But the crying?
Hell no.
“Fuck,” Archie said, buttoning his shorts before he ran a hand through his damp hair. He glanced at the door and listened. “We gotta feed the cats.”
“Right.” I stood, and Tiddles streaked out of the room. I swore those little furballs had sixth sense. They hadn’t followed Frankie.
Or maybe they just understood English.
Whatever.
I had the can open and three excited cats at my feet as I said, “Well? Why the was she crying?” It had to be her mother. We hadn’t heard from Archie or Frankie after he said he was going DND.
“Edward moved her out.”
Wait. “What? He moved…” The reality of it crashed in on me. “Her mother moved out?”
I couldn’t stand the woman. There had always been something sketchy about her. Even when my mother told me to show her respect, ‘cause you know, adult and all that, I’d done my best to avoid her and still be there for Frankie. Considering how crappy she treated Frankie? I wasn’t all that sorry to hear she’d moved out, except…
“What the fuck is Frankie supposed to do?”
“Pretty sure it’s a play to make her move in with them,” Archie said as he folded his arms. Leaning back, he glanced toward the hall leading to the bathroom. The shower was still on. “Edward pushed the car thing again. Told her he’d have his assistant get her the address. They packed up her mom’s things while she was at work. There’s not even a note.”
“What a bitch.”
“My thoughts exactly.”
“But Frankie is already working her ass off…”
“Don’t worry about this place. I’m going by the office and paying the rent for the rest of the school year. Stay or go, whatever she wants, she’s not losing her apartment.”
Sometimes, it was easy to forget that Archie was loaded, and then he said things like that.
“If her mom comes back?”
“I’m considering getting the locks changed, too. But I might need to ease her into that. This really fucking hurt her.” The dislike in his voice was so thick, I could damn near feel it pulsate.
“Dude, I don’t get it. How does a mom do that? I mean…I have issues with my dad, but he still does what he can. Even if what he can ain’t much.” Which was true. Jake had a hate on for his dad. Bubba lucked out as far as all of us were concerned, and while Mr. Rhys was getting kind of intrusive, it was hard to fault him—Frankie was in trouble.
“You know, I’m not even going to try and figure her out. Psych is your thing.” Archie leaned his head back against the wall, and I got the coffee started. No matter what else we did today, I wanted Frankie caffeinated. A caffeinated Frankie was a happy Frankie.
“If I ever go for my doctorate, maybe I’ll use her as a case study.” As jokes went, it fell flat.
“I just want her to stay away. I know it hurts Frankie that she left like that, but the in and out and the toxic nature of the relationship isn’t good for her either.”
“She’s still seventeen.” She was the youngest of all of us. Her birthday was months off.
“Yep, I’m going to send a message to the attorney about seeing if we can file to get her emancipated. Then she will legally be able to sign all her own stuff. But…let’s focus on your birthday today.”
“You already have a plan.”
The water cut off in the other room, and Archie nodded firmly. “I have a plan. The first part of that plan is it’s your birthday. Let the fun and mayhem begin.”
Mayhem.
“Maybe let’s skip that last part,” I called as Archie headed back to the bedroom to finish getting dressed.
When I opened the fridge to look at breakfast possibilities, I glared. It was getting low on a lot of things.
Ugh. I hated her mother.
Putting hate out into the universe was just a bad idea, so I disliked her mother intensely, and I was with Archie—if she wanted to sever ties, make it permanent.
But Frankie didn’t have any other family that I knew of. Not family she talked about.
There had been a grandmother. When we were kids, like even before we met Jake, she’d come to visit. Frankie had been super-excited about it. When my grandmother used to visit, or Sis and I went to her place, we always came back with presents and stories.
Looking back, it was easy to see why Frankie would have been excited. But she’d also said something weird, something I hadn’t ever thought of…
“I didn’t even know I had a grandmother.”
How does a kid not know? Knowing what I do about her narcissist of a mom? I totally get it now. As for her dad?
“Hey,” Frankie said, pulling me out of my thoughts, and I had to grin. She looked delightful with her damp hair, rosy cheeks from the shower, and dressed in a pair of slim shorts and a tank top.
Man, I almost didn’t want to go to Six Flags. But we all needed it. We needed to get away from this place, from the crap going down here, and just go be somewhere no one knew all of us. Hold her hand, kiss her when we felt like it, and have fun.
That was what I wanted for my birthday. “Hey,” I said, and wrapped my arms around her when she curled into me. She fit perfectly right up against me, and I loved being able to hug her. Honestly, there wasn’t much a Frankie hug couldn’t fix. “Feel better?”
“I was feeling pretty good before,” she teased, and I grinned. “Though you seem to be a little on the stiff side.”
“Oh, I’m a lot on the stiff side.” The sweet weight of her pressed against me just reminded me all over again of how hard I was for her. It wasn’t difficult, every time I kissed her, I got a boner. Sometimes when I was just talking to her. Wanting Frankie was a lot like breathing—vital to my existence.
Tipping her head back, she studied me, and I dropped a kiss on her lips. The traces of tears were gone from her cheeks, and her eyes weren’t so red. They were still a little swollen though.
“Still up for going out on my b-day?” It was a little juvenile to use my birthday to get my way, but I hadn’t been kidding when I said we all needed a break. Her more than the rest of us. She had a crapton of shit landing on her shoulders, and it kept raining down. Unfortunately, our shit kept hitting her, too.
“Yep,” she said, pressing a kiss to my jaw. “Right after I have coffee.”
“Oh, absolutely.” After giving her a gentle squeeze, I turned her around toward the coffee pot. “Already brewed for you.”
The grounds had been low though. We might need to make a grocery run before we came back.
“Jake’s on his way,” Archie said as he wandered back in, shirt tucked in and phone in his hand. “And he’s bringing donuts. I said we might stop somewhere on the way and get real breakfast.”
Sounded good to me.
“Are we leaving when Jake gets here and eating in the car? Or eating here?” Frankie didn’t look at us as she asked the question, she’d poured coffee for all three of us though. I slanted a look at Archie. The last time I talked to Bubba, I told him to just show up and relax.
Archie shook his head once.
So no, he hadn’t heard from him either.
I shrugged. We couldn’t make him figure it out, we could just try to be supportive. It seemed to bug him that Frankie was keeping her distance, and maybe, just maybe, he was waking up.
We were halfway through the coffee when Jake got there. Damn, I winced for him. The bruises looked worse today. They had gone this Technicolor shade, though the angry green at the edges said they might be healing.
Out of curiosity, I watched Archie instead of Jake and Frankie when she gave him a good morning kiss. It was funny, Jake was kind of a noisy kisser. Not obnoxious, but he made no pretense about going all in. It was heavy, it was wet, and there was just the faintest hint of sucking noises. Course, the fact that Frankie let out this little moaning sigh every time he kissed her didn’t hurt.
She didn’t do that with me, it was a little different with me. The s
ound was more of a groaning purr. Trust me, I wasn’t complaining. She and Archie hadn’t made out in front of me. So I couldn’t really say what they sounded like, but that swollen, just fucked look she had this morning when I arrived confirmed he definitely knew what he was doing.
Head tilted, Archie watched them, coffee cup paused halfway to his mouth, and I had to grin as I took a sip of mine. When he walked in on me getting Frankie off—my birthday present to me, thank you very much—for a split second after he’d said ‘Fuck,’ I couldn’t lie, I’d worried.
The word had bounced around in my head like a tornado-warning siren had gone off. Were we about to be hit by a storm, or would it evaporate up into the air without ever hitting the ground? But the wonder in his eyes and his admission that it had been hot punctured the balloon of fear before it could even achieve lift off.
And if his current expression was any indication, then he found Frankie kissing Jake to be every bit as hot as I did, and I was more than okay with that.
“Yo, Jake,” I called, giving Archie a beat to get it together ‘cause his shorts were not the best for disguising the fact he had a hard-on. Hell, I had one, but mine wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon.
My hand was not enough anymore, and that was okay. I wanted Frankie. Bubba was right about one real facet of his hesitation and idiocy. We had been pushing her a lot the last three—four weeks? Hell had it really only been that long?
I’d loved Frankie Curtis since the day she knocked me on my ass in kindergarten.
No, four weeks was nothing compared to thirteen years.
“I’m busy,” Jake grunted as Frankie laughed, and then he kissed the sound right out of her. Yep. Noisy damn kisser. Still, I was grinning.
“I can see that, but Frankie needs to eat, and to eat, she has to breathe. If you keep that up, we’re all going to have to do another round of morning kisses and we’re never getting out of here.”
For his part, Jake just flipped me off and dragged Frankie closer. Bruises and a busted lip weren’t slowing him down any. Archie chose that moment to crack up. Shoulders shaking, he seemed to stare into his coffee cup, but the chuckling snorts kept coming.
Dragging his head upward, Jake stared at him and Frankie twisted. My near smile died a rapid death, because for one fragile moment, genuine fear flashed in Frankie’s eyes, and then she relaxed when Archie looked at them, still chuckling.
“Yeah, okay—new rule. If we have to go somewhere, no making out for anyone that leaves us all with painful boners.”
Looping his arms around Frankie, Jake dragged her back against his chest. Not that it was a fight. She leaned right into him. “Yeah, I’m going to go with a big fat negative on that, Arch. We don’t get to do kisses at school, that means when we’re somewhere we can, we do. Capiche?”
At her giggles and flushed cheeks, I relaxed. “Agreed, also, come on, share her. Birthday boy here.”
“Fine,” Jake grumbled, but he flashed me a grin. “Happy birthday.”
“Thanks.” I chuckled, but Frankie gave me a playful look before she wrapped her arms around me. “I already got the best present right here.”
“Damn. Definitely beats my car,” Archie said almost sorrowfully.
Then we were all laughing again. Frankie’s lips were definitely swollen and getting a work out today, so I gave her a bare brush of a kiss and murmured, “Go eat. We should get on the road soon.”
“Yes,” Jake said. “And we need a plan.”
Archie made more coffee while we divvied out the donuts, and Jake brought up the map on his phone. That we were taking his SUV was a foregone conclusion. It was just bigger. Course, it was just the four of us, so we could probably take my Lexus.
Seriously, if that just didn’t make me grin. Take my car. Granted, it had been a gift, and I hadn’t earned it. I wanted to pay Archie for it, and he’d flat out told me no when he handed me the notice of the pink slip being transferred into my name.
“It’s a gift. Pure and simple.”
“It’s a really expensive gift.”
Mom had been aghast when she’d seen it, but Archie remained adamant.
“It’s a gift for you, it’s your birthday. Look, I get it, it’s expensive. That’s not why I’m giving you a car. I want you to have the same freedom we all do. You take care of Frankie, too. You always play it cool and nothing ever ruffles you—so pay it forward.”
That had shut me up.
Under the pre-text of looking up the park times and ticket prices, I dug out my phone. No messages from Bubba.
As tempted as I was to text him and tell him to get his ass in gear, the next move really had to be his. He’d fucked up with Frankie. Instead of talking to us about what was going on and maybe getting some clarity, he’d gone straight to her and messed with her head.
The fact it had left them both confused and hurting bugged me. Archie and Jake were just pissed with him. Jake because he couldn’t stand anything that stood the chance of hurting Frankie, especially if it was one of us. Legit. The first fight I ever saw him get into was over Frankie. Kind of fit, most of the fights I saw him wade into involved her in some way.
Archie was good with her in other ways, but he had a kind of code. It was a little weird, but it had been there from the first day we met him. Literally the first question he asked when Frankie was out of earshot was which of us was dating her.
At the time, the answer was no one.
Obviously.
He’d grinned and asked if we minded. Jake grumbled. Bubba had frowned. But I’d only shrugged. I didn’t think he would get anywhere.
But the next ten months were fun to watch. And along the way, Archie became a damn good friend, to all of us but especially to Frankie, and even if she’d remained oblivious, he’d never gotten mad at her. Frustrated? Sure, but never angry.
That right there made him a good fit.
“Think that works?” Jake asked. “If we leave in the next fifteen minutes, we can make it by the time they open. That includes grabbing breakfast on the way, but probably drive-thru. Since you and Frankie have a date tonight, what time do you want to be back here?”
I glanced at Frankie. “Between five and six, the cats need to be fed.”
Her grin had me puffing my chest out.
“I pay attention,” I reminded her.
“You always do,” she murmured, and real pleasure rushed through me. I could be a pushy bastard where she was concerned. I hated when she closed everyone out. I really hated it when she blamed herself for things that were definitely not under her control, or downplayed when something really bothered her. So yes, I paid attention.
So did she.
When I coiled one of her curls around my finger and gave it a tug, she rolled her eyes and all was right in my world. “Gonna ponytail or braid this?”
I hated when she put it up, but it wasn’t my hair.
“What do you want?” The question startled me, and she grinned.
“I like it down.”
“Then down it is…not like we’re riding with the windows open.”
I grinned.
“Yep,” Archie said, and I glanced over to find him offering a five-dollar bill to Jake. Despite the bruises on his face, Jake just laughed as he took the five and slid it into his own wallet.
“I don’t even want to know,” Frankie declared as she rose and grabbed the coffee cups. After rinsing them out, she added, “I’m going to pee and wash up, then we can go when you guys are ready.”
None of us said anything as she left the room, and as soon as the bathroom door closed, I looked at them. “Spill.”
“Jake bet me five dollars that Frankie was going to be all ‘yes, Coop’ today.”
“She always says yes to the birthday boy, dumbass. She’s done that for years, it’s why she showed up at Bubba’s birthday party.”
True. She had. We went almost all summer never seeing her, and she made the dumbest excuses to me to avoid fighting with me. But she had com
e to Bubba’s party.
“Cool,” I said.
They both snorted and laughed. We were cleaned up and ready to go. Not one of us brought up Bubba, but since I wasn’t the only one who looked at my phone, I knew they were just as aware of it as I was.
Jake checked the front door, and then we all headed out the back and waited for her as she locked up. I don’t know which of us saw him first, though it would have been hard to miss him. Bubba stood next to his bike, which he’d parked right next to Jake’s SUV.
Poor bastard. He looked awkward as hell holding his helmet, and the silence stretched out uncomfortably.
C’mon, man… I was practically willing him to get it together.
“Sorry I’m late,” he said, then twisted to open his saddle bag. “Had to stop to pick this up.”
‘This’ was a plastic bag wrapped item. We’d reached him by then, and he held it out to me. Peeling the plastic back, I started to laugh. “Seriously?”
“Hey, you’re the weirdo who likes that game.”
It was an old school castle game. The thing had the singularly most annoying narrator known to man, and yes, I’d freaking loved this game. My copy died forever ago on a computer that went belly up. This was a classic repackaging.
“Thanks,” I told him, and he clasped hand before giving me a nod.
“No problem. Ordered it a few weeks back, wasn’t sure it would come in in time, but it was there. Just had to wait for the store to open.”
“Let me just go put this in my car,” I said. “You made it in time. We’re just heading out.”
“Hey, glad we didn’t leave you behind,” Jake told him. “You can ride shotgun.”
That wasn’t going to help him get closer to Frankie, but she’d drifted back a little, and the smile she had on was nothing like she’d had inside. That clinched it for me. Jake was right.
Frankie wasn’t up for this today. Bubba had created this distance, so he could suffer with it for a while. But she also needed to know he wasn’t running away.
At least if he had decided. He said he had, said he wanted to try.
Keys and Kisses: Untouchable Book Three Page 21