by Claire Raye
Chapter Sixteen
Sienna
Everything feels right in the world even if I know it isn’t. Having Reid back, the sense of calm that has followed Caleb since our arrival, it all makes me feel like we’re going to be okay. It’s okay to dream about what our life will be like when this is over, to get lost in Reid and bask in the feeling of having the three of us together again.
I never thought it would be something that would ever happen though, so I’m holding onto it like it will disappear at any second.
When we were kids, we’d talk about how one day we’d all live together, ditch our shitty families and live in a house together. That was back when we were young and naïve and completely clueless in the ways of the world. But even when we got older and a little wiser, we knew we all wanted to be together.
Things changed though and Caleb stayed in Providence, and Reid and I went off to Hawthorn without him, breaking up our little group. Leaving Caleb behind was the hardest decision I’ve ever had to make and I won’t do it again.
Family is thicker than blood and that’s what we are—family.
The three of us are sitting at the small kitchen table drinking coffee and eating cinnamon rolls we baked from a tube. I hate to admit it, but this is the best I’ve eaten since I left for college. A fixed income doesn’t allow for frivolous purchases like cinnamon rolls or beer that isn’t cheaper than a case of water. Sad that I’m living better in a safe house than I would be at school, but it really doesn’t matter because I have the two most important people in my life with me.
Just as I think this I’m hit with thoughts of Ruby. I haven’t talked to her since I broke down and admitted everything to her. I’m sure she’s scared shitless that something’s happened to me.
I shove back from the table and grab my laptop, not cluing the guys in as they watch me frantically get things up and running.
“I’ve gotta call Ruby,” I say looking at Reid since he knows her better than Caleb. I’ve told Caleb about her and when Caleb and I have talked, Ruby’s been around, but they’ve obviously never met. If I can get Caleb to come back to Hawthorn with us, I’m totally setting the two of them up. She’s the kind of girl Caleb would be all over.
“Oh shit,” Reid says, looking over at Caleb. “Ruby is like an extension of Sienna, but tinier and louder. She’s trouble.”
Caleb smirks and I smack Reid on the arm, shooting him a look that says he needs to shut up. Poor Ruby was always left trying to separate Reid and I when the arguing would start, eventually ending it by her telling me he liked me. The I-told-you-so is going to be in full force when I get back to California.
“Do you think it’s okay for me to FaceTime with Ruby?” I ask, leaning over to look out the window at the troopers scattered around.
“Just plug that scrambler thing in and see what happens,” Caleb says casually, but he seems to be far too interested in me calling Ruby after what Reid said.
“Ruby’s off limits,” I proclaim, pointing a finger at him, knowing if I tell him not to do something he’ll do the exact opposite. Now I don’t even have to plant the seed once we’re back at Hawthorn. Reid lets out a rebellious laugh in response to my words.
“You were off limits once too, babe,” Reid bites back, making me glare at him once again. “And anyway, we’d have to get Caleb to Hawthorn first and I think we both know that’s not happening.”
Reid is baiting Caleb now too and I love it. He knows as well as I do that when he challenges Caleb it only makes him want something even more.
“I’ve been thinking about that,” Caleb responds coyly.
“Wait, you’ve been thinking about coming back to California with us?” I ask, a feeling of anticipation blooming inside me at the thought. I close my laptop, pushing it off to the side.
“You realize you don’t have a choice, right?” Reid jokes. “We were planning to force you to come back with us anyway.”
“I mean what else am I going to do here in Providence? The bar is gone. I have no place to live, so you guys are kinda my last hope.”
“Help me Obi Wan Kenobi, you’re my only hope,” Reid teases, his voice unnaturally high and as much as he loves to give Caleb shit, he’s fully aware we are his only support system. Where else would Caleb go?
“You know you can stay with Ruby and me as long as you need. You can get a job near campus. There are tons of bars and they always need experienced bartenders and managers. You’d be perfect.”
I’m getting ahead of myself because we have no idea when we’re going to be able to leave the safe house, but it feels good to think about the future, a future that involves all three of us.
“Seriously, dude,” Reid says, “You need to come back with us. We’re not leaving without you.” He stops, letting his demand sink in and Caleb nods a little. “What are you going to do here? Live in some shitty ass apartment and wallow in the fact that you’re alone when you’d rather be with us?”
“I’m not certain I’d take it that far,” Caleb says. “Being with you two since the hook up isn’t exactly ideal. The bed banging against the wall all night.” He slams his hand down on the table over and over until I’m shooting a death stare at him. “And I’ve only known about you two for like twelve hours. I can’t imagine what it would be like living with you.”
As much as he’s giving us a hard time, I know he wants to come back to California with us, and if he doesn’t, I think Reid and I will be making a hard decision of our own. We can’t leave him alone after what he’s been through and I think deep down he knows he can’t be alone.
“Please, like I didn’t have to listen to you all through high school with every girl you ever brought home. This is payback,” I quip, nodding my head. “But seriously, what are you planning to do?” I ask, trying to pin him down.
“Weren’t you going to call Ruby?” he shoots back.
“You’re avoiding my question.” I let out a huff, crossing my arms over my chest as Reid laughs next to me.
“She’s not giving up, you know that, right?” Reid says to Caleb shrugging his shoulders.
“She’s your problem now, man.” Caleb pushes back from the table, taking his plate with him to the kitchen sink. “I’m taking a shower,” he announces. “I’ll be in there a while so do whatever it is you two are going to do while I’m in there, so I don’t have to hear you.”
“Think about what I said!” I yell after him as he disappears into the bedroom.
As soon as the bedroom door closes Reid looks over at me, smirking as he says, “So you wanna christen this table while he’s in there?” He taps the top of it with his hand, waggling his eyebrows at me. “Hop your ass on up here and we can give the troopers a show, too.”
“Oh my god, Reid. What is wrong with you?” I roll my eyes, shoving him away as he paws at me with mock reckless need. “I was gonna call Ruby, remember?”
“How long has it been since you last had contact with her? Like two hours?” he jokes, knowing how close Ruby and I are.
“It’s been a few days if you must know.”
“Did you tell her about us?” he asks, and I can sense a bit of apprehension in his voice, like he’s wondering how important this thing between us is.
“I haven’t, but she knows. She knows for the same reason Caleb knew. It was obvious we were obsessed with each other. It was just us who didn’t realize it.”
Reid arches a brow and chuckles. “Oh, I knew you were obsessed with me.”
“Why are you like this?” I ask, giving him a slow blink as I wait for him to answer.
“You love it when I fuck with you,” he says, his voice dropping to a whisper as he stands and steps between my legs, his hands resting on either side of the chair I’m sitting in. He looms over me, large and muscular and I look up at him through my lashes. “I jacked off to your obstinate ass for years, but it had nothing on finally being inside you.”
Holy shit. The things this man
does that make my body go haywire. Just a few simple words and I’m ready to give in to whatever he wants.
“And right now, your nipples are hard and your panties are wet, and the last thing on your mind is calling Ruby,” he continues.
But two can play this game.
“Remember that time you cornered me in that bathroom at your friend’s house?” I ask, pulling my bottom lip between my teeth as I wait for Reid to answer. He nods, his lips swollen, his mouth open slightly. “I went home that night and masturbated to thoughts of you fucking me against that sink.”
“Most people would call that sexual harassment,” Reid says, quoting my words back to me and I laugh out loud. I said that exact thing to him when he told me he jerked off in the shower to me in a tank top.
“Most guys would fuck me against a sink right now,” I reply back, rubbing my hand over the bulge in his sweats that I’ve created with just my words.
And with that, he tosses me over his shoulder and carries me back into our bedroom.
The rest of the day passes slowly and I still haven’t checked in with Ruby even though I know I should. The guys and I have been watching movies and snacking and catching up. It feels like old times, like we aren’t dealing with Reid’s psycho father and losing our family business, and a part of me wonders if we could just stay like this forever, stay here forever.
It’s not realistic and I know that. We have so much waiting for us back at Hawthorn and that’s when I realize I’ve never asked Reid if he’s been keeping up with his classes.
“Hey,” I say, lying with my head in Reid’s lap, looking up at him. “Have you been doing anything for school? Checking in with any of your professors or logging in to any lectures?” I know I’m behind, but it was my father who died. The school will be more lenient with me than Reid. But I guess with the police after his father they could cut him some slack, too.
He twirls a lock of my hair around his finger and looks down at me.
“Yes, Mom, I’ve been keeping up. I got a little behind, but I contacted all my professors and let them know what’s going on. My coach knows too, but with the concussion and everything, I can’t play anyway.”
“Yeah, but you don’t want to lose any of your scholarship money,” I remind him, knowing with everything that’s happened, his life is about to change even more than mine and Caleb’s. Any money Reid had came from his father and with what Reid did, that’s all going to dry up quicker than water in the desert. He needs that scholarship money.
“Reid could never go to class, show up for the final and still get a better grade than most of the people in his class. He’s a fucking genius,” Caleb cuts in and even though I know he’s right, I don’t want Reid fucking up his GPA because of all this bullshit.
“I’ve got things under control, Sie,” he says, leaning down to kiss my forehead. “And don’t worry, I cleaned out my trust fund before all this went down.”
“Wait, you have a trust fund?” I ask, shocked that this is the first time I’m hearing about this. I feel like it would be something he’d have mentioned before.
“Yeah, but I didn’t know about it until last year. My dad decided he’d keep it a secret because he wanted to make sure I went to school and shit. He thought I’d take the money and run. Little did he know that’s exactly what I plan to do now.”
I don’t dare ask how much because even though we’ve known each other for more than fifteen years, it feels intrusive.
But clearly Caleb doesn’t have any class because he instantly asks, “How fucking much? Is that what you used to pay my hospital bills?”
“No way, man. I put that shit on my dad’s credit card. Let him deal with those charges,” he says laughing. “It’s a little over a million and I knew if I didn’t get it out of that account and into one in my own name the feds would come after it.”
I don’t even know what to say. Caleb and I both sit stunned into silence. I can’t even begin to picture what a million dollars would look like.
Chapter Seventeen
Reid
“Babe, what are you doing?” I ask as I walk into the bedroom and flop down onto the bed behind Sienna, who’s sitting cross-legged in front of her laptop. My arm snakes around her waist and under her t-shirt, slipping up to cup her boob as I pull her backward so she’s half lying on me as I press a kiss to her neck.
“Hey!” she says swatting at me as she wriggles in my arms before pulling herself back up. “I’m Face Timing Ruby,” she says, pointing to her computer.
I shuffle on the bed so I’m sitting behind her now, wrapping my arm around her shoulders this time and slipping my hand inside the neck of her t-shirt. “Hey, Rubes,” I say, grinning at the screen. “How’s things?”
“Ahhh, oh my god, you two are so adorable,” she says, clapping her hands and squealing.
I laugh, pressing another kiss to Sienna’s neck even as she rolls her eyes and grabs my hand, pulling it from inside her t-shirt. “Fuck yeah we are,” I say.
Ruby laughs. “Seriously, I love this,” she says, pointing a finger at the screen toward us. “You both look so happy! It’s about time you two figured this whole thing out.”
“Yes, yes,” Sienna says, waving a hand in the air, but she’s smiling, and I know she’s happy we’re past all the shit, too.
I rest my chin on her shoulder, my arm now wrapped around her waist, behaving myself. “You know this means I’m gonna be hanging around your place all the time now, don’t you, Rubes?” I tease.
Ruby smiles. “Yes, Reid,” she says, rolling her eyes at me. “I kinda figured that would be the case.”
“I mean like every night hanging around,” I say, grinning, even as Sienna glances up at me. “What? We talked about this, babe,” I say smiling. “I don’t want to sleep without you, remember?”
“So, what, you want to…” Sienna trails off, not finishing her question.
I know we were both a little distracted when I first brought this up, something to do with being naked and in bed together after spending days apart, but I still meant what I said. After everything that’s happened, all the wasted time, I don’t want to be without her anymore. Not even for a single night. I am done with that shit.
“It’s all good,” Ruby says, smiling at us. “I’m totally fine with it, Sie, I promise.”
Sienna turns back to the screen. “Really?”
Ruby smiles, nodding once. “Really. But how are you both?” she asks now, her tone turning serious. “I mean really. Is everything okay?”
Sienna and I glance at each other before turning back to the screen. Truth be told, we don’t know what we are at this stage. We’ve been holed up in this safe house for two days now, with no idea about what’s going on in the outside world. Or where the fuck my dad is. None of us have heard from the detective in charge and the cops outside never tell us anything.
Which is not to say it hasn’t been good, the three of us hanging out like this; it has. It’s been fucking fantastic actually, but it’s still overshadowed by this cloud of uncertainty. Of not knowing what comes next or when we can go back to California and get back to our lives.
“We’re as good as we can be,” I tell her, knowing that’s about the most honest answer we can give her right now.
Ruby nods, but I don’t miss the worried look that flashes across her face. “Well, nothing’s changed here,” she says, changing the subject. “Except of course that everyone knows you two took off on some romantic road trip together and are now hiding out from the mob or something. It’s all very sexy and secretive, like some kick ass Tarantino film or something.”
I burst out laughing, shaking my head at her. “Please tell me that fuckwit, Justin knows,” I can’t resist asking.
Ruby’s eyes light up. “Oh, he knows alright,” she says and I swear even she looks happy about it.
“Good,” I say, squeezing Sie’s shoulder. “Okay, I’m gonna let you two do your chick thing.”
I unwrap my arm and scoot to the edge of the bed. “Love you, babe,” I murmur, pressing a hard kiss to Sienna’s mouth that leaves her breathless and Ruby laughing. “Good to see you, Rubes,” I add, waving at the screen. “Hopefully we’ll be back soon.”
“Bye, Reid,” she says, waving back at me.
I hop off the bed and start to walk out of the bedroom, before turning back. “Oh, one more thing,” I say, smiling. “We’re bringing you back a present too, Ruby,” I add, giving her a wink even as Sienna glares at me. “You’re gonna love it.”
Ruby’s eyes light up and I can’t stop the laugh as I turn and walk out, closing the door behind me, but not before I hear Ruby squeal and say, “Oh my god, Sienna, seriously, you two are soooo cute!”
Smiling, I walk out into the main living area, catching a glimpse of Caleb through the large glass sliding doors sitting out on the back patio. I walk into the kitchen and grab a couple of beers from the fridge before I head outside and join him.
“Hey,” I say, handing him a beer as I collapse into the chair beside him.
“Hey,” he says, looking over and giving me a smile.
“You good?” I ask, twisting the cap off my bottle, clinking it against his and taking a long pull.
“Yeah,” he says, doing the same. “I really am.” I twist in my chair so I’m facing him and he shoots me a glance, laughing a little. “What?” he asks.
“Nothing,” I say, shaking my head.
Caleb chuckles. “Look, I know this is far from ideal,” he says, waving his beer bottle around. “But I swear, these past two days with you guys have been the best days I’ve had since you both left Providence two years ago. It’s just so nice being together like this again.”
I take another sip of beer, sitting back in my chair as I push a hand through my hair. “I know what you mean,” I murmur, turning to look out at the lake. In the distance, a cop is walking along the edge, his eyes scanning the surrounding area. “I’ve really missed this,” I add. “The three of us, hanging out.”