want to hit him harder. When he insulted her again before turning to leave, I couldn’t stop myself. My fist met the side of his face with a nauseating crunch and I know I either broke my hand or I broke his face, I ordered him away and turned back to her.

Her mascara had smudge around her eyes and her lipstick was smeared over the side of her face. She clutched her shirt over her breasts and I could see she was shaking, I should have hugged her, or at least made sure she got inside okay, but no, ‘dick mode’ got in the way and to add insult to injury I blamed her. Why?     

I didn’t sleep well at all, I thought about her feeling shitty because I made her experience worse, because I allowed my mouth to run away with me. If only I had taken her out, had that stupid lobster meal, if only I didn’t have MS rotting my body away, if only I could have told her that she drove me crazy and I couldn’t stop thinking about her, day and night. There, I admit it, I was hooked and I shouldn’t have been, but I couldn’t help how I felt.

I got up early and decided to go swimming again, thinking it would take my mind off her again, but I wasn’t completely sure that I wanted my mind on anything else but her. I suspected that she would feel foolish and embarrassed. I couldn’t have been more wrong.

I saw her on the beach, I swam towards the shore and watched as she threw a ball for the dog, she did have some sun glasses on, other than that, you wouldn’t have known she was almost attacked the night before.

“How are you feeling?” I asked her.

“I’m okay,” she replied amicably. It took me by surprise, she didn’t even look at me.

“About last night…” I began.

“Kaden, you stood me up, it’s not the end of the world, is it? I doubt that you will be the last guy to ever decide that I am not worth sharing a meal with.”

“No, Skylar…I…” why wouldn’t she listen to me?

“If you are referring to you accusing me of deserving what that asshat Keith did to me, then whatever, I am over it and I am over you.” She walked towards her house and yelled at Misty, leaving me standing alone on the beach feeling like a jerk. I was an asshat.

I kicked my front door closed, anger raged my veins and my hands shook even more. I raced to the bathroom and lifted a towel, rubbing it over my hair, as I gazed at my reflection I noticed that a nerve on the right side of my face was twitching. I scooped cold water into my mouth and spat it out. When I lifted my head the room turned white and the floor met my face with a thud.

After a while, though I am not completely sure, I opened my eyes and my head was already pounding. As I got onto my knees vomit raced up my throat. I rinsed my mouth and brushed my teeth, then staggering towards the bedroom, I thought my head was going to split open, the pain was excruciating.

I flopped down onto the bed and pulled the covers over my head. Trying to hide my eyes from the light hoping it would give me some sort of relief. But it didn’t and after a while I got up and made my way to the kitchen, searching the cabinets for pain killers of some kind. I didn’t even have an Aspirin. I had to suck up my pride and go to Skylar, I didn’t wanted after she had yelled in my face, but I was desperate.

At the risk of her slamming the door in my face, I gently knocked on the door and waited. Misty barked and it felt as if a knife stabbed at my temples. I winced with the pain and broke out into a cold sweat. The door opened and I stared at her pink painted toenails.

“Didn’t I make myself clear?” she asked angrily.

“Perfectly,” I grumbled and lifted my head, anger in her eyes melted as they filled with concern.

“Kaden, what’s wrong?”

“I uh, I would leave you alone, but I’m desperate and I guess I’m pathetic, add to that that I am an asshat and that’s m I’m afraid.” Nothing, she merely blinked. “Look, I need something to make this headache go away and I don’t even have an Aspirin.” I admitted.

“Well, can’t you drive to the drug store?” she asked frostily.

“If I could, I would, believe me, having you yell in my face again is the last thing I need right now.”

“I didn’t yell,” she said softly.

“You did and I deserved it, please just…” I leaned against the door jamb to stop myself from collapsing again. “I just need this pain to stop and I’ll never bother you again…”

“Come in,” she told me. I followed silently and watched as she pulled out a cookie tin filled with medication. She lifted out a box of Advil and she held them out to me. As I raised my hand to her it was shaking uncontrollably, I pulled my hand back and hid it behind me. “Kaden, what’s wrong with you, why are you always shaking?”

“That’s my business,” I snapped and turned to leave, “keep your damn pain killers…” I tripped over the dog and hit the floor hard, I remember hearing her scream and Misty yelping and then I blacked out…

I opened my eyes and immediately tried to sit up, I was in a bed and the scent told me it was a hospital. How the hell did I end up there?

“Don’t try to move, sir,” a soft spoken female voice said, I didn’t recognise it at all.

“What happened?” I grumbled.

“You blacked out, your friend called a paramedic when she couldn’t wake you.” She stepped in to view and she had that sympathetic look on her peach coloured face. “The doctor needs to know that you have woken up. Shall I send your friend in?” Skylar!

“No,” I snapped.

“I won’t be long,” she muttered and left.

A few moments later the door opened again and a man entered the room, he wasn’t very old, slightly older than me I guess. He wore green scrubs and a stethoscope around his neck.

“I’m the doctor who treated you when you came in.” He said as he walked across the room. “I believe your name is Kaden?” he checked.

“Yes, Kaden Wright.”

“Well, sir, you scared us there for a while.” He smiled slightly. “I ran some bloods and scanned your head to rule out head injuries.” He then frowned deeply, “Are you aware that you…?”

“Have MS, yes, I know.” I interrupted, “I have my meds and I am waiting for it to ruin what’s left of my life. I need to eat three meals a day, take light but regular exercises, take my meds and wait for it to eat me alive. You are not going to tell me anything I don’t already know, Doc, I just as sooner go home and stay in bed for a few days. I had a headache, just a stupid headache and I am sorry for wasting your time.”

“Actually, I was going to ask you why your insurance is in the name of Max West, as in SOS, Max West, you are him, aren’t you?” his question took me aback.

“You can’t tell anyone I am here,” I frowned. “Please, I just need to disappear.”

“Why?”

“I have MS, it is eating me away, I know this, I watched it kill my dad.”

“Treatments of MS have come a long way, Max… I mean Kaden. It’s not as devastating as it was a few years ago. Lots of people, granted, their lives are changed dramatically, but they live fulfilled lives…”

“And how would this fit in to the life of a rock star? Can you tell me that, because I can’t even play the guitar anymore or the piano for that matter? My fans would know, everyone would know and they can’t. At the end of the day, this is going to kill me, I will die from this.”

“We don’t know that for definite. You have MS it may not be the same strain that killed your father, it’s not normally hereditary, but I can understand how debilitating it is and I am sure your doctor would have explained that there are different strains as well as stages. You are merely at stage one, the earliest stage and it can take years to start affecting your body.”

“So, shaking, the tremors I feel are what then?” 

“Okay, your meds should be calming them down. Have you cut out anything?” he asked.

“Try everything,” I sighed, “no caffeine, fat, alcohol, nicotine, pot, coke, nothing. I have stopped everything.”

“Well, in that case you could be going through withdrawal, cutting everything so instantly could have an effect on the body.” He explained.

“And the blackouts? I’ve had three now.”

“Migraine, which also causes nausea, shaking, vomiting, dizziness, fatigue, imbalance and blurred vision.”

“So, none of this is the MS?” I asked.

“I won’t lie, I am sure there are links, but know this, you are young and healthy, you look after yourself and if you eat properly, medicate at the right time of day, you will be fine for a long time yet. I am going to sort out some discharge papers for you.” He added. “I am Dr Simpson by the way and I am a Neurologist, so I know a thing or two about the brain, if you have any concerns, please come and talk to me before you Google it.”

“I will, thanks, Doc.” I nodded and watched as he left. So, maybe I had this wrong, and if that was the case, now I felt a total jerk for treating Skylar so badly.

When the nurse returned I asked her to send Skylar in. A few moments later the door opened and she peeped around it.

“Come in,” I told her. She stepped into the room and closed the door by leaning against it. “Apparently I am suffering with severe migraines,” explained thinly.

“Well, at least you are alright.” She muttered coldly.

“I am, thank you for uh, taking care of me.”

“I just called nine-one-one,” she frowned. “You scared me.”

“Sorry,” I said as I sat up a little straighter. “I am sorry about everything, Skylar, I have treated you appallingly and I deserve everything you have to say to me, so come on, say what you want.”

Her eyes looked up as if she were fighting tears; that was the last thing I wanted. “You obviously had your reasons or you wouldn’t have said it in the first place.”

“I have been dealing with a lot of shit recently and it’s left me angry, okay? I took it out on you and for that I apologise.”

“Fine, you’ve apologised. I need to get home so…”

“The doctor said I can go home too,” I explained.

“Good, you have your wallet,” she stepped away from the bed, “get a cab.”

“Skylar,” I frowned and tried to get out of the bed.

“I have to go, Kaden, I hope you feel better soon,” she pulled the door open and hurried out.   

I stared at the door for a long time after she had left, after the sound of her shoes on the shiny floor faded and I knew she was truly gone. I had blown it, pure and simple.