by Jessie Cooke
“I’m looking for a friend of mine who was brought in earlier today. Her name is Lynn Cardinale.”
Her fingers were already flying across the keys. Hippa laws be damned! She looked up a few seconds later and said, “She’s in room 102. Would you like me to show you the way?”
I smiled at her. She looked like she was going to faint. “I think I can find my way, darlin’. Thanks so much for your help.”
“Kyle! Mr. Case…”
“You can call me Kyle.”
“Kyle, can I take a photo of us together? No one is ever going to believe this.”
I thought about how pissed Rosie got at me at the zoo…but she wasn’t waiting for me today. Hell, she might even throw me out. I guess the least I owed this lady for breaking confidentiality laws was a picture. I went around behind the counter and she used her selfie stick which she had in her purse, to take the picture. I’m not sure because my jeans are kind of loose today, but I think she pinched my ass. I gave her another smile and a wink and put the hat and glasses back on. I felt her watching me all the way down the hall.
When I passed the nurses’ station I kept my head down and kept walking until I came to 102. The door was closed so I knocked. Tommy pulled it open.
“What are you doing here?”
“I just wanted to make sure Lynn was doing okay.”
“She’s fine.” He stood in the doorway. I couldn’t even see if Rosie was inside or not.
“Okay…do you guys need anything?”
“No, we’re fine.”
“Tommy, let him in.” That was Lynn’s voice. Tommy narrowed his eyes at me but he stepped back and let me inside. Lynn was lying in the bed with an IV in her arm. She looked a hundred times better than she had back at the hotel. Rosie wasn’t in the room. “Hi Kyle.”
“Hey. How are you?”
“Better. Thank you. I’m so embarrassed.”
I sat down in the chair next to the bed. Tommy rolled his eyes. “Don’t be embarrassed on my account. I have been there and done that, remember? I’m glad you feel better.”
“I do. I don’t really remember everything I did and said though, so forgive me if I was inappropriate…”
“You were fine. Where’s Rose?”
“I thought you were here to see Lynn?” Tommy blurted out. Lynn shook her head at her brother.
“Stop it, Tommy. She just stepped out for some air. You should go find her.”
“Why should he go find her? She said she was going to call and check on Carlo and she needed a minute to herself.”
“Jesus Tommy, why do you have to be such an ass?”
“It’s okay,” I told her. “He’s just being protective.” I looked at Tommy and said, “The last thing I want to do is hurt either one of your sisters…but I do need to see Rose before I leave for Jersey tomorrow. She’s a big girl and if she doesn’t want to see me, she’ll tell me to take a hike…only not so nicely.”
Lynn laughed, Tommy didn’t. I got up and leaned over Lynn and kissed her cheek. “Get better, okay?”
“I will. I guess I’m going to rehab when I get out of here.”
“It won’t be easy, but if I can do it, anyone can. No matter how bad it sucks in there; remember how bad it sucks for your life to be centered on chasing that high all the time.”
“I will. Thanks Kyle.”
I kissed her cheek again. “No problem.” I looked at Tommy and he at least wasn’t glaring at me anymore. I gave him a chin nod and to my surprise, I got one back.
13
Rose
Kyle found me out on the veranda in the back of the hospital. I was taking a breather from my family and watching the sun go down. I wish that I was strong enough to say that I wasn’t happy to see him, but as he would say…It’s Kyle Case, how could I not be?
“Hey, how are you?”
I smiled at him. I can’t help it. He’s supposed to be the one with the addictive personality, but I have to wonder about myself lately. “I’m hanging in there. I needed a break from those two.”
He smiled too. God his dimples are sexy. He sat down next to me, but a respectable distance. “Lynn seems to be taking the idea of rehab pretty well.”
“She’s on medication right now, that’s why.” She’d flipped out on the phone with Ma earlier. I could hear Ma giving her an earful on the other end.
“Yeah, hopefully they’ll keep the edge off for her until she has to actually go. It sucks, that’s for sure.”
“What made you go?”
He laughed nervously and said, “It was a choice between that and killing myself mostly.”
“Really? You were that bad off?”
He nodded. “We were on a break from touring so I went home. I used to travel with an entourage because I thought it made me look important. When you have money and access to beautiful women and a lot of drugs…hanger on’s are never in short supply. I took a group with me to the Reservation. It wasn’t a well-received move by the elders, but technically it’s my house so they couldn’t do much about it. I had a couple of parties and a lot of kids from the Rez showed up and joined in. There was this one kid…Charlie Bannock was his name. He was home from college, visiting his parents. He was one of those really smart kids that didn’t do much other than study and get good grades his whole life. I was pretty fucked up, so some of what is in my head is what I remember, and some of it is what other people told me. Anyways, I do remember thinking that I was so fucking cool because this kid was looking at me like I was God or something. He admitted to me that he was a virgin for some reason and I hooked him up with one of the groupies. I promised her…well, I told her I would reward her if she helped him out. She did, but she also introduced him to her little black balloon.”
“What is that?”
“Heroin.”
“He did heroin…his first time out?”
“Yeah, they were doing speed balls I think…smoking them. He died sometime during the night. I guess he had some kind of congenital heart thing that he was on medication for…”
“Oh Kyle, that’s terrible.”
“Yeah it was bad. I still feel it when I think about it, but back then…I couldn’t stop thinking about it. It was constantly present and it drove me crazy. I didn’t go back on tour which was what a lot of the bad PR was about. It’s kind of funny…sad funny, but nobody cared that I was an addict. People were pissed off because I was cancelling shows. I stayed high all the time and when that stopped helping, I tried to kill myself.”
“Oh my goodness! What stopped you?”
“Not what, but who. The chairman of the tribal council just happened to come by the house that day. He was so angry with me that he wasn’t even speaking to me at the funeral or afterwards. I never found out what he came by for…maybe just to tell me what a miserable human being I was. I had a rope tied to this tree out in back of the house. I was high so I assumed it would be quick and painless. I kicked the can underneath me out just about the time the chief came around the corner. I know I outweigh him by fifty pounds at least and he’s really old…but somehow, he held me up and cut me down. He’s still angry with me…but he never told a soul about that. Neither did I, until now.”
“Why are you telling me?”
“Because I want you to know me Rosie…Good and bad. This is the worst, the bottom of the barrel. Anything else I ever tell you will pale in comparison. If you don’t get up right now and walk away, I’ll know that there’s still some hope.”
I didn’t say anything because I didn’t know what to say…but I also didn’t want to walk away. Maybe I’m crazy. Maybe I should run in the other direction…but his chocolate eyes had a hold on me for now, so I stayed and he went on,
“When I got out of the hospital and the psychiatric place where they evaluated me, I checked into rehab.”
“I’m so sorry that you had to go through all of that.”
He grinned. “You’re amazing. You should be saying, “Oh Kyle, you’re an idiot.” Don’
t be sorry. All of it was my own doing. I was looking for something…I’m not even sure what it was. I think maybe I thought keeping all those people around me was like having a family. It was a dysfunctional family…but a family nonetheless. And all of the women…I was looking for a connection…”
I had tears in my eyes all of a sudden. The thought of him trying to kill himself made it hard for me to breathe, my chest physically hurt for him. I did a stupid thing then, I said, “Did you find that connection yet…or are you still looking?”
He put his hand on top of mine and said, “I think so…but she’s not sure if she wants me, and since I’ve never done this before…this connection thing, I’m pretty sure I’m going to continue to fuck it up for a while. But this thing Rosie…this connection that we have, it’s real. It’s the most real thing I’ve ever felt.”
I had no idea what to say. I did want him…I was just so afraid of being with him and all that came along with being Kyle Case. I had PTSD from walking in on Ray and my sister…I think it would kill me if it happened with Kyle. I couldn’t stand it to be one of those over-bearing jealous women either. The biggest part of being with Kyle for me would be trust. I wasn’t sure that I could do that when he was, after all, Kyle…fucking…Case. So, instead of thinking about it at that moment, I did what I’ve been dreaming about for six months. I leaned in and pressed my lips to his and cupping his face in my hand, I ran my thumb across the stubble on his jaw. His hands went into my hair and we kissed like two people who knew what the hell we wanted. It was an illusion at that moment…but damn that was a good kiss. When we broke it, he was looking into my eyes like he was searching for something and then he said,
“You’re not driving home tonight, are you?”
“No, Tommy is. He has to work in the morning.”
“You’re not planning on staying here all night, are you?”
“I hate leaving her alone…”
“Rose, you need to get some rest. Let me get you a room at the hotel where I’m staying…your own room.”
“You don’t have to do that. I can rent a room. I’m just not sure about leaving her.”
“She’ll be sleeping. For now, she’s fine. Seriously, you need to take care of yourself. Your eyes look exhausted.”
He was right, I felt exhausted. I’m not sure why. It was early, but it seemed so late. It had been such a long day. I pushed up off the bench and said, “You’re probably right. I’m going to see her and make sure she’s okay. Then I’ll take a cab back to the hotel…”
“I have a car on call.”
I shook my head and smiled. “Of course you do.”
“I am Kyle Case, you know.”
“So you keep reminding me.”
“I have to, since you seem to be the only girl in the world not impressed by that.”
“I was impressed by other things about you if my memory serves me…”
He grinned. “True story. Could I interest you in another look?”
I laughed. “Not tonight, but thanks.”
He stood up then too and following me back into the hospital he said, “So does not tonight mean maybe tomorrow?”
By the time Tommy left and I made sure Lynn was doing well and had everything she needed, it was around eight o’clock. I felt dead on my feet and as Kyle and I walked out to his “car service” he said, “Have you eaten anything today?”
I couldn’t remember. Tommy brought his sandwiches he’d already made for his work lunch with him when he picked me up. He offered me one, but my stomach was too torn up after talking to Kyle and hearing about Lynn. After that, I just forgot.
“No, I actually haven’t.”
“Restaurant or room service?” I was in no frame of mind tonight to sit in a restaurant and watch Kyle take pictures and sign autographs.
“Room service I think, after I shower.”
In the car he held my hand and I let him. I wanted to kiss him again, but I knew that I needed to make a decision about what I wanted from him before I went there again. When we got to the hotel, Kyle and I went to the front desk and told them he needed another room.
“I’m sorry Mr. Case, we don’t have anything available,” the clerk told him.
He looked at me and said, “Are you okay with staying in my room?” The clerk was looking at him dreamily and when he asked me that, she gave me a look that said she thought I was crazy and she might even kill me if she thought she could take my place. Feeling mean, I smiled at her and then looked at Kyle and said,
“Of course.” I hope she doesn’t have anything to do with my room service…I’ll probably get a sneezer. As soon as we got up to the room Kyle handed me a room service menu. “I just want a good old fashioned hamburger and fries,” I told him.
“Cheese?”
“Absolutely.”
“Chocolate milk shake?”
“If you insist.”
He grinned. “Got it. If you want to shower, I’ll order so it will be here when you get out.”
“Okay…I didn’t bring any clothes.” He raised both of his eyebrows like he was going to offer a perverse suggestion, but then he smiled and went over to the armoire. He pulled out a black t-shirt and a pair of cut off sweat pants and handed them to me. I took them and went in to take my shower, repeating to myself that I really didn’t want Kyle to get naked and follow me…but it was a lie, I really did. The worst part was…It was the one time he decided to be a gentleman.
14
Kyle
I woke up Sunday morning wondering when I would receive my medal. I didn’t get naked and follow Rosie into the shower. When she came out in my clothes and her hair all wet…looking the sexiest I’ve ever seen her…I didn’t attack. We had dinner and we talked and in the middle of what I thought was stimulating conversation, she fell asleep. I pulled the covers over her and watched her for a while in the lights from the city that shone in the window. To my credit here as well…I didn’t molest her in her sleep.
Waking up was strange and wonderful all at the same time. I had hair in my face and a warm body snuggled into me. I breathed in her scent and realized that she smelled like me. She’d used my body wash in the shower, but for some reason it smelled a lot sexier on her. It was strange, because every time that I wake up with a girl…and that wasn’t often, we were both naked and smelled like sex.
The sun was just coming up and I just laid there with hair in my face, watching her sleep out of one eye. She looked so peaceful and sweet and I wanted to molest her right now worse than I did last night. I flexed my hips against her softly and she rolled over into me. I’m not sure is she was awake, or just responding to my subtle hint. I leaned down and softly kissed her lips.
“Hi,” she said with a sleepy smile and her eyes still closed.
“Good morning. How’d you sleep?” She started to answer me, but I kissed her again. She’s so beautiful in the morning with no make-up and her hair all a mess. When I brought my head back up, she smiled again and opened her eyes. If I didn’t already have a raging hard-on, that would have done it. Her eyes look extra blue and incredibly sexy in the morning.
“I slept really well,” she said. “I’m sorry I fell asleep on you.” Her morning voice was sexy and that hair…I was all tangled up in it but I fucking loved it. She should just wear it wild all the time.
“It’s okay. I’m glad you got some rest.”
She rolled further into me. My cock and I were beginning to feel hopeful. Then less than a second later, we were feeling something else. She slid her warm little hand down the front of my boxers and wrapped her hand around the morning wood. I must have been looking at her wide-eyed because she said,
“Is this okay?”
“Hell, I wish it was mandatory.”
She giggled and I pulled my shirt off her. Fuck she’s gorgeous. She lifted up and let me get ahold of the boxers and pull those off of her too. I latched onto one of her big, hard nipples and sucked it into my mouth. Then I reached down and felt betwee
n her legs. She was already soaking wet. So fucking hot! I let my fingers play with her clit for a while with first one and then the other nipple in my mouth. She used her free hand to detach my head from her chest and said, “Lay down, on your back.”
I could see no argument with that, so I did. She took her hand off my cock which was disappointing, but it was just because she needed both hands to undress me. My cock bounced free and I started to reach for her to pull her up on top of me, but she had shimmied down and suddenly I felt the warm wetness of her tongue as it ran the length of my cock. I sucked in a hard breath as she wrapped her wet lips around the tip. It felt fucking incredible. I reached down and fisted her hair up into my hands as she sucked and licked and tasted me. I groaned as she wrapped her fist around the base of my shaft and started stroking me up and down, moving her hand in time with that amazing mouth. I felt like my big head was literally going to explode right off my shoulders. She was so in to it that she was letting out little moans and whimpers against the head of my cock while she sucked and stroked. It was so fucking hot. She looked up at me and her blue eyes sparkled. She left them open while I watched her. Her pretty red lips around my cock was the most electrifying sight I’d ever seen. She stroked faster, and used her other hand to cup my balls as she did. I was so fucking close to coming that it took every ounce of self-control I had not to just ram it into the back of her throat.
“Baby,” I reached down and pulled her off me. “I don’t even have words for how amazing that was…but I need to be inside of you…now.”
“Condom?”
“In my wallet. Top drawer.” She reached over into the nightstand drawer, letting her wet pussy rub into me as she did. I shivered. She handed me the wallet and I took out the condom. I ripped it open with my teeth and rolled it on with my hands shaking.