53 Blacktop Obsession
"Where are you going?" Carter asked, his arms still around Shayde as she moved his arm to try to get up.
"The bathroom. Where else would I be going?" Shayde asked, shaking her head.
"I figured you'd be going downstairs to Kaidyn." Carter admitted.
"I just have to go to the bathroom. Can I please get up?" Shayde asked, rather annoyed but trying to hide her tone.
"Sorry, I just missed you. It's been a long eight years." Carter reminded her with a grin.
"Yes, Carter, I know how long it's been. I was on the run with our daughter. While you lived with you know who for a year. I think I remember." Shayde said as she climbed out off the bed.
"Let's not start this again. It's barely midnight. You fell asleep on me." Carter sighed after Shayde came back out and was climbing in bed.
"Well, you answered a phone call and put me aside again so what did you expect?" Shayde asked as she stared into Carter's eyes looking for his reaction.
"Hmm, I guess you are right. It was your father so I had to take it." Carter explained. He stroked her cheek. "I am sorry I took the call." He apologized.
"What did he want, dare I ask?" Shayde yawned, covering up to get warm.
"He wants to make sure you are allowed to check in with him. What would give him the idea you weren't going to be allowed to check in with him?" Carter wondered out loud.
"Do you think I know what he thinks?" Shayde scoffed, shaking her head. "Doing that got me beat. So I don't try to do that anymore, Carter." She advised him.
"Yes, I suppose he was heavy handed with you." Carter mused out loud.
"Heavy handed? Is that what you'd call the beatings I got?" Shayde shook her head.
"Perhaps we should be more heavy handed with Kaidyn and she'd stop misbehaving." Carter ignored his wife's last statement .
"Excuse me? What do you mean more heavy handed with her? What exactly is she doing that you would classify as misbehaving? We haven't even been here that long for her to do anything, Carter." Shayde sat up, glaring at him.
"No, I don't mean like your father. At all. Relax. I meant a bit more firm. I checked cameras while you were in the bathroom and she's just…" Carter started, his eyes locked with Shayde.
"Just what?" She folded her arms as she sat up, now wide awake and angry.
"Let's check in and see what our daughter is up to, shall we?" Carter asked as he flipped on the monitor.
"She's having fun and she's not been up here so I'd say she's fine. What's the problem?" Shayde asked defensively as they watched Kaidyn drinking with the guys. She was sitting on the couch, laying with her head on Tej and her feet resting on Roman.
"She's all over them. A proper girl wouldn't do that." Carter shook his head with disdain.
"What, are you living back in the 1800s?" Shayde asked, her annoyance clear.
"No, but she is from Argentina and should act right." Carter said, trying to put his arm around Shayde. She pulled away.
"No, we are from Argentina. She is not. She's raised American, the way I intended and if you have a problem with my parenting skills, we may just need to rethink this whole thing." Shayde reminded him.
"There's no need to go there, Shayde. We can discuss this as her parents. I am simply talking." Carter smiled at her.
"I am simply saying you are going to piss me off and that's a record, even for you." Shayde warned.
"Oh, I do love your temper, My Shayde." He grinned, making her more annoyed.
"I don't love your comments." Shayde retorted.
"I'm just saying, look at how she's laying on them, do we want them to get a wrong impression, do we?" Carter asked, raising an eyebrow.
"There's no wrong impression. And she may like Tej. And if she does, so what?" Shayde asked.
"She's too young to date." Carter said instantly in a no discussion tone.
"No, she's not. She's 18. Technically she could leave here on her own if she wanted." Shayde reminded him
"But she's hurt as you always say." Carter interjected.
"Yes, she is ...you are impossible." Shayde growled, now really irritated.
"Don't you own the paperwork for her?" Carter asked.
"I have power of attorney, it's not paperwork to own her and I never throw it in her face. I want her to grow up and to be able to do as she pleases. So I try to let her be." Shayde tried to explain.
"Well, she can't be needing you all the time and dependent on you and then drinking and having a boyfriend. It doesn't work both ways." Carter frowned.
"Carter, I take things with her day by day. She has a brain injury. Some days are good, some are bad. It really changes from day to day. I do my best with her." Shayde sighed.
"You do a great job. We just need to make a few changes to get her ready for things." Carter said, rubbing Shayde's back. She looked at him.
"What changes and ready for what?" Shayde raised an eyebrow.
"She needs a haircut. She's not curling her hair or doing anything with it usually. A shorter length would be better." Carter shrugged.
"She hasn't had time and why would she need it shorter?" Shayde asked.
"It's just too long." Carter admitted.
"It's as long as my hair. I'll just cut my hair too then." Shayde offered.
"No, you will not." Carter said with a frown.
"Now I will just because you said I can't. It's too late to be doing this, Carter. Her hair is not getting cut and that's just how it is." Shayde advised, no longer trying to hold back her angst.
"Then she better start keeping it looking better." Carter said. "She's my daughter too and she has an image to keep. I expect her to get her act and her look a bit cleaned up and more refined." Carter said, laying beside Shayde.
"You need to stop trying to be my dad now. I didn't marry you for you to be like him." Shayde growled, knowing this would make him angry.
"I didn't have a daughter to act and look like she does. She can clean her act up and her hair and start wearing makeup. She needs to act her age and dress like the Verone she is." Carter said.
"She dresses fine. Not all of us are going to wear suits like you do. Not all of us want to be perfect or pretend we are something we're not." Shayde spat.
"I'm just asking for a few changes, My Shayde." Carter ignored her anger. "For instance, you should wear more white. All you wear is black." Carter motioned to the closet. Shayde looked at him, annoyed.
"Really? Are you serious? You want me to dress more like your whore? That's really cute. She wore white mostly. Go find her if that's what you want." Shayde offered. Carter grabbed her arm and roughly pulled her to him.
"Watch yourself, Shayde. Let's not get too angry, we are only on our first night back. Do we really want to fight like this?" He asked threateningly.
"Please get your hands off of me." Shayde warned in a low voice as she pulled away. "What has brought up all this image stuff, huh?" Shayde asked, rubbing her arm. It was red and stinging. She was more pissed off than hurt but she wasn't going to let him know this. She knew how to play his game, it was all quickly coming back to her. She had been worried maybe the past eight years had made her weaker and she'd forget how to handle him but it was back and she was feeling more like she was going to win this game than lose. She was damn determined.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to grab you too hard, My Shayde." He apologized quickly. "I think she needs to work on getting back on pageants." Carter said quickly.
"Carter, she hated pageants. I knew you had a reason." Shayde said, disgusted with how vain he was.
"Just to give her something to focus on." Carter explained.
"She has racing." Shayde countered.
"She can't go to races right now." Carter said.
"How would she do pageants? It's too dangerous for her." Shayde shook her head.
"I'd take her." Carter shrugged.
"While I stayed here, I guess huh?" Shayde asked. She knew he wouldn't let her out of this place for nothing. She was in a cage and she knew it.
"Of course. It could be our thing we do together." Carter explained.
"She's not capable of doing those and she wouldn't want to. She's not that little girl anymore." Shayde tried to reason.
"She's still able to do them at her age. She needs to build her resume." Carter said nonchalantly.
"Why pageants? She races. What do you mean resume? For what?" Shayde's head popped up.
"So she can marry someone who is interested in her." Carter said.
"Carter Verone, you have lost your damn mind." Shayde fumed.
"I'm just looking out for her future, My Shayde. She can't stay with us forever. She should have been married by 16 like you were." Carter insisted.
"Yes, married at 16 to someone My father sold me to." Shayde's eyes blazed with anger.
"Your resume was very impressive." Carter nodded.
"Yeah because my dad trained me to be a killer after he killed my mom. I had no choices in anything. Apparently I still don't." She hissed.
"It's not like that, My Shayde. You were amazing to find and I want our daughter to have as good as a resume as you once had." Carter noted.
"Once had, huh? Yeah, you are right. I've slipped up. My resume has declined. I can make this right and be a good wife, Carter." Shayde nodded.
"My Shayde, you are being a bit dramatic. Come lay down, I think you are still tired." He held out his arms as he called her.
"No, no, no. I want to be a good wife. I will change into this white dress for you, Carter. I want you to understand why I don't wear white and I only wear black." She promised. She got up and walked to the closet. She quickly changed into the dress and proceeded to put on some make up quickly and rather heavy. "Do you like my makeup?" She asked.
"It's a bit much, don't you think?" He asked, not liking it.
"Yet you want our daughter to do pageants and to put her on display like some doll. They wear heavier make up than this, Carter. Just relax, I will be right back." She promised.
"What are you doing?" He asked with a frown.
"I am going to show you how I am a good wife and I am going to improve my resume. Just watch. You'll love the surprise." She promised with a smile.
"I do love surprises." He nodded, leaning back in the bed, putting his hands behind his head.
"Oh, I know you do." She nodded as she left the room. She went to the kitchen to grab a gun she had put in a cabinet for safekeeping. Han walked in and he looked at her.
"Do I want to know?" He asked, not looking shocked at all seeing Shayde in the slim, form fitting white evening gown type of dress in front of him.
"I'm being a good wife. Building my resume. Please do me a favor and keep them all in that room and turn up the surround sound. Make it loud because I can't have Kaidyn hearing anything." Shayde requested.
"Yes ma'am, I'll make sure." Han nodded, still not sure what was going on as he watched her disappear outside. He grabbed some snacks and took it back to the theatre room and looked at Hector.
"Everything okay?" Hector asked, raising an eyebrow. They had known each other long enough to communicate with their eyes.
"Yes, Can you turn this way up? I'm hard of hearing today I guess." Han shook his head as he said yes.
"Yup." Hector looked for the remote but not before they heard a gunshot.
"What was that?" Kaidyn asked, looking around, her words slurred. She was well on her way to being drunk. Han gave Brian a look.
"Are you hearing things now, Firecracker?" Brian asked teasingly. "No more drink for you." He shook his head as Hector found the remote, looking relieved. He turned it up as loud as it could go.
"I need more drink. Han, can you come make me a drink?" Hector asked, getting up. Kaidyn jumped up, excited.
"I'll go too. I need some more limes. Or maybe some strawed berries." She tried to say strawberries.
"Nope, you sit. You can't even talk straight." Hector laughed.
"I'm fine. I'm all good. I can too. You just can't hear me because you are drowning out our ears." Kaidyn waved him off drunkenly.
"No, you can't go in there." Han blocked the door, leaning on it and folding his arms.
"Aw come on, Jeeves, why not? Whatcha hiding?" Kaidyn asked, making Han grin.
"Nothing." He promised, knowing she was too smart for her own good.
"Come here, baby girl." Tej said, patting the seat beside him.
"What's up, Tej?" She asked.
"You seen this part? You're gonna miss it." Tej shook his head, holding out his arms. She leaned back on him and was quiet, watching the movie for a minute.
"We'll bring back snacks and drinks. No one leave." Hector whispered to Brian.
"No problem. We got her." He assured Hector.
"Thanks, appreciate it." Hector said as he got up and followed Han out the door. He closed it and rushed to the kitchen window to see Shayde outside.
"Looks like we have a show? You think she's okay? Should we check on her?" Han asked as he hid his grin, knowing he was already going to go outside and watch whatever was going down. He just knew Carter was watching so he had to make it seem like he wasn't finding this amusing.
"Yeah, just in case things get bad we should." Hector agreed.
"Shay, you okay?" Han asked, stepping onto the porch.
"I'm fine. Building my resume and being a good wife. I have slipped over the years. I have a few so far but now his security is running and hiding. Now I gotta go find them. It's a real shame." Shayde said, standing in front of two guards who were dead and shot at close range. The blood on her white dress was done on purpose to show Carter why she couldn't wear white. She was going to teach Carter a lesson the Shayde way.
"Shayde…" Hector started and stopped as she reached down to rip her dress.
"Protection doesn't normally wear long dresses but I'm being a good wife and wearing what he thinks is image appropriate. But I have to hunt so oh well." Shayde shrugged, ripping the bottom part of the dress off.
"He flipped her switch." Han muttered under his breath.
"Where are you? Come on, I need some volunteers to show my husband why I can't wear white. Where are you guys?" Shayde called out in a sing-song voice.
"Oh boy." Hector sighed as Shayde took off.
"Be back in a bit, boys." She promised.
"Are you guys having fun watching my wife be ruthless?" Carter asked, walking up behind them.
"Hey bossman." Hector greeted him.
"What'd you do now, Carter?" Han asked, shaking his head as he heard shots firing off.
"She found someone." Hector nodded.
"She's so cute when she's angry, I must admit." Carter grinned.
"She's killing off your men as we speak, don't you care?" Hector asked, hoping this wouldn't lead to bad repercussions for Shayde.
"I have over 600 out here, why would I care? I love seeing her angry." Carter laughed. Han looked at Hector, happy to hear a number and happy that Shayde was already getting to work.
"What did you do to trigger her? Holy hell, she's pissed." Han said as gunshots kept going off.
"Told her Kaidyn needed her hair cut." Carter said, scanning the property for his wife.
"You know she loves Kaidyn's hair. You know why right?" Hector asked.
"Enlighten me." Carter said, taking a deep breath of the salty beach air.
"It's the one thing she has of Shayde's. It's like her mom's blonde hair she had." Hector said. "She has told Kaidyn she cannot cut it. She loves her hair. No wonder you triggered her." Hector tsked his teeth.
"It's not like she looks like me or very much of Shayde." Carter complained. Han gave Hector a look.
"Because she looks more like your sister." Hector shook his head.
"Don't mention that waste of space, please." Carter said in annoyance. "Makes no sense how she has blonde hair." He complained.
"You both have blonde family members and it does make sense." Hector corrected him. "Clearly your side is more dominant. She got your sis...her hair and your eyes." Hector added.
"Hmm. I guess." Carter nodded, hands in his pockets.
"Why does she need to cut her hair? Shayde just trimmed it like a few weeks ago. She doesn't trust anyone with her hair." Han asked, knowing there had to be a deeper reason to him wanting Kaidyn's hair cut.
"Pageants. She can get back in them." Carter nodded.
"What? Why?" Han asked, it slipping out before he could think.
"For one, my business but if you must know, she needs to work on a resume for when she gets older. She did pageants before and was on her way to being successful. She can get back on track. It's good for the family image." Carter sighed, tired of explaining things.
"Carter, you'd be putting her in a lot of danger for a lot of reasons." Hector tried to hide his shock.
"How do you figure?" Carter asked.
"Her memory, Carter. What if she got up there and had an episode or worse a panic attack? Or a bloody nose?" Hector asked.
"So you don't think she could handle it? Or are you just taking My Shayde's side?" Carter asked skeptically.
"I'm doing what I was hired to do, to look out for Kaidyn. You know I'm here for all of you. But you hired me to take care of Kaidyn and I'm telling you she's still trying to get better. She makes progress but she's not ready for that. Her memory is still a problem, Carter." Hector looked Carter in the eyes so he knew he was being straight with him.
"I will give her more time but she will not just sit around here drinking all the time." Carter frowned as more gunshots could be heard.
"What about Dante? What if he was to take her and hold her to get Shayde back? Because that's very much a real threat. It wouldn't be all that hard for him to do that at all. You want to risk losing Shayde?" Han asked, choosing his words carefully.
"She would run to save her, I guess." Carter said as if he was weighing options. "I'll have to give her some more time but both of you need to be working with her more and trying to get her up to speed." Carter ordered.
"We try to make progress every day but you can't rush a brain injury, Carter. You know this." Han said, his patience getting tested somewhat now.
"Hello." Carter answered his phone.
"She's still at it. I'm gonna bet she's past 50 now, Carter. We need help. Please call her off." The security guard requested.
"I'll try. I can't make promises. You guys knew what you were getting into when I hired you. I told you how dangerous this job could be." Carter shrugged.
"I'm betting it's over a 100." Hector whispered to Han, who nodded.
"Carter! We need help! Make her stop!" The security guard screamed as he ran. Shayde was skipping behind him.
"Come here, I need you closer before you meet your maker. I'm getting tired of chasing you." Shayde called to him.
"My Shayde, are you done with your little hunting party?" Carter asked, folding his arms.
"Me?" She asked, giving him a sweet sarcastic smile as she grabbed the guy. "Who's hunting?" She asked as she pulled the guard to her and shot him at point blank range. Blood splattered over her already blood stained dress.
"Enough, Shayde." Carter said, not phased by what she had just done.
"Are you happy now, Carter? This is why I don't wear white. I was taught a long time ago by my father to not wear white. He beat me until I learned not to wear it and I learned why very quickly. Maybe you'll learn now too." She said through gritted teeth.
"Shayde, this is extreme even for you." Carter reasoned.
"Extreme? Hah ha ha. You haven't seen extremes. You will not touch her hair, she will not do pageants and I will not wear white. I will be dressing as I please as I always have." Shayde growled, kicking the guy on the ground to make sure he was dead.
"After talking with the boys here, I can understand your viewpoint, My Shayde. I will not expect her to do pageants and I understand about keeping her hair." Carter conceded.
"Well that's good because I wasn't going to let her do either of those." Shayde said, her chin held high.
"I just ask that you please make sure her hair is done every day and not just left a mess like tonight." Carter requested.
"To be fair, she found the pool and was enjoying it for hours and then we all started playing games to keep her busy so you could have alone time. Shay or I always make sure her hair is done because otherwise it tangles as you can see." Hector promised.
"She enjoyed the pool?" Carter asked.
"Very much so." Han nodded.
"Good, that's good. I want her to feel relaxed here. Glad she enjoyed something." Carter smiled, looking pleased.
"I'm glad you understand, Honey." Shayde smiled sweetly. She looked down at her dress and got an idea as she looked at Carter standing there in his white silk pajamas.
"It's just gonna take some time for everyone to adjust to things, I'm sure." Carter smiled.
"You are so right." Shayde nodded with a happy smile. Han looked at Hector and Hector looked at Han. They knew that was a devilish smile. They knew she was up to something.
"I love you, Carter Verone." Shayde said as she hugged him tightly. Hector hid his smile knowing she meant to get blood all over him. "Oops, I got blood on you. I'm so sorry." She covered her mouth playfully. "Things like this is why I take showers frequently, Carter." She leaned up and whispered in his ear.
"Oh, I've missed you, My Shayde." Carter whispered back, loving her psycho side. "Let's go get a shower." She suggested, purposely trying to distract him.
"Yes, I don't do blood very well." Carter nodded.
"Ugh, so that's where Kaidyn gets that from. She is still your mini me. She doesn't like blood either." Shayde sighed with a shake of her head. This made Carter smile proudly.
"Glad to know she's like me in some ways. Hmm." Carter mused with a smirk.
"She's got more traits of you than me, don't fret. I wish she was more like me some days." Shayde promised, turning to head to the shower.
"Boys, you know the drill. Please call the clean up crew and tell them they'll need to find them all before sunrise." Carter ordered.
"Good luck with that, I've been all over this property." Shayde called to Carter over her shoulder as she started to walk to the house.
"You could have just made it easy to clean up by keeping it close to the house." Carter said.
"Babe, what sense does that make? Kaidyn might have seen blood, she's like you, remember? Besides, I had to chase those fuckers. They scattered like roaches." Shayde admitted.
"My Shayde, do you at least have a number we can tell them?" Carter asked, grabbing her hand gently.
"Numbers aren't important. Let them make wagers and the person who finds the most wins." Shayde suggested, pulling his hand and leading him inside.
"You heard the lady of the house, tell them to clean it up and if they have to they can count the casings on the ground." Carter ordered to Han.
"We're on it. Calling them now." Han nodded. Carter and Shayde left and headed upstairs.
reminded him.
"I just hope they can find them all, I guess if not, we have sunrise in a few hours, eh?" Hector said with a yawn.
"Shay always knows her numbers. Worst case, we find out from her in the morning." Han nodded.
"True." Hector agreed.
"I didn't realize it was getting so late." Han grumbled, starting to get tired.
"Damn, it's the first night and already shit has gotten crazy, Han." Hector sighed, shaking his head.
"Nights not even over. We still gotta deal with she who never sleeps at night." Han looked up at the full moon and shook his head. Of course it was a full moon.