Liabilities (13 page)

Unable to face the consequences of his being here, I pushed past the two men. Mike’s foul temper and Kalen’s promise of violence to the last man who touched me made my feet move. If I weren’t there, they would have nothing to fight over.

When I passed the perimeter, I caught site of Jake walking behind a building with the girl. Great, my father was back. I was in charge of making sure my brother didn’t do just what he was doing. I picked up in a jog, lifting my shirts a few inches off the ground. If they headed into the woods, I wouldn’t be able to find them.

My footfalls were silent. Just around the corner, my brother had the girl who was probably blushing based on her posture, pinned against the wall. It brought back so many memories. I couldn’t help feeling like a hypocrite, but father was here. Both our hides would be skinned figuratively if he caught Jake.

Something stopped me, the look of absolute happiness on the girls face. She wanted this. I remembered that feeling. I turned back taking a few steps to the mouth of the opening. I looked to see if anyone had followed. He was coming for me, but no one else. I turned to see Jake had made contact. When I heard her giggle, I faced them again. Clearing my throat, Jake and the girl looked to where I was standing. Giving them my best impression of parental disapproval, I folded my arms across my chest.

Jake took her hand and headed back in my direction and towards the dance. His face had shut down. He knew he’d been caught. However, he probably assumed he could get away with this with me here.

“Father’s here so be careful,” I said when they reached me. Suddenly on alert, they peered around the corner and made a dash back to the dance. They passed
him
on the way.

Not wanting to be far from my post, I headed in that direction.

“You’re a sight.”

His accent was thick. It felt like years since I’d seen him last. Yet it had only been a week maybe, if that. My brain was clouded with the details. I was busy trying not to combust.

“I could say the same.” It wasn’t what I should have said, but I wasn’t thinking clearly.

“Am I now?”

We were now a little over two feet apart. The urge to touch him was becoming overwhelming.  “Kalen, why are you here?”

“Bailey, there you are. I’ve been looking for you. I see you met Jeremy.” Turner came to my side and possessively put his arm around my waist. With his free hand, he held it out. “You must be Jeremy. I’m Turner. I’ll be showing you around.”

Jeremy? It hit me. I remembered that was Kalen’s first name. This night couldn’t get any worse. Then I remember Mike, if he joined our little party making his revolting comments, this would all go down in our community’s history for sure. Turner and Kalen against Mike, then Kalen versus Turner. It would be disastrous.

Tuner gave Kalen a congenial smile. I noticed Kalen’s hand clenched at his sides. His words at the restaurant so long ago about not letting my date touch me popped in my head. I stepped away from Turner on reflex. Kalen’s eyes crinkled with amusement at my action. I turned to Turner who looked confused.

“I’m sorry to cut our night short,” he said slowly. He was trying to figure out what was up with me. “Your father wants me to get Jeremy a change of clothes and a quick tour. I’ll come to Vi’s later.” All of his words were tentative and snapped me out of my Kalen fog.

My smile was genuine and Turner took it as a good sign. He stepped to me a placed a chaste kissed on my lips. He turned back to Kalen and didn’t catch my eyes flick to Kalen whose expression darkened.

Together they walked away in the night while I wondered how this was my life. Kalen shouldn’t be here. My past and my present together couldn’t be good.

Turner didn’t say it but I was certain that Kalen would also be bunking at Turner’s house. My father was gone, back home I imagined.

Questions tumbled in my head. Did my father know who Kalen was to me? Or is that why Kalen told him his name was Jeremy. Or was that the name he gave everyone but me? I stood zombie-like on the fringe of the dance. Jake or John could have left and I wouldn’t have noticed.

 It wasn’t until the band stopped playing did I come back to myself. I helped put things back with everyone else. I walked my brothers home even though they were old enough to go themselves. I wasn’t sure what my father expected of me and my chaperone duties. So I stood as they went inside. When they opened the door, I saw my father sitting at the table. I turned and walked away not ready to talk to him about Kalen.

The hour was late and my other option for lodging was Mary. Not wanting to deal with her and her admonishment if I woke her baby, I trucked on to Violet’s. With every step, I hoped they’d retired to their room by the time I got there.

Darkness filled the windows. Not a flame in the hearth to cut through it. I stepped inside, the place silent. I had no idea if they were home, but it felt like they weren’t. For a second I thought about starting a fire, the place was chilly. It would only get colder as the night wore on. I opted not and headed up the ladder to the loft instead of the bedroom. I was uneasy about Mike’s intentions and didn’t want to be ambushed alone in that room. I didn’t snore, so they wouldn’t know I was up there if I played my cards right.

I found the same blanket and a pillow and made a pallet towards the back. Because the loft was open to below, I should hear if they came home. I closed my eyes and rethought about the night’s events.

Mike wasn’t the right guy for Violet. I needed to convince her to leave him. Turner. I’d promised him a chance. And Kalen. Why was he here and what was I going to do? As much as I should feel lucky to have two incredible guys interested in me, I didn’t envy my position. How could I possibly choose between them?

At some point, I’d drifted off to sleep.

Hands on my breast, a mouth on my nipple, I squirmed before wrapping my legs around him. I couldn’t decide if I want his mouth or his cock to fill me. Both were equally orgasmic.

“I missed you,” I whispered between pants.

He didn’t speak. His hand moved to unlock my legs. He flipped me over and pulled my ass up high to meet his throbbing cock. Just when I thought he’d enter me, his mouth covered me. Long languid strokes of his tongue across my clit had me nearing the edge of my release far too soon. I didn’t complain because I knew this would only be the first of the night. Then he moved, his cock replaced his tongue as he teased me with pressure against my nub.

“Kalen, I need you,” I cried out.

My knees rubbed against the planks of the wood floor. Something struck my leg and caused a sharp sting. I woke with an arm around me. I jerked back, afraid what I might find. Tousled hair belonging to Turner greeted me.

“Morning,” he said smiling at me moving closer for a kiss. I rolled away. This just all felt wrong. I’d just been dreaming about Kalen again. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” I said covering my mouth with a lie. “Morning breath,” I mused.

He grinned. “That hasn’t stopped me before.” He pulled me close, and I had no other excuse except the truth. His lips pressed to mine. Thankfully, he pulled back quickly. Otherwise, he may have noted my lack of response.

This only exasperated my weary mind. I couldn’t do this to Turner. I’d become a liability to him. I’d break his heart again if I left. Kalen couldn’t offer me the stability that Turner could. Look how easily he’d let me walk away and now he’s back interfering in my life.

Easy going Turner said something that stopped me from moving towards the ladder. “I think you have an admirer.”

Sitting up I, I asked the question. “Who?”

“Jeremy. Not that I blame him. He asked a lot of questions about what we were to each other.”

“What did you say?” I asked quickly. My words may have been a bit sharp. I was giving myself away.

“You two awake up there?” my sister called from downstairs. It was a dumb question because most likely she’d heard us which was the reason for her question.

“Yes,” I called out cowardly, not wanting to talk anymore about Kalen. I needed to be honest with Turner sooner rather than later. But I also needed the right words. And at the moment I wasn’t sure what to say. Turner would want to know what would happen about us. I just didn’t have that answer.

Breakfast was awkward. Mike kept throwing looks my way. Turner left shortly after we came down from the loft because he had to make sure Jeremy… Kalen had something to eat. I couldn’t help but wonder if Kalen noticed Turner hadn’t slept there and drawn any conclusions to where he might be.

I stood from my seat. “I should head out and start morning chores.” Really I just didn’t want to be here with Mike. He was lingering, something he hadn’t done since I started staying at his house.

He reached for my wrist stopping me from heading away from the table. I glared at him and his forwardness. Then I turned to Violet when it was apparent he wasn’t letting me go.

“Mike, she’s not interested.”

That chilled me to my bones. Violet understood her husband completely. “That’s not how she reacted the other night,” he said still keeping a steel grip on my wrist.

“She was drunk. She’s my sister. Please don’t,” she pleaded.

He let go and stood himself. “I have some supervising to do.” He left out of the house in a huff. The door gave a resounding thwack when it closed behind him.

My sister put her hands on her cheeks and started to weep. I sat again, because I didn’t really have to go. It was an excuse. “What’s really going on Vi?”

“You don’t understand. He’s bored. Hell, I’m bored. There’s nothing to do around here,” she said, her face still hidden in her palms.

I couldn’t condemn her feelings. Isn’t that why I wanted to leave? “So what was this about? You guys share other people with each other?” I asked uncertainly.

“It’s not like that. And don’t judge me. It sort of happened once and now he kind of expects it.”

It was quite possible I looked at my sister
like
she’d been body snatched. “I’m not judging you.” But I was. It was hard not to. We weren’t brought up this way. Not that I was a poster girl for our community. “I’m just surprised you would be okay with that. And…with me.” It felt like I had a taste of something bad. My faced soured.

“No,” she paused and licked her lips. “I can’t say that if Turner wouldn’t have objected, I wouldn’t have minded.”

My feet propelled me up. My hands were raised in the
stop
position. “Don’t say it. Please don’t say it.”

“Don’t you start with me.  Mike told me about the guy at the dance.”

My hand found the top of my head. I drifted towards the window.

“Who was he?” she asked.

There was no point in lying. “Kalen.”

Her eyes became pools of frothy water. The white in her eyes enlarged around the clear blue. “He came for you.”

Her words were like currents on the wind. She breathed them out like it was the end of the world. Or based on the look on her face, the beginning of one.

“I’m not sure why he’s here. Turner got to him before I could ask.” I pulled my hair free from its holder and twirled pieces around my finger while I gazed out into the day.

“You know why he’s here. The question is what are you going to say to Turner.”

My back shifted and pressed against the cool window. “You say that like I’m going to choose Kalen.”

“Well aren’t you? I saw Turner try repeatedly to get close to you this morning and you side stepped him every time.”

I swallowed. She would be observant. “Do you think he noticed?”

She gave me a deadpan look. I closed my eyes and turned to press my forehead to the glass.

“Turner was never anything to you but a diversion. Kalen comes and Turner is chopped liver. It’s not right, Bailey.”

The conversation had somehow shifted and became about me. I could easily say a number of things to throw in her face about her and her husband, but I didn’t. I was guilty of several things myself. Although none of them pertained to the inhabitants of this house.

“I have to go,” I said, and walked out the door. I hadn’t helped clean up the dishes from breakfast, but I figured Violet owed me one. She’d set me up to do her husband. Or at the very least, she’d known it was a possibility that Mike would want to, and she hadn’t warned me.

Liabilities. They were adding up. I’d been a liability in New York, and I turned out to be one here. I didn’t want to believe my sister was that manipulative. Had my presence only made her world a little worse? I wasn’t conceited and knew that for Mike any half decent girl staying at their house would probably do.

Lost in my own misery, I nearly walked past Kalen and Turner. Turner was talking to a group of men probably about the task for the day. Kalen was off to the side paying attention but not. Like a squirrel dodging a car in the street, I scampered off into the tree line hoping I hadn’t been seen. It was the gutless way. I wasn’t ready to talk to one of them. Certainly, I wasn’t ready to talk to both of them together.

The snap, crackle, pop under my foot sent me farther into the woods. I feared that my noisy steps would have Kalen or Turner turning my direction and notice me. It was crazy. I really needed to get over myself and face the men I loved. And wasn’t that the problem. I loved both of them.