by Taylor Rose
“Mornin’ Squirt,” he sang as he poured her a glass of orange juice, too. Once he gave it to her, he leaned down and placed a kiss on her forehead.
“How’d you sleep?” he asked her while he continued to cook.
“Like a baby. The bed’s as soft as a cloud,” she gushed clearly amazed, her eyes huge. She took a sip of her juice, and leaned against me.
“I’m glad you like it, Squirt, because it’s yours,” Kieran said nonchalantly, as if it was no big deal.
Her eyes bugged out of her little head.
“What do you mean?” she breathed, her free hand covered her mouth afraid for his answer.
“Keep up, Squirt,” he muttered. “The whole room is yours.”
She gasped, her little hand had moved so that it was trembling over her heart on her chest. She looked up at me, her heart in her eyes.
“Sissy?” she asked me, her voice almost breaking.
“I don’t know munchkin, Kieran and I haven’t had a chance to talk about it yet. But, while we’re here, I guess it is your room,” I explained as easily as I could.
She gasped and jumped down from the counter. She bulldozed her body into Kieran’s leg, hugging it for dear life.
“Thank you. Thank you. Thank you,” she chanted over and over again. Using his free hand, he ruffled her hair.
Booking it, she bolted out of the kitchen. My best guess is that she ran right to her new room.
Kieran chuckled, clearly happy with her show of emotion.
He poured the egg mixture into the pan he had already added butter to. The pan sizzled, the smell of eggs flew through the air. Using a wooden spoon, he moved the eggs around in the pan, cooking them until they were nice and golden brown.
The smell of breakfast food drifted around the room.
“Squirt, it’s time for breakfast. Get your little ass in here!” Kieran bellowed happily.
I was about to reprimand him for using a cuss word when Aqua bounded into the room. The socks on her feet made it so that when she stopped, she actually skidded and slid on the wooden floor of the kitchen.
“That’s a bad word, Jumbo,” Aqua sing-songed while her hand was placed on her hip. Her voice was so light and happy.
“My bad,” Kieran surrendered, holding his hands out in the air as if he had given up. A smirk was plastered on his face.
Kieran loaded up a plate for each of us, then walked into the adjoining dining room. He placed our plates on his small table and pushed our seats in for us before sitting down himself.
He looked at both of us, a smile on his handsome face.
“Dig in, babes,” he murmured before shoving a spoon full of eggs into his mouth.
I looked at Aqua, who had her head tilted to the side. She grabbed a piece of bacon and shoved it in her mouth.
“Yummy,” she mumbled in between bites of food. “We should have a swear jar.”
Kieran coughed, almost choking on his food. He took a sip of his orange juice to clear his throat.
“A swear jar, huh?” he asked, a small smirk on his face. Aqua either didn’t notice, or didn’t care.
“Yup,” she explained. “Whoever cusses has to put a quarter in the jar.”
She took another bite of her food, her head was bobbing up and down as if she agreed with herself.
“Okay,” Kieran drawled out. “What do we use the money for, then?”
Aqua’s head snapped up, her eyes meeting Kieran’s.
“Anything we want,” she breathed out, unable to keep the longing out of her voice.
Kieran nodded his head at the idea, still eating his food.
I cut up my piece of sausage, poured a side of syrup on my plate and dipped my sausage into the syrup before shoving the bite of perfection in my mouth.
I moaned, loud and long, unable to stop myself.
Kieran coughed, moved his hand under the table and adjusted his now hard dick.
I snickered at him – because that shit was funny – before stuffing another syrup dipped sausage into my mouth.
I licked my lips with my tongue, to make sure I got every last drop of syrup.
Kieran coughed again.
“So, what’s the plan for today, ladies?” he asked us.
Aqua shrugged her shoulders, unable to focus on anything other than the delicious food in front of her.
“Well, Aqua has school tomorrow,” I started saying as Aqua groaned. “So we need to go to the apartment and grab some of our stuff. I have work tomorrow too, so I should grab my work clothes.”
“What grade are you in, Squirt?”
Tilting her head to the side, she studied his face.
“First grade!” she exclaimed, yelling it loud and proud.
He laughed loudly and gave her a high five. Then he turned his head so that he was looking at me, his gaze penetrating the walls I had built up years ago.
I squirmed in my seat.
“You should probably take some time off to heal, baby,” he explained as he quirked one of his eyebrows. It was a clear challenge for me to disagree with him.
I scoffed. Over my dead fucking body.
“I need to work, Charming,” I hissed.
“You need to rest.”
He kept his eye brow lifted at me, as if he was a step ahead of me already. Which he probably was now that I thought about it. It wasn’t below him to play dirty.
I cursed my luck.
“Before you decide anything, how about we go through that folder the doc gave you yesterday,” he cockily said as he pointed his fork in the direction of the kitchen. My manila folder was sitting unopened on the counter.
“Fine,” I gritted out, my teeth clenched together.
Seemingly pleased with himself, he shoved his last piece of bacon into his mouth.
Aqua looked back and forth between both Kieran and myself, her eyes wide with humor and disbelief.
I huffed, blowing a puff of air out of my mouth.
“You’re such a pain in my ass,” I grumbled through my last bite of egg.
Aqua gasped.
“Figgy! That’s a bad word,” she patronized me. Shaking her head, she showed me she was disappointed in me. Her baby blue eyes lit up after a second. “You have to put a quarter in the swear jar,” she sing-songed, happy with my sudden curse.
Unable to help himself, Kieran laughed out loud.
Getting up from the table, he stretched his taut body. His muscles moved under the fabric of his baggy sweats and shirt and my mouth dried up at the sight.
He was magnificent to look at. His body was perfectly sculpted.
He snapped his fingers in front of my face, getting my attention.
“Earth to Figgy,” he drawled, his voice gritty and deep. “Just put your dish in the sink. I’ll do the dishes later. Get me?”
Shaking my head, I snapped out of my day dream. Or did my best to.
“Got you,” I whispered, my voice low and sultry. I pulled my lip in between my teeth, thinking about him. His scent. His body. His voice. His everything.
“After my shower, we’ll go to your place and grab all of your stuff.”
I nodded my head, agreeing with his plan so far.
He leaned down and placed a kiss on my forehead, his lips lingering on my skin for longer than normal.
He muttered something like, “She’s too damn beautiful for her own good.” Then he walked out of the room.
Shaking my head to clear out the sexy thoughts, I looked around the room and realized Aqua had already gotten up and left as well.
Getting up, I walked into the kitchen and placed my plate in the sink. Even though Kieran said he would do them later, I had nothing better to do, so I filled the sink with soapy water, placed the pans, plates, and utensils in the bubbly water and started washing them by hand, taking care to scrub off all of the stuck on food.
After they were all clean, I rinsed them off in hot water making sure to ge
t all of the bubbles off before resting them on the side of the sink to dry.
Once all of the dishes were done, I soaped up a sponge and first scrubbed down the stove, then the table.
Cleaning has always been something to relax me. It’s muscle memory, which means that I don’t have to really think about what I’m doing to complete my task correctly.
I must have been cleaning longer than I thought, because before I know it, Kieran walked back into the kitchen. Fully dressed, thank god.
He quirked his eye brow at me.
“I like to clean,” I explained. “It relaxes me.”
He smirked his plump lips and gestured to the house with his hands. “By all means then, baby. Clean all you want.”
He grabbed my hand in his, interlocking our fingers together and pulled me behind him. “Let’s go grab your stuff.”
*****
Whoever said that patience was a virtue hit the nail right on the fucking head.
I’d never had to show this kind of restraint before and it was killing me.
My cock was in a constant state of lust, straining against my pants, painfully hard every minute of the day.
At this rate, it felt like a snail was moving faster than we were. At least physically.
Mentally though, we were strong. Our pasts knit together to create a strong bond that I hoped would only continue to grow.
Moving slow physically would help our relationship in the long run. At least that’s what I told myself.
I wanted, no, needed us to go the distance and have that happily ever after everyone craved.
Sex would always be on the table, but earning her trust before earning her body came with a small window of opportunity.
One that I wasn’t willing to miss.
I’d gone my whole life without sex. Waiting another week or so shouldn’t be that big of a deal. Except it was. It so fucking was, because before I was alone, and now I had her within my reach.
My fingers touched her skin. My lips brushed over hers. My eyes followed her around the room.
The gravitational pull from her broken eyes was what snared me, pulling me in with her first glancing look. And while that captivated me, it was her spitfire persona that added to her intrigue. She was a hot tamale candy, through and through - hot and spicy on the outside, until you dug deep enough to reach the chewy, sweet cinnamon center. The perfect combination of sweetness and spice.
God, even her mouth tasted like cinnamon. Her kisses were addictive and all consuming.
Reaching their old apartment, I pulled into a spot and slammed the car into park.
The drive here was eerily quiet, not a sound from either of them was heard.
Glancing over, I noticed the haunted look in Figgy’s eyes. A look I understood to my very core. Fear swirled through her irises, causing a chill to travel down my body. Reaching over the center console, I grabbed her hand in mine and gave it a squeeze.
She blinked, washing away her haunted look in one fell swoop of her eyes lids.
Maybe bringing them back here wasn’t my smartest idea, but I couldn’t see doing it any other way. They needed to be the ones to grab the stuff they wanted. Having other people come here and invade their already tainted space just seemed wrong.
“We only have to go in for a couple of minutes,” I explained to them both as I held Figgy’s hand in mine and looked through the rear view mirror with my eyes locked on Aqua.
“Kay,” Squirt whispered, her words hollow.
Figgy nodded her head.
I blew out a long breath, expelling air from my lungs.
I opened my car door and the other two followed suit. Slowly, we walked down the winding path that led to their stairs. Only being here once before, I stood behind the two of them and let them take this at their own pace. They needed to walk up the stairs on their own, facing this sooner rather than later. The longer you wait, the more it builds up in your mind, until one day, it’s all you can think about.
After about ten minutes, Figgy grabbed Aqua’s hand in hers and took the first step. Once her foot was on the first stair, she continued to climb, each stair giving her more strength to continue on. They reached the top together. Looking down, Figgy’s smile took over her face radiating happiness from her accomplishment. As she should.
They say you need to move on, but you need to take one step at a time. Just keep putting one foot in front of the other until eventually, you’ve made it to your destination.
I’ve found the best thing to do is not only to take one step at a time, but also to celebrate every victory you make, no matter how small it may be. Letting yourself relish in your accomplishments will build up your confidence again until one day, you’ll be able to run a marathon without stopping to take a break.
I took the stairs two at a time, running up as fast as I could. Once I reached the top, I grabbed both girls in my arms and twirled them around making them giggle loudly.
Before placing them back on the ground, I placed a kiss on each of their foreheads.
“I’m so proud of you guys,” I laughed, a smile on my face.
“We’ve got this,” Figgy murmured with her determined eyes now fixed on the front door, her hand still clutching Squirts.
Squirt gave a sharp nod of her head, agreeing with her sister.
“I know you do, baby.”
My words must have hit home, because less than a minute later, Figgy pulled her keys out of her purse, slid the key into the lock and twisted. A click sounded, letting us know the door was now unlocked.
Without any care, Figgy shoved her keys back in her purse and used her free hand to turn the doorknob. A creaking sound echoed from the rusty hinges, something only WD40 could fix.
I huffed under my breath because any man worth his salt knows what that sound means. I already knew her old guy was a worthless piece of shit, I mean he was an abusive asshole, but this made me wonder if he had ever had a dick hanging between his legs.
Probably not.
Sick fucking bastard.
Knowing that he was still out there lurking around in the shadows made me fucking angry.
I thought I had beat him down enough so that he wouldn’t be able to get himself up, but when the police showed up a few minutes after we left to get Figgy to the hospital, he was already gone. It was as if he vanished into thin air.
This was one of the many things I needed to tell her when we get home.
Up until now, I didn’t really see a point in worrying her. She’s been safe with me since the incident. Plus, I was hoping they would have caught the mother fucker by now.
Tomorrow, everything changes. Work and school couldn’t be avoided, which meant that she needed all of the details so that she was prepared.
Figgy and Squirt walked through the door leading into their old apartment. Once inside, I drew in a rugged breath. The apartment was a disaster. Everything was thrown around on the ground, as if someone had ransacked it.
Not that it was in tip top shape when we left, but I didn’t remember it being this bad.
Figgy gasped, one of her hands flew up to her chest, covering her heart.
Her eyes looked panicked, darting back and forth through the apartment she had once called home.
Walking up behind her, I pulled her small body close to mine and wrapped my arms around her shoulders. She relaxed in my embrace, but was still a little jumpy.
She took a deep breath, steadying her nerves.
“Grab anything you want to bring, munchkin,” Figgy murmured to Aqua.
“Anything?” Aqua asked in a small voice.
Figgy nodded and Aqua took off down the hall to what I assume must have been her room.
“What can I do?” I asked her while rubbing my thumb over her upper arm.
“Essentials, like bathroom stuff. If it looks like we would need it, grab it,” she explained. She turned around in my arms and placed a kiss on my lips before walki
ng down the hall.
Nodding to myself, I went in search of a bag to carry everything in. I opened the hall closet first but couldn’t find a bag. I did find a few thicker jackets for both girls which I grabbed and placed in a pile on the couch. They were going to need those at some point.
Next I walked into the kitchen, stepping over a shit ton of trash scattered on the ground to get to the cupboards. Opening the cupboards one by one, I searched for a bag to use, even a plastic one would do at this point, but there were none. There was also no food. None, nada, zip, zilch. This, I found a little odd, how was there not a thing to eat here? Whatever, it’s not like they were going to stay here anymore.
Moving them into my house was only part of my plan.
I could hear Cooper’s voice in my head.
You’ve known them for a few days Kieran, what the hell are you doing moving them into your house? You’re fucking insane. Don’t come crying to me if they steal from you, or worse, you end up murdered in your own bed.
A little crazy in life is necessary, being bored is completely overrated.
I smirked just thinking about the fight Figgy and I would have about her moving in with me. I already knew she was going to put up a good fight, too bad I was not going to lose this one.
I let out an exasperated sigh. How was it that I hadn’t found a goddamn bag yet?
“Ughhhhh.”
Looking around, the only thing left to look in was an old television stand meant for a box TV. It was wood with doors that opened up and had storage underneath it.
Opening the wooden door, I was surprised to find a few old and ratty tote bags. I grabbed all of them, so that I knew I would have enough room to pack as much shit as I could. I closed the door, letting it slam shut with a bang. With only one more compartment, I decided to look in there and make sure there weren’t any more bags. It was a smaller door that folded down. I opened it, and it creaked from the rust stuck on its hinges. Instead of bags, there were a few DVD’s. Grabbing them in my hands, I pulled them close enough to read the black sharpie writing. Dust coated the plastic cases as if the hadn’t been watched in a while. Wiping the dust off with my fingers, I could read what was written on the videos.