Fall On Me (21 page)

"In one place," I told her. "I never had a
clear idea of what I wanted to do. I just knew whatever it was, it
would be in one place with my own house, not moving every six
months."

"Was it hard?" she whispered.

"It was fine." I didn't want to bum her out.
She needed to smile. "What about you?" I asked her. "What did you
want to be when you grew up?"

"Alive," she said and her honesty took the
breath out of me.

"Okay," Lee grinned as she pulled herself up
to sit cross-legged. "Let's play a game."

I raised my brow in amusement. "A naked
game?"

She rolled her eyes. "A getting to know each
other better game."

Laughing I sat up and mirrored her body
language. "Uh, engaged with a kid here, princess…"

"Don't spoil it," she growled as she leaned
over and pinched my nipple.

"Shit, baby," I groaned. "That hurt." It
didn't. I just wanted to be petted a little. Her raised eyebrow was
a sign that there would be no petting. "Fine." I sighed. "Let's
play your game, brat."

****

Lee

"Tell me a secret?" I asked Kyle as we sat
facing each other on the couch. Kyle had forced me to watch a movie
with him and I had to admit that I was feeling the best I had in
days. It was nice to do one of the normal things that couples were
supposed to do. Maybe we could make it a regular thing…Movie night.
Kyle complained throughout the entire film, but it hadn't slipped
my attention that he'd tapped his feet during every dance scene. At
one point I'd actually thought he was going to jump off the couch
and start dancing to the mambo…

Leaning forward, Kyle placed his beer bottle
on the floor before sitting cross-legged facing me. "When I was
nine, I went through a phase of thinking I was a power ranger."

"No way," I spluttered as a mouthful of coke
spilled from my lips.

He shook his head and laughed. "Way. I was
obsessed. One of my foster mom's bought me the black power ranger
costume for my birthday. I thought I was the shit," he chuckled as
he wiped my lip with his thumb. "I slept in that suit every night
for a month."

"When I was nine I used to peek down Cam's
Ken dolls pants," I admitted before covering my mouth with my hand
to stifle a laugh.

Kyle grinned and tipped his head sideways.
"You little pervert."

"What?" I said defensively. "I didn't have a
clue back then. I thought that's what
it
looked like."

"Ha," he snorted. "You must have been
surprised when you saw my
it.
"

"Um…" I pretended to think about it and Kyle
narrowed his eyes.

"Shut up," he growled nudging my knee with
his hand.

"I'm kidding," I told him. "I really
should've been looking at the black power ranger figurine. What was
it again? Morphy nine?"

"Morphing Time," he stated in a serious
tone. I had to hold in a laugh at his serious expression. "It's
morphing time, princess."

"Rats make my skin crawl," I confessed. "Our
house got infested once. It was terrifying. They were huge."

"Turtles freak me out," Kyle said
deadpan.

"Oh my god. Are you serious?"

"Come on," he argued using his hands to
shape a turtle. "You don't think it's creepy when they look at you
with those…beady little eyes." He shuddered. "No, fuck it they
freak the hell out of me."

I had to hold my side I laughed so hard.
"That's the funniest thing I've ever heard."

"Not as funny as you and your Ken fetish."
He waggled his eyebrows. "I better tell Hope to lock up her dolls
around you."

"I think I prefer the real thing," I
chuckled, loving every moment of this conversation.

He smirked. "Good to know, baby," he purred.
"If you're a good girl, I'll let you look down my pants later."

"What's the weirdest thing you love but
you'd never admit?" I blurted out, trying to veer the topic of
conversation away from sex. If I didn't, we would be naked...

"What the fuck kind of question is that?"
Kyle shook his head and chuckled. "If I'll never admit to it then
why are you asking me?"

"Because I'm going to be your wife," I
teased. "And it is my eternal right to know all things Kyle
Carter."

He smiled fondly at me. "You're a pain in my
ass."

"So, you secretly love that I'm a pain in
your ass?"

"What can I say?" Yawning loudly he
stretched his arms over his head. "I'm a glutton for
punishment."

"Have you…"

"Wait," he said grinning. "Do I get to ask a
question?" The way his eyes danced with mischief worried me.

"All right." I rolled my shoulders and
sighed. "Give me your worst, Carter."

"If you could have something," he said
grinning. "Right now. What would it be?"

I narrowed my eyes. "Is this a trick
question?" I thought Kyle would use his question to ask
something…worse.

"No," he grinned. "If you could have
something just for you–something realistic–what would it be?"

"My driving license," I replied honestly. I
didn't have to think about it I was dying to get behind the wheel
of Kyle's beast of a car.

"Huh…" he mused as he scratched his chin.
"You want me to teach you?"

"Oh my god! Yes," I squealed. "Will you?
You're not just saying this? You really will teach me?"

"Of course I will," he said with a smirk.
"But only if you call me Master…no, wait. Call me Sensei."

"I thought you were afraid of turtles," I
teased. "Now you want me to call you Sensei?" My comment backfired
on me because I visualized that ugly cartoon rat and shivered.

"I'm not afraid of them," he growled. "I
just happen to believe they are creepy little fuckers. There's
nothing normal about their eyes, Lee."

"Okay," I crooned. "I'm sorry, Sensei."

"Favorite breakfast food?" he asked
grinning.

"Eggs."

His eyes twinkled. "How do you like your
eggs in the morning, princess?" His grin widened as he asked,
"Fertilized or not?"

"You're sick," I groaned.

Kyle laughed. "Sorry, baby. I always wanted
to say that."

"What does it feel like to have a
penis?"

Kyle gaped at me in feigned horror. "Should
I be worried?"

"No…" I blushed. "I always thought it must
be uncomfortable for you to have something that big hanging around
the place."

"Jesus Christ," he muttered. "You're getting
weirder by the minute."

"This is me," I teased. "Warts and all…"

Kyle's phone decided to choose this moment
to ring and I immediately jumped. "Relax," he said softly as he
fished it out of his pocket and frowned at the screen before
glancing briefly at me.

Holding his phone to his ear, he maneuvered
himself off the couch and held his fingers up to me before walking
out of the room. "Hey, you okay?" I heard him say before he closed
the door, obviously not wanting me to hear.

I sat on the couch feeling unnecessarily
wounded by his evasive behavior.

It shouldn't bother me that he had to take a
call.

It
didn't
bother me that he had to
take call.

What bothered me was the fact that he was
hiding something.

It was obvious and it was going to drive me
insane...Climbing to my feet, I slipped out of the lounge and
followed the sound of his voice until I was standing outside the
door of his office. Pressing my ear to the door, I listened
intently as Kyle's voice filled my ears.

"She's doing much better…yeah, it's all
set….no, and it won't. Trust me on that….I haven't had a chance to
speak to her about it yet….how are you feeling....Tracy, if you're
sore..."

My blood turned to ice at the sound of her
name coming from his mouth. Turning on my heel, I dashed towards
the stairs, not stopping until I was inside my bedroom with my
heart hammering in my chest and my pulse drumming in my ears.
"Traitor," I whispered into thin air as I stripped off my clothes
and climbed into bed. "Goddamn turncoat."

Reaching into my night stand, I carefully
avoided touching Cam's gold locket–I still couldn’t wear it–as I
retrieved my phone from the drawer and powered it up. When I looked
at the wallpaper on my screen I felt like screaming in agony. It
was a picture of Cam holding Hope. I'd taken it the day before she
died. She'd wanted a picture of her and Hope together, but she
forgot her phone in her car. I'd forwarded her all three pictures
I'd taken to her phone, and I thanked god that I had the good sense
to save them on mine. "I miss you," I whispered as the tears
trickled down so much. "I miss you so much." I closed my eyes for a
few moments and breathed slowly and deeply in a bid to get a handle
on my grief before I had a meltdown.

When I felt a little more in-control of my
emotions, I began to scroll through the various folders in my
photos in an aimless attempt to distract myself from Kyle and his
phone call. I scrolled through at least a dozen in my Bluetooth
folder until my eyes landed on one that stumped me. What the
heck…

Sitting up, I folded my legs beneath my self
and studied the picture. "Good lord," I gasped as I stared at the
picture of Cam in a tender embrace with…Derek?

They were lying in bed and one of Cam's
hands was cupping Derek's cheek as she used the other to hold the
phone. She was tucked under his arm, and he had his face turned
into her cheek. His eyes were closed, his lips turned up in a smile
of pure contentment. Her blonde hair was pillowing his chest and
his hand was resting on her breastbone.

Why was this on my phone? I checked the date
it was sent, June twenty-seventh, and then I looked at the photo
again. I felt like squirming it was such an intense, intimate
picture. Did she send me this on purpose?

Scrolling through my contacts list, I
clicked Derek's number and held my phone shakily to my ear.

"Hello," he said in a lifeless tone of
voice.

"Hey, Der," I whispered nervously. I didn't
expect him to pick up, and now he had, I wasn't sure what to say…I
could hardly ask him about the photo…could I?

There was a pause and then his voice filled
my ear. "Lee," he said in a soft tone. "You okay?"

"No," I admitted. "Are you?"

"No," he whispered. Neither of us spoke for
a long time, but the sound of his breathing was, in a strange way,
comforting to me.

"Bad day?" I asked eventually when the
silence became too much.

"Bad life." He laughed once, but it was a
humorless sound. "You?"

"Same," I agreed as I rubbed my palm against
my forehead. "I miss you."

"Yeah," he said in gruff tone. "Miss you
too, ice."

"Will you come home, Der?" I pleaded as the
tears I thought I'd stemmed pooled in my eyes. "I can't stand the
thought of you being all alone in that house…please, please come
home…"

"Lee," he said in a heavy tone. "It's not
that…I can't just…" His voice broke off and I heard him inhaling
deeply. "I'm not ready to let her go," he confessed, his voice
ravaged with grief and pain.

"I'm sorry," I sobbed. "I wish I could come
visit you, but it's that house…"

"I'll come see you soon, I promise," he said
in gentle tone. "You don't need to be here…you're too…this house is
cursed…it's tainted."

"It burns," I choked out as my tears scalded
my cheeks. "Oh god, it cuts so deep…"

"Right through the heart," he added shakily
and I knew he was crying, too.

****

Kyle

I should have turned my phone off. If I had I
would still be enjoying the goddamn movie night with Lee, instead
of spending the last hour trying to coax her mom into calming the
fuck down. She was a nervous wreck and fully convinced that Jimmy
was coming for her. He wasn't coming for her, but telling her that
over and over again had depleted my limited source of patience. I
was at breaking point and damn glad the conversation was over.

"Sorry again for calling you so late, Kyle,"
Tracy said in a much calmer tone of voice than earlier. "I hope I
haven't ruined your evening."

"No, not at all," I mumbled. "Call anytime."
Ending the call, I made sure I switched my phone off before heading
back to the lounge with a heavy heart.

When I saw the couch was devoid of Lee I
wasn't surprised. I'd bailed on her and wasn't expecting her to sit
and wait for me. Climbing the stairs, I checked on Hope before
heading down the hallway to our room. When I opened the door of our
room and saw her with her knees tucked against her chest, I was
filled with panic. She was crying. She was crying so hard she
didn't even notice I was in the room. She didn't even flinch when I
climbed into bed next to her.

Jesus...

"I'm sorry," Lee sobbed as she held her phone
to her ear and clenched her eyes shut. "I wish I could come visit
you, but it's that house…" Her voice broke off as a fit of crying
enveloped her. "It burns…oh god, it cuts so deep…"

Who the fuck was upsetting her?

One name to my mind–
Jimmy
–and I
reacted instantly. Moving quickly, I reached over and snatched the
phone out of her hand. "Who the fuck is this?" I snarled, chest
heaving.

"Calm down, asshole."

Derek's familiar voice filled my ear and I
sagged in relief for a moment before worry replaced my fury. "Why
is she crying?" I asked in a confused tone. I heard him sniffle
loudly and I shook my head as my eyes flickered from Lee's face to
the fist I was forming on my lap. "Derek, are you crying, too?"
What the hell was going on? Had I missed something…?

"Go comfort your woman," he choked out. "She
needs you." With that he ended the call and I was left clueless.
Clueless and staring at Lee's phone like a dumbass.

Twisting my body around to look at Lee, I
asked, "What's wrong? Did he…was he drunk or something?"