by Chloe Walsh
My silence obviously answered her question because she tossed her hands in the air and hissed loudly. “You idiot,” she spat. “I can’t believe you allowed yourself to become a target like that. I thought you were smarter than this. How long do you even know this girl?”
“You know what,” I snarled. “I don’t need this shit from you. I’m glad you’re here, Cindy. I have plenty questions about your AWOL aunt, but keep your opinion of my family to yourself.”
“Don’t get all pissy with me, Kyle . . .”
“Then don’t jump to conclusions about my relationship with my woman,” I shot back, furious.
“Your woman,” she scoffed.
“That’s right,” I snarled as I stepped around her and stalked over to my desk. “My woman,” I repeated as I sat down and folded my arms across my chest. “My only woman.”
Her face reddened. “Okay, I’m sorry.” Her shoulders dropped as she let out a deep breath. “Does she know how lucky she is to have you?”
“I’m more interested in knowing what’s going on with your aunt,” I tossed out, irritated as fuck that Cindy was still trying to bring Lee up to me. “Where is she, Cindy?” Resting my elbows on the desk, I leaned forward and met my ex, whatever-the-hell-she-was, with an unyielding stare, daring her to lie to my face. “Where is Linda?”
“I can’t say,” Cindy mumbled as her eyes filled up with tears. “I want to,” she added quietly. “I think what they’re doing is so wrong, but I can’t go against her wishes.”
“Her wishes?” I shook my head and jerked out of my chair. “What the hell is going on?” I all but roared. “Tell me, Cindy.”
“I can’t, Kyle,” Cindy whispered.
Walking over to the door, she pulled it open and smiled back at me. “I’ll be in contact,” she added before stepping out of my office and closing the door behind her. Jesus Christ, if someone didn’t fill me in on what was happening soon I was going to lose my damn mind.
My phone decided to choose this moment to ring and I groaned in frustration before putting it to my ear. “This better be important,” I muttered, not bothering to check who was calling. I was too fucking exhausted to care anymore.
“How’s my soon to be son-in-law?”
My blood ran cold before quickly turning into molten lava in my veins as the sound of Jimmy Bennett’s slurred voice drummed through my ears. “A lot better than you by the sounds of it, asshole,” I snarled. “It’s a little early to be hitting the whiskey, don’t you think?”
“How’s my little grandbaby?” he taunted and I was out of my chair and pacing the room, my body burning the hell up with pure rage. “How’s your little whore?”
“You obviously have terrible survival instincts, Jimmy,” I shot back, furious. “In case you’ve forgotten, the last time we spoke I warned you about what would happen if you brought my family up again.”
“They’re my family, too, boy,” he sneered.
“No,” I hissed. “You gave up the right to call Lee your family the second you put your hands on her, and every other time after that for eighteen fucking years.” Clenching my eyes shut, I inhaled deeply and tried to calm down. I had bigger issues than this drunken piece of shit. “What do you want, Jimmy?”
“Money,” he replied automatically. “What I’m owed. Pay up, Carter, and then I’ll leave yawl alone. For good.” Chuckling he added, “You want me outta Delia’s life and I want cash. Cooperate with me and it’ll be as easy as a piece of cake.” His voice turned cold and menacing. “But if you don’t, let me tell you, boy, I’ll be coming for what I’m owed . . .”
“And I’ll be waiting, asshole,” I roared before hurling the phone at the wall. It smashed and I felt a slight amount of tension drain from my body—the satisfaction of breaking something helping to ease my temper.
“Violence doesn’t solve anything, son,” I heard the familiar voice quip and I groaned loudly before dropping my head on the desk.
Why me?
Why fucking me?
“What do you want, David?” I asked wearily, not bothering to lift my head to look at my father. Jesus Christ, I should have never gotten out of my bed this morning. This day had gone to crap the moment I walked out my front door. “Mike’s not here,” I grumbled, waving a hand over my head. “As you can see.”
“I just wanted to inform you that I’ve dealt with the whistleblower. He won’t be a problem for you again.”
My head snapped up. “Whistleblower?” I leaned back in my chair and studied my father’s expressionless face. His eyes were the same color as mine, his hair identical with the exception of a few grays. He was tall in build, not as broad as me, but fuck, every time I looked at the man it was like looking at a future projection of myself—and it creeped me the hell out. There was absolutely nothing about my father that I desired to look like or aspired to be like. He was poison. Plain and simple. “I have no idea who you’re talking about,” I added, feigning boredom.
“Perry Franklin,” David said calmly as he leaned against the door with his hands shoved in his suit pants pockets. “The little parasite who brought his spiel of drivel on national television and shamed our family.”
Pushing away from the door, David strolled over to where my phone was now lying in pieces. Crouching down, he began to piece my phone back together. “He went too far,” David mused, eyes locked on my phone as he re-set the battery and replaced the back of the phone. “And he paid for the privilege.”
“What did you do?” I asked quietly, unsure if I truly wanted to know.
“Ask no questions and I’ll tell you no lies,” was all David responded before he stood up slowly. “All you need to know is he won’t be a problem again, Kyle.”
Strolling over to my desk, David placed my phone down on my desk in front of me and sighed. “You see.” He gestured to my fully repaired/fully functioning phone. “Even the most broken of objects can be mended. Maybe they won’t work the way they’re supposed to, but perhaps with a little patience and time, they can still be . . . useful.”
I sat frozen in my seat, churning David’s not so subtle hint around in my mind, as he left the room just as silently as he’d entered. His attempts to reconnect with me were a waste of his time, and mine. There would be no reconciliation. I couldn’t trust him. Hell, it was starting to look like I couldn’t trust anyone.
“What’s going on with you, Kyle?” I called out when curiosity got the better of me. Kyle had been in a pensive mood since he came home from work. He ate dinner with us, helped me bathe Hope and put her down for the night, but the entire time he had this contemplative look about him. A million different worries and fears trickled into my brain, thumping around and driving me crazy.
Shrugging out of my clothes, I slipped an old shirt of Kyle’s over my head before freeing the tangled mess that was my hair and climbing onto our bed. “Did something happen today?” I asked.
Kyle stepped out of our en-suite bathroom wearing nothing but a pair of black boxer shorts, and with a toothbrush hanging out of his mouth. “When does something not happen, princess?” he gurgled, shooting me a huge toothpaste covered grin—a grin that didn’t conceal the anxiety I could see in his eyes.
“True,” I agreed as I wandered over to where he was standing. “But you’ve been acting weirder than usual.” I wasn’t going to allow him to brush me off. Something was up. “What’s wrong?”
“Everything’s fine,” Kyle scoffed before sauntering back into the bathroom. “You’re getting worked up for nothing.”
I leaned against the doorframe and studied him carefully. “You’re lying to me,” I stated in a calm tone. “Something happened today, I can feel it, so just stop trying to protect me and tell me the truth.”
Kyle didn’t look at me, he just continued to brush his teeth and stare down at the sink he was standing in front of. Spitting the toothpaste into the sink, he stuck his mouth under the faucet and gurgled some water. “You worry
too much, Lee,” he mumbled as he grabbed a towel and wiped his face. “So, how did it go with your mom?” Dropping the towel on the sink, he stepped around me and strolled over to his side of the bed. “You two have fun?”
“Yes, we had a nice time. Don’t try and change the subject,” I grumbled as I followed him and climbed into bed beside him. “I know something is up with you.” Twisting my body so I could face Kyle, I fixed him with a stern stare. “Tell me, Kyle.”
“Jesus Christ, baby,” he hissed. “Can you just accept that nothing’s wrong and maybe I’m just tired?” Shaking his head, Kyle reached over and wrapped his arm around my shoulders, drawing me to his side. “I need a quiet night, Lee.” Trailing his fingers over my collarbone, he whispered, “I don’t wanna talk about work or the trial or anything else. I am starving for some alone time with you. Just you. Okay?”
“Fine,” I conceded, feeling oddly rejected because of his words. Curling my body into his warmth, I rested my head in the crook of his arm and sighed to myself. He was closing up and I hated it, but forcing the matter would result in an argument and we’d been doing so well lately that I was reluctant to rock the boat.
“You know, I thought you were a guy,” Kyle said after an age, breaking the unnerving silence that had developed between us.
“What?” I shook my head and twisted around to face him. “What are you talking about?”
“When you first moved to the hill,” he chuckled as he slipped his arm out from behind my head and rolled onto his side. Resting his cheek on my chest, he sighed contently, nuzzling me with his nose. “Cam called me to ask if she could move her friend Lee into the house.” He smirked as his fingers wandered over my stomach, moving south, pushing up the fabric of my shirt, sliding under the lace of my panties. “Except her friend Lee had the sweetest fucking hips I’d ever seen.”
His tone was gruff, his fingers teasing, as he slipped inside me, moving slowly, making my whole body tremble. “Best fucking everything,” he purred. “You got me all hard the minute I laid eyes on you.” His free hand travelled under my shirt to cup one of my breasts. “You have beautiful tits,” he groaned. “Fucking perfect. I couldn’t believe my luck when I discovered they were real.”
“You could’ve talked to me,” I whispered, my arousal stirring at the memory of our first kiss, as I rocked my hips upwards, my body trembling from his taunting onslaught. “You were so scary. I’d never seen anyone like you in my whole life and you . . . you just licked me.”
“Can you blame me?” Kyle chuckled in a deep husky, male sound that caused everything south of my navel to contract and tighten. “I had to have you,” he stated, without the slightest hint of remorse in his voice as his free hand roamed over my body.
“Well, it’s a strange thing to do, Kyle,” I moaned, my breathing hitching when his thumb found my clit.
“Your hips,” he whispered, ignoring my words. “Goddammit, I’ll never get over these sexy hips, princess.”
Shaking his head, he bit down on his lip and growled as he slid his body lower until his mouth was on my stomach. He kissed my stomach tenderly as his hands found my hips.
Grabbing the edges of my panties, Kyle pulled himself to his knees and slowly drew my panties down my thighs, his eyes feasting on parts of my body that even after two years of being together made me clench my eyes shut in embarrassment.
“Look at me,” he husked as he lifted my foot and freed my panties before freeing my other leg until I was bare and exposed to him, with my shirt bunched up by my breasts. “I want you to look at me when I’m fucking you with my mouth,” he told me and I had to grip the sheets to prevent myself from covering my face. “Keep your eyes here,” Kyle said in a gruff tones as he trailed a finger from my stomach to my slit. “You got it?”
“Uh-huh,” I breathed, tilting my hips upwards. My heart was racing so fast I was in fear of exploding before he even touched me. In the back of my mind I knew what Kyle was doing. “You sure you’re okay?” I whispered. “Did someone upset you at work . . .” My voice broke and I cried out, bucking wildly when Kyle’s lips closed over my clit, suckling me, driving me insane. I clawed at the bed sheets franticly as a haze of pleasure wafted over me, igniting my senses, the carnal instinct inside of me urging me to grind my body to his touch.
“I know I’m being weird, but it’s got nothing to do with you, baby,” he admitted in a hoarse tone. “I’m not good at expressing myself, but just know that you don’t ever need to worry about where I am or who I’m with,” Kyle growled as his tongue traced my wet folds with aching slowness. Releasing one of my thighs from his tight grasp, he gently slid his fingers inside me and twisted them upwards, stroking a part of me that made my back arch off the bed. “Because there is no one who has, does or will ever fuck me up the way you did, do and will.”
Pulling back, Kyle lowered his boxers before settling between my legs, his warm, powerful body covering mine. “I won’t screw this up, Lee,” he whispered, as he thrust inside me. “I swear to god I won’t.”
“I just want to help you,” I whispered, blinking back the tears that were threatening to spill from his admission. Cupping his face with my hands, I forced him to look at me. “Kyle, if you’re in some sort of trouble you can tell me.”
“I’m not,” he croaked out as he rocked into me slowly. “I’m just stressed.”
Pressing his forehead to mine, he let out a deep shuddering groan as he rolled his hips, thrusting himself deep inside me. “Sometimes it feels like you’re the only thing that’s right in my life,” he confessed in a gruff tone as he slid his hand down my body.
Grabbing my thigh, he wrapped my leg around his waist and penetrated me even more deeply than before. “I fucking love you, Lee Bennett,” he husked.
“I love you, too, Kyle Carter,” I whispered. Pressing my mouth to Kyle’s, I kissed him with everything I had, showing him with my kiss how much he meant to me.
“He called again,” I whispered into my phone as I slipped into the lounge, closing the door behind me. I’d left Lee upstairs sleeping, but I had to get out of that bed. My mind wouldn’t calm the fuck down. Cindy’s visit, David’s appearance and Jimmy’s phone call were enough to drive me insane—enough to make me phone Derek up to rant.
“Jimmy?” I heard Derek ask on the other line and I squeezed my phone tighter.
“Yeah,” I growled, sinking down on the couch. I knew full well I was going to get an earful from Derek, but I needed to talk to someone.
“I told you,” Derek hissed and I had to move my phone away from my ear a little. “I fucking told you we needed to sort this out,” he ranted. “Goddammit to hell.”
“David showed up at my office today,” I added quietly as I stroked my jaw. “Says he’s taken care of Perry.”
“And how do you suppose he’s done that?” Derek sneered. “Did he stick him with a needle, too?”
“I don’t know, Der,” I muttered wearily, as I swapped the phone into my other hand and sighed. “He didn’t say—only that Perry wouldn’t be bothering us again.”
“And you believe that?” Derek asked, his tone incredulous. “Kyle, why would he help you? You beat him to a pulp last year.”
“I don’t know, Derek,” I grumbled. “I don’t fucking know about anything anymore.” Leaning backwards I rested my head against the back of the couch and let out a groan. “I’m so fucking confused. I feel like . . . no, forget it. I’m talking shit.”
“Nothing new there, dude,” I heard Derek chuckle. “So, how’s everything else going? How are the girls? They okay?”
“They’re fine,” I whispered. It’s me who’s fucked . . .”How’s Addyson?”
“It’s good, man,” he said softly. “I hadn’t realized how much I’d missed my folks.” Chuckling he added, “There’s nothing like your mom running around and fussing to make a guy feel better, you know?”
No, I wouldn’t have a fucking clue because I didn’t have pare
nts and the one woman who’d ever given two shits about me was avoiding me like the plague. “Sounds good,” I managed to squeeze out.
“Well, it’s happening,” Kelsie mused as she strolled over to her desk with some paperwork. Taking a seat behind her desk, she dropped the file down on her desk and leaned forward, eyes locked on mine. “There’s nothing we can do to stop it now,” she sighed deeply and her eyes flickered briefly to Lee, who was sitting on the chair next to me with Hope on her lap, before returning to my face. “The trial is happening. You’ll both need to be prepared. They’re going to launch an attack on your relationship.”
“Who goes first?” I asked, as I diverted my gaze from the view I had of Kelsie’s braless tits. Clearing my throat, I focused on my hands and asked, “Me or her?”
Hope started to cry and Lee stood up quickly. “Shh, sweetie,” she cooed, as she paced the office floor with our daughter in her arms and my attention was riveted on her face. Lee could never mask her feelings or emotions and right now they were playing out all over her face. Her eyes were wide and full of bewilderment and I couldn’t blame her for feeling disconcerted. I was feeling unsettled myself . . .
“You.” Kelsie rested her hand on mine, drawing my attention back to her. “And you’ll be amazing,” she gushed proudly. “I have every faith in you,” she continued, unperturbed by my daughter’s soft cries, as she stood up and walked around her desk, lowering herself into the chair Lee had vacated. “You need to be strong,” she said, patting my knee in sympathy. “And if there’s anything I can do for you . . . well, you have my number.”
Lee snorted as she bobbed around with Hope in her arms.
“Rachel will crumble,” Kelsie assured me as she sat back and crossed her legs. Again, I had to divert my eyes from catching an eye-full of her crotch. “All you have to do is tell the truth, Mr. Carter,” Kelsie crooned. “How she blackmailed you into that arrangement . . .”
“Ma-ma.” Hope babbled distractingly behind me. “Ma-ma-ma . . .”