The Keys to Jericho (84 page)

When Kat and Hadley eventually come down the stairs, Kat’s hair is pinned or something, her makeup is heavier, and her shirt is unbuttoned more. Who does she need to dress up for to go to a club? She’s practically married for Christ’s sake! To me!

Hadley asks, “Doesn’t Kat look nice?” Nice? She’s walking the thin line of looking like a prostitute and a naughty schoolteacher. I love it.

I hate it.

Looking away from Kat before Hadley sees me gawking at her, I notice my sister wearing more makeup, too, looking like Kat’s tag-team partner on a street corner. I irritably ask Hadley, “Do you think your boyfriend would in any way approve of you dressing like that, going to a bar without him?”

Hadley shakes her head, the same dark golden hair color as mine, shaking over her shoulders. “Probably not, but he isn’t here, so I guess he doesn’t get a say.” And there we go. Finally hit that nerve.
Smooth move, Finn
. The more I hear, the more he’s pissing me off and he’s not even present.

Leaning forward and raising an eyebrow at Kat, I ask her, “What about you? Don’t you think your boyfriend would have issues with you looking like that?”

She shrugs, but glares at me. “I don’t have a boyfriend, but if I did, he’d know that I’m dressing up for me, not to pick up guys.”

Hadley agrees, “Really. Why are we automatically trolling for men if we’re dressed up? Can’t we look nice just for ourselves?”

Kat answers her, but directs it at me, “Silly boys.”

I roll my eyes at their female bonding, suddenly feeling outrageously outnumbered.

As my phone rings, I dig it out of my pocket and complain, “You two can stop now.” Seeing that it’s Dash, I answer, “What the hell do you want?” Hadley gasps and Kat giggles, at which I again roll my eyes at both.

“Come pick me up.”

“Why couldn’t you just text me that?”

“I wanted to hear your sexy voice.”

Hanging up on him, I say, “Dash is ready, so if you two are, let’s go.”

After they gather their purses and start to compare shoes, I impatiently usher them to my car; although they continue chattering about applying makeup or mixing cement. Could be either one.

Kat opts for the backseat with my sister, which probably is better so I don’t accidentally give us away by touching her in some way. The downside of that is sitting next to Dash.

Pulling up to his apartment, he’s actually waiting for me on his porch, and bounds down the stairs when I pull in next to his car. Eager to see Hadley, no doubt.

Approaching the car, he already gives me a questioning look as to why Kat is in the backseat. Climbing in, before he can say something, I subtly glance at the backseat and shake my head. He looks at me with more unasked questions, but thankfully, he catches my drift that we’d like to keep it quiet, and doesn’t bring up my romantic status with Kat.

Instead, he turns and says, “Hey, there, Hadley. No Finn?”

“No, not tonight. Just me.”

As I back out of the space, I notice his crooked, amoral smile. When it comes to my sister, I believe he wouldn’t be able to control himself. He’s had a crush on her for years, and it makes me wonder if Finn weren’t in the picture, if Dash would put himself into the same position as Blair and I had, since I highly doubt he’d want me to know if he were fucking my sister. On the other hand, I’m not sure what Hadley would do. I don’t think she was ever interested in Dash that much to carry on anything with him. Clandestine or not.

Seeing that he still doesn’t have his seatbelt on and he’s twisted around, talking to Hadley, I swing my arm, backhanding his. “Turn around and buckle up, Calder.”

He twists back around and puts on his seatbelt, but he doesn’t stop talking to my sister. Hell, Kat could’ve sat up here giving me a blow job and I doubt if Dash and Hadley would’ve noticed.

This time, I take the route that I want to take to the club, since Dash is too busy yammering with my sister, who surprisingly has a lot to say to him in return. I occasionally glance over my shoulder at Kat, who gives me her own inquisitive look regarding the other two. I think I need to have another talk with Calder about my rule regarding him keeping his hands and dick off Hadley. I think Finn would concur.

What my sister said about Finn not wanting to be seen in public still floors me, even though he told me it’s because he wants to maintain his privacy. Understandable, but I hope he’s not doing it for any other reason, like hiding pussy on the side. Keeping a relationship secret reminds me of what Kat and I did, but they’ve been together two years and have done this?

Shit. It’s odd that the things I thought were differences between my sister and me, and then with Finn and me, weren’t really differences at all.

Fuck. I need a drink. Why in the hell did I volunteer to drive?

I ask Calder, “We’re not doing the karaoke shit again, are we?” Dash keeps talking to my sister and I grit my teeth. “Dash.” When he keeps yapping, I shout, “Calder! Are you going to answer my fucking question?”

He finally swings his head to me. “What?”

“Jared, don’t be rude,” Hadley scolds.

Kat answers my question. “No. Pete will be on the second floor tonight, so he gave us a table there.”

I say, “Oh. I thought Dash was arranging it.”

Kat says, “Nope. I told him I would. My brother still owes me some favors.”

I mutter, “Yeah, a few.”

Turning into the lot and parking the car, I assume that Duquesne isn’t here yet. Late as usual.

Exiting the car, Dash offers his arm to Hadley and she takes it, giggling, and they walk ahead of us, still carrying on their inane conversation about nothing. Even so, I’ve never heard my sister eagerly talk so much in my life.

Kat walks with me, but we still keep a distance. However, since the other two aren’t looking, and I don’t see Rio or his truck, I grab Kat’s hand and lean down, snaring her lips.

Pulling away, she hurriedly wipes the lipstick from my mouth. I whisper, “We won’t be hiding us anymore after tonight.”

She smiles. “I know. Are you worried?”

I shake my head. “Are you?”

“No. Your sister already suspects something’s going on with us.”

Stepping up onto the curb, I ask, “She does?”

“She asked if we were dating and I said no. Then she asked why not. I said we were just friends. I hate lying like that.”

“You’re not really lying. We’re not just dating anymore. She’ll find out as soon as Rio gets here.”

“I know. It’s just that I’m currently lying to my mother about the fire. I hate
all
the lying.”

“I do, too. You’re not the only one hiding things.”

She ruefully smiles at me, and I glance ahead of us as Hadley and Dash stop at the door. Releasing Kat’s hand before they turn around, I shove both hands into my pockets to avoid grabbing hers again.

My sister holds the door open for me and I give her a curious glance, but she just smiles and I mumble, “Thanks.” Upon entering, some bass-thumping song pounds in my ears. It’s crowded and not caring if Hadley sees us, I hook Kat’s arm to keep her with me, though, I’m almost positive Hadley is holding onto Dash anyway.

Once we reach the second floor and we’re delivered to our reserved table, we take our seats in a booth that is curved like the one we sat in upstairs. I keep space between Kat and me, but when I look over at Dash, he’s practically having my sister sit in his lap. Fucking shit. He’s sober, too. I give him a warning glare, but he’s so oblivious to anything going on outside his bubble with Hadley. If Finn saw this shit, he’d break Dash’s neck. Finn Wilder is a geyser on the verge of going off. Hadley is as clueless about Finn as I was about Kat.

As I watch Hadley and Dash, I wonder if I looked like that with Kat and didn’t notice. Maybe Dash really doesn’t notice the way he’s acting with her. I’ll gladly help him realize it, though.

Kat nudges my leg with her hand. She leans over and says, “Calm down.”

Not looking away from them, I ask, “What?”

“You’re silently killing Dash 40 different ways.”

I growl, “It’s 62.”

“They’re just talking.”

Turning to her, I say, “You don’t get it. He has a thing for her.”

Kat brushes at her hair, glancing over at them and then says to me, “Really? I don’t see anything. He’s a friendly guy.”

“Does he sit
that
close to you?”

“I guess not, but he did strip some.”

“Jesus Christ. I can only deal with one issue at a time.”

She says, “No issue. It’s just Dash.”

Rolling my eyes, I say, “Anyway, he’s going to need a rubber, he’s so close to her.”

Kat laughs. “It’s not
that
bad.”

I snap, “Does he stare at you like you’re his next conquest?”

She shakes her head. “He’s not looking at her like that.” I shoot her an incredulous look and her eyes widen. “You think he wants to…?”

“What the hell do
you
think?”

“He wouldn’t put a move on her. She’s with Finn. Dash wouldn’t do that.”

“I’m just telling you how he’s looking at her. My sister has been a sticking point between him and me since puberty. He always makes jokes about it, but I know he’d jump on her if she were single and he knew about it. Hadley is Dash’s holy grail.”

“Wow. I didn’t know that.” Kat bites her lip before asking, “Would I be yours?”

I doubtfully scowl at her. “You’re actually asking me that?”

She smiles and then says, “They wouldn’t do anything with each other. Hadley’s in a committed relationship and she’s been cheated on in the past. She knows what that’s like. She wouldn’t turn around and do it to Finn.”

“Jesus. I honestly don’t know what to think. How committed is Finn to her? Fuck. I wonder about that now. He said he is, but if he doesn’t want people to know they’re together, then what the hell is he doing with her?”

“Finn loves her. Do you know how fucked up it is that our situation is similar?”

I frown and roll my eyes. “Maybe similar on the surface, but ours is inherently different. We kept it quiet because we thought that’s what the other wanted. I mean, I am a private person, but I didn’t want to hide it. I thought
you
did. Whereas Finn—opposite of private. He’s not a huge celebrity, but shit, he’s big enough in Richmond and beyond. He claims he likes to keep his private life private, but even so, he doesn’t acknowledge having my sister as his girl? Me? I’m a nobody and a painfully private person, but I’d go on TV to announce our news.”

She shoulders me. “I want to kiss you right now.”

I look around and grumble, “Where in the fuck is Duquesne? Let’s get this over with.” Looking to see if Hadley’s watching, I lean closer to Kat and say, “I want your lips all over me.”

She giggles. “Not here in public.”

“Then let’s just blow this place after the announcement so you can blow
me
.”

Kat whispers, “I’ll wear the bright red lipstick again.”

“Goddamn it. Don’t say that,” I complain, shifting and trying to think of anything but that to kill my looming hard-on.

Kat laughs. “Sorry.” Yeah, right.

“You just earned yourself a demerit.”

She blandly says, “Darn.”

I laugh, but needing a distraction, I peer over at Hadley and Dash, who are still carrying on some kind of riveting discussion. Hadley doesn’t give off the
fuck-me
vibes that Dash does, but if she gets some drinks into her, that may change. And if Dash doesn’t back off, he’ll find out that
The Nutcracker
isn’t just mind-numbing dancing shit.

“Hi, guys!” a familiar voice grates. Looking up, Liberty waves at us, pulling Rio by the hand to the seat across the table from Kat and me.

“It’s about time, Duquesne,” I gripe.

He smiles. “Sorry. We had dinner and then got stuck in traffic.”

Liberty gives me a quick glance with a slight smile, but doesn’t make it noticeable. I’m actually impressed she’s kept her mouth shut. Rio knows about my confession to Kat because of Calder’s big mouth, but I would’ve told him anyway, since he already knew I was in love with her. Fuck me. Besides Kat
and
me, who
didn’t
know?

The waitress comes to our table for our drink orders. Looking at me, Kat touches her cheek with her left hand, and shoots a look toward her ring finger. I nod and she leans in, saying next to my ear, “I’m going to talk to my brother. I’ll be back.”

Catching my eye, Rio quickly glances at Dash and Hadley, and then to me, making a face that clearly says, “What the fuck is going on over there?”

I purse my lips as my teeth grind, and I shake my head. Looking at Hadley, I see that she’s not all over Dash, but she’s not exactly discouraging him. She’s just being friendly, as Hadley usually is. However, Dash is friendly too, but his friendliness leaves no breathing room between them. It’s royally pissing me off that he’s being so blatant with my sister, especially when her boyfriend isn’t here, but her brother is.