Blinding Trust (Mitchell Family #7)(35)
Author: Jennifer Foor

He ain’t stayin’ at our house.

Don’t you dare go there with me! Until you can explain to me what you were doing and what you were thinking, I don’t want to talk to you, Colt. You’ve hurt me and you’re acting like you did nothing wrong. You have no idea what I’m going through. Do you know how it made me feel to see you sending a picture like that. You better not wish I was there, because right now I’d cut off your testicles and feed them to Sam!”

I tossed the phone on the bed and laid down next to it. I was in the dog house, when it came to my wife. A little while later, Noah came barging into my room. “Dad, you’re never goin’ to believe it. I got to meet some of the players from the Raiders. They own the restaurant that we ate at last night. Piper got them to autograph some things for you.”

I sat up and took in just how excited my son was. “Sounds like a good time. I figured you’d call last night before you went to bed.”

“Sorry! Me and Johnny stayed up playing his Xbox.” Noah was oblivious to what had went down at the house the night before.

Well, he didn’t know until the screaming began.

Piper and Zeke were really having it out. I could tell that it bothered Noah. We weren’t a loud kind of family. Sure, we had typical redneck arguments, but we didn’t get loud and we surely didn’t do it in front of the children.

“What’s goin’ on?”

I patted him on the back. “I reckon they’re havin’ it out about somethin’. It ain’t none of our business though. Did you eat breakfast?”

“I had a doughnut. I’m still hungry.” The screaming was getting to him. He started fidgeting.

“How about you and me head out and get something to eat. I’m sure that limo driver can take us somewhere.”

His eyes lit up. “Cool. I want pancakes with whip cream and strawberries.”

I shook my head. He was a chip off the old block. I finished putting on my shoes. “Let’s go find us some pancakes then.”

It was easy to slip out of the house unnoticed and luckily we found the limo driver outside, talking on his cell phone. Noah seemed so excited that we didn’t have to pull the guy’s leg to get him to take us somewhere.

He drove us to a corner diner and assured us that the appearance on the outside had nothing to do with the quality of food on the inside. It was what he called a ‘gem’.

We invited him to join us, but he instantly declined. Noah and I found a booth seat against a window and started looking over the menu. “Dad, they have the pancakes, with any kind of fruit you could ever want. This place is awesome!”

I looked over at him while I sat down my menu. “I’ll just have what you’re gettin’ then.”

Noah told the waitress what we wanted and I added a coffee before she walked away. He was looking all around outside the window. “So, Noah, are you havin’ a nice visit?”

“Yeah. I can’t wait to come again. Piper said Uncle Zeke has a surprise for me. Do you know what it is?”

This was news to me. I didn’t know anything about a surprise and the thought of it made me leery. In fact, everything about Zeke made me leery after last night. He was trying to make himself out to be this normal guy, but behind closed doors, he was anything but that. What worried me more was that Noah was oblivious to any of the bad stuff. He only saw the cool and amazing things that Zeke wanted him to see. He was wooing him into acceptance and that wasn’t alright, in my book. It was downright wrong!

Our pancakes came with a mountain of whipped cream, strawberries and blueberries. Noah dug in right away, after pouring a giant cup of maple syrup all over his plate.

We spent a lot of time together on the farm, but most of the time, it was because he was helping me with something. It had never been because we were on a trip together. As angry as I was at how he was treating Savanna, I had to appreciate being able to have this time with him.

Still, in the back of my mind, I worried about Savanna being so mad at me. I also had a problem with Ty being the shoulder she was going to cry on. Don’t get me wrong, I loved my cousin and his quirky ways, albeit he was Savanna’s first love, and that was hard to let go of. I’d be a fool if I didn’t worry about the two of them.

I didn’t have Miranda on my side when it came to my feelings about the two of them. Ever since the mess that Heather put them through, she’d been sure that he would never stray from their marriage. All I could do was hope that she was right.

I think I’d been on edge for so long that everything Ty said was just getting to me more than it ever had before. My relationship with Savanna felt different, somehow. Being away just wasn’t helping things in that department. It was hard, having to choose between your child and your wife, when they both seemed to need me equally.

When we were just about finished eating, the limousine driver came in and said that Zeke had requested that he bring us to where he was shooting his new music video. He said that Noah’s surprise was going to be there, so naturally, Noah got all excited.

We paid for our food and got back in the limousine to start on a long drive. Our destination was not what I would have pictured for a music video being shot. It was located at a dilapidated house. Outside of the house, several work vans were parked with media logos printed on the sides. A few people stood on the porch talking to one another.

When Zeke didn’t come outside, we started to walk in to look for him. This crazy women, probably in her late fifties, came running toward Noah. She grabbed him by the arm and started pulling him further inside of the house. “It’s about time you got here. We’ve been waiting thirty minutes to get this scene in. Time is money, child.”

I grabbed his other arm, causing them to stop. “Just hold on a minute, lady. Who are you and what the heck are you talkin’ about?”

She shook her head, like she was dealing with a couple of idiots. “The video, of course…”

“I think I can explain.” Zeke came out of a room. He was wearing jeans, for a change. His hair was more tame and his shirt covered up almost all of his tattoos. “This is Ramona. She’s my manager. Just ignore her forwardness. Anywhoo, I brought you guys here today to give Noah a big surprise.” He looked down at Noah. “How would you like to be in my rock video?”

While my son jumped up and down like a monkey, I crossed my arms over my chest. “We need to talk. In private! Now!” There was no way in hell this guy was going to do something so bold without mine and Savanna’s written permission. This wasn’t a surprise for Noah, at all. He was exposing him to something that I wasn’t about to be okay with.