The Keys to Jericho (78 page)

Kat grins and clutching my tie, she says, “Kiss me, damn it.”

Before my lips touch hers, I whisper, “Fucking definitely, my fiancée.”

From behind me, Dash asks, “Is it okay to be here now?” We both swiftly look to see him standing at the stairs, but then back to each other as I shove the box into my pocket. “I see everything is better now, Jericho and Merrick.”

Kat dries her cheeks and mouths to me, “Does he know?”

I slightly shake my head, blinking away my tears, and lean to whisper in her ear, “Our secret for now.”

She nods against my head, and Dash says, “I was walking the path after I ate my sandwich and I noticed it got quiet in here. I wasn’t sure whether to be relieved or scared.”

I take Kat’s hand, sliding my fingers between hers, and holding her hand close to me to obscure the ring; however, I can’t hide my huge grin. “Yeah. We’re okay.”

“I knew everything would be,” Dash says, smiling. “So, did you get everything out in the open?”

Kat giggles and I look at her, grinning, as she says to Dash, “Yes. We…talked.”

Dash laughs. “Wow. You two are sickening now. Who knew that three words could make all the difference?” Only three words. Right.

Kat leans against me and Dash shakes his head. “Aren’t you glad we came here now, Merrick?”

“Yes, Dash. Thank you.”

Dash looks at our joined hands and asks, “You
are
together now, right? Or am I totally off and you’re only weirdly close friends?”

Glancing at Kat with still a huge smile, I answer, “Yeah. We’re definitely together now.” We always were.

She smiles back at me and I want to kiss her, but I don’t want to do that in front of Dash again, though I’ll eventually have to, I guess.

Dash says, “Hey! We should all go to the club tonight then. Celebrate your togetherness.”

Kat squeezes my hand and I say, “Tomorrow night.”

Dash nods, grinning like a jackass. “Oh. I get it. You want to be alone. Okay. I’ll let Duquesne know and we’ll meet at Oceanic. Why don’t you ask Hadley to come?”

“Yeah. I will.” Shit. My sister. A complication I didn’t consider, but one that I can’t avoid.

Dash asks Kat, “Don’t you want your sandwich?”

“You can have it.”

I pull Kat with me as I head for the stairs. “Thanks, Calder. I’ll talk to you tomorrow about what time to meet you.”

“Just go have
fun
,” he teases.

As we walk past, Kat reaches over with her free arm, pulling Dash to her for a hug, whispering something to him, and making him laugh.

“Whatever, Merrick. I’m glad to see you both smiling. See you tomorrow.”

We practically run to my car over at the next parking lot. Her ring cuts into my hand, but it’s an appreciated hurt, reminding me that she said yes.

When we get to my car, I stop Kat from getting in by pushing her against the side, and kissing her neck. She sighs. “Jared, I want you.”

“I could fuck you right here, but since we’d get arrested, let’s go back to your apartment.”

She giggles. “
Our
apartment. You’ll need a place to live on weekends.”

I smile. “I guess so. If you don’t mind?”

“Oh, I don’t mind.” She laughs again as she pulls me back to her lips.

A buzzing phone interrupts us, and she reaches into her pocket to check hers as I check mine. Kat says, “My mom wants me to bring Dash over for pie.” She rolls her eyes. “We need to tell our parents before we tell our friends.”

I scowl. “Can’t we do that tomorrow?”

“She’ll see your car in my driveway overnight. She’s bound to ask.”

“So?”

“Jared. Let’s get it over with. I’ll have her ask your dad over, too. My dad is out of town, so I’ll call him later. You’ll have to meet him.”

“Great,” I say, anxiously brushing my hand through my hair.

“He’ll like you.”

“
My
dad barely likes me.”

Kat laughs. “Oh, stop.”

I roll my eyes. “Really, Kit Kat? Fucking pie and telling our parents? I just want to be alone with you.”

“We’ll keep it short.”

I grab her hips, yanking her to me. “You’d better be talking about the time with them.”

She laughs. “Yes.”

I whisper, “I love that word.” I go to kiss her again, but she pushes on my chest.

“We cannot get carried away or I will fuck you in the car.”

“Please, do.” I grin and try again to kiss her, but her hands hold me back.

“There are people here.”

I sigh. “Fucking fine. Tell your mom that Dash needs to talk to my dad. It’ll throw them both off.”

She nods. “Good plan.”

“Good. Let’s get this over with so we can do dirty things to each other. The only thing I want you wearing is this ring and me.”

Kat can’t even hide her grin. “You’re so bad.”

“And you wouldn’t have me any other way.”

Laughing, she shakes her head, her eyes sparkling in the late sun. “Absolutely true.”

Receiving a response from Brenda, Kat looks at her phone and says, “Your dad is already coming over. She had invited him.”

Lifting the door handle, I smile. “Perfect.”

Kat says, “I guess she figured you’re still out of town.”

“My dad doesn’t know I’m here early. I wasn’t supposed to be back until tomorrow.” Kat gets into the car and shutting the door, I head over to the driver’s side.

When I start the car, she asks, “So, who all knows about you proposing? You picked out the ring on your own? I’m impressed.”

“Uh, no. Well, yes.” I groan as I back out of the space. “It’s half and half. I knew what I wanted when I saw it, but I wasn’t alone.”

“Hadley?”

“Um, not her.”

“Dash doesn’t know. Rio?”

I cringe as we head out of the park. “You won’t believe it if I told you.”

“Who?”

Rolling my eyes, I avoid hers as I choke out, “Liberty.”

Kat laughs. “You’re right. There’s no way in Hell! Come on. Who?”

I groan again. “I’m telling you the truth. Liberty. We talked. Worked out a truce, I guess. She’s still bitchy, but she did help me. I can’t really hate her. Too much.”

Kat gasps when I glance at her, realizing I’m being honest. “She actually knows?”

“Yeah. Rio set us up for dinner to work out our
differences
. That bastard is going to get his ass kicked, but we eventually did talk. I told her I wanted to propose to you.”

“What did she say to that?”

“She was floored, but was determined to help. She hasn’t told Duquesne, so he’ll be shocked, too.”

“Wow. You two sound like a super hero and super villain forced to work together.”

“I’d better be the fucking super hero.”

She laughs. “You’re always my hero.” Kat reaches over to pat my leg and I grab it, holding it there. “So she isn’t as bad as you thought?”

I roll my eyes with an immediate frown. “Jesus. I wouldn’t go
that
far, but we’ve agreed to disagree for the sake of our significant others.”

Glancing at Kat, I see her smile at the windshield before I have to watch the road. She asks, “You actually told her you want to marry me?”

I nod, looking at her again. “Yes.”

“I love that word, too.”

Peering ahead, I lift her hand, kissing it as I toy with her ring. “You’ll have to get this sized.”

“Not yet. I don’t want to give it up, but yeah. I don’t want to lose it, either.”

“
That
would be a reason to break up.” I laugh at her frown, and move our joined hands to her thigh, sliding them between her legs. Letting go of her hand, I graze my fingers over the crotch of her shorts, although I can’t feel anything other than denim.

She sighs. “What are you doing? We’re here.”

Deciding to pull into Kat’s driveway instead of Brenda’s, I have to move my hand to park the car. Turning to her, I lick my lips. “Just was warming you up, Kit Kat.”

I grin at her until she says, “No need to. I’m already preheated.”

“Fuck. Really?”

She nods, biting her lip. “Yep. Just for you.”

I warn, “It’d better be
only
for me.”

“Just you, Jared. You don’t even have to touch me.” She takes my hand, returning it between her legs, and pushes my fingers firmly against her. “But I love it when you do.”

I groan. “Shit. You can’t do that and expect me to hang out with our parents.”

“I know. I want to forget about pie.”

“I want to eat, but not pie.”

Kat’s mouth drops open, before repeating what I had said. “
You
can’t say that and expect me to hang out with our parents.”

“We’re in and out of there. Promise?”

“I promise.” Kat leans to my ear and whispers, “I want
you
in and out of
me
.” She again, pushes on my fingers as my other hand skates over her ribs and then to her breast, palming her nipple through her shirt. “I can’t wait for you to fuck your fiancée.”

“That’s not playing fair,” I complain. Her mouth travels to mine and she kisses me, but I have to turn my head and sit back, sighing. “I need a couple minutes before going in there. All of this is not helping.”

“Sorry.”

I grin. “Don’t be.” Pulling my hand away, my smile fades as I say, “Kat, during our argument at your apartment, I wasn’t kidding. I’m absolutely committed to you. I’ve always been.” That’s the truth, even when we were apart all these years.

Glancing from her, to the windshield, and then to the console, I say, “I need to know that you’ll be faithful to me. My dad was dumped and he never fully recovered. My sister was cheated on, and even though it was high school, it fucking hurt her. I can’t go through that shit. I’m not as strong as them.” Looking up, I state, “I will never stray. I will be forever faithful to you. Please, Kat,
please
don’t ever cheat on me. I’m trusting you like I’ve never trusted anyone. I need to have your word. Promise me you won’t break my trust or my heart.”

With tears springing to her eyes, she says, “Jared, you have my promise. You’re the one I held everyone up to in comparison. You’ve always been in my heart. Always. No one else has ever had my whole heart. It’s always been yours. I’ll never be unfaithful to you. You can trust me with your heart, because I’ll protect it with extra care. There’ll never be any other man for me.”

I lean over and putting my hand on her cheek, I pull her to me for a kiss, wanting to do more, but knowing I can’t right now, I sit back and sigh.

Kat asks, “Do you remember your mother?” No more hard-on.

I scoff, “Why do you throw these questions at me without any kind of warning?”

“I don’t know. They come to me and I ask.”

I shrug as I stare at the steering wheel. “Not much, but I’ve seen her in pictures. Why?”

“I just wondered about what kind of person could leave her children.”

Tracing the steering wheel with my fingers, I say, “From what my dad has told me, she was a singer. He was 19, a freshman in college, working in a deli when he met her. She was 26, I think, and a librarian. Her name was Melinda Hadley, which is unfortunate for my sister.”

“Oh.”

“While my dad was still in college, she got pregnant with Hadley, and they were married before my sister was born. My grandparents didn’t like my mother much. My grandmother said there was something about her. Well, she was right. Apparently, my mother got some kind of singing gig she couldn’t pass up, and she took off, leaving me alone in my crib, while Hadley was at school. My dad came home a short time later to find me screaming. After that, he ended up moving us all in with my grandparents until he graduated. My mother never came back or contacted my dad directly, only by her lawyer with divorce papers.”

“That’s disgusting she did that. I’m sorry I asked.”

Turning to look at her, I reply, “It’s okay. We’re supposed to tell each other everything, no matter how fucked up, right?”

Kat nods. “Right. And I’ll always be here for you, Jared. We’ll always be together, even when we’re physically not.”

I smile. “I needed to hear that, Kit Kat.”

Smiling back, she says, “Anytime, and I’ll remind you often.” Lifting her hand, gazing at the ring, she frowns. “It’s probably better if I take this off. My mom will see it right away. We should ease into it.”

I sigh. “Yeah. I guess you’re right.”

With a pout, Kat pulls the ring off her finger. “Here. You hold it. I’ll be too tempted to put it back on.”

Grinning, I take it and push it into my pocket. Leaning over, I kiss her cheek and say, “It’ll be back on your finger before we leave, baby.”