Damage Control

by M. S. Parker

  “Hey.”

  I stopped at the foot of the bed, feeling out of place and awkward. I hated it. When had the two of us gone from being family to near strangers?

  It started before she’d left home.

  I couldn’t put my finger on what changed, but something had, something indefinable and real and it made me sick.

  “Camry.”

  “What do you want?” she asked in a small, tired voice.

  “What do I…?” I lashed down the anger that tried to come spiraling out. Not yet, I told myself. Not yet. Soon. Someday soon, I’d give into it, but not yet. “Camry, I was scared sick you wouldn’t wake up. What do you think I want? I wanted to make sure you were okay. I needed to see you.”

  Finally, her eyes flicked my way through the heavy tangle of her hair.

  It was dull and lank, and I remembered how it had once been her pride and joy. Was it the drugs? The malnutrition? I just didn’t know.

  Somehow, the sight of her lying in the bed looking so broken managed to crack the hard shell of apathy and I went to my knees next to the bed.

  Camry squeezed her eyes closed. “Why do you even want to be around me?”

  “Because you’re my baby sister,” I said, brushing her hair back. “I love you.”

  “Why? After everything I’ve done? After what could have happened?”

  “Cam–”

  Abruptly, she sat up, flinging my hand away. Color flooded into her cheeks, washing away some of the pallor. “You don’t get it! Stefano made it all seem like it would be a big joke, and I let him talk me into it, but in the end, it didn’t matter because he promised to give me money, and money meant drugs. Nothing else mattered. Not your cute girlfriend, not you. Not even…”

  Her voice cracked.

  “Not even the baby,” I finished for her.

  “Yeah.” She lifted a fist to her mouth, gnawing on her reddened knuckles, worrying skin that was already sore and cracked. “Now I keep thinking about what might have happened, and I feel sick. But what’s worse…I’m coming down off a high, and it’s…”

  She held out her hands and showed me how they were shaking. I took one of them in mine.

  “And you’re scared.”

  She nodded and tears pooled in her eyes. “I know in a while I’ll be in a state to where I’ll do anything to get a fix. So…yeah…why are you here, Kaleb? I’m a pathetic, weak mess.”

  I sat down next to her and put an arm around her. “I guess that’s why I’m here. You’ve never outright admitted being weak and pathetic quite like that. I think that means you’re ready to reach out and ask for help. Let me be strong for you, Camry.”

  I left her sleeping, moving as quickly as I could through the hospital to the floor where Piety was being held for overnight observation.

  They had Camry on a suicide watch. I don’t know if it was something she’d said or done, or if it was typical because of the drug abuse, but she was on the far side of the hospital from Piety and I felt pulled in two, trying to take care and be there for them both.

  Piety was lying on her side, a mirror of the way I’d found Camry, but instead of facing away and locking the world out, she was facing the door.

  Waiting for me.

  A smile curved her lips as I approached and the ragged, aching mess in my chest faded away.

  Just like that.

  I snagged a chair as I went to her side, dragged it with me as I walked, then dropped it by the head of the bed, so I could sit and stare at her face.

  “I thought I might lose you,” I said bluntly. “I’ve never been so scared in my life.”

  She reached up, cupping my face.

  “I thought the same about you.” Then she tugged me closer.

  I never needed encouragement to kiss her, so I went gladly.

  But she didn’t kiss me.

  She bit my lower lip – hard.

  “If you ever stand in front of a man with a loaded weapon like that, I’ll hurt you,” she said, her fingers tangling in my hair as she held me close. “You understand?”

  “I…yeah.” My lip throbbed. I didn’t care. “I understand completely.”

  I bit her lower lip, not as hard, just a slow, light pressure of my teeth on the plump curve, tugging it out before releasing it all together. “And don’t you ever…hell. Don’t ever leave my sight again. Okay?”

  She laughed weakly. “That might be hard. And awkward. Like now. I have to pee. You don’t need to come in.”

  “I should inspect the loo, just to make sure.” I nuzzled her neck then sat back, watching as she eased upright.

  A fist grabbed me by the throat, and I wanted to pull her into my arms, hold her while promising that nothing bad would ever happen to her again.

  Instead, I helped her stand up and stood guard while she went to the toilet. When she came out, I caught her in my arms and tucked her head against my shoulder.

  “Like this,” she mumbled.

  “Hmmm?”

  “I want to stay like this for a thousand years.”

  I chuckled, rubbing my chin on top of her head. “We need to pause from time to time to eat.”

  “Eat. Go to the bathroom…” She backed up and looked at me from under her lashes. “Ah…have a baby.”

  I blinked, suddenly feeling nervous. “Um, yeah. You weren’t too certain the test was accurate, right? Might be too–”

  “They’re running a blood test. We’ll know soon. The blood tests always hit the mark, Kaleb.” She reached up and cupped my cheek. “If you…I mean, neither of us were planning this, so I understand. But–”

  “I want to be with you.” I cut her off and pressed my mouth to hers.

  She sighed against my lips. “Kaleb?”

  “It’s insane, and I know it doesn’t make sense, but I want to be with you. And if there’s a baby, then I want the baby.”

  “Really?” She laughed, the sound bright and happy. “Oh, man. Yes. Me too. Yes.”

  I went to kiss her – really kiss her.

  But there was a knock at the door.

  We turned as one.

  A man in a white lab coat stood there, and he nodded at us. “I know it’s early yet, but you have some visitors, Ms. Van Allen. Their plane just landed.”

  My stomach dropped out, and Piety stiffened.

  “Your parents,” I murmured under my breath. “I’ll go–”

  But it was too late.

  Piety’s mother just barely beat her father through the door. She was, incongruously – at least I thought so – dressed in blue jeans and a blouse, her hair pulled back from her face. “Piety,” she said, her voice trembling.

  I edged back, even as Piety tried to catch my eyes. Looking at the doctor, I nodded at him. “I’ll be in the waiting room.”

  “Kaleb.” Silas Van Allan was standing in front of me, his hand outstretched.

  I shook it. “Mr. Van Allen.”

  He had dark circles under his eyes, and his gaze flicked past me to linger on his wife and daughter before re-focusing on me. “Kaleb, please. I owe you the deepest of apologies,” he said, his voice shaking for a moment before it firmed. “I misjudged you terribly, and I can never make up for that. You risked your own life to save my daughter. Please…will you…?”

  He looked away.

  Stunned, not sure how to handle this reversal of events, I reached out and took his hand.

  He tightened his, eyes coming back to mine.

  I waited for the cameraman to jump out and yell something like, Joke’s on you, mate!

  But the only thing that happened was Silas jerking me up against him in one of those back-slapping hugs that left me feeling like he might have jarred a few teeth loose.

  Then he let me go and went to his daughter, and I was caught up in an embrace from Amara, one that smelled of a soft perfume. Oddly, it reminded me of my own mother’s.

  My throat went tight.

  “Please forgive us,” she said, pulling back and staring at me solemnly.
“We were unkind, but we’ve only ever wanted what’s best for her.”

  “It’s…I understand.”

  “I don’t see how.” She offered me a wobbly smile, then looked over at her daughter. “We would like to…make a gesture, if you would. We heard that your sister is willing to help putting that ugly man away for many years. We understand she need some rehab. Silas and I want to help. And we’ll do everything we can to make sure the two of you can stay in the US.”

  Forty

  Piety

  Kaleb slid his mouth down my neck.

  I wanted to grab him and rip his clothes away, but he wasn’t having any of it.

  I’d spent the night at the hospital, plus half the day, waiting for the doctor to look me over so he could discharge me.

  I might have been okay, but Kaleb had started running his hand up and down my thigh on the drive over and the need to touch, to connect, had been overwhelming.

  Now, as his hands slid up my back, dragging the shirt with it, I unbuttoned his, with far more speed and far less grace than he showed.

  “Naked,” I said. “I want you naked.”

  “Same goes. I want to see and touch every inch of you. That’s the only way I’ll be sure you’re okay.”

  His tongue flicked the corner of my mouth, and my knees went weak. “This has been the longest day of my life,” he said.

  “Absolutely,” I agreed.

  He arrowed his fingers in through my hair and tugged my head back, but the desperate, dark kiss I’d been anticipating – craving – didn’t happen.

  Instead, he kissed me soft and slow. He kissed me so sweetly, tears burned in my eyes as he trailed a path down my chin, then my neck.

  “Hold on,” he murmured, wrapping his arms around my hips, then boosting me up.

  I did.

  I’d hold onto him forever.

  He held me close as he carried me through the suite and into the bedroom, where he laid me down and stripped away my skirt and panties, then pressed his lips to my belly.

  But when he would have spread my thighs and moved between them, I tugged him up to me. “I want you now…I want this.”

  I needed it, needed to feel him inside me, moving against me, and I needed to see his face.

  He nodded, as if he understood exactly what I meant.

  Maybe he did.

  We were almost…careful with each other. It wasn’t something I could explain, the gentle way he touched me or the slow, almost teasing way he entered me.

  By the time he filled me, we were both holding our breath, and it was almost painful to have him withdraw – we were part of each other.

  But I needed more.

  So did he.

  He moved, finding a rhythm that kept him from being gone from me for too long, while I clung to him, my heels hooked over his ass, tightening every time he was too far away.

  “Don’t let go,” he said, just as I started to come.

  I wanted to tell him I wouldn’t, not ever.

  But I didn’t have the breath.

  So I just clung to him instead.

  Right where I belonged.

  Epilogue. Piety

  “Wow.”

  That voice, hesitant and soft, was about as familiar to me now as Astra’s and Kaleb’s.

  I looked up, met Camry’s gaze in the mirror, and smiled at her.

  Things between us were…odd.

  We were developing a friendship, but it was slow, and I was fine with that. I’d rather it be slow and real and last than either of us fake it just because we were sisters-in-law.

  And real ones too.

  I was wearing my wedding dress, and not some sexy little party dress like the one I’d worn when I asked Kaleb to marry me just to piss my parents off.

  In less than fifteen minutes, we were getting married…again, in an official ceremony this time.

  Something fluttered in my belly, and I gasped, pressing a hand to the hard mound there.

  “Wow.” This time, I was the one to say it.

  “Nervous?” Camry offered a quick smile as she tucked her hair behind her ear.

  “Um…well, yeah, but I think the baby just moved.”

  Her eyes widened. “Whoa. Cool.”

  I grinned at her, echoing her statement.

  Astra came sailing in, wearing a dress of dusky gold, reminiscent of the glamorous twenties. She even had a band around her head, one that did nothing to restrain her curls.

  She caught sight of me and caught my face in her hands, then kissed me. “Checking – gotta make sure the lipstick is kiss-proof, PS.”

  I batted her hands away. “The baby kicked,” I said, grinning.

  “Really?” Her eyes popped wide, and she went to put her hand on my belly, but I smacked her away.

  “No. Daddy gets to feel it first.”

  “Oh, fine. Spoilsport.” Then she did a quick circle around me before turning to look at Camry.

  They hadn’t hit it off right away. Astra was nothing if not fiercely loyal, but things had smoothed out after the initial rough patch. After Camry’s first few months in detox, she understood more of how badly she’d screwed things up. During her initial visit home, the first thing she’d said to Astra had been, “If you want to smack me, I’m fine with that.”

  Camry was still so thin. She’d put on a few pounds and no longer looked like a starving waif, but Astra had huffed, saying, “I’d probably break you in half with a small swat.”

  A week later, Astra decided that we should offer her a job for the non-profit we were working to get off the ground. It took forever to get such a thing approved, and we had more paperwork to deal with than an army could handle, so the extra hands were appreciated.

  And since the non-profit dealt with young women who’d been in Camry’s situation, she could connect on a level many others couldn’t.

  It was going well.

  My mother knocked before slipping inside, checking to make sure I was ready before opening the door for my father.

  “Are you ready?” he asked.

  I barely recognized the warm, loving man he’d become over the past few months. Nodding, I fought back tears. I guess the possible loss of his only child had hit both of them, hard.

  I know it had me.

  He held out a hand, and I went to him.

  “Come on,” I said, smiling up at him. “I’m ready to get started with the rest of my life.”

  Kaleb was out there in the church…waiting for me.

  Turn the page to start reading Astra’s story: L. A. Misbehaved now.

  Part One

  One

  Astra

  “Have fun.” I clung to the woman in my arms, blinking back tears.

  My best friend laughed and pulled back until I could see her dark blue eyes shine. “I’m not kidding, Astra Traore. If you start to cry, it will make me cry.”

  “I’ll cry, you’ll cry…” I gave a dramatic sigh and pulled her in for another hug. “We’ll all start to cry!”

  The thing was…it wasn’t a joke.

  I knew it was silly to be this upset. She was just going away for a week. But it was her honeymoon, and when Piety came back, she wouldn’t be the exact same woman. Then again, she already wasn’t.

  She was no longer Piety van Allen.

  She was Piety Hastings. As of four hours ago – not to mention the numerous drinks, dances, and some rather delicious cake – she was married. For real this time.

  The tall, beautiful blond man standing next to her bent to kiss my cheek when I turned to him.

  “Take care of her.” I thought it would’ve been easier to fight back the tears now, but it wasn’t. Taking care of Piety – and her taking care of me – had been the job since first grade.

  And now I was practically the third wheel.

  No wonder I felt like crying.

  But I was happy for her.

  Of course, I was.

  It was the truth too. I didn’t even have to convince myself of that. All I�
��d ever wanted was for her to be happy, and Kaleb did that.

  But as I waved them off, I couldn’t lie to myself anymore. I was happy for them, but I wasn’t so sure how I felt about my own life anymore. Piety wasn’t just newly married. She was also four months pregnant. I would be demoted from third wheel to fourth wheel come spring. I didn’t begrudge her any of it, but I couldn’t deny that it made me a bit sad to think that we were barely into our twenties and everything was changing in such a significant way.

  “You went and turned kind of grim, sweetness.”

  I glanced over at my date for the night – and most nights that needed dates. Baylor Aravis was a friend, casual for the most part. We both hated the idea of our parents setting us up with somebody of their choosing, and since it just wasn’t done to go alone to a wedding, or any other significant social event, we latched onto each other whenever we could. That was just the way the rules played out in the circles our families traveled in.

  I could practically hear my mother’s appalled tone if I’d even suggested attending the wedding of a congressman’s daughter by myself. It didn’t matter that everyone would be paying attention to the happy couple since their love story had been splashed all over every magazine, newspaper, and website in the country since the moment it’d broken. Mom would want me to make an appropriate impression.

  Since Baylor and I both hated that endless push from our parents, we tended to do the socializing bit together.

  And later, we’d do something else together, if we were in the mood.

  Earlier, I’d planned on finishing up the night solo girl style, a bunch of corny romantic comedies and ice cream. And maybe some time with my B.O.B. – battery-operated boyfriend.

  Now, I didn’t want to be alone.

  So, I leaned against Baylor and smiled. “Just thinking about how much it would suck to go home alone after such a beautiful wedding.”

  “Is that what you were thinking?”

  He rested a hand on my hip, and I felt the warmth of his touch through my silk bridesmaid’s dress. Since I’d been the only bridesmaid, Piety had let me choose what I wanted to wear. I’d gone with a dusky gold dress in a style inspired by the roaring twenties. I looked smashing, if I did say so myself.