Damage Control

by M. S. Parker

  I’d responded with a simple question. And Kaleb?

  We haven’t been able to spend time with you in several weeks. We need time to catch up. He can join us some other time.

  I'd given him a simple answer.

  No thank you.

  That had set him off, and Mom had taken over from there, but I was ignoring her too.

  It was weird how freeing this was. Granted, it was all a farce, and I needed to think through how things would be after this, but for the first time, both my mother and my father had stopped trying to talk through me, stopped looking through me.

  Yes, they were angry, but I could handle that.

  I couldn’t keep handling how they spent more time worrying about how my life was going to affect theirs.

  If they were that hung up on it, they should have had a poodle instead of a daughter.

  I checked the time again without any conscious thought, then groaned. It was going to be another hour, maybe two, before he was done with Samuel.

  I was about to go out of my mind…

  The phone next to me buzzed again and I looked down at it automatically.

  A pretty girl’s picture flashed up across the screen, along with the notification that he’d gotten a message.

  “Don't do it, Piety,” I muttered to myself.

  He was a good-looking guy. He probably got messages from a lot of girls. Of course, he hadn’t told me that he was involved. I hadn’t asked.

  But…

  I'd married him, and we were having sex. It wasn't just about me, since I knew where we stood with each other. I didn't want to be the other woman. At least that was the excuse I gave myself as I swiped my thumb across the phone to unlock it.

  Her name was Camry.

  That was the first thing I noticed.

  She was also flashing a wide, open grin into the camera.

  She looked…happy. Sweet and young and happy.

  Who was she?

  The phone jolted in my hand as another message came through.

  Are you there, K? Come on…I need to know. Things are getting desperate here. You got the money or not?

  A strange, heavy sensation settled in my gut, and I closed the messages, putting the phone down.

  I knew Kaleb needed money. He’d been honest about that from the beginning. Or had he?

  Had he known who I was from moment one? Astra said she remembered how things had gone the night Kaleb and I had gotten married, but how reliable was her memory.

  Had Kaleb been playing me this whole time?

  And just who the hell was Camry?

  Thirteen

  Piety

  It seemed like an eternity passed before my husband for hire finally returned from the meeting with Astra’s cousin, the lawyer. When he did, I was still dealing with the uneasiness I’d felt ever since I read the message from Camry.

  Camry.

  Who was she?

  How did he know her?

  Did she mean anything to him?

  Of course she did.

  How could she not?

  She was asking him for money?

  But even as that thought occurred to me, I brushed it aside. I’d had people I barely knew hit me up for money, guys I’d dated just a couple of times ask to hook up, telling me about this fascinating idea they had and just how much they could change the world if they had a little bit of help.

  Money didn’t mean somebody mattered – it meant the money mattered.

  I pushed the thought aside as I heard the familiar sound of the elevator, and I slid off the couch just as the door opened. He caught sight of me coming toward him and paused, as if I’d surprised him.

  I wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed him. For a moment, for that brief moment as my lips touched his, the chaos in my head faded away to nothingness, and it was just the two of us. It seemed that some tension drained out of him as well, and I wanted to curl myself tighter around him, pretend the world was gone.

  But the world would just come back and find us.

  So I retreated, rubbing my lips together to hold onto his taste a moment longer.

  “How did it go?”

  He shrugged, his voice deprecating and wry as he answered, “It went.”

  He kissed my forehead before he cut around me and the feel of his lips lingered in the sweetest way. I leaned against the door, watching him as he moved deeper into the loft.

  “You left your phone,” I said. There. Nice and easy. I didn’t have to mention I’d gone snooping and seen his message, right?

  “I noticed,” he said dryly as he pulled out a bottle of water from the refrigerator. He grinned at me. “I discovered that…oh, two minutes before I was supposed to meet the lawyer. Great timing, huh?”

  “Could be worse. You could have left it back in Vegas.”

  “True.”

  Looking down, I fought the ugly monster brewing in my belly. It wasn’t like I’d gotten his girlfriend’s number or something. This wasn’t that big of a deal.

  “Who’s Camry?”

  The words popped out without any conscious thought from me, and I would have sucked them back in if there was any possible way of doing it. But that wasn’t possible, and I stood there, feeling blood rush to my face as he slowly lifted his head and met my eyes.

  “What?”

  “Ah…” Face flaming, I shifted from one foot to the other, feeling awkward and out of place. It wasn’t a feeling I was used to, and I didn’t like it – at all. “She…um…well, she texted you. I’m sorry. I didn’t think. I just picked up the phone and saw the message. She wants money.”

  I half-expected him to just brush it off. Oh…it’s a woman I know on the tour…she’s always bumming money for a smoke. It’s a lady from home, sometimes she runs short right before payday.

  It would be something small and easy.

  But a muscle jumped in his cheek as he stared at me.

  “She’s…” He turned away, the muscles in his spine going tight.

  I could see the tension in him. He stood so rigid, I thought he’d break.

  I wished I hadn’t said anything.

  “Camry’s my sister.”

  A harsh breath escaped me, the nervousness draining away to be replaced by giddiness.

  But all of that evaporated in an instant when Kaleb looked back at me.

  “She needs money to pay off her dealer. That’s why I came to Las Vegas and joined the Flames. She’s in trouble.” He stood there rigid, shoulders braced like he was preparing for a blow. “She’s been in and out of trouble since our parents died, and I can’t do shit to help her. But I couldn’t just ignore it…she’s my baby sister. I had to try.”

  Fourteen

  Kaleb

  I expected a lot of reactions from her, everything from apathy to outrage.

  What I didn’t expect was for Piety to come over and take my hand, then lead me to the couch and tell me to sit. She sat down next to me and curled up against me. “I think it’s time you tell me what’s going on.”

  “I just did.”

  “No. You told me you had a sister who owes money to a dealer…that’s like saying Captain America is a movie about a soldier.”

  It tugged a smile out of me. “You mean there’s more?” I tilted my head and smiled at her tiredly.

  “Kaleb.”

  Sighing, I dropped my head forward, pressing our brows together. “Okay.” Closing my eyes, I tried to figure out where to start. How did I wrap up the last decade of my life in a way that wouldn’t take hours or months to explain?

  “Our parents died ten years ago. It was…rough.” Shaking my head, I stared off into nothing. Rough didn’t even describe it. “Before that, we were normal. So fucking normal, you’d almost get sick. Dad and Mom would dance around the house at night, and they’d laugh and tease each other…I used to act like I hated it but…” I shrugged, smiling a little. I didn’t let myself remember the good times enough. “It was good. They were good. We were good. They were k
illed in a car crash, and nothing’s been good since.”

  I looked over at Piety. “We were sent to live with my dad’s uncle – he’s the only family we had left. He tried, but he never had kids, hadn’t wanted any, and he didn’t know what to do with us. Especially Camry. She cried a lot. Caused trouble. Started skipping school and by high school, she got into drugs and was already drinking…fuck.”

  This was why I didn’t like to think about it. I felt like a failure. I hadn’t been able to help her. At all.

  “Sometimes she hated even being around me, hated me, I think.”

  “No.” Piety touched my cheek. “Why would she hate you?”

  I looked at her. “Because I had them longer. She was only eleven when they died. I know it doesn’t make sense, but she was a kid. Nothing makes sense when you’re a kid who’s lost her parents.”

  “But you’re her brother.”

  “Fat lot of good I’ve done her.” I covered her hand and pressed a kiss to it. “Camry…well, hell. If Mom and Dad had still been alive, there’s no telling what she might have gone on to do. She was always smart. Even as much trouble as she got into, school was still easy for her. She even managed to get an international scholarship to go to college – over here. It was in Las Vegas. The University of Nevada.”

  “It’s a pretty decent school.” Piety smiled, brushed at my hair. “You must have been proud.”

  “I was.” It hadn’t lasted long. “I got worried fast. She had trouble after the first few months. Wasn’t fitting in well. I guess life away from home wasn’t everything she thought it would be. She ended up losing her scholarship, left school. Now…hell. I don’t know what kind of trouble she’s in, but I know she owes a shitload of money to a piece of shit drug dealer, and when I try to call, I can hardly ever get hold of her. The one time she does call…” I laughed, bitterness tearing at me.

  Getting up, I paced over to the wide window that faced out over the panorama and stared outside.

  “I talked to Samuel about helping us getting new visas to stay in the States,” I said quietly. “When I signed with Flames Down Under, I got a one year visa, but since I’m no longer in the show, I need to find another way to stay. I must…for Camry’s sake. She’s an addict. She needs help, more help than I can give her. I want to get her into some sort of program. I’ll find a job.”

  She opened her mouth to ask a question, but I held up a hand.

  “Not stripping either,” I assured her. “I was…am a good surfer, worked at a shop in Sydney, wanted to have my own place. I had this crazy idea I could get her debts settled, then we could find some place. In California, maybe, I don’t know. I could work at a surf store, maybe give lessons.” He shot me a quick smile. “Nobody surfs like an Aussie. Except maybe down in Hawaii. But it was an idea. I don’t know though. Nothing is going the way I planned.”

  I heard her getting up and turned to look at her, uncertain what she was going to do. Turning around, I caught her arms just as she would have slid them around me.

  “What are you doing?” I asked softly.

  “Hugging you.” She gave me an easy smile. “You look like you need it.”

  “I…” The words died in my throat as she slid her arms around me and tucked her head against my chest, snuggling in close.

  “It will work out, Kaleb.”

  I cupped the back of her head in my hand and breathed in the scent of her. I really, really wanted to believe that.

  She smoothed her hands up and down my spine, and the worries continued to eat inside me. When she took my face in her hands and kissed me, offering the sweetest of distractions, I wasn’t about to refuse.

  She tasted so good, felt so soft.

  I caught the hem of the skirt she wore and pulled back, looking into her eyes as I dragged it up. She didn’t look away, not even when I slid my hand inside her panties and found her already wet, already ready for me.

  “I want you now,” I said, the need slamming into me like it had been lying in wait.

  “Then have me now,” she said, leaning in and kissing me. She bit my lower lip, and I groaned as it sent waves of heat blasting through every neuron in my body.

  “Right now? Right here?” I asked, staring into her eyes.

  “Right now. Right here. No roommate to bother us.” Her tongue flicked out to wet her lips. “She’s gone…out doing things. Going to be gone…all day…oh…”

  She clamped around the fingers I’d just slid through her damp folds, then up into her wet channel.

  “That’s…convenient.” I twisted my wrist.

  She rocked against me, her lashes fluttering. She slid a hand down and gripped my wrist, her mouth parting on a moan. She started to ride my hand, and I almost laughed, even as my dick began to pulse in heavy denial. I wanted to have her riding me like that.

  But there was time.

  Later.

  She moved against me, demanding and hungry. I braced my free hand on the wall over her head, staring down, watching the two of us. When I circled my thumb around her clitoris, she shivered, a delicate reaction that started at her shoulders and went all the way down.

  Her nipples went tight, and I wanted to catch each one and bite them.

  But that would require moving, and I didn’t want to do that until–

  “Kaleb!” She clenched around me and climaxed, hard and quick, her hips bucking against my hand.

  I waited until she was done before I moved.

  Then, as she sagged against the wall, looking insanely pleased with herself, I tore open my trousers, grabbed her hips and boosted her up. “Again.”

  I thrust inside her, felt the mini tremors still going through her as she came, and I had to grit my teeth against the sensation because it just felt too damn good.

  “You’re…fuck me, Piety, I think we’ll kill each other.”

  She laughed weakly and clung to my shoulders. “But what a way to go.”

  “Yeah.” Lashing everything down until I almost had myself under control, I eased away and looked into her eyes as I withdrew, then surged slowly back inside. “I love watching you. Love touching you.”

  “I love having you touch me…” The words broke on a sigh, and she arched, clamping tight around me with a moan.

  “Don’t…” I hissed out. “Don’t do that.”

  “I can’t help it.” She shoved away from the wall, closing the distance I’d put between us and wrapped her arms around my neck. Then she started to move – she was riding me, again. All sleek muscle and hungry female, she used the strength of her thighs and hips to move herself up and down.

  “Fuck.” I grabbed her ass, dragged her up, let her sink back down, driven by her weight. Then I did it again, grinding her against me.

  She whimpered, and I heard another moan rip out of her.

  Again.

  Again.

  “Please!” The word was weak, almost a scream, would have been if she’d had air.

  Lurching forward a half step, I put her back against the wall and thrust. Deep, hard, over and over.

  We came together and it was almost painful.

  “I think we…really might kill each other,” Piety said, a few moments later, her breathing still ragged.

  “Yeah. But as you said, what a way to go.”

  Fifteen

  Piety

  “Are you nervous?”

  Sliding on my earrings, I glanced into the mirror and met Astra’s gaze. I shrugged and said honestly, “Some, I guess. I mean, this whole thing rides on him not…”

  I trailed off, because I couldn’t understand why he wouldn’t say anything. My parents had been awful. The people around us later today would be just as bad, although they might not say anything outright. I just didn’t know. All I knew was that if I had people digging at me like that, I’d strike back.

  “He won’t say anything,” Astra said, reading my mind in that annoying way of hers.

  I stuck my tongue out.

  “You’re so mature.
” She clucked her tongue, then flopped back down on my bed to stare up at the ceiling. “He’s not going to. He’s just got that kind of…oomph to him. You can trust him. He’s the guy you call at two a.m. when you’ve got a flat. Even if you’re an hour away, he’d come help you out.”

  “Yeah.” I had that kind of feeling from him too. Maybe that was part of why I was so nervous. Granted, this had been my idea – okay, mine and Astra’s – but he’d be the one to deal with some of the harsher things said by people. Sure, they might say things about me and my judgment, but I’d dealt with that plenty.

  They wouldn’t be insulting his judgment.

  They’d be insulting him, and what was worse, now I knew why he’d made the decisions he’d made.

  Groaning, I rubbed my forehead.

  “Next time I offer somebody a ludicrous amount of money to do something for me, tell me to ask them why they need it so badly first,” I told Astra, moving to sit next to her. After a moment’s debate, I flopped down flat right alongside her, and we lay there, studying the ceiling.

  “You like him, don’t you?”

  “Yeah.” Closing my eyes, I blew out a breath. “I really, really like him.”

  “Tell him.”

  A knot settled in my throat, but I forced myself to ignore it. “No point. He has things to do back in Las Vegas, a life to get back to.”

  “And you know this because…?”

  Sitting up, I looked over at Astra and shrugged. “We’ve talked. Some. I…I think he kind of likes me too. But the things he’s got going on must come first. I don’t blame him. But it’s too complicated for a relationship.”

  “If it’s the right relationship, nothing is too complicated.” She sat as well and hooked an arm around my shoulders, hugging me. “You seem awful happy with him, PS. You really wanna give that up?”

  Covering her forearm with my hand, I leaned into her. “I’m not even ready to think about that yet. Besides, I can’t control the things in his life.”