by M. E. Gordon
The next to join us at the table was Aiden, followed by Reece. “So...carpet...curtains?” Reece asked, wiggling his eyebrows.
“Nope, not a match, but a pretty good lay,” I added, standing from the table.
“Gentleman, you’re now looking at the very proud, very exhausted, only male involved in a foursome, which happened after you assholes passed out last night, before boning the ladies you brought home. Thank you!” Trent said, as he strutted into the kitchen.
Reece called his bluff from the other side of the table. “You’re lying,”
“Not even a bit. Next time, make sure you fuckers take your ladies to your room before you pass out.”
“Nice,” I said, before setting my cup in the sink.
Grabbing my keys, I headed for the back door.
“Where the hell are you going?” Reece asked.
“BJ’s. I told B that I’d help him out before they open tonight.”
“If you see Kitty, grab her ass for me,” he called while grabbing the air.
“I don’t think so. That girl’s got issues, and I don’t want to get involved with them.”
“I said grab her ass, not play psychologist,” Reece replied.
“I’m not going within an arm’s length of her. I got bruises, blue balls, and I’d really like to keep my face from getting smacked. So, I’m not going anywhere near that feral kitty.”
Turning from their stunned faces, because I had never let a woman get to me like that, I left.
CHAPTER 13
Caroline
So there was one good thing about not getting the job at J&K--sleeping in. Rolling over, I glanced at the clock, feeling well rested. That was the first night I had slept that soundly since I started my internship. The alcohol might have had something to do with the sound slumber I had just enjoyed.
I had totally missed the whole morning--Guess there’s no point in making breakfast. Glancing at the small kitchen, I headed straight for the refrigerator. Nothing. There wasn’t even ketchup, just vitamin water and OJ. How was my father surviving off of vitamin water and OJ? Then it hit me, the kitchen in the back of the bar. Slipping on my flip flops, I headed down stairs in a tight tank top, and my comfy flannel PJ pants that hung low on my hips, making them extra comfy. Another perk of not working at J&K, comfy clothes, all day!
I walked into the back kitchen to find my father prepping food for the night. Even though it was a bar, my father offered some really good bar food.
“Hey, Dad,” I said as I walked around to the prep station.
He was cutting potatoes into fries, a hug tub of already cut potatoes sat at on the floor next to the table. “Hey, sleepyhead. You hungry?” he asked.
“Starving,” I replied.
Dropping what he was doing, he went to the huge industrial fridge and pulled out lunchmeat and cheese. Taking a loaf of bread off the shelf, he walked back to the prep station and proceeded to make me a sandwich. It was the best sandwich I had ever had. The moment he put it in front of me, I quickly scarfed it down.
I sat back on the stool and held my delightfully full stomach. “That was so good, Dad, thank you,”
“How are you doing, honey? You like your room? Are you finding everything you need?” he asked with a twinge of nervousness to his voice.
I knew my father wanted me to be happy, and he really wanted to make me stay. I was finding it hard to tell him I wasn’t planning on staying longer than summer. So I chickened out. He had no clue I was hell bent on leaving. He thought I was going to work here, love it, and never want to leave. I didn’t have the heart to tell him because, as much as he wanted me to be happy, I wanted him to be just as happy. If I told him I was counting down the days till I left, he’d be crushed.
“Everything is great, Dad, I love my room, you did a great job--” I was going to go on about how much I liked the bar and how nice everyone was, but--
“I’m glad you like it, Kitty. It was a bitch laying that lovely hardwood floor that your father just had to have in there.”
I turned around to see Kane standing behind me, a bucket of cleaning supplies in one hand and a mop in the other.
I don’t know what shocked me more, the fact that he had actually cleaned something or the fact that he was in my room before I was. Smiling that stupid grin of his, he winked at me then moved to place the cleaning stuff in a nearby closet.
“Bathrooms are done B. You need help with anything else?” he asked, a few feet from us.
I wanted to ignore it, but I could feel the tension between us. It was intense and dripping with anger, with only a hint of sexual desire. And that might have just been me because--Shit, he looks sexy as hell. He was in mesh shorts and a white wife-beater, which showed off his muscular arms that I was starting to really enjoy looking at.
My eyes drifted on their own, running up his body, as if I’d never let them look at a man before. His arms crossed, making his chest puff up and the muscles in his arms bulge in a delightful way. For a split second, I forgot why I hated the man. I forgot why I shouldn’t be running toward him, to be engulfed in those mesmerizing arms. Pulling my mind out of a daydream and back to reality, I made myself remember that not even twenty minutes after we had...whatever we had...he was feeling up and kissing some redhead that kept running her hand over the balls I’d kneed back into his body.
“Caroline, I forgot to tell you, the boys--JJ, Trent, Aiden, Reece, and Kane--they’re all contractors. They rebuilt your room and the living area. I had them working like dogs for the past three months.” My father chuckled to himself, no doubt remembering all the shenanigans of having four rowdy musicians working on his house.
I turned from my father to eye Kane up again. That stupid grin was plastered even bigger on his face.
“Didn’t they do an awesome job?” Dad continued, seemingly oblivious to the tension. “Hold on--let me run upstairs, I took a bunch of before pictures. You won’t believe what it looked it before they got a hold of it.” Without another word, my father exited from the kitchen and went in search of the photos.
Rocking on his feet, Kane turned to leave the kitchen as well. Yeah, he should leave, I don’t have anything to say to him, and he sure didn’t have anything to say to me. I think we said it all the night before. So why couldn’t I help the stupid pit that was in my stomach as I watched him leave. Oh, this is ridiculous.
“I saw your night got interesting. That redhead give you what you wanted?” The moment the words left my lips, I wanted to run and hide, I should have just let it go, let him go.
Stopping in his tracks, he threw his head back and laughed loudly. “Let’s just say, she knew the right way to handle my balls,” he said, turning back to me.
“You deserved it,” I called back. I moved anxiously on the stool, his brisk walk across the room was putting me seriously on edge.
“Why do you even care? You made it perfectly clear last night that you want nothing to do with this or my balls,” he said, gesturing at his body.
I stood from the stool, “I don’t care,” I clipped back. He was still an arm’s length away and as I was standing there, I caught a whiff of his cologne--Amazing. “Why do you sleep with so many women, can’t find one that can stand to be in your presence for more than one night?” I asked, crossing my arms.
“Kitty, drop it. You want me to leave you alone, fine, but it works both ways,” he said, maintaining his distance.
“I don’t want you to leave me alone--” Aw dammit, not like that. “Listen, I’m going to be here. I live upstairs, and we’re going to run into each other. I’ll try to be civil, but we can’t let what happened last night happen again. For some reason, my father loves you boys, and if we’re constantly fighting, then it’s going to put stress on him, and that’s the last thing I want.”
I meant that, all of it. I knew he was bad news and the way I felt last night while we kissed was terrifying, but we had to coexist. My father loved those boys like they were his long lost sons, or s
o he’d told me over lunch.
“I agree. But you have to realize, women love me. You can’t walk around jealous of them then take it out on my poor defenseless body. I bruise easily,” he said, smiling.
“What a baby,” I said, as I closed the distance between us so I could punch his arm.
Rubbing his arm, he scrunched up his face in pain. “What the fuck, Kitty? I just said I bruise.”
“Found them!” my father yelled, walking back into the kitchen.
He had an album of photos under his arm. Setting it down on the work station, I started flipping through them, Kane by my side. He talked me through all that they had done to get my room ready for me. I caught myself leaning in closer to him, taking in his unique smell. His voice drifted to my ear as he talked, almost lulling me to a state of clam, peacefulness. As long as I kept things to myself and kept up a hard exterior, I thought, I was going to make it through the summer.
Turning the page to the next set of pictures, I did a double take. It was not pictures of my transformed bedroom; it was pictures from my childhood. The first was just me, maybe three years old, my blonde crazy curls in pigtails. I was sitting on top of a slide, ready to go down. The next was me on a swing. There was one of my father and me outside of the only home I ever knew. The last picture on the page was my mother.
I stared at it. I hadn’t looked at a picture of her since I had moved away, four years ago. My way of coping was to pretend she never existed. If she wasn’t in my memory, then it didn’t hurt. So I took on the painful task of un-remembering every moment with her. I was mad at her. I’m still mad at her.
CHAPTER 14
Kane
I expected to run into Caroline. I had planned on keeping my distance. I did not expect to find her in her PJs in the back kitchen. I came around the corner to see her sitting on a stool, talking to her father. She had her mane of curls down, falling on her back, almost touching the bottom of her shirt. Her flannel pants were low on her waist. The dimples that were just above her ass were in full sight. Her tank top was tight and, even though I was standing behind her, I could tell it was above her navel.
I nearly dropped to my knees when she stood up from the stool, and I got my first full on glimpse of her. Her tank top was thin and, as she stood up, her breasts bounced just enough. Fuck, I’m hard. Her nipples showed through the sheer shirt and I nearly fainted. I had to cross my arms to keep my hands from reaching to feel how hard and strained they were against the fabric.
I was good. I kept my distance--arm’s length, like I had told myself--but as we spoke and resolved how we were going to coexist, she took that step and punched me! I guess if I wasn’t going to be able to have her, I was going to have to settle for what I could. I agreed with her, that staying mad at one another was going to put stress on B. He was eventually going to figure it out, that we had issues, and that was the last thing I wanted to do, stress him out.
I wasn’t going to stop being who I was, and she was going to have to keep her opinions to herself. If she wasn’t going to give it to me, then I was going somewhere else. I had one hell of a libido, and I made sure to keep it happy.
In the middle of explaining how we transformed the whole second floor, she practically froze. Instead of a picture of Aiden messing with some wires, which was what I expected to be next, it was pictures from her childhood, her past. B never spoke about his past, only of Caroline. No one ever asked him about the mother or why he left. B could be very standoffish when he wanted to. He was a tall man with wide shoulders. Since he had moved here he had lost a considerable amount of excess fat and started lifting weights. For someone who was knocking on fifty, he was in great shape, and the ladies loved him as much as us, although he attracted a more mature audience.
“Dad, I’m going to go shower and get ready for my training. Kara said she’d meet me at the bar at two, so I’m going to head upstairs.”
B simply nodded. A sad look washed across his face, the same time as it did on Caroline’s. Clearly something was up, and I had a feeling it had to do with her mother.
“Kane,” Kitty said, turning to look up at me. “Thank you for making my room as amazing as you did. Don’t let your head get too big, or I’m never saying anything nice about you again.”
“I’ll try to keep it contained,” I replied, leaning back against the table, crossing my arms again so I didn’t reach out for her taut nipples.
“I guess I’ll see you the next time you play here.”
“Oh, you mean in two hours when we practice.” I paused for a moment and let that sink in.
“You practice here every day, don’t you?” she asked, smiling back.
“Get used to it, Kitty, I practically live here. See you in a few hours,” I said smugly, before she sighed and walked out the door. “What was that about B?” I asked once she’d walked out of the room.
“Nothing, she’s just--she hasn’t dealt with it yet,” he said, closing the photo album.
“Hasn’t dealt with what?” I asked, digging a little deeper than I ever had with him.
“It’s nothing, Kane, just let her be. She might put on a good front, but she’s got some serious things to deal with and, until she does, she’s never going to be truly happy.”
I stared across at him, not wanting to intrude anymore, so I dropped it. I sat on the edge of the stage, my baby on my lap. I started strumming the tune I had started last night on the porch. It was a new song, slow and serious. I didn’t have words to it, but the melody flowed enticingly around me, and I couldn’t seem to stop playing it over and over again. While I played, I couldn’t get the image of Caroline out of my head, not the one of her breasts, or the dimples above her ass. It was the image of her looking up at me, before she kneed me in the balls. She could deny it all she wanted, but that look was real. No one had ever looked at me that way before, like she could see all of me.
I had my own reasons for staying single and most of them were selfish and egotistical. To put it plainly, I wanted the freedom to love ’em and leave ’em, to come and go as I pleased. You can't do that with a stage five clinger, trust me, I’ve tried. Kitty though--I had a feeling, the reason she had a stone wall up had more to do with her mother, than not being attracted to me.
The guys arrived right when Kara was starting to train Caroline. Since we had the day off, we took advantage and put in a good long practice. We worked on a horde of new songs, but I kept that one to myself. I wasn’t ready to share it, just like I wasn’t willing to share her. Not like I had a choice in the matter, but I’d do my damnedest to keep her from anyone else, at least until I got her out of my system.
Three hours in, Kara had us pretending to be customers. We each sat at a different table, placing orders and giving our little Kitty one hell of a time. If she could get through serving us, she’d have no problem in the future.
Reece shrugged. “I said, I wanted this medium, it’s too over done.”
“I don’t care anymore, Reece! I’m not taking it back again! Just eat your fucking food and shut up,” she yelled back down at him, smacking his red mohawked head for added humph.
I was almost crying, because I was laughing so hard.
“Caroline, you can’t do that. What if he was a real customer?” Kara called from behind the bar, trying to hold in her own chuckles.
“Well, he’s not. He’s a pain in my ass,” she yelled back, turning to Kara and slamming her hands down on her hips.
“You’re damn right, I’m a pain in the ass,” Reece said as he tried to swat at hers.
With sonic speed, she turned around and took his food from him.
“You’re not eating now. I’m kicking you out. Leave,” she said, walking away from his table and toward mine.
She was headed in my direction and I tried really hard to control myself. If she caught me still laughing, I had a feeling it was going to end in a new black and blue bruise.
“What are you laughing at?” she asked, glairing down at me. “Not
hing. Can I get another beer? Mine’s gone,” I said, holding up my empty beer bottle.
“No! We’re out of beer, and I’m done playing around. I get it. Bring on the real customers that actually have some manners,” she said, snatching the empty beer bottle from my hand.
I watched along with the rest of the guys as her fine ass walked away and into the kitchen.
“Kane, what the hell? I need her to practice,” Kara called from behind the bar.
“It wasn’t me. I just asked for another beer. Reece is the one who pissed her off,” I pleaded in my own defense.
“You’re the ring leader, so you automatically get blamed,” Kara said, before leaving the bar to go after Caroline.
CHAPTER 15
Caroline
My first night was a piece of cake. The guys had stayed, but since they weren’t slated to play, the bar was not at all like it was the previous night. I found my way around and things were going perfect. The guys were giving me a hard time, but I eventually got a little revenge.
A group of women walked in, clearly having a girl’s night. They sat down and I proceeded to get their drink order and appetizers. I couldn’t help but notice that every time I walked by, they would be whispering and giggling about the guys. I stood back, leaning against the bar, watching the woman openly observe ONS as they sat around a table drinking and having a good time.
I kept looking from one table to the other, when Kane caught me. Leaning back on his chair, so he was away from the table, he beckoned me with a finger and a devilish grin. I shook my head and mouthed the word “No.” His face fell, his mouth twisted, and he really looked like he was going to cry. His usual grin turned upside down, his eyes got all big and round. He’s ridiculous.