"You got it?" Kami asked. "Ovulation sex?"
"Three loads." Kaley gave Kami a slap on the ass. "So, he can unload on you." She reached and gave Kevin a harder slap on the ass. "But save a load for me, after all, we still have award sex due and owed."
"No rest for the weary." Kevin was happy that cracked them up. He was surprised he brought something up. "Jealousy." He saw their heads turn but knew they didn't find that as odd as anyone else would. They were used to odd because they were used to him. "I know when I knew I would feel jealous."
"Jealous over who?" Kami changed that with a smile. "Whom?"
Kevin measured some gin for Frank's gin and tonic. He kept his eyes on that job, because this was a tough talk he felt he needed to make. "Over no one. No, over future imaginary boyfriends and husbands."
As soon as he sat the drink glass down, his sisters pulled him over to stand in front of them.
"Let me explain it this way. I thought Zoey was my first love. I thought it was so special when I held her tight. When I kissed her." The memory of that intimacy made him shudder.
"When you—" Kaley didn't get madder when Kami's hand covered her mouth, so they could get Kevin to finish.
Kevin was ready to pick it up after Kaley's jealousy interrupted.
"But, I hugged you, Kami, after I told you I loved you." He worried she wouldn't remember, so he quickly reminded her. "In the diner bathroom." After she nodded, he let out the breath he was holding in and shared a look to share that memory. He turned to face Kaley. "And in the McConnell's pool, I kissed you, Kaley, and told you I loved you." He hung his head down.
"What are you trying to tell us?" Kami asked.
"It was close enough in time to compare Zoey with you two." Kevin looked up. "The hug. The kiss. The words of love." He pulled in a breath and let it out. "Meant so much more. Felt so much more. Was so much more." He shook his head. "I realized I loved you both more than I would ever love Zoey. And the kind of love I felt made me want to do more than love you, it made me want to make love to you. Only you. Only you two."
The women both turned to check the monitor before they turned back and took turns giving him passionate kisses.
When Kaley's turn ended, Kami gripped Kevin's bulging bicep. "That date I went out with Skip on." A flash of anger flashed and reddened her face. "Because you made me, Kevin." She looked at Kaley who gripped her to make her get a grip. She looked back at Kevin. "I thought about you that way before. Long before. I thought it was a silly crush. A sick sister crush. But, on that date, there was one moment that brought it home for me." She smiled a loving smile at him. "Made me realize I only wanted to make a home with you." She pulled in a breath and described the moment. "Skip kissed me goodnight, and when my eyes closed, all I thought about was you. All I felt holding me was you. Right then. Right there. I knew I only wanted you. For the rest of my life."
After the silence of that moment of truth went on for a while, Kaley broke it. "Jealousy!"
The two turned to Kaley to give her the floor.
Kaley shook her head. "My story's darker. A lot darker."
Kevin changed places with Kaley and leaned against the counter with Kami, so Kaley faced them.
Kaley almost laughed as she shook her head. "It was about a week into your relationship with Zoey. Part of my being so pissy was coming to grips with how much killing gripped me." She looked like it was hard to make the confession, but she was determined to do it. "But, the other part. The bigger part. Jealousy." She looked back like she was seeing the scenes that made her insanely jealous. "Every flirty look, touch, or joke made me want to snatch her hair out, gouge her eyes out, cut off her—"
Kami put up a palm. "We get the picture honey."
Kaley nodded and gulped as she came to the hard part. "It was a night I saw you kissing her more than sweetly. You kissed ... Passionately!" She shrugged, pulled in a breath, and ripped the bandage off as they liked to say, "I made you some cold hot chocolate like you like in the summer, but I loaded it up with sleeping pills the doctor prescribed for Mom."
Kevin felt his eyebrows up high, and was glad he felt that, so he could bring them down and hear the rest of it.
Kaley looked at Kami. "You slept like a stoner and snored like a bear that night."
"Where was I, Kaley?" Kevin asked with a look that was both curious and cautious.
"In your bed." Kaley gulped again. "With me on top of you, making out with you, and doing a few things to you."
Kevin knew he probably looked as startled as Kami did by that. He turned and looked at Kaley. "Why would you do that?"
"I'm sorry, Kevin. So, so sorry. I guess—" Kaley bowed her head to finish that. "I was as much in lust with you as I was in love with you."
"I meant, why would you do that when I was asleep and couldn't enjoy it?" He flashed his brows.
Kaley pretend slapped Kevin before she hugged him hard and pulled Kami into the hug with them.
****
The family was assembled on the patio for the cutting of the brownies that were tasked with the task of the award cake for the awarded father who fathered more of the next trio of Rileys than could be revealed. Kevin looked at his family and truly appreciated them for one particular attribute. Weirdness. He could sugarcoat that and say 'unique' but weird was a better fit. He'd been called weird many times in his life. It upset his mother and father. It upset his protective sisters. It never really upset him. It took so long for him to accept himself, he learned to embrace the uniqueness of his weirdness along the way. With that weird thought in mind he looked at his family.
His mother and stepfather shared the look with him. One got over a once-in-a-lifetime love that was lost to death. One got over a one-of-a-kind cheating spouse who was given death by his older sister. They found each other and found the best love they could find to share the rest of their lifetimes with.
He looked at his sisters next because he saw them looking at him. Likely knowing exactly what he was thinking. It was weird how close he'd always been with his sisters. It was weirder to ponder the attraction that became physical when they were children and slept a deep sleep until reawakened with the wakening desire of their teenhood. It was beyond weird that they discovered something they loved doing together that played a part in keeping them together. Killing.
He looked at their children when they did. Their children had no idea how weird the weirdness was in their parents. In more ways than one. But, it was good to see a near exact replica of the weird relationship between them that made the rest of the world seem irrelevant and inhospitable, or to use the only word that fit, weird. Their children were the same weird combination as they were, and he was so happy about that. That was a winning combination.
Kaley and Kami painstakingly cut two sets of small squares out of the two iced thirds and the one plain third of the large brownie tray.
Kevin smiled at Kenden who was the only other person seated at the outdoor table. He knew what was up. The sisters who were mothers and wives were catering to the odd eccentricities of their odd men.
Kenden arranged the three pieces of brownie on his plate.
Kevin saw his sisters grinning at him as he did the same.
The two men tasted the tastes of the tasty treats.
Kenden looked up at Kevin. "The plain. Definitely the plain."
Kevin shared looks with his daughters before he did with his sisters. He'd showed his hand to them earlier in the kitchen. He was going with the caramel fudge topping with no looking back on his plain brownie days. But, not tonight. There was too much of a shared feeling with his son who shared his disability that was more of an ability in his mind. "Yes, Sir, young Mister Riley. The plain."
Kevin got up and let the kids and the grandparents get in to get their treats.
Kaley and Kami flanked Kevin on his sides and put their arms around him.
He watched Karey cutting a precise piece for Kenden, and when a mistake made that perfect square less than perfect
, Kali slid the reject to her place and slid a fresh plate in its place.
"Good?" Kami asked in a breathy whisper.
"So good!" Kaley exclaimed in a soft whisper.
The sisters looked up to their baby brother who was their counterpart they could count on for creating life, making a good life, and taking lives.
"So, damn good!" His was well above a whisper.
The kids and their grandparents were into a loud discussion that contained a mild argument.
That prompted the oldest of the older Riley trio to keep it going since the shared feeling was going strong. "The winning Rileys."
The middle-child kept it going, "The loving Rileys."
The baby of that weird group thought as hard as his unusual mind could think and all he came up with was, "The killing Rileys."
He thought what he said wasn't nearly as good as what his sisters brought up from the past, but the sweet kisses he got so subtly, let him know it was good. He chased that thought with a bigger one. His life was good. There was no better life than being with his sisters and being a winning, loving, killing Riley.
After their children finished the treat in short order and retreated to their home at the top of the hill, his sisters guided him to a seat. Kaley tried to cut him a perfect square piece. When that effort wasn't quite perfect, Kami pulled that brownie to her spot, and slid her plate into place.
Kevin noticed Kate noticing that. "Mom, it's too bad I can't marry my sisters."
"It is too bad, Son," Kate answered swiftly and sincerely. She looked at her children lovingly and knowingly.
Kevin thought as he had before, about how much his mother knew. They were careful all those years. Careful not to get caught together doing one of the things they loved to do whenever they were together. Making love. As a teen, he wondered if he was up to the job of keeping two smart and beautiful women satisfied. That took care of itself. He was pretty sure that the doubled wives had doubled his sexual capacity. More capacity meant more chances of being caught. Made the sibling secret that much harder to conceal. He was good at concealing. He made it easier by having the kids upstairs, him above the kids, and his sisters downstairs. It was the hidden staircase between the rooms of the older Riley trio that made it work. It was harder when the kids were little and wanted to sleep with an aunt or mother a lot, but they managed. He really felt the children were in the dark. The look his mother gave and had given before made him think she was in the light of knowledge of his carnal knowledge of his sisters. She didn't let on. Maybe it was a fact she learned to live with like she learned to live with her daughters' teen pregnancies. It was weird, but her children were weird, and she accepted and possibly embraced that weirdness.
"Frank and I should mosey along." Kate didn't leave that up for debate. She hugged and kissed her children.
The grown children hugged their mother and stepfather warmly.
Kevin, Kaley, and Kami watched the older couple with a strong marriage walk up the hill and through the gate that connected their adjoining luxury homes and seemed moved by that enduring second chance romance.
****
As if they were mind-readers, his sisters brought a dark stout beer, and a piece of dark chocolate brownie with caramel topping, as they rested on their sides beside him on the oversized chaise lounge he rested on. They all finished off the wine and brownie together.
They looked up at the stars that were clearer that night than they usually were.
"Other than consulting a little, if I get a little bored—" Kevin started.
Kaley sat up. "You're retiring?"
Kami sat up. "Are you?"
"Yes," he said and barely got the word out before he was hugged and kissed more than an autistic man should be able to stand. He stood it and loved it.
The women nestled back in, but they were nestled in more.
Kaley stroked his hair. "That talk you gave us ... About getting the needs satisfied ... And then satisfying your dream."
"What is your dream, Kevin?" Kami worked her sensitive fingers on his lower back.
Kevin laughed as he remembered. "I'm stealing your old dream, Kaley." He waited until he thought he saw them both remembering. "Being the best husband I can be. To you two." He let them savor that and caress him. "The best father I can be to our three. Our next two." He grinned. "Or three, or four, or five, or six—" He stopped when Kami pinched him.
"I know you think you're a love machine—" Kami giggled. "And you are." She winked. "But, do you think we're baby machines?"
"I don't mind being a baby machine," Kaley said.
"Me neither," Kami said.
Kaley reached and squeezed Kami with a hand. "I'll write, and you'll act in strong pregnant women roles."
"I'm seeing Kaley all pretty and preggers as she shoves the icepick slowly into the alcoholic homicide detective's brain." Kevin chuckled.
"That's it!" Kami leaned up to look at Kaley. "You should so write about that character."
Kaley sat up and grinned at Kevin. "Only if Kaley the pregnant killer has a talking monkey for a sidekick."
They nestled back to his sides after laughing so much their sides hurt.
Kaley spoke in the soothing sister voice she used with Kevin so often over the years, "Honey, you helped us with our dreams—"
"And by 'helped' she means pushed, pulled, and dragged us through them," Kami added.
Kaley didn't let the joke linger. She gave him a serious look. "It's your time now. Your dream. Whatever you want to do."
Kevin looked back and forth at them. They clung to him so tightly, his strong body moved them when he shrugged. "What if my dream is having no dream?"
Kaley gave Kevin her look she looked with when she demanded a confession.
Kevin nodded and got them on their backs and looking up at the stars. "You two made me feel. Feel more than I ever expected to feel. The only thing I've ever felt passionate about is the two of you. I love our children. I can really feel that love. But, even that love I can feel, might only be an extension of the love I feel for you."
"I love you so much, and that is so beautiful, but I'm not following you," Kami said.
"Me neither," Kaley said.
"Look, all that self-actualization stuff is hard to think about when your self is not a normal self." He worked a hand up to rub the back of his neck, but they took over for him, and he was glad they did. "I feel, but I only really feel through you. Through you, I feel our children. I feel the wonderful life we share with each other and our children." He took in a long breath and let it out slowly with a satisfied sound. "I feel so much more than all that. I feel your dreams. Feel the dreams of our children." The next breath made a sigh that sounded more of resignation than satisfaction. "I don't think I ever had a dream in my life. I didn't have the luxury of that. I was too busy pursuing my insane interests and trying to pass as normal while I indulged my abnormality." There was a long pause he wished either one of them would fill. He took their silence as not understanding. He knew he did the best he could do to make them understand. That was as close as he could get it. "Don't you see? Can't you understand?
"You dream through the dreams you feel through us?" Kami asked.
"Yes." Kevin pulled them both closer to him. "And my dreams come true when your dreams come through for you."
They held and caressed each other under the stars for a while.
"No more wheeling and dealing?" Kaley asked.
"No more," Kevin answered sincerely.
"Not even if an opportunity comes up?" Kami asked shrewdly.
"I'll weigh the opportunity in front of me, against the time lost with my wives underneath me." He had to brow flash after that.
"Good answer." Kami tried the gesture, but even with her acting skills, she couldn't pull it off.
"So, we're not just the winning Rileys?" Kaley squeezed him after his head nodded.
"We're the loving Rileys too." Kami squeezed him.
"And don't forget—" He s
queezed them both back. "The killing Rileys."
Out of nowhere, Kaley hopped up. She put one leg up on the table and used that to get up on top of the table, with surprising athleticism. She put her hand to her brow to take a long-distance look.
Kevin and Kami watched curiously.
"Little Brother, I need you to stop looking at my ass and focus for a moment," Kaley said.
"How do you know that?" Kevin asked.
"She knows you." Kami got up and gave Kevin a hand up.
Kevin stepped to the table.
"That mean old drunk, Mister Billings, he's out drinking and singing in his rowboat again," Kaley said.
Kevin looked up. "Looks like the Lord is rolling in a blanket of clouds for that storm that's rolling in."
"You look like you could use a nice relaxing swim, Mister Riley." Kami started unbuttoning his shirt.
Kaley hopped off the table and worked to get his pants off.
He thought of the simple undressing tasks he could do on his own, but it wasn't nearly as exciting.
Kami leaned and kissed Kevin's chest. "Our man who can not only satisfy two sassy women—"
Kaley had worked his pants off, and Kevin was a little more excited from the place her lips chose to kiss.
Kaley looked up from that kiss and finished the sentence her sister left open for her. "He can be in two places."
"And where might that other place be?" he asked.
"Inside your home, with your uncommon common law wives, sending out emails and texts about your early retirement," Kaley answered.
Kevin put his hands to his eyes and saw there was a bit of fog settling on the lake before he saw the mean old drunk singing and drinking in his boat. "Justification?"
"Kenden's convinced that old piece of shit poisoned his rabbit," Kami answered.
"And you?" Kevin asked.
"I felt it in my gut," Kami answered.
"A threat to the family killing." He thought of debating that since he enjoyed their debates. The family threat rationale could be a very expansive and inclusive one. Technically, Kenden's rabbit, Hoppy, was a member of the family. He thought Kaley would argue that. He thought Kami might use a slippery-slope argument. That if the old asshole got away with killing their rabbit, he might progress to killing a person in the family. He grinned because he was pretty sure they would make those arguments. That sureness that only came with closeness put a look of pure satisfaction underneath his grin. "Good enough." He turned to them. "Being a winning Riley is a given." He nodded at the lake where he would swim to make his next kill that would surely look like the expected accident of a commonly hated hateful old drunk. "I get to be a killing Riley again." He left it there knowing they would finish it.
The Killing Rileys- First Love, First Kills Page 22