Ryan knocked on the car window, making me jump. I went to roll down the window, but the keys were out of the ignition, so I had to open the door.
“Sorry,” he said with a grin. “Didn’t mean to scare you.”
“Yeah. Right.” I climbed out of my seat. “How ya doin’, man?”
“Good. How was your trip?” At least he was genuinely interested. Not fishing for me to make some mistake and accidentally confess to some indiscretion.
I clapped him on the shoulder and shook hands with him. “Too long. It’s good to be home.”
Ryan raised his head, gazing at the door. “You sure?”
“What?” I waved it off. “Yeah.” I tried to bluff my way out of it even though he already knew his mom and I were arguing. “I missed you guys something terrible. You keepin’ Jake honest on Death Fight II?” They loved that video game.
“No. Little punk’s been beating the shit out of me.”
It was funny because, though Ryan was older, Jake had shot up at the end of high school and now had several inches on Ry. Of course, they were both taller than I was. I opened the rear door and grabbed my bag. “What? If you don’t give him any competition, I’ll have to teach him a thing or two or he’ll get all cocky on us.”
He rolled his eyes, reminding me of Sam. “I think that ship has sailed.” He snorted. “Besides, when you play, it’s more like Pillow Fight than Death Fight.”
“Hey.” I punched his arm and we walked around the back of the car together.
He rubbed his shoulder. “You’re prone to—”
“I’m not prone to violence,” I said at the same time. It was kind of a thing with my family and circle of friends—well, Sam’s family, anyway. As a hockey ref, Samantha always jokingly accused me of being prone to violence.
He chuckled. “Want to go to The Pint Well-Taken tonight and take a few?”
The Pint Well-Taken was the pub our friend Killian Murphey and his newlywed wife Joanne owned. “Sure. Sounds good.” We climbed the few steps to the door into the house. “Should we invite Jake?”
We looked at each other and both said, “Nah.” We were joking. It’s not that either of us would actually mind having Jake on board. But a night out with just Ryan would be nice, too.
Ryan added, “Besides, he’s going out with friends tonight for his final hurrah before school starts.”
“Is Elise home?”
“Yeah. Little nerd is studying. Like usual.”
“Hey, watch it. Your mom said that little nerd made the dean’s list.” Of course I didn’t have a favorite among the kids, but if I did…it would be Elise. She welcomed me to the family the minute we were introduced.
He gave me a lopsided smile. “Yes. But at what cost? She never has any fun. Is it really worth it?”
“I don’t know. You’ll have to ask her when she’s your boss.”
He stuck out his chin. “That’ll never happen. You forget. I had decent grades, too. And a social life.”
“But can you make a grilled cheese sandwich?”
He groaned. “She makes them so good.”
I don’t know what the girl did. She used the same ingredients as the rest of us, but hers were…manna.
Sam entered the hall from the kitchen down the hallway and walked briskly toward us. I resisted the urge to cringe and/or duck behind Ryan.
“Can we talk?” I could tell by the soft way she said it she was no longer angry, but I couldn’t quite tell which way her emotions would swing next.
“Sure.”
She headed into the laundry room to our right.
“Good luck with that,” Ryan said under his breath. Then he scurried toward the living room, where Jake was blowing people away on his video game.
I entered the laundry room and set my bag on the dryer then closed the door behind me. Sam stood at the far end of the small room, her fingers laced in front of her, staring at the floor. Without saying anything first, she ran toward me and threw her arms around me. I immediately drew her in, my body sighing against hers.
“I’m sorry.” She leaned away without letting me go, peering into my face. “I think I’m tired. And maybe a tad hormonal.”
“That’s okay,” I responded automatically.
“No, it’s not.” She released me and lowered her gaze. “That is not how I wanted to welcome you home.”
I placed a fist under her chin and lifted her face. Even that brief touch turned me on. “It’s okay, Sam. We all have our bad days.” After a few seconds, I tilted my head, raising my eyebrows. “How did you want to welcome me home?”
A smile grew on her face. She stepped within my embrace again and circled my waist, sliding her hands into my back pockets. “Like this.” Her lips took mine and I drew her in even closer.
“Mmm. God, I’ve missed you.” I took control of the kiss, eager to show her exactly how much. The heat and passion increased exponentially. I grabbed her behind the thighs and lifted her, swinging to set her on the dryer, although the bag didn’t allow much room. She pressed her palms against the sides of my face, taking the kiss deeper. She breathed energy into my tired body and brought it leaping to life. I reached over to grasp the doorknob, pressing and twisting it.
She moved her lips away a fraction. “It doesn’t lock.”
“Damn.” I scooped her into my arms again and whipped around to press her against the opposite wall, stumbling a bit and hoping the sound of her hitting it wouldn’t alarm the kids, knowing we’d potentially stepped into the room to argue. My lips feverishly sought hers. The dryer wasn’t at the optimal height, but here I was able to make full contact with her tight little body. I lowered my mouth to her neck then cruised along the creamy white skin along her collarbone.
“I thought Kyle was home.” Elise’s voice carried from the front room. Someone responded.
“Shit.” I laid my forehead on Sam’s chest, trying to bring my breathing to a reasonable level. She shook with low laughter, running her fingers through my thinning hair, her acrylic nails skimming along my scalp. It was phenomenal.
Bookending my face between her palms, she tilted it up. “Later.” Her tongue caressed the word, sending a pulse along my body, starting in my groin and spreading outward. She eased the tension in her legs as they wrapped about me.
“You understand I’m holding you to that?” I growled, moving away so her feet could drop to the floor.
She held my gaze, the corners of her lips quivering. “Oh, I’m counting on it.” Her voice was confident and seductive.
I tilted my chin, curling my bottom lip in and giving my head a slight shake. “Uum.” It would kill me to wait.
She slapped my hip lightly. “Go on out and I’ll start some of your laundry.”
I glanced at my bag containing the smelly uniform and pads I hadn’t had time to launder. “Oh, believe me, you don’t want to open that.” I took her hand. “Besides, I want to spend some time with you.” I winced. “I told Ryan I’d go with him to The Pint Well-Taken tonight. Maybe you could go with us.” I opened the door and we moved into the hall.
She patted me. “No. No. You go out with him. You don’t have much time together and we’ve got three whole days. You go.”
“Okay. But part of me will be left behind here with you.”
She turned to me and tweaked my chin. “Ooh. You’re such a smooth talker.”
I pulled her in by her hips. “Ya like that one?”
She traced my lips with a finger. “You know it. Only make sure if you’re leaving part of you behind, it’s the important part.” She laughed and took off down the hall and I gave her a swat on her ass. “Ooh.” She looked over her shoulder, but I was on top of her and she let out a squeak, wriggling in my arms. “Stop. The kids are here.” She giggled. We heard something, and I quickly let her go, but it was just the mutt.
Sam squatted. “Hey, Tootsie Roll. Did you miss me?”
For the life of me, I don’t know why she called the dog Tootsie Roll. It wasn�
�t as though it was long, like a Dachshund. But, it was brown…. And not only was Tootsie Roll a misnomer, the dog’s given name was Havoc, which suited it well in the early days. I got Havoc for Sam on Valentine’s Day—along with a promised Coach purse—the first year we were married, and at first she did wreak havoc on the household. Nothing was above being gnawed on. Not even a very expensive pair of skates Sam got me for Christmas. And what she wasn’t chewing on, she was peeing on. It about drove us nuts, and more than once we threatened to return her to the shelter I got her from. Then she’d do something cute—curl up in our lap or bring us her toy, her little tail wagging—and she’d be in our good graces again. Ryan suggested Havoc, which Sam loved as she could take him to the dog park and announce she was about to unleash Havoc. She enjoyed seeing people’s reactions to her half-pint pup being given such an intimidating name.
Havoc trotted toward us, yipping to beat the band, nails clickety clacking on the flooring, I mirrored Sam’s position, crouching. The waggling beast shot into my arms with such gusto, she rocked me onto my seat.
“Huh?” Sam huffed. “Traitor. Who gave you extra treats this morning?”
The ears lifted. “Don’t say t-r-e-a-t-ses,” I warned, knowing the effect the word had on the mutt. Too late. The scamp shot off as quickly as she had run to us, turning at the entrance to the kitchen. She was running at such a speed, her rear end fish tailed, her claws scrambling to find purchase, and she banged her hip on the door frame, but it didn’t slow her.
“Stupid dog,” Sam growled, but she was smiling. She let that thing get away with murder.
“Kyle.”
My heart warmed at the sound of her voice. “Hey, Elise.” She ran to me like she was still a twelve-year-old, which I secretly wished she was. I put my arm over her shoulder. “How’s it goin’? You keepin’ those boys at bay?”
She circled my waist and hugged me to her hip. “Oh, yeah. Beating them away with a stick.”
I tweaked her chin. “That’s my girl.” She beheld me with such love in her eyes. Such admiration. I was totally unworthy of it, but I couldn’t help but let it lift my ego a tiny bit. This one, now this one I would let get away with murder.
Jake came partially around the corner from the living room and gave me a short, half-wave. “Hey.”
I walked forward with Elise still by my side. “Hey, Jake. How’s it hangin’?”
“Not bad.” He dragged his other hand into view from the behind the wall. The game controller in it was at the end of its tethered cord. “Wanna play?” He looked so hopeful. Part of me wondered why he was still so into gaming in his mid-twenties. The other part of me was glad we still had something to do together. I enjoyed playing, and had even gotten fairly decent at it, with Jake’s tutelage, but I wasn’t like Jake. Outside of my time with him, I never had a joystick responding to my movements, but Jake played all the time with his roommates. It worried Samantha some, and I didn’t blame her. What with the money she was shelling out for tuition—well, at least her ex Bill was—we often wondered if Jake’s time could be better spent.
I exhaled. “Not yet, bud. I barely got home. I want to spend some time with your mom.”
He shrugged. “Your loss.” And disappeared.
I grinned. Man, it was nice to be home.
Chapter 2
Sam
Damn Bill Neaman. He was making me a friggin’ basket case. I knew in my heart Kyle would never fool around on me. He was far too sweet. Didn’t have it in him. But Bill was like a worm in my ear, always hissing to me that Kyle was sleeping with someone.
And, Lord knows Kyle has plenty of opportunity to have a relationship with another woman when he’s on the road for weeks at a time….
No. Stop. He’s not cheating on you, damn it.
“I’m losing my mind,” I muttered to the pup. I was home alone. Jake was out with friends. Kyle and Ryan were at The Pint Well-Taken having a few. And even my Elise, who wasn’t exactly a social butterfly, was out tonight. Havoc lifted her ears and tilted her head as if she was determining whether or not I was a cracked egg or two short of a full dozen. I swallowed the last of my coffee and scooted to the edge of my seat to set the empty cup on the table for a moment. Slapping my hands against my thighs, I called her over. She darted forward and launched herself into my lap, squirming and lapping at my face. “The only disloyal one around here is you, you little Pooper-Scooper.” I lifted her into my arms, dodging her tongue as much as I could, and moseyed down the hall to do some laundry. “I can’t believe you ran to him instead of me after I gave you extra T-R-E-A-T-Ses.” I held her up, facing me. “You are such a stinker,” I cooed. “Yes, you are.” I kissed her and set her on the floor, and she bolted ahead of me, then turned to make sure I was following.
But as I passed the door to my room, I froze. It was half open and the bed was unmade, which it almost always was, unless we were having guests. I thought it was a waste of time to make it when it would be destroyed again in less than twenty-four hours. But that’s not what arrested me. The rumpled sheets spilling off the bed triggered something, and I was back there again.
* * *
I heard his moaning. Bill’s.
I got home with the groceries, plopped them on the table, and went to investigate the strange noise. Something told me not to call out. The door was cracked, as it was now, and I realized the sounds were coming from the bedroom. I recognized my husband’s voice. I don’t know what I thought was happening. Maybe my brain was shielding me from what it must have known was going on. I recognized the sounds he was making, but it was usually me causing them. I should have known. Should have at least had an inkling. But I wasn’t at all prepared for what I saw when I crept forward into the light streaming from the room. Bill was on the side of the bed with his pants around his ankles; Kathy was on her knees in front of him, completely nude. The bedroom was small, so they were a few feet away from the door, Bill facing me, Kathy with her back to me.
I can’t explain the utter shock. It didn’t even make sense to me at first. Kathy? We had been out dancing at a concert a few days prior. Bill got tickets for me for my birthday. I loved her. We laughed together, cried together—when I lost my mom and she had a miscarriage—she was the person I would turn to if I was down. Bill was never very compassionate. The fact that my husband was not the person I relied on to help me through difficult times should have been a huge red flag. Looking at it from a distance, I still can’t believe how naïve I was. How trusting.
But the sick thing, the really sick twisted thing about it was Bill saw me and smiled. Triumphantly. He never showed an ounce of remorse. Never apologized. He finished his act of betrayal even after he knew I saw them. Kathy was mortified, but Bill? He came out of that bedroom buckling his belt and walking toward me on the couch, where I’d collapsed—not crying yet, not screaming yet, simply…blown away. He freaking swaggered out of that bedroom like John Wayne.
He stood over me and said, “What?” As if he was surprised I was upset by it. “So she came here to do for me what you can’t.”
I don’t know where the hell he got that. Our sex life was great. Or at least I thought it was. But it hurt anyway. I was somehow inadequate, lacking. I couldn’t find much strength to put behind my words, so they came out hushed. “How can you say that to me?”
He shrugged. “What’s the big deal?”
His callousness staggered me. He could be an ass at times, but this cruel? “What’s the big deal? What’s the big deal? You made vows to me in front of a church load of people, remember? I gave birth to your three children. You—” And then I did fall apart a little. “You’ve told me you love me countless times. This isn’t love, Bill.”
Kathy came out of our bedroom. “I’m sorry, Sam.”
I shifted my gaze to her, my mouth hanging open. “You’re sorry?”
“I never did any of this to hurt you. I—”
I got to my feet, the heat of anger finally replacing the cold shock. “You scre
wed my husband! I don’t want to hear why you did it. I don’t care why you did it.”
Bill interceded, grabbing Kathy by the elbow roughly and hustling her down the stairs of our tri-level and to the front door. “You need to leave. The kids could be home any minute.”
“I…but…” she sputtered. I couldn’t see them, because they had descended the short set of stairs leading to our front door, but I could hear every word.
“You had to have a shower, didn’t you?” Bill grumbled. The door opened.
“Well you seemed to enjoy watching me at the time. Ouch. You’re hurting me. Hey, stop!”
Sounds of a struggle rose from the stairwell.
“Get out of here. You’ve done your job. Now get out.”
Her voice was choked. I almost was sorry for her. “You’re an asshole.”
“Yeah, yeah,” he returned. “I’ve heard it all before.”
The door slammed, and Kathy beat on it. The deadbolt clicked as it slid into place. “Asshole!” she sobbed.
Elise started crying from her crib. It didn’t quite register. Like a distant siren. Background music for a day from Hell. After a second or two, the thudding stopped. And that was the last time I saw or heard from Kathy Paradoski again.
Bill sniffed then climbed the stairs. He paused at the top and glanced over at me, then continued on into the kitchen. “I’m starved. What’s for dinner?”
I didn’t move. Merely sat staring in front of me, still stunned. His nonchalant behavior, after being literally caught with his pants down, made the whole thing seem even more surreal. Had I really seen what I thought I saw? It wasn’t until much later that I thought about Elise being up in her crib while he was pissing on our marriage.
Hell Hath No Fury Page 2