Next of Kin

by Jae

  Aiden reached out for Dawn's hand and gave it an appreciative squeeze. When they got out of the car and walked into the ER, she took hold of Dawn's hand again, knowing Dawn was always a little uncomfortable in hospitals.

  "We need your parents' consent and some proof of insurance. Do you want me to call your parents?" Dawn asked Laurie as they all settled down on the uncomfortable chairs in the waiting area.

  Evan got to her feet. "I'll do it," she bravely offered.

  God, we clearly underestimated her – all of us, except for Dawn, Aiden admitted to herself. She's taking responsibility for Laurie and for the accident even though she knows the Mathesons won't be too pleased with her. How great is that?

  "No!" Laurie's usually soft voice suddenly sounded firm and determined. "No, you won't. My parents have barely begun to get over thinking you're someone who's bad for me. I don't want to destroy that progress by having you call them to tell them I'm hurt. I'll call them myself."

  Look at that! She sounds like Kade. Aiden realized she had underestimated both teenagers.

  Laurie wandered over to the nearby pay phones.

  Dawn changed seats to sit next to Evan in the waiting area. She squeezed her shoulder in an encouraging gesture. "You handled the situation really well," she complimented Evan.

  "Really well?" Evan snarled. "I let her out of my sight even though I knew she hadn't learned braking yet. I handled it really badly!"

  This could be me, Aiden realized with sudden clarity. This is how I react to situations like this. She began to understand what Dawn had always told her about them being very much alike. She leaned forward, putting her elbows on her knees, and looked directly into Evan's sullen brown eyes. "Accidents happen, Evan," she said beseechingly. "You couldn't have prevented it even if you had been standing right next to Laurie when she fell. You're not to blame for any of it, and you handled everything just the right way after she fell."

  "Yeah, I'm sure her parents are gonna give me a medal!" Evan grumbled. "Or Jill and Roger..." She groaned as she thought about her foster parents' reactions to this latest incident.

  Evan had acted as if she didn't care at all whether the LeCroixs threw her out and back into the foster system. She had pretended not to want to be a part of that family or any family at all.

  It's just an act. She does care, Aiden realized. "I'll come with you when you tell your foster parents. It's my responsibility as much as it's yours."

  "Hey, lighten up, you two!" Dawn clapped both of them on the shoulder. "She broke her wrist, not her neck. I broke my arm twice when I tried to keep up with my older brother and his friends, so I know it can happen in a blink of an eye. Let's all just take a step back and treat it like the accident it was. No one is responsible, and no one is to blame." She looked from Aiden to Evan until both of them nodded. "Next time, we'll just start with the braking lesson."

  "Next time? You think Laurie wants to go skating with me ever again?" Evan shook her head doubtfully.

  "I bet she does," Dawn replied with confidence. "You took very good care of Laurie. The first time I broke my wrist, my brother yelled at me the whole way home, but you didn't freak out. You kept her calm. I'm sure Laurie appreciates that. You should be proud of yourself. I know I am."

  Aiden cleared her throat. "Yeah, me too."

  Evan looked at them, not able to hide her astonishment. "You're freaking me out," she finally mumbled. She was used to scolding and accusations, not to people telling her they were proud of her.

  Dawn laughed. "Get used to it."

  CHAPTER 32

  KADE FURROWED her brow and listened. There it was again: a low moan from behind the door that connected her room to Del's. She stepped closer to the door, still listening intently.

  Another moan came.

  A shiver raced through Kade. She's not doing in there what I think she's doing, is she? She shook her head. And if she is, what are you doing standing here, listening? Still, she didn't move away from the door.

  A new sound from behind the door answered Kade's questions. This time, it was more of a pained groan, definitely not a sound of pleasure.

  Kade gently knocked on the door. "Del? You okay?" she called through the still closed door.

  "I'm fine," Del called back. "Just a little..."

  Kade knocked again and opened the door an inch. "Can I come in?"

  "Sure. Come on in," Del said without hesitation.

  When Kade entered, she saw Del sitting on the edge of the bed, one of her hands pressed to her back in a supporting position. "What's wrong?" she asked worriedly. "I heard you... um... moan."

  "I'm just a little sore from being chased around the tennis court all afternoon." Del said with a dismissive shrug. As soon as she had moved her shoulders, she grimaced.

  "A little?" Kade raised an eyebrow at her.

  "Yeah. I'm just not used to swinging a racquet; that's all." Del tried to downplay it.

  Kade knew exactly how irritating sore muscles could be. "Now you know how I felt after going to the shooting range with you, firing a semiautomatic for the first time. The next day, I could hardly hold a pen, my fingers, wrists, and shoulders hurt so much," she remembered.

  Del frowned. "Why didn't you say anything? I hope you know you never have to pretend with me."

  Kade knew that. Since she had met Del, she had learned to take off the masks, roles, and protective walls that had become second nature to her. With Del, she felt comfortable enough to be herself. "I hope you know the same is true for you?" She studied Del intently. "If you're sad or in a bad mood or in pain, you can come to me too."

  "Well, actually..." Del looked her in the eyes and gave her a lopsided smile. "I'm in a little bit of pain right now. I think I strained a muscle in my back or something." She looked at Kade with trusting eyes.

  Okay... Now it's up to me to help her. Where's my brother, the doctor, when I need him? She wasn't sure if applying heat or cold was the way to treat a strained muscle, but maybe a massage would help loosen Del's muscles. "If you want, I could massage it for you," she offered.

  "Hmm, I never said no to that kind of offer." Del immediately moved toward the bed, getting ready to lie down.

  "Stop," Kade said quickly.

  Del froze. "I hope you know this is not some kind of trick to lure you into bed," she said, only half joking.

  Kade rolled her eyes. "You would still be in the underground parking garage, waiting for a chance to talk to me, if I thought you were trying to trick me into anything, Del Vasquez! I just wanted to suggest we go into my room since I have the bigger bed. And take off your shirt before you lie down."

  "You do want to see me naked," Del began the old, playful argument again.

  Actually, I wouldn't mind, Kade thought and grinned to herself. "If you prefer, I'll let you leave your shirt on and proceed to rub your skin raw. Your choice," she said with an indifferent shrug, playing it cool.

  Del grinned and tugged the shirt over her head with one hand. Without any haste, she walked through the connecting doors, moved to the bed, and turned back the covers, giving Kade ample time to study the athletic body in the black sports bra.

  This time, Kade didn't avert her eyes. She took in the defined muscles of Del's shoulders and stomach and the softness of her breasts. It was a contrast she found very enticing. She frowned when she saw the thin scar that ran along one of Del's ribs. "What happened here?"

  Del looked down at herself. "This?" She touched the scar. "Oh, just a nervous Deputy DA who attacked me with her car keys in a parking garage," she said, smiling merrily.

  "What?" Kade stared at her. She dully remembered jamming the keys into Del's ribs. Suddenly, she felt nauseated. "You mean I... I did this?"

  Del took Kade's hand and pressed it against her warm side for a second. "No. Calm down. I was just kidding. It's an old scar from a knife wound."

  Kade pinched Del's side and withdrew her hand. "That was really –"

  "Mean?" Del just grinned. "Well, I still had
to get revenge for you making me think your mother was standing behind me while I made comments about your breasts."

  Kade had to smile. It was more a sense of relief than finding Del's joke funny. The thought of Del being injured was unpleasant enough, but thinking she was the one who had caused that pain... Kade hadn't liked that at all. Not that I like knowing she has been attacked with a knife any better. She shuddered at the thought that Del could be hurt doing her job every day. "Lie down," she ordered.

  Del flopped onto her belly and groaned when the movement jarred her strained muscle. She turned her head and expectantly looked at Kade.

  Kade looked back down at her. Now how am I going to do this?

  "The most comfortable way for you to reach the muscle is probably by straddling me," Del said, easily guessing Kade's thoughts.

  Kade eyed the smooth skin of Del's lower back and the muscled buttocks under the snug-fitting jeans. I wouldn't exactly call it "comfortable," but all right. Here we go. She swung her left leg over Del and slowly lowered herself. It seemed as if she could feel Del's heat through each and every one of her pores. Very gently, she put her hands on Del's back and applied pressure to different muscle groups. "Which one is the troublemaker?"

  She felt Del chuckle under her, then wince as she hit the right spot. "Yeah. There it is." Del groaned.

  Kade slowly stroked and kneaded the area around the strained muscle, making smaller and smaller circles with her thumbs. It wasn't the first time Kade had given a massage. Former boyfriends and law review partners had been athletes and had sometimes asked her for a massage. Kade seldom offered it on her own. It just hadn't occurred to her. She was not a very touch-positive person, so giving massages had always been a rather clinical process for her.

  Not this time. This time, it wasn't just tendons and muscles under her hands that needed medical attention. She was very aware to whom those muscles and tendons belonged. Kade had trouble keeping her touch strictly clinical. She admired the curve of Del's shoulder blades, the smoothness of the coffee-colored skin, and the play of the lithe muscles beneath that skin whenever Del shifted a little. Oh, come on. You're not a hormonal teenager! she chided herself.

  She kneaded the affected muscles with a little more strength and bit her lip when Del began to moan and groan. "Have I thanked you for coming to Ashland with me?" she asked, trying to keep her thoughts on a more rational plane.

  "No thanks necessary," Del replied sincerely. "I doubt the stalker knows where you are, but I just don't want to take that chance."

  Kade shook her head even though Del couldn't see it. "I don't just mean protecting me from the stalker. I'm talking about staying in the same house with my mother for a few days. At least you could shoot the stalker."

  Del's laugh rumbled through Kade. "Your mother is not that bad."

  "Liar," Kade gently accused.

  "No, really," Del insisted.

  Kade experimentally scraped her nails lightly along Del's spine. She smiled when she felt Del shiver under her and went back to rubbing her shoulders. "Well, if she was constantly trying to set you up with some bachelor, you would sing a different tune," she predicted.

  "Your mother just can't understand why you're still single. She thinks her daughter is a great catch – and so do I, by the way." Kade could hear the smile and the sincerity in Del's voice.

  Kade sighed. "Why can't she just let me live my life?"

  "I think she's lonely," Del said, craning her neck to look up at Kade.

  Kade stopped her massage for a moment. "Lonely? The woman is on every neighborhood committee; she organizes more dinner parties and charity functions than the First Lady, and no one in the family would dare to even sneeze without her permission. How can she be lonely?"

  "She gave up her hopes and dreams and built her whole life around the expectations others – her parents and her husband – had for her. Now that they're dead and she's the matriarch, she doesn't know what to do with her life anymore. She forgot how to relate to people without the roles and masks." Del turned over under Kade, forcing her to lift up a bit until she practically sat in Del's lap. Del looked up at her with her deep brown eyes. "She probably wouldn't admit it and maybe she doesn't even realize it, but she's lonely – and she doesn't want you to end up lonely too."

  Kade had never thought about why her mother acted the way she did. It was the way her mother had always acted, and she had just accepted it as an unchangeable fact of life. What Del said made sense, though. Her mother was as much a product of her circumstances and her upbringing as she was. Kade stared down at Del, taking in the open features with wonder. "How on earth did you figure her out so quickly? My mother had a dozen therapists over the years, but to my knowledge, no one has ever understood her issues after knowing her for just a few days."

  "I may have only known her since Tuesday, but I've known you for over six months," Del said calmly.

  "Is that your way of telling me I'm a younger version of my mother and will end up exactly like her?" It wasn't a pleasant thought.

  Del gave a half nod. "You do have some things in common, but don't worry; you won't end up like her."

  "What makes you so sure about that?" Not one of Kade's relationships had been a success. On bad days, she could easily imagine ending up as the lonely spinster aunt. The thought had only recently begun to bother her.

  Del looked up at her, her smile as soft as the skin of her shoulders on which Kade was balancing her hands. "Well, your mother didn't have someone like me in her life."

  And I do. Kade heard the unspoken message. If I want to.

  "If you stick with me, there's no need to wear a mask and hide behind walls. You don't need to follow anyone's expectations but your own. You won't lose yourself, and you won't have a relationship that consists only of polite small talk at the dinner table," Del promised passionately.

  Kade swallowed. She had never allowed herself to want what Del offered. The price had always been too high. "Del," she began, not knowing what to say, but knowing she had to respond in some way. Del had taken huge risks and had put her emotions and intentions out there for Kade to see. Kade appreciated it even if she couldn't yet respond in kind.

  Del softly touched her index finger to Kade's lips. "I just wanted to lay my cards on the table. It doesn't mean you have to do the same or that you have to up the ante. As long as you don't fold your cards, it's all right with me."

  When Kade nodded, Del took the finger away from her lips. Kade was grateful that Del wasn't forcing the issue. Del was one of very few people in her life who never put any pressure on her to act a certain way. She shook off her thoughts and allowed herself to think about her mother's relationship instead of her own. "I can't believe my mother discussed her marriage with you."

  "She didn't have to. I saw the way she looked at your father's portrait in the living room." Del shook her head. "That wasn't a grieving widow looking at a picture of her late husband. It was a woman looking back at the regrets and missed opportunities of her life. She's not just lonely because your father died. I think she was lonely in her marriage too."

  Kade knew she was right. The question is: do I want that for myself? Do I want a safe, nonthreatening marriage with a socially acceptable man – or do I risk everything I ever believed in, my career, my political future, the shaky relationship with my family, my emotional control... just to be with Del?

  When Kade didn't say or do anything for a long while, Del cocked an eyebrow at her. "Getting comfortable?" she asked, nodding down at herself with a smile.

  Kade was too aware of Del's close proximity to feel comfortable and relaxed. She could feel the warmth of Del's belly under her thighs and the strength of her shoulders under her hands.

  Del didn't try to move closer or touch her in any way. Her hands and arms were resting on the bed. She didn't even lift her head. She just looked at Kade with her warm brown eyes.

  For once, Kade decided to voice the thoughts running through her mind. "Comfortable is
n't the first adjective that comes to mind right now."

  "No? What is a more fitting adjective?" Del's voice and smile combined humor and tenderness in a mix that was typical for her.

  Contemplating the right word, Kade trailed a finger down Del's arm until she stroked the soft skin at the bend of her elbow. Goose bumps erupted all along Del's arm. Kade could feel the tingling sensation too. "I feel like... a live wire," she finally confessed.

  "That's not an adjective," Del playfully objected.

  "Shut up," Kade ordered and leaned forward, her hands still pinning Del's shoulders to the bed.

  Del's lips parted – maybe about to answer, maybe in expectation of what Kade might be doing.