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Ginny just stared at him. “You are telling me you let Grizz think you were gay so you could be with me? That your girlfriend, Cindy, really was gay that whole time?” She threw her hands up in the air. “Tommy, this is crazy. I don’t believe you.”
“It’s true, Ginny.” He looked hurt. “I didn’t do it on purpose, but I let it happen and used it to my advantage.”
“No. No way. Grizz was too smart. He would’ve—”
“He would’ve what? Figured it out? He did. He caught me.”
“Caught you? How did he catch you?”
“Somebody must’ve seen me out with a woman and said something to Grizz about me cheating on my rich girlfriend. Either that or he had me watched. He actually never told me how he found out. It didn’t matter, anyway. He knew I lied and he knew why.”
“What woman?” Ginny felt a stab of jealousy. A feeling she recognized from when Tommy used to occasionally bring Cindy on their “friend dates.” Cindy was a big Rod Stewart fan, and Ginny remembered her always playing the song “Tonight’s The Night” on the cassette player in Tommy’s car. Cindy would even sing it to herself. Now that Ginny thought about it, she had been a tiny bit jealous, and as much as she loved Rod Stewart, she’d hated that song. Now she realized why. And to think there had been no reason to be jealous of Cindy. She wondered if Cindy played the part a little bit more than necessary just to needle her. The realization stunned her.
“Gin, there were women.” His voice was soft. “I’m only human. And you were married. There were a few I tried to get close to discreetly. I tried. But I could never let myself get to the point of caring. It just wasn’t going to happen. I wasn’t getting over you just because I was with other women.”
She tucked her feelings aside, pressing on. “Just forget it. So, after all that, you’re saying Grizz caught you? What did he do?”
“You don’t want to know.”
“I’m so tired of hearing that.” Her words were clipped. “You’re the one who’s been telling me I kept my head in the sand. That I’ve never faced the reality of what Grizz was capable of. Well, then tell me! Tell me what he did when he found out you had pulled one over on him. It couldn’t have been too bad. You may have not known he was your father then, but he knew.” She cocked a hip and leveled a smug glance at him. “What did he do to his own son?”
“He beat the shit out of me with his bare hands and put me in the hospital for two weeks. There. Is that what you wanted to hear?”
**********
That brutal night, Grunt was supposed to have dinner with Allen when Grizz called, saying it was imperative that he come to the motel. He looked at his watch. I’ll never make it. He called Allen and told him he’d be late. Not to worry, Allen told him. He was friends with the restaurant’s owner. They would have a table no matter what time they showed up. He’d just wait at the bar.
Grunt pulled into the motel and parked in front of Grizz and Kit’s unit. He didn’t see her car behind the office when he pulled in. I wonder if he found the guy that raped her? Maybe that’s why he wants to talk to me.
He parked and got out of his car when he heard a couple of hellos from the pit. He waved back absentmindedly, then knocked once and let himself in number four. Grizz was sitting in his recliner.
“Don’t sit,” Grizz said as Grunt started to sit down. He rose to face Grunt, suddenly looking very tall in the motel room.
“Don’t sit? Why not? What’s up?”
“I want you to face me like a man when I beat the shit out of you.”
Grunt blinked. “Beat the shit out of me? For what?”
“I need to know something.” Grizz’s voice was low, menacing. “Tell me now, because you won’t be able to answer me when I’m done with you.”
Grunt swallowed.
“You let me think you were a fag. I admit, I jumped to that conclusion based on what Axel reported to me. But you let me think it for a reason. And the only one I can come up with is because you’re in love with Kit. You want to spend time with her. My wife.”
The punch to his face caught Grunt off guard. He didn’t lose his balance yet instantly knew he wasn’t going to win this one. But he wasn’t going down without a fight.
**********
“Grizz beat you up and put you in the hospital? His own son? Because of me?” Ginny’s voice was almost a squeak.
“He beat the living hell out of me. I got my licks in too. I know I broke a couple of his ribs and gave him a black eye. We wrecked your place. How did you not know there was a fight there?”
“I think I remember that night. I came home once and number four looked like a bomb had gone off in it. Grizz told me two of the guys had come in and started fighting, and he’d gotten in the middle of it trying to break them up, which is how he got a black eye and a broken nose. You did that to him?”
“Yeah, I did that to him. He was bigger and stronger, but you have to remember, he’s the one who taught me how to fight.” A small smile played at Tommy’s lips. “I broke his nose? Really?”
“You don’t have to sound so proud of yourself.” She rolled her eyes. “What happened after that?”
“Axel got me in my car and took me to the restaurant, where we found Allen. Allen got me to the hospital, then flew me to Orlando on a private jet so I could recover near him. He called my work and made up some story about me being banged up. Maybe he told them I was mugged. I don’t remember. I do remember you asking me how my two weeks in Vancouver was.”
“Grizz told me you went on a business trip.” Her voice was small. Then something occurred to her. “Did he ever find out Axel deceived him by letting him believe you were gay?”
“No, I covered Axel’s ass. I told him Axel reported the truth to him. I did hang with a gay man. Allen stayed overnight with me at the penthouse a couple of times a month. Why wouldn’t Axel believe it?”
“But I saw you after that! I’m confused—we still spent time together. How did that happen? If he was so mad and he knew you were in love with me, why would he allow it? Something’s not right.”
“The first time I saw him after he beat the shit out of me, he told me he’d changed his mind, that it would be harder explaining to you why he wouldn’t allow our friendship to continue—and that he’d kicked the piss out of me. Or maybe he just wanted to keep me close, keep tabs on me. Besides, he knew damn well that I would never, never try anything with you after that beating. And I never did. That beating was just a warning.”
She let out a breath, stunned. So many secrets, so many lies. If she’d had her head in the sand, it certainly wasn’t her fault. “But Tommy, you still brought Cindy around after that. You still stayed in her penthouse. Why?”
“A few reasons.” He shrugged. “For her mostly; she still needed the ruse. And it was a comfortable situation. I lived in a million dollar condo close to work. And Cindy was a nice girl. We were friends. What else was I going to do at that point?”
Ginny shook her head, dizzy now with all the new information. “I’m still not sure I can understand why we were allowed to spend all that time together and Grizz never objected.”
What Tommy wouldn’t tell his wife, couldn’t tell her was that he knew why. When he went to see Grizz a few days before the execution, they spent almost an hour together walking in the prison yard. He was the same old Grizz when it came to Ginny. He was still pissed about the billy club incident that Leslie had revealed weeks earlier. He told Tommy he was lucky it hadn’t occurred to him to question it when he found out Tommy was pretending to be gay. He had no doubt if he’d thought of it back then, he wouldn’t have put Tommy in the hospital for two weeks. Son or no son, he would’ve put Tommy in the ground. Grizz had also been angry when he found out through Blue that Tommy had fathered one of Blue’s boys.
But then, Grizz went on to explain everything to Tommy, in great detail. Not leaving anything out. And after hearing about Grizz’s involvement in something that went way past the dealings of his criminal activities, Tommy could only stare at him with his mouth open. It all made sense now: Going to prison without a fight. Letting Tommy stay close to Ginny. Asking Tommy to marry her when he got arrested.
Now Tommy knew why and didn’t blame him one bit. He also knew why Grizz never told a soul. This was big.
“He was a criminal, Ginny. He knew he might need me one day. Need me to take care of you. I may have fooled him with the gay act for a little while, but it showed him something. It showed him that I loved you and I would protect you. Think about that. I didn’t come to him and offer to marry you when he was arrested. He came to me.”
She shook her head as she tried to take it all in. She needed a break.
“Do you want a refill?” she asked as she picked up his empty glass.
He nodded and watched her go into the house, closing the sliding glass door behind her.
Alone with his thoughts he silently berated himself for still holding back. But then he remembered. He had to. For her own safety.
His thoughts were interrupted when she came back outside, her cowboy boots thumping on the deck. She handed him the glass of water and took a seat.
“Going back to you being his son. Why was that so important to hide?”
“He had enemies, Gin. Enemies that could hurt me to get to him. He told me even Blue didn’t know—Blue who knows everything, never even knew Grizz was my father. It wasn’t until Blue went back to prison after finding Jan and his boys that Grizz told him about me.”
“Do you really believe Blue never knew you were Grizz’s son?”
“Yeah, I think I do. Grizz and Blue met when they were young, but Blue didn’t really know Candy.”
“When I heard them arguing, I remember she told Grizz something like how she’d introduced him to the people who put him where he was.”
“It wasn’t her. It was her dad’s friend; she was just trying to take the credit, inflate her importance. Candy flitted in and out of Grizz’s bed. He was young. He never remembered her crossing paths with Blue.”
“Let me get this straight. I’m having a hard time organizing the sequence of events here.” She took a breath and started ticking off the events on her fingers. “Leslie told Grizz during their face-to-face interview that you didn’t use the billy club to take my virginity. He somehow managed to beat her up in the prison, but was so angry with you, with us, that shortly after that, he gave her a phone interview and told her you were his son.”
”Pretty much.” Tommy nodded. “By the time I’d told him the truth behind it, he’d already cooled off and ordered a hit on her so it wouldn’t get printed.”
“I think it was a bit drastic for him to order a hit, Tommy, don’t you think? Grizz is intimidating. I think he could’ve made another type of threat. It’s just a magazine article.”
“Really, Gin? Think about how you reacted. Grizz didn’t want to die thinking you might find out and do exactly what you’ve done, which is walk out on me. He always wanted you looked after.”
At that, she slammed her hands down on the chair and stood up. “Looked after? I’m so tired of hearing this, Tommy.” Her eyes blazed. “It’s always been about protecting me. ‘Ginny is too sweet. Ginny is too innocent. We can’t tell Ginny. Ginny would be hurt,’” she mimicked. “Just because I went to church, tried to see the good in people, and looked at the world with a positive perspective never meant I was supposed to be treated like a child that had to be protected. I’m a grown, adult woman! I have an education and could support myself. I can think for myself, Tommy.”
“I know, Gin. I know. I’m sorry. We both underestimated you for too long. I’m sorry for that.”
“Go on.” She sat back down, crossing her arms.
“I told Grizz everything I told you tonight. I told him why I tricked him into letting me take your virginity. He didn’t like it, but believe it or not, he understood. Grizz had already realized by then that revealing he was my father would be so much more than just a little secret. It would’ve had a ripple effect that would’ve hurt Mimi. Finding out her father, me, was really her half-brother? I don’t need to tell you the shit storm that could’ve followed.” He closed his eyes and rubbed at the spot between his brows. “Anyway, I talked him out of the hit and asked him to have it dealt with so nobody got hurt. I meant it when I told you Sunday morning that the time for killing was over. He could figure out a way to stop Leslie from printing the article without having to kill her. He agreed and told me he’d already come to his senses and called it off.”
Ginny nodded at him and he continued. “Blue visited Leslie and told her that Grizz had a change of heart and not to print it. After that, and before Grizz’s execution, Blue finally heard from the P.I. he’d hired to find Jan and his boys. They’re grown now and don’t live with their mother, but the P.I. sent pictures to Blue. After seeing the pictures and actually speaking to Jan on the phone, Blue visited Grizz in prison a week or so before the execution.”
“Blue found Jan and the boys?” Ginny asked.
“Yes, and something came to light in Blue’s last meeting with Grizz that angered Grizz again. That’s when Grizz sent for me. That’s why I actually went to see him before he was executed.”
“Why did you have to go see him? Why couldn’t you handle it on the phone?”
“I needed to have a sit-down with him. I needed to explain something and it had to be done in person.”
“Why?”
“Because he found something out that made me look deceitful. Even though it happened a long time ago, years before the gay thing, it was fresh in his mind, and I was not looking good.”
“What are you talking about? What did Grizz find out?”
“I need to tell you about Kevin.”