by Marie James
“Hold on!” she says clasping my forearm. “The first time? You’ve hooked up more than once?
I nod. “The first time,” I continue, “was in my den. He bent me over in front of the damn window. When he was done, he said ‘thanks, doll’ and left.”
She chuckles. “I can totally see him doing something like that.”
“The second time,” I hold up two fingers. “Was in the hallway at the club. He stuffed my panties in my mouth and fucked me like he didn’t have a care in the world.”
“In the hallway?” I nod. “Stuffed your panties in your mouth?” I nod again. “That’s crazy fucking hot.”
“I nearly came the second he did it,” I agree.
“And when you got home Saturday?” she prods.
“We were up until dawn going at each other. The man is a sex machine. I’m still sore.”
“How did he act the next day?” she asks finally taking the last bite of her sausage.
I twirl the stick of mine in my hands, focusing on the rotation before answering. “Cindy showed up. We didn’t get to talk much.”
“That bitch ruins everything,” Jillian says with disdain.
“She brought up the baby,” I tell her.
“Fuck.”
“Yeah, that and the fact I told him my parents were dead, may make him run for the hills.” I begin to wrap my sausage in a paper towel.
“I’ll eat it,” Jillian says reaching for it. “Did he seem pissed?”
“Cindy was being a huge witch, and Kegan sort of stood up for me.” I shrug. “He didn’t seem mad, but he did tell me we needed to talk about my lying.”
“Everything will be fine,” Jillian says.
“You don’t know that. I don’t even know what I want from him.”
“I do know that. If he was pissed and didn’t want to see you again, he wouldn’t have said that you need to talk later. He’s a great catch. Handsome, beyond loaded. Seems to know his way around a clit. Top three priorities if you ask me.”
I laugh at her shallowness. “That’s not what I look for in a man, but Kegan has a lot of other stuff going for him. He’s great with his nieces. His family is awesome.”
“I thought you didn’t want kids,” Jillian says softly.
“I don’t.” I really don’t. After such a loss it’s difficult to have the urge to risk another one. “But knowing he’s good with them is important. I like his mother. She’s nothing like Cindy.”
“Not many women in the world are like Cindy,” she says.
“What do I do?” I look at her with a pleading somberness in my eyes.
She looks past me at the band on the stage. “I’m not the best one to ask relationship advice from, but I think you should wait for him to call you. If it goes longer than a week, shoot him a text or something.”
I’ve got no better ideas so I might as well give her suggestions a shot.
Chapter 23
Kegan
“Damn it.” I cover my dry eyes with my forearm as blinding light fills the room.
“You’re not supposed to say bad words around me,” comes from across the room. “My delicate ears shouldn’t hear those things.”
Anastyn.
I roll away from the noise and light, but the excruciating pain in my head doesn’t subside.
“I’m almost certain you’ve been put on the earth for no other reason than to torture me,” I grumble when I feel her climb up on the bed.
“Not true,” she whines. “Momma says I’m here to bring everyone happiness and smiles.”
I huff an incredulous laugh.
“Why are you here? Mimi and Granddad let you stay the night?”
“Something’s wrong with your head,” she says climbing on my back and knocking on the back of my skull.
“There’s nothing wrong with my head other than the fact that you’re banging on it and making it hurt.”
“If there was nothing wrong with it, you wouldn’t think you’re at Mimi’s house. You’re in my house, Uncle Kegan.”
That information has me rolling over and looking around the room. I grab Anastyn by the leg before she flies off the bed and smacks her head on the floor.
“Your house?” I crack my eyes open a tiny slit and look around. Sure enough, I’m in London and Kadin’s guest bedroom.
“Daddy practically had to carry you in last night.”
Awesome. My nieces got to see me in full-on drunken asshole mode. I’m winning awards over here people.
“Sorry about that,” I tell her sincerely.
“No need to apologize to me, but I wish you’d get up so you can go buy my pony.”
I laugh at her, but the look on her face doesn’t leave any room for debate.
“Seriously?”
She nods. “Yep. I want a white one like Flynn Rider rode on Tangled!”
I release a long breath, trying to keep from puking as she stands up and begins to bounce on the bed.
“Anastyn.” London’s chastising voice from the doorway might as well be a holy song from an angel.
She stops bouncing immediately, leans down, and kisses me on the forehead. “A white one, Uncle Kegan.”
A few seconds later her screaming echoes down the hallway.
“I promised her a horse?”
London nods. “You also promised Easton a speed boat, but I don’t think he’ll hold you to it.”
I cringe. Clearly, I’m super fucking gifty when I’m drunk. “And Lennox?”
She laughs. “A new Barbie.”
“Is that it?”
She nods. “Yep. It’s Anastyn that has the expensive tastes. She reminds me a lot of you.”
I ignore the jab because I never win when I fight with London. I’ve learned my lesson.
Kadin steps from the hallway and wraps his arms around his wife, resting his chin on her shoulder. “Hey. You’re awake,” he says way louder than necessary. He’s doing it on purpose.
“Not like I can sleep when your devil spawn of a daughter came in and forced me awake.”
His chuckle makes me realize she may have had some help in planning her attack.
“You ready to go pick out her horse?”
He has a smirk on his face, but I can’t read whether or not he’s actually serious. I narrow my eyes as if doing so will help me evaluate the situation. It doesn’t
“She wants a white one,” I say sitting up on the side of the bed.
“Like Maximus in Tangled,” London adds.
“Right. I have no idea what that is. I also have no idea where to even go in Spokane to buy a damn horse.” I scrub my face with my hands, but it does nothing to alleviate the pounding in my head.
“You should really reconsider getting drunk if you’re just going to go all Favorite Uncle and make them promises you aren’t going to keep,” Kadin says with disappointment in his voice.
As his younger brother, there is absolutely nothing worse than that tone of voice.
“I’m not backing out old man. If I told the girl I was buying her a horse, then she’s getting a damn horse.” I give him a challenging look, daring him to think I’m bluffing. “But,” I add, “Easton is going to have to wait on the speed boat.”
London chuckles and looks over her shoulder at Kadin.
“You’re actually going to do it?” he asks.
“Yep,” I say standing from the bed and stretching my arms over my head. My back pops in several different locations reminding me I skipped my chiropractor’s visit last month. Getting old sucks.
“Good,” he says and kisses London on the temple. “I made the appointment last week. They’re expecting us in two hours.”
“Last week?” I ask his back as he walks away laughing.
I follow him out of the room and down the hallway to the kitchen.
“Last week?” I repeat.
London comes up behind me and gives my back a reassuring pat.
“Yep,” Kadin says placing a steaming cup of coffee in front of me.
“It’s her birthday present.”
“Yet somehow she asks me for it?”
Kadin shrugs. “Saves me some money. You know how I love a bargain.”
“Asshole,” I mutter blowing the top of my coffee.
“Want to talk about why you got plastered last night at the dinner table?” London says pulling out the chair beside me and sitting down. “You’ve never done that around the kids before.”
“I just wanted to drink.”
“Bullshit,” Kadin says taking the chair across the table from me. “You’re all tied up with that woman, and it’s scaring the shit out of you.”
“Lexi?” London asks with excitement in her voice. I look over at her, and her eyes have the same glint in them that my mother’s had last night.
What is it with these damn women? Every one of them turns into fucking Cupid the minute I take a second look at a girl. This isn’t London’s first time to get excited over a girl. She did the same thing last year when she met my conquest for the night at a club we all went to together. Her mistake.
“I think she’s great,” London continues unprompted. Then she gasps and covers her mouth with her hand shooting a quick look at Kadin. “Please tell me you didn’t one-night stand the girls’ teacher?”
“I didn’t!” I say defensively. Cutting my eyes back to Kadin was a huge mistake.
“I know that look,” he says. “That look says you’ve slept with her more than once, but the real question is where does it go from here?”
“You’re going to break her heart. She’s going to hate me now. Do you know how bad it is if the teacher hates the parents?”
“I’m not going to break her heart.” I have no idea why I made that promise. Who can predict the future? “I still don’t know if I’ll even think about taking things further.”
Both of them just stare at me, blinking periodically.
“She lied to me,” I inform them.
Kadin frowns, but it’s his wife who speaks first. “What did she lie about?”
“She told me her parents were dead. Then her mother showed up at the house yesterday morning.”
“You stayed the night with her?” Kadin asks with a grin.
“Leave it alone,” I tell him.
“What’s her mother like?” London angles her body at me as if I’m about to hand out some major gossip.
I cringe at the memories of Cindy. “She’s horrible. Yelled at Lexi, said brutal things, blamed her for every wrong decision in her life. I was only there for like fifteen minutes after she showed up, but she managed to pack a whole lot of hatred in that short time. She claims it’s Lexi’s fault she’s a stripper. She had all these grand plans for her life, and Lexi ruined them when she got pregnant.”
London cocks an eyebrow at me.
“What?” I hate her scrutiny.
“Are you seriously telling me you’re angry at her for lying about her mother after what you just said? Not everyone has parents like you guys do.” She looks over at Kadin, including him in her appraisal. “A school teacher with a stripper mom? Can you blame her for lying?”
“She has to know I would’ve met them eventually,” I mutter staring into my coffee cup.
Kadin laughs causing me to look up. “Does she, though? Have you given her any reason to think she’ll be around for any period of time? Sounds to me like she figured you were just a passing fling and didn’t want to get into anything personal with you.”
London nods in agreement with her husband.
“Damn,” I say softly. The idea that Lexi may be doing to me what I do with every other woman makes my gut turn.
“I’ll be ready to head out in about thirty minutes,” Kadin says getting up from the table and pushing his chair back up. London follows him out of the room, and I immediately hate the silence I’m left in.
Silence gives a voice to the thoughts in my head, and that’s never a good thing.
I rub at my temples as Rhonda flashes in my mind.
Although I was a participating party in my relationship with her, I blame her for ruining me for all other women. Not in a good way either.
It was the little lies that she spewed that sent up the first red flags with Rhonda; those same red flags are rising with Lexi now too.
This isn’t the same. Is it? I’ve been welcomed into Lexi’s home, her bed. Lexi hasn’t had issues with me showing up unannounced, and I completely understand now after taking a step back, the reason she lied about her mom. Cindy is beyond awful. Until meeting her, I didn’t realize that people like that existed.
I have no idea how I feel about Lexi. I haven’t really given myself the opportunity to think about her beyond any type of sexual relationship.
Liar, my brain tells me.
Looking back, I know I wasn’t at her house Sunday morning because I got too drunk the night before. I wasn’t there because it got so late I was too tired to leave. I was there because I wanted to be there. I stayed because having her in my arms felt right for some reason.
“You’re looking for excuses,” Kadin says coming back into the kitchen.
“She lied to me, Kadin. I can’t get past that.” Even though the words are coming out of my mouth, I don’t honestly believe them myself.
“Of course you can. She isn’t her, Kegan. This isn’t the same thing,” he assures me. “The question is, what are you going to do now?”
I shake my head slightly and rest my forehead in my palms. “I don’t know.”
“Take some time and figure it out. Lexi is a good woman. She doesn’t deserve getting strung along.” Kadin takes my coffee cup from the table, rinses it in the sink, and places it in the dishwasher. “But right now we need to go buy a horse.”
“Where are you going to put a damn horse?” I ask getting up from the table and following him to the door.
“Out back,” is his simple reply. “The barn and paddock were finished weeks ago.”
He totally played me, and he used his not so angelic daughter to seal the deal.
Chapter 24
Lexi
“This is pitiful,” I mumble setting out more plastic cups near the punch bowl.
“Tell me about it,” I hear from beside me.
I cringe before looking over. A relieved sigh escapes my lips when I realize it’s Renee, the second-grade teacher, beside me.
“Chex mix and punch? This is a private school. These parents pay tons of money for their kids’ tuition, and we have open house night with cereal mix?” I shouldn’t complain, out loud at least.
I just knew I would walk into work on Monday to my door code being changed and police waiting to arrest me for lewd behavior on a school campus, but it’s blissfully silent. Amelia has kept her distance, and I can’t help but wonder what Kegan told her, or promised her, to keep her from firing me.
Renee looks down at the pitiful refreshments on the table and frowns. “It wasn’t always like this,” she says in a whisper as if the walls have ears, and she’d be in trouble for what she’s about to impart.
“Really? It was this horrible last year.” This is my second year at Edgewood, but the lack of supplies and bells and whistles has always been an issue since I arrived.
“We used to have food catered in for every event we had. I’m talking real plates, cups, and silverware. None of this plastic junk,” she says pointing at the tall stack of Solo cups.
“What’s going on then? What’s changed?”
“Two words for you, Amelia DuPont. She’s cheap and doesn’t feel like we should waste money on things like that.” She grumbles something unintelligible under her breath. “Incoming,” she groans softly and walks away.
I look over my shoulder and immediately jerk my head back toward the table. I busy myself tearing paper towels from the roll and folding them. No matter what nice way I try to fold them, they still look like cheap paper towels. I’m honestly embarrassed that this is what we’re presenting to the parents of our children. Maybe some of the parents will be
upset and cause a stink; hopefully, the next event will be back to the way Renee said it was a few years ago before—
“I’m keeping my eyes on you,” Amelia says sliding up to the table. She purposefully hits it with her hips causing the tower of cups to fall over, several landing in the punch bowl. Thankfully the tablecloths are plastic, more than likely from the dollar store, and will wipe off easily.
I do my best to ignore her, but she’s breathing down my neck. I try to calm myself with a few deep breaths before I turn to face her. True to her normal self, she’s wearing a ridiculously low-cut top, and although her skirt is an appropriate length, her five or six-inch heels serve no purpose in an elementary school.
I can’t help but notice her appraisal of me. She has a look on her face as if she’s just taken a bite of spoiled meat. It bothers me the same way it did when the mean girls used to do it in high school. Of course, she would be one of those women.
“I have no clue what he even sees in you.” I do my best not to let her snide remark rub me the wrong way, but it’s almost impossible. “Kegan used to have class, but he seems to be slumming it these days.”
I bite the inside of my cheek until metallic blood hits my tongue, but I manage to keep my mouth shut. Kegan left Sunday morning, and I haven’t heard from him since. It’s Thursday now, so I guess his silence is a clear indication of what he thinks of me. I don’t have to justify myself to her, even though I want to. The last thing I’m going to do is risk my job justifying a man’s decision, especially when he’s not interested in me enough to call or even text.
I just smile at her and turn back to cleaning up the mess she just made.
“Ms. Carter!”
I turn to see Anastyn and Lennox Cole running toward me. Thankfully, Amelia steps out of the way as if she’ll catch some kind of contagious disease if she gets too close to the children.
I reach down and hug them as each one wraps their little arms around my legs.
“We missed you,” Lennox says softly.
“Missed me? That’s silly,” I tell her. “We were just in class a few hours ago. Did you show your mom and dad your caterpillars?”