Taming the Whirlwind

by L. M. Heidle

  He still wasn’t back so I went in search of him. It didn’t take me long to find him, considering he was yelling at someone. I found him in his office. He had his back towards me as he yelled into my phone. Why did he have my phone? I wasn’t about to interrupt him to ask.

  “You’re lucky you’re still walking! You left bruises on her. She’s the only reason you aren’t in the hospital.” He paused, apparently listening to Andrew. “No, you can’t talk to her. What part of ‘stay the hell away from her’ don’t you understand? She deserves someone better than you!” He paused again. “No, I don’t deserve her either, but I will try my damnedest to make her happy. That includes doing everything I can to protect her from assholes like you.” His voice took on a deathly calm that was more terrifying than the yelling, “So, let me make it crystal clear: stay away from her or I will ruin you.” He made me jump when he slammed my phone to his desk.

  He turned around and smiled when he saw me. Just like that, his mood shifted. “Nice outfit.”

  “I thought you might like it. I guess that was Andrew.” He just nodded. “Do you make it a habit of answering others’ phones?”

  “Not usually, but it wouldn’t stop going off. Then I saw his name and well, you heard. Does that bother you?” It was the type of question where the answer didn’t matter. He was still going to do it regardless of what I said.

  Oddly for some reason, it didn’t bother me, though. “No, I have nothing to hide.”

  “Good. Well then, I also talked to Meg and Brent. They wanted you to call, but I told them to come over instead. Meg was furious when I told her about the bruises, but I didn’t tell Brent. Thought you might want to tell him face-to-face because I’m sure he’s going to have the same reaction I did.”

  “Thanks so much,” I replied sarcastically. “I wasn’t exactly planning on telling Brent about them. He has a temper to rival yours. Once he’s pissed, he doesn’t always use his head.”

  “I figured. They’re on their way over now, so as much as I love that outfit—and trust me, I love it—you probably need more clothes.” I just nodded and started back towards his room. “Oh and um.” I turned around at the nervous edge to his voice. “I answered the phone without looking.”

  “Okay and…?”

  “It was your father.” He winced a little waiting for my reaction.

  I froze. I felt all the blood draining from my face. “My dad?” I covered my face with my hands. “This is bad, very bad. What did he say?”

  He pulled my hands off my face and intertwined one hand with mine as he led me to the door. “Well, he somewhat politely asked who the hell I was and why I was answering your phone. After I told him I was a friend and that I answered it, thinking it was mine, he laughed at me, wondering why I had a pink phone too. I just told him I didn’t look. He made a grunting noise and handed the phone to your mother. She started playing twenty questions, so I politely excused myself and told her you would call her.”

  “Oh, even better. She’s going to want to know everything. How am I going to explain this? She won’t stop. You may want to leave the country for your safety and sanity.”

  He chuckled as he walked to his closet. He stopped and turned towards me, “So tell them.” My eyes snapped to his. “Tell your dad that you’re here because of what Andrew did. Rescuing you should get me some points, right? Just tell your mom who I am and that we’re dating.”

  “You don’t understand my parents. They…” I trailed off when what he said completely registered in my brain. What did he just say? Dating? He was back with shorts before my mind could wrap my head around the word dating. I opened my mouth, trying to say something, but nothing would come out. Before I could try again, the elevator sounded.

  He leaned over to kiss my forehead. “Hurry up and get dressed. We can talk later.”

  My mind was still stuck on the word dating, but somehow I got dressed. I had to roll the shorts to keep them on. Luckily, I had a little makeup in my purse so I covered the bruise on my face pretty well and his t-shirt was big enough to cover the ones on my arms. I pulled my hair into a ponytail as I walked towards the living room.

  Meg threw her arms around me, almost squeezing the life outta me. She whispered, “Nice outfit.” I laughed at her. A little louder, she asked, “Are you okay? Do you want to slash his tires? Or maybe cover his car with eggs and feathers? Oh, I know! Let’s put his face and number at every gay club in town. Oh and his club. Tell them all he’s shy and he likes to be chased.” Kade spit his drink out.

  Kade looked at Brent, “Remind me never to get on her bad side.”

  “Dude. You don’t even know the half of it. When we were seniors, every guy was terrified of these two. A couple of the football players said some things to Meg she didn’t like. So what did these two do? At a game, they completely covered their trucks with that window foam and toilet paper.”

  “We allegedly did that.” We giggled. Kade just shook his head at us, smiling.

  Brent kept going, “Then there was the time they duck-taped the basketball players lockers shut—with a whole roll of duct tape per locker.”

  “That was worth every minute of detention we got to see their faces. They weren’t mean to a new girl again.”

  Meg couldn’t stop laughing. “Yes, it was.”

  Kade turned to Brent, “So what did they do to you when you two broke up?”

  “Trust me I was terrified, but they spared me.”

  Meg and I busted out laughing after saying, “Whitney.”

  “No way! That was months after we broke up.” Meg and I were hunched over from laughing by now. “That’s not even right. I thought my cousin did that.”

  Kade looked so confused as he stared at me. “Brent was a jerk after we broke up, but he became a complete jerk a few months after, so we created Whitney. They had a texting and email relationship. We even sent him a couple of pictures of this girl we met. She loved our plan. They were supposed to meet for the Homecoming dance in front of the school. We hired a drag queen that looked sort of like the pictures to meet him. There was a huge group of people standing with him when Whitney showed up. I don’t know why he’s whining, he got a nice kiss on the mouth.” We hit the floor, we were laughing so hard and had tears rolling down our faces.

  “I’m glad you guys thought that was funny. I still get shit about that.” He was trying to be serious, but he was fighting a smile.

  Kade patted him on the back. “That’s rough.”

  “Tell me about it. That’s nothing compared to what Liz did. She called me out in front of our entire class and videotaped it. It was seriously brutal.”

  “You deserved that, and you know it, but I didn’t tape it or put it online.”

  Kade looked at Brent. “Wait, it’s online?” Brent nodded. “Like I said, remind me never to piss them off.”

  Meg jumped up, “Let’s see if we can still find the video.”

  Brent looked at her, “Okay, how about we stop making fun of me?” He turned towards me, “How are you?”

  “I’m fine. Let’s just act like it didn’t happen and move on.”

  Kade’s eyes about popped out of their sockets, “Like it didn’t happen? You’ve got to be kidding me! He left bruises!”

  Brent’s head snapped to Kade, “Bruises?”

  “Show him!”

  “There’s no point. It’s over, and I won’t see him again. Plus, I’m sure he’s sorry.”

  I could see the rage flash through Kade’s eyes. You could see him count to ten to calm himself before he spoke, but it didn’t help at all. “He’s sorry? Are you kidding me right now? He left bruises on your face, arms, and back. It’s all okay, though, because he’s fucking sorry! If we hadn’t been there, who knows what would have happened. Would he still be sorry? When I talked to him, the word ‘sorry’ never came out of his mouth!”

  Brent didn’t give me a chance to reply before he yelled, “He left bruises? Show me now, Gel!”

  “Brent, there
’s no…” Kade cut me off by pulling the sleeves of my t-shirt up. I saw Brent’s jaw tighten before Kade turned me around. I heard what sounded like ‘he’s dead’ from Brent’s mouth when he saw my back.

  Meg’s eyes snapped to mine and it had nothing to do with the bruises, but everything to do with Brent’s reaction. I had seen that look on her face before, usually right before Brent did something stupid. Kade let go of my shirt as I slowly turned around. I knew it would be bad when I turned around, but it was beyond bad.

  “Don’t forget the one on her face that’s covered up,” Kade so nicely pointed out.

  Brent and Kade looked identical. Their jaws were clenched, hands fisted, and rage was coming from their eyes. I was completely speechless.

  Brent turned towards Kade, “I can’t believe he isn’t dead yet.”

  “Trust me, I was out the door when I saw them but, um, I got distracted.” I heard Meg snicker.

  “Well, she can’t distract me that way anymore. Let’s go!” Both of them walked towards the elevator.

  Once again I was running towards the elevator, but at least Meg was with me this time. “Boys, stop! He’s not worth this.”

  Brent grabbed my arm and pushed me out of the way, “Gel, don’t. He crossed the line.”

  “Kade, if you go, no more distractions.” He stopped in his tracks and turned to face me.

  “Now you’re fighting dirty.” I shrugged my shoulders. He looked pissed. You could see Mr. Control Freak waging a war with a guy who wanted to continue to get laid. Lucky for me, this morning must have been great for him too.

  Brent had stepped one foot in the elevator before I yelled, “Amber.”

  He stepped back out of the elevator, but put his hand on it to keep it open. He didn’t look at me. “What about her? She hates him right now. She thinks you hate her.”

  “Of course, I don’t hate her, but if you beat her brother up, she might hate you.” He turned a little towards me. I lifted my hand when he opened his mouth. “I know she hates him right now, but he’s still her brother. Plus, if things are going as great as you say, you might be meeting her parents soon. How is she going to introduce you? Hey, mom and dad, this is the guy who beat up your son?” When he took his hand off the elevator, I let out a breath as I looked at Meg. “Besides, I’m pretty sure he got the message last night.”

  “Speaking of that, can he press charges?” Meg asked. I looked at Meg again. I never thought about that.

  Kade smirked at Meg. “Funny you mention that. He did threaten me with charges when I answered H’s phone. I simply explained that I would get probation if anything since I was stopping an assault. I also mentioned that if he, somehow, wasn’t convicted of assault or maybe even attempted rape, which my legal team would do everything they possibly could to make happen, he would still ruin his and his family’s reputation for being brought up on charges. He changed the subject quite fast after that.”

  “Oh, I would have loved to see his face! By the way, why were you answering her phone?” Meg asked.

  “It wouldn’t stop ringing. There’re only so many times you can hear the same song over and over.”

  “I’m sorry I’m more popular than you.” I smiled sweetly at him. “There’s also this new invention. It’s a button that puts the phone on vibrate for future reference.”

  “Cute, real cute, H. If I would’ve done that then I wouldn’t have gotten to speak with your dad.” I winced. I had almost forgot about that.

  Meg screeched, “You talked to her dad?” She stared at me in disbelief.

  He smiled at her. “And her mom.”

  “I don’t even want to talk about that right now. I’m going to avoid that call for as long as possible.”

  Brent nodded in agreement, “I would change my number rather than explain why he answered.”

  “Come on, he can’t be that bad.” Everyone’s head snapped in Kade’s direction.

  “Yeah, he’s that bad. He met me at the door with a pistol on our first date. We weren’t even in high school. My mom was driving the car. Scared the living crap outta me.”

  Kade shook his head. “Parents love me.” Meg and Brent busted out laughing.

  “Normal parents, maybe. I’m sure her mom will. She is pretty awesome, just very nosey. Her dad is a completely different ball game. He never liked me and we dated for five years, plus we were friends for years before that.” He patted Kade on the back. “But good luck with that.”

  We spent the rest of the afternoon just lounging around the penthouse. We ordered pizza, the guys played video games, and we watched movies.

  “Well, Brent, it’s getting late so we should probably go.” Meg didn’t wait for a reply; she just pushed him towards the elevator. She whispered in my ear before she got on the elevator, “I set an overnight bag for you in the kitchen.”

  After they left, I turned towards Kade. “I should probably get going too.”

  “I don’t think so. Our movie isn’t over.” Kade threw me over his shoulder before walking to the couch and dropping me on it. We sat on the couch a little longer ‘finishing’ the movie.

  When he put another movie in, I tried to snuggle back into Kade’s side but he pushed me away. Wow, guess it’s back to the Mr. Detached. Before I could say anything, he pulled me so I was sitting with my back to him. He started massaging my shoulders. I let out a soft moan; it felt so good. I was in heaven. I’ve gotten massages before, but his fingers were like magic. My whole body relaxed with one touch. He started kissing down my neck, but I barely noticed because he kept massaging. I made a whimper when he pulled back to remove my t-shirt. He chuckled at me before starting again. He started working on my lower back as he slowly kissed from shoulder to shoulder, saying “You. Are. So. Stunning.” in between kisses.

  Then he whispered in my ear, “You took my breath away the first time I met you and haven’t given it back. The only time I can breathe is when you’re near me. Lay down.” Once again all I did was nod as I lay on my stomach. He straddled my back to keep working.

  I let out a long sigh when he started softly running his fingertips up and down my back as he slowly kissed down my spine. It felt so damn good. Whether he knew it or not—and I’m assuming he did—this was a sure-fire way to get me turned on.

  “Kade, stop. I really do need to leave and if you don’t stop, I won’t be able to.”

  “Okay then, I’m not stopping.” He kept raining tortuously slow kisses down my back. He murmured between kisses, “H, you have no idea what you do to me.” I tried so hard to find it within myself to stop this, but it’s hard to stop something your body is demanding. I was putty in his hands when he whispered, “Roll over.” I didn’t hesitate. With that, we slowly made love.

  We just laid there holding each other before he looked at me, “Will you stay now? I’ll do that all night if it helps.”

  “Kip, that was amazing. Beyond amazing, but I still can’t stay.”

  He looked at me like I was crazy as I stood up. “Why?”

  “Because I don’t live here and I have to work tomorrow.”

  He continued to stare as he stood up. “You could just stay the night.”

  “Thank you, but I’m not sure that’s a great idea.”

  He grabbed my hips, pulling me into him, “I think it’s a great idea. We could always pick up where we left off.”

  “That’s exactly why I have to go. We won’t get any sleep if I don’t because I so easily get distracted by you.”

  “Sleep is honestly overrated. Which would you rather have a little sleep or a lot more of mind-blowing sex?” He smirked.

  “More mind-blowing sex?” I questioned. He just smirked at me. “When exactly did that start?”

  “I don’t know, probably around the time you were screaming my name so loud that I’m pretty sure the neighbors could hear.”

  “Let me let you in on a little secret. Women have been known to fake it. We don’t want to hurt the male ego. It’s so fragile, you know,�
� I replied as I slowly started stepping away from him.

  “Is that so? Well then, you deserve an Oscar for your performance over and over again.”

  I took a few more steps back. “Your ego is bigger than most, so I had to up my game.” I was biting my lip to not burst out laughing.

  “I hate to disappoint, so I think I deserve one more chance.”

  I kept slowly walking away. “No, I’m sorry. That would just be a waste of time. Haven’t you ever heard the first five minutes is critical to leaving a good impression?” I looked him up and down, trying my hardest to look serious but failing miserably. “Or in your case, two minutes.”

  I didn’t even get a chance to make a break for it before he closed the distance between us and threw me over his shoulder. “I’ll show you two minutes. You’re going to be begging me to stop before I’m through.” He spent the next two hours proving to me how wrong I was. In the end, I did tell him I couldn’t take anymore. He smirked at me. “A little longer than two minutes, huh?”

  “Yeah, yeah, you have stamina, but it’s the substance that matters.”

  He crawled on top of me again, “Do I need to make you scream ‘Kade, don’t stop’ again to prove my point?”

  I held my hands up in surrender. “No, I’m good. I probably won’t be able to walk tomorrow as it is,” I giggled.

  “You’re damn right. Every time you move tomorrow, you’ll think about how great your boyfriend is.” Boyfriend?

  “Boyfriend, huh? Didn’t know I had one of those.”

  “Yeah, you acquired one a few orgasms back.” I rolled my eyes at him. “Seriously, I’m done with all this back and forth bullshit. You can argue if you want, but I can be very persuasive,” He said as he started tickling my sides. “Besides, in the end, I always get what I want, so why fight the inevitable?”

  “What is this the caveman era?” He smiled proudly, so I pushed him on his back. I have no idea how we did it, but we went another couple of rounds before falling onto the bed from complete and utter exhaustion.