“Do I even have to guess who the winner was?” Dad asked my brother, sitting next to him at the kitchen table while eating breakfast. There were many things that changed as we grew up, and because of our differing schedules, a lot of the time we couldn’t get together for dinner. But eating the first meal of the day together was still a hard and fast rule in this house, one I loved immensely.
Our father seemed a little irritated this morning, and I’d like to say that was odd for him, but the truth was, he’d been on edge for the past few months, ever since our mom decided to switch jobs and work part-time with a doctor she used to work with at the hospital before I was born. In fact, I believed her new boss, Dr. Weber, had been her doctor when she was pregnant with me. She’d gone back to work when Zander was ten, even though my dad tried to convince her otherwise, reminding her she didn’t need to work.
But we were getting older and she wanted to do something more with her time. She only worked three days a week, and today happened to be one of them. Even if I didn’t know her schedule, I could tell by my dad’s surly mood, and I was sure it had everything to do with who his wife would be around for five hours out of the day.
I’d met Dr. Weber, and while older guys didn’t do it for me, the man was handsome, but Mom didn’t have eyes for anyone other than her moody and overprotective, loving husband.
Lincoln’s mouth was full when he muffled, “No,” a smirky grin on his face, one that indicated our father was ridiculous for even doubting whether he won or not.
“How long did the fight last?” I asked, curious as to how quickly he was able to overpower his opponent. While I didn’t have the stomach to watch two guys pummel each other, I did enjoy the occasional tidbit of information about the event.
“Four minutes, eighteen seconds.” Linc finished eating his eggs and took a drink of his orange juice.
“How do you know the exact time?”
“Because Kaden won a hundred bucks from Ace betting on how long it’d take me to win.” He leaned back in his chair, scratching the back of his head. My brother was the only one of us kids who had dark hair and brown eyes and I often joked he was adopted because both of our parents had some variation of blond hair, and our younger brother, Zander, and I took after them. “I should’ve taken half from him, that fucker.”
“Mouth,” Mom warned, tapping Linc on the back of the head before sitting down. Our parents sat beside each other, and while we’d seen them hug and kiss more times than I could count, we’d all witnessed the tension between them as well. Usually, those instances were rare, but they were happening more and more these days, right now to be more specific. Taking a sip of her coffee, she looked between me and Linc. “Speaking of Kaden, where has he been recently?” My heart skidded to a stop, her question putting me on edge more than she’d ever know. I’d been successful in avoiding him, but when he’d shown up at the salon, he threatened to undo any progress I’d made from moving on without him in my life. Thankfully, he hadn’t pushed our conversation any further, otherwise I had no idea what would’ve happened. “Since you were little, I swore he was attached to your hip.” She was looking right at me. When I didn’t answer right away, she asked, “Well?”
“I dunno.” I was flustered but tried not to show it. “I’m not his keeper.”
“He’s probably just busy with the club,” Linc added, saving me.
“Well, that’s a shame. Next time you see him, tell him I was asking about him, and that I’d love to see him soon.” She took a bite of her toast, wiping a small glob of jelly from the corner of her mouth. The image of Kaden anywhere near me triggered heat to bloom throughout my entire body, the reaction due to anger and nothing else. At least, that was what I tried to convince myself of because I struggled admitting to myself I still loved him in any way.
“Yup,” my brother mumbled between bites of his food.
Silence ensued, which was fine with me, but instead of shoveling the yummy breakfast in my mouth, I played with the omelet my mom made, my appetite gone at the mention of Kaden. I didn’t want to say the quiet was stifled, but it wasn’t comfortable. Then my dad spoke, and the air quickly intensified.
“What time you gonna be home?” he asked, pushing his half-empty plate toward the center of the table. He turned to look at his wife, but she kept her eyes straight ahead, glancing at me first and smiling before focusing on her breakfast.
After swallowing a forkful of eggs, she replied, “Around two or three.”
“I’ll drop you off, then pick you back up later.” By this time, he’d risen from his seat and walked over toward the sink.
“I can drive myself, but thank you,” she responded, her shoulders tensing. Her blonde hair was styled in loose waves, a small section becoming tangled from twisting the strands between her fingers.
“I have to take your car in for new brakes.” His tone was borderline hostile, and when I peered over at him, he was standing in the same place, over the sink with his back to everyone. He scratched the side of his head, his dark blond hair shorter all around than what he used to typically wear.
When I was younger, he kept the style a bit longer on top and shorter on the sides, almost like a mohawk but not exactly. His long beard completed his signature look. It was only last year when he decided to try something new and completely shaved off his facial hair. But the guys at the club gave him so much shit over the change, he grew it back.
“Well, then Riley can take me. Can’t you, honey?” Her blue eyes pleaded with me to agree, and while I couldn’t determine why she seemed so antsy all of a sudden, I gave her the answer she wanted.
“Of course. I don’t have to be at work until eleven.”
“I said I’ll take you.” My dad emphasized every word, his irritation ripping apart every syllable.
“Stone… don’t.” One simple warning was enough to push my dad from restrained aggravation to full-on anger.
He threw the plate in the sink, the loud clanking noise enough of a warning to tell me to get the hell outta here. I made eye contact with Linc and we both jumped up from our seats and hurried toward the other room. Zander, late as usual, rounded the corner on his way into the kitchen, wiping the sleep from his eyes, when we turned him back around and pushed him further away from the impending argument of our parents.
As I disappeared up the stairs, I heard bits and pieces of what they were saying. She was telling him that he was acting like a jealous ass and he said something about hating her working with him. I could only assume him was Dr. Weber.
Their shouts became muffled when I closed my bedroom door. It was only eight fifteen and already the day had started off shitty, more for my parents than for me. Then again, the last topic I wished to discuss was Kaden, and since the moment my brother mentioned him, then my mom, my mood had continued to sour.
After a quick shower I got ready for work, throwing on black yoga pants and a plain tee. I threw my hair up into a messy bun and applied some moisturizer, mascara, and a hint of blush. I inherited my good skin from my mom, so I hardly ever wore foundation. Deciding I didn’t have anything else to do until I had to take Mom to work in an hour, I lay on my bed and closed my eyes, hoping the rest of today wouldn’t bring about any more drama.
“Stop,” I squealed, every breath I tried to catch escaping each time Kaden’s fingers dug into my sides. “I ca… can’t breathe.” No amount of wriggling or pleading made a difference and it wasn’t until my knee accidentally made contact with his balls that he stopped tickling me. A groan assaulted my ears, and I instantly felt bad watching Kaden twist his body into the fetal position. I held my breath while I waited for him to move, to say something… anything. “Oh my God. I’m so sorry.” Several seconds passed before I decided to touch him, and when I placed my hand on his shoulder, he popped his head up and winked.
He pushed me onto my back and pinned my arms above my head, wiggling his brows and licking his lips. “Thought you got the boys, didn’t you?”
A rush of air left my mouth. “Now I wish I had. You’re an ass for making me feel bad.” I tried to sound upset, but staring into his soulful blue eyes did nothing but fill my heart with love for him. He was the most amazing, thoughtful guy I’d ever known, and most days the realization he loved me baffled me. He could have any girl he wanted, yet he professed his love for me, time and time again.
“You don’t wanna take me out of commission, babe, because then I won’t be able to ravage you.” He wasn’t serious about the ravaging part because we hadn’t even had sex yet. We kissed… a lot, and had fooled around upstairs and downtown, but I was too nervous to go all the way and he never pushed me. But I made a promise to myself that we would finally do it on my seventeenth birthday, which just so happened to be in three weeks.
Kaden kissed the area just below my ear, another ticklish spot of mine. Laughing, I pleaded with him to stop, again, but he wouldn’t. The teasing only lasted a moment before he pulled back to look me in the eye.
“Do you know how much I love you, Ry? That I’d do anything for you?”
“I do.” I smiled, his words making my soul glimmer. “But I think I love you more.”
“Not possible,” he replied, covering my lips with his so I couldn’t argue. As usual, our kiss turned heated and I let myself be consumed by him. I loved the feel of his tongue against mine and the way his lips promised me everything. I could stay locked away in my room forever with him if it meant I’d always feel like this.
Kaden reached under my shirt and caressed my skin with his fingertips, but before he went any further, I heard someone coming down the hall.
Shit! My dad was home earlier than expected, and although he trusted Kaden and me to be alone together, never suspecting there was anything going on between us, he would lose his freaking mind if he caught Kaden on top of me, for obvious reasons.
“Fuck!” Kaden grumbled, jumping off the bed and into the chair in the corner of the room, facing the television. I threw myself on my belly and tucked one of my pillows under my chin, facing the TV as well. “Love you,” he said again, right before my dad turned the handle to my room and walked right in. If I’d locked the door with Kaden inside, I would’ve given everything away, but in not doing so, we had to be careful, like right now.
“Do you know where Linc is?” he asked, glancing over at Kaden before looking at me. My dad’s face was extremely expressive and if he thought something shady was going on in my room, he’d react first, then ask questions later. But thankfully, all he did was jerk his head in Kaden’s direction in way of a greeting. Kaden was like a son to him, which was kind of gross when thinking about our situation in that respect, but it helped because my dad would never let Kaden near me, otherwise.
“Nope. Haven’t seen him since we got home from school.”
“All right.” He looked to the television, then back at Kaden before making eye contact with me once more. My phone dinged from an incoming message, and when I swiped the screen, I saw a text from Chelsea. It was a picture of one of the guys we liked in this vampire show we were obsessed with. I smiled, and for some reason, my dad got all weird. “You know you’re forbidden to date until you’re thirty, right?”
His comment threw me, yet only reiterated how irrational he was whenever it came to me and boys. Little did he know that the guy sitting ten feet from me was the only person he had to worry about.
“First off, where did that even come from? And secondly, Mom said I can date when I turn seventeen.”
His eyes bugged out of his head. “Bullshit! She didn’t say that. And besides, what I say overrides what your mom says.”
“Does she know that?”
He ignored my question and instead narrowed his eyes at me. “Thirty, Riley. And keep it up, I’ll make it forty.” He turned on his heel and stormed out of my bedroom, shouting, “Addy!”
Once the coast was clear, Kaden hopped on the bed next to me. “I don’t think I can wait until you’re thirty,” he teased, twirling a piece of my blonde hair and flashing me his biggest smile.
“You won’t have to.” I turned on my side to face him. “You only have to wait a few more weeks.” I stared at him until my comment hit home.
He rolled onto his back and took me with him, positioning me on top of him. We were face-to-face; our mouths so close if he licked his lips, he’d catch my lower one with the tip of his tongue.
“I’ll love you forever, Riley Crosswell.”
“You better.”
“Riley!” My eyes popped open, a lone tear escaping. “Are you ready, sweetheart?” I had no idea what made me conjure that specific memory of Kaden and me. I was angry at him, had been for years, and the last thing I wanted to do was remember a time when we were young and innocent and gravely naïve.
“I’ll be right down,” I shouted, swinging my legs off the side of my bed. I drew in a breath, counted to three, then released it, hoping to expel any deep-seated residual fondness I might still carry for the guy who shattered my heart.
“So, is everything okay with you and Dad?” I fidgeted with the air-conditioning settings in my Jeep, trying to find the perfect temperature. Late September was still quite warm in California, especially during the day. I wanted to ask her something else but wasn’t sure if I should. The thought had entered my mind because of how much tension existed between my parents lately. In the end, I took a chance and blurted, “Are you two gonna get divorced?”
“What? No, of course not. Besides, I couldn’t get rid of your father even if I tried.” Her cell dinged with an incoming text, but she ignored it and I had a gut feeling it was from my dad. I could only imagine what kinds of thoughts were going through her head. For me, whenever something bothered me, I created all sorts of scenarios, most of them farfetched and ridiculous. “Not that I would ever want to,” she continued to say soon afterward.
“Want to what?”
“Get rid of your dad. While he can be the most infuriating and irrational man on the face of this earth, I love him with all my heart.” During a lull in traffic, I turned to look at her and she was biting on the corner of her lip, looking like she wanted to say more but wasn’t sure she should.
“Mom, trust me. I know how Dad can be. Don’t feel bad about wanting to smack him upside his head.” She laughed, which helped to assuage the small amount of unease I felt. “Do you want to talk about what happened?” We had an open and honest relationship, minus the secret I’d kept from her about having been with Kaden in the past, and….
Anyway, I wouldn’t be surprised if she told me every detail, but I also wouldn’t be shocked if she held some things back because I was her daughter and the last thing she wanted to do was paint my dad in a bad light, even though I was aware of how possessive and jealous he could be with her. Granted, he’d only shown that side of him where she was concerned on rare occasions in front of us kids, but lately they’d been arguing more often.
“He doesn’t like that I’m working for Dr. Weber.”
“What does he have against Dr. Weber?”
“Other than he’s a man?” Her phone dinged a second time and once more she ignored it.
“Could it be that he is an attractive man?” I asked, looking at her from the corner of my eye. Addy Crosswell was a beautiful woman and I was sure my dad was aware that other men thought so too. I swore she was in better shape than I was, constantly working out. Then again, she reminded me that at my age, I could get away with eating and drinking whatever I wanted, that it wouldn’t be until I hit my thirties and forties when I’d have to be mindful of what I put in my mouth.
“It shouldn’t matter what he looks like.”
“It shouldn’t, you’re right, but it apparently does.”
“Yeah… it does.” She sighed.
There were a few times in high school Kaden had pulled that jealousy shit on me when he thought I was a bit too friendly with a couple of my guy friends, so I sympathized with what my mom was going through. It wasn’t fun, having to defend yourself, not that she had to do that with my dad, but just having that conversation could be irritating, to say the least.
She reached over and placed her hand on top of mine. “I love your dad. We’ll work through this. We always do.” The corners of her mouth curved upward and that time, when her phone alerted her to another incoming text, she fished the device out of her purse and responded.