Betting on Beaumont: A Brooklyn Novel #3 (The Brooklyn Series) (22 page)

Snatching the revolver from her hand…the last thing I need is her having a contraction and shooting herself in the damn foot or one of us by accident. I shove it into the back of my pants. I wrap my arm around her waist while she drapes her arm across my shoulder. “I need you to try and walk, okay?”

Savannah nods her head yes, but before we can even begin to move, Kayden suddenly slips on the muddy grass, losing his balance.

You hear people tell stories about moments like this where it feels as if time is moving at a snail’s pace. No matter how hard you try to get your body to work and react, it’s frozen in place as fear takes over. All you can do is stand there and watch as events unfold before your eyes.

That is me at this moment. I have Savannah in my arms, ready to give birth to two babies. Kayden stands before a psychopath, weaponless and vulnerable, as he finds himself struggling to keep his footing due to the heavy rain.

I try to find my voice to scream at Jax to do something, but the words become lodged in my throat as nothing comes out. My screams mix with Savannah’s as we watch frozen from shock at what we are watching unfold before our very eyes, as Zak uses this moment to dive toward his gun lying on the ground a few feet away. Rolling onto his back, he points the gun up at Kayden.

Savannah screams, “Kayden!” as gun shots ring out loud and deafening as they echo throughout the dark, storming night.

Kayden falls back onto the wet ground as water splashes up all around him. At the same time, Zak’s body goes lifeless as blood pours out of his skull, and he falls back into the mud.

Jax shoves his gun in his holster and runs toward Kayden. The sound of sirens behind me grows louder, as the police cars approach the house driving up the long, winding driveway. The second Jax reaches Kayden’s side, Savannah falls to her knees crying out for Kayden. I fall to the ground beside her, wrapping my arms around her shoulder’s just as I feel her body grow lifeless as she faints in my arms.

-Brooklyn

Tossing my now dead phone onto the stand beside my chair, I sink down into the plastic covered seat and close my eyes. I have yet to go to sleep, but with everything that has happened in the last several hours, sleep has been the furthest thing from my mind.

The sound of hospital room doors opening, followed by the sound of boots stomping across the tile floor at a rapid pace, causes my eyes to snap open.

“Brooklyn!” I turn my head at the sound of Dixon’s voice calling my name. He looks how I feel—exhausted. His hair is hidden under a ball cap, his eyes look tired, and his shoulders are slumped as he runs across the waiting room toward me.

Jumping to my feet, I gladly welcome his strong arms as they wrap around me and pull me tightly into his chest. I bury my face into his abdomen and inhale the comforting scent that is my husband. Fatigue is weighing down as it’s now creeping from night into morning. The rising sun is beginning to shine through the wall of glass windows glowing behind Dixon’s body. Tilting my head, up I take in his face which looks as exhausted as I feel. He has bags under his eyes and his lids look heavy as he stares down at me with a face filled with worry.

“Fuck, baby. I’m so happy you’re okay. I’ve never been so scared in my entire life.” His voice cracks as his hands move to cup my face.

I try to force a smile and show him that everything’s okay. I’m still slightly shaken by everything that has happened, but Zak’s gone. He can never bring harm to any of us ever again.

For that I am thankful.

“Kayden and Jax did everything they could to keep us safe. Zak didn’t go down without a fight, though. For a moment, I thought we lost Kayden—God, poor Savannah— she was in labor and watching Kayden and Zak fighting in the pouring rain. We heard shots fired and saw both Kayden and Zak go down. For a moment, we thought Kayden had been hit. But thankfully he was wearing a vest. Savannah ended up fainting in my arms. It was terrifying, but the EMT’s had arrived and rushed to her side. I know it makes me sound like a bad person…but I’m happy he’s dead.”

Gripping my face tighter, I watch as Dixon’s jaw ticks as he tries to control the emotions coursing through his body. I understand completely how he’s feeling because my head is all over the place too. I don’t know whether to be angry, relieved, sad, or maybe a mixture of all of them. So much has happened in such a short amount of time. Tragedy and miracles, all in a matter of hours.

“Never feel guilty for that, Brooklyn. That man got what was coming to him. If I was in Kayden’s and Jax’s shoes, I would’ve done the same exact thing. I’m just sorry that I wasn’t here to keep you safe. The entire ride all I heard on the radio was the breaking news about Zak. It only made me want to get here faster, but of course with all the flooding and closed roads, a six-hour drive took me almost ten. I’m just relieved I made it here and everyone’s alright. How’s Savannah doing, by the way? She have the babies yet?”

My body instantly relaxes as I think about the two little angels sleeping in Savannah’s room. “She had Colton at 1:52 a.m. and then Brayden not long after at 2:08. They are so freaking cute. I can’t wait to snuggle them as soon as visiting hours open. But first things first, I need to get home, and shower, and get a few hours of sleep. I feel like a damn zombie right now.”

Letting out a low chuckle, Dixon tilts my head up toward his and brushes his lips softly against mine. My toes curl in my sandals, and my heart flutters in my chest, as my fingers clench his flannel shirt. I’ve missed this man something fierce, and after the horrific events I just lived through several hours ago, being in his arms is exactly what I needed to feel safe and secure again.

Breaking his lips away from mine, he smiles down at me before placing his hand in mine. “A long hot shower followed by a few hours of sleep with you wrapped in my arms sounds like heaven right about now.”

“Of course after I get my beauty sleep, I need some Dixie stick with a side of strong coffee to help wake me up,” I tell him as I pick up my phone and slip it into the back pocket of my jeans.

Dixon flashes me a devilishly sexy smile and practically drags me out of the hospital and down to the rental car parked outside. Within seconds we’re maneuvering our way through detours to Knox hotel. The storm clouds have blown away, and in its place are now blue skies and sunshine. You’d never know that a heavily destructive storm had just blown threw if you only looked up at the sky.

With Dixon being here with me, it feels like the warm sunshine reappearing after a night of darkness and destruction, pushing away the dark and scary and replacing it with a sense of calm and rejuvenation. Slowly things will go back to normal, and life can become amazing once again.

Zak is finally out of our lives for good. For the first time since he began wreaking havoc on our lives, we can finally say that we are free of him and able to move on with our lives.

Savannah and Kayden have two beautiful babies now who are healthy and perfect in every way. Zak tried to take their happiness away but failed. Because their love has proven time and time again that it really can conquer all. As I sit here beside Dixon with our fingers laced together as we listen to the radio playing low, I feel a sense of peace settle inside of my chest. Dixon slowly over the last fourteen months has become my everything. A small part of me was terrified that Dixon would break my heart and let me down. But over and over again he surprises me and loves me more each day than he did the day before. I feel it deep in my heart that like Savannah and Kayden, I have found my soul mate. Together we can conquer anything.

It’s hard to believe that another year has come and gone again. But what a year it has been! My role
on As the Days go By
has been a huge success, even earning me a Daytime Emmy this past June!

Finally, after years of small acting roles here and there in movies as a stunt double, and then my roles in some small time movie projects, I’m finally getting my big break!

After years of pouring my heart and soul into acting and praying that it’d pay off, I’m finally getting my big movie break!

That’s why I’m here tonight with all my friends and Dixon. So I can give them the amazing news. It’s been extremely hard keeping it a secret. I’ve wanted to shout it from the roof tops since I got the call from my agent. It was nice to be able to get together with our friends today. We went down to Kemah boardwalk and had dinner at the Aquarium restaurant before riding the attractions. The funniest thing ever was dragging Dixon onto the Flare rollercoaster and listening to him screaming like a damn girl beside me. Big bad tough Dixon, terrified of rollercoasters. The man climbs big ass skyscrapers as they build them for Christ’s sake, but hates rollercoasters.

Of course, we couldn’t end the evening on the boardwalk without the tradition of tormenting Braxton with our stuffed bears the fellas won us.

The most amazing part of it all was all of us being able to be together and not have one single person ask us about Zak. Of course,  a few Houston Texan fans stopped us and asked for photographs with Braxton and his autograph. But other than that, we were able to be normal couples, at a boardwalk enjoying a Saturday night together.

For a while we were all hounded by the press with everyone wanting to know about the entire Zak ordeal. It finally seems as if the buzz over it all is dying down as the world turns its focus onto the next tragedy or celebrity scandal. It’s been almost a year since Zak’s escape and death. Slowly, we’ve all went back to our normal lives and found our own ways to cope with the tragic events from that night.

One major factor in all of this has been Colton and Brayden. I’m the proudest Auntie on the planet, and know without a doubt being able to focus all of our attention on those two little baby boys has helped all of us move past the nightmare  Zak created.

With all the media attention we got, my career took a big turn. I guess that saying— good or bad publicity, it’s still publicity—is true because my fan following quadrupled after the news broke. My Instagram, Twitter, and my Facebook pages I created when I landed my role on
As the Days go By
has almost a million likes now in just over a year. It’s mindboggling.

We’re ending our evening here at Big Texas, our favorite honky tonk in Houston. It’s the perfect place to hang out when we want to come have some drinks and do some line-dancing and just unwind. We still go out to Vertigo at least once a month, but now that we’re settled down and Savannah has the twins, and Mya and Braxton have a baby girl, Delia; that stage of our lives is behind us. Instead of every weekend partying until the sun comes out, we’d rather chill in the backyard by the pool, grilling out, and drinking amongst friends.

It’s crazy looking at how our lives have changed over the course of three years. Over those three years we’ve had our trials and tribulations—enough to last us ten life times. But every single moment has brought us to where we are today. Stronger and closer than ever.

This is why I wanted everyone together tonight when I announce my first major movie role. Not just a part in a major movie…the leading lady of the movie!

I’m going to be on a freaking movie poster!

Like holy shit, guys!

This is really happening.

I’ve literally pinched myself probably ten times since I got the phone call!

This is the moment I’ve dreamt about since I was six-years-old and my parents’ bought me a poster of Patrick Swayze for my bedroom wall along with the VHS of Dirty Dancing. I swear I watched that movie with Savannah probably a million times.

Since the moment I watched it and saw that iconic dance scene, I’ve wanted to be in a movie like that.

A classic that people would talk about for years to come and still say twenty years later say that it’s one of their all-time favorite movies.

I went for my first audition two weeks ago, and then was called back last week to screen test with the male actor they cast as the leading male role. They wanted to see if I had chemistry with the actor. I thought it went really well. Dixon got to stand off screen and watch me audition for my second call back last week. He reluctantly admitted that Ashton and I acted well together. That’s a lot coming from my alpha hubby who hates the fact that I have to make out with men for a living. Finally, today the call came I was waiting so eagerly for. 

I got the role!

And the craziest part is, it’s a movie about Elvis Presley and the love story between him and Priscilla.

How ironic is that?!

I’m officially going to be the lead actress playing Priscilla Presley alongside the hottest movie star on the planet, Ashton Ryker, who’s been cast as Elvis Presley.

Every woman in America and around the world is going to wish they were me.

I’m going to be so nervous that first day on set. I just pray I don’t barf or worse, forget my damn lines.

The director, when he met me, got a good kick out of my wedding story with Dixon. My agent thought that would be pretty comedic, having me playing Priscilla after being wed in a chapel in Las Vegas, by an Elvis impersonator.

We’ll be flying to L.A. to film on set and then down to Memphis, TN to film on location. Since Savannah and Kayden finished building their home by her parents’ in Memphis, I’ll be staying there instead of stuck in a hotel for weeks on end. It’s going to be hard being away for such long periods of time, but Dixon is going to fly out to stay with me on the weekends, and while in Memphis he’s going to be taking some vacation time to stay with me.

I’m beyond lucky to have such a supportive husband who is willing to sacrifice so much to support my dreams.

We’ve talked about having a baby ever since Savannah and Kayden had the twins. I promised him as soon as I finish up this movie, I’ll take some time off from acting so we can try for a family. I can’t wait to bring a little baby into this world that is part me and part Dixon. Until then, though, I get all my baby loving time in when I’m in town and able to spoil the twins. Since Savannah has her hands full raising twin Knox babies, who are now one and on the move; she’s more than willing to let me help her out when I’m back home in Texas.

After ordering a round of drinks we all gather around the small wooden tables we pushed together. Holding my shot glass up in the air, I try to fight back the smile threatening to burst across my lips as I take in my amazing group of friends around the table.