by Flite, Nora
It unfortunately made being his enemy easy too.
The heat and pressure abruptly disappeared. Brendan holstered his gun. One of his friends tried to comfort Brendan by putting a hand on his shoulder. Brendan brushed it off and got back into his truck and left.
I got all my effects back, but my bike was impounded because it was too damaged to ride. Officer Drew Winter told me, in no uncertain terms, that as far as the law was concerned I just lost control of my bike. And that nothing else happened.
I didn’t bother asking for a ride across town to my motel, I knew I wouldn't get one. The long walk cleared my head.
For years Brendan and I had been inseparable.
Gone were the days we walked along the creek as children, trying to catch frogs. I could still recall which Xmen we were when we played. I could remember, years later, the first time we smuggled a bottle of Southern Comfort from his dad's liquor cabinet.
Growing up, I was at his house more than my own. I got to see Kait's transformation from a bratty kid sister to a beautiful woman. It was the last six months, when we moved in officially because our parents were dating, that everything fell apart.
All that was gone. Brendan and I were both so different now. We were hardened by tragedy and time. I'd lost too many overseas to not cherish the very few friends I had left, even if they did hate me.
Had Brendan pulled that trigger, I'd have ruined my friend's life for a second time.
Maybe he was right. Maybe I should've never come back at all. Everyone seemed to be doing fine without me. Had I really missed my window? Eight years was an eternity. Even Kait seemed happy enough at the wedding.
What the fuck was I really doing here? Was it just selfishness that brought me back to Springfield?
I felt like an astronaut floating in space, only to return home and find that the world has moved on without him.
Chapter 9
Kait
Please don't go.
Could I be any more desperate? It was so pathetic.
I spent most of my morning in my bedroom staring at the ceiling, running over the events of last night in my head and nursing a hangover. Mal came back and swept me off my feet. It still felt surreal. All those muscles and tattoos, he looked so good that my breath quickened at the thought of them.
As amazing as the date had been, I had this pit in my stomach from the whole thing. I shouldn't have had sex with him. Never have sex with someone you have that many conflicting emotions for, especially if they've just stormed back into your life after a million years.
More than that, it felt like a betrayal to my father. Brendan laid the blame for Dad's passing more on Mal than I did. When I'd argue with him about it, he'd just say that I was blinded by my feelings for Mal like Dad was with Tonya.
I understood how Brendan felt, but I knew Mal; I grew up with him. Mal wasn't anything like his mom. Just before he and his brother moved in Mal had finally started to notice me. I was only a grade younger than he was, but back then that was enough of a barrier. That and I was always so shy and reserved.
After a little while all the barriers between us started to fall away. When Brendan was playing football, Mal would take me on hikes. Sometimes we'd all go to the movies together. They weren't really dates, but Mal and I would hold hands in secret.
Eventually we stopped caring about the secrecy and just started hanging out in public, just the two of us. Brendan was pissed at first, but even he got over it.
Mal was different. He promised he'd never leave me.
But he's broken his promises in the past... I covered my face with my hands. I shouldn't have had sex with him. What if that was all he wanted and now he would disappear again, just like last time? That would destroy me all over again!
I wanted to scream, but my phone did it for me. It was a text from Brendan saying we needed to talk. How did he find out that Mal was back already? Brendan had a way of treating me like I was still a little girl so I had no interest in talking to him about Mal.
That was going to be hard because we both lived in the same house we'd grown up in. It was a little weird now that Brendan was married, but Dad left it to both of us in his will. So it was just as much mine as his and I couldn't afford my own place right now.
I glanced over at my alarm clock. I couldn't lay in bed and torture myself anymore. Not because I didn't want to, but because I had to go to work. I forced myself out of bed, took a shower and got dressed.
I was looking forward to work. Everything was so much simpler with my kids. There was no room for adult stress during our adventures. Today I was taking them to go see Star Wars and I was just as excited as they were to see it.
On days like today they were the only reason I got out of bed at all.
“Shit!” I was just opening the front door when I realized that I didn't have my car. It was still at the church. Mal had dropped me off at home this morning because I was still too drunk to drive, even if my car wasn't all messed up.
“You need a lift to your car?” Brendan turned a corner rubbing sleep from his eyes. He was looking worse for wear and probably suffering from a fierce hangover. It was just before noon and it didn't look like Mariela had even gotten up yet.
“Probably not. The damn thing crapped out on me yesterday on the way to the reception,” I sighed. So much for avoiding Brendan. “You look like hell, Brendan. Go back to bed. I can have a friend pick me up.”
“Nah, I gotta swing by the station to fill out some paperwork anyways.” Brendan was already dressed and ready to go, he was just running at about quarter speed.
“You sure? It's not a big deal.” Even as I said it I knew there was no talking him out of it. In his mind, his baby sister needed saving again...
“It's fine, the church is on the way, we'll see if we can bring it back to life one more time. Coffee's on you, by the way”
“Alright,” I said, texting Children's Hope to let them know I was running late.
Brendan loaded up his pickup truck and we left. I knew what he wanted to talk about but it had been a long time since we discussed Dad, Mal or what happened. Every time he broached the subject I diverted him.
Everyone else had picked up their car which left Juan Carlos all alone in the middle of the lot. My poor red Jetta looked abandoned when we pulled up.
“You have your key, right?” Brendan pulled his toolbox out of the bed.
I checked my pockets, but came up empty. My head lulled in defeat, I wanted to cry. My head was all over the place this morning, of course I forgot my key.
“Seriously?” Brendan leaned on the hood and shook his head. The spare! I reached my hand under the frame, opened the lock box and grabbed my spare. Brendan just shook his head again. “Alright, open her up. Let's see what's up.”
I unlocked the door and popped the hood. Out of habit, I slid the key into the ignition and turned it over. Juan Carlos started right up. I was shocked.
“You said there was something wrong with this right?” Brendan asked, checking the fluids and connections.
“There was yesterday.”
“From the way you described it I thought it was a spark plug issue, but these are new. It looks like you just had them changed.”
Only I knew for a fact that I didn't. Cars didn't magically repair themselves. There was grease on the back of Mal's hand last night. I racked my brain trying to remember what he said. He was doing maintenance work on a friend's car.
Did he mean my car? Had he fixed my car while I was at the wedding?
“Looks like you don't need to take it out back and shoot it today.” Brendan closed my hood and loaded up his tools.
“Thanks anyways, Brendan.” I clasped my seat belt over me and was about to make a speedy get away.
“Hold up.” He reached through my open window and turned my car off. That pit in my stomach expanded tenfold. “We still need to talk. I know you saw him last night.”
“So?” I should've been more insulted about Brendan pryin
g in my personal life, but to be honest, it was too soon to tell if Mal was back for good or not.
“C'mon, Kait. You're smarter than that.” Brendan hung his head. “What would Dad say?”
“He'd probably say not to guilt trip me,” I said coldly. Brendan could be so mean sometimes when he was trying to get his point across. “Mal's not his mother.”
“No. He's worse.” Brendan raised his head to look at me, anger hardened his gaze. “He came back.”
I looked away.
“Do you even know how many girls he slept with in high school? Because I do. Mal was a fun guy and a good friend for a while, but even I knew that he didn't give a fuck about women. They were just toys to him.”
Mal was with a lot of girls in high school and it made me crazy jealous. We never dated, though, so wasn't that okay? We only ever even kissed once and that was right before he left.
“I don't know what his game is, but I know he didn't come back for you. He's using you for...fuck I don't know. Maybe he just wants to fuck you because he never got the chance when we were younger.”
“How can you say that?” I shot back defiantly. Brendan was getting under my skin. It felt like the bad times again, just before dad died. Right before it became the worst times. “You haven't seen him in eight years. You don't know a thing about him now!”
“Do you?”
No. I really didn't...
Brendan's simple question robbed me of an answer. Mal was sweet and charismatic and obscenely hot, but we'd only spent a few hours together. How could you really know a person in that short of time? The wounded part of me that couldn't forget that pain chirped in the back of my head.
What if Mal was using me?
“I'm just worried about you. I love you, Sis. We've lost both our parents.” Brendan's tone lost its hostility. “I can't lose you too.”
It was hard to be mad at someone that was genuinely concerned for you. I just wish he could see Mal the way I saw him. There was goodness in him. I couldn't explain why or how I knew there was. I just knew. Maybe it was foolish, but I trusted him.
“I know. But you have to let me figure this out myself.”
“I don't trust him, Kait.” Brendan's voice deepened slightly and his gaze slipped past me as if he was peering into the past itself. After a moment his eyes snapped back to me. “Call him, see if he answers?” He shrugged. “Mal might have already abandoned you. Again.”
Blind trust. How could I offer that to Mal so freely? Was that how Dad felt about Tonya? The thought made me shiver.
“I gotta go.” Uncertainty crept into my heart. What if he didn't answer? “I'm late for work.”
Brendan nodded, knocked on the door of my car then backed away so I could leave.
When I got to Children's I immediately fished my phone out of my purse. I spent the next twenty minutes sitting in my car staring at the blinking text messaging cursor. Type message, read the text box beneath Mal's number.
Hey.
That was all I could come up with.
I stuffed the phone back into my purse; I really was late. I shuffled inside and made my apologies. As always they were completely understanding. I technically wasn't even scheduled to come in that day, but I promised a few of the kids that we could watch the movie together.
I loaded my two girls and three boys into the car and we set off. My job didn't pay a lot, but being able to see Ashley, Ben and the other ten year olds grow and learn was immensely rewarding. Spending the rest of the day with them made me want to have a family and kids of my own so badly.
Kids... I thought, idly checking my phone again for hundredth time. My priorities were so backwards. I sighed, seeing no reply. Mal was the only man I'd ever wanted any kind of real future with. That realization brought me so low.
“Are you okay, miss Kait?” Ashley asked as I dropped them all back off. I waved to the kid's parents who were waiting in idling cars nearby.
“Yeah, sweetie. It was just a really good movie.” I wiped my eyes, smiling at Ashley, then chuckled to hide the pain. “And sometimes good things make you cry.”
Ashley hugged me, then ran for her parents.
I stayed in my car for a while after the parents and staff had left, not knowing what to do with myself. I didn't want to go home and face the happily married couple. After about an hour, darkness had blanketed Springfield and I finally mustered up the courage to call Mal directly. Maybe for whatever reason his phone just didn't get text messages.
It went right to voice mail.
And then I started to sob.
Chapter 10
Malik
“Have a good night, Earl. Thanks again.” I closed the fire station door behind me.
It had been almost a week since I'd seen or talked to Kait and that silence was eating me alive. I still hadn't received my replacement phone from my shitty carrier in the mail, despite paying for overnight shipping.
I'd gone to the library every day to try to find contact information for her online. Neither of us had Facebook accounts, or if she did, it was hidden really well. She mentioned that she worked with autistic kids, but with so many schools and programs in Springfield alone, that didn't narrow it down much.
Short of going directly to her house, there was fuck-all I could do to get a hold of her. Considering that she still lived with Brendan, that option was off the table. I needed to contact her privately and explain what had happened.
She must have tried calling me by now. My whole body tensed as I got on to my bike, my grip threatened to bend the handle bars. What did she think of me right now? She probably thought I was gone again, that I just rolled into town, fucked the shit out of her then moved on.
Another worry sparked in the back of my heart. What if she just didn't want to talk to me? What if she came to her senses and realized that she didn't actually need me in her life? My insides twisted at the thought.
What if I never got to see her again?
It was all so fucked up!
I was so angry with myself for fucking things up again that I actually growled. I started my bike up and rode it around town; it helped to clear my head and vent this mountain of frustration that had been building up.
I got my bike out of impound and fortunately the damage wasn't bad enough that I couldn't fix it. Every night since then, I rode aimlessly through the city, just praying that I would see her or her car.
I had taken Kait's advice and checked out the fire stations for work. Eventually a small, single company station took me in. Officially I was just a volunteer until I finished my training. Being in the Marines definitely helped fast track me, but there was still a bunch of stuff I needed to learn. Good guys though, they even let me use their equipment to work on my bike.
I wasn't on their twenty-four hour shifts yet so I found myself with more free time than I knew what to do with. I was about to head back to the motel and tear my phone company a new asshole when I saw a flash of red pull down a side street behind me. I jacked on my breaks, dropped gear, planted a foot and did a reckless one-eighty much to the angry honks of the cars around me.
I didn't care.
If there was even a chance that it was Kait, I had to take it. I was lucky there were no cops around for once. They had taken to following me whenever they saw me. They didn't pull me over and they always kept their distance, but were never all that subtle about it.
We see you, motherfucker, the gesture said. Just give us a reason.
It did make me smile that the one time they would've had a reason to harass me they were nowhere to be seen.
A felt a pang of worry when I lost the car. Then another pang when a red car that wasn't hers drove by.
Dammit!
I doubled back and circled the block. It was a good thing, too. Hidden in the back of a building I'd never seen before was a red Jetta. What the hell was this place? The sign read “Bounce” and the parking lot was packed. I was constantly reminded of how much had changed while I was away.
/> I parked next to the car and instantly recognized that it was Kait's. What'd she call her car? Juan-something? Why did she give her German car a Spanish name? It was so uniquely adorable, that I couldn't help but smile.
I would never find another girl like her.
There was a blast of color and music and screaming when I walked in. The whole place seemed designed to amp children up. I saw that it was one of those trampoline places. I thought she worked with kids as a tutor or something, what was she doing here?
Spotting Kait was easy, she was at least a head taller than all the children around her. Kait was all brilliant smiles. Her happiness was infectious, just seeing her made my whole day brighter.
Her dark hair was pulled back into a ponytail that looked a full shade brighter in the aggressive lighting. She wore a gray tank top and black yoga pants. The athletic look suited her. More than suited her, really. I couldn't take my eyes off her. Her ample tits were fully covered, but all the bouncing...
I snapped my eyes away when I felt my core heat up and my cock stir to life. I took a few deep breaths and bought a wristband from one of their kiosk registers. I ran through the names of the offensive line of our AFC championship team. I needed to cool my jets and settle my cock in a place like this or else I was bound to get arrested.
Kait sure as hell wasn't going to make it easy for me though.
“Hey.” I half climbed, half rolled onto the massive play area and called out to her. I had to duck a dodge ball that whirred through the air.
“What are you doing here?” Kait glanced at me warily, her smile withered. It wasn't the greeting I was hoping for. I knew right away that this was going to be an uphill conversation.
“Is it not obvious that I was in the mood for some trampoline action?” I shouted to her over the noise but as the words came out of my mouth I realized how silly they were. I wore heavy, stained jeans and a faded T shirt with holes at the bottom. I looked and—probably smelled—like a mechanic. One of the fire trucks needed some engine work done today.