by KT Strange
“No!” Grady and I sputter-shout at the same time. Kyron rubs his hands together and then stretches them up high, grabbing onto the door frame as he leans forward.
“Awwww, you were. That’s so fucking funny. And neither of you thought to invite me? Rude.”
“Ky,” Grady says the single syllable like it’s a bomb, and Kyron drops his grip on the door to hold up his hands placatingly.
“Alright, alright, no judgements.” He saunters past me, and checks Grady out with a whistle. “Not my fault you’re all hot and bothered and looking like I walked in on something I shouldn’t have.”
I wait for him to get a few steps away and give Grady an apologetic grimace.
“I’m sorry,” I say. He presses his lips into a thin line.
“It’s… fine.” He sighs and gestures to himself, wrapped up, toga-like, in the blanket.
“I’m going to get dressed,” he says, and then takes a few steps backward, before shutting the door in my face. Great. Things are going to be even more awkward now.
Nothing says “please retain me for gainful employment” like walking in your boss masturbating. I mean, I could do him for sexual harassment, but then he’d just say I was the one who walked in on him, and I’m actually the harasser and he the harassee, and it all sounds so messy-
I hear a soft gruff gruff gruff from behind the third door, and because it sounds absolutely nothing like someone pulling their pud or having any kind of sexual relations, I learn nothing from previous lessons and poke my face through the half-opened door.
It’s another bedroom, which isn’t as surprise, but the size of the animal on the bed is. It’s a giant dog, looking more like one of those wolf-hybrids if I’m honest, asleep on it’s side, paws twitching as if its dreaming.
It’s massive.
And I have woken up enough beasts for one day, and this thing looks like it could eat me in three bites, and be hungry for more. As my gaze sweeps over it’s fuzzy body, I freeze. For a second I’m back to last night, pedaling as hard as I can to get away from the monsters chasing me. Is it possible it’s the same animal? It whines in its sleep, paws twitching slightly and then more in what looks like an attempt to run in its sleep. No. This thing is just a ridiculous dope of a dog, having a chasing dream. I lean away and scurry out of the hall.
I didn’t know the guys had a dog. I’ll have to ask Kyron about it later, after I’ve had a cold shower and stopped thinking about Grady and the sounds he makes when he’s making himself feel good.
Kyron is in the kitchen area, cracking open a beer and smirking at me.
“What?” I ask, defensive. He shrugs.
“You’re just funny,” he says, his gaze sliding over me, up and down. There’s something in it, a shift that makes me feel… flushed. “Y’know, maybe you aren’t such bad news after all.”
“Bad news?” I repeat, slightly offended. He shrugs and offers me his drink.
“Want?”
“Ew, er, no thanks.”
“So what were you doing in here?” He asks, giving me another sly look. “I know Grady’s too chicken shit to make a move on you, but were you trying to cook something up between the two of you? That’s cute. I admire your moxie.”
“I was looking for you guys,” I say, “because I’ve been here what feels like three years and you haven’t given me anything to do. And I haven’t seen a single customer either. So… y’know. Times up. Let me help. You may not want me here, but I’m here anyway, so you might as well make use of me-” I pause. The last few words I’d said make Kyron’s eyes go dark, his pupils flaring. He sets his beer down slowly, his hands wrapping around the edge of the counter as he leans in.
The heat that had just faded from seeing Grady so comprised flares inside of me again as Kyron’s smirk spreads across his face.
“I like the way that sounds,” he comments drily. “Make use of you? Well when you put it like that-”
“Ky!” Grady barks from the entry-way to the hall, fully dressed, his cheeks still flushed, whole face looking like a spanked monkey’s ass. He looks at me and gives me the most sheepish, apologetic smile. It’s almost… sweet. “Why don’t you come back in a few hours, and we’ll start uh, going over work stuff.”
“Is that what we’re calling it now,” Kyron snickers, walking past Grady, and dodging the quick punch that Grady aims at his shoulder, all without spilling a drop of his beer.
“That sounds good,” I say, because I need at least a few hours to calm down.
And try to get over the thumping in my chest and the all-over body flush that’s plaguing me so I can look Grady in the eye without embarrassing myself.
11
Cordelia
“I didn’t know you had a dog?” I say-ask. Beau slams down the griddle top on the stove, and says nothing. Kyron laughs, and chugs back a half-glass of orange juice in one gulp.
“Belongs to a friend of mine in town. That thing’s an idiot though. Next time you see it, just pretend to throw a ball and hide it instead. Dog’ll be all confused for hours,” Kyron says.
Beau makes a noise that sounds like a growl, but when I look at him, he’s whisking eggs.
Angrily whisking them.
Punishing them is more like it.
But he’s staring at the wall at the same time as if it’s the most fascinating thing in the world, and honestly, he’s such a grumpus that he could be mad none of the eggs had two yolks instead of one. No bonus yolks for Beau. It’s a mystery why he’s mad, and I don’t like him enough to ask him what’s wrong. Also… I have to admit, the way he’s brandishing that whisk is making his muscles flex, and that’s just reminding me of Grady from earlier, and all of it is a bit um, diverting.
Kyron had come out to my cabin an hour ago and told me they were making brinner, or breakfast for dinner, and I should join them when, and if, I felt like it. He’d been grinning like an idiot the whole time so I knew he was still feeling smug about me stumbling in on Grady… and as much as I wasn’t sure how to face down Grady without also thinking about his, uh, package, I needed to.
I was staying rent free. I needed to get on with giving them help so I could earn that roof I was enjoying over my head.
And, y’know, maybe score some um, more sneak peeks? Did that make me a creeper?
BANG! BANG! BANG!
Beau slams the whisk against the bowl like he’s trying to murder it. I fiddle with the hem of my shirt, my weight uneasy on the barstool at the counter.
“Go on, Beau, tell us how you really feel,” Kyron drawls, taking the orange juice out of the fridge to pour himself some more. He holds out the jug to me and I shake my head. I don’t need to even ask. I know the juice is spiked with… something alcoholic. I’m beginning to think that Kyron has a booze problem. And Beau definitely has an anger management problem. And Grady?
My face warms.
Grady has big dick energy. That’s the only way to describe it. I stare down at the counter-top and hope that my thoughts aren’t obvious on my face.
“So where’s-” I pause as Grady opens the front door, thankfully wearing a shirt (I don’t think I could handle him shirtless just then. I’ve seen enough of him for one day, and not in a bad way… just that I’m feeling like I’m on the edge of control and I might just sexually harass him with my eyes or something by accident).
“Hey,” he says, his gaze meeting mine before it cuts away. There’s pink high in his cheeks, and Ky is snickering into his totally boozy orange juice. Beau just bangs again on the bowl, glaring at all of us simultaneously, managing to give us some kinda wide cone-shaped stare that gets us all without him looking wall-eyed.
That man has magic glare powers. It’s a gift.
“Where were you?” Beau demands, and Grady stops short in his tracks, before letting out an irritated huff.
“In town. Talking to a few people about Lacey,” he says, and that’s when I notice there’s a paper bag in his hand. “Val and Lena sent us this.” He sets the ba
g on the end of the counters and Kyron’s immediately over to it, peering inside of it like an impatient child.
Beau scrapes the eggs into the frying pan, the crackling griddle of food cooking filling the air along with the warm scent of the pan reaching me. I inhale, grateful my lungs have recovered mostly from my second near-drowning incident.
Kyron pulls out a cookie, and Beau doesn’t even have to look.
“You’ll ruin your appetite,” Beau says, in an almost motherly tone that has me sitting up. He’s never wavered from the Complete Asshole end of the vocal spectrum, so to hear him sound mildly caring is… alarming.
I’ll go with alarming.
“Big nah,” Kyron replies, stuffing the cookie in his face before winking at me. Why are my cheeks going so hot? Something is wrong with me. Maybe a flu? From taking that dunking in the lake?
Or maybe seeing Grady wrap his hand around his hard cock, the head of it slipping between his fingers has got me seeing sexual innuendo in every interaction in my life. I glance away, and resist the urge to rub my cheeks. Kyron seems like the kind of guy that doesn’t let much past his notice.
Already he’s watching me carefully, like he knows.
“I’m gonna go look at the trees,” I say lamely, sliding off my barstool with a thump. I brush past Grady, my arm grazing his, and my whole body is on fire. I slip outside and take a deep breath.
Holy shit. Holy shit holy shitholyshitholyshit.
I need to get it together. I lean against the porch railing and stare at the trees, and just watch them. At least that way if someone looks out at me, I’m doing what I said I’d be doing. I have gone a really long time without the desire to get myself off, but right here and now, I’m so lost in it that I want to grind against this railing pole.
I have got to pull my shit together.
The floorboards of the deck creak, and the door shuts. I know he’s there. Oh god. He’s come to talk to me about me seeing him, and I am so not in any way ready for this conversation.
A finger drags up the back of my bare arm. It’s a straight line of fire that shoots from my arm to between my legs. He’s standing right behind me, touching me. Oh god. My throat is tight, so tense.
“So how long’s it been?” Kyron’s voice startles me out of my skin and I yelp, jumping to the side and flailing, my elbow connecting with the side of his face as I leap three feet in the air.
“Ow, fuck!” He swears and I spin. He’s holding a hand over his eyeball, glaring at me with his other eye, a surly frown on his lips.
“Oh my god, sorry.” Is it possible for this to get any worse? I’ve… sexually harassed and spied on Grady, pissed Beau off by accusing him of being a peeping tom, and now I’ve assaulted Kyron.
They might have killed a woman, so at least you’re ahead in that arena.
I lift my hand to my mouth.
“I am so, so so sorry.” I exhale and he shakes his head, pulling his hand away to squint at me. I wrinkle my nose. “Serves you right for sneaking up on me,” I add, because my mouth never did me any favors in Twocities and I certainly can’t keep myself shut now either. He pops an eyebrow up and then smirks, letting out an amused snort. He’s still kind of winking at me, but it’s not a flirtatious thing.
“I guess it does,” he says, leaning against one of the support posts that holds up the porch overhang. “Still, you didn’t answer my question.”
“Huh?” It’s then I realize how tall he is compared to me. He inhales, his chest expanding under his shirt, and he doesn’t even have to step closer to me to loom. He’s an imposing man, all of them are, but there’s something wild in him that’s tame in Grady.
Kyron’s a firecracker with the fuse lit just before it goes off. I’ve seen his type before. They roll into bars, and roll right out of them again, leaving a trail of men with cracked skulls and swooning girls behind them. He’s the storm rushing the lakeshore. And all that power and intimidation is trained on me as he bears down on me with his heavy gaze.
“I said… how long’s it been? You were staring at Grady like he was a ripe peach and you were starving and dehydrated. Haven’t stopped even now. You didn’t have a good man back in the city to knock boots with?”
If I was blushing before, my face is a five alarm five now, and I try to glare at him but can’t. Because everything he’s said to me is making my stupid brain erupt with stupid images of Grady being the one that drops his boots at the foot of my bed. Grady crawling over me, and pinning me to the sheets, with that dopey sweet-clever smile of his.
My heart skips a beat as the dream goes foggy at the edges, but I can still see him there, in the doorway, watching us both with an intense, heated look on his face. Kyron, standing there, watching as Grady lowers his lips to my neck, teeth grazing the skin-
“That’s um, none of your business,” I say quickly, trying to recover as much as I can. Ky’s lips spread into a grin that’s all filthy and not innocent in the slightest.
“Oh it’s been awhile then. No boy-toy? Sad. You’re cute. I’d like you better with dust on your knees, but ehn, I’m not picky.”
“Ky!” Grady is in the doorway, looking pissed. Oh god, did he overhear us? Seriously? My face is a forest fire. I am a forest fire. I am going to self-immolate, spontaneously combust from either embarrassment or absolute over the top, all-consuming, soul-deep arousal.
Please, whatever god is listening, let brinner be good enough to distract everybody including myself from the last few hours of my life.
“Yeah, boss?” Ky asks, irreverent and smug as fuck. I think his personality switch might be just jammed on Smug Motherfucker at this point. Grady points inside.
“Beau needs your help. With the pancakes,” Grady grits out, and Ky snickers, passing him by with a punch to the shoulder. I swear he mutters, go git ‘er, tiger, as he ducks inside, but Grady is outside now, and standing in front of me, an awkward beast of a man at 6’verytall trying to shrink down into a thimble.
“So,” he breathes.
“I’m sorry I spied on you naked,” I say in a rush, because there really isn’t anything to do but suck the poison- I mean, I did not mean to think about the word suck. At all. I have to just say to him what I’m thinking. About how I feel. How I feel bad. Oh my god, even my thoughts are constantly doing u-turns down Dirty Naughty Street.
I inhale as deep as I can, my lungs bottoming out before they should.
“I wasn’t trying to intrude,” I say, “and… I mean…” Grady looks at me intensely, and then his teeth sink into his bottom lip, and all I can think about is him biting into my lip. “If it makes you feel better, it was really hot, but I hope you lock your door when you have customers around, because I’m guessing this isn’t that kind of establishment to offer peep shows, right?” That makes him laugh, and the tension goes out of his shoulders. He bends over, his hands on his knees as he chokes out a belly-full of emotion before looking up at me.
“I… don’t even know what to say to that. No, no, we don’t do peep shows.” His grin ticks up at the corner of his mouth as he straightens. “Not for the fees we charge anyway. I’m guessing we’d be able to hike the rates if we did that though, huh?”
My cheeks are burning, but it feels like the worst of the whole situation is behind us.
“Yeah,” I murmur. I glance away. “I am sorry, though.”
“I know,” he says, his voice gentle. He reaches out, and I want him to touch me so badly. Regular human contact isn’t something I’ve felt for…
Months.
A year. Maybe. After Auntie C faded away, and the city continued to swirl around me as I slowly shrank and turned invisible.
His fingers collide with my shoulder, and his hand wraps around me there, squeezing almost tenderly. My heart flutters in my chest, and I step closer to him without meaning to. I’m a foot away from him, and staring right up at him. His lips part, and his eyes darken. I can see the flare of his pupils as they dilate, and his head dips down.
C
loser. Closer still. My heels lift off the ground, and my eyes close.
Air rushes over my face as he pulls away.
“Dinners gonna be ready, sorry, brinner, in a minute, why don’t you come inside?” His voice is tense and raspy, and I rock down onto the flat of my feet, eyes popping open. My heartbeat is still shuddering in my ears, as I stare at him. He’s not even looking at me.
We almost kissed, just now, and…
I lick my lips, trying to piece myself back together, because for several brief seconds my entire body was glowing, and now I’ve been dumped on the floor, like a coal falling out of the fireplace, destined to darken and turn to ash.
The disappointment ricochets around my in my chest before a bit of indignation, and fierce pride follows it.
I don’t want him to kiss me. I don’t need him to kiss me. I’ve been fine on my own all this time, and now’s no different. Beside, what am I playing at? Wanting to run around with guys when my future is already written and the end of my story is coming in a few months?
Something cold in me spreads.
No. Way.
“Thanks,” I say stiffly. He holds the door open, and the scent of something that smells like waffles wafts towards me. “But… you know what? I’m actually not that hungry.” The shock registers on his face, and then a flicker of regret. His mouth opens but I don’t stick around to hear whatever it is he’s about to say. No. This whole thing was just a good reminder that I don’t need anyone.
Thank you universe. Message received. Screaming loud and crystal clear.
Ky is just a playboy, flirting with me that way. If I talked to Kat in town, she’d probably tell me that he’s like that with all the women guests that come through the Raven Brothers guided tours. My feet stomp off the wooden deck and kick up puffs of dust as I make my way across the clearing. I want to go into town. I need my-
My bike.
I stop short, fifteen feet from my cabin.
There, propped against the side, is Blueberry. Clean as a whistle, looking no worse for her sinking in the lake, like she’d never been so badly abused by me at all.