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 future wife
turned 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 an
emotional concerned wreck who
rejected 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.
It forced Cara to be dropped at the
hospital door as inconspicuously as
possible with Austin and Seth hitting the
road, putting as many miles as they could
between the rehab and themselves. Cara
just wasn't cooperating.
Cara wouldn't leave Seth, clinging to
him like he was some sort of life
preserver in the deep dark haze of her
life. They coerced Austin to fly across
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 where they were
immediately driven to a new charter jet
registered under another fictitious name.
It was now three full 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 just
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
was 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 where 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 on
to the doorstep of the rehab without
causing her too much bodily injury,
Austin 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 why he
couldn't just stay on the plane and
waited for Seth's return, but for some
reason he was needed, or the tears
would start back again making Cara far
too emotional to deal with.
Seth had decided on coming to the
farm for a few days of recuperation
before they hit the press with the split of
Austin Grainger and Cara Collins. 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 was asking 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 Austin 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 only hung up when he
heard Kitt's alarm sounding off. He
didn't want to be caught doing something
as girly as listening to the object of his
desire sleep. That would just never hold
weight in keeping his mancard strong
and in good standing.
Austin drove most of the way home
with nothing more on his mind than Kitt.
Seth was zero company. He was on his
smart phone 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 from
him, 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 yell'ow 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 Kelly's
when I was younger?"
"Okay son, that's vague even for
you… There were many Kelly stories.
He was always stirring 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
alright 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 against him growing
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 nothing 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
trying 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
sat 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 back 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
crying, 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
disciplining his child, but if I remember
correctly, several of the mom's 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 on to that field, jerking 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, telling
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 talked about.
"Mr. Kelly married some 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 it gets time," 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'd never 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 said back. "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 too. 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
and 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 your very strict confidentiality
agreement you have."
"Okay, I'll take care of it." Mike
voice grew more serious. Austin could
hear 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 life times. If money would ease Kitt,
then he'd make sure that was one less
thing on his plate to worry about.