Caged: Cellar Door Series

by Pars, K.

  I couldn’t stop my eyes from roaming over her but I finally reigned it back in even though my body had been shocked alive, every part of me fully aware of the woman standing there. The need to reach out and pull her to me was so strong my fingers flexed on their own. I forced myself to remain sitting like I saw her every day of the week instead of it being the first time in almost four years, my complete surprise locked behind a mask of indifference. My body was anything but indifferent; my dick seemed to have its own heartbeat banging out in time with the one in my chest.

  I tipped a nod to her with a tight smile and internally told my body to slow its damn roll all the while keeping up like I hadn’t just taken 1000 volts to my system. “You know I hate that fucking name Kylee.”

  I hadn’t gone by my full name since I’d been in elementary school. Being a Jr, the name reminded me of my dad and he wasn’t worth being reminded of so I’d gone by my initials ever since. Only Kylee could have gotten away with using it and mainly cause she’d caught me by surprise. I damn sure hadn’t expected to see her at the club even though Matt said he had a week ago. Self denial’s a beautiful thing. If I told myself it wouldn’t happen, was shocked when it did.

  Kylee cocked her head slightly to one side, her dark hair tumbling over one shoulder as she raked her eyes over me. I swore I could feel the heat from her gaze lighting up my skin. She fisted her hands to her slim hips, her grin still firmly in place though looking a little more forced. “Hello to you too. Nice to see you. Yeah I have been great. Why yes I did graduate college, thanks. You look good too.”

  I blinked trying to stave off the smirk that threatened the corners of my mouth, brought my beer to my lips and swallowed what was left in it down. Some things never changed. Kylee Grace was a thoroughbred smart ass, a caliber all on her own that was heads above most but I’d always spoken her language.

  Leaning back against the bar I took in the changes that four years had brought to her, letting my eyes take the same kind of tour she’d taken of me. I noted how damn good each change was. She had been smoking fine before she’d taken off to college. Now she was beyond that. Long thick brown hair fell down well past her shoulders, her slight build enhanced by nicely rounded curves that had only been a hint at before she’d left. Curves that begged to be touched, tasted, worshipped. Fucking Christ I needed to get my shit together….

  Her tight denim jeans cupped her ass perfectly, the black halter top she wore was cut low in the front and hugging her, highlighting plentiful breasts but those eyes...yeah, eyes you could get lost in were the money and they were staring at me, tracing me from head to toe before landing on mine again.

  I rested my elbows on the top of the bar I was leaning back on and flashed a quick smirk holding my shit together by a thread, a very thin one. Not something I was used too at all. I loved women, their soft skin, their curves, their taste and I’d never had to hold back from taking what I wanted; it was given up freely. I was a spoiled fucker and had been trying to drown out a dark haired, dark eyed beauty four years. It hadn’t worked.

  My standard operating procedure was to wrap it and tap it with a one night only agenda and the females all knew it up front. Only one woman had ever held my attention for more than a few hours and she was standing right in front of me. The trouble with Kylee was she wasn’t the one night type, the casual type, and I damn sure wasn’t her type at all.

  Finding my voice, I shrugged my shoulders and stared at her intently, sarcasm leaking out. “Been back long?” It was her turn to blink, her throat constricting, her eyes flashing with emotion that she banked away as quickly as it had started; but I’d seen it. What the hell it was all about I wasn’t sure. It was almost like she was embarrassed for a moment.

  Not giving her time to answer I chided her. “It’s real rare to catch you at a loss for words Kylee. Cat got your tongue? Seemed fine a few seconds ago when it was running faster than a cockroach after the light’s turned on.” Her eyes narrowed on me, her head straightening on her stiffening spine.

  “Maybe I should take a few of the words back. Like the nice to see you.” Kylee spun on her heel, her long dark hair snapping out behind her giving me a whole lot of skin to glance at when her exposed back presented itself.

  I was up off the bar stool quicker than she could move or I could think about what I was doing. My fingers wrapped around her wrist and tugged her to a stop. Her head whipped around, her eyes falling down to my fingers like I was burning her before she shifted her gaze back up to mine, her voice soft but iron like as she enunciated each word clearly. “Let. Me. Go.”

  Sighing, I released my hold on her, shoving a hand through my hair, the short ends spiking in all directions in my typical I don’t give a shit style.

  I didn’t want her to leave, now that she was in front of me, I could feel the weight of not having her as a part of my life settling heavily over me. “Look, I’m sorry.” The words tasted like sand. Apologizing about anything was not my forte and even when deserved I struggled with it, quite fucking frankly, I just didn’t do it. The word could be banned from the English language and I’d never miss it.

  A thin brow arched up, her arms folding over her chest. “Uh huh...”

  Unfuckingbelievable. I’d said I was sorry, what the hell else did she expect. She knew me so thinking it was gonna be some windfall of words was like wishing in one hand and shitting in the other. Neither was going to get her what she was looking for. In the four years Kylee had been out of my life, I seemed to have forgotten one small detail. She was the most stubborn female I’d ever known. Heart of gold, check. Beautiful, check, check. Stubborn as a mule, check, check, check.

  She stepped forward and wrapped her arms around my waist, squeezing, the gesture catching me so off guard I just stood there. My arms hung loosely at my sides before I finally folded them around her and returned her hug. Her body fit against mine just right, even with my taller build towering over her small frame and it had a feeling of possessiveness storming through me, punching me square in the chest with its intensity. She let me go after another quick squeeze and then moved right past me to settle herself on the barstool next to the one I’d just vacated.

  My head was sprung and I was damn glad for the fact thoughts were private to a person because Kylee would have been shocked as shit if she knew what was doing underneath my laid back exterior. I’d forgotten just how potent Kylee in the flesh was. I’d been able to keep my distance just fine when she was hundreds of miles away but now right in front of me, I was beginning to lose the fight with myself to do the right thing, whatever the hell that was.

  “It’s good to see you, you look good. Not like you ever looked bad baby girl…..”Christ I was sounding like an idiot and still wasn’t sure what all her attitude was about. She was ready to stomp out one second, hugging me the next and I was beginning to wonder just what I was in for. I should have expected her to throw me for a loop and if I hadn’t been knocked off my game by her sudden appearance I would have been prepped for it. It was par for the course with Kylee Grace; she liked to keep people on their toes, especially me. She took an extra amount of joy in giving me shit and it had to be fucked up that I liked it but I did. Always had.

  “I’ll have what he’s having.” She had caught Sadie’s attention, the bartender glancing at me to check my drink status. I tipped my chin to let her know to set me up again before sitting back on my stool, resting one of my Diesel boots on the lowest rungs, the other planted on the floor.

  Kylee’s big browns found my eyes, holding me there before they roamed over my arms, a shit ton of ink showing beneath the short sleeves of my t-shirt. Well hell….

  “Looks like you have some new work.” She picked up the arm closest to her and turned it over speaking softly. “A lot of new work.” The fingers of her free hand caressed several of the inked lines, tracing the different shapes and designs of the tattoos that made up one of my two sleeves of work. Those fingers were doing bad things to my lower region as I watche
d them move over my skin, a trail of warmth left behind on my flesh. I curled my fingers around my beer and reminded myself why I shouldn’t reach out and pull Kylee in my lap and show her exactly what was up, literally.

  I shifted to hide the evidence of how she was affecting me because everything else from my tone to my demeanor was schooled into a careful mask of complete nonchalance and was all bull shit. As long as she didn’t cop a quick feel or go inspecting my lap, she wouldn’t catch on. Thank fuck for the bar offering a little bit of shelter. I’d always found Kylee attractive, beyond so, it was impossible not too but the Kylee sitting next to me, running her fingers over my ink, had me wanting to get her naked as quickly as possible. To show her just how fucking hot she was. And as pretty as she’d been in high school, it was no match for the woman sitting next to me.

  I ran through a series of UFC fighter stats in my head in hopes to distract myself from Kylee’s wandering fingers and was damn glad my voice stayed level when I spoke. I was projecting calm like no one else could and considering my control was just about shot, it was a miracle. My head might be fucked on the inside but the outside…I had that covered, down below……not so much.

  . “Yeah, there are a couple of new ones.” Her eyes rose to meet mine and I waited to see the condemnation reflected in them. Kylee hadn’t been a fan of my first tattoos, no way was she going to be loving on the volume of ink I now toted on my body which was why I was shocked as hell when she laid my arm back on the bar and gifted me with a sincere smile.

  “They suit you JD.”

  “Excuse me.” I was once again back to being dumb as a box of rocks. Apparently while some things had not changed in four years others had done a complete three sixty, twice.

  “I didn’t stutter. You do speak English still right?” Kylee picked up the shot Sadie had set before her and knocked it back with a confidence that said it wasn’t her first.

  I cocked a brow at her, her eyes drawing up to the arched line that formed over my eye before settling her big browns on my blue ones. “I still speak smartass with fluency. Just wasn’t expecting that. If I recall things correctly when I got my first one, you made a pretty big production about it and how I could never remove it.” I pointed towards the arm closest to her with my beer bottle having downed my own shot back. “Not a single fucking one is a regret.”

  Kylee’s eyes drifted away from mine, the hurt evident as she focused on her beer, her voice even softer. “I never said I didn’t like them on you. I just didn’t see why you felt the need to hide yourself.” The beer bottle touched to her lips as she tilted it up and I’d never been so envious in life. I’d have paid good money to be what her lips were touching but I shoved that down deep. Kylee wasn’t the kinda girl you ran around with. She was the permanent kind of woman, the family and forever kind. I damn sure didn’t do permanent, hell I didn’t even do temporary; I barely could get past hours. It didn’t keep a guy from dreaming; even if it was for something unattainable and at the same time her words fired me up and pissed me off. None of it was new to either of us. My temper, her pushing me; that was the norm, the norm I’d been missing for four years.

  I couldn’t hide the anger from my tone, not that I tried too, once my temper was sparked, it busted right through. “Thought you knew Ky. I wasn’t hiding a fucking thing. Each one of these was my decision. A choice I made.” Grow up with an alcoholic asshole for a pops controlling everything you did, down to how you were allowed to feel made you want to make your own choices once you could. I might have been 16 when I got my first ink done but it hadn’t been about rebelling. Far from it; it had been about living and control. Making my own choice for my reasons instead of being decorated with bruises I hadn’t asked for or picked for damn sure.

  Her hand rested on my forearm and had it been anyone else but Kylee, maybe Matt, I’d have ripped their arm from their body and proceeded to the beat the dog shit out of them with it. If I didn’t ask, you don’t touch. Period. Kylee was an exception to that rule but I still didn’t like the look she was giving me. “I don’t need your fucking pity Kylee. Never did.” My adrenaline started spiking and I tightened my free hand into a fist. The sad look in her eyes haunted me and I turned away from her, clenching my jaws together, my mask of indifference cracking as rage began to surface.

  The sad beaten little fucker I’d been in my youth was long gone, buried under a mountain of hate. I didn’t need the mournful depths of emotion in Kylee’s eyes reminding me of what I once was. A pathetic bag of bones; half starved and unable to protect myself. That was done.

  I was far from that version of myself. I’d hit over six foot by my sophomore year in high school, had graduated at 6’3. The past four years of training for fights had solidified my 175 pound frame and left me ripped. Not that the physique didn’t help with the ladies, but it was the protection the muscles provided the bones beneath them that I worked for, not for the fucking looks. You didn’t win fights looking pretty. You won fights by being better and stronger than your opponent. Having looks just helped sell the whole package. The fact the ladies had some love on my body was just an added bonus; one that kept me stocked with plenty of hot and ready whenever I wanted it.

  Kylee glowered at me, her lips pressing into a thin line. “You always were an asshole JD. You know that? But at least back then you weren’t purposely one to me. I never pitied you, dick.” My head swung back around to face the hell cat that had jumped up off her stool and all but ripped her hand from my forearm. Kylee looked like she was seriously contemplating taking the beer bottle in her other hand and breaking that shit against the bar before stabbing me with the jagged edges.

  She was right. I’d always been an asshole and it seemed I’d perfected it all the way around since she’d left. Damn talented like that. “Never claimed not to be an asshole Kylee, you of all people know that. Why are you here?”

  I tapped my empty bottle on the bar to get Sadie’s attention and a refill. The club was beginning to fill up, the background music had changed and increased in volume. The doors around back leading to the basement should have been unlocked by now. Christ I wanted to be one of the ones entering through them and into the cage, especially now. This whole meet and greet with Kylee had my emotions all over the grid and that was not comfortable by any stretch. It was more like I was in my own personal hell.

  Kylee’s pretty little mouth was set in a grim scowl as she waved a hand in the air, pointing one finger in a wide circle over the top of her head. “Last I checked James David; this was still my hometown and my home.” Oh yeah buddy, I’d pissed right in her Wheaties. Kylee’s words were laced with an acidic tone, her eyes blazing as she ranted at me. “I can come home anytime I want. And since I graduated, where the hell else did you think I would go?”

  Truthfully I’d figured she would have hooked up with a preppy college boy and begun her life of happiness. None of my imaginings had her back in Bristow much less showing up at Cellar Door to have a drink with an old friend, most likely an ex-friend with the way this conversation was going on my end. Of course after shunning her for four years, not sure “friend” was the right label either.

  “Honestly hadn’t thought about it.” I wanted to grab the words out of the air and crush them in my fist. The flash of pain that swept through Kylee’s eyes, I’d put there, again. Asshole by nature, prick by design. Yup that was me through and through. “Fuck that’s not what I meant Kylee.”

  “Screw you JD.” Wow, twice in the course of a few minutes I’d managed to provoke Kylee into saying some dirty words from her sweet mouth and while it probably shouldn’t have, hearing her swear was causing more blood to rush to the area down south in my body. I was running out of shit to think about to keep my cock from putting in a showing beneath my zipper. I had never traversed from one emotion to another so fast in my life; it was making me fucking dizzy. Mad, horny, happy, angry, horny…shit damn.

  My first apology had been hard enough; I wouldn't make it through another o
ne so close together so distraction was the key unless I was ready to let her go and while that was what my brain said I should do, I just couldn’t. I stood, pulled several bills out of my wallet dropping them on the counter and shoved my wallet back in my jeans.“That an invitation? If so, tabs paid. We can go.” I deadpanned.

  I was going to have to go if I had to spend any more time staring at the perfect O Kylee’s lush mouth formed, her brown eyes wide in shock before she recovered, her lips falling into a wide smile, mischief framing her features. She hopped off her bar stool, her anger cooling some, her playful side coming front and center. It was one of the things I’d always loved about her. She reached out placing her small hand in mine and began moving towards the door. “Let’s go then stud.”

  I wouldn’t have been more shocked if Kylee had told me she was a man, something I knew for fact was false. I’d spent almost every summer in high school memorizing each inch of her bikini clad body while playing it off and in the process protecting our friendship. She was one of the few girls I hadn’t tried to bang out. She was better than that. She was better than me and anything I had to offer her. Once she’d left for college it had hit me like a ton of bricks how essential she was in my life. I realized it and knew I needed to step back from her before I ruined her and yet here she was, all up in my personal space. I needed to walk the hell away and instead I was playing with fire, challenging her to see how far she’d take this little charade.

  My quick stop caused her arm to pull taught, halting her progress; my eyes doing a slow sweep of her from head to toe and back up again before grinning wickedly at her. “Your place or mine beautiful?”