by Sara Cate
“Be thankful, Riv. He didn’t threaten to put you over his knee.”
There’s now more of a flame radiating in River’s orbs. And he’s pissed.
“Not yet, Kenzie,” I begin. “But if he keeps pissing me off, I sure as fuck will. Maybe you both at the same time.”
I don’t believe the comment left my lips, but I can’t take it back now. And because I want both over my knee, the arousal starts at my cock.
He’s around the table in less than two seconds, and I don’t miss how Kenzie follows his every move. River doesn’t have the muscle mass to bring me to my feet from a sitting position. He tries, and he fists my buttoned-up shirt.
“You touch one hair on her head; I’ll take you out, you understand, asshole?”
I brush him off. He’s not a tiny kid, but he’s still a kid, even if he’s eighteen.
“Oh, don’t get your panties in a bunch, kid. And remember, you don’t like your sister anyway. You’ve been a grade-A asshole to her if I remember, right?”
He walks back to his seat. His eyes on me in warning.
“Yeah, well, as you noted, I was an asshole, and since Kenz is all the family I have left, I won’t let you take advantage of her.”
This piques my interest. “You say advantage as if I’ve taken advantage of something or someone in the past. And we both know, River, it’s not how that went down, kid.”
Silverware gets thrown to the center of the table, and both of us whip our attention to Kenzie. “Someone sure as fuck better tell me what the hell you all are talking about? These innuendos have been flying around, and if I didn’t know any better, I’d say there’s some sexual chemistry between you two.”
I swing my attention to River. The very noticeable shake of his head is telling me not to burden Kenzie with this. I’m an asshole, but even my asshole ways know their boundaries.
“Well, this was one fucked up family dinner!” she screams when she doesn’t get the answers she’s asked for. Pushing her chair back, she throws her napkin into the middle of her plate.
“You’re such an asshole,” River begins. He hasn’t raised his voice, and it’s a statement as though no one could ever figure it out.
“Um, if I remember right, you loved my asshole.” And standing up for Kenzie, as he had, was very telling and fucking hot at the same time. I love goading this kid, and when he follows suit and does the same thing Kenzie had done, I give myself an A for this parenting shit—sarcasm playing in my head. I’ve failed miserably, but then again, I’ve enjoyed this interchange between the three of us. I’m in trouble because the two kids have me jumbled up inside.
Chapter 6
Kenzie
Is this my life? First, I never know what side of Isaiah I’ll see. Then there’s River. He’s sticking up for me, and this is as uncommon as a unicorn. Honestly, if you were to ask me what would occur first, I’d swear I’d most likely see a unicorn.
The sexual tension between both of them is infuriating. It’s causing such a sensation in my body I’ve never had coursing through me. Sure, I could say it’s because I don’t know what’s going on, but my mind has vividly imagined what all their hostility is about.
Through this all, I miss my mom and dad in a way I can’t explain. I’ve seen friends and classmates lose grandparents, aunts, siblings, and parents. I’m living this hell on the inside, by myself—I have no one to grieve with.
I’m sitting against the bed I’ll call mine for the next several months, with a box of pictures and mementos I’ve kept through the years. Some of the items are my biological mom’s things Dad had set aside for me. When the woman I knew as my mom married my dad, she gave me this box to store them simply to remember Tanya. It’s not anything wild or expensive. It’s cardboard, with giraffes on them; a little thicker than most boxes. Tanya, my bio mom, loved giraffes. Between what my mom and dad have told me about Tanya, we’re so much alike. Dad kept a picture in his room of her in her early twenties. When Mom and Dad married, he moved it to my room so I’d never forget her. The only problem, I never remembered her. I’m the spitting image of Tanya. With the addition of items I’d been given by the mom who raised me, along with Dad, and tons of pictures of vacations and such, I live in the past where the two most important people still are alive.
I don’t hear anything and am in my own world, the music on low in the background. “Kenz?” The infuriating voice pulls me out of remembering Mom and Dad and the love they had for one another.
“River, what are you doing in here?” My tone is accusatory.
He gives me a shrug of his shoulders. “Dinner wasn’t quite like dinner with Mom and Dad, was it?”
A laugh leaves my lips, and it has to be one of the first moments I found funny since Isaiah dropped the bomb that Mom and Dad would never be coming home.
“Yeah, Riv. It was…” The words don’t form. “Well, fuck, I don’t have the words. Let’s start with what the hell you defending me was all about. We barely spoke in the same house, now you’re what, going to play the big brother?” Technically, this is true since he was born ten minutes before me.
“I don’t know why I felt this need to separate my relationship with Dad and Mom in regard to you. I was jealous. You had a mom who wanted you, and then another mom who adopted you. Your dad was biologically yours. Mine never wanted anything to do with me.” He pauses, moving his attention from me. The pain in his voice at the mention of our parents is something I’m familiar with. It’s a similarity that will always live within us. He reaches his hand to mine. My guess would be simply for comfort, but as soon as I ready myself for it, he pulls away. Clearing his voice, he continues. “Sure, as a kid, I thought you were the worst. But as we got older, I wanted to be your stepbrother. A strong sibling bond, but every moment I’d continue to degrade you, I couldn’t get back on track. You used to follow me everywhere I went, and I hated it. Then as you got older, and well” —he gives a nervous laugh— “and changed, that summer with Tanya’s parents, all my friends went from hating you to wanting in your pants. I felt this need to protect you, even though I’d always thought you were a thorn in my side.”
I miss everything he says up to this point. “Um, hold up. Your friends liked me?”
He closes his eyes, a sly smile crawling up his face, his dimples like sexy craters I want to be lost in. It makes him look almost human in a bad boy kind of way. “And that’s all you took from my admission.” I continue my stare, and he’d been around me enough, even when he ignored me, to understand I’d not let the subject go. “Okay, okay. I’ll give you the answer. I said they wanted to bang you. Because you turned from nerd to hot in three fucking months.”
I’d known physically I’d changed. I’d begged Grandma to take me to an eye doctor for contacts. I went from non-existent with my boobs to a C cup. My hips and ass had widened a bit because I had to go up a size in my jeans, but my waist was still as thin as it had always been. But I’ve never looked in the mirror and saw a hot girl, not like the ones River would go out with once, bang, and then would be on to his next conquest.
“Why are you turning red, Kenz?” he asks, leaning up against the side of the bed railing next to me. I haven’t realized I had until I touch my face. I can feel the heat now.
“I guess I never saw myself as you just described. I’ve always been the nerd with glasses, head in a book. Is that why all your friends started hanging out at the house?”
He nods his head. “Wow, well, I still don’t see it, but…”
“I do,” he says, in barely a whisper.
“What?” My return doesn’t meet his barely audible remark.
“Oh, come on, Kenzie. My friends are sleazes. I may be one of those types of guys, in it for the pussy and blow jobs, but I’d never let a man disrespect you like that. Dad would have had my ass, first of all, and well….”
“Well, what?” I ask. Did he want to be the first one?
“You deserved better. You’re a different kind of person, not on
e who should be screwed senseless or tossed out once you’ve fulfilled a need.”
This time, I let out a long cackle. “And those girls you simply fucked deserved that?”
He gives me a shrug of his shoulders. “They didn’t have a brother at home, threatening a punk like myself. But for me, those girls were a need, and a need alone.”
“Now your real colors show.” My retort has a punch in the words I use. With the tone of my pitch, he lowers his chin to his chest.
“Yeah, I’ve been a real dick. And karma has come back to bite me in the ass for all the shit I’ve done. Maybe, just maybe, it’s why Mom and Dad are gone, to prove to me that all the people I’ve hurt in the past have feelings, too; I know it’s a fucked-up way to look at things, but…”
I don’t hesitate as my hand finds his on the floor of my room. “That is fucked up, River. It may even be a little narcissistic, too, but we’ll skip that part for now.” I give his hand a squeeze, moving my free hand to his chin. “Riv, neither one of us is to blame. Hell, even Isaiah isn’t at fault for where we are right now. It’s the fucker who killed our parents. It’s his fault and no one else’s.”
Tears flow down his face. Honestly, I think it may be the first time he’s cried since the night of Mom and Dad’s death.
He pulls me into his space, my head resting on his shoulder. “I have no one, Kenz. No one. Mom’s parents died years ago. Dad’s parents have always been a bit detached. I’ve never known my biological father and probably never will. I’m alone.”
I slug his thigh and let out a giggle, if for no other reason than to break the sadness in the room.
“Oh, shit, you don’t slug like a girl. You hit hard—the fucker hurt.” His tone matches my little giggle.
“You stuck up for me with Isaiah tonight. Told him never to talk to me in that way. It was almost brotherly.”
He tilts his head enough where I can see the expression on his face. His beautiful face, eyes so much like our mother’s. “Yeah, about that. Do you think it’s too late to really be your brother? Stepbrother, adoptive brother. I don’t know what’s the right term. I always thought I was this tough guy, but I need a link to Mom and Dad. And I think you may need me just as much as I need you.”
I can’t pinpoint what his words do to my body in this split second, but I know I need him. He’s right—he’s the link I have to Mom and Dad. But somehow, my body reacts in a completely different way than I expect. There’s dampness between my legs. His hand squeezes mine, and a flutter in my belly I’ve never experienced is unexpected. This isn’t brotherly at all, and somehow, I really want to explore it more.
Chapter 7
River
She looks nothing like Dad. I’ve seen the pictures of her first mother before, and sure enough, putting the photos side by side, many would think Tanya and Kenzie are twins. I guess, with her not resembling Dad, and with the glint in her eyes, with the slight smile covering her face, I understand she affects my body more than I care to admit. And with the way her head still sits on my shoulder, I can see down to the cleavage of her V-neck t-shirt. Fuck, her bra is a deep purple. Yeah, I’ve fucked girls, but never has the warmth filled my heart for another. I never entirely understood why. I thought I was wired differently, or maybe Isaiah had broken my heart, to disrepair. But back to Kenz, it makes me think things I have no fucking business thinking of the girl I was raised with as siblings.
“Uh, Kenz, I better get back to my room for the night.” I have to run, or I’ll sure as fuck do something I may regret. I say may because her plump lips so close to me has me thinking my conscience could go fifty/fifty.
“Yeah, okay, Riv. And I mean it. I’d like to start fresh. You and I. Brother and sister. If you’re up to it?”
I want to start something. But the idea of someone with Kenzie has the hairs on the back of my neck standing on end. Dad may just come back and haunt me if I were to deflower his little girl.
It has me rethinking the rule, which was merely there for me to break, to begin with. So, without a thought, I have never been one to follow them either. I move down the hallway leading to the staircase that splits, the other side belonging to Isaiah. I know exactly where his room is and find myself banging on his bedroom door thirty seconds later.
I’m not patient, and I’m on my way down the hall and to his office. If he’s not here, it’s the other likely location. One hinge of his door squeaks. I twist my body around, and in front of me is the asshole of the hour.
“Want to explain to me why the fuck you’re in front of my room? I think Charles was clear with you. This part of the house is off-limits.”
He’s in a silk robe, an almost plum color. His hair is wet, and his aftershave wafts from the threshold of the door. Fuck! I’ve always loved the way he smelled.
“Yeah, Chuck spelled it out for me, but you and I need to have a chat. And right fucking now.”
His right eyebrow hitches farther up than the other. Isaiah doesn’t show his anger, typically. He’s calm and collected. The man thrives on letting his fury come out in punishment. Not one where he raises his voice or throws. Yeah, I have no doubt I’ll have consequences because of this, but right in the here and now, I don’t fucking care.
“I’ve been a shit brother. It ends now. You ever fucking talk to Kenzie like that again, you better prepare for a fist in the nose.”
Isaiah takes three steps toward me. They’re controlled and not rushed. His hand reaches for my wrist before I have a chance to breathe. And it’s the first time we’ve been like this, since that night, the fated night that turned the two of us against one another.
“You know your threats only make me hard, and I know it’s difficult for you to deal with.” Isaiah takes my hand and places it where his cock has come alive.
I yank my hand from him. “I mean it, Isaiah. This shit ends with Kenzie. Leave her be; you want to be an ass, take it out on me, not her. She’s been through enough—losing three parents in her life.”
He doesn’t respond about Kenz. “If I remember right,” he starts. “You used to beg for my ass.” He’s palming his own erection through the silk of his robe. I don’t know if it’s because of my time with Kenzie or Isaiah goading me on, but I’m down for a fuck. It can’t be Kenzie, so….
But then it all comes back to me. His rejection was two years ago. The cold shoulder he’d given me afterward. The way he’d do everything to egg me on but pull back whenever I thought he’d let me be a part of his life. I never fell for a guy, not like I had with Isaiah, but I sure as fuck fell for him.
“Cat got your tongue, little boy? I didn’t think it would be longer than twenty-four hours before you made your way here, to beg.”
I push past him, and in the middle of his room, I’m surrounded by everything that is Isaiah—a wet bar with bottles of scotch displayed against the wall like it’s art. A dark burgundy duvet cover, and on further inspection, is velvet, covering a more giant bed than merely a king-size. A large couch and two matching oversized velvet chairs sit on either side. There’s a fucking Christmas tree in his room, too, decorated with all purple. There’s a deep espresso wood for the bed frame, dressers, end tables, and a large television stand, sans the television. The darkness of it all matches his evil soul. But I suddenly can’t find myself breathing, as the memories flood me from two years ago when I knelt before him, begging him to take me. I wanted my first time to be with Isaiah. After his rejection, I screwed as many pussies as I could get hold of. I thought eventually I’d fuck all the memories away. I haven’t, and being in his space with his expensive smell, I remember why I begged him.
“I mean it, Isaiah, lay off of Kenzie.” The tear-stained face of my adoptive sister is embedded in my mind. “Yeah, so I’ve acted as though I never liked her, but she’s all I have of my dad, and I’m all she has of our mom, so she’s off-limits. From now on, she’s under my protection.”
A deep chuckle that has to radiate in his belly catches my attention. It’s oddly
soothing. “And you think that moving two unappreciative brats into my house is just for fun. I have your best interests in mind, regardless of what you think.”
I ignore him and slip another warning his way. “And don’t think I haven’t noticed how you look at her, Isaiah. She’s not a toy to tease and lead on, only to reject her when she’s ready to give you everything she has.”
His steps are hurried, breaking the space between us in two strides, pulling at my wrist, and yanking me to him. “Is that really what you think, little boy?”
I laugh his way as my answer, and when I think we’re as close as we can get, he pulls me deeper into his body. “Because letting go of you was the hardest thing I ever did. I had a boy who wanted to give me everything I’ve ever needed in someone. And he just happened to be both my best friend’s son and underage, so you are so fucking wrong. I’d think of you at night, what I could do to you. You were clay; I could form you as it seemed fit because you were brand new. Now you’re not a virgin, which is partially my fault.”
It’s a statement, and there’s no fluctuation or emotion in his voice. It’s a fact and has taken time to come to terms with, if I had to wager a guess.
“You wanted me then?” My own question has every emotion that was void in his voice, in my tone. “Why didn’t you tell me? You turned me away like a bag of garbage, stinking up your life.”
I want to believe him, and now I’m back to the heartbroken kid who went out the night he changed me, and I found the first pussy for comfort. I haven’t stopped since then.
“Riv.” His voice dips, and I finally see a little bit of his regret in the way he looks away from me when the pitch cracks. “Robert was my best friend. There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for him, and being with you would have destroyed our friendship to the core. You were as much of a child as Kenzie was to him. If I had told you it was because of your dad, it would have given you hope. I couldn’t afford to give you anything but the truth.”