“Having wild sex?”
“Wald? For real, where are you from?”
I blew out a heavy breath and shook my head as I smirked at my case. “Just not from here.” I tried to tame my accent—which I didn’t even know I had until I moved here—as much as possible around Kinlee. She and her husband, Jace, were always trying to figure out where I’d moved from, but if they found out they’d want to know why I was here at all. And I wasn’t ready for that.
“One of these days, Kace, I will get it out of you.” She took another bite of cupcake and moaned. “This is better than wald sex with Jace.”
“Okay, your husband is hot and all, don’t get me wrong, but I really don’t want to be thinking about him like that.”
“Just saying.” She held her hands up. “You were the one who asked.”
“Uh, no. No, I didn’t. And back to your original question: I run most mornings. Not all of us can avoid getting fat by having crazy hot sex, especially when we’re not having sex at all.”
She shoved the last bit of cupcake into her mouth and spoke through the bite. “KC, I have been trying to set you up for the last seven months! It’s not my fault you refuse to go on a date with anyone. You’re twenty-three—time to go on a date, woman!”
“Can I remind you that the last guy you tried to set me up with was shorter than me?”
It’s not like I’m an Amazon or anything, I’m five-seven, but I do love heels. Just another reason why I couldn’t stand Charles: he was one inch taller than me, so heels were a no-go. Of course, I wore heels whenever he wasn’t around, but he made me carry flats just in case he showed up anywhere I was. There are only so many flats you can wear before you want to find all the flats in the world and burn them.
“I only know so many single men!”
“This barbecue tomorrow, you aren’t going to try . . .” I trailed off when I noticed her looking away. “Kinlee!”
“I didn’t invite them! Swear to God, I didn’t invite them this time. The guys on Jace’s shift from the department are all gonna be there, and most of them are single, but that’s not my fault.”
Oh, Lord, single firemen.
“But it won’t just be the guys from the department, there will be other people, some couples from the neighborhood, all people you’ve met before.”
I nodded and shut the pastry case doors. “All right, well, you know I’ll be there, not like I have anything else to do on a Sunday. Want me to bring something?” I don’t know why I even bothered asking anymore, it’s not like I’d show up without something anyway.
“Cookies, cupcakes, whatever you want.” She leaned back and blew an air kiss before jumping off the counter. “Jeez, KC, I know you needed help taste-testing and all—what with your lovely faces you make—but you’ve really got to stop keeping me from opening my store. You’re bad for my hips and business.”
“My faces when I eat sweets are a secret, Lee! Only you and my employees know about them!”
With a wink and a saucy smile, she was gone.
Well, they were the only ones in Oregon who knew about them. I was teased relentlessly in pastry school for the faces I’d make whenever we tried our dishes, and Barb used to give a big belly laugh every time as well. Charles wouldn’t let me eat sweets in public because of those expressions, but he sure seemed to like them when we were alone. I shivered thinking about Charles and was glad that for eight months now I hadn’t had to pretend to not be swallowing back bile every time he kissed or touched me. I took a quick glance at the front of my bakery and smiled to myself before going to the back. For the first time in my life, I was exactly where I wanted to be.
Brody
May 4, 2015
“OLIVIA!” WHAT THE fuck is all this?
“Hmm?”
“Liv, come here.”
“What?” she snapped when she got to the living room.
I took a deep, calming breath and planted a smile on my face. “What’s all this?”
“It’s called furniture, Brody.” Her eyebrows rose. “You know, you sit on the couches, put drinks on the coffee table, put your feet up on the ottoman . . .”
“Cute, Liv, real cute. Where did it come from?”
“The furniture store,” she said slowly, like she was talking to a child.
I huffed and gritted my teeth. “Olivia, where did you get the furniture and how much did it cost?”
“Do you not like it?”
“That’s not what I said, please answer my question.”
“These are the exact same couches the Cunninghams have in their house! They had a five-page spread in Better Homes and Gardens last month!”
You’ve got to be kidding me. I could only play this game with her so many times before I snapped. And I only had about another two minutes before I lost the calm tone I was working so hard to maintain. Liv and her parents were obsessed with some family they viewed as royalty, had been since before I’d met them. They were in the same social circles but had never met, considering a good portion of the United States separated them. I didn’t understand it. To be honest, I’d always found it weird how they tried to be exactly like the Cunningham family—and now it was one of the main reasons I freaked out on Olivia when I did. Because just as Liv wanted to make sure she was identical to the Cunninghams’ only daughter, she also thought she needed to blow money the way they did. Money I wasn’t earning fast enough.
“The Cunninghams,” I said, an edge to my voice. “For the millionth time, Liv, you can’t live as if you are them. You can’t live like we have all the money in the world.”
“How could you not like it?” Tears instantly fell to her cheeks, and I bit back a groan. “I bought them for you, it was only seven grand.”
Seven—seven grand. Only seven grand. “Olivia, where did you get seven grand?” Please, God, please say from your father.
She sniffed and swiped at her eyes. “You had five thousand just sitting in the savings account, I had to do something with it!”
“Olivia! Are you—are you—damn it! You pulled this shit again?”
Her tears kept falling, but she stopped sniffling. “How dare you! I did this for you!”
“Every time, Liv, every time I start saving money you go and blow it on something we don’t need, all because of some fucking famous family! And now this time you spent an extra two thousand? I have to pay the mortgage in a week.”
“Regardless, it was still a gift. You could at least say thank you! Every time I buy something you get upset. At least I’m giving you something—all you’ve ever done is take from me.”
With that, she turned and stormed down the hall to her bedroom, leaving me crushed, aching, and once again so damn tired of this. I rubbed my chest, where the constant dull ache was now stabbing, and fell into one of the kitchen chairs.
Not more than ten minutes later, she was back and bouncing through the kitchen. “Hey, babe! What do you want for dinner?”
I wasn’t even surprised by this anymore; I’d just been waiting until she came back. “It’s after midnight, Liv. I’m not really hungry.”
“Did you already eat dinner? I’ll heat some of this up.” She murmured the last part to herself as she continued to pull takeout boxes from the fridge.
“Yeah, earlier tonight.”
“Oh.” She slammed the fridge door shut and turned to look at me. “All right, I get it. I can’t have kids, so I’m not good enough to heat up food for you. Yeah, fine, Brody. Feed your damn self.”
And here she goes again.
My wife hadn’t always been like this—and despite how it seems, she’s not crazy—and our relationship hadn’t been like this either. We’d been high school sweethearts, and then I’d left for the Army right after we graduated and everything changed. I came back home to visit after a deployment, and though we had stayed together, Liv and I weren’t close anymore. I knew why she’d stayed with me, but I hadn’t cared either way. She was someone to come back to when I visited my fami
ly.
Her parents hated me, and they let me know it every time they saw me. I wasn’t good enough for their daughter because I wasn’t going to college and didn’t come from money like they had. My family wasn’t poor by any means—we’d grown up in a great house in a great neighborhood. But we weren’t dripping with money, and we didn’t belong to the country club that Liv’s parents did. So apparently that meant we were trash. Olivia loved that her parents didn’t accept me, and I knew that was the only reason we’d stayed together as long as we had. But like I said, I didn’t mind.
I had a year left in the Army when my world changed. She called me crying, saying she was pregnant. I’d requested emergency leave as soon as we got off the phone and married her the minute I got home. Her parents were furious—hell, so were mine—but no way was I going to let her go through that alone. I couldn’t take care of her like her parents did, but I’d take care of her the best I could.
It took a lot of people high up pulling strings, but I was able to get us a house on base for as soon as I got back. Only thing was, she refused to go back to the base with me. Basically said thanks for marrying her and she was going to stay with her parents until I decided I was done “playing Navy.” Shit you not. And I wasn’t even in the Navy.
I couldn’t get leave often, but even when I did, she still didn’t see me. Didn’t even try. When I’d ask her, she’d say, “What’s the point? We’re already married.”
Yeah. Married and I haven’t seen you since two days after the fact.
The only thing she did include me in was the baby. After every appointment she sent pictures of the ultrasound, and she’d let me help her pick out a name. I’d gotten the message the minute she went into labor and received more pictures after he was delivered. The next time I got leave she still refused to see me and wouldn’t let me see our son. Instead, I stood outside her parents’ house and called her, only to find out that if I wanted to see either of them, I wouldn’t reenlist and I’d move back to Jeston.
So that’s what I did. When it came time to reenlist, I declined and moved back. Bought us a house—it wasn’t much, and her dad let me know that all the time—but I’d bought it and that’s all that mattered. Once I had it furnished, I called her, and she finally let me meet my son for the first time.
“Brody!” Olivia snapped, and I blinked away the best day of my life. She held out her hand momentarily to show she was on the phone before continuing. “Daddy said he’d pay you back for the couches, since obviously with your pay you can’t afford what I need to be happy.”
My eyes narrowed. It was almost 12:30 in the morning, and she was calling her dad to talk to him about the damn couches? I rubbed the sharp pain in my chest and pushed away from the table before standing up. “He can keep his money, I don’t want it. Good night, Olivia.”
“BABY, ARE YOU awake?”
I sat up in my bed less than an hour later and rubbed a hand over my face. “Uh, yeah. What’s up, Liv?”
“I’m so sorry!” She burst into tears and crumpled to the floor.
Aw hell. I hopped out of my bed and went over to her. Sliding down until I was sitting up against the wall, I pulled her onto my lap. “It’s okay, you just have to stop spending our money like that.”
“B-but the c-couch we had w-was three years old! The Cunninghams never have couches three years old.”
“I know, but ours was still a perfectly good couch,” I crooned softly. “Just because your parents and the Cunninghams can refurnish their entire houses every few years doesn’t mean we can, all right?”
She nodded vigorously. “I just—I just needed something to do.”
I took a deep breath in and scrunched my face together as I prepared for what might happen next. I knew this could turn out bad again, but I had to try. “Maybe we should get a dog.”
“A dog? A damn dog? No! You can’t just give me a dog and make it all better, Brody!” She scrambled off my lap and sprinted down the hall, heading for her side of the house.
Yes, I said her side of the house. I normally don’t even see her because she prefers to spend her days at her parents’ house unless she’s in a mood like the one tonight. It usually lasts a week, as this one has, and we go through every emotion possible about fifteen times a day. I try to be patient with her because I know I’m the reason she’s like this, but after four and a half years of this constant happy-depressed-flirty-pissed-horny-sweet-flat-out-bitch roller coaster, I feel like I’m losing my damn mind. And what’s worse? As soon as we’re in public she’s normal Liv—not the Liv I fell in love with in high school, but the one who’s confident in herself and her parents’ money, and the one who will eat you alive if you cross her.
Her door slammed shut, and I stood to stumble over to my bed, thankful again that I was able to buy a big enough house that we could have our own spaces. We’d been married for almost six years, and I could count on one hand the number of times we’d had sex in those years. We hadn’t even slept in the same bed since a few months after I got back from the Army.
As I tried to get comfortable enough to go back to sleep, I rubbed at the ache in my chest and prayed the nightmares stayed away.
2
Kamryn
May 5, 2015
“KINLEE, YOUR HUSBAND thinks I’m a freak now.”
“Did he not before?”
“Funny,” I mumbled drily. “I just burst out laughing as soon as I saw him because I thought of y’all’s crazy sex life.”
Kinlee froze with the boxes of cupcakes still in her hands. “Did you just say y’all’s? I’m adding that to wald and shew. Where’d you say you were from again?”
“East of here.” I smirked. We were almost on the coastline of Oregon. Everything was east of here. To avoid her narrowed eyes, I took the boxes back from her and started arranging the cupcakes in the holders I’d brought with me.
Jace came into the kitchen talking on his phone and grinned at me curiously before kissing Kinlee’s head and snatching a red velvet cupcake. “Sweet, I’m glad you’ll be here. Yeah, man, see you soon.”
“Who’s coming, babe?” Kinlee took a piece of his cupcake and shoved it in her mouth before helping me arrange the rest of them.
“Brody. Guess the bitch is letting him out of the house without her for once.”
“Oh, thank God. I thought you were about to say she was coming too.”
Jace gave his wife a horrified look. “Uh, no. She’s not allowed here, and she knows that.”
Kinlee was shaking her head back and forth as she said in a softer tone, “Well, I’m glad he’s coming. It’ll be good for him to get out. We haven’t seen him in a long time. Poor guy.”
“Um, who is Brody?” I asked sheepishly. Not like it was my business, but Kinlee had sat in my lap to finish arranging the cupcakes, so it wasn’t like I could leave the conversation.
“Jace’s brother—”
“Jace, you have a brother? How did I not know this?”
“’Cause his wife’s a bitch and doesn’t let him do anything other than work,” Jace said around the rest of the cupcake.
“That must be hard for him if y’all—you guys—don’t get along with his wife.”
Kinlee turned in my lap, her eyes wide. “No way. Honestly . . . bitch is practically a compliment for that woman. Brody doesn’t even like her.”
“Then why is he with her?”
“He—it’s just been difficult for them,” she said, eyeing Jace, and I saw him nod his head at her. “It’s really sad. Brody’s the nicest guy you’ll ever meet, but he’s just stuck in this marriage with her. And it’s wearing on him—every time we see him he looks a little worse. Like she’s just making everything that makes Brody Brody disappear.”
“Shouldn’t have married her,” Jace said with a small shake of his head.
“Babe, he was just trying to—”
“He shouldn’t have married her,” Jace repeated, then walked toward the living room when there was a knock o
n the door.
Kinlee sighed and leaned her back against the table, still facing me. “Jace hates Olivia. Well, we all do, but I think he hates her more than anyone. Jace and Brody were inseparable growing up, probably because they’re only a little over a year apart, but like I said, we almost never see him anymore. And it’s all because of her.”
I just nodded my head and kept my mouth shut. I knew from experience there could always be some underlying situation that kept a bad couple together. And Brody and Olivia were married—it wasn’t like he could just break up with her . . . or disappear like I had. Obviously, whatever was going on with them, Jace and Kinlee knew all about it, but I doubted they realized how hard it must be for Brody to have his family so against his wife. Whether he liked her or not.
“Hey, KC, I’ve got someone I want you to meet,” Jace said on his way back in.
I rolled my eyes and let Kinlee know that I was going to kill her as soon as this barbecue was over. I’d been in a relationship for six years before getting here, and then I was trying to start my business. I didn’t have time for, or want, a relationship then or now. But Kinlee and Jace were set on setting me—oh, holy firemen buddies.
“Which one?”
Kinlee, still in my lap, leaned back to whisper, “The cute one.”
“Right.” I nodded. “Which one?”
She laughed and stood up to hug each of the guys as Jace started the introductions. “KC, these are some of the guys on my crew: Josh, Craig, and Aiden. Guys, this is Kinlee’s friend KC.” Before I could say anything, Jace whispered, “Aiden, this is the girl I was telling you about—”
“With the bakery, right,” Aiden said with a bright smile. “It’s great to finally meet you.”
Finally? Really now? I glanced at Jace and shot him a glare as I stood up before turning to look at Aiden. “Nice to meet you too.”
Aiden was even taller than Jace’s six-one frame and had kind brown eyes and short buzzed hair that made his handsome face look rugged, and God it worked for him. He was wearing a loose gray V-neck shirt that seemed to add to his looks rather than make him look feminine, like it did Charles. And while he wasn’t bulky, his muscled arms promised a hell of a lot to look at underneath that shirt.
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