by Brent, Cora
“Ah, Taylor,” he sighed and his voice was once more so filled with grief on my behalf that my eyes swam with tears all over again.
“I know her!” Thomas’s date suddenly gasped. “I know Ashington! She’s in my group in my poly sci class. We were all supposed to do a project on political campaigns in the age of social media but she never finished her part so guess who had to end up doing it?”
She paused dramatically.
No one ventured a guess.
“ME, that’s who!” She stood up suddenly, shrugging the sheet around her shoulders. “Hey Tommy, I’m gonna hop on out of here but we should meet up this weekend at that new juice bar on Mill. You know which one I’m talking about, right? Anyway, I’ll just grab my stuff. Text me tomorrow.” She blew him a kiss and scuttled back into the bedroom from which she’d emerged.
“You should go make sure you get your sheet back,” I warned Thomas.
Kellan snorted. Angelica giggled.
Thomas smiled serenely at our silliness and took my advice.
I set my ice pack aside and asked if I could use the bathroom. Kellan let me know that there was a first aid kit underneath the sink so I could clean out my cuts.
Getting a good look at myself in the vanity mirror of Kellan’s bathroom did nothing to bolster my spirits. There were smears of blood that I had missed while mopping my face in the darkness of my car’s front seat. My hair was messy, my shirt filthy. I leaned closer to the mirror and carefully touched my nose. It was swollen and sore and I’d likely be sporting some bruises by morning but it looked straight and touching it wasn’t agony so I became hopeful it wasn’t broken after all.
I’d dragged my backpack in here and quickly changed into clean, comfortable clothes before scrubbing dirt and blood away. I applied antiseptic to my scrapes, brushed my hair until it looked decent and then for good measure I also brushed my teeth.
When I returned to the living room all the talking ceased and everyone looked up anxiously.
Angelica smiled at me. “You look much better, Taylor.”
“Thanks. I feel slightly human again.”
“Sit down.” Kellan patted the couch and waited for me to ease down beside him.
With Kellan’s blue eyes focused on me so intently I felt very exposed. I knew Kellan was extremely smart. And extremely capable when it came to decoding people. I wouldn’t lie to him anymore. I wouldn’t pretend as if things were better than they were.
“I wasn’t staying at a friend’s place,” I admitted. “I made that up because I didn’t want you feeling sorry for me.”
He nodded, unsurprised. “I get it. But you don’t have to hide anything from me. There’s no judgment here.”
The kindness in his tone brought tears to my eyes again. I’d turned into quite the basket case since this morning. Thomas found a box of tissues and handed them to me.
“I was supposed to move into my own place today,” I said and then dabbed at my nose because it still hurt too much to blow it. “But then the bank froze all my funds so I lost the apartment.”
“Why would the bank do that?” Thomas wanted to know.
I hesitated to explain and then remembered my resolve to be honest. “I don’t know for sure what the bank’s reasons are but shortly before his death my father was arrested for being the mastermind of an investment pyramid scheme. Some of the money he stole disappeared and the authorities thought I might know what happened to it so they kept watching me. I hadn’t heard anything new in months and I thought they’d stopped messing with me but apparently not.”
Everyone in the room was just staring at me and I realized I needed to add one crucial detail.
“Look, I don’t know anything about my father’s business or his money. I certainly haven’t buried a big bundle of cash in a secret place. But until I can get this sorted out somehow, I’m pretty much destitute.”
“You can stay here as long as you want to,” Kellan said.
“We already talked about it,” Thomas added.
I reddened. “Thanks guys, but I swear I wasn’t angling for an invitation to set up camp in your living room indefinitely.”
“We know,” Kellan assured me. “But our folks raised us with the idea that you should help people out whenever you can.” He nudged my shoulder. “Especially your friends.”
I wanted to hug him. I wanted to crawl into his lap and rest my cheek on his shoulder and inhale the warm, masculine comfort of his presence and sleep there until tomorrow.
That probably would have been a little bit much.
So instead I said, “I would appreciate that more than I can say. I promise I’ll get everything sorted out as soon as I can.”
“You’ve got this, Taylor,” cheered Thomas. “I know you do.”
I wondered if he would agree to be my life coach.
“Are you hungry?” Kellan asked me. “You’re welcome to anything we’ve got in the fridge.”
Thomas snapped his fingers. “We should go get hamburgers. I saw a commercial for these double decker mozzarella burgers from Burger Haven.”
“Hamburgers?” Kellan scratched his head. “The last time you saw me eating a fast food hamburger you told me I was contaminating my intestines and you offered me a fist full of tree leaves to eat instead.”
Thomas grinned. “That was baby spinach. I need something more solid tonight. I worked up an appetite.”
“Yeah,” Kellan muttered. “Your appetite probably cracked the walls in a few places.”
Thomas was offended. “You’re exaggerating as usual.”
“I am not. Check out the spider cracks in the kitchen. We’ll probably never get our security deposit back.”
“Don’t make me come over there and deal with you.”
Kellan laughed. “Who do you think you are? Derek? Keep it up little man and you’ll find yourself eating your hamburger in an unnatural way.”
“I might be able to eat a hamburger,” announced Angelica. “I’m feeling a lot less drunk now and I started getting hungry again right after I puked my guts out.”
“Great.” Kellan stood. “I’ll go. I’m taking your car, Thomas.” He nodded at me. “Why don’t you give me your keys, Taylor? I’ll go check on your car and see if there’s anything I can do.”
“What can you do?” Thomas asked. “You can’t even fix your own car.”
Kellan ignored him this time and kept his attention on me. “Why do you want to eat? And don’t tell me nothing or I’ll buy one of each menu item to tempt you.”
“That sounds expensive. Just a hamburger is fine.” I paused. “Can I come with you though? I’d like to grab a few more things out of my car.”
“It’s a plan.” He offered his hand and I took it, allowing him to pull me up.
We stood there for a few seconds, our hands still touching. A rush of heat somewhere deep and unbidden reminded me of something. Despite the crazy uncertainty of my life, I remained obscenely attracted to Kellan Gentry.
“You ready?” he asked, cocking an eyebrow, perhaps wondering why I clung to his hand.
I smiled at my friend even though smiling hurt my face at the moment.
My friend.
I already owed Kellan a debt of gratitude I’d probably never be able to repay. Complicating the situation with sex was out of the question. Or at least it should be. Maybe.
“I’m ready,” I told him.
Chapter Fourteen
Kellan
Taylor was quiet as we drove over to the park in my brother’s ancient vehicle that Derek had patched together for him from spare parts. The thing groaned its way around every turn and tended to be even more unreliable than my own car but it was still huffing and puffing with a hint of life for now.
“It’s still here,” she said with relief when we reached the parking lot. Hers was the only car in sight.
I checked out the signs posted in the area as I pulled into a spot. “It might get towed by the city before morning. Let me call Derek and as
k him if he can borrow the tow truck from the garage.”
“Oh, please don’t do that. I’m going to try to make it through the night without inconveniencing every single member of your family.”
Taylor forced out a laugh but I could tell that she felt mortified by every aspect of her situation and the last thing I wanted to do was make her feel worse.
“All right,” I said, although I still planned to contact Derek when she was out of earshot. If I waited until tomorrow, her car might be in an impound lot somewhere and he’d be all ‘Dude, I can’t believe you didn’t just call me,’ and no one would be happy.
Thomas’s prediction about my mechanical abilities were accurate. I had a perfect grade point average and the CFO of the company I’d interned with over the summer marveled that I was sharp as a tack. Yet when I stared into the guts of Taylor’s car all I saw was a black hole full of mysteries.
“My brother was right,” I admitted. “I have no idea what to do about this.”
Taylor had been gathering up the last few belongings she wanted to bring with her. “It’s fine. I don’t know what to do about it either.” A smile crossed her face. “It’s cute the way you are with your brother.”
I closed the hood since I wasn’t doing any good in there. “Thomas and I bicker sometimes but he’s too agreeable for a real fight. Derek, on the other hand, thinks he really knows how to put me in my place.”
She leaned against the driver’s side door. “You’re close to Derek too?”
“Sure. We used to share an apartment before he moved in with his girlfriend last year.”
I went over to lean against the spot beside her. She didn’t move away. We contemplated the darkness and the songs of crickets for a moment.
“I know you said you didn’t like talking about your family,” I said, trying to choose my words.
She crossed her arms over her chest. The ultimate defensive pose.
“It’s not a happy subject. But I don’t mind telling you. My parents are dead. You probably knew that. I have two siblings but we’re not like how you are with your brothers. My sister Sierra is seven years older. We’ve always had somewhat of an adversarial relationship.”
“She’s difficult?”
Taylor coughed. “She’s a demented bitch.”
“I’ve heard of those. Never met one in person.”
Taylor chuckled. Then she grew wistful. “And then there’s my brother, Aiden. We used to be cool with each other but not anymore.”
She paused. I stayed silent, hoping she felt comfortable enough with me to continue.
“My mom died in a hit and run my first year of high school. My dad was always busy working. I never asked any questions about what he did. I was more shocked than anyone when he was arrested. It was awful. Really awful. And then it got worse.”
I resisted the urge to put my arm around her. I didn’t want her to stop talking or to make her feel weird.
She sighed. “Look, Kellan, I know how smart you are. I know you probably already figured out who my dad was. So you know that he committed suicide while out on bail. I was there. I was in the house. And he…”
Her voice faded and she bit her lip, looking away at a dark corner while a terrible memory played through her mind.
“You don’t have to talk about that part,” I assured her.
She sniffed. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry that I pushed you away every time you tried to be nice to me.”
“Luckily I’m tough to get rid of. When we were kids, Derek used to call me his personal fungus.”
She laughed softly and faced me again.
She was so goddamn pretty.
Even when she was exhausted and stressed and bruised from a recent mugging, Taylor Briggs was still so freaking beautiful out here in the moonlight that I felt my breath catch in my chest.
“Anyway,” she said. “I’m sorry if I seemed ungrateful before.”
“Stop saying that. You have nothing to be sorry about.”
She made a face. “I really hate that you probably think of me as a complete loser.”
“No, you’re not a loser, Taylor. I’m a loser.”
“Kellan, please. You are not.”
“I know. I’m just trying to make you feel better. But you keep arguing and making it difficult so now I’m getting mildly pissed off.”
She laughed and tossed her hair. “Jerk.”
“Now and then,” I said, but now I had a problem. When Taylor was laughing at me her arm brushed mine. There was an instant reaction in my pants. I didn’t want it to happen right now but it did. And of course I was wearing nothing but nylon gym shorts over my boxers. Thank god for the darkness that kept Taylor from seeing that Kellan Junior was waving his freak flag. This must be revenge for inflicting blue balls on him earlier. The night had been confusing for everyone.
“You need me to carry anything else to the car?” I asked and tried to think of non-sex things. Like Thomas’s smelly socks. Or my mother’s hot dog casserole. Both of them were equally gross.
“No,” she sighed. “I took everything out that was worth taking. I’ve been traveling light these days so I’m pretty much down to basics.”
“In that case let’s go get Thomas his hamburgers before he starves.”
She looked around. “Or in case Haley the Horrible returns and mugs you too.”
I was indignant. “You think I can’t fend off a girl armed with nothing but a flip flop?”
“I don’t know, can you?” She playfully poked me in the stomach, mere inches above where my dick surged with a rush of adrenaline
I suppressed a groan. This could get complicated. This could get complicated so fucking easily. I liked Taylor enormously. I wanted to be there for her, to protect her, to understand her, to give her anything she needed.
And, despite my best efforts, I also wanted her.
Turning off a powerful reaction like that was going to be tough.
There was an all night Burger Haven drive through that turned out to be pretty crowded, probably because everyone was leaving their bars and their parties right about now. I splurged on two large bags of food and passed them off to Taylor, who happily began munching on French fries.
“This tastes so good,” she said with a moan as she leaned her head back and closed her eyes. “I didn’t even know how bad I needed this.”
Was she trying to kill me?
Because this was a good way to kill me.
Earwax. Thomas’s raw egg breakfast shakes. Slugs.
Taylor opened her eyes and smiled. “You want to have some right now?”
Fuck, I’m such a pervert.
I really was. This girl had just endured one of the worst nights of her life and I couldn’t stop thinking about how much fun it would be to have her tits in my mouth. I disgusted myself.
“Yeah,” I said, trying to sound detached.
She reached into a bag and then handed over a cardboard sleeve full of greasy fries. I ate half of them in one mouthful.
Back at the apartment, Thomas was waiting for us alone.
“Where’s Angelica?” asked Taylor.
“She finally heard from her friend Krista and decided to go over there. Taylor, she said to tell you it was nice meeting you. And Kel, she wanted to thank you for taking care of her tonight. She’ll get your shirt back to you after she washes it.”
Angie’s departure was something of a relief. There were only so many places in this apartment to sleep. Since Angie had taken the couch I was going to push my bed on Taylor and go sleep in the tub but I wasn’t looking forward to it.
It was after one in the morning. I left Thomas and Taylor in the kitchen to attack the food and pretended like I needed to use the bathroom when I really went to go text Derek. Luckily he was awake. And luckily he was the kind of guy who wouldn’t think twice about borrowing a tow truck and rescuing some girl’s stranded vehicle in the middle of the night just because his brother asked him to.
Back in the kitchen, Th
omas was doing his best to bore Taylor to shreds by yammering on and on about baseball. I caught her eye as I returned to the room and she smiled around her hamburger while Thomas speculated about this player or that player and which MLB team was likely to make the playoffs. He was like a dog with a bone when it came to baseball so I let him have the spotlight and ate my own food quietly. One day in the not too distant future it was very likely that Thomas himself would be one of the pro players everyone was talking about. How cool would that be? My little brother, a professional baseball player. I had no doubt he’d get there.
Taylor only finished half her hamburger before she began yawning. I threw Thomas a look and he took the hint, rising and announcing it was long past his bed time.
“Good night, Thomas,” called Taylor as he went to his room.
That left the two of us to stare at each other across the table.
“I should let you get some sleep,” I said. “Can I persuade you to take my bedroom, at least for tonight? You need your rest and I’m afraid Thomas will be banging around out here at five a.m.”
She was already shaking her head. That was no surprise. I didn’t expect she would agree.
“I’ll be fine. I’ve got a crush on your futon and I’m tired enough to sleep through anything.” She gingerly touched her nose. “It’s not going to look awesome tomorrow but I don’t think it’s broken.”
“You can hardly tell anything’s wrong,” I assured her, although realistically I thought she could expect to see some bruising by the morning.
She managed to smile. “At least I’ll have an interesting story to tell when people ask me what happened to my face.”
I squeezed her hand. “Everything is going to be all right, Taylor.”
“Do you think so?”
“Of course I do.”
I cleaned up all the fast food garbage and stored the remaining hamburgers in the fridge.
“Kellan?” She was standing now and wearing a somewhat sheepish expression. She had such long legs, impossible to avoid staring at. She crossed one foot over the other.