KIP
a bay falls high novel
Jaxson Kidman
Contents
Welcome to
KIP
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Epilogue
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Welcome to
I stared at her.
She waited for me to respond.
But I didn’t.
I watched as she wiped the corners of her eyes.
“Fuck this then,” she whispered.
* * *
Written by Jaxson Kidman
KIP
Stay the ‘f’ away from her…
… or else.
We were supposed to be a secret.
But I can’t keep my mouth shut.
For good reasons, and bad.
I saved her once. Then again. And I know I’ll have to save her again.
I know how crazy this is.
I’m rich. She’s not.
She lives too far away.
I’m not welcome near her.
But I can’t stop thinking about her.
Everything she wants… I want to give her.
She wants a bicycle to pedal along the beach? DONE.
She needs me to save her from her past life that is threatening her now? DONE.
That last one is a problem though… and not just for her. Or me. But for all of us. Yeah, that includes the Rulz.
How much am I willing to give up to love her?
Simple: EVERYTHING.
Prologue
Everyone warned me.
And of course they did.
Why the fuck would I listen to any warnings though?
Show me a fire, tell me it’s hot, and I’m going to be the one to determine if that fire is hot or not. Will I get burned? Yeah. Will I care? No.
Point being… it’s always about the way I do my own things.
Take the old beach house I stood in.
Nobody in their right mind would be there.
But that’s where I was.
And I knew exactly why I was there too.
I didn’t mind being alone. I had learned to accept alone as a real thing. Something that somehow made me feel better about what had happened.
What had happened.
I hated the idea of throwing shit into the past.
Especially when that shit was still twisting and turning into my heart like a crooked, rusted screwdriver.
But that was okay.
My heart was still beating.
And just to make sure, I touched my chest.
Thump-motherfucking-thump.
It sounded just like that.
So I was good to go.
Alive. Maybe not well. But winning half this battle was better than losing it all.
My footsteps were loud on the old floors.
It reminded me of some cliché movie with a giant walking on old floors and dust shaking loose.
Because that’s all I smelled.
Dust.
Through the dirty looking set of windows that was probably once the best view, the sun pushed through enough to show me that a Christmas tree stood in the corner. Right next to the fireplace.
I laughed.
That just proved how long it had been since someone had actually been here.
There was still even one little box under the tree. Cliché reindeer wrapping paper, a green bow, just sitting there on the floor.
Stupid shit like that caught my attention.
Go figure.
I wiggled my nose and took a deep breath.
The place needed to be aired out.
Or blown up and rebuilt.
Option B was definitely much cooler. And much more my style.
But I wasn’t here for redecorating or blowing shit up.
Too bad.
I was tempted to open that fucking present too.
I had other business first.
I looked down at my right hand.
It was all supposed to be done.
Gone.
See you fucking later, girl.
That kind of thing.
Not this.
I looked to the dusty fireplace, filled with cobwebs.
I knew what had to be done to actually end this.
Fire was hot.
It hurt to get burned.
But I still needed to do this my fucking way.
Chapter 1
I put my hand up and touched my nose.
Ty stopped trying to fight me. He stepped back and looked around.
Everyone at the ditch went dead silent.
So quiet you could hear a squirrel fart.
Imagine that, girl…
I looked at my fingertips and let out a loud whew! sound.
“Thought you actually landed a punch for a second,” I called out. “I mean, if that happened… the stars would turn hot pink. And the ocean would turn orange. The sand would turn green. And the… the birds… they would fucking talk or something.”
I heard a whistle.
I turned my head and Barr swiped his fingers across his neck.
That’s enough.
I gave him a thumbs up and then looked at Ty again.
“Get it?” I asked.
“Get what?” Ty asked back.
“You fucking suck at fighting. You told everyone you were a boxer. Told everyone you fucking trained with some hot shot. You couldn’t hit my face if it was blown up into one of those giant wall sticker things.”
“Huh?” Ty asked.
“Ah, fuck it,” I said.
I jumped at him and swung.
Thanks to the silence all around us, the sound of my right hand cracking against his jaw echoed like the snapping of a tree branch.
Ty crumbled to the ground and I stepped forward and over him.
He held his face.
“My advice,” I said in a much different - and darker - voice, “would be to stay the fuck down.”
Ty nodded.
I stepped back and opened my arms.
The fight was called and everyone cheered.
As I walked out of the ditch I looked back and saw Ty still on the ground. Two of his buddies came to his aid and he kept touching his jaw.
“Think you broke it,” Barr said to me.
“Oops,” I said.
“If he goes to the hospital and says something…”
I moved my eyes to Tinsley.
Ah. Fucking Tinsley Ditkiss. Perfect. Beautiful.
Pres’s hand slid around her waist.
Taken.
“Why do you worry about stupid shit, girl?” I asked her.
“I don’t want anything to fall back on Pres,” Tinsley said.
“Only thing falling back on Pres is your ass,” I said.
Pres threw a quick punch and hit my shoulder. “Shut the fuck up.”
I laughed. “Hey, girl. I just won two fights in a row.”
“Good for you,” Tinsley said.
“Why are you telling her that?” Pres asked.
“No reason,” I said.
“What the fuck?” Pres growled.
“He’s messing with you
,” Barr said to Pres.
“Remember,” Tinsley said with a wicked grin on her face. “Kip had his chance. He couldn’t rise to the occasion.”
“Fuck that,” I yelled. Everyone looked at me. “I rose to the occasion. I rose so high… it was like a fucking skyscraper.”
Barr patted my back. “Enough with the dick talk. Time moves on.”
“Wasted stiffys don’t,” I said.
“Put that in the yearbook,” Pres said. “Kip’s goals in life. Fight. Surf. Not wasting any of his stiffys.”
“Speaking of which,” I said. “If Tinsley isn’t putting out, I’m shopping elsewhere tonight.”
“Store’s closed, Kip,” Tinsley said.
“Store was never open to begin with,” Pres growled at me.
I laughed.
He was so fucking easy to get riled up.
One mention of Tinsley and boom he was a ravenous lion on the hunt.
He knew damn well Tinsley had chosen me first. And he knew damn well that if he and Barr were a minute late to busting into my room, Tinsley’s pretty, little, clean flower would have been all mine.
But it was okay.
It was good.
Pres always loved her.
And shit, even if they had been late busting into the room… I wasn’t sure what would have happened.
You know what though?
That shit was in the past.
Tinsley was right where she belonged.
Pres was overprotective and borderline douchebag, but that was his style.
Barr lit himself a fresh cigarette and put his head back, making smoke rings dance into the night.
The sweat had dried to my skin.
I needed a shower.
I needed some fun.
“Mind if I get my shirt back, girl?” I asked Tinsley.
“Yeah, sure,” she said.
She tossed me the white, sleeveless shirt and I put it over my head.
The next fight was about to start and I really didn’t give a shit about it.
I walked up to the top of the ditch and surveyed the landscape.
One thing about Pres that sort of punched me in the gut and the heart at the same time was the easy access he had. With Tinsley by his side, he damn well had everything. If he needed a kiss, she was there. If he needed a little attention, she was there. Hand or mouth. If he wanted to get laid, poof, it was happening. Or if he just needed to be vulnerable for a few seconds and not get judged…
I swallowed hard and chased away thoughts that only Tinsley made me think.
And believe me, it had nothing to do with her personally. But rather who she was. Who she was related to.
I snapped my fingers and pointed. “Hey, girl.”
There were three girls standing in a small group.
Two blondes. One red head.
The red head was smoking.
And not just in the sense of the cigarette she seductively put to her lips.
She was the one who waved first.
I nodded.
“Going for a smoker, huh?” Barr asked me.
I hadn’t realized he was standing next to me.
“I’ll give her something to smoke,” I said.
Barr snorted. “That’s fucked up.”
“What about you?” I asked. “There’s still two standing there. I’m sure those piano fingers can handle two moving parts at once.”
Barr patted my back. “Don’t worry about my dick so much.”
I elbowed Barr out of the way and walked forward.
The pretty red head lifted her left eyebrow and eyed me up and down.
“Kip,” I said to her.
“Crazy,” she said.
“I love that name,” I said.
“That’s not my name,” she said. “This whole thing is crazy. You randomly fighting people is crazy.”
“Yet you’re not running from the crazy,” I said. “Smoking your pretty, little cigarette, wanting me…”
“Wanting you?” she asked, laughing. “You don’t even know my name.”
“Yes I do,” I said. I got close enough to touch her face. “I’m calling you Crazy. Don’t tell me anything else.”
“You sure?”
“Positive. I don’t care when your birthday is. I don’t care if you want to be a lawyer or an accountant or a model. And I really don’t care if you worry about the environment.”
“Wow,” Crazy said. “You just put it all out there, huh?”
“I’m hoping you’ll do the same for me, girl.”
She laughed.
Her face turned the same color as her hair.
And just that like, we were in love.
But only for tonight… obviously.
* * *
“You want me to jump off that rock?” Crazy asked me.
“It’s either you or me, girl,” I said. “That’s what we decided upon.”
“You’ve been making all the decisions so far.”
“And they’ve all been great,” I said. “Right?”
I put my arm around Crazy and pulled her close. She laughed and melted into me. I held her for a few seconds before looking down at her. I had her in that moment. I winked and lowered my lips to hers.
The kiss was soft and good. I flicked my tongue against her thin lips and returned the favor. I always made sure to know where the limits were. Fun was fun. Whether we were making out above the ocean or getting a little wild between the sheets, all I cared about was fun. Everyone needed to have some goddamn fun in life and never stop.
And I was having fun kissing Crazy under the stars.
My hands touched her hips and teased the bottom of her shirt.
She wiggled her hips and sucked in a breath and broke the kiss.
“You’re bad for me, Kip,” she said.
“I’m bad for everyone,” I said. “That’s not news.”
“Is everything they say about the Rulz true?”
“Yeah,” I said. “You don’t want to be on our bad side.”
“Am I on your bad side?”
“No way, girl. I’ve been watching your good side all night.”
Crazy laughed. “You are so quick. And smooth.”
I put my forehead to hers. “Want to know what you make me want to do?”
“Sure,” Crazy said.
I pushed my hands harder against her hips and put distance between us.
I turned toward the cliff and jumped.
Crazy let out a scream.
It was a pretty high fucking jump. It was a really stupid jump to do too. The rocks were wet and jagged. It was a terrible spot to try and jump. And it was just about dark out.
I could barely make out the whitecaps of the waves.
I waved my arms like a drunk bird (if that even fucking existed) and wondered if I had fucked up big time.
“Kip!” Crazy yelled from above.
There was no way to stop fate now.
Which meant…
Splash.
I hit the water feet first and hit hard.
I was under water for a few seconds before I popped back up.
Waves all around me, pushing and pulling, water dripping down my face and into my eyes.
I shook my head and let out a whew! scream and then looked for Crazy.
She wasn’t up on the rocks anymore.
“Ah, shit,” I whispered.
I worried I had scared her away.
That wasn’t my plan.
I hurried to start to swim toward the shore.
To my surprise - maybe - Crazy was running across the beach.
Waving her arms like I didn’t know where the shore was.
When I could get my feet down I stood up and walked from the ocean with my arms open.
“Did you see that, girl?” I called out.
“You’re fucking crazy,” Crazy called out to me. “I’m not crazy. You are!”
My feet were on dry ground again and I stood there. “Well?”
“Well
what?” Crazy asked.
“What now?” I asked.
“For what?”
“I just surprised the hell out of you, girl. Now it’s your turn to do the same for me.”
Crazy stared me down.
She looked left to right.
Then she came running toward me.
She launched into the air and I caught her.
Her hands grabbed my hair. “I’m going to fucking regret this.”
“No you’re not, Crazy,” I said. “We’re not going to fall in love. I don’t need you to text me. I don’t even need your number. This is about the moment. Right here. Right now.”
“Fuck,” she whispered.
I smiled.
I let her kiss me first before taking complete control.
* * *
Get yourself a nice, big SUV.
That’s the advice I’d give anyone who asked.
Advice for what?
Getting laid?
Meeting pretty girls?
I had no fucking clue.
But it always worked for me.
Crazy was on her side, in a sleeping bag, sound asleep.
I had the back of the SUV open and stared down to the ocean.
I nodded to the water which got a hell of a show as Crazy and I tore up the very back of the SUV.
She almost made me want a cigarette.
I slowly gathered up her clothes and placed them on the other side of her sleeping bag. Whether she woke up tonight or tomorrow, she’d want to get dressed and get home. Or somewhere away from me.
Which was fine.
We weren’t going to breakfast or any of that bullshit.
I was part of the Rulz, but I also had my own rules to follow too when it came to that shit.
Too many lingering feelings and pleasure and BAM! you were fucking trapped.
I looked at my phone and it was barely past midnight.
KIP: a bay falls high novel Page 1
