by C.M. Kars
Hunter smiles a sweet one, tilting his head to the side like I’m being cute. I’m trying to be serious. “I’m not gonna stop saying I like watching you come, or the sounds you make. Everything you do is sexy to me. Everything.”
I attempt to cock an eyebrow. I must look ridiculous. “Even this face? This face is sexy?”
Hunter leans in close, his eyes crinkling as he flashes me a beautiful full-blown smile. “I love you. That includes the funny faces. I love every part of you. Whatever you don’t think you like about yourself – I love them because it’s you. And you make my life better.”
I have to clear my throat before I speak, and even then, my voice wavers. “Those are the sweetest words anyone has ever said to me. Ever. In my whole life. In this whole side of time and space. In the galaxy-”
Hunter laughs, and shuts me up by kissing me. Winning the lottery has got nothing on this.
“C’mon, get your ass ready, we have to go pick up Matty,” he says when he pulls back, leaving me panting and confused to what my name is and who’s Matty? His palm still covers half my cheek, and his thumb strokes the bone. God, he’s beautiful.
I squirm in my seat, putting a palm to wrap around the side of my neck as I put my weight on the table. “I want you to be nicer to your son. Can you do that for me?”
Hunter nods slowly, blue eyes glued to my hazel ones, all traces of playfulness now gone – replaced by something like guilt. “I’m going to do my best.”
I smile and shrug. “That’s all anybody can ask for.”
Hunter crooks a finger at me and when I’m within distance, I get a sweet kiss planted on me. “I love you, Sera Delos.”
“Right back at ya. Now, we’re gonna pick up the little guy or what?”
Hunt shovels more omelette in his mouth, chewing and nodding. “Yeah. You wanna go get dressed and come back? I mean, you can wear the dress you had on last night, I sure loved it.”
“Sure you did. Be back in five minutes.”
When I come back in my nerd-flair, hair tumbling loose around my shoulders – Hunter hooks me close to his body as he stabs the button to bring it down for the elevator.
“You feeling good?” I ask, getting into the tin box where it feels like our story began.
“Yeah. I feel good. You don’t have to check all the time. I’ll let you know when I’m good or bad, alright?”
I nod. I mean, who likes being nagged about anything, let alone their health? “Sorry.”
Hunter squeezes around my ribs, like what I did wasn’t a huge deal. “You don’t have to apologize. It’s just an adjustment for you and for me.”
I nod, snuggle closer into his side and when we get to the basement, I smile and settle myself on the passenger side. Thirty minutes later, we’re in front of the palace. We don’t even park and I barely have my seat-belt off before Matty is running down the stairs as fast as his little legs will take him to collide into my lower half, hugging me tight.
“Sera! Sera, Sera! I missed you!” He squeezes my thighs with his little-boy strength, which is considerable, if I do say so myself.Someone’s been eating spinach. His chin goes into my quad, and that black halo of hair surrounds his head, as he stares up at me. “Why did you go away? Did I do something wrong?”
Nobody said this was going to be easy, especially with a child involved.
I unwind his arms from me and crouch down low, staring into his beautiful face. “Of course not! Did somebody tell you that?”
He shakes his head after a moment’s hesitation. My money’s on the Duchess.
“Your Dad and I had a fight. It had nothing to do with you, little buddy. I still love you, and I always will.” Hunter’s hand touches my shoulder, as he crouches down beside me.
Oh, shit. Here we go.
“Matty-kid,” Hunt says, using a nickname I’ve never heard before. “how was your visit?”
“Good, Daddy. Eddie says hi.” Hunter and I both look up the stairs and see Eddie standing in the doorway waving manically. My gut hollows out in that awful feeling that means something bad’s about to happen.
Yep. Aly walks out the door, all smiles and hip swaying as she walks down the stairs towards us.
I growl like a lioness, protecting what’s mine. This ends here and now. For good.
I stand up, and grab Matty’s hand. I smile down at him when he squeezes my grip, and the three of us march up the stairs, completely ignoring Alysha. Once inside, I hear her come in behind us, but I’m too occupied trying to find where the Duchess has gotten to to really notice.
“Ms. MacLaine?” I call into the empty entryway. Nope, she’s not on the grand fraking staircase. Not even coming out of the kitchen.
“Hunter, baby, how are you?” Aly says from behind me.
I am this close from clawing her eyes out. Her skinny ass is probably so weak, I’d break her with one good punch. If she is even touching him right now, I’m going to go ninja turtle her ass and end this with violence instead of words.
Ah, there’s the Duchess, waltzing through another door to my right that might lead into a sitting room, or whatever these giant houses call a living room to impress other people. Burberry perfume assaults my nostrils and I sneeze. Hunter’s arm comes around my shoulders. I keep getting jostled as I see Hunter pushing Aly away, until Eddie steps in and holds her back. Good man.
“Yes?” Jesus, is it even possible for that one word to sound bitchy? The Duchess can do it.
“I want to have a word with you.”
A placating smile gets plastered to her lips, and she holds her hands together as if in prayer. “Dear, I don’t know who you think you are, but you are not welcome here as anything more than the hired help,” she says, ice dripping from each word. I half expect my breath to frost as I start to sputter.
What the fuck? Hired help – me?
“Mom-” I shush Hunter, and ignore the rest of our little group.
“I’m going to pretend that you didn’t say that.” Hunter kisses my temple, and my anger dissipates only a little. “I’m only going to say this once, and you’re going to listen. Hunter and I, we’re together. Deal with it. You try and foist Red on him again, you and I will have more than words. You understand?”
My jaw cracks as I try to speak through clenched teeth.
“You’ve made a giant mistake cutting Hunter out of your will. For what? Wanting a life of love for him and his kid? What is wrong with you? Can’t you see? You surround yourself with beautiful, expensive things but are you happy?
“And trying to buy off Aly’s affection for your grandson by an arranged marriage? What fraking century are you living in? Hunter is mine now, and nothing you do or say is going to change that. Matty’s mine, too. And if you ever want to see your grandson again, you better change your attitude, or you’re going to be one lonely bitch for the rest of your miserable life.”
Crickets.
Then, “Bad word! Sera, said a bad word!” Matty jumps up and down at my side, doing a little dance for the quarter he’s going to get later. God, I love this kid.
The Duchess stares at Hunter, and I feel him draw himself up to his full height. And a considerable height it is. “Are you going to let her talk to your mother that way?”
“Fuck that. I know Matty, just gimme a second.” The kid’s victory dance stops immediately at his Dad’s tone. “You cut me out of your will. I’m alone, just like I’ve been since I was diagnosed. And that’s fine, Mom. You made your choice, and now I’m making mine. You’ll never see us again.”
Hunter tugs on my shoulders, and we’re headed outside, Matty unusually quiet. Just in time to be stopped by Aly’s she-claws wrapped around my man’s bicep.
I’ve been possessed by Xena: Warrior Princess ‘cause I’m pulling out of Hunter’s arm around my shoulders and letting go of Matty’s hand and stalking towards her. I don’t care if she’s got three inches of height on me and two cup sizes in the boob department – I will knock her the fuck out.
“Let go of him. Now.”
Aly sneers at me, turning her pretty features and twisting them into something ugly. She now looks like a harpy. “Bitch, what makes you think a man like that would want you when he can have me?”
I can’t answer. I’ve asked myself these kinds of questions many, many times. The truth is, the doubt will always be there, and I’ll need my bestie to talk me off that ledge when I need it. It’s going to take time, to be fully confident in myself, but I’ve already starting believing Hunter and what he feels for me is real.
Now I’m actually living, all thanks to the big bastard next door whose sugar dropped that day and I had to drive him to the hospital. Hunter MacLaine hasn’t erased all my doubts and fears, but he’s made the voices quieter, and if they sneak in and whisper in my ear, I know Hunter will be there to kiss them away.
So I do the thing that seems to be my back-up plan when people say mean things to me. I let my right fist fly forward and impact with her nose with a nice crunch.
“You fucking bitch!” Aly shrieks, covering her nose with her hands, but blood still seeps through her fingers. A hundred points to Gryffindor!
“Come near my family again, and I’ll make sure a broken nose is the least of your worries. You get me?” I’ve never heard myself sound like this before, so menacing and dangerous. My inner badass isn’t so inner anymore. Yes.
“You fucking whore! I’m going to fucking kill you!” I ignore her, and wiggle my fingers once I turn back to Matty. The kid gets it, placing his hand in mine, and I tow him down the stairs, Hunter behind us.
I strap Matty in his car-seat and get a sloppy kiss on my cheek. When I close his door, Hunter hauls me back into his body. Matty’s head swivels toward us, looking through the window.
“That was fucking awesome. A little more practice and you’ll have a meaner right hook than Rocky Balboa,” he laughs in my ear.
“I’m more badass than Rocky Balboa any day of the week.”
Hunter laughs and lets me go, only to open my door for me. “Yeah, baby. You are.”
We’re at Tripoli again, and I’m popping back calamari like this is the last squid mankind will ever find in the ocean. Hunter checks his sugar discreetly under the table, and I watch out of my periphery as his glucometer lights up and starts its five second countdown. I pass Hunter a napkin to wipe the blood off his finger, and I get a smile in return.
We both wait for the number to be displayed, and I lean in and kiss his cheek when he’s at a ten. Matty runs to us from the dance-floor having danced his little bon-bon off with Katie who’s taken off her stilettos to twist and shout with him. His cheeks are flushed red, and if I didn’t know any better, I think he just told Katie that he’s going to marry her when he gets to the age of seven (which is big to a little guy of almost-five). I watched him painstakingly wrap a napkin into a ring and place it on the correct finger - to his mind, a done deal.
Josh and Tommy are trailing behind the line of shoulder-to-shoulder dancing where Alex and Eli are leading, doing the zorba and trying to keep up with the increasing beats. I expect total meltdown in three point six seconds. Teresa joins in, her huge wedding gown getting caught between everyone’s legs as the group goes round and round in time with the music.
“Daddy, Daddy! Can I have a piece of cake? Pleaseeeeeeeeeee?”
Hunter shakes his head and ruffles the little guy’s hair. He looks exceptionally adorable with a little shirt and red tie (his new favourite color), and slacks. And I can’t even believe he’s started calling me Mom. Terrifying and wonderful at the same time.
“I’ll get you something good, okay?” I tell him, and get an angelic smile as a reward. He scampers off for some more dancing, and I’m hoping all that exercise is going to keep his sugars level before bed tonight. I call the waiter over and ask for some vanilla gelato, and instruct for only one scoop.
“You spoil him, you know,” Hunter says, grabbing my hand and keeping it in both of his.
“You know you guys are allowed to cheat like the rest of us with special considerations. I don’t want him to feel like he’s missing anything.” I watch Matty get into the rhythm of a throwback of Macklemore’s Thrift Shop, and watch him look at us in shock when the words ‘motherfucker’ come out of the speakers. Priceless.
“He’s going to have to learn that there are limits, baby. You know that.”
I look at Hunter, and smile at him, but it doesn’t reach my eyes. “I know. When that day comes, a little piece of me is going to die.”
Hunter only nods, but the way he holds my hand, I know he understands what I mean.
Oh, there are days when we fight and I want to claw his eyes out, and I’m sure he wants to throttle me, or shake some sense into me. But my badass superhero pictures are on his wall, and his artwork is on our bedroom wall, and I look at that sketch of myself he drew a year ago now. A lot has changed since then, and a lot hasn’t. A work in progress, as most things in life are.
And I’m finally okay with that. I’m not always going to have the answers, and I’m not always going to be right. There is no black and white, and the shades of grey are confusing as frak, too. What I do know is that I have Matty and Hunter to look after me as much as I look after them.
I have a wonderful group of friends with me today, laughing and butchering the Greek music with syllables they shout out that are supposed to sound like the lyrics. Hunter’s sugars are stable enough that if he grabs something to eat right now, we can dance for the next hour. I keep an eye on Matty, until he catches my eye and I wave him over to eat his gelato. He doesn’t complain or gripe but wolfs it down as much as a four year old can, getting approximately sixty-five percent of it on his clothes, before scampering off to try his hand at break-dancing.
“I’m still having a hard time believing he’s gonna be five in a couple of weeks.” Hunt says, leaning back in his chair and pulling me closer so I can sit on his lap – one of my favourite places to be. “He’s looking like Jules less and less every fucking day.”
I lean close with a hand over his heart, and settle my weight into his side.
“You know, a wise man once said: ‘Things we lose have a way of coming back to us in the end, if not always in the way we expect.’ Albus Dumbledore, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.”
Hunter’s quiet for a time, until I feel his lips at my temple, and when I look at him, his blue eyes are bright. “I miss her, every fucking day.”
“I know, Hunt. I know.”
He pulls me closer and kisses me, sweet and soft. “I love you, Sera.”
I smile, because I’ve always, always wanted to use this line. “I know.” And I start laughing, ruining the serious moment.
“What? What just happened?” Hunter asks, staring up at me all confused.
“You’re going to learn about the Jedi code soon enough, Hunter mou. And we’re going to violate it night after night.”
He smiles, eyes crinkling. “Do we want to violate the Jedi code?”
“Mmmm. Yes. Yes we do.”
Hollering comes from the dance floor, Matty somehow being the loudest, using his whole body to get into the authority of his voice. We’re being called onto the dance floor, and I get up somewhat reluctantly and pull Hunter with me.
“I’m gonna suck at this,” he says, a grimace on his face.
“Greek dancing is a rite of passage. Just follow my lead and you’ll be alright. No one’s judging you, okay? You can do this.”
My favourite Greek song in the entire world blasts over the speakers and I lead the circle, even pausing mid-step for Katie to stuff a napkin in my hand that I whip around in the air, taking small steps since I wasn’t allowed to wear Converse tonight.
Time passes and finally I’m allowed to dance a slow song with my man.
Hunter holds me close to his body, big hands building that fire in me again and again, his sweet smile turning my heart over and making me forget whatever crap happened that day.
“I tol
d you I love you, right?”
I nod. “Minutes ago, Hunt.”
He nods, eyes faraway like he’s thinking about something that could’ve happened. When his eyes come back to me they’re so blue, so bright that I didn’t know how I couldn’t see it, the depth of his love for me.
“Thanks for saying yes, baby,” he says, the fingers of the hand holding my hand stroking over the black diamond (for real this time) he got me when he proposed.
I smile at him, and wrap my arm more firmly around his shoulders. “Thanks for asking, Superman. I love you, you know?”
Inside, my nerdy heart is beating fast and I can’t wait to hear his next words.
“I know, baby. I know.”
Fin
About the Nerdy Author
C.M. Kars lives in Montreal, Quebec where they speak French and say more than voulez-vous coucher avec moi ce soir? (I didn’t just ask you that, I was just trying to make a point).
Never Been Kissed is her debut novel, and she really hopes you like it, or may the Nerd Gods smite you in your sleep. No, really, she thinks you’re lovely, and thanks you for reading her book.
Sera and Hunter’s story doesn’t end here! You can catch them both in Never Been Loved, Never Been Nerdy and Never Been Wanted all coming to a digital bookstore near you!
You know what to do now, right?
Tell a friend!
Only one nerdy shirt was harmed in the writing of this novel (I am burdened with glorious purpose), but thank Harry Potter that coffee washes right out.
COPYRIGHT
Never Been Kissed
Copyright: Catherine Karelis
Published: May 6, 2014
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in retrieval system, copied in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise transmitted without written permission from the publisher. You must not circulate this book in any format.
