by Krane, Kasey
Isabelle and Reese were in the kitchen together again. There was coffee on the table. Eggs and toast.
They were laughing about something as Reese changed the dressing on Isabelle’s wounds.
“You look like you’ve seen a ghost!” my sister exclaimed. When she laughed, she didn’t wince this time, so that was a relief to see.
Reese met my eyes. She must have known why I reacted the way I did.
“Have some coffee,” she said calmly, pouring me a mug.
I joined them at the table, looking Isabelle over to see if she did actually look better.
“It’s amazing what a night’s sleep can do to your body, right? And I’m sure you know this already but this one’s a keeper,” Isabelle said. She smiled up at Reese who blushed and hid her eyes. The irony was... I was keeping her, indeed.
“It’s like she’s worked some kind of miracle on me.”
Reese shook her head. “It’s nothing. Your injuries aren’t serious.”
“But are you sure you’re not a doctor or a nurse?” Isabelle insisted.
Reese smiled. “I’m sure. I think I would have remembered something like that.”
I slammed a set of keys down on the table as a diversion. The less curious Isabelle was of Reese, the better it would be for everybody.
“What’s that?” my sister asked.
“Keys to my apartment in the city. It’s yours.”
“Mine?” Isabelle’s eyes glowed. She reached for the keys and held them tightly in her hand.
“I don’t want you worrying about where to live. I know you don’t want to go to the family home. You can camp out at the apartment for a while. For as long as you need.”
Isabelle smiled warmly at me, reaching for my hand.
“Thank you for everything, Killian. I know we’re not biological siblings, but you are literally the best brother a girl could have.” She squeezed my hand and I grunted a response.
It was awkward because there were things I wanted to say. I wanted to remind Isabelle she was the only sister I had. Biological or not. And I would always protect her with my life. But those weren’t the kinds of things I was used to saying.
When I looked up, Reese was smiling at me like her heart had just melted.
Twenty
Reese
Killian left me free and alone in his house again, while he took his sister to his apartment in the city.
Once again, he didn’t have a conversation with me about how I was pretty much free to do whatever I wanted.
I could walk out of the cabin at any time. He hadn’t even locked the front door.
For several minutes after they had left, I stood in the living room contemplating my next move. That was when I realized it had been days since the last time I had a genuine urge to escape. I didn’t even think about it anymore.
Escape to what?
Didn’t I have everything I needed right here?
I had a comfortable home. I had a man who took care of me. A man who gave me tingles every time he looked at me. There was nothing else for me out there.
I decided I would cook us a nice meal for when he returned. Who knew what the next day had in store for us.
Maybe all this time while Isabelle was here, Killian was just waiting for her to leave so he could revert to treating me like his prisoner again. Maybe it was all just an act for his sister’s sake, because he didn’t want his family finding out he was harboring me.
But what if it wasn’t? What if he actually felt the way I did?
Like maybe…just maybe, there could be a future for us? Would it be so crazy to imagine that?
I found all the ingredients I needed to make a sausage casserole, and I got to work quickly on it.
I’d never cooked for anyone before. I’d certainly never cooked for Charlie and he…he was the only guy I’d ever gotten serious with.
I had never had the opportunity to pretend to have a domestic life with a man before. We played house and it made me feel good. It made me feel normal.
I heard his car drive up to the cabin. Then doors banged. Opened and shut.
Finally, Killian was in the kitchen with me again.
I turned to face him. His brows were furrowed and it looked like he was sniffing the air.
“What is that?” he asked.
“Sausage casserole. I wanted to make something nice for us tonight, but you don’t have to eat it if you don’t want to.”
My throat was dry. I didn’t know what to expect from him.
Now that Isabelle was gone, I wouldn’t have been surprised if he banished me to the basement again. It didn’t matter. I wanted to do this for him either way.
“No, I want to eat it. It smells delicious,” he said.
Then he walked over to the cabinet and grabbed two big plates, plonking them down on the table.
Looked like I was going to have dinner with him again tonight.
* * *
“I have to admit, it was nice seeing that other side of you,” I said as we ate.
Killian had already taken second helpings, and he wasn’t trying to hide the fact that he enjoyed what I’d cooked.
“What other side?” he asked gruffly.
I shrugged. “I guess I just never pictured you as a man who…”
“Cared about anyone or anything?” He completed the sentence for me.
My cheeks turned red because it wasn’t far from what I was trying to say.
Killian smirked and shook his head.
“Don’t worry. I don’t hold that against you. I don’t think I know what I care about either. Other than my family.”
“I could see your sister means a lot to you.”
“She’s the only sister I’ve got, and a man who claims to love her should never have hurt her like that.”
Killian met my eyes, and it was difficult for me to hold his gaze. Were those really his morals? Why was I surprised by them? I didn’t know him at all. Was it so hard to believe that he actually cared about somebody?
I had witnessed the rage in him. He was furious every time Isabelle spoke about Brayden. He had made sure that guy was taken care of. I had a feeling his face looked a lot worse today than Isabelle’s did when he hit her.
Even though I was still Killian’s prisoner, it made me feel safer, knowing what he was capable of doing for the people he cared for.
Did he care about me?
Did he actually care what happened to me?
Or did he rescue me from being married to his uncle because he just wanted me to himself.
And now he had me. Every night if he wanted to.
“And what about the rest of your family?”
“What about them?”
“I don’t think I’ll ever have the chance to meet them, so tell me about them,” I said.
I didn’t expect him to actually indulge me.
“I have six brothers, a step mother, a step sister and a father.”
He looked at me squarely, searching my eyes.
“Six brothers!”
“I know right? My poor mother,” he remarked.
I bit my lip, but he was smiling so I had to smile too.
“But it’s the greatest gift my parents could have given me. My brothers and I are best friends.”
“That is pretty amazing. I don’t have any siblings,” I admitted, looking down at my plate of half-eaten food. “I don’t have any family.”
Killian had his jaws clenched. He glared at me, but I didn’t know why.
Why was he so angry? Was he angry with me? Did I do something wrong? Did I ask him the wrong question?
“You don’t deserve the life you have been given so far, Reese. You’re better than that,” he said.
I had to do everything in my power to not burst into tears. Maybe this was the only compliment I would ever get from him, but I was going to hold it close to my heart forever.
Twenty-One
Killian
I knew I was spending way too much time
with her.
We lived together in my cabin. Isolated together in the woods, with only each other for company.
And instead of being my captive, I had started treating Reese as I would have treated a girlfriend. Not that I had a long list of ex-girlfriends to compare this relationship with.
We spent our days together, watching Marvel films and cooking and eating. She slept in my bed. Fell asleep in my arms.
I loved soaking in the bath together. Baths that turned into erotic bubble battles, leading to her mouth on my cock.
I went to sleep dreaming about her and woke up with her sprawled on the bed beside me. The scary part was I didn’t want it to change. There was nothing about the time we spent together that I wanted to be different.
I wasn’t thinking about the future, and I ignored the past.
It seemed that was what she did too. She seemed to have forgotten how she pulled the trigger on Connor. How I tied her up in my basement. How she made multiple attempts to escape.
By now I knew she wasn’t going anywhere. She’d decided she was safest here. And what did that mean?
Was this what a relationship was supposed to look like? Did I have feelings for her?
I stopped myself from examining those feelings because they embarrassed me. More than that, they weren’t practical feelings. It wasn’t like we could actually have a future together.
Today, I was in the living room, sipping on a can of beer. Reese was in the armchair across from me. A movie played on the TV, while she flipped through one of my old comic books. Instead of looking at the screen, I stared at her.
Taking in her full pink lips and her wide forehead. The way her honey brown hair sat on her shoulders. Her slim dainty fingers as she flipped page after page.
I knew I had feelings for her. Not the kind of feelings that would help me. The more I stared, the angrier I got. I wanted to stop feeling like this. I wanted to go back to wanting her for her cunt.
I wanted to forget about her voice and the way she looked at me, and focus on what her mouth looked like around my cock.
Reese looked up at me, catching me staring. She cocked a brow up devilishly.
“Do you like what you see?” she asked, biting down on her lip.
I was pissed off with myself so I got up, scrunching the empty can of beer in my hand till it was basically pulp.
“I don’t know what you think you know about me, Reese. I want you to understand that you don’t know me at all.”
I left the room fuming, knowing she had no clue what I was talking about, or why I snapped at her. I was glad she didn’t ask for an explanation because I wouldn’t have been able to give her one.
* * *
The kitchen smelled amazing again. In the morning, I went to the grocery store with a long list of things she wanted me to pick up. Apparently, she wanted to bake some cookies and banana bread.
Reese was in the kitchen with oven mitts on. I wished I had an apron she could wear to complete the look. I couldn’t help but fantasize about how adorable she would look in an outfit like that.
I was at the table drinking a cup of coffee. Anyone who peered in through the window would have easily and understandably made the mistake of assuming we were in the middle of a happy domestic scene.
A car pulled up in front of the house and Reese jumped, startled. I went to the window, already coming up with plans of hiding Reese on the double. Then I saw Isabelle stepping out of the car.
“It’s okay,” I said to Reese.
There was a loud rap on the front door and I went to open it. Isabelle stormed through. Her wounds had healed quite a bit but she still looked shaken up.
“What did you do, Killian? Where is he? Is he dead?” she screeched at me.
I narrowed my eyes at Isabelle. I couldn’t believe she was here asking me these ridiculous questions.
“Why do you need to know? You should consider yourself lucky you got away from him,” I growled.
“Whatever happened between Brayden and me, was exactly that. Between Brayden and me. You had no right. No right!” she continued screaming.
“Isabelle, please calm down. It won’t do you any good to behave like this.” It was Reese. She appeared at the living room door.
Isabelle turned to her and immediately it seemed like she was going to break into tears.
“Oh, Reese! I’m so glad you’re still here. Please tell me what you know. What did my brothers do to Brayden?”
Isabelle rushed over and Reese took her in her arms.
“I don’t know and you shouldn’t want to know either. Killian is right, you’re lucky you got away from him.”
All I could do was stand and stare at them. How did she have that effect on my sister? Did she have that effect on everybody? In which case, she would be a magical nurse if her dreams really did come true.
“But he was the man I was supposed to marry and have babies with, you know? It was me. We got into a fight and he…he hit me but I provoked him.” Isabelle was in tears while Reese held her tight.
I had my hands in fists because I wanted to punch the wall.
“No, you didn’t provoke him, Isabelle. You couldn’t have done anything to deserve a reaction like that from him. It wasn’t you.” Reese lifted Isabelle’s face up, holding it with both hands.
“Now, let’s go into the kitchen. Let’s discuss this over some coffee and cookies. I promise you’ll feel better.”
Reese wound an arm around Isabelle and started guiding her to the kitchen. On her way out, she threw me a look over her shoulder. She smiled. Maybe she expected a smile back from me, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it.
Seeing her being this good with Isabelle, made me weak. Made me want her to be a part of my family. A part of my life.
And that feeling really fucked with my head.
* * *
I didn’t want to interrupt their conversation.
Reese and Isabelle sat at the kitchen table. Reese gave her a tall glass of warm milk she dunked her cookies in. She was almost childlike in the way she sobbed, and how she turned to Reese for advice.
I couldn’t have helped my sister in those moments no matter how much I tried. Reese was the one who knew what to say. She knew what would calm Isabelle. She knew how to get Isabelle to stay in control and realize that Brayden was a monster for hitting her.
Conflicting thoughts flickered through my head as I watched them. I never should have let Reese out of the basement. I never should have gotten her involved in my family’s drama.
What if Isabelle figured out the truth?
But there was a part of me that knew Reese was perfect for this situation. Nobody had been this good at handling Isabelle’s strong personality the way Reese was doing it.
I was sure my dad and Cynthia would both be equally amazed by this scene unfolding before my eyes.
As if on cue, my phone rang and I saw it was him calling.
Reese glanced up when she heard the ring, but I stepped away.
“Yeah?”
“You got any updates for me?” Dad asked.
I turned my back to the door and lowered my voice.
“Updates on what?”
“Are you kidding me? Connor. The girl. What is up with you?”
“I’ve been dealing with the Isabelle situation, for fuck’s sake! I need some time.”
“We have to find the girl. Now. She may be the only one who knows what really happened to Connor.”
I breathed in deeply and leaned my head against the door frame.
“Yeah, well, I might have an idea where she is.”
“Go get her! Figure this out! We’re relying on you, Killian.”
I ended the call quickly because I didn’t want to listen to my father anymore. When I turned, I saw Reese near the door. She was pulling a carton of milk out of the fridge.
She had her face turned away so I couldn’t see her expression. I wasn’t sure if she heard me—if she heard what I said to my father about her
.
“Just give me a minute and I’ll heat this up. More cookies?” She spoke to Isabelle and her voice sounded unchanged.
So maybe I was in the clear. Maybe she had no idea what I was planning.
Twenty-Two
Reese
I couldn’t get my hands to stop shaking ever since I overheard what Killian said on the phone.
I didn’t mean to eavesdrop on his conversation…well, maybe I did.
He was being so cold towards me. Even though we slept in the same bed at night, and I cooked for him and we were play pretending this idyllic domestic life together—it was like he was shutting himself up slowly. Like he’d suddenly decided he wasn’t playing anymore.
I could sense something was wrong.
He’d given me a strange look when his phone rang. He was standing right there at the kitchen door with his back to us and I knew I needed to hear what he said.
I just knew he was going to talk about me, and he did.
He told the person, whoever he was speaking to, that he knew where I was.
He was going to turn me in.
Isabelle sat beside me at the table, still dunking cookies into her glass of milk. I’d helped wipe all her tears away and it seemed like she felt better about everything. I just hoped she wouldn’t try and get in contact with Brayden again. She was going to be better off without him in her life.
I couldn’t bear the thought of any girls being in abusive relationships, when they had means and a choice to get away. The way I never had.
“Thank you for everything you’ve done and are doing for me, Ray,” Isabelle interrupted my thoughts.
I forced myself to smile, and clasped my hands tightly to keep them from shaking so much.
Killian was back in the room and he reached for a cookie.
“And I’m grateful to you too, Killian. Thanks for giving me a place to stay…and for taking care of the Brayden situation.”
Her eyes filled with tears again when she said his name.