Chapter 2
Kyra woke up to an empty room and complete silence. The door to the living area was still open, as was the door to the smaller bedroom. After a look at the clock on the wall, it was evident why. It was five am and she was never awake that early. Kyra and mornings did not mesh. Because she usually slept in, Brock would spend his mornings putting himself through what Kyra considered a torturous workout regimen, although it did result in a spectacular set of muscles. Which she was not going to think about. It was Brock.
Kyra closed her eyes and flopped over in the bed. She did not want to be awake. She was tired, hungry and frustrated, and all she wanted to do was sleep through the next month and forget the rest of the world even existed. Especially Richard.
Unfortunately, after about twenty minutes of tossing and turning, Kyra got up and forced herself toward the shower. If she couldn’t sleep she might as well find herself some food, but she couldn’t just leave her room looking like the hot mess she was. She was a celebrity, so she constantly felt pressure to always appear put together. It didn’t help that she was at the Ranch to perform, and she really hoped it was early enough that she could avoid anyone who might recognize her.
A quick shower was enough to make her feel like she could get herself together. She threw her long blonde hair up into a ponytail and quickly brushed a little bit of make-up on her face. It was just barely good enough, but she was just going to let good enough be what it was. A sparkly American flag t-shirt and her favorite worn denim shorts with sparkly sequins on the pockets paired with some white flip flops and she was ready to find some food.
The design of the Ranch lodge was super easy to navigate and everything she wanted seemed to be in one central area. The restaurants weren’t open at such an early hour, and after peeking into the cafeteria, she decided it wasn’t a place she wanted to be with how she was feeling. Finally, she found the café. It was perfect, and it even had tables out on the porch where she could take her blueberry scone and iced latte. She settled into a rocking chair as far away from the door as she could get and finally felt like she could breathe.
July in Montana was really hot, but at this hour with the overhead fans moving the air around, it was a beautiful morning. The air smelled like fresh-cut hay, and she closed her eyes and rocked herself for a few minutes, taking it all in.
It helped. When she opened her eyes, she pulled out her phone and called her twin sister, Kierra.
“What are you doing up before ten? Is everything okay?” Kierra skipped the niceties and went straight for the matter at hand. “I’ve felt sick all night; I should have known something was wrong with you because we always feel sick when either of us is in trouble and there’s obviously trouble, so tell me what’s wrong?”
Kyra rolled her eyes and couldn’t stop from giggling. “Take a breath, KeeKee, you’re gonna hurt yourself.”
Kierra took an audible breath and stayed silent. Kyra knew she was waiting for her to drop the news. As much as she didn’t want to talk about what had happened, she had to at least tell her sister.
“Richard is cheating on me.”
“I told you he was scum. Didn’t I tell you? You should really learn to listen to your elders.”
“You’re only older by three minutes!” Kyra yelled, finding comfort in their most consistent argument. Kierra always pulled the older and wiser card when it suited her.
“Doesn’t change the fact that I told you.” Kierra sighed. “I’m not going to ask if you’re okay, I already know you’re not. What happened?”
Kyra rocked in the chair and regaled her sister with the entire sordid story.
“Wait, so he has no idea that you know, then?”
The thought hadn’t occurred to her before and she didn’t know why, but she felt a surge of power zing through her body. She knew what he was doing, and he still thought she was oblivious. That was enough to make her grin.
“No, I guess he doesn’t.”
“Are you going to tell him you know?” Kierra’s tone was skeptical, like she wasn’t really sure what to expect the answer to be.
“I don’t really know what I’m going to do, yet,” Kyra admitted.
Richard wasn’t only her boyfriend/Daddy, but he was her manager. He controlled every single aspect of her life, and she really didn’t know how to survive in the world or in her business without him. Was she going to have to walk away from everything just because he was a cheating bastard who couldn’t keep his dick in his pants? As unfair as that seemed, it was the reality she was facing. He was even on her bank accounts. How could she have let all of this happen?
Gloom began to settle over her, but she pushed it away. She didn’t have time to wallow in self-pity. She needed to be strong and figure out the next steps to taking back her life, whatever that looked like.
“Are you still coming to the Ranch for my show?” Kyra abruptly changed the subject.
“You know I am. I haven’t been able to see you perform for way too long and you’re basically in my backyard.”
“Okay, I gotta go, but I’ll see you in a couple days.”
“Wait, you have Rocky with you right?”
Kyra giggled. “You know he hates when you call him that.”
“I know,” Kierra snickered. “Which is why I call him that.”
“Anyway, yeah, he’s here.”