by Mia Ashlinn
Shaking her head, she said nothing to him, Brett, or Sam. She just slipped out the door without looking back. She raced to her convertible and jumped inside before starting the engine. Backing out of her parking spot, she turned the car toward the exit and then to her brother’s house. Well, here goes nothing.
Chapter 6
A wave of déjà vu hit Katie-Anne as she emerged from her convertible and headed up the steps. Just a month ago, she’d gotten out of the exact same car on a night identical to this one. She’d walked through the darkness and up the steps, like she was now, guided only by the light from the stars overhead and the wall sconces on the porch. If it weren’t for the slightly cooler January weather, she’d believe she was reliving the night she’d left all over again.
Taking a deep, steadying breath, Katie-Anne knocked on the front door. She hoped they actually heard her over the noise inside. She could make out the rumble of the males’ voices, the laughter of the females, and the music blaring from the stereo.
“Jaycee,” she called out loudly. “Open the door! It’s fucking cold out here.”
A squeal came from inside, a second before the door swung open and revealed a noticeably pregnant Jaycee. “You came,” she squealed excitedly as she threw her arms around Katie-Anne then burst into tears. “I–I–I’m sorry. It’s these s–s–stupid pregnancy hormones.”
“It’s okay, J,” Katie-Anne replied, holding her sobbing friend in her arms. She ran her hands up and down Jaycee’s back in what she hoped was a soothing motion. “I understand.” More than you know.
Katie-Anne wasn’t sure how long they stood there like that, and she didn’t care. Leaving her best friends in a few days was enough to bring tears to her own eyes. Maybe she needed a little comfort, too. She instinctively squeezed her friend tighter. “I’m so sorry,” Katie-Anne whispered. And she was sorry, sorrier than she could or would say.
With a sigh, Katie-Anne broke away from Jaycee and schooled her features. “So I hear you have two buns in your oven,” she commented casually, rubbing her best friend’s curved stomach.
Jaycee wiped away her tears, a mushy smile spreading across her face. “Yeah, my men don’t do anything in half measures.”
“Damn straight,” Cade said, swaggering up behind his petite wife and patting her bottom. “Now, get your pretty ass in the house, darlin’. I don’t want you getting sick.”
Jaycee swatted her cocky, strawberry-blond husband with a huff. “Men! We can’t live with them, and we can’t live without them.”
“He’s right,” Katie-Anne agreed. “It’s too cold out here for pregnant ladies.”
“No,” Jaycee groaned. “Not you, too.”
“Yes, me too,” Katie-Anne replied, her lips twitching.
“Whatever,” Jaycee mumbled and tugged Katie-Anne in the house. “Better?”
Katie-Anne couldn’t help it. She laughed. “Much.”
“Me too,” Shannon murmured breathlessly as she walked out of the kitchen with Jared, Drew, and Randy following right behind her, their faces looking smug and more-than-satisfied.
Evidently, it took Shannon a minute to comprehend that Katie-Anne was the one who’d spoken because, out of nowhere, her eyes widened and her jaw dropped. “Katie-Anne,” she shrieked.
Katie-Anne chuckled. “That’s what my driver’s license says.” At least, for now, it does.
Shannon bounded across the room and had Katie-Anne in her arms before she could take a breath. “I missed you. Don’t you do that to us again, young lady.”
Katie-Anne closed her eyes regretfully. She couldn’t bring herself to look at them or even speak aloud because she knew the goodbyes would be here soon enough. More tears sprang to Katie-Anne’s eyes, and she had to fight them off—again. I’m as bad as the hormonal Jaycee.
“Promise me,” Shannon ordered. “I know you won’t break a promise, so I want your word.”
Katie-Anne shook her head. “I can’t.”
“Yes, you can,” Shane growled as he stepped out of the living room on the left side of the hallway and into the foyer.
At the same time, Landon joined the gathering crowd, coming out of the den on the right. “And you will,” he stated emphatically.
Katie-Anne froze, going so still her body felt like it would shatter. Her heart thumped wildly in her chest, and she felt lightheaded. The whole room seemed to be closing in on her, the heavy, tension-filled air stifling her. “Shane, Landon,” she sighed, half in pain and half in relief. You’re here. I’m here. Oh God.
“We need to talk,” Shane told her, staring at her like she was the only person in the room. He flicked his gaze hungrily over to Landon. “All three of us.”
“No,” Jaycee denied. “We, girls, need to talk, Shane. Since you boys are awfully good at sharing, you can take your turn later. Until then, you should just thank your lucky stars that we managed to get her here.”
“You got me here by lies and deception, you rotten bitch,” Katie-Anne snapped. “If I didn’t love you and expect this kind of bullshit from both of you, I would—”
“Blah, blah, blah,” Shannon interrupted. “You won’t hurt me or Jaycee. When it comes to the two of us, you’re all talk, my friend.”
Damn, I hate when she’s right. Bitch.
“Yeah,” Jaycee quipped. “The three peas in a pod stick together—no matter what—even when they want to kill each other. Besides, you have done the same shit to us over the years.”
“And so?” Katie-Anne shot back.
“And we got you here,” Jaycee said pompously. “It doesn’t matter how we did it. All that counts is that we did. Now, we are going to talk in the kitchen while the men make nice out here.”
“Jaycee Elizabeth,” Gray’s deep voice whipped around them as he stomped down the stairs. “Shane and Landon need to talk to my sister. Keep your cute, little nose out of it.”
Jaycee lifted her chin in defiance then replied stubbornly, “No. We haven’t seen her in a month, and we need girl time. If he’d wanted to talk so badly, he could have fucking went after her.”
“Yeah,” Shannon agreed, putting her hands on her voluptuous hips and tapping her toe. “Or he could have asked his foster brother to talk to her when he called to check up on her every damn day!”
Katie-Anne gasped. He’s been checking up on me? Well, damn. What had Deke told him? It couldn’t have been much. She’d made sure that he wasn’t able to share too much information on her or her other life. Obviously, that had been a smart decision.
Every man in the room had their eyes narrowed on one of the women. Gray and Cade glared at Jaycee while Jared, Drew, and Randy glowered at Shannon. Katie-Anne had the undivided attention of Shane and Landon, who were staring icily at her.
“Wow, so much testosterone, so little time,” Shannon smarted off. She blew the triplets a kiss before turning on her heel and sauntering away, dramatically swinging her hips as she walked. “Let’s go girls.”
Not having to be told twice, Katie-Anne took off, moving quickly and quietly past the seven men and heading straight for the kitchen. The further away she got from the strained situation, the more her anger at her friends dissipated. They had just been trying to help her—in their own screwed up way. And Jaycee was right. She had pulled all sorts of shenanigans in the name of friendship through the years. Hell, if the tables had been turned, she would have done exactly what they had without a moment’s hesitation or regret.
Behind her, Jaycee sassed, “See you around, big boys,” as she barreled into the kitchen then ordered Katie-Anne to, “Spill,” before the door had time to even swing shut. “I want to know what is going on, and I want to know now, damn it.”
Katie-Anne snorted. “Well, hello there, J. Haven’t you ever heard of pleasantries?”
“Yes, I have,” Jaycee snapped, going for the fridge. “But we did that in the hallway. Now, I want some answers.”
“We’ve waited a month to hear the crap you are going to dump on us,” Shannon t
old her as she strolled over to the cupboard. “So, we have a good excuse to kick your ass.”
“Right,” Katie-Anne said, drawing out each syllable. “You and whose army?”
Jaycee lifted her head and peered at Katie-Anne over the top of the refrigerator door. “Honey, we don’t need an army to take you out. We have a dare.”
Katie-Anne had to stop the groan forming in her throat. Almost five months ago, she had convinced her friends to play a game of Truth or Dare. She’d been desperate to shake her life up, and it had seemed like a brilliant way to do it—at the time. But, apparently, it was about to come back and haunt her.
It worked for Jaycee and Shannon. Katie-Anne squashed down that thought and the flicker of hope in her heart. Just because her friends had found their way through the darkness and into the light because of the game did not mean she would.
It wasn’t like the situation was the same for her as it was for them. Gray and Cade had chased after their woman, and Shannon had gone after her men. Their dares had only helped them along.
Gray and Cade had used Jaycee’s dare to force her hand, and she’d fallen right into the trap and back into their arms. Her days of running came to an abrupt end when they’d kidnapped her, and look at her now. She couldn’t hide her happiness. She practically vibrated with it.
Shannon’s dare to have a makeover was the key that opened the lock to the woman living inside of her. After years of hiding from who and what she was, she’d found herself. And the men she loved.
With Katie-Anne, she wasn’t going after Shane or Landon, and they sure as shit wouldn’t come after her. Are you sure about that? All it would take is a little nudge, and you would be all over them like a bee on honey. You’re a sucker for those two men.
Jaycee and Shannon would probably believe that her dare could save her from a lonely existence without the two men she loved, but they would be wrong. She didn’t believe that anything could fix their fucked-up relationship and, at this point, she wasn’t convinced it was worth it anyway. All they’d do is hurt each other, and she couldn’t bear to be hurt again.
What if they don’t hurt you this time? What if you don’t hurt them? What if they see the real you and love the person you are deep down? Are you willing to take the chance? She knew the answer to that—a big, fat hell no. At least for now my answer is no.
“You have your dare ready?” she asked, hoping she sounded nonchalant and not bordering on panic like she really was. “Is that why you tricked me into coming here?”
“Nope,” Shannon answered then grabbed a couple of wine glasses and one tall drinking glass. “But I know you, and it will be coming soon.”
Katie-Anne cleared her throat as she took a seat at the kitchen table and watched Jaycee pull out an opened bottle of wine and a half-gallon of milk. “Are you still being good and drinking milk, Jaycee? I’ve heard it is good for the babies.”
Jaycee flipped her head around, causing her curly blonde ponytail to go flying and slap against the ketchup bottle in the door. She lifted her eyebrows in patent disbelief then closed the refrigerator and strolled toward Katie-Anne.
Jaycee sat the bottle and jug on the table directly in front of Katie-Anne with a thunk and a clang before dropping down into the chair to her left. “Do you seriously think that you are going to change the subject with whether or not I’m drinking something I hate because of the babies and two ornery men?” She snorted. “Not likely, honey.”
“Kiss my ass,” Katie-Anne snarled.
“No, thanks,” Jaycee replied sharply as Shannon handed her the three glasses. She poured the drinks into their respective glasses and distributed one to each of them on the table.
Katie-Anne pushed the wine glass back toward Jaycee and said, “I’ll pass.”
“Did you just turn down wine?” Shannon inquired incredulously, nearly missing the chair as she lowered herself into it. Righting herself, she eyeballed Katie-Anne with a fierce frown. “Are you running a fever or something?”
“Yes, I did,” Katie-Anne answered brusquely. “I don’t want to drink wine. I’m thinking a nice, big glass of milk sounds divine.” She stood abruptly, pretending she didn’t see their shocked faces, and got her own drinking glass from the cabinet.
Rejoining her friends at the table, Katie-Anne filled her extra-tall glass with the remaining milk in the jug. “There,” she mumbled to herself before taking an unladylike gulp then a second and a third. By the time she sat her drink back on the table, she’d swallowed three-quarters of the glass. “Damn, that’s good.”
Looking back at her friends, she saw the surprise on their faces and the twinkle of amusement in their eyes. Irritated at them, she snapped, “What?”
Jaycee and Shannon glanced at each other then back at her and muttered, “Nothing,” at the same time. They both sipped from their own glasses, letting a tense silence settle over the room.
Finally, Shannon put down her wine glass and crossed her arms on top of the table. “So, what gives, Katie-Anne? We’ve tried every way in the world to not beat the truth out of you. We’ve given you time, and we’ve given you space, but all you do is pull further away from us.”
Shannon paused, her eyes filling with tears. “Now, you come home and you are acting completely different.” She touched Katie-Anne’s arms and continued, “You haven’t been here fifteen minutes, and I can already feel your walls going up.”
Jaycee came at her from the other side, clasping her cold hand in her warmer one. “You’re not really here, and you’re not staying. Are you?”
Katie-Anne wasn’t sure if Jaycee was making a statement or asking a question. Covering her bases, she responded, “No, I’m not.”
Shannon gasped, shaking her head, as the tears trailed down her cheeks. “Please, don’t do this to yourself or to us”—she stopped midsentence and pointed at the door— “or to them.”
Katie-Anne opened her mouth to deny what Shannon had said, but Jaycee cut her off. “I don’t know what they did or didn’t do. And, frankly, I would love nothing better than to clobber the idiots for whatever it was.” She squeezed Katie-Anne’s hand firmly. “But they are barely making it without you. If you leave, you will destroy not only yourself but them as well. Are you really okay with that?”
“That’s the pot calling the kettle black,” Katie-Anne replied, sounding dejected and not bitchy as she’d meant to.
“You know, Katie-Anne,” Jaycee began with a sigh, “I never took you for a coward. You always seemed so—”
“Perfect, calm, put together,” Shannon filled in for Jaycee. “Well, you get the picture.”
“More like cold, bitchy, and snobbish,” Katie-Anne muttered to herself.
“Well, that, too,” Shannon mouthed off. “But you know what we mean. Running won’t help you any more than it did Jaycee. And hiding won’t save you any more than it did for me. Suck it up, sister.”
If it were that easy, I would.
Katie-Anne shook her head. “I need to get out of here.”
“No,” Jaycee denied. “You need to face your problems and fight for the life you want.”
Katie-Anne snorted. “That is what I’m trying to do, and you two are giving me hell for it.”
“No,” Shannon disagreed. “You are trying to take the easy way out.”
“There is no fucking easy way out of this situation,” Katie-Anne confessed furiously, picking up her drink and sucking down the rest of it as though it were the sweetest of wines.
“Nothing worth having in life is easy,” Shannon said as she patted Katie-Anne’s arm. “You know that.”
“No, I don’t. My life is easy,” Katie-Anne rebutted as she shook off their hands. She got up from the table and walked over to the sink. “I’m the spoiled, little rich girl with no job and no problems. My life is fucking perfect.” She rinsed out the milk in her cup before refilling it with water from the tap.
With a cough, Shannon muttered, “Bullshit.”
“If your life is so d
amn perfect, then why would you want to leave your friends and family?” Jaycee asked with a superior smile. “You like to tell us how we are full of shit. Well, baby, we have nothing on you.”
“I despise you,” Katie-Anne sneered.
“Sure you do,” Shannon replied.
“Well, you’re about to despise me more,” Jaycee stated ominously.
Fuck. Katie-Anne’s heart picked up speed, and she nearly dropped the glass in her hand as it trembled. The dare. Placing her cup in the sink, Katie-Anne whirled around. “No, Jaycee,” she half begged. It was easy to see where this was going, and she had to stop it because if she stayed, she wouldn’t resist Shane and Landon. She couldn’t. “Please don’t do this to me.”
“Yes,” Jaycee nodded solemnly. “You’ll thank me later.”
“I will not,” Katie-Anne replied, her anger surging to the front of her mind. She stormed back across the room and sat down in her chair at the table. “I will never forgive you, Jaycee Elizabeth Blakemore.”
“I dare—”
The moment the word dare crossed her best friend’s lips, Katie-Anne knew what pure, unadulterated terror felt like. Ice settled into her veins, making breathing more like suffocating. Her muscles locked down as if preparing for her to run. But she didn’t. And it took everything in her to stay, to not hide.
Katie-Anne knew that either scenario was taking the coward’s way out. Yet she couldn’t get her self-preservation instinct to dwindle as the last time she’d been dared to do something by her friends ran through her mind, every damned detail tormenting her until she thought she might go mad.
Chapter 7
Ten years earlier…
Katie-Anne carefully swung open the heavy metal door to Dewey Black’s Auto Shop where the two objects of her affection worked. At sixteen, Shane and Landon had no interest in her, but she hoped that today would be the day they saw her as a woman, as a person they respected and, eventually, would love. Not the teenage daughter of the late William and Isabella Blakemore. Not the baby sister of their friend, Gray. All she wanted was them to really look at her, to see who and what she was.