CHAPTER SIX
Wiping away a few tears that had leaked from her eyes, Billie wandered into her tiny kitchen and dug into her chocolate stash that she hid behind the box of granola bars in the pantry. Tyler had quite the sweet tooth and would have devoured her dark chocolate candies if he’d known they were there.
Since she didn’t smoke or drink, sugar was her only indulgence and she needed the comfort that chocolate always brought. Even when she was a child, a candy bar had been a decadent but rare treat.
He hates me now.
That might be a tad dramatic but he was disappointed. His expression had said it all and he’d left here sad and deflated. Apparently he’d been sure she would say yes and she couldn’t really blame him in a way. The idea was practical and for Hollywood it wasn’t all that outlandish. It was good business, really.
But…it sure as hell wasn’t how she’d pictured being proposed to. Like a merger or a real estate deal. There’d been no romance, no confession of feelings. Just a list of all the reasons they should and how they would both benefit. She’d been shocked by her own reaction to his proposition. The sensible, practical woman who pried him out of nightclubs and made sure he didn’t eat his weight in candy would have said yes. Who knew she had this flighty, romantic little girl inside of her that wanted a prince on a white horse? Fat chance of that happening in Tinseltown.
Certainly there were good reasons for marrying Tyler. Career-wise she would benefit. He had all sorts of contacts in the business and another agency would quickly pick her up despite Ina dropping her earlier today. Personally, he was a good and kind man, generous to a fault. They had a great deal of fun whenever they were together, and scarily, they could almost read each other’s mind. There was no lying or subterfuge between them. Tyler was honest as the day was long and she was too.
Maybe too honest, though. He’d never pretended to be anything other than what he was. A playboy. A partier. When he was working, no one put their nose to the grindstone harder than Tyler did but when he was between pictures he liked to have fun. Sometimes with her and sometimes with the myriad of women that always seemed to be hanging around him. He was a chick magnet and he attracted all kinds. Even some crazy ones. She’d shooed more than a few of them away and called the cops on the ones that couldn’t take no for an answer.
It pained her to remember when she’d first met him. His prior tenant in the guest house had decided to move to New York City to work on Broadway. She’d met Kyle at a kickboxing class and they’d hit it off. When he’d seen where she’d lived, he was appalled at the dangerous neighborhood and the high price tag. Immediately he’d given her a key to the guest cottage and told her she could move in at the first of the month. Desperate, she hadn’t questioned it. So when Tyler Gaylord showed up at her front door while she was unpacking her dishes she’d been shocked.
Then scared he was going to throw her out.
Because Kyle hadn’t told Tyler that he’d moved Billie in as a replacement. She’d been the one to tell Tyler about Broadway and how Kyle had hated where she lived and given her a key. She was sure she was going to end up on the streets but Tyler had simply nodded and said they’d try it out and see how it worked.
At first, he’d left her alone but after a few weeks he’d come down just to see how she was doing. She’d offered him a soda and they’d ended up talking all night. A friendship blossomed, mainly because she’d always been straight with him. She didn’t ask him for money or favors and treated him just like he was one of the guys. No better and no worse. It was clear that he’d been hungry for that in his crazy, fame-filled life.
That was five years ago. As far as she knew she was still on probation.
There was also the little secret she’d harbored all of these years, and there was no sense in ever telling him. He didn’t need to know.
The first six months she’d lived in the cottage she’d had a terrible crush on Tyler. She hadn’t shown it, of course. In fact, she’d gone out of her way not to show it so she might have even been a little rough on him. He’d been handsome and sweet, a man who really listened when she talked. Something she hadn’t been used to with her background. Her feelings had probably been inevitable when she looked back at that time. However, as she got to know Tyler more and more, her feelings had faded and them morphed into something far different and complicated.
He was difficult at times, and often more child than man. And the women… There were always plenty of them, although not one of them hung around too long. Somehow Tyler Gaylord had glided through his life with his heart untouched. While she thought of herself as a lovely person, she wasn’t going to be the wonderful and amazing woman who somehow managed to get to his buried heart and make him fall in love. It just wasn’t going to happen. She’d end up heartbroken and crying and she’d had enough of that crap for a lifetime.
It was better that they were friends only.
Now he wanted to throw off the delicate balance that they’d achieved. With marriage. He was so cavalier about the whole thing, thinking that everything would stay the same. It wouldn’t and it could ruin everything. She just couldn’t lose him out of her life. He was too vital to her happiness and well-being.
The ringing of her phone cut off her melancholy thoughts and she groaned when she saw the display. The same number as earlier. She’d been putting this off but she already felt like shit. She might as well go all the way and feel like hell.
“Hello.”
“Billiie, thank goodness you finally answered. I’ve been calling and calling.”
Connie, a childhood friend, sounded out of breath and shaken which immediately put Billie on alert. Frankly she never heard any good news from her old hometown.
“Hi, Connie. Sorry about that. It’s been busy here. What’s going on?”
She hadn’t wanted to ask but Connie wouldn’t call unless it was important.
“It’s your sister, Sierra.” Connie didn’t bother with any more pleasantries and went straight to the point. “Brian beat her up again. This time it’s real bad. She’s got a broken arm and a black eye. A few broken ribs too. The shelter advised her to divorce Brian, change her name, and leave the state. You know, start a new life, but that costs a lot of money. They said she needs to disappear because he’ll never leave her alone. The divorce alone will probably be thousands, plus you know he’ll fight it tooth and nail. Then to get her set up in a new life with a new name… The social worker said that they have attorneys that might accept lower fees or a payment plan but it’s still going to be expensive.”
Sierra had a no good, loser husband she’d been with for about seven years. Billie had told her way back then that she needed to dump him but her sister was completely controlled by her infantile husband. Brian needed Sierra. He’d cry when she’d tried to break it off. He’d threaten to kill himself. Then she’d married the son of a bitch and things had gone downhill from there. Brian would get drunk, smack Sierra around, Sierra would leave and stay with Connie for a few days, and then Brian would buy flowers and apologize. Cue the cycle to start again.
“Will she really leave him this time? For real?”
“She says she’s done and I believe her. This time he threatened to kill her and I think he means it.”
Through all of this bullshit she was still Billie’s sister, although Sierra might see it differently. The last time they’d been together they’d argued about Brian and Sierra had told Billie she hated her and to leave and never come back. Billie had been trying to convince her sister to come with her to Los Angeles. She’d failed and tried to put the past behind her, but she’d never quite put her sister in the lost cause category. She’d always had hope that Sierra might one day wake up, which was why Billie kept in touch with Connie.
If Sierra was ready to leave the bastard, Billie wanted to help her.
Billie had been saving up for the down payment on a new car. It looked like she’d be driving her 2002 Honda Civic awhile longer. It didn’t help that she hadn’t had a decent acting job in months. She’d been getting by on temp jobs and bartending at a local place on the weekends. Luckily Tyler charged her almost nothing for the cottage and he wouldn’t have noticed if she didn’t pay at all. Not that she would ever take advantage of that.
“I have three thousand dollars saved up. I can send that to help.”
The impatient exhale of breath into the phone clearly said that wasn’t good enough.
“You don’t understand. Between the attorney’s fees and the new life she needs to start, it’s going to be more like twenty-five thousand. Probably more. She left the house with nothing but the clothes on her back. She needs everything new, plus that figure doesn’t even include the medical bills and she doesn’t have any insurance. Is there anything you can sell?”
More tears – this time for a different reason – squeezed through Billie’s tightly closed lashes. Frustration warred with anger at the situation that had been festering for years. It might as well be twenty-five million. The only thing Billie owned was her car and that wasn’t going to fetch more than a grand or two, and she couldn’t even think of selling it. A person couldn’t live in Los Angeles without transportation.
She had some clothes, mostly what Tyler had bought her over her objections, but she wouldn’t get much for them.
There had to be some way but at the moment Billie had no idea what to do. She’d lived on the edge, paycheck to paycheck her entire life.
“I don’t know what to say, Connie. I just don’t have that kind of money.”
“We have to do something. She can’t go back to him, Billie. He’ll kill her next time.”
Billie had been saying that very thing for years. She was protective of her sister even though most of the time she tried to forget she had that other life in her past. She was all about living in the present. Even Tyler didn’t know about Billie’s family. She was pretty sure he thought she was an orphan. Most of the time he’d be right. Billie’s mother had passed away after hitting a tree while driving drunk, and she didn’t talk to Sierra any longer because that asshole didn’t like for her to speak to anyone that might say something against him.
“Let me think on it. I’m sure there’s something we can do.”
Billie wasn’t sure at all but it had all been dumped into her lap to be solved. It wasn’t Connie’s mess to clean up, Sierra wasn’t capable at the moment, Billie’s mother was in the great hereafter, so that just left Billie.
“Call me if you figure something out. It needs to be soon too because she’s getting out of the hospital tomorrow morning. She has to give the attorney an answer in a few days plus he’s going to want a retainer of some sort to keep working on the case. There’s a social worker that can help us but we need to get a plan together.”
Ending the call, Billie tossed her phone aside and stared up at the ceiling. She wanted Sierra to get away from Brian. She’d wanted that for years. Now there was someone who could help her with that but it cost big bucks. Money that she didn’t have.
The fact was the Oliver family was fucked up. This was one of the big reasons why Billie didn’t drink. She wanted to be in control at all times. Her mother had been addicted to booze and it had cost her everything.
It was up to Billie to do something. But what? Sell a kidney? It was the only thing of value she had.
Wait…a kidney.
A terrible, horrible thought came to Billie. One she didn’t want to even think about.
What am I willing to do for my family?