Bitter Taste

“It’s him again.” Jimmy grumbled as he came into the living room where his girlfriend sat watching one of their favorite movies.

Looking away from the screen, Cali sighed heavily and rolled her eyes. “Why didn’t you just hang it up like I told you to?”

“I did.” The drummer muttered, holding out the cordless handset. “The motherfucker called back four more times.”

“Jesus Christ.” Shaking her head, the dark haired young woman paused the movie and pressed the phone to her ear. “What, Chester?”

“Cali, baby, why are you dodging my calls?” The voice on the other end sounded the way it always did; helpless, desperate and drunk.

“Didn’t I tell you not to call me ‘baby’? I haven’t been your baby in over two years.” Signaling to Jimmy to not start the movie until she got back, Cali got up from the couch and headed out back with a cigarette.

“I know, I know. I’m sorry.”

“What do you want, Chester?”

“To talk. Just to talk.”

“You seem to want to do that a lot lately.” Lighting up, the heiress took a heavy drag of the Marlboro Red and sat herself in one of the chairs on the patio. “What is it this time? Is Talinda taking Tyler from you now?”

“No.”

“Did Samantha revoke your visits with Draven again?”

“No…”

“What about Elka?” Taking another deep drag, Cali watched the blue smoke curling around her fingers. “She decide you couldn’t see the boys either?”

“No Cali, it’s nothing like that.”

“Then what the fuck is it, Chaz? Because I’m a little busy at the moment.”

“You’re with him still.” Chester sounded angry. He always sounded angry before he started to rant about Jimmy. “When are you gonna wake up and realize that he’s not good enough for you?”

Cali snorted. “When are you gonna wake up and realize that these pathetic little attempts at getting me to come back to you are never gonna work? I love Jimmy. We’re getting married next month. End of it.”

“Are you pregnant?” The older man asked, knowing full well that bringing up Cali’s inability to bear children was a surefire way to piss her off.

“And if I am?” She snapped, feeling her anger start to rise. “At least I know I’m with someone who won’t run out and cheat on me while I’m at home taking care of our child.”

“You can’t even get pregnant.” Chester scoffed.

“Correction,” Cali stubbed out her cigarette and lit up a fresh one. “I can get pregnant. I just have to be extra careful when I do get pregnant.”

“You certainly weren’t careful when you got pregnant with our baby.”

Tensing, the dark haired heiress gripped the handset and fought not to start screaming in Italian. Taking a slow drag of her cigarette, she glared at the fence in front of her and growled, “It’s kind of hard to be careful when your fiancé is shoving two grams of coke up your nose twice a day.”

“Oh, here we go again.” She could practically hear him rolling his eyes. “Blame me for your drug problems.”

“I wouldn’t have had drug problems if I’d listened to my friends and stayed away from you.”

“But you don’t know how to listen, do you baby?” Chester snickered. “You certainly never listened to me.”

“That’s because fifty percent of the stuff that came out of your mouth was bullshit. The other half was lies.”

“Because you were so perfect?”

“Why are you calling me, Chester? We’ve had this fight twelve times in the last month. I’m getting a little tired of it.” Glancing over her shoulder when she heard the back door open, Cali tried to smile at Jimmy as he strolled into the backyard.

“I want to see you.” Chester murmured, sounding distracted.

“No way.” Cali shook her head.

“Please? Just for a little while. I’ll pay for the drinks.”

“No, Chester. The last time you wanted to meet up, you tried to get me to come home with you. It’s not happening.”

Cali watched as Jimmy stepped into view and shot a look at her. She rolled her eyes and gestured to the phone before sighing and getting up to head back inside. Chester was still rambling on the other end, but she couldn’t be bothered to listen to half of what he was saying.

“…please, Cali, come on. I promise I’ll behave this time.”

“How many times do I have to tell you that your promises mean nothing to me? Chaz,” Huffing, she sat down hard on one of the kitchen chairs and ran a hand through her hair. “You fucked up, all right? There’s no nice way for me to say it. You lied to me, got me hooked on your drugs, you verbally abused me any chance you got and you cheated on me more times than I can count. I don’t know what part of I’m done with you that you didn’t get the first fifty times around, so I’m going to say it slowly so you can understand. I. Am. Done. With. You.”

Chester was silent for a long time. Of course, thirty seconds was a long time for that man to keep his mouth shut. After a while, Cali heard him take a slow, shuddery intake of breath and try not to sob it out.

“Why… why does everything I love… everything I put my life into… why does it always blow up in my face?” He choked, sounding worse than she’d ever heard him.

Despite the guilt pooling in her belly, Cali couldn’t help feeling somewhat triumphant.

“I can’t… Cali, I can’t go on like this. My sons hate me, their mothers hate me, you hate me. Most of my friends don’t give a damn about me anymore. What the hell do I have left? The band? My money? None of that means anything if I don’t have someone to share it with.” The older man broke then, sobbing wholeheartedly into the phone.

Frowning, the heiress felt all of the triumph draining out of her as the guilt took over and left her feeling ashamed. She knew she was going to regret the words that were about to come out of her mouth. “Chaz… don’t… don’t cry. I… ugh… I’ll meet you for a drink, okay? If that will really make you feel better, I can be at Johnny’s in fifteen minutes.”

He sniffled on the other end for a minute or so. “R-really?”

Looking outside to where Jimmy was aimlessly pacing around the backyard, she sighed and nodded. “Yeah. But I can’t stay long, okay?”

“Okay. Okay, that’s fine.” She could hear him rustling around on the other end and heard the distinct sound of his keys jingling. “You said Johnny’s?”

“Mmhmm… that little place I showed you a while back.”

“All right. Thank you, Cali. Thank you so much.”

“Uh-huh. I’ll be there soon, Chester.” Without bothering to say goodbye, Cali hung up the phone and ran a hand through her hair. She knew Jimmy was not going to be happy about this. Getting up from the table, she slowly headed out back and slipped her arms around her fiancé’s slim waist. “Jim…”

Turning, the drummer raised an eyebrow and frowned. “Oh no…”

“I’m going to meet him for one drink and then I’m coming home. I promise.”

“Babe,” Jimmy sighed and rubbed his hands over his face. “What if he tries something again?”

“I’ll bring the taser you and Brian bought me for Christmas.” The heiress smirked, but Jimmy’s face remained serious. Rubbing her palm over his belly as reassuringly as she could, Cali stood on her toes to kiss him. “I love you, Jim, and you know I wouldn’t go to see him if I didn’t have a reason.”

“What’s the reason this time?” Breaking away from his girlfriend, the older man picked up his pack of cigarettes to light one up. “Did he threaten to kill himself again?”

“No.”

Eyeing her, Jimmy snorted. “He guilt tripped you. I can see it all over your face.”

“He started crying, Jim. The last time I heard him cry like that, he’d just lost custody of Draven.”

“Man like that doesn’t deserve his kids.”

“Chester isn’t a bad father, Jimmy. He’s just a bad everything else.”

“I don’t like him and I don’t trust you around him.”

“You don’t trust me?” Cali stared, folding her arms over her chest.

Shaking his head, Jimmy waved a hand at her. “That’s not what I meant. I meant that I don’t trust him when you two are together. Especially when you’re alone.”

“Look,” Cali huffed, wishing she didn’t feel this sudden burst of anger towards her fiancé. “I’ll be gone for an hour, maybe an hour and a half. We’re just going to Johnny’s, so it’s not like nobody knows me in the place. There will not be a repeat of last time, I can promise you that.”

“I want to go with you.”

“Jimmy, no.”

“Why the hell not?” The drummer scowled, almost pouting at her.

“Because Chester will flip his shit if I bring you, that’s why.” Shaking her head, the younger woman came over to plant a kiss on his cheek and stole the car keys hanging from his belt. “I’m taking these with me. You don’t need to follow me.”

“Fine.” Jimmy muttered, flicking his cigarette to the ground. “But I’m going to time you. If you’re not back in an hour and a half, I’m sending Matt down there to bring you home.”

“Why Matt?”

“Because he’s bigger than that shithead and he’ll pound his little ass into the pavement.”

Cali couldn’t keep from giggling as she hugged him tight and kissed him again. “I love you, you know that? You’re so damn protective of me.”

“Yeah well, after what that asshole put you through, I feel the need to be protective.” Bowing his head, the drummer pressed a soft kiss to her mouth and sighed. “Go. Before I change my mind and duct tape you to the couch.”

Laughing, the younger woman shook her head and patted his chest. “You are something else, Jim.”

“I know.” He grinned and let her go, watching as she walked back into the house. He sighed when the door shut behind her. The last thing he wanted to do was let her see that asshole ex of hers, but once Cali’s mind was made up, it was a little hard to change it. Looking to the keys to his van that he’d stolen back from her when they hugged, he chewed his lip in thought before tossing them up and snatching them out of the air. “Like hell I’m gonna just sit here and wait for you to come home.”

X+X+X+X

Cali sighed when she walked into the bar, smiling and waving to the bartender and a few patrons she recognized. She spotted Chester in one of the darkest corner booths and almost rolled her eyes as she strolled over and sat down.

“Hi.” She muttered, watching him lift his head. It was obvious he was using again. While he’d gotten fit while he was married to Talinda, he hardly even looked healthy now. His skin seemed to stick to his skull, hallowing out his cheeks and eyes, and he looked tired and jazzed up all at the same time. Plus, the dilated pupils kind of gave him away. “How much have you done?”

“Don’t know what you’re talking about.” He sniffed, taking a drink of his beer. His watery brown eyes looked her over as he leaned back in his seat and smirked. “You look good.”

“You say that every time you see me.”

“I haven’t seen you in over six months. That’s plenty of time for you to let yourself go.”

Narrowing her eyes at him, Cali muttered under her breath and fiddled with her purse.

“You can go ahead and order a drink.” Chester slurred, finishing off his pint. “I told the dude behind the counter that whatever you wanted was on me tonight.”

“I told you that I can’t stay long, Chaz. Just one drink and I’m out of here.” Cali reminded him, moving to get up and order a beer. Leaning against the counter, she glanced back at him, not surprised to find him staring at her ass. For a man who’d fed her enough coke to keep her well below a hundred pounds at all times, the man certainly seemed to enjoy the way her body had filled back out after rehab.

Taking the pint she’d ordered and leaving a tip for the bartender, the young woman walked back over to the booth and sat down.

“Well, at least I know you’re not actually pregnant.” The older man grumbled, picking at his cuticles.

“Shut the fuck up, Chester. I didn’t come out here so you could satisfy your suspicions about my personal life.”

“So why did you come out here?” He raised an eyebrow, fixing her with an almost curious look. “Can’t be because you wanted to.”

“I didn’t want to. You’re right about that.” Sucking down some of her Guinness, Cali kept her eyes elsewhere and shrugged. “I just don’t like listening to a grown man cry like a little bitch.”

“You still care for me.” He smirked.

Rolling her eyes, the heiress sighed heavily. “Despite your thousands upon thousands of flaws and fuck ups, it would seem that I do care on some level. Part of being human, I suppose.”

“For someone who prides themselves on being a frigid cunt, you’re awfully soft sometimes.”

“Shut up.” Glaring at the brunet, Cali took another drink. “I’m only here because I don’t want to be the one responsible if you kill yourself.”

“Nobody said I was going to kill myself.” Chester shrugged, still picking his cuticles. “But it’s sweet that you’d come out here just to keep me from doing that.”

“Try not to read too much into that. You know damn well I have better things I could be doing than sitting here with you. But hey, I can’t say no to free beer.” Smirking, the heiress shrugged a shoulder and looked around again, jerking when Chester reached across the table and took her hand in his. His fingers were cold and bony as they clutched hers and try as she might, she couldn’t shake him off. “Let go, Chaz.”

“Just hear me out, okay?” He begged, his brown eyes wide and pathetic. “I miss you, Cali. I miss everything we used to have. You’re the only person who never ran away from me, no matter what I did to you. You stayed with me for so long before you came back to Huntington.”

“Uh huh.” Cali tried to pull her hand away from him, but he only clutched it tighter.

“You changed when you came here. As soon as you met up with that group of guys, you acted like I didn’t exist anymore. You broke my heart, Cali. You really did. And I’m sure I deserved it at some point, but come on. Don’t you ever think about what might’ve happened if you’d never come here? If you’d never left me?”

“I know exactly what would have happened, Chester.” Cali snapped, finally managing to yank her hand out of his grasp. “You would have kept on cheating on me and belittling me and cramming drugs up my nose. I would have died if I had stayed with you.”

“But you loved me! Remember when I told you about Talinda, how you begged me not to be with her? You were literally on your hands and knees trying to make me stay.”

“And if I recall correctly, you slapped me across the face and told me I would never be the woman that she was. Then you walked out and left me in the apartment.” Finishing off her pint, Cali signaled to the bartender to bring her another one. She knew she would have to drive soon, but home wasn’t too far off and she could drive the roads with her eyes shut if she had to.

“I’ve apologized a thousand times, Cali. I don’t know what more you want from me.”

Looking over at the older man, the heiress studied the almost desperate look on his gaunt face. She couldn’t help thinking that this wasn’t the man that she’d spent so many years of her life worshipping. He’d seemingly vanished without a trace and left behind this withered shell of a man. Chester hadn’t always been this way. He’d once been fun and lovable and caring. He looked so old now, much older than his thirty-two years. She could remember a time when he looked younger than any other man his age. But that was before the drugs, before the other women, before he’d beaten her into submission for the last time. As she eyed him, she couldn’t even see a trace of who he’d been before. The old Chester was dead and there just wasn’t any way to bring him back.

“What are you thinking about?” The older man asked, startling her.

Taking the pint that had just been brought to the table, Cali took in a deep breath and shrugged. “Nothing much, really.”

“Cali,” He reached for her hand again and jerked back when she swatted him. “What the hell?”

“Don’t touch me.” Taking a final sip of her beer, the younger woman moved to get up from the booth, growling under her breath when he took hold of her sleeve. “Chester Charles Bennington, get your fucking hand off me.”

“Don’t leave. Not yet. Please.” He whined, trying to get her to sit back down. “We have so much to talk about, Cali baby. Please…”

“You wanna talk? Fine. We can talk. Let’s talk about how fucking selfish you are. Let’s talk about how you’ll never learn how to love someone other than yourself. Let’s talk about how lucky I was to get away from you when I did. Jesus fucking Christ Chester, no wonder everyone fucking leaves you! You’re nothing but a big disappointment, you know that? I used to think we’d spend the rest of our lives together and you broke that for me.”

The older man stared back at her, his mouth moving soundlessly as he tried to find something to say. The moment he found his voice, Cali cut him off again.

“I loved you. I honestly did. I did things that no person should ever have to do because I loved you so fucking much and where did it get me? Nowhere. I wasted so many precious years of my life chasing after you only to have you dump me off like I was nothing.”

“Cali—”

“Shut up! Just shut the fuck up, Chester. I’m fucking happy now and there isn’t a Goddamn thing you can say or do to make me come crawling back, okay? I finally got you out of my system, Chester. I don’t need you to live anymore. I have Jimmy and he’s better for me than you ever were. I’ve said what I wanted to say. We’re done. No more bullshit. This conversation is over!” Finally getting out of the booth, Cali tossed her long hair over her shoulder and stormed towards the door while the entire bar erupted in deafening cheers and laughter around her.

Once outside, she took in a deep breath and shook her hands out, trying to stem the urge to run back inside and deck the older man. Digging in her purse for her keys, she headed over to where she’d parked the car and grunted when a set of hands grabbed her by the back of her jacket and slammed her against the door.

“You bitch! You fucking bitch! I poured my fucking heart out to you! I loved you! And this is how you fucking repay me? By humiliating me in front of all of those people?!” Chester was screaming in her ear, his hands gripping her to pull her back and slam her against the door again. “You stupid, useless little whore!”

Struggling to get free, Cali shouted out when he grabbed her by the hair and yanked her head back, sealing his mouth over hers. The foul taste of his tongue invaded her mouth, bitter with the taste of cocaine drips and beer. Screaming, she bit down on his tongue and saw stars explode in front of her eyes when he bashed her head against the window of her Mustang.

Taking in another breath to scream again, Cali felt the weight of Chester’s body being lifted off of her and looked up just in time to see the brunet get thrown into a parked car some ten feet away. Jimmy stood in front of her, body heaving with every harsh breath he took, both of his hands fisted at his sides. He was beyond pissed off. She could practically see electricity crackling off of him as he stormed towards Chester and lifted him off the ground by the front of his shirt.

“You sorry sonofabitch…” The drummer’s voice was ice cold, his eyes narrowed and fierce. “If you ever set foot in Huntington again, I will fucking kill you, do you understand?”

Chester responded with a string of expletives and attempted to punch the younger man in the face. Jimmy caught his fist in one hand and twisted until the bone snapped and the older man screamed in pain. Cali knew Chester had broken that same wrist earlier this year and the bones were still healing. She watched as Jimmy half dragged the whimpering man over to where the trash bins were and tossed him against one of them.

Grasping his injured hand, Chester stared at it and whimpered hysterically. He paid almost no mind to the drummer who was still standing over him with that dark look in his eye. Glancing up, the older man started to say something when Jimmy cut him off.

“Don’t call my fiancée anymore. Don’t try to visit her. Don’t even breathe in her direction, or I’m gonna break more than just your wrist, do you understand?” Jimmy sounded much calmer than he looked and Cali knew it was taking everything he had to keep from bashing Chester’s head against the trash bin until his skull cracked. “Do you understand?!”

“…y-yes.” Chester whined, swallowing hard.

“Good. Get the fuck out of my town before I call my boys to come take care of you.” Spitting on the older man, Jimmy turned and walked back over to Cali. Crouching down, he pulled her into his arms and helped her up, inspecting her for any serious damage. Her face was a little bruised from where it’d struck the car, but other than that, she just looked shaken up. Sighing, he wrapped both arms around her and hugged her hard.

“Jim,” Cali pushed against his chest and he eased up a fraction.

“Before you get mad at me for following you, hear me out.” He murmured into her hair, rubbing his big hands along her back.

“Who said I was gonna get mad?” Pulling back enough to look at him, the younger woman frowned. “If anything, I’m happy you followed me. He took me by surprise. I would’ve had no chance against him.”

“Yeah, well if I hadn’t taken back my keys…” Jimmy trailed off and sighed, bowing his head to rest it against hers. “No more of this. Please. I can’t bear to think of what might’ve happened if I hadn’t showed up in time.”

“Someone would have stopped him. Eventually.” Cali sighed a little and reached up to trail a fingertip over Jimmy’s bottom lip, smiling lightly. “You have nothing to worry about either because I never plan on seeing him ever again. Just wait until Brad finds out about this. He’s gonna beat him senseless.”

“That skinny ass excuse for a man?” Jimmy raised an eyebrow. “He doesn’t look like he could beat up wet cardboard.”

“Be nice.” Cali growled, playfully pushing him. “Brad’s just about your size, you know. And you whooped Chester pretty good.”

“He put his hands on my woman. Of course I was gonna beat his ass.” Smirking, Jimmy leaned in and kissed her, pulling back as he made a face. “Ugh…”

“What?” The heiress frowned.

“You taste like… ugh.”

“Blame him.” Cali pointed to where Chester had been resting against the trash bins.

“I know. I saw him kiss you. That’s what really pissed me off. I was already gonna kill him for putting his hands on you like he did. That only added fuel to the fire.”

Snickering, Cali cupped Jimmy’s face in her hands and brought him in for a slow, deep kiss. She nearly groaned at the sweet taste of his mouth and wound her arms around his neck. After trading a few more kisses, she pulled back and nuzzled his cheek. “I love you.”

“And I love you.” He smiled, kissing the tip of her nose. “Come on. Let’s get home so you can ice your head and we can finish watching that damn movie.”

“Jimmy, we’ve seen it a thousand times. It’s not like we’re missing anything.” She giggled at him, breaking away to fish around for her keys.

“I know that. But it’s our favorite movie. It doesn’t seem right not to watch it together.” Hugging her from behind, the drummer kissed the back of her neck and nestled his head against hers.

Turning to kiss his cheek, Cali smiled. “Go. Get in the van and I will see you when I get home.”

“Mmmf. Fine.” Stealing another sweet kiss from her, Jimmy lightly patted her backside and wandered back over to where he’d parked the van.

Getting into her own car, Cali checked herself in the mirror and was glad to see Chester hadn’t fucked her face up too badly. It was bruised and a little swollen, but at least she wasn’t bleeding this time. Sighing, she started the car and backed out of the parking spot to leave, catching a glimpse of the singer as he stood on the PCH with his good thumb stuck out. Slowing as she passed, she smirked and stuck her middle finger up at him before laughing and speeding off towards home.