“Let’s go,” he said, like it was a forgone conclusion. “We’ll get beer and maybe some cards. We could play poker.”
Automatically, I looked at Violet. Everything he spoke of was against the rules. If Father found out, we would be done for. It could jeopardize my being in the community. But there on my sister’s face was a huge grin.
I looked at Turner. His mouth turned up to that telltale sign that said why not?
And so, that’s how we ended up slinking in the shadows and heading for the front gate. The fact that we had to hide our exploits should have been good enough reason for us not doing this. We might be stopped and queried about where we were going. Leaving the compound for business not approved by the council was frowned upon. Whatever we did on the outside would be scrutinized by the public.
Just when the security building came into sight, there was a squeal behind me. I turned to see Steven had swept my sister off her feet and gazed at her like she was the light of his life. In that moment, I saw the man my sister had fallen for.
Turner used that opportunity to hug me around the waist and pull me close. Heat flared between us, and I could envision his lips on mine as fire passed between us.
“I feel like a teenager again,” Violet said from behind us. “Like we are sneaking away from the house to go make out.”
She spoke like there had been lots of moments to do such things when we grew up when there had not. Though I understood. Being with Turner like this did remind me of a past I’d walked away from.
“I should probably go in alone,” I said. “Father is going to find out that I left. He’ll discover sooner if you guys are with me.”
Everyone nodded in agreement. Violet giggled like the thought of getting into trouble might just be worth all the hassle.
I brushed my fingers along the brick façade before I turned the corner to the front of the building. My car was still the lone one in the tiny lot of four slots.
After I retrieved my keys, I made an executive decision and got clothes from my trunk. In the visitors’ building bathroom, I changed. Doug was on duty today and didn’t say much. When I stepped out wearing form-fitting jeans and a deep V top, Doug gave me an ardent smile. I skipped out the door, not wanting him to make a comment.
When I met up with the others, Turner gave me a lingering look over. He hadn’t ever seen me in anything outside of the shapeless floor-length dresses we wore.
“I think only one of us goes in to buy anything.” I looked over at Turner for his approval. He nodded but had a funny expression that I couldn’t read on his face. Alone, I pulled the car back and into the shadows, away from the front of the building and its windows.
Once I stopped, my cohorts got in. Doug had already opened the gate, and I made for it without hesitation. If he was watching the camera, he would see the four heads in the car because of the security lamps that pointed outwards from the building. However, I hoped he wasn’t paying that much attention.
I made a left at the dead end private road to head out to the main one.
By the time we made it to the gas station that had a mini mart attached, I practically jumped out of the car.
Turner opened the door, but I shooed him to stay in. His clothing was too conspicuous.
Steven gave me his drink request from the back seat. It wasn’t hard to forget Bud Light. He also requested Jack Daniels, but I didn’t think this place sold liquor.
The bell chimed at my entrance, and I zoned in on the back wall with the clear refrigerator doors that held drinks of all kinds, including soda and water. I scanned them as I walked by until I found the one filled with cases of beer. I grabbed a twelve pack.
Two doors down, I found something for Violet and me to drink. The selection wasn’t full of choices, so I picked two bottles of decent-looking wine and walked up to the counter, where the TV was showing a program.
The narrator droned on, “As you can tell from that last picture, it’s not surprising King is the talk of the celebrity gossip. With headlines of possible embezzlement, we all wonder what Kinsey St. Clair, socialite and billion-dollar heiress to her father’s dynasty, was doing on King’s arm. Is it merger talks, a takeover, or maybe just two beautiful people out for a night on the town? Stay with us, folks. We will keep you posted with the latest.”
The logo of a popular gossip TV and magazine company popped up just before a commercial. They hadn’t shown any other pictures. But from the glimpse I’d caught, I knew that man... He’d already moved on and I had no one to blame but myself.
“Miss,” the clerk inquired.
I followed his finger to the total on the register. I reached into my wallet and pulled out a credit card before stopping myself. For some reason, I thought about how I could be tracked by purchases. I didn’t think I was in any danger. Still, I handed the clerk cash and waited for my change.
My mind fogged on the ride home as I thought about what I’d seen. The pain in my chest at seeing Kalen with another woman on his arm gripped my heart in a tight fist. How wrong I’d been about him. Some part of me had hung on, hoping that maybe…
My head was still messed up when I parked back in the visitors’ lot in the community. I was unaware of the conversation all around me as the sense of loss consumed me. I hadn’t felt this bad when Scott had cheated on me. I’d felt foolish then. This was different. I was still standing, half-dressed, in the bathroom when Turner came in. So much for Doug not knowing that I’d taken others with me.
“What’s wrong? You’ve barely spoken a word since you walked into the gas station. Did you see something? Did something happen about the case? I saw the TV in there.”
“No,” I whispered. Standing in my bra and jeans, I felt dazed. “I’ll be fine.”
When he drew me close and enveloped me in his arms, I felt something open inside me that I’d longed for since I first left home all those years ago.
In his eyes, I let myself accept what he was offering. He bent and pressed his lips to mine, and I melted into him. I grabbed on to something real, and I kissed him back. I tugged at his neck and reached for his pants.
“Whoa,” he said, stilling my wrist. “Not in here. Doug will figure out what we are up to, and it will be all over town before morning.”
He was right, so I stepped back and finished getting dressed while Turner watched. After putting my change of clothes into my trunk, I went back in to give my car keys back to Doug. I realized then what a waste of money the rental car was. I should return it and call for a cab when I was ready to leave, if ever.
Turner gently tugged on my hand while I stood there in thought. I didn’t have to decide tonight. I would worry about that in the morning when I figured out what my short-term plans were.
“Where are Vi and Steven?” I asked.
Turner, still guiding me down the road, answered, “They went ahead.”
He wasn’t carrying the bags, so I assumed they had them.
“We don’t have to stay long,” Turner said. “We’ll have a few drinks and play some cards, and then I’ll take you back to my place.”
I nodded, knowing what would happen there. And why not? Kalen had moved on. Turner was here.
We made it back to Violet’s house, and soon my despair was gone along with one of the two bottles of wine. Steven turned out to be kind of funny.
Violet was doing a happy dance after winning the last hand. “Drink up, guys,” she announced after she finished her twirl with hands waving in the air.
In place of liquor, we were doing shots of beer or wine according to a game Steven taught us. The wine was really sweet, and I found I didn’t mind drinking it at all. The second bottle of wine was half-empty. Violet was so cute drunk. She probably hadn’t been drunk a day in her life.
“Let’s play truth or dare,” Violet said.
There was something enticing about the idea.
“Okay. Your turn,” I pronounced as I stared at her mysterious husband.
“Ask away,” Stev
en dared.
I took it to mean he’d chosen truth. Fine by me.
“Why are you here?”
He held my gaze as he answered, “Probably for the same reasons you are.”
I almost blurted I was running away, but caught myself. Though it was true, it wasn’t how I wanted things for Turner and me to start.
“My turn,” Steven said as I stared at him.
He’d answered before like he was certain of my answer. What was he running from?
“Turner,” Steven said, “have you told Bailey of your plans?”
My head snapped in Turner’s direction. The fact that Steven hadn’t given Turner the option of truth or dare was forgotten. Now I just wanted to know the answer to the question Steven posed, reminding me of his conversation with Violet that morning.
“Plans?”
Turner moved faster than my sluggish brain could make out. Arms snaked around my waist as he whispered into my ear, “I’ll tell you later.”
“I like where his head’s at,” Steven said. “Come on, wife. I need that pretty mouth of yours.”
Footsteps receded as Turner scooped me up. Automatically, I wrapped my legs around his waist and let him carry me off.
“I need you,” he said and I nodded.
As he walked the few feet to the tiny bedroom on the opposite side of the house that I’d been using, two pairs of eyes filled my head. Kalen and Margaret.
My vision, which had been muddled, cleared up a bit. I leaned back to stare into Turner’s big brown eyes and asked the question that knotted my belly. “Have you slept with Margaret?”
Though I had no right to ask, his answer mattered. In that moment, I very much knew how she’d feel if she knew what was about to happen.
“Now is not the time,” he said, untangling my legs and setting me on my feet.
“Was she better than me?” I asked, looking up, wanting not to read into his non-answer. My voice sounded like a small child in need of approval. It was like having an out-of-body experience. I could see the train wreck coming, but I couldn’t stop it.
Turner pulled me close. “No one’s better than you,” he said softly.
The door was still open. I could tell him to go and sleep off the hurricane of emotions I felt.
Instead, my mouth spoke without direction from my brain. “Be honest. Does she have a claim on you?”
Because the words had spilled out of me, they were of the old ways. I needed to know if Turner had officially courted Margaret like Mary said or was that what Margaret wanted.
“Only one woman has ever held claim over me, and that is you.”
Actions spoke louder than any words. So I closed the door and walked over to the bed in invitation.
Some part of me knew this act would break the final bond I felt toward Kalen. And maybe that was a little unfair. But Turner had to be the one, didn’t he? He’d never let me down, not once. I would be stupid not to see the light when it was such a beacon in front of me.
When he moved toward me, I tried not to let any part of me remember Kalen’s touch as Turner worked the buttons on my dress. If he only knew how many levels he was freeing me by just being him.
As my dress fell, he sank once again to his knees and waited. This time there was no hesitation on my part. I nodded, giving him the approval he sought.
Then with my dress but a puddle around me, his hands warmed my thighs as they skimmed up them, reaching my covered center. He didn’t waste time with the removal of that garment as he trailed kisses in the wake of his hands from my thighs until his tongue danced toward the seam of my underwear. I felt the shift of the scrap of fabric to the side a second before my stomach lurched.
I stumbled out of his hold with enough time to step into my dress and pull it up enough to cover the important bits.
Turner’s eyes popped wide, and I reached for the door. My stomach must have made a sound, or it was my hand that covered my mouth while the rest of me turned a sickly green that clued him in. He stepped forward, and I yanked the door open. I don’t think I could have moved that fast if the idea of cleaning my sister’s floor hadn’t pushed my loopy legs out the back door.
The projectile of my vomit didn’t clear the stairs. I was still retching when Turner’s palm rubbed at my back. I eliminated everything in my body, including my stomach. Surely it came up with the rest. I coughed and gagged some more before everything finally subsided.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
I managed a nod as he spoke on.
“For a second, I thought maybe it was me and you just didn’t want to, you know.”
He laughed and I found myself with a half-grin, half-sour look. “Sorry.”
He held my face in his tender hands and kissed my forehead. “I’ll go get the bucket.” He handed me a towel from out of nowhere. “I would kiss you, but you still have a bit there in the corner of your mouth.”
Mortified, even though he wore a smile, I swiped at my face and looked at my hand in the moonlight. The smell of whatever it was hit my nose, and I began dry heaving.
When he came back, the bucket was full. Apparently, the pipes weren’t frozen. He took the towel still in my hand and dipped a clean corner in before handing the rag back to me. I wiped at my mouth while he doused the stairs with water and went for more. I stood a distance away, wanting to help but afraid my stomach would roll in anger.
When the stairs were free from all that I’d puked, we headed back inside. He closed the door and stepped to me, taking his time to undress me. This was the moment I longed for indoor plumbing.
Turner stood gazing at me, waiting on my cues to tell him what I needed. The way he took care of me melted every part of me.
In the tiny room, I just stood there and watched his expression in the moonlight coming through the small window. My clothes hit the floor and I was left in my bra and panties.
His hand grasped a corner of the quilt and lifted it. I got inside and waited. He, however, fell across the other small bed not three feet away in the tiny room.
“You’re not going to lie with me?”
“As much as I want to, I can’t be good right now. And you need to sleep. We have tomorrow.”
Unable to protest and suddenly very tired, I closed my eyes and soon fell asleep.
I woke to words I longed to hear. “Lass, there you are. I’m sorry it took me so long to get here.”
“Kalen.”
His hands touched my bare skin, and I wondered when I had completely undressed.
“It’s been too long, lass. I can’t wait any longer to be inside you.”
He was between my legs. He raised my hips, and I felt the tip of him nudge at my opening. “God, I love…”
I waited. I waited for him to say you at the end of that sentence.
“To be inside you.” With one thrust he filled me. He hadn’t prepared me and it had been so long. There was a flash of pain before I rode the currents of pleasure from his movements. He rocked into me over and over again. His cry of orgasm sent me tumbling into bliss.
Twenty-Two
Dawn was like the splash of warm water that brought me from the murky depths of sleep. Turner slept like he was on a dock with one leg hanging off the side of a bed that was too small for his tall frame and myself to share.
Kalen wasn’t there. Yet, my dreams of him had been vivid. I got up and decided it was best to go to my parents’ to freshen up. Though, my dreams had been silent and my own, Turner had still been there. Thankfully sleeping, not aware of how my subconscious thoughts were cheating on us.
Being at home allowed the shame of my behavior last night, and my dreams, to fill my heart. Though I’d come so far in owning my choices, being here I felt that empowerment slipping through my fingers.
I walked in and found my mother at the table folding laundry.
“Mother.” It had only been two days, but it felt like a lifetime.
She opened her arms, and I skirted the table to fly into them. She sme
lled like home, and I had missed her more over the last few years than I realized.
When my body shook with tears streaming down my face, she stroked my hair and asked, “What’s wrong?”
After my sobs subsided, I told her in hushed tones, “I just missed you.”
The dim morning light wasn’t enough yet to wake my siblings, but I knew they would be up soon.
“This doesn’t have anything to do with Kalen or Turner, does it?” she said, framing my face with her hands.
I’d been so determined to walk away from Kalen forever, yet seeing him on the TV with another woman on his arm had shaken me. So much so, I dived too quickly into starting something with Turner. I told her as much.
She looked at me without judgment. “He loves you, you know?”
I nodded.
“I can’t blame him. You’re beautiful inside and out,” she continued, “but as hard as this is, you need to make a choice.”
I didn’t feel very beautiful. I made a mess of everything I touched. Leaving Scott should have made my world better. Instead, I’d been making all the wrong decisions since.
“Kalen’s already made his choice,” I complained.
“You did tell him to move on.”
I had, but I hadn’t expected him to do it the very next day. “I know.”
“And you can’t choose Turner by default. That wouldn’t be fair to him either.”
“I know,” I repeated.
“Trust your heart. More importantly, trust yourself. I think deep down you know what you want to do. And it’s okay if you choose neither.” She held my gaze until I gave her a plaintive smile. “Go wash up before your brothers hog all the water,” she said. “Don’t worry. I won’t tell your father.”
With a confidence I didn’t quite feel, I stood relieved at unloading my burden. Lizzy had always been good for that. I missed her too and would call her later.
After brushing my teeth and hair and a general full-body cleaning, I stepped back into the kitchen and helped my mother finish breakfast as the rest of my siblings fought over the leftover tepid water.
Queen of Men: King Maker series Page 9