by Cora Brent
“Is something wrong?” I asked.
Her cheeks reddened and she swallowed before speaking again. “I, um, just wanted to say that I’m really glad that I know you. And I know it sounds a little pathetic, but you’re kind of my best friend at the moment.”
That just about knocked me over. If she was trying to melt my heart into gooey emotional pudding then she’d succeeded. It was the most touching thing any girl had ever said to me. I felt terrible for picturing her naked earlier. I shouldn’t do that anymore. It was wrong, even if she knew nothing about it.
“If you need anything at all, don’t hesitate to ask,” I said and wrapped an arm around her, giving her a friendly, quick half hug. Very quick. Then I stepped away so I wouldn’t be tempted to hold her for longer.
“Good night,” she said softly and then headed for her meager pile of belongings that were stacked up in the living room.
“Good night, Taylor,” I answered and retreated to my room.
Once I was there I decided I needed to take care of my dick if I was ever going to get any sleep tonight. I tried to jerk off to something other than thoughts of Taylor but nothing and nobody else would do the trick. Picturing her long legged, sexy body stretched out naked on my bed seemed like a shady thing to do right now but I did it anyway.
It took only a moment to come in my hand and then I mopped up the mess and fell asleep.
The last thing that passed through my mind was a guess about whether I was the most oversexed creep on the planet.
I decided that I probably was.
Chapter Fifteen
Taylor
“Holy shit.” Alyssa gaped at me after I told her the story of my thrilling weekend.
Over the last couple of days the swelling on my face had vanished, leaving only vague bruises behind that were mostly easy to cover with makeup. However, my coworker had noticed anyway and asked if someone had punched me.
“Did you get your stuff back?” she asked. “Did the police catch him?”
“Her. And no.”
I’d finally filed a police report the following morning at Kellan’s urging. They didn’t expect that my purse and phone would be recovered. I didn’t expect it either.
At least in some distant past I’d opted for phone insurance so Kellan drove me to the mall on Saturday to get a replacement phone. He’d also persuaded his brother Derek to tow my car to the family garage and figure out the damage. There were a thousand and one things wrong with the car but the reason it wouldn’t start was a simple battery issue. A new battery had been installed and I was sure Kellan had paid for it. I would have protested more loudly if I had other options but I didn’t. So I muttered my thousandth ‘Thank you’ and hoped the day would come when I’d be able to pay him back.
I had started keeping a list of all the expenses I was incurring under Kellan’s roof. Even after a few days they’d really started to add up. While he was in better shape than I was, he wasn’t exactly swimming in money either. He was still in school and working at a pizzeria so he couldn’t really afford to prop me up for long, no matter how many IOU’s I intended to settle.
“Wait, Greta,” I said when my permanently scowling temporary boss stalked past. “Can I talk to you for a second?”
She didn’t stop walking. “I’m going to sort through the new arrivals in the back. Follow if you’d like.”
I threw Alyssa a look to ask if she was good manning the front register and she nodded.
Greta was already busily cataloging the bags of clothes that had been taken in on Saturday. At least she stopped and looked up when I talked about my Friday night assault at the park. I borrowed some of Alyssa’s dramatic flair and allowed my eyes to fill with tears and lo and behold, Greta softened.
“Are you all right?” she asked. “Do you need to take the day off, Taylor?”
“No. I’m all right.” I’d left out a few pertinent details, such as my current state of homelessness. But I did need to be candid about something. “Listen, I know it’s a lot to ask, but I could really use an advance on my pay. Just a week would make a world of difference right now.”
I assumed she’d say no. But Greta wasn’t heartless after all. She thought about it for a moment and then nodded.
“I think that can be arranged. Let me speak to the bookkeeper and I’ll see what I can do. I know how fond my sister is of you.”
“Thank you, thank you!” I almost hugged her. A small advance wouldn’t get me into an apartment but it would mean I didn’t have to rely on Kellan to meet every single one of my basic needs.
Well, almost all of my basic needs.
If Kellan was impacted by the magnetic physical attraction between us then he gave no hint. He offered the occasional kind hug and engaged in the same raunchy banter that was his trademark but he hadn’t come close to making a move. If I hadn’t been carrying around the powerful memory of our long ago hookup then I would have thought the temptation was all one sided. Maybe now it was one sided. Maybe he preferred the snooty, downright bitchy version of Taylor that he remembered as opposed to the object of pity living on his couch.
As for me, I was torn. I had sworn off sex until I got my life back in order but bumping into Kellan as he came out of the shower and watching him strut around the apartment in his boxers made the promise difficult to keep. For crying out loud, I wasn’t made of stone.
Greta was pleased when I offered to finish cataloging all the new arrivals and I stayed busy with that, working through lunch. My phone remained in my back pocket but alas, Al Albertson had not returned any of the voicemails I’d left him this morning so the status of my account remained unknown.
Kellan had pressed an apartment key and a twenty dollar bill into my hand so I’d have lunch money for the next few days. I added that to my growing list of things I’d need to reimburse him for. It was almost like he’d accepted the role of my boyfriend with all of the obligations and none of the fun benefits.
Finally I got hungry enough to dash out for some food, grabbing a couple of tacos and a soda from Sol. My eyes strayed to the table I’d shared with Kellan the day we had lunch here. It was occupied by a couple of young guys who were finished with their food and had laced their hands together while they stared into each other’s eyes and carried on an intense conversation. They looked happy to be together. I kind of envied them.
I ate my lunch on the walk back to Closet Exchange. I was eager to get back to work to prove to Greta that I was worth the additional effort I was costing her. Before I stepped out she’d assured me that the bookkeeper would be cutting an off-cycle check to advance me two weeks of standard pay. The check would be dropped off this afternoon.
As the hours ticked past I kept wondering about Kellan. I hoped to see him today. We’d passed in the hallway this morning before he rushed out to make it to class. And then tonight he was working at Esposito’s Pizzeria so I wasn’t sure what time he’d be home. Perhaps I ought to casually drop by there this evening. Just a friendly gesture. I liked the idea of doing something normal, like stalking the guy I was crushing on. A strategy that made little sense considering he currently lived in the room next to where I slept, but whatever.
I stayed busy arranging a rack of fringe shawls and contemplating the flutter in my belly as I reminisced about some of Kellan’s more outrageous wisecracks and the way his back muscles flexed when he pulled his sweat-soaked shirt off after a visit to the gym yesterday.
“Well, look who’s joined the hard working proletariat.”
Shit. Shit. Triple shit with a motherfucking cherry on top!
A brick of dread suddenly dropped into my stomach and I turned around, hoping I’d been hearing things. The hope was futile. There she was.
“Sierra. What an unpleasant surprise.”
She nodded. “Hello there, little sister.”
A downturn in financial circumstances hadn’t hurt her appearance. Her smile was dazzling, her lip fillers properly maintained, and her accessories costly.
Only someone who knew her, who understood that her true nature was always on display in her cold, calculating eyes, would recognize what she was like.
“What the hell are you doing here?” I hissed. I hoped she wouldn’t make a scene. The hope was probably futile. Sierra was one big walking scene wrapped in designer brands.
She ran a manicured nail along the top of a metal rack and then made a face as if she’d found dirt. “Aiden said he spoke to you. He said you didn’t sound good. I wanted to see for myself but you look fine to me.” She squinted and looked me up and down. “Aside from the fact that you look like someone slapped the shit out of you. Is that what happened? I really hope so.”
I rolled my eyes. She didn’t scare me. That husband of hers on the other hand…
“Where’s your better half?” I asked, stealing nervous glances in every direction in case I found him somewhere waving at me with malevolent glee, kind of like the deranged clown in IT.
“He’s not here right now so unfortunately you won’t get to flash your tits and prey on his sympathy.”
My mouth fell open. “That never happened! You’re both sick.”
She acted like she hadn’t heard me. “Where are you living these days anyway?”
My guard remained high. A requirement when Sierra was around. “With a friend. Just for a little while.”
“A friend.” She tested out the word. “All my research indicates you have none. Must be a guy. I guess you hold still hold some appeal to anything with a dick. Is he the one that beat you up? I would have paid to see that.”
My sister’s irrational side had not improved with time.
“What research? Have you been having me followed or something? Is that how you knew I worked here?”
She was triumphant. “Life is all about connections. Who you know. I know a lot of people. So does my husband. One or two of them might work at Ameriwest Bank.”
My fist clenched. “You goddamn bitch.”
Nearby, a couple of teenage girls were browsing the racks. They glanced over at us, then at each other and proceeded to the next aisle while stifling giggles.
Sierra took a step forward. I caught a whiff of coconuts and Chanel. Like she’d risen from a tanning bed and then walked through a cloud of perfume.
“You’re one to talk,” she said ominously.
I was tired of this game. So tired. “How many times do I need to repeat to you imbeciles that I have no idea where the money is? For god’s sake, Sierra. There must be a brain in there somewhere. Do you think I’d be scrounging for a place to live and applying for student loans if I’d secretly stowed a big treasure chest filled with cash?”
“We’ve thought of that. But you’re not as dumb as you seem. You’re aware that you’re being watched. The feds seem to think he really wired the money offshore somewhere and then covered his tracks. I don’t think so. I think it’s still here. And I think you believe you can wait everyone out.”
The accusations were nothing new. I crossed my arms and sighed. “I’m afraid I can’t return the compliment. You are as dumb as you seem.”
“He called you, Taylor. Only you. He asked you to come to the house. Only you. The last thing he ever thought about was you.” Without warning she flicked a sharp fingernail against my cheek. “And only you.”
My mouth went instantly sour and my gag reflex threatened to revolt. I wouldn’t think about that. She couldn’t make me.
I closed my eyes. “Get the hell out of here,” I whispered.
Sierra laughed.
“Taylor?”
He sounded so much like his brother. My eyes snapped open and expected to see Kellan but there was Thomas. He must either be coming from or going to his job at Dream Fields, a local baseball training facility owned by his cousin’s husband. The logo was emblazoned on Thomas’s blue polo shirt and he wore a silver coach’s whistle around his neck.
Sierra was having fun looking him up and down. “What a tasty looking piece of candy.”
The hair rose on the back of my neck. There was no reason to be afraid. Sierra didn’t exactly pose a physical threat to Thomas.
“Leave him alone,” I said.
She held her phone up. “Hey there, hottie, go stand next to your girlfriend so I can get a cute picture.”
Thomas was confused. “Are you talking to me?”
“He’s not my boyfriend,” I insisted, partly because it was one hundred percent true and partly because there was something alarming about Sierra homing in on Thomas.
Sierra paid me no mind and snapped a photo of him before blowing me a kiss.
“We’ll talk soon,” she declared over her shoulder and then swayed her way through the store in the direction of the glass doors.
Thomas jerked a thumb. “Who’s that?”
Suddenly I felt exhausted. “An allergy.”
He grinned.
“Are you here to shop?” I gestured to his outfit. “Are you looking for something more trendy, less functional?”
“Nah. I’m on my way to work. I was just passing right by and I’d never been in here before.” He looked around. “It smells kind of weird.”
“It’s the universal thrift store smell. Someone should bottle it. Sell it in candle form. Did your brother ask you to stop by?”
Thomas was the world’s worst liar. He shuffled his feet and averted his eyes. “No. Why would he do that?”
“I don’t know.”
Thomas looked at me and then came clean. “He texted earlier. He wanted to come by but he had class. He also needed to pick up his car from Derek and then he has to work all evening.” He shrugged his muscled shoulders. “He worries about you.”
“That’s sweet. Unnecessary but sweet.” I hoped I wasn’t visibly blushing.
“Kel’s got a soft side,” Thomas told me. “He’d have a fit if he heard me tell you this but it’s the truth. When we were kids there was this cat that lived in the storm drain by our house and he used to go out there every day with food and try to entice it to come out because he wanted to convince my folks to let him keep it. But he had to stop because my mom got really pissed when all of her tuna fish cans disappeared.”
“Hmm. I guess I am kind of like the homeless cat.”
He paused and then reddened, raking a hand through his short blondish hair. “No, not at all. Fuck. That was a bad story to tell.”
I laughed. “I’m just teasing. Anyway, what happened to the cat?”
“One day we found a big pile of blood and fur all over the drain grate. We assumed it got eaten by a coyote.”
“That’s discouraging.”
“Yeah.”
Thomas couldn’t stay, which was fine because I really couldn’t stand here talking to visitors all day. He cheerfully told me that he’d filled a pitcher with his favorite super food smoothie containing kale, spinach and collard greens. It was sitting in the fridge at home. I was welcome to help myself to a glass later.
Once he was gone I stayed as busy as possible so I wouldn’t have to think about the encounter with my sister. All our lives we’d been at odds but I wondered if she would have turned out differently if she’d married someone halfway normal. Instead she married Petri Dish, who was an ‘embrace the worst version of yourself’ kind of fellow.
Greta commented with approval after I spent the rest of the afternoon dusting every surface of the store. The shock and unpleasantness of seeing Sierra slowly faded and whenever it threatened to encroach I directed my mind elsewhere.
Funny, it always made a beeline for Kellan.
Chapter Sixteen
Kellan
“Take it.” I pushed the wad of cash at him but he sidestepped my efforts with a grunt.
“I told you, I got the part for peanuts.”
“Then let me pay you the peanuts.”
Derek smirked. “I’m making a whole lot more money than you right now. I know that won’t last, Mr. Financial Whiz, so allow me to feel superior while I can.”
“What
ever.” I shoved the cash back into my pocket. “Thanks.”
My summer internship had been a fantastic break but unfortunately the pay had been crap. And while Esposito’s paid generously by industry standards, I was only working thirty hours a week due to school obligations and wasn’t exactly rolling in cash. Between the start of the new semester and helping Taylor out I was a little strapped.
“Anytime,” Derek said. He stuck his head under the hood of my car for another look. “From what Thomas says you’ve got your hands full at home with your houseguest. How is she, by the way?”
“She went to work today and she’s getting more relaxed about staying at our place. One thing about Taylor, she tries her best to keep her chin up.”
He was thoughtful. “Paige and I talked about it. Taylor is welcome to come stay at the house until she finds an apartment. It’s not like we don’t have the extra room.”
Derek’s girlfriend had inherited a huge Victorian style mansion. Even with Paige’s friend Julianne and the nephew she had custody of living there, I was sure there had to be at least a couple of spare bedrooms.
“You guys don’t even know Taylor,” I pointed out. “Why on earth would you invite her to live with you?”
Derek rolled his eyes and gave me a shove. “For you, knucklehead. It’s obvious that Taylor is important to you so she matters to us too.”
“That’s very moving,” I said and meant it.
I bent down to retrieve a wrench that had been left on the ground. When I straightened up Derek was grinning at me like a fool.
“What’s up with your face?” I said.
“You didn’t deny it.”
“Deny what?”
“That you’re crazy about that girl.”
“I have no memory of those words being uttered.”
He shrugged and took the wrench away from me, using it to tighten something under the hood. “It’s still true.”
“It’s not like that, man. I swear.”