Accepted Fate (52 page)

"I suppose Kinzleigh has forgotten her manners. I'm her brother Konnor and you are?" He is still glued to Adalynn as he speaks and she doesn't even look like she is breathing. I can't do anything but watch this interaction. This side of him is completely foreign to me.

"I'm Adalynn; the best friend." She manages to get it out without stuttering; although, it seems like she had to work at it. He is wearing a cream colored henley with the sleeves pulled up to his elbows revealing the tattoos along his right arm. His jeans sit loosely on his hips. The more he talks, the more I notice something silver.

Standing, I walk over to him and grab his clean shaven face in the clench of my hand. "Konnor Aston Baker! What is in your mouth?" He purses his lips at an attempt to hide it, but it's too late. "You got a tongue ring! What the heck Konnor? I haven't seen you in months and you come on completely tatted and pierced? Why haven't you talked to me? Just how many tattoos do you have now?"

"You really want to do this here?" He looks back at Adalynn whose eyes now look dilated at my sudden anger outburst.

"Adalynn, I'll be right back. K?" She nods and I push him out the door. "I need to show him his room anyways." We get down the hall to his room and I shut the door, trying to keep us from being heard.

"What's going on? I thought you had to keep a clean image to be on a college football team. You're not messing up your scholarship are you? Why aren't you talking to me anymore about things? I thought we had no secrets with each other." I poke my finger into his chest animatedly as I speak. To be truthful, I am scared because this much change in such a short amount of time can't be good. I don't want him to end up looking like trash or back on drugs and alcohol as a coping mechanism for his pain. He's always been beautiful on the inside and out.

He wraps his arms around me and pulls me in for a hug. "Baby girl, I'm not going to do anything to mess up my scholarship. I have more respect for dad than that. He lays his chin on top of my head and I hug him back. He feels like he's been working out more. When he speaks to me there is fierceness in his voice that wasn't present before he left for college; an arrogance I guess. "I'm still the same Konnor as before, just a few shades darker. Everyone changes Kinzleigh; it's just a matter of how and when. Sometimes life grips you by the neck and chokes you. I'm just learning how to breathe through it. I guess you could say the way I survive the pain on the inside it to inflict it on the outside. Ink is my way to cope. Each time the needle punctures my skin, a little of the pain is released in its place. You can understand or you can fight me on it, but either way the results stay the same."

All of the anger I held before is now smothered. I guess I had forgotten how much pain he still has from Sophia. Now that I have Breyson, it's easier to understand than before. "I know. I'm sorry; it just caught me off guard. I do understand though; more so than I did before. I'm sorry you're hurting. I wish I could take away the pain."

He pulls back and looks me in the eyes. "You always were the martyr weren't you? Everyone has to face pain at some point sis. The key is to not let it destroy you when it comes. Learn to beat it before it overcomes you." His serious demeanor starts to turn into a smile. "So I got wind you went and got some ink of your own. I can't believe you did it without me. If I wasn't so excited to see that you permanently marked that virgin skin, I'd be mad. Let me see." Ha! Virgin no longer applies to me but for the safety of Breyson, I'll keep that to myself. I pull the hem of my tunic up and the band of my leggings down just enough to reveal the pink writing. I wanted it in a place that was easy to cover if necessary.

He reads the script across my pelvis and crosses his arms over his chest as he looks back at me, a grin forming on his face. "You went and fell in love didn't you?" I don't even have to answer because I can tell my face is blood red. "Well I'll be damned. I never thought I'd see the day. At least someone chiseled their way through that wall you had up. I'll have to thank him at the same time I threaten his life if he doesn't treat you in the way you deserve. I do owe him a drink; he must have some serious skill," he says teasingly and I slap his upper arm playfully.

"Shut up," I say laughing. "Let me see all this ink that is hidden. I still can't believe you got a tongue ring."

He removes his shirt. "It has its uses." He winks after he says it.

"Ewe. You're so gross! That was more information than I ever want to hear come out of your mouth again." He holds his shirt crinkled in the fist of his hand. He looks a little vulnerable as I look him over. I guess because we've always been so close and told each other everything. I've never really liked tattoos before I saw Breyson's, but looking at Konnor's allows me to see it in a new light. It looks like artwork and the skin is just the canvas.

He has a small piece of script under his left pectoral;
Trust.
Across his chest is script in another language. I'm guessing that is more private. He currently has a sleeve with a mixture of designs. The intricate detail and variations of color is unbelievable. Whoever his tattoo artist is has a lot of talent. "They look so real," I whisper in amazement.

"I take it you approve," he asks as I look each one over.

"Yeah, strangely I approve. They're beautiful. Let's go before Adalynn thinks we've been kidnapped. You can make yourself useful and help us take the presents downstairs to the tree," I say bumping his shoulder with mine jokingly.

Adalynn excused herself about thirty minutes after we finished stocking the bottom of the tree with the different presents. She said something about Braxton but I know she's giving me and Konnor space to hang out since it's been a while.

"Want some hot cocoa? I made Grams' special mix." Every Christmas Grams was alive she always made us hot cocoa from a mix she put together each year. She used it as Christmas gifts for distant friends also. The way it's made is as follows: you pour the different ingredients in the container of your choice and it comes out looking like one of the sand art things that resembles tie dye with the various colors of sand. She would always use the big Mason jars for her Christmas gifts and once pouring the ingredients to make the pre-made mix, put marshmallows on top, close the lid with a square of decorative fabric and tie the directions around the neck of the jar. She made boxes lined with jars of them every year. She always said everyone should have a Christmas gift, even if it's just something homemade.

To this date, it's still the best hot chocolate I've ever had. I memorized the recipe the last Christmas she was with us. She had been sick for a long time and the cancer was finally consuming her. She was in so much pain and I knew that Christmas would be her last, even though I tried to deny it. "You know I do. Who turns down that chocolaty goodness in a mug? While you're doing that, I'm going to take my bag to my room." Turning, I make my way to the kitchen to make that special blend I've waited for all year. 

Placing the kettle of milk on the cook top to warm it up, I feel two lanky arms snake around my neck and rest on top of my shoulders. "Did you miss me?" Her voice comes out smooth as honey. Presley. Oh yes, how I've missed my best friend. Turning the temperature to low, I turn around to face her.

What I didn't expect was for her to look the way she does. "Who are you and what have you done with my best friend?" She is drop. Dead. Gorgeous. There is no other way to describe it. Her hair looks a little darker; more of an espresso than a chocolate, falling to her breasts in big bouncy curls made from a curling rod. It's shiny, making a statement that she has gotten a gloss recently. Her skin looks creamy like a porcelain doll but not pale. She has just enough eye shadow to accentuate those big blue eyes, that draw you in to a hypnosis if you look too long and her lips are colored with a dark red lipstick instead of her usual pink. Her low cut sweater is the color of caramel and her dark, tight designer jeans disappear into her Ugg boots the same color as her sweater.  

She doesn't look like an eighteen year old, she looks like a woman. That brings me to wonder; why? "Whatever do you mean sweetie? I look just like I always do."

I raise my brow and point the spoon I'm holding in her direction. "Do I look like an idiot to you? You come in here looking smoking hot and beyond your normal. Is there something you need to tell me?"

"Sis, where is that hot cocoa? Make an extra cup." Konnor walks in the kitchen with Preston close behind but stops as soon as he sees Presley, causing Preston to rear end him.

"Dude! What the heck?" Preston tries to recover by stepping back.

"Presley." His lips are now pursed and his jaw steels as if he's getting...angry?

"Konnor. It's good to see you. How have you been?" As Presley speaks I turn to look at her. Her face says it all. I've never seen Presley with a longing look in her eyes but right now she has it...and bad. She has never pined after a guy. She doesn't have to. She can have any guy she wants. Well I guess, except one.

"You look good. I guess you're eighteen now." The way he says it is a statement and not a question. Say what? I turn and he is eying her body, one part at a time. If it were possible to lite someone on fire with a look, this would be it. Am I missing something? Has he been waiting on her to turn eighteen? Are the feelings mutual and they just won't admit it? I have noticed him look at her before, but right now he looks mad at clearly being attracted to her.

This is just getting awkward. Konnor and Presley have never acted this way around each other.  All I can do is look back and forth as they have some kind of stare off. "Yes. My birthday was in November. I never heard from you." It just dawned on me like something hit me over the head.
Duh Kinzleigh. You are such an idiot! That's why she looks the way she does.
Konnor is here.

Okay well we can't all just stand here. "Konnor, will you show Presley to the guest room across the hall from your room?" Maybe they just need to talk it out. If this is about the stupid promise we made when we were kids, me and Konnor need to have a talk. Seriously, he takes things way too serious. If they like each other, they should explore the possibilities. No one would be better for Konnor than Presley. She has been in love with him since we were kids.

"Sure," he says and nods his head at the door instructing her to follow.

As soon as they are out the door, I turn to Preston. "Was it me or was that a little too intense?"

He smiles and I see the old Preston coming through, which makes me happy because I was really worried how this trip was going to go otherwise. I'm not sure if Breyson is going to be upset he's staying here, but he will just have to trust me. "Those two have some serious pent up attraction for each other. I don't know why they won't act on it. Everyone can see it but them." Well at least I'm not the only one that notices it.

As the kettle begins whistling, instructing me the milk is hot, I remove it and pour it into the several mugs lined up on the counter I've already filled with the mix. Giving them a stir, I hold out a mug to Preston and place the others on a tray to carry to the living room. I can hear mom, dad and Presley's parents on the patio laughing and carrying on. "You up for a Christmas movie? Your choice?"

"Only if you have
Home Alone
," he says sipping his cocoa with a smile.

"I should have known," I say rolling my eyes. "You're so predictable." I throw a marshmallow, hitting him on the nose and it bounces off into the liquid contents, splashing cocoa on his face. I splay my hand across my mouth trying to hold in the laughter, but fail at the look of surprise on his face.

He slowly sits his mug down. "You think that's funny huh?" He steps towards me and I can tell he's plotting. What, I'm not sure. I back up and he plunges and grabs me, knocking me down to the ground between his legs. "You want to know what happens when you challenge me?"

He begins tickling me on the ribs. There is one way to make me cave and that's to tickle me. I hate to be tickled because usually, the tickler is stronger than me and I can't get away. Konnor used to tickle me all the time when we were kids to get what he wanted. I'm laughing and squirming, attempting to break free. I can't breathe, I'm laughing so hard.

I find an opening and bear crawl out of his hold, to take off running through the house. I can hear him close behind me and turn around to see how close. At the exact moment I look back, I run into something hard, falling backwards on the hardwood floor injuring my tail bone. "Ouch!" Preston comes to a screeching halt.

"What's going on Kinzleigh?" When I realize it's Breyson, I look up. The look on his face makes me want to crawl in a hole and hide. He looks mad, real mad. He is staring daggers at Preston and speaking to me. He works his jaw back and forth, with a look to kill. He. Is. Not. Happy.

"We were all about to watch a Christmas movie in the living room. I was making the hot cocoa and we're waiting on Presley and Konnor. What are you doing here? I thought you couldn't come over tonight." Wrong question to ask.

He looks down at me. "If you would answer your phone you would know the plans changed." This probably doesn't look too good to an outsider. I know it's harmless and Preston knows it's harmless because we've all four been close since we were small kids but I could see how this might look bad to said boyfriend.

"Sorry, my phone is in my room charging. So...you get to stay after all?" I give him a fake cheesy grin as I stand to my feet, hoping to calm him down.

"He staying?" Well crap it didn't work.

He's back to staring at Preston. I have a feeling of Déjà Vu from the pool party at the Jeep. "Of course he's staying here. Where else would he stay? He's like family."

"And right across from Kinzleigh's room." I jerk in Preston's direction and he is grinning from ear to ear.

"Do you have to instigate him? Geez Preston, do you have a death wish? Go put on the movie and we'll be there in a minute." I'm a little aggravated at his lack of maturity. He's supposed to be the oldest one here and he's acting like a child. Breyson is twice his size. He must be stupid because Preston has never played a sport a day in his life. He only has muscle because he works out to keep up the sexy boy image. It's not naturally obtained like an athlete.