I’m always amazed at the human mind. I fucked Natalie one night while on a bender, probably reminiscing about this one, and ever since then she’s been on my dick. When that didn’t work, she got the bright idea to fuck all the guys in the crew as if that was somehow gonna endear her to me, or some shit. I know she didn’t think the shit would make me jealous, it’s been three years and I barely spare her a thought.
I headed back into the dining area looking for her. I had no doubt she’d be hiding. She wasn’t stupid enough not to. I saw her at a table with Lucy, who I guess she was trailing and headed in that direction. I didn’t let myself look too hard there’ll be time enough for that later. “Excuse us.” I took her arm and led her away from the table.
7
Julie
He practically dragged me into the back where it was dark and there was no one around because everyone was too busy on the floor. I didn’t know if to run, scream or surrender. Of all the ways I’d imagined this going down this wasn’t one of them.
My body was in free fall. My breath got stuck in my lungs, my hands were wet all of a sudden and my girly bits perked up and looked around. He had me crowded against the wall with his hands on either side of my head.
He looked down at me but I couldn’t read his expression. It was blank. My heart was two beats away from jumping out of my chest, and my arm still burned where he’d touched me. It was like stepping back in time. The years just floated away and we were back there in his bed with him over me, in me…
“How long before your divorce is final?” I swallowed the saliva that had pooled in my mouth and croaked out an answer. “Three days!” The first words I’d said to him in ten years and I sound like a hyperventilating rodent.
“I’ll see you then.”
“What…?” He was gone without another word, leaving me in a quandary. What does that mean? I stood like Bambi in the headlights for a second before my feet would move.
He’d aged well. There was a new hardness to him but that only added to the appeal and if I was going to react this way to him all the time maybe it was best I avoid him in the future. Easier said than done, I work for him. And that last statement. My heart beat so loud I heard it in my ears as I watched the door he’d disappeared through.
It took me a minute to compose myself. I closed my eyes and drew deep breaths as I tried to calm the wild throbbing between my thighs. I’d thought I was prepared for that first sight of him but I’d only been lying to myself. How could I have forgotten how hot he was, or how weak he made me in the knees?
I went back to work but could not for the life of me tell you half of what I did. I kept replaying his words in my head, trying to find the meaning behind them. I was afraid my body already knew. It’s been a long time since I felt that dampness in my underwear. Geez he packed a punch.
After the number my ex had done on me I was sure I would be immune to all men from here on out. Who needed the headache? It had taken him, less than a minute to pull me back in the game. But what kind of game and who would be the winner?
“Hey, you feeling okay tonight? You seem a little preoccupied.” Lucy looked at me with concern.
“Uh yeah, just worried about my kids.” I felt awful for lying but what else was I going to say, that our boss had turned my life upside down with a few short words?
That led me to wondering if anyone knew. I’d seen Tyson look back at me while they were talking, and my face flushed at the thought that he knew about that night. The idea made me a little jumpy and I looked around to see if anyone else had seen him take me back there. I soon had my answer.
“You better watch your back. Natalie’s been giving you the stink eye ever since the boss dragged you away from that table.” Dammit, she’d seen that? I took a furtive look over my shoulder and found the other woman glaring at me from across the room.
I spent the rest of the night avoiding her and keeping track of Kevin who was still here but from what I could tell wasn’t even looking in my direction. As if the stress of having to deal with the divorce becoming final wasn’t enough, now I had his threat hanging over my head. What exactly did he plan to do?
That night on my way back to the motel I was very aware of a black truck following close behind me. I had no idea who it could be, and wasn’t exactly scared until it followed me into the parking lot.
I sat in my car in cold fear not knowing what to do as every Discovery channel cop show I’d ever seen played out in my head. I held my breath when the driver side door opened and didn’t really breathe any easier when I saw that it was him. He’d followed me home.
He tapped on my door and I opened it. “Let’s go.” I got out and followed him. How did he know which room was mine? The room was in darkness except for the TV. The kids were asleep on their bed and Tracy was on the ratty chair watching the tube.
“Uncle Kevin?” She flew up from the chair and into his arms. “Hey squirt how are you?” He hugged her like he meant it and I felt just a little bit jealous. Pathetic. I looked away when he started whispering to her and went to check on the kids. I protested when he tried to pay her but neither of them paid any attention to me.
“You didn’t have to do that.” I said after we’d said our goodbyes to Tracy and he’d told her like five times to be careful. He didn’t bother answering and I was about to ask him what he was doing here when he spoke.
“Get your stuff together.” He moved to the bed and picked my daughter up from the bed and not wanting to wake the kids I whispered. “What are you doing?” He walked by me and out the door with me following him. I stood in the door and watched with my mouth open as he opened his truck and placed her in the backseat before coming back to the room.
“I told you to pack.” He went after Dylan next and I felt like I was in an episode of the twilight zone. Obviously he wasn’t planning on killing me, why would he take the kids? But I had no answer for the madness that was taking place before my eyes.
I grabbed our stuff, which had never been unpacked since we’ve been living out of bags for almost two weeks. Just some odds and ends from the bathroom and on the floor. Pitiful. After ten years this was all I had to show for myself. Robert had destroyed most everything else once I got up the nerve to leave. At least that’s what he’d said the night on the phone after I’d called him to tell him we weren’t coming back.
That was months ago and had I not threatened to expose him to the media he would still be dragging out the divorce. As it was he was still making it hard for me to get alimony and child support. I couldn’t help making comparisons between the two men in my head as I watched him move across the parking lot; not that I hadn’t done it before. But even with his reserved animosity, I was willing to bet that Kevin Hunt was more than twice the man Robert ever was.
He was standing next to his truck with the door open when I walked out. He took the bags from my hands. “Is this it?”
“No I’ll be back.” I can’t believe I’m doing this. I have no idea where he’s taking us but here I am just following after him. Maybe I was one of those women who just caved when a man spoke.
Or maybe it was that look in his eye that warned me not to buck against him. Strangely enough his highhandedness didn’t make me grit my teeth in frustration the way Robert’s did. I didn’t get the sense that he was trying to put the little woman down so he could feel bigger than he is. From what I remember he didn’t need to.
He stayed by the truck with the kids while I went to get the rest of the bags. I went out with the last set of bags and he took those too and threw them in the back of his truck before closing the door. The kids miraculously stayed asleep throughout all this. “Follow me.” He waited for me to get in and start up the car before doing the same.
I followed behind him twenty minutes outside the city limits. It was dark out and all I could make out were the quaint little houses with their postcard lawns and the prerequisite large oak in the front yard.
I didn’t remember this part of tow
n, but knew it was in a better place than the one we just left. Is this where he lived? My heart picked up speed at the thought and when he pulled into one of the driveways and the garage door went up I thought I would pass out.
“What are we doing here?” He put a finger to his lips for quiet as he took my son from the backseat. “Bring your daughter inside it’s getting cold out here.” I did as he said still no wiser to what was going on.
Inside the house didn’t look very lived in. There was furniture and curtains at the windows but the place had that feel about it that said there was no life there and hadn’t been for a while.
I followed him down the hallway to a bedroom where he placed Dylan on the bed and pulled the covers up over him. I went to put Tiana next to him but Kevin stopped me.
“No, her room’s down the hall. Next to yours.” I walked down the hallway on shaky legs and found the room. There was still a faint smell of paint in the air and I noticed for the first time that the sheets and covers were new. I put Tiana to bed and kissed her forehead before stepping back.
I didn’t realize he’d followed me in until I bumped into his hard chest. Everything in me went on high alert and my skin tingled where we touched. When he lowered his head and his lips touched my ear I felt liquid rush from my body and pool between my shaky legs. “They should’ve been mine.” With that he turned and left and I stood there in shock. What could he possibly mean?
Don’t be an idiot Julie, you know exactly what he means and that tone leaves no question as to what he has in store for you. I swallowed hard and forced myself to leave the room behind him. Oh crap what’s he gonna do to me? Did I really convince myself that he would forget? That he never thought of that night?
Somehow I had comforted myself over the years with that thought. It was only weeks after my honeymoon that I realized how selfish I had been. I never told him about my upcoming wedding for obvious reasons. But how could I explain that that one night with him was my one and only time at breaking the rules?
Would anything I say now mean anything to him? If I’d been the one in his position I would’ve had questions, questions that would’ve eaten away at me for the past ten years. Oh shit. Just get it over with Julie. At least this you know you deserve.
There was only one bedroom left and I walked there and stopped short in the doorway when I saw him there, taking off his shirt. What the hell? He turned and looked at me and my knees grew weak. “Come to bed it’s late.”
“Kevin…”
“Bed legs.”
I stood there transfixed wondering if I’d drunk something more than the soda I’d had just before leaving the bar. Had someone slipped me something? That could be the only explanation for this out of world experience. I knew it wasn’t a dream, because his body wasn’t the one I remembered, the one I had seen in my dreams more than once. This one was harder, more defined, and he was covered in ink, tattoos.
I swallowed around the rapidly forming lump in my throat and looked back down the hall. “I’ll just go sleep with…” I didn’t get to finish since he took a few short strides to my side and pulled me into the room.
The next thing I knew he was tugging at my shirt and I was batting his hands away. “This is crazy. I’m not having sex with you.” Liar, you can already feel him.
“Oh when I’m ready to fuck you you’ll know. Tonight’s not that night.” I believed him, so why was I here?
“I need to be up in a few, the bathroom’s through there. Go clean up and get to bed. I’ll go lock up when I get back your ass better be in that bed.” He left the room and I had no idea who he was. The Kevin I knew had been sweet, considerate. This guy was none of those things.
I wasn’t sure what to do, wasn’t sure about anything. I made my way to the bathroom and cleaned the makeup off my face before taking a quick shower. Back in the bedroom he was already in bed with the table lamp on.
I’d taken a sleep shirt in the bathroom with me and now felt naked as I made my way across the room to the other side of the bed. I wasn’t ready for this, but the thing was I had no idea what this was.
I climbed into bed and stayed as close to the edge as possible without falling off. My heart went into overdrive when his hand came out and pulled me into his chest. “Sleep legs.” He reached back and turned off the light before wrapping his arms around me again and settling down to sleep.
I remained stiff for a good ten minutes before his breathing changed and I knew that nothing more was to happen that night. Nonetheless I did not sleep for hours after until exhaustion finally forced my eyes closed.
8
Julie
In the morning he was gone from the bed and I could not believe that I’d actually rested. In fact it was the best night’s sleep I’d had in a very long time. I looked around the room and strained my ears for any sound before getting out of bed and going to answer nature’s call.
I tiptoed down the hallway and almost had a heart attack when I found first my daughter’s and then my son’s bed empty. I was about to go into full blown panic mode until I heard Dylan’s giggle coming from the direction of the kitchen I’d barely made out in the dark last night.
Tying the robe I’d found hanging behind the bathroom door snuggly around my waist, I headed in the direction of the unfamiliar sound and came upon quite a sight. Kevin was at the stove with spatula in hand and on either side of him were my children. Tiana was standing on a chair to his left while Dylan stood to his right.
The three of them were so engrossed in the pancakes they were making that they did not hear my approach. “Good morning legs.” How did he know I was there? He hadn’t turned around and I hadn’t made a sound. Did his body tingle the way mine did when he was around?
“Good morning!” My kids turned and smiled at me and Dylan even looked happy for once. “Look mom, we’re making pancakes. Uncle Kevin let me make a batman one. Come see.” Who was this kid? Uncle Kevin?
“Coffee’s over there legs pull up a chair this should be done soon.” He still hadn’t looked at me but concentrated on what he was doing. I got a cup and poured myself some coffee while trying to clear the cobwebs from my head.
If nothing else the kids seemed more alive than they had since moving to the motel. It was a little surprising though the ease with which they’d just taken to Kevin. Like me, Robert hadn’t allowed the kids many friends or too much dealings with outsiders. The only people we’d spent any real time with in fact were his parents.
“Dylan, open that drawer over there. You and your sister set the table please.”
“Okay uncle Kevin.” Tiana climbed down from the chair and she and her brother fought over who was going to put what on the table. A loud whistle rent the air and they both stopped mid quarrel.
“Too early! Dylan you’re the oldest, and you’re a guy. She’s smaller and a girl. Be nice to your little sister. You two work it out.” And like magic my two terrors compromised. Just what the hell had gone on in this house before I woke up?
The kids had changed out of their nightclothes I noticed and their faces were washed and teeth brushed. It was barely eight in the morning by my watch. I’d never been able to get them moving like this ever. Mornings were always a hassle.
I watched and listened as Kevin spoke to them not like little brats who were under foot, but like little people with working brains. It was a change from what they were used to and it was messed up that something as little as that meant so much.
The kids set the table, Dylan taking the time to explain what went where to his sister, and Kevin actually pitched in. I’d never seen this side of him but then again whenever I was in his presence in the past I was always too tongue tied and star struck to notice much of anything. Except for that one night…
“Have a seat legs.” Shit, I was standing there daydreaming. I went to take the seat farthest away from the head of the table but he pulled out the chair to his right and with just a look from him I was moving back around the table to take the proffere
d chair.
Why wasn’t I chafing at his take-charge attitude? I’d just gone through hell to get away from one overbearing ego maniac and here I was letting him boss me around. Maybe because when he did it my panties got wet, whereas when Robert did it, it only worked to set my teeth on edge.
There were pancakes, scrambled eggs, bacon and toast, which Tiana proudly boasted of having made all by her self. “Thanks guys this looks amazing.” Kevin poured each of us juice and even cut Tiana’s pancakes into bite-sized pieces, all the while keeping up a running conversation with both of them.
I felt like a stranger looking in from the outside of my life, as my son who’d been giving me nothing short of hell for the past few months suddenly became this font of information on everything from baseball teams to the best tackle for bass fishing.
I had no clue where he got all this from since his dad never took the time to teach him let alone spend the time to do those things with him. He did do a lot of reading though and played video games so maybe that’s where he’d picked up all that stuff.
“Maybe this weekend we’ll do some fishing, I have a nice pond on my property, it’s full of fish.” My son’s eyes grew wide and it all but broke my heart the look of want and longing on his face. It was on the tip of my tongue to tell Kevin not to make promises to my kids that he did not intend to keep.
Their dad had been the master of the broken promise and I didn’t want them falling back into that kind of bullshit. But I wasn’t sure of this new Kevin and thought it best not to challenge him just yet. I wasn’t afraid, which was surprising seeing the take-charge way he’d handled us last night. With Robert his kind of control came with fists and putdowns. So far Kevin wasn’t sending up any red flags and after the last ten years I know what those look like.
Starting Over (Sugar Creek Romance ) Page 4