Chapter 52
A female voice answered the phone, "Hello."
Tyler hesitated, then asked, "Is Joey there?"
"Who wants to know?"
"Tyler...I need to talk to him."
"Joey, ‘THE BITCH’ is on the phone."
Tyler tensed and Kevin whispered, "Are you okay?"
Tyler shook her head ‘no’ as Joey said, "What do you want?"
"You don’t have to be so hateful and you can tell your girlfriend not to
refer to me as ‘The Bitch’ for starters," said Tyler trying to keep her
voice friendly. "I called to let you know about my doctor’s appointment.
It’s tomorrow morning at 11:15."
"What do you take me for...a fool? I come within a 100 yards of you and Kevin will have me arrested. No, you enjoy being pregnant because as soon as this baby is born, I’m going to sue for custody."
Tears were streaming down Tyler’s cheeks and her voice broke as she said, "I’m trying to do the right thing, Joey."
"Oh, the crying is a good touch," said Joey sarcastically.
"Why are you being so mean?"
"Quit playing games, Tyler."
"I’m not playing games."
Kevin had heard enough and took the phone from Tyler. "Look, Joey. Tyler’s trying to let you be a part of all this...against my wishes I might add. She’s dropped the restraining order and you’re welcome to come to the appointment."
"You and Tyler can both go to hell."
Kevin was trying extremely hard to control his anger as he said, "Whatever....The offer is there. Do with it what you want."
The two men hung up and Kevin hugged Tyler close. She turned her head towards his chest as she cried.
Kevin held Tyler and waited for her to calm down. As he held her he thought about what Christine wanted to do-include Joey-and wondered if it was smart. The more he thought about it, the angrier he got. He couldn’t stand seeing Tyler this upset and knew it would be the same way every time she called him to tell him about the doctor’s appointments or saw him, if he decided to come.
Kevin said, "Baby, I know you’re upset, but I need to get away from here for a little while."
Tyler looked up at him and she could see the anger in his eyes. She got up to let Kevin up. She watched as he went upstairs and knew what he was going to do.
Kevin returned a few minutes later wearing his running shoes. He hugged Tyler and said, "I need to get away and think. I’m not going to do you any good right now."
Softly, Tyler said, "Will you be long?"
"I’ll try not to be, baby. Why don’t you call Howie and get him to come over?"
"He’s at Tabu tonight with the others. I’ll be okay."
Kevin kissed her and said, "I love you, Tyler."
"I know, ‘Boo’. Go on and take your run. I’ll be here when you get back."
Tyler watched Kevin leave and went to sit down. The first thing she decided to do was call Lance. She told him about the phone call to Joey and the doctor’s appointment. She also told him that the restraining order had been dropped. Lance was surprised that Kevin would let her do this and Tyler said that he had fought her over it. She didn’t want to tell Lance what the real deal was.
After talking to Lance, Tyler decided to call Sonja. She really needed her best girlfriend right now and she hoped that Sonja would still be at Brian’s parents’ house. Jackie answered the phone and Tyler asked for Sonja.
"Hey, Tyler. Are you okay?"
Tyler started crying again as she told Sonja what Christine had told them and about the phone call to Joey.
Sonja asked, "You didn’t call Joey while you were alone, did you?"
"No. Kevin was right here with me but he’s mad as hell right now and took off for a run. He said he wouldn’t do me any good as mad as he was."
"He’s probably right. Why didn’t you call one of the others so they could come over there with you?"
"They’re all at Tabu tonight. Sonja, what am I going to do? If Joey’s going to be like this every time, Kevin’s going to go ballistic on him and really screw up things."
"Don’t worry. Kevin knows how important this is and he usually keeps his cool in situations like this. You know that as well as I do."
"Yeah. I do. Thanks for being there for me. You know, when they told me that Lou had changed his plea and there wouldn’t be a trial, I thought this whole ordeal was over with. I never thought Joey would be like this with Lou out of the picture."
"Tyler, Joey had it bad for you...worse than Kevin and this is killing him. He sees you with Kevin and KNOWS that you love Kevin more than you ever thought about loving him."
"What did I do to make Joey think that I wanted more than a friendship with him though? I never told him that I loved him. I didn’t sleep with him and he had to know how I felt about Kevin."
"I guess the fact that you stayed with him for four months made him think that you wanted to be with him."
"But I was protecting Kevin and the guys."
"I know that but I’d be willing to bet that Joey didn’t know what Lou was doing...blackmailing you."
"I doubt it." There was a knock at the door and Tyler said, "Sonja, I’ve gotta go. There’s someone at the door. Kevin probably forgot his keys."
"Brian and I are coming home tomorrow. I’ll see you then."
"Thanks, Sonja."
Tyler hung up and went to the door thinking that it was Kevin. When she opened it, she got a shock. There was an Orlando police officer standing there.
"Miss Dorough?"
"Yes. What can I do for you?"
"There’s been an accident. Is there anyone here who can drive you to the hospital?"
"My fiancé will be back soon," said Tyler becoming extremely concerned. "Who was involved in the accident, Officer?"
"Your fiancé is Kevin Richardson, right?"
"Yes."
"He was hit by a car while jogging. Is there anyone else you can call to drive you to the hospital?"
Tyler was in shock but she managed to say, "I can call my cousin."
"I’ll wait until your cousin gets here."
Tyler walked like a zombie to get the phone and from sheer repetition, she dialed Tabu. One of the bartenders answered and Tyler said, "I need to talk to Howie."
"Hang on a sec."
A minute later, Howie said, "Yeah! This is Howie."
"Howie, Kevin’s been hit by a car."
"Where are you, Tyler?"
"At home."
"I’ll be there in as fast as I can."
Howie hung up and Tyler said to the officer, "He’s on his way."
"Miss, are you going to be okay?"
Tyler looked at the officer in a daze. "Huh?"
"Here, you should sit down."
The officer led Tyler to the couch and had her sit while he went to get her a glass of water. When he came back he handed it to her but she just set it on the table in front of her. She looked at the couch where she and Kevin had been sitting earlier and he’d been holding her. A million thoughts were racing through her head and none of them were good.
Not ten minutes after getting the call, Howie and Nick rushed into the house.
The officer stood up. "Are you Miss Dorough’s cousin?"
"Yeah," said Howie. "What’s this about Kevin being hit by a car?"
The officer explained that Kevin had been jogging when a fan had recognized him and wasn’t paying attention to what she was doing. That’s when she caused another car to hit Kevin.
Nick was kneeling in front of Tyler and had her hands in his. "Ty, it’s me...Nick. Are you okay?"
Tyler looked at him with a glazed look but didn’t say anything. The officer said, "She’s been like that ever since she called you."
Howie went to Tyler and said, "Come on, Ty. Nick and I’ll take you to him."
Tyler looked up at Howie like a lost little girl. Sounding very much like that lost little girl, Tyler said, "Okay."
Howie put his arm around Tyler and led her to Kevin’s truck. They had driven over in Nick’s Camero and now they needed Kevin’s truck for all three of them.
The drive to the hospital was quiet. Tyler rested her head on Nick’s shoulder and Howie kept glancing at her when he could.
