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“The judge thought we were gay,” Brant reminded him.
“And if we had been? Who cares! We wanted the best for a homeless little girl!”
“He thought we were perverts, too, apparently,” Brant said, checking out his hair as he passed by the gold-leafed mirror in the foyer.
“Too bad he never stopped to consider where those rumors were generated. If attorneys and paralegals frequented some of the same underground clubs we visited in Atlanta and Knoxville, one would think they wouldn’t have been so open to casting the first stone!”
“That’s over…” Brant allowed his voice to trail.
“We weren’t in the lifestyle then like we are now.”
“Psht! The hell we weren’t!”
“You know what I mean. It wasn’t like we were stepping out with collars on our subs.”
“True,” Brant said, grabbing an apple from the fruit bowl. “You about ready to go?”
“Ready when you are,” Colt said, grabbing his luggage. “Oh, hang on. I forgot something.” He disappeared upstairs and returned with a teddy bear.
“Cute,” Brant said. “Think she still sleeps with one of those at twenty-one?”
Colt looked at the stuffed toy and shrugged. “I just want her to have it. I need her to know we always thought of her, always cared about her.” A beat later, he said, “I wonder if she still has those sparkling blue eyes and big dimples.”
“I’m sure she’s still as pretty as a little doll,” Brant said. “It’s still so hard to believe how many years have passed. Princess just had her twenty-first birthday. How many years has it been since we’ve seen her?”
Colt felt that old familiar stabbing sensation in his chest. He swallowed once. “Let’s see, we met her when she was nine. She stayed in foster care a couple of years after the courts removed her from here. The Sterlings adopted her three days before her thirteenth birthday. I haven’t seen her since that day in court.”
Brant looked down at the floor. “I stopped by her high school when I visited my cousin in San Diego. I wanted to make sure she looked okay, like she was happy.”
“And you never told me?”
Brant kept his head bowed. “I know it was wrong. If anyone would’ve spotted me there someone would’ve freaked, but I couldn’t help it. I needed to see her smile. I wanted to be absolutely certain she was happy.”
“I just can’t believe you never mentioned it,” Colt said, feeling betrayed. “Did she?”
“What’s that?”
“Did she look happy?”
“Yeah, Colt. She did. I think the Sterlings gave her a really good life.”
Colt took a deep breath. “Wonder if she’ll be glad to see us?”
“I guess there’s only one way to find out,” Brant said, stalking the front door.
“You got that right!” Colt exclaimed. “Load up the truck. Let’s go see our Princess.”
* * * *
Downtown Bristol was hopping all afternoon. Race fans gathered in every bar, on every corner, and in many of the eating establishments. The restaurants were packed, so Colt and Brant made their way to a little bar on State Street after they’d walked around visiting various vendors.
After they stood in line, they were finally permitted entry, and it didn’t take them long to figure out why there was such a full house at this particular pub. Wall-to-wall people were whooping and hollering something fierce. Colt stretched his neck and said, “Something’s going on up at the front.”
Nudging through the layers of people, Brant led the way toward the commotion. “Look at that!”
Several blondes were dancing on the bar. One, in particular, caught Colt’s attention right off the bat. “Good God. What do they feed these girls in this part of Tennessee?”
With cut-off denim shorts and plaid halter tops tied in the front, the four gals dancing for the crowd were obviously putting on a show for free, but Colt wondered why they didn’t charge. With bodies like theirs, they could’ve easily danced their way into a whole bunch of money. His gaze worked over the bodies flaunted and held on one in particular.
