Fall

by Eden Butler

  “I…hell, Lil, I don’t know. This entire…” She stopped speaking, kept her face down as she rubbed her forehead. “It’s so fast,” Zee jerked her attention to her aunt, a silent warning in the sharp focus of her glare, “and I’m glad it has been, in case you thought of trying to convince me to go back to New Orleans with you.”

  “The thought hasn’t entered my mind.”

  “Why do I not believe you?” she asked, dropping her hand to her lap. “You never explained why you came here. You didn’t even call. Kinda funny that you show up the day after I leave a message telling you I’m getting married.” She watched Lily closely then, gaze moving over her features like she expected one twitch or the smallest flutter of a pulse on Lily’s face to give away her intentions. “So, you’re saying there’s no correlation between my announcement and your visit?”

  “What I’m saying, is that I needed a break and was given time from work. Your message just gave me an excuse to avoid accepting a favor from a co-worker.” Lily sat up, sliding next to Zinnia on the bed. “Besides, I wanted to see your face.” She took Zinnia’s hand, linking their pinkies together as she’d done since Zee was a little girl. “That was all the excuse I needed.”

  Her niece didn’t say much after that. She only watched her finger next to Lily’s as though she tried to spot the similarities. But with Zee, the silence didn’t last long and her curiosity got the better of her.

  “Where were you this morning when we came home? I didn’t see you in the kitchen or living room when Ano and I were screaming our heads off and we had to pass the guest room to finish the shouting match in our bedroom.”

  Lily wasn’t sure how much to reveal. It was obvious Zinnia was on Keilen’s side. She talked about him so frequently in the past Lily thought her niece might have a crush. But now Ano was in the picture, or at least he still had a lead. She didn’t think telling Zee what had almost happened with Keilen would invite calm and indifference from her niece. Zee wasn’t the calm and indifferent sort.

  “I was looking around Keilen’s place. I wanted to check out what he’s done.”

  “Oh?”

  Lily laughed, waving off the half grin on Zinnia’s face. “Stop that.”

  “What am I doing?” The smile was wider now and a little ridiculous but it kept Zee from thinking of the argument she’d had with Ano and the worries that had caused it.

  “You’re plotting things where there are no plots to be had.”

  Lily could take the long look Zee gave her. She’d learned to guard her emotions, particularly when her niece wanted to dissect each half-truth answer or impassive look. The girl simply was too observant, too nosey for her own good. It didn’t matter anyway. What was here other than Zinnia? What would keep Lily from the mainland where she could repair the fractured career one cruel stalker had begun to splinter apart?

  “He likes you. He always has, I think.” The girl slipped to her side, the humor from her expression replaced by a look that was too hopeful, too certain that Lily was open to whatever Keilen wanted from her. “He’s asked about you so often. At first, I thought it was nothing. I thought maybe he’d had crush on you or something when you were kids. But then he kept asking. Kept worrying over you, and I realized what he felt was more than some crush.”

  “It was never like that with me and Keilen.” It was a partial admission and Lily hoped her niece would not pry.

  “What was it like then?”

  Zinnia was far too nosey for this early in the day. “I thought we were talking about you and Ano and that window-shattering fight.” It was a little cruel to mention, but Zee needed the reminder.

  The questions made impact as Zinnia’s smile left her and she curled her legs up, wrapping her long arms around her knees. “I don’t know what there is to do really. It might be one of those arguments that goes on forever. One of those things I’ll have to learn to live with.”

  “So, you’d be willing to let him go on giving Leanni her way? Every time? That seems hardly fair to you, sugar.”

  “What else can I do?” There wasn’t a cruel cell in Zinnia’s body. She was overtly kind; a trait that kept her social as a teenager and willing to lend a hand when it was needed. Even as they’d left the hospital, it was Zee who garnered the most attention—orderlies and interns telling her to drive safe or have a nice visit. Doctors and nurses nodding to Keilen and smiling at Zinnia when she passed by them in the parking garage. She was a sweet soul, but she was not weak. She was not one to be handled. Zee had a bite and it was sharp. It made Lily worry that she wasn’t willing to stand up for herself.

  “You tell her to mind her own business, and if Ano doesn’t like it, you tell him that he’s a coward.”

  “He’s not.”

  “No? Then why won’t he stand up for you? Why is he bending and expecting you to break?”

  “I…” Lily shook her head, took Zinnia’s hand again and the girl went quiet, watching Lily, searching her face as if she’d only just realized the misstep she’d taken. “Is that what I’m doing? Breaking?”

  “Only you can answer that, sugar.”

  Another shake of her head and Zinnia went quiet, hand curling to tighten around Lily’s fingers as though she hoped to draw in her strength and keep it there. “I need you. Did you know that? I can manage fine for the most part, but God, Lil, sometimes I need you to remind me who I am.”

  “You don’t need me to remind you.”

  Her smile was weak, but still present and Zee took a breath, then went completely still as the roar of Ano’s car sounded from the driveway. “You could stay. You could…you could come home. There are attorneys on the island or you could start your own practice. You could be here with me, with us, and not all alone in that fancy New Orleans condo.”

  “I don’t practice that kind of law, sugar.” Lily stood from the bed, pulling Zee up and toward the door. “Besides, New Orleans isn’t boring and I’m not alone. Not really.”

  “It’s not home, and I’m not there, Lil.” She glanced toward the hallway when she heard someone coming up the stairs, but looked back at Lily, as though whoever approached could wait to have her attention. “This is home. This is where you belong.”

  Ano cleared his throat, offering Zinnia a sheepish glance and then squared his shoulders after Keilen shoved him into the room. “Nani,” he started, coming inside to stand at Zee’s side. “Can we…do you mind if we talk?”

  “I’ll go,” Lily told her niece, squeezing her hand before she left the room.

  “Lil,” Zinnia called, stopping Lily before she joined Keilen in the hallway.

  “Yeah?”

  “Think about it, okay?” She exchanged a glance with Keilen, and her small grin widened. “There’s a lot waiting for you here.”

  Lily held her tongue, figuring Zinnia had enough arguing to do that morning, but shot her a look that promised a lecture when she found the time. She tried to ignore the feel of Keilen’s gaze as he watched her from the hallway, as though he wanted her reply as much as Zee did.

  “I’ll think about,” Lily said, deciding right then she could do without promises. She was tired of having to break them.

  Chapter Eleven

  Sparks was the only word Lily could find to explain the sensation Keilen worked in her. Sparkling radiance that lit up his face anytime he weaved through the football field at Kaimuki High. Sparks of excitement every second he moved near her and for the briefest moment, smiled in her direction. Not even at her or near her, but merely in her direction. Those had been moments of joy for Lily; to be fifteen and smitten and bathed in the sparks that caught and grew and soared into an inferno inside her mind.

  Maybe Lily had been the stalker. The thought made her sick, but it was appropriate. She’d never approached him. She’d never been brave enough for anything more than a peek in his direction, but that had been Lily’s reality when she was a teen. Keilen Rivers and the sparks that radiated through Lily anytime she was lucky enough to get even minute
ly close to him.

  Now he sat two feet from her, across the table at a small fruit market just a few blocks from the hospital where Keilen would soon start his third straight shift. A spread of breakfast foods and fruits were between them and those damndable sparks seemed to smolder once more.

  Lily was happy to get a few minutes of his time. They kept him busy at the hospital and she’d been thinking of that little tryst that might have gone somewhere before her niece and his cousin’s fight interrupted them. It had been a long three days.

  “I got a call this morning,” Keilen said, impossible dimples exaggerated as he laughed to himself. “From my cousin.”

  “Ah,” Lily replied downing a mimosa, hoping it made her braver than she was sitting so close to him, recalling how his large hands had felt on her naked breast a few days before. “I have a feeling I know where this conversation is going.”

  “Kona?” he asked, sitting back against his chair. “You ran into Kona.”

  “That would be painful. He’s a big bastard.”

  “Don’t be evasive, nani. Tell me how it happened.” Keilen leaned on his elbows, the thick, dark lines of his tattoos a distraction that kept Lily from answering right away.

  Keilen must have noticed where Lily’s attention was and covered his forearm with his hand. “Come on. I’d like to know how that conversation went.”

  “Not much to tell,” she started with a confidence that was forced. “I had a bad day at work, went to a bar and there he was with a friend and his damn clone.”

  “Ransom?” Keilen’s smile wavered and Lily wondered if it was the mention of Kona’s son who he’d only just met or the reminder of who the boy reminded everyone of, that took some of the sparkle from Keilen’s eyes.

  Lily focused on the rim of her glass, staring at the pulp and the fizzing bubbles that circled in the drink. “He reminded me of Luka.”

  “Yeah. He’s got the same look.”

  “Same smile,” Lily agreed, hating how the mention of Kona’s twin had diminished the tone of the conversation.

  Keilen must have felt the same shift and didn’t like it. He swallowed his coffee and cleared his throat. “So, Kona offered a plane.” When Lily smiled, Keilen matched her expression, giving her the impression that he thought highly of himself; that maybe since it was his cousin who had gotten Lily to the island, he’d done so for a specific reason. Namely, Keilen. “And was there a reason it was my cousin…”

  “Wow, you’ve gotten incredibly vain over the years, Mr. Rivers.”

  “I have not.” He tightened the muscles around his mouth, but Lily didn’t buy his frown or the exaggerated scowl he gave her.

  “Kona setting me up with a ride to island does not mean I’m some sort of present from one cousin to another.”

  He pressed his lips together, affecting a grin that just looked filthy and Lily had to fight the urge to kiss him. “You sure about that? I mean, you were at my house, looking for me, and I’m not saying it was…”

  He went silent when Lily threw her linen napkin right at his nose. “I did not go over there to see you.”

  “So you say.”

  Lily’s frown was quick, but not threatening. A fact made abundantly clear when Keilen laughed at it. “I was checking out the damage to my mother’s house.”

  “And hoping I’d show up and catch you examining the damage.”

  She ignored him, waving at the waiter to bring them the check as she continued to banter with him. “There’s dry rot on the second-floor deck.”

  “And you let me kiss you…”

  Lily knew they were heading toward territory that would lead nowhere. Not with the crowd around them and him dressed and ready to leave the restaurant and start his shift at the hospital. “And the garden is a disaster.”

  “You let me touch you…”

  He really wasn’t fighting fair. “It’s obvious you’re useless in a garden.” Lily ignored how deep his voice had lowered, crossing her ankles to still the pulse moving between her legs.

  “And if my cousin and your niece hadn’t had that argument, Lord knows what would have happened.”

  The waiter handed Keilen the check and Lily grabbed it, pulling out her card with a sweet smile she didn’t mean. “Nothing would have happened. Please. You’re full of yourself if you think…”

  “Yes,” Keilen interrupted, ignoring her small dig. He nodded to the waiter as he left the table, but his focus was on Lily and when he spoke, his voice was firm, full of conviction. “It would have.”

  She could lie to herself, but Lily had no ground to stand on when Keilen looked at her the way he did just then. The line in the sand had been drawn, and she knew it was a battle she wouldn’t win. She wanted him, that much she knew, but something niggled the back of her mind, told her to resist, told her that falling so easily under his spell was a disaster in the making. He was beautiful, sensual, and everything she’d always wanted for herself. But Lily wasn’t the awe-struck fifteen-year-old watching Keilen like a stalker. She also wasn’t the eager twenty-two-year-old ready to take him to bed and worry about the consequences later.

  But, damn, it was hard to deny him.

  “Things are complicated now,” she admitted, unsure what to make of his expression. He didn’t smile, didn’t laugh or frown, but there was something moving over his face that Lily hadn’t seen before. It looked strangely like fear.

  “Because you live on the mainland?” His tone was even, but cautious.

  “Because my niece, the only family I have left in the world, is about to marry into your family. Me and you added to that mix is…”

  “Is not a concern at all, Lil.” He sat back, elbows on the armrest, and watched her, jaw working as the waiter returned, offering Lily her card and the receipt to sign. Keilen’s focus was sharp, and she felt it on her skin, working over her features as she scribbled across the paper. When she finished, she found his expression hadn’t changed, and his attention hadn’t left her.

  “It’s not just that,” she said, mimicking his stance as she leaned against the back of her chair. “I have a career to worry about. There’ve been…issues that have come up and everything is…”

  “What kind of issues?” he asked, stiffening in his chair as he leaned closer.

  She sighed, not sure if she wanted to tell anyone the real reason she’d returned to the island. Zee would only worry that someone was targeting her. The girl had enough worries to contend with. Keilen though… Lily narrowed her eyes, watching him to see if he’d press her, would keep her confidence. She knew him well enough to trust that. There were no agendas from him; what the hell did he care about her job or the firm?

  “It’s not my business, of course, but if I can help, Lil…”

  “You can’t,” she said, exhaling as she decided telling someone not at the firm or in New Orleans might help. It would at least make her feel better. “No one can do anything really.”

  “Try me. I’ve got that big bastard cousin in New Orleans and that son of a bitch knows everyone.”

  Lily would never want Kona in the middle of her mess, but one look at Keilen and she understood he’d likely not let this go easily. She nodded, scooting her chair toward him and took one last sip of her mimosa.

  “About four months ago I noticed someone following me.”

  Keilen sat back, index finger covering his mouth as he watched her. “Following you? On the street?”

  She nodded, ready to recite the same story she’d told building security the first time her office lock had been broken, then again to the NOPD when someone vandalized her Cadillac.

  “It started out with messages on my cell, then Facebook comments. They were flattering at first, complimentary, then they got flirty. I didn’t really pay much attention to it because I never got online and when I did it wasn’t for very long.”

  “But things escalated?” Keilen sat forward and the smell of his cologne calmed Lily, had her shifting to put her weight on her left elbow, the si
de closest to Keilen.

  “Yeah, they did. First, there was ‘whore’ and ‘slut’ spray painted across my back windshield. That happened in the parking garage of my complex. They didn’t find anyone. Then, two weeks later, the lock on my office door was broken and someone went through my things. That was more serious, considering the legal documents in my office and the sensitive material in my desk.”

  She closed her eyes, remembering the gut-punch feeling that had wormed inside her stomach when Ellis told her two of her cases had been reassigned. The clients found out about the break in and didn’t want their confidentiality violated. They’d requested a new attorney; one who didn’t have the bad luck of having some asshole break into her office and put their hands on the client’s information.

  “So, you got punished?” When Lily nodded, Keilen clenched his jaw, mouth tensing and he looked like he wanted to take a swing at someone. “Your bosses blamed you? For something out of your control?”

  “Not at first, no, but then…well…then the pictures surfaced.” Keilen lifted his eyebrows, seeming a little surprised, a lot curious, but Lily didn’t elaborate just then. Instead, she rested her elbows on her knees, motioning him closer after a couple furtive glances around the restaurant to make sure she couldn’t be heard. “You can’t tell Zinnia or anyone else about this, but especially Zee. I don’t want her worrying about me. She’s got enough on her plate.”

  “It’ll go to the grave with me, Lil.” Keilen gripped her hand and grazed her wrist with his fingers, shooting a shudder along her arm. “Tell me,” he said, holding her hand. “What pictures?”

  “They were photoshopped. Never in my life have I let anyone take pictures of me when…well. When. But my direct supervisor and the partners got envelopes with a girl, skinny as a rail, with my head superimposed on her body. The pictures were...” She shuddered again, moving her shoulders at the reminder of what those damn pictures had looked like. “The girl…she was being taken from behind by one guy while another one she…sucked off.”