Love Comes Softly (A Criss Angel Love Story)

~7~

I finally pulled up into Stoney's driveway...and was greeted by his huge Bullmastiff named Monster...ever since I have known Stoney...he's had a strange addiction for Godzilla...he said he would have named his dog that...but it was too much of a name for a dog...so he named him Monster instead. I gave the massive dog a few pats...then asked him if his daddy was home. Monster barked twice very loudly as he was beating me to death with that huge log he had for a tail. I saw Stoney thru the basement window hollering at him to shut the hell up and get inside...Monster flew thru his dog door and was in the basement beside him almost instantly.

I went thru the back door and slid down his railing that led to his toy room...where all his musical shit was packed everywhere...as soon as you would walk into his man cave...it was like walking into some alien station with all his funky gizmos and gadgets. I grabbed an empty beer can and tossed it at him...and told him to answer his damned phone every now and then...because him ignoring me was beginning to piss me off. Klayton pulled off his headphones and unplugged his guitar...and came over to me and put me in a massive bear hug...and asked me what in the hell I wanted this time.

I asked him about his work...then asked him how he was fairing after the harsh split up he had from Abby...but Stoney just gave me a loud and obnoxious burp...and simply said another one bites the dust...and that he was over it...and quite happy being a single guy again. Then I let him ask me a few questions about how my mom was...because he loved her like his own...then asked how my sons' visit was...I told him that Shaunyl gave him up...and I was his soul guardian now 24/7...Stoney told me how great that was...then gave me his devilish look and asked me how the Beli-Bitch was handling that...Klayton really hated her Spanish/Latino ass. So when I told him that as soon as I told her about Johnny...she left my ass...he put both of his hands together and said thank goodness for small mercies.

Then I decided the moment of truth...I asked him why he never told me that he had a sister...Klayton dropped everything he had in his hands and looked at me with a very angry expression...and told me not to invade his mind...I told him that I didn't...and just wanted to know why he never mentioned her. Klayton spun around and for a moment I thought he was going to knock my ass out...but he slammed his fists into the bar instead...and said what was there to tell about her...he loved her then she got sick and she died when she was 6 years old...and he was 13...and his little brother Daniel was 11 at the time.

I didn't believe it Nathaniel and Laura carried the secret of his sister...to their graves...when they both were killed in a car wreck when Klayton was 16 years old. I walked over to him and said I really hated to say this...but his sister didn't die when she was 6 years old...that his parents put her into a special clinic and gave her up...because they didn't know how...or want to take care of her...and that I recently met her...while taking Johnny to the Reno Clinic for his cancer treatment...and she was very sick...but alive...and really wanting her family...but I didn't tell her about him...not yet...because I wanted to make sure my hunch was correct first...Klayton looked at me and asked me how in the hell I knew she was his sister.

I looked at him and said for one, she looks a hell of a lot like him...and for two I read the files...and as soon as I saw his parents signatures on the forms...I knew it was true. After a long moment of silence, Stoney turned around to face me and told me he had to see her...I shook my head in approvement...but stopped him abruptly and asked him if he knew what his sister had wrong with her...he shook his head no...but then he added that he didn't care...for all that time his fucking parents let him believe that his baby sister was dead...and she was alive all this time in some fucking clinic only seven hours away from him!!...he could have had all that time with her! My old buddy was one highly pissed off musician. He quickly grabbed his jacket and told me to take him to that place so he could see her. Then he grabbed my phone and dialed a number and called his brother Danny and told him that he just found out that their lil sister didn't die...all that long ago...and he was heading over to Reno right now to go and see her. Danny asked him very shocked...and asked if he was drunk and playing some kind of joke on him...or maybe he found where her grave was...and wanted to set flowers on it or something. Danny said he wanted him to send some pictures of her...and he wished like hell he could make it down there to see her...but he was in Tokyo right now in the middle of his Tour with his group LVL.

Klayton lowered his voice to his little brother and said that their parents fucking lied to them both about their sister...and they took the secret to their grave...because Criss found her...and he was going there right now to see her...that she was alive!...Criss had a few tears when Klayton got off the phone...and told him what his sister had...and that she was very bad off...and according to all the doctors there was nothing more they could do for her...that her condition was terminal. Klayton tried to hand me my phone but it dropped when he heard me say that...he wanted to know everything I knew about this virus shit that she had...so during the long drive back to Reno...I told him everything about the virus I knew from what the doctor and nurses told me...along with the other illnesses she had along with it...by the time we made it to Reno again...Klayton was crying...I have known Stoney since I was 11 years old...and he was 14...and not one time have I ever seen my blood brother cry...which was how I gave him the nickname Stoney...because he was such a badass...and tougher than nails...and twice as sharp.