Caged: Cellar Door Series

by Pars, K.

  “He fucking touches her once more I swear to fuck Matt I’ll beat him until he doesn’t know his own name, much less his brothers. Ray’s cool with me, I got respect for him but that little cock sucker isn’t shit to me.” My jaw was locked tight, each promise bit off between my teeth. Ronnie glanced nervously at Matt and was picking up exactly what I was putting down. Matt grabbed hold of the back of my t-shirt, bunching it in his fist, trying to hold me in place. I was prepared to take my Diesel boots and shove one so far up Javier’s ass; he would be choking on the laces.

  Ronnie’s hand landed on my arm. “Easy big boy. I don’t know the story but Matt’s right. You don’t need to get shit started, especially here.”

  Kylee’s gaze drew mine again before flicking over to my arm, her eyes falling on Ronnie’s hand, the one laid over my inked forearm and if looks could kill, Ronnie would have turned to ash. Never mind that Ronnie was trained and could rip Kylee apart, none of that registered in Kylee’s glare.

  “What the hell’s that girl’s problem?” Ronnie pointed her beer towards Kylee’s table and I groaned internally. Fucking great.

  “Dude you need to fix that shit and quick.” Matt shook his head back and forth, leaning towards me so he could be heard over the music. “Kylee doesn’t want to start shit with Ronnie and you don’t need any beef with Ray.”

  My anger coated the words I shoved through my clenched teeth. “You don’t fucking think I know that?” I could recall every reason I’d pushed Kylee away in that moment as I tried to pull in the rage pounding through me. I wasn’t good enough for her but didn’t mean I didn’t want her. I damn sure did and some douche getting too close to her was going to make me lose my shit.

  I settled my beer on the bar and pulled away from both Ronnie and Matt, stalking towards Kylee’s table.

  Some punk ass called me an asshole when I pushed him out of my way to get to where I was going and I simply nodded my head in agreement, no sense arguing the truth. Stopping behind Kylee, I drew the stares of her friends and they instinctively leaned away from me. They knew of me from high school but I hadn’t seen any of them for a few years. Apparently the look on my face was dangerous because each of them glanced away and busied themselves with their phones or drinks not bothering with hi’s and hello’s.

  Javier was smart enough to back the fuck up even though he didn’t leave the table, he did create space between him and Kylee. I bent my head, my mouth near her ear, my words breathing past the small shell. “What the hell are you playing at Kylee?”

  She jerked in surprise at the sound of my voice and turned; her lips near mine as she hissed. “What are you talking about?”

  “Really? You want to play that? Cause the way you were staring at Ronnie was like you wanted to cut her.” My voice dropped lower just loud enough for her to hear, the tone still reflecting my anger. “She’s a fighter Kylee, a damn good one. You don’t want to disrespect or challenge her.”

  Kylee’s deep brown eyes darkened and when she breathed out I could smell the alcohol on her breath. She was toast. I hadn’t noticed it before but baby girl was deep.

  “Disrespect her? Of course you would be worried about me disrespecting her! I’m not the one running their hands all over you like I own you. That’s just whorish and desperate looking. I don’t give a crap who she is. We both know she’s got an expiration date of one night. You should think better of yourself than to allow her to front like you’re hers. Hell she should think better of it.” She tried to pull back from me but I wasn’t having it. Kylee was fucking livid for no reason.

  I slipped my hand beneath her long hair to cup the back of her neck lightly holding her in place, the bite of my words causing her to tremble. “She’s a friend Kylee, not that it should mean shit to you but Ronnie’s decent fucking people. Don’t talk about her like that, it pisses me off.” She knew I hated people being judgmental, had fought against it too often myself. Kylee jerked her head aside; belted back a shot that landed on the table in front of her from one of her friends and snarled at me. “Yeah, friends huh? Well is that all I had to do to be friends with you? Act like I was a whore? Maybe then you wouldn’t have treated me like one of the girls you screw and then never talk to again.” She shook her head angrily and shrugged off my hold from her neck before she turned to glower at me. “You know what, your right it shouldn’t matter to me who your friends with. Do what you want James David….you always do anyway.” Drunk Kylee was mean as shit and worked up all over again about the way I’d treated her, fucking great.

  I wanted to rip her off her chair, toss her over my shoulder and leave the damn club but I knew that wouldn’t fly so I took a deep breath noticing Javier had moved on to talking up one of her friends. Smart fucker right there. I mentally counted down my anger, holding myself tight to keep from losing it and doing something I’d regret for a long time.

  Kylee was drunk and spouting shit that I know she wouldn’t have said sober, otherwise I wouldn’t have been able to hold on to my sanity and not lose my shit with her. It still didn’t fix the fact that her being rude about Ronnie pissed me the hell off.

  “Thought we were past all that shit Kylee. Pretty damn sure we started over in the friendship department.”

  The fingers of my hand gripped the top of the back of her chair as I loomed over her, my displeasure obvious, the other hand shoved into my jeans pocket to keep from pulling her up out of her chair, crushing her to me and showing her exactly what I thought of her

  “Did we? You didn’t even try to come say hi. That’s real friendly.” Apparently I had fucked up by not coming over and saying hi? That had turned into she’s not my friend? Fucking Christ trying to figure her out was making my head bang.

  “Look I didn’t even know you were here yet until just a few minutes ago. I don’t know what your deal is but lay the fuck off Ronnie. I don’t tell you who the hell to hang with because trust me; I would have advised against this one.” I hooked a thumb at Javier; cast him another threatening glare making sure he knew I wasn’t happy about him being so close to Kylee and forced myself to make my way back to the bar where Ronnie and Matt were in deep convo.

  Picking up the shot I’d left there before going to Kylee’s table, I drained it and finished off my beer as Matt and Ronnie glanced over to me warily, both easily sensing my mood was steadily deteriorating.

  “She’s shit faced already and in a fucking mood.” I shoved a hand through my hair and let loose a deep breath of frustration. Kylee was getting to me; it was getting harder and harder to keep calm around her when she decided to press my buttons and damn it that woman knew every single one of mine.

  Ronnie laughed, the light sound contrasting against her athletic build, inked skin and in general bad ass aura. “Let me guess. It’s your fault?”

  I shook my head and gave her an amused smirk as Matt nodded in agreement with Ronnie’s question. “It’s always his fault Ronnie. Kylee and JD make complicated look simple.”

  Ronnie tilted her head, her multicolor pony tail swaying with the movement. “Is she your girlfriend or something?”

  “Hell nah..I don’t have a girlfriend. I can barely maintain a friendship with that woman.” I would have choked on a drink if I’d had one at Ronnie’s question but Sadie was still getting our refill. The joke really was on me because I was feeling like a protective boyfriend even if I wasn’t admitting it. Seeing Javier in Kylee’s space had kick started the short fuse on my temper in a hurry.

  Matt laughed out loud, long and hard. “They have rivers named after you man.”

  I could feel the scowl that crossed my face as I glared at Matt. “I don’t know what I did to everybody tonight to have you all up on my ass. I just came to have a drink. Fucking hell. She’s the one that’s all bent out of shape and you’re agreeing with her. When did I piss in your cornflakes?”

  Matt scoffed at me. “Yeah, that’s all you did JD, just came here for a drink and that’s it. It’s your story, you tell it anyway you want
bro but you and I both know what the deal is. You either don’t want to hear it or you don’t want to believe it. Doesn’t make it less true.”

  Ronnie looked confused by the entire situation and Matt was hitting to close to home for my fucking comfort. She glanced back towards Kylee’s table and then back to me before looking to Matt. “Why is she so bent?”

  Both sides of Matt’s mouth turned up in a big smile at Ronnie. “Because you touched JD.”

  “Do what? What the hell are you talking about?” Ronnie looked genuinely upset like she’d caused the problem, even glanced at her hands to make sure they weren’t anywhere they shouldn’t be.

  Matt chuckled; picked up the beer Sadie had finally gotten to us and drained a good portion of it. “JD doesn’t like to be touched, not unless he’s invited it. The fact you were close to him earlier was enough to make Kylee see red but box of rocks over here….” Matt pointed his beer bottle towards me. “….he prefers to keep his head in his ass instead of admitting that he and Kylee just need to accept they have something going on; even if they aren’t acting on it.”

  I was ready to kick Matt’s ass, was beyond sick of hearing his opinion on the matter. I was well past my limit of shit I could take about Kylee and it was clear in the threatening tone of my voice. “Mind your own fucking business son.”

  Matt grabbed Ronnie’s hand in his not giving two shits about my mood. “Lets dance pretty girl.”

  They both hit the dance floor and I leaned against the bar trying not to stare across the club at Kylee’s table. Sometimes Matt knew too fucking much and he damn sure talked too much.

  When Kylee landed on the dance floor with Javier I officially lost my shit. She could barely stand and his hands were all over her, touching places they had no fucking business being near. I saw past red to a color that didn’t even exist on any chart. Storming over to them I pulled Kylee into my chest, my arms wrapping protectively around her waist as I all but growled. “Fuck off Javier.”

  He threw two hands up and backed off as Kylee wiggled against me still attempting to dance when she could hardly stay upright. If I hadn’t been so pissed there would have been a whole other problem to deal with, one that she constantly seemed to create for me, but apparently one thing kept my libido in check, another dudes hands on Kylee Grace.

  One problem solved but my body was vibrating with tension, my chest pounding with the blood pumping through my system. I felt on edge, the kind of edge that I fell over when I beat that competitor half to death four years ago and it was straight scaring the hell out of me. I couldn’t afford to lose it again like that. Kylee wiggled some more, speaking against my chest, oblivious to my reaction. “I’m trying to dance JD…stooooop.”

  Javier’s eyes widened at the half crazed look I was sporting, his face paling while he stared back and forth between Kylee and me trying to determine what the deal was without pissing me off further. “Look, I was just dancing with her man. Relax. I got it. Hands off, no problem.”

  “Fuck you Javier. You can tell she’s done for; she can’t even stand up on her own. Your fucking hands didn’t need to be all over her when she couldn’t tell you if she wanted that shit or not. That’s some shady shit right there. Let me catch you near her again and you won’t be fit to fight, ever again.” The warning was clear. Javier was young, dumb and full of cum but he was smart enough to figure out not to fuck with me about Kylee and vacated the dance floor leaving us alone but not before he let loose a few insults on his way past. Fuck him. Maybe I would cut weight and try his class out. Teach him about putting hands on overly intoxicated females except I was almost positive that if I was put in a cage with him, he wouldn’t be walking out. I would be permanently finished with fighting too and not by choice.

  I glanced down at the mess in my arms, Kylee eyes were glassy and half shut, her cheeks bright pink. She wasn’t in any kind of shape to do anything but sleep and all I wanted to do was get her straight. God damn I was turning into a straight pansy ass around her, worse yet, a small part of me almost could deal with it, fuck, even wanted to deal with it. “Let’s get you home baby girl.”

  Kylee giggled and slurred. “I’m straying at Jenn’s. My mooom will be so pissssed. Did you know I’m old enough, but she still gets so pissssed when I drink?”

  I could only shake my head at her babble, the heat from my anger seeping out of my body now that she was safe in my arms. “I’ll take care of it. Come on; let’s get you to a bed before you fall down.” Keeping one arm around her waist leading her towards the door, I interrupted Matt and Ronnie as we passed by them. Matt blanched when he noted Kylee’s condition, worry creasing his brow.

  “Taking her home bro, she’s a goner and will be hating life tomorrow. Tell her friends she’s with me yeah? I’ll text her mom so she doesn’t worry.”

  After getting Matt’s word and a sympathetic look from Ronnie, I took Kylee outside and got her settled in my truck, buckling her limp form in and hoping anything in her stomach, would stay there for the ride.

  Chapter 9

  “Make it stop….please JD.” Kylee’s arm was draped out along one edge of the toilet seat, her cheek resting on it as she begged me to stop the room from spinning. We’d just cleared the front door when she started heaving. I’d never moved so fast in my fucking life as I did to get her to the bathroom before she blew all over my apartment.

  After re-wetting the wash cloth and putting it back along her neck, I eased down to sit, my back to the vanity doors, my legs bent, arms resting on my knees. I let my eyes roam over the designs on my forearms while I waited for Kylee’s body to decide it was done getting sick. The bathroom wasn’t tiny but it was beyond crowded with the two of us in there taking up floor space.

  I felt for her. Kylee’s eyes were squeezed shut, her skin pale and clammy. “If I could stop it for you I would.” I received a groan in return. I knew she wasn’t a fucking innocent, she’d been part of a sorority in college so this wasn’t her first go round with a good drunk and while I’d cut Kylee out of my life, Matt hadn’t so I’d always had some idea of what she’d been up too, even when I told him to shut up, he would find a way to drop info about her.

  We sat for a while until I was sure she wasn’t going to violate my bed by getting sick on it and my ass went numb. Finally, I stood and reached down to help Kylee up, my arms lacing between her arms and her sides to wrap around her middle, her back to my chest and then walked her to my room. “Lets get you in bed.”

  I tried to sit her on the bed but she fell back, her arms splaying out to either side. She cracked her eyes open and gave a goofy shit faced grin. “Are you mad at me JD? Don’t be mad.”

  I shook my head and ignored her rambling and instead concentrated on stripping her down. Granted she made the outfit look damn good but her cloths seemed uncomfortable as hell. I got her down to the scrap of lace that made up her bra and the matching panties and sucked in a breath. Fuck me….

  I quickly located one of my largest t-shirts and tugged it over her head feeling like I’d just dressed a rag doll and then tucked her under the covers while silently berating my cock which was painfully standing at attention behind my zipper. He damn sure didn’t care right or wrong, what condition she was in, he wanted her. I turned to leave the room and adjusted myself, stepping to the door when Kylee called out.

  “Don’t leave me JD. Stay…” She rolled to her side to face me and I turned back to see what was up. She blinked her eyes trying to clear her vision, those big browns pleading. “Please?” Kryptofuckingnite…

  I drew in a deep breath. It’d always been hard to tell Kylee no, especially when she started in with the pleases and it was why I’d picked the easiest way out to push her from me. I waited till she was gone off to college and then just stopped talking to her. No way could you ignore Kylee Grace Parrish otherwise. I had managed to be sucked in for every school dance through all four years of high school after a series of pleases and her big browns shinning up at me expectantly. The
only way I’d ever been able to tell Kylee no, was to not tell her anything at all, was to not talk to her at all and fuck I had missed the hell out of her. I had damn near gone half insane for the first year.

  I exhaled and moved to the other side of the bed, gripped my t-shirt and pulled it over my head before toeing off my boots and getting under the covers. It was after midnight and surprisingly I was tired. I normally went commando but given the desperation of my dick, never mind the rest of me, it was better if I kept my lower half under wrap so my jeans remained in place. I rolled to my side, faced the window and forced my eyes closed.

  It seemed like only a few minutes had passed by when a slender arm looped over my side and Kylee pressed up solid to my back. I could feel the rasp of her lace bra beneath the t-shirt when she rubbed against me getting comfortable.

  My body went rigid, every nerve in my body on high alert, screaming at me that I needed her in the worst way. “Ky?” I reached out and picked up my cell from the table next to bed and checked the time, her body burrowing even closer to mine.

  “Mmmhmm.” Her breath skated over the skin on my back and captain desperation woke with a wicked shot of lust like someone had prodded him with a jolt of electricity. I had to bite back a groan of pure frustration.

  She was trying to kill me, had to be. I kept my voice controlled when everything else inside of me was prepped to snap. “What are you doing Kylee? Its only 3am. Go back to sleep.”

  I rolled over until I was on my opposite side; chest to chest and looked down at her. Her eyes were closed. She wasn’t fully asleep or awake but dozing in between. She shifted, wiggled closer and pressed her nose to my chest inhaling and letting out a contented sigh, mumbling softly. I had to strain to hear her.