Pass The Parcel (10 page)

That was a lie.

She’d come to one conclusion.

They cared.

Every day her phone beeped with numerous
messages. They missed her. Hoped she was doing okay. Was there
anything she needed?

Except for the frequency of their messages,
they hadn’t changed. They’d always taken care of her in little
ways—or tried to. She could see that now. Yes, they’d had sex
purely for pleasure, but under the want—the need—had been genuine
affection and caring.

She’d been blind to that before. Jillian had
done a lot to point out what she’d overlooked. The lunches bought,
the gifts on her birthday and at Christmas. She spoke to her sister
every evening, but she hadn’t trusted Jillian enough to spill her
location. Kitty couldn’t tell which pissed Jillian off more—Kitty’s
rejection of
two hunks
or her unwillingness to share her
hideout.

She smiled and pushed to her feet. Brushing
the sand from her backside, she was blindsided by the memory of
Finn spanking her. Her body tightened—grew damp—and her muscles,
still tender for the workout they’d given her three days ago, ached
with a mixture of pleasure and pain. And there was the craving for
more. Kitty didn’t think she’d ever reach the point where she
didn’t want more of the ecstasy she’d found in their bed.

It had been like that from the minute she’d
left Sydney on Sunday. Normal things would set her mind travelling
back to their night together, and Kitty would be on the verge of
packing up and heading home to get another taste of them.

Honesty meant she had to admit she wasn’t
running from them.

She was running from herself and the carnal
desires she had for two men that had gone from fantasy to reality
to need.

Now that she’d opened the door to her own
wants and desires, there was no closing it. She had to accept her
sexual inclinations the way she’d accepted her love for both Finn
and Ethan.

And she did love them. Had done for a while
now. She should have seen that before too, but it was easy to hide
behind her job—behind her shyness. But it was hard to hide from
anything when you were on your own for hours and hours and hours
though. Too much time to think—too little distraction to
ignore.

Sighing, she walked up the beach to the
little house she’d rented for the week. It was a shack really. Two
rooms total. A bedroom and a combined kitchen and living space. The
bathroom—not that the curtained-off corner of the bedroom could be
called a room—had a toilet and shower, no hand basin. Good thing
the bed was comfortable and the position prime—right on the
beach—or she might have driven home the first night.

Not that driving home didn’t appeal
otherwise. She’d fought with herself every second to stay. There
were moments, like now, where she wondered why she had, and there
were others where she thought she might never go back.

Kitty knew that was her fear talking. She
knew she’d be going home. It was just a matter of when. As if Ethan
and Finn had a direct channel to her thoughts, her phone beeped.
Smiling, she took the phone from her pocket and read the latest
text. This one from Ethan.

All good? Need anything? The office sux
without you. XOXO

She laughed. She’d made sure the temp agency
sent their most proficient worker so Kitty knew the place was in
good hands. And if that made her stomach cramp uncomfortably to
think about she pushed it aside. No point thinking about some other
woman running the office in her absence. Not when she’d been the
one to make that happen.

Kitty grabbed the towel she’d left slung over
the chair by the door on her way to wash and dry her feet. The
outdoor shower gave her all sorts of carnal fantasies, but she
pushed them aside before they overtook her mind and she did
something stupid like text Ethan and Finn her whereabouts so they
could join her here and turn her fantasy to reality.

But not matter how hard she tried. The images
of the three of them taking a skinny-dip in the ocean as the sun
set and returning to help each other remove the sand from every
nook and cranny just wouldn’t leave her alone.

She was fighting a losing battle and she knew
it.

Instead of turning on the tap, she held her
phone, hovering her thumb over the screen, and wondered what they’d
do if she gave them the one thing they seemed to want.

Ethan eased up on the accelerator and hoped
he’d backed off in time to miss getting snapped by the speed
camera. He’d been pushing the limit from the minute he’d squealed
out of the office parking lot. Finn sat beside him in the passenger
seat. They hadn’t spoken a word since Kelly had sent her last text.
He couldn’t describe the emotions that had slashed through him when
he’d worked out what he was reading.

She gave them nothing but an address.

No other words—just a number, a street name
and a suburb. But he didn’t need anything else to know the
significance of this particular place on the planet. She’d revealed
where she was and nothing more. That confused him a little. Did she
want them to come to her? Had she sent it accidently?

He glanced at the dashboard. His GPS said
they had another fifteen minutes before they reached their
destination. They’d been on the road for forty minutes already, and
while tension was high, it wasn’t the kind to get on your nerves.
Probably because the anxiety was coming from both of them and he
was already strung as tight as he was going to get.

They were silent another five minutes when
Finn finally spoke. “Do you think this is what she wants?”

Ethan briefly glanced at his friend to see
him staring out the side window. “I haven’t a clue, but I’m tired
of hashing this out long distance. Hell, we haven’t hashed anything
out.”

“What if we get there and she’s gone?”

That thought didn’t bear thinking as far as
Ethan was concerned. “She’ll be there.” She had to be.

“We should have told her we were coming.”

Ethan couldn’t take one more word out of
Finn’s mouth in that dejected tone. “Stop. We won’t know what is
going to happen until we get there. No point trying to guess and
there’s definitely no point in seeing a negative outcome when
neither of us can predict what Kelly wants or doesn’t want. She has
to tell us. Same as we need to tell her.”

“I’m not sure I want to leave myself open
like that,” Finn mumbled.

“What?” Ethan took his eyes off the road for
a second, but Finn’s head was still turned away. “Don’t go fucking
pansy-arse on me now. We put our balls on the line when we started
the business. This is only different because Kelly is far more
important.”

“That’s the problem. Whatever happens could
ruin any future we’ve planned. Or dreamed.”

Ethan shook his head. He’d never known his
friend to be so negative or so blind. “If Kelly decides she doesn’t
want to pursue a future with us it’ll have the same effect whether
we tell her how we feel or not.”

“Then what’s the point in putting ourselves
out there?” Finn asked.

“What’s the point?” If Ethan didn’t have both
hands on the wheel he’d punch his best friend in the face. “Are you
fucking kidding me, Finn? Kelly is the point. She’s the
only
point.”

From the corner of his eye, Ethan saw Finn
turn his way. “Think about what we’re asking. Is it fair to even
suggest she throw a normal life away for us and what we want from
her—with her?”

Ethan couldn’t answer that. Accepting them
for herself was one thing. But by doing so she’d have to thumb her
nose at the world and what they deemed okay. It wouldn’t be an easy
road to take, and he couldn’t—wouldn’t—blame her if she refused.
All he could do was remember how he felt and that loving someone
was never a bad thing. “I don’t know if it’s fair or not. But I
believe we can make it work. We have to have faith and trust. We
already have the love. We just have to trust it. Trust each
other.”

In the end, it was all that mattered.

Finn turned to look out the side window
again. He understood what Ethan was saying, but the fear of being
without Kitty ate at him. It was like someone had stuck a needle in
his spine and sucked the marrow out of his bones. Repeated it on
every bone in his body. When people talked about being gutted, he
figured this was the feeling they meant.

He’d spent the last three days in a fog. He
couldn’t remember what he’d done or where he’d been. The only thing
in his head was that Kitty wasn’t there. Of course, that was
glaringly obvious every time he stepped out of his office to see
some other woman at Kitty’s desk—in her chair.

He couldn’t believe how dependent he’d become
on Kitty in the last two years. Finn knew he’d survive without
her—even if life seemed bleak without her in it—but he didn’t want
to even try. He wanted Kitty to come back to work—back to them.
Move into their house—

Finn sat up straight as Ethan turned off the
main road. “How close?”

“Five minutes.”

He leaned forward and peered through the
windshield. The houses on either side of the road ranged from new
high-end dwellings to dilapidated older homes that were probably
original to the area being populated. The closer they got, the more
Finn’s muscles tensed. There was a light coating of sweat on his
palms—dampening his back—and he clenched his jaw so hard his teeth
ground together.

“Sit back. You’ll go through the window if I
even brake a little bit,” Ethan growled.

“Fine.” Finn sat back against the seat but
his eyes remained trained straight ahead. “How long now?”

“Jesus. Look at the fucking GPS yourself.”
Ethan’s voice held anger and frustration, and Finn knew they had to
gain control over their emotions before they got to Kitty.

“Pull over.”

“What?” Ethan asked. “We’re not there
yet.”

“I know. Just pull over. I need a
second.”

“Shit.”

Finn knew his friend wasn’t happy, but he
pulled the car over anyway. Finn grabbed the latch and opened the
door. Pressing the release on his seatbelt, he swung his legs out
and stood.

“What the fuck are you doing?” Ethan demanded
from inside the car.

“Breathing.” He planted his hands on his hips
and dropped his head back. The sky was vibrant blue, not a cloud in
sight, and he stared without blinking until his eyes watered.
Dragging in deep breaths, Finn concentrated on reeling in every
runaway emotion Kitty’s leaving had set free.

“Are you done yet?”

He ignored Ethan and took two more deep
breaths, making sure he filled his lungs to capacity before letting
the air out. His world seemed to shift. The millions of particles
slipped back into place and gave him a clear view once more. No
more fog. They were here to claim Kitty, and claim her they
would.

“Okay.” Finn climbed back into the car.
“Let’s do this.”

“Shut the fucking door and buckle up.” Ethan
put the car in gear and pulled away from the curb before Finn got
the second of his two directives completed.

“Thanks.”

“For what?”

“Not driving off without me,” Finn said.

Ethan braked at a stop sign and looked at
him. “We’re in this together.”

Finn smiled. “Yeah.”

“And now that your head is out of your arse,
we’ll be on the same page again, right?” Ethan asked.

He knew what Ethan wanted to hear. Knew he
had to confirm he’d fight for what they could have with Kitty. Finn
smiled. “We’re not leaving here without her.”

Ethan grinned. “Good to have you back.”

They remained quiet while Ethan followed the
directions on the GPS. When they reached their destination, Finn
thought perhaps they’d plugged in the wrong address.

“You put in the correct street and number,
right?” He leaned forward and squinted, but that didn’t change the
building in front of them. If you could refer to it as a building.
Building
was too big a word to describe the house sitting
in among the trees and large bushes.

“You think I’d fuck that up?” Ethan asked as
he switched off the engine.

Finn studied the small cottage. The garden
was overgrown and full of weeds, the roof on the tiny front porch
sagged on one end and the paint had long ago peeled off, if it had
ever been put on. “Well, no point staying in the car.”

He made his way to the front gate, and that’s
when he saw the appeal this little house had. It was at the end of
the street with one small strip of grass between the side fence and
the beach. The place was prime real estate, and he was surprised no
one had flattened the dwelling and built something modern that took
the amazing vista into account.

“Damn. Wonder what this block of land is
worth. God knows the house isn’t worth a cent,” Ethan said as he
stepped beside Finn.

Finn turned a full three-sixty and studied
the other houses on the street. It was a mix of old and new, and he
figured if he had to answer Ethan’s price question, he’d go for
high six figures possibly seven. Bringing his gaze back to the
beach, he tilted his head towards the house. “We going in?”

Ethan stepped back. “After you.”

“Nah.” Finn grinned and clapped Ethan on the
shoulder. “Together, remember.”

As they’d done on Sunday when they’d gone to
Kitty’s house, they walked side-by-side down the overgrown path.
When they reached the door, they couldn’t find a bell so Finn
raised his fist and knocked.

The cry of a gull overhead drew his gaze. As
he followed its progress through the sky down to the water, he
found himself looking at a lone figure standing down at the
shoreline. It only took a moment for him to realise he was staring
at Kitty’s back.

“Hey.” Finn elbowed Ethan. “Check it out.” He
nodded his chin in Kitty’s direction.