by Casey Hagen
Her stomach rumbled between them.
“And that,” he said with a laugh, “is something I have every intention of doing for you this morning. Take your time waking up. I’ll work on getting you some breakfast.” With a soft kiss, he tucked her back under the covers, and with one last glance, slipped from the tent.
Aurora, Jeff, Layla, and Kyle stood around the firepit with coffee in their hands.
“Good night?” Jeff said with a knowing grin.
“Good? He just changed the whole course of Mabel Lee’s life from the sound of it. She’s sure to be a sex addict now and you, husband-to-be, better up your game,” Aurora said.
“Hey, we’ve been together for three years, and we’ve been doing it for three and a half. Sometimes things settle into a routine,” Jeff said.
“Don’t you mean that the other way around? You’ve been together for three and a half,” Kellen said.
Jeff grinned behind his mug. “Nope.”
“You’re making me sound like a wanton slut. Stop it,” Aurora said, slapping his arm.
“Not at all. My grandmama said that just makes you smart, trying the goods before committing to them,” Jeff said, holding his head high.
He had to give it to the dude, he was brave admitting that.
Or stupid.
“You told your grandmama?” she shrieked.
“Well, anyone who was sleeping is awake now,” Layla said with a laugh.
“Why the hell would you tell your grandmama?” Aurora demanded.
“See, you think this makes you look bad, but the conversation started because she wanted to make sure I knew how to use what God gave me downstairs. Guys, can you imagine what that did to my dick? For days, it was like coaxing a kitten out of a hidey hole with a pork chop.”
“Dude,” Kellen said, shaking his head. “You don’t need to send mine running for cover.”
“She was adamant that no grandson of hers would be selfish in bed and that I better make it a priority to give you at least three orgasms before I even consider having my own. Have you ever once had less than three? Even when they’ve been quickies?”
“No,” Aurora admitted in a sullen tone.
“See, so really, you should send her a thank you card. And flowers. She likes irises,” Jeff said. “Oh, and I do recall a time when you got your three, and I got nothing because your mama knocked on the door then walked right in while I was balls deep,” Jeff said with the confidence of a man who knew he was about to win the fight. “Now, some might say that you owe me, but I’m not a pig, so I would never say such a thing.”
“Guy, how much coffee have you had this morning?” Kellen asked with a laugh.
“Too much. You know what, I’m going for a swim. You all got this right? Right?” Jeff said with a couple jerky nods of his head before walking away without waiting for an answer.
“Pssst! Is it safe?” Hunter asked, poking his head out of the tent.
“Yeah, it’s all good,” Kyle said.
“Man,” Hunter said, climbing out of the tent and zipping it back up behind him. “He’s wound just a bit fucking tight for a Sunday morning. Shit.”
He liked these people. A lot. All of them. He could easily see a future filled with camping, shared vacations, dinners, and raising families with all of them. They’d formed an easy bond, and he couldn’t imagine going back to a time when he hadn’t known them.
Which meant that secret was better left buried. As long as his dad didn’t crop up, he never had to say a word.
Kellen grinned at her from the driver’s seat as they turned onto the road to her place. “You okay?”
She rolled her head against the seat and turned to him with a soft smile. “I’m good, just wishing it didn’t have to end. My friends adore you, you know.”
“The feeling’s mutual. You’ve surrounded yourself with good people, Mabel Lee.”
“Mostly, but I think it’s time to have a heart to heart with my mama about our church. Years of letting comments slide and taking the high road by biting our tongues, hasn’t entirely worked.”
“So what are you thinking?” He couldn’t help but wonder if kicking this hornet’s nest was going resurrect ancient history he wanted to leave buried.
He wasn’t his father. If anything, he’d done everything possible to fix the damage his father had done, but from the sounds of the people in Mabel Lee’s life, they wouldn’t see it the same way.
“Confronting it head on. Getting it all out. Demanding better from people who were supposed to be our friends. It means things might get worse before they get better, so I need to make sure my mama is on board since this affects her too.”
“You’ve been protecting her for a long time. You’ve been taking the hits to lessen hers, but at some point, enough is enough.”
“I’ve reached that point. Last night proved it. It was the first time I didn’t worry about what lay ahead when I see Mama again. It was the first time I truly had a small bit of peace instead of waiting for one more snide comment or barb aimed to hit where it hurts. I want her to have that, too. So, if I’m going to have to drag us both through the pit of hell to get there, that’s exactly what I intend to do.”
Rolling to a stop in front of her place, he turned off the engine and circled around to get her door. He reached out a hand and helped her down. “You’re a little bit different this morning.”
“I’m well loved,” she said, wrapping her arms around his neck.
Grinning, he shut the door and backed her up against the side. “So well loved.” With two hands, he tilted her head back and captured her lips in a fiery kiss.
The night they spent together opened her up, and instead of reaching for him with tentative touches, she dug her fingers into his t-shirt and held him against her, a sexy hum vibrating from her throat into his mouth.
Coffee lingered on her lips and dark chocolate from the s’more she made herself after devouring a plateful of scrambled eggs.
He nipped at her full bottom lip, and she squealed.
“I could ravage you right here,” he mumbled against her lips.
“I would let you, but you know, laws,” she murmured back.
“I don’t suppose—”
“Mabel Lee Montgomery! What on earth do you think you’re doing?”
He recognized her mama’s voice from Lulu’s, but even if he didn’t, the way she froze in his arms told all.
“Damn,” he said, pulling back.
“No, don’t. She might as well know now. No more secrets.” She gave him one last kiss and turned to her mama.
And the three people with her.
No more secrets.
“Good morning, Mama. Dolores, Mr. Johnson, Preacher Dawson,” she said as though she stood before them in her Sunday’s finest instead of yesterday’s jean shorts, with tangled hair and kiss-swollen lips.
“Don’t you good morning me,” her mom said wagging a finger at her. “Is this why you missed church? To—to—well, I don’t know what you’ve been doing, Mabel Lee, but I can take a good guess.”
“Mama, calm down. We all went camping, including my boyfriend.”
“Boyfriend? Boyfriend!” her mama sputtered. And squealed. How she managed both, Kellen would never know.
What he did know is he didn’t appreciate any venom, in any form, aimed at Mabel Lee.
“Mama, it’s not quite the catastrophe your hysterics are making it out to be…”
“Mabel Lee, I’m sorry to interfere,” Preacher Dawson said. “This might be my fault. I had some concerns after I ran into you last Sunday, and then when you weren’t at church. But I see that you’re well, and I needn’t have worried.”
“She’s well? Look at her. She’s been mauled by this, this—”
“Kellen Savage,” he said, offering a hand.
Her mama stared down at his hand as if he’d just tried to hand her a hunk of shit he’d dug out of a litter box.
Okay then.
“Savage? Wh
y do I know that name?” Mr. Johnson muttered, his chin wobbling with his words.
“There are a few in the area, but they’re no relation,” Kellen said.
“Mama, I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. I should have been honest when we ran into Kellen at Lulu’s, but I knew how you’d react, and I won’t have you judging Kellen unfairly. He’s a good man.” She glanced up at him and smiled, taking his hand. “He’s good to me. That should be all that matters.”
“No, that’s not it,” Mr. Johnson muttered. “I’m sure I know that name…”
Kellen’s mouth ran dry as he watched the old man scrolling through his memory bank, searching and searching. Like a frozen web browser, it was only a matter of time before he kicked into gear and made a connection.
“You lied, Mabel Lee. You lied to me. That matters. Lies always matter,” her mama said, her outrage giving way to hurt.
Lies always matter.
“Aha! I know,” Mr. Johnson said, raising a victorious finger in the air.
Kellen’s stomach bottomed out, and his focus narrowed to Mabel Lee’s hand in his.
The storm had come, and right now, she held onto him.
“You’re Mouldon’s boy. The one who paid back the church,” Mr. Johnson said, a smile on his frail face.
Mabel Lee’s mama gasped.
Whether Mr. Johnson’s smile was because he managed to dust off an old piece of information or because he appreciated Kellen for making them whole, he didn’t know.
He didn’t dare ask.
Mabel Lee’s fingers slipped from his as she rounded on him. Shocked, hurt eyes met his.
He didn’t try to hide it. What was the point? Did he really want to spend the rest of his life wondering if she ever found out, if it would destroy what they had?
No.
Better he know now.
She straightened that spine of hers he’d lovingly explored that morning. Her mouth formed a thin, flat line as she studied him. “Is it true?”
“It is,” he said quietly. He’d prided himself for years on his ability to man up, but he’d slipped into cowardice, so making the fall back into honesty and integrity that much harder of a landing.
“How could you lie to me?” she said, her voice breaking, cracking his heart right along with it.
He took a step toward her, but she stepped back. Smoothing his hand over his hair, his shoulders sagged as the damn weight of his father’s actions climbed right on up and perched on his shoulders all over again. “I didn’t know at first. It wasn’t until you told me about your dad that I realized. I was in love with you by then.”
Blue eyes froze and narrowed on him.
“I didn’t want to lose what we found to a past neither of us was responsible for,” he said hating the way his voice turned into a gravelly plea.
“You thought so little of me and my intelligence that you assumed I would just walk away?”
He hadn’t thought of it that way, but with everything unfolding before him—dammit—that’s exactly how it looked.
“I was afraid for us,” he said quietly.
“You were afraid for you,” she said calling him out with that blatant honesty he found so damn refreshing.
But aimed at him, at his mistake, at his lie, it tore straight through his heart.
He had nothing, no one to blame. She was right. And nothing he said from this moment on would change that he’d fucked up, put his own fear first, and lied to her.
Every opportunity to be honest in the past couple weeks mocked him. The walls he’d begun lowering when he first met her began their ascent around his heart once more. He wouldn’t open himself again. Not like this. Never like this.
On the heels of the single most incredible night of his life, it hurt too damn much.
“So, you’re going to run away now and cling to your mama?” he said, the hurt seducing him into forgetting reason and lashing out.
Stop it, man!
But the words kept coming, because if he was going to be condemned, shouldn’t it be for his actions and not the sins of his father? “You’re going to go back to being on the outside looking in, wishing for more, but never really being brave enough to reach for it?”
Dude, stop.
Seriously, stop.
But he needed to hurt her. He needed to make sure this was done, and there was no going back, because worse than getting over her was lingering hope that maybe one day…
He grabbed her bag from the back of his truck and dropped it on the sidewalk at her feet. “You go ahead and climb back in that shell, Mabel Lee,” he said hating his scathing tone. “And one day, you’ll be a lonely old woman with no adventures to recount, just things you wish you had done when you had the chance.”
Leaving her standing there with tears breaking free and running down her cheeks, he peeled away, too stubborn to even snag one more glance in the rearview of the mess he’d left behind.
17
Mabel Lee shut everyone out. Her mama, Preacher Dawson, her friends, every last person she usually counted on.
Because her traitorous heart wanted to seek comfort from the one man she couldn’t have. The one who’d hurt her.
She’d even called in sick to work, when she clearly wasn’t, which made her no better than Kellen.
She’d always been behind. Always out of step with everyone else. And Kellen’s deception banished her right back to that box she’d been trying to break free from.
She’d gotten so close to succeeding.
When Tuesday evening rolled around and every last tear had fallen, and an ache from their night together still reminding her of all she lost, she had to admit that no matter how hard it may be, she had to join the land of the living once again. Right now, all she was doing by holing up in her apartment was proving Kellen right.
She did run away with her tail between her legs.
A loud knock rattled her door, and hope bloomed in her chest. Biting her lip, she turned away.
No hoping for Kellen. He lied to you. He lied to everyone.
“Mabel Lee, you better open this door, or I’m going downstairs to get your landlord, and you remember what happened last time,” Aurora said from the other side.
Yeah, when he wouldn’t hand Aurora the key to Mabel Lee’s apartment last time, Mabel Lee had been on the other side of the door too weak to answer as she suffered a hundred and five temperature raging from a horrible bought of Flu type A. Aurora wasted no time and flashed him her boobs and snatched the key right out of his shocked hands.
When he’d found how ill Mabel Lee had been, he’d vowed to never hold back the key again, as long as any of her friends other than Aurora requested it.
The Godly widower clearly didn’t appreciate the sinful tactics Aurora had used to get her way.
Funny, Aurora’s courage and willingness to do anything to get things done made her one of Mabel Lee’s heroes.
She smoothed her hands over her hair and glanced down at herself. When had she put on her summer camp T-shirt?
Judging by the caramel chip stains dried into the fabric, sometime Sunday night.
Gross.
“Hey,” she said, opening the door for Aurora.
“Girl,” Aurora said with three clucks of her tongue. “That’s enough of that now. You and me are going to have a come to Jesus moment.” Aurora pushed her way inside and dropped her purse.
“You don’t believe in come to Jesus moments,” Mabel Lee said, shutting the door behind her.
“No, I don’t, but I believe in speaking someone’s language to get through to them, so sit.” Aurora pointed to the recliner in the corner of the room.
She shuffled over, dropped down like a sullen teenager, and grabbed a throw pillow. “Fine. I’m here. What?”
Aurora raised a blonde eyebrow and crossed her arms. “Don’t you take that tone with me.”
She chewed her nail and remained stubbornly silent. Her pride reared its ugly head and threatened to swallow her whole.
> “Your mama called.”
“I’m shocked,” Mabel Lee deadpanned.
“You’re mouthy.”
“Sorry,” she muttered, feeling like someone had taken control over her mouth.
“Like I said, your mama called, panicked for you. At first because The Devil had seduced you to sin or some nonsense like that. And then because you haven’t answered a single call or shown up to work.”
“Leave it to my mama to be so dramatic.”
“Really?” Aurora said, gesturing up and down the lump Mabel Lee made in the chair. “And what would you call this?”
“I’m sick.”
“You’re wallowing.” Aurora sat on the coffee table in front of her. “Now, I’m going to have a talk with your mama next, but first, I’ll deal with you. It’s a good warm up for her.”
“You don’t need to talk to her. I can handle it.”
“Well, if you don’t mind, you’re in my wedding and she’s attending. In four days, Mabel Lee. So, forgive me if the only person I trust to handle it right now is me. Now talk to me, honey; what happened? I heard your mama’s version, but I want to hear it from you.”
“I fell in love with him, and it’s all your fault.” She knew it was childish, but she couldn’t put the brakes on the sullen voice inside her looking for someone to blame.
Anyone to blame.
Anyone other than her.
“My fault,” Aurora said in a low tone of warning.
“If it wasn’t for you and that stupid idea to go to Big Shift, this would have never happened.”
Aurora shot her a hard look just short of a scathing glare. “Don’t you dare blame this on me, Mabel Lee. You chose to call his number. No one made you do that.”
She stared down at the pillow and picked at a loose thread. “I never would have had that number if we hadn’t gone.”
“You didn’t have to go. No one made you. If you want to do this whole branching out, trying new things, grabbing life by the balls and diving right in, it comes with personal responsibility. You need to accept your part in this.”
She couldn’t look at her. “He lied to me, Aurora. The entire time I gave him everything, he was lying to me. How did I have a part in that?” she said in a broken whisper.
