The Game

by Natalie Clarke

  “Love is a risk. It’s amazing but it can be heart breaking at times, and yet it’s the most wonderful thing in the world. It’s the scariest thing you could ever do, letting someone into your heart and trusting them with it, trusting them not to break it. Being able to love someone takes bravery, and strength. Love makes you do things you never thought you could do. It changes you and brings out the best, and sometimes the worst in you, love is the biggest risk you can take. For me, life without love isn’t worth living. The question is, is she worth the risk?”

  I take a moment to process what my father has said.

  “Yes. She is.”

  He claps me on the back.

  I smile. “When the fuck did you become so philosophical?”

  His head falls back in laughter. “What are you talking about? I’ve always been this wise,” he jokes.

  I join in with his laughter.

  “I’m proud of you, son.” He wraps his arm around my shoulder, bringing me into a hug.

  “Thanks, dad.”

  Chapter 24

  Hayley

  The sound of my phone buzzing next to my head jolts me awake. I roll over groggily and pick it up, it’s two am, there’s a text.

  Hey, sorry about leaving so suddenly earlier, it wasn’t because of you. I was wondering if you wanted to come for dinner and meet my family on Saturday night, they’d love to meet you. I’ll call you tomorrow and you can let me know. – K xx

  My heart jumps as I read it. The way he left earlier had me worried, it was so sudden.

  Rather than wait, I call him almost immediately after I got the text, he answers on the second ring.

  “Hey.”

  “Hi. Is everything alright? You left pretty quickly.”

  “Yeah, everything’s fine, nothing for you to worry about. You okay?”

  “Yeah, I thought I’d just call you now and tell you that I’d love to come for dinner.”

  “Great. I’ll pick you up at six thirty from Gwen’s? My parents don’t live in the city so it’s about an hour drive.”

  “My shift ends at five, so that’s perfect.”

  “I’ll see you then, Oh, pack an overnight bag, we’re spending the night there.”

  “Okay, I’ll see you then. Goodnight.”

  I put my phone down and roll back over as sleep drags me back in.

  ∞∞∞

  “These are cute!” Gwen skips over to a rack of skimpy underwear in an array of different colours. She picks up a red lace thong. “How about this?”

  I snagged the early shift at work as Shannon called in sick, meaning I finished early. I happened to mention to Gwen about shopping for new underwear, partly for myself but mainly for Kyle and she insisted she come along to help. I’ve never been in the situation where I’ve had to consider what underwear to wear, it’s not like anyone was going to see them, only now there was. The truth is, I want to look good for Kyle, I want to make him happy and surprise him.

  I cringe. “Absolutely not!”

  “Why not? It's perfect and super-hot, Kyle will love them.”

  “That’s not underwear, that’s dental floss. I mean look at it, it’s barely there, and they want…” I snatch them out of her hands and turn over the price tag. My eyes bulge and I almost choke. “…thirty dollars! Are they for real?”

  “Well, when it comes to sex…”

  I roll my eyes. “Let’s move on.”

  She huffs.

  I put the piece of string that is meant to pass for a thong back where she found it and pull her along with me.

  We move on to another store, and pick out a few new outfits, I find a new dress, that I plan to wear for dinner with Kyle’s parents on Saturday. We shop for shoes and accessories before heading for the lingerie section. My fingers trail over the delicate lace and silks that hang on the racks.

  “Hey, think I might get myself one of these.” I look over at her where she waves a bright pink, vibrator with ripples that run down the entire length over her head. I shake my head, breaking into a laugh.

  My fingers land on a pair of black lace panties with silk panels down the center and a strip of lace around the waistband. “What about this?”

  Gwen joins me, peering over my shoulder. “They’re cute, I guess, prefer the red ones from the other store though.”

  “Kyle’s favourite colour is black.”

  “Then they’re perfect!”

  I grab a pair of the black ones my size and find some other pairs that I like, along with bras to match. I thought Gwen was joking when she said she was going to buy the vibrator, turns out she was dead serious.

  We walk up the counter to pay, I go first. When Gwen comes to pay for her items, the lady looks at us with a slight grin on her face. She’s slim and looks to be in her early-forties, short brown hair, with thick round glasses. She looks more like someone who would work in a library rather than the lingerie department of a store. My cheeks flame red, they feel like they are on fire. The lady on the desk passes Gwen her bag and her receipt.

  “Enjoy your day,” she says, politely.

  “Oh, I intend to, thoroughly,” Gwen replies, shaking the bag containing her vibrator, giving the lady a mischievous grin and a wink to go with it.

  The lady’s face falters slightly, a small embarrassed smile works its way across her mouth, her cheeks turning a bright shade of pink.

  I fight to hold back my laughter as we walk out of the store. “I can’t believe you just did that,” I snicker.

  “I should have bought her one, did you see her, looks like she needs to loosen up a little herself. She works in a lingerie shop for crying out loud, she needs to stop being such a prude” she laughs.

  Chapter 25

  Hayley

  “Stop stressing. You look beautiful,” Kyle reassures as I adjust my dress nervously as we make our way up to the front door of Kyle’s parents' house.

  The term 'house' is an understatement, it’s more like a mansion. It’s situated in one of the most prestigious areas on Staten Island overlooking the ocean. The driveway is wide and open, lined with hedges with a huge tall water fountain made of stone in the middle. It’s two stories high with two-tone brickwork.

  “I’m just nervous, I’ve never done the whole 'meet the parents’ thing.”

  He stops and turns, encasing me in his arms, placing a tender kiss to my forehead. “They're going to love you. You have nothing to worry about.”

  “Okay.” I take a deep breath and offer an anxious smile. I bring him in for another kiss, placing a hand on his cheek, a light dusting of stubble covers his face. “I really like this,” I say, running my thumb over the short, sharp stubble.

  He chuckles and leans in close to my ear. “You’re going to like it even more when my head is between your legs tonight,” he whispers. The mental image sends jolts of desire straight to my core. “Come on.” He takes my hand and we head into the house.

  Once we are inside, my mouth falls agape. The huge open hallway is decorated in a pale grey, the living room on my left, and a huge winding spiral staircase off to the right. Kyle places our bags down next to the small sideboard to my left, a huge fresh bouquet of every variety of flowers spilling out of the vase, the sweet smell wafting into my nose. Kyle takes my hand and leads us into the living room where Luke and his parents sit waiting for us. The living room too is grey and white, it’s not overly huge giving it a cosy, warm feeling as the late evening sun spills into the room. The furniture is placed around an antique oak coffee table just in front of the fire.

  Kyle’s mother stands as we enter the room, her eyes light up as she gives us a wide smile. She looks mid-to-late forties with deep red hair that is twisted into a bun at the back of her head. She wears a deep green dress that compliments her hair perfectly. She’s about the same height as me and has curves that any woman would kill for. She is the embodiment of perfection. Without a doubt, any woman would kill to look like her when they reach her age. Although she is Kyle's biological a
unt, the resemblance is still there.

  Kyle’s father stands next to his wife. He is tall, around six foot three. He is well built and very attractive for a man his age. His hair short cropped hair, the ends turning silver, a light beard covers his face. He’s dressed in a crisp white button-down shirt and black pants.

  “Mom, dad, this is Hayley.” He looks down and smiles at me. “Hayley, this is my mom, Ellen, and my dad, Nathaniel,” Kyle introduces. “Luke, you’ve already met.”

  His mom walks over to me with a kind smile. She reaches out to me, embracing me. “It is so lovely to meet you, Hayley, welcome to our home.”

  “Oh, you too. Thank you for having me, Mrs King.”

  “You’re more than welcome, darling, and please, call me Ellen.”

  Kyle’s dad joins his wife, taking my hand and leaning in to kiss me on the cheek. “We’re so glad to have you.”

  “Thank you.”

  “Nice to see you again, Hayley,” Luke says as he makes his way over to us, pulling me into a hug.

  “Yeah, you too, Luke.” Luke holds me against him for a while longer, not seeming to want to let go any time soon.

  Kyle coughs. “Okay, that’s enough, hands off my girl, brother.”

  “Just being polite, Hayley, babe, back me up here,” he says with a mischievous grin, giving me a wink, causing me to giggle.

  “Don’t push it, man,” Kyle warns playfully, shoving his shoulder playfully.

  Luke squares up, his hands balling into fists as he bounces on his feet, dancing around Kyle, a huge mischievous grin on his face. “You want a piece of me, bro? Huh?”

  Kyle knocks Luke’s raised fists away, slapping him on the head gently before pulling him into a hug, one arm wrapped around Luke’s neck, his lips stretched into a huge smile.

  I love seeing him like this. So carefree and natural, it’s so unlike him.

  “Come on you two, dinner is almost ready,” his mom announces. She turns to me and links her arm through mine, guiding me alongside her into the dining room.

  We take our seats at the table, Kyle taking a seat next to me, his father at the head of the table and Luke opposite me. His mom comes into the room carrying plates and trays full of food, setting them down in the center of the table in front of us before taking her seat at the other end of the table opposite her husband.

  “All of you, help yourselves,” his mother says.

  We pass around plates full of food, steak, roasted vegetables, and potatoes before we begin eating.

  “So, what do you do Hayley?” Ellen asks.

  “I work at my uncle's diner in Queens. It’s not my dream job, but I enjoy it.”

  “Did you attend college?”

  “I had planned to, but, um, my mom... she died, and I didn’t end up going.”

  I feel Kyle place his hand on top of my leg under the table, squeezing, comfortingly.

  “I am so sorry to hear that," she says. "What would you have studied, had you gone?”

  “To be honest, I’m not really sure, whenever I’ve thought about it, I’ve always seen myself as a teacher, like a kindergarten teacher, or a child counselor or something, something with children.”

  “I run a charity to help underprivileged children. You’re more than welcome to help out, anytime."

  “That sounds great, thank you.”

  We finish eating dinner and I follow Ellen into the kitchen with the dishes after insisting I help. We load the dishwasher and begin cleaning down the kitchen.

  “You don’t realise how much it means to have you here,” she says. “It makes Nathaniel and I so happy to see that Kyle has found you.”

  “I’m happy I found him too. I never thought I'd find anything like this.”

  She turns her body to me, leaning her hip against the countertop. “You know, in all his twenty-six years, Kyle has not once brought a girl home to meet us.”

  “What?” I gasp. “How is that possible?”

  “He obviously didn’t think any of them were worthy of meeting us.”

  Tears burn the backs of my eyes.

  I mean something to him. He’s never brought anyone home. I’m the first girl they have ever been introduced to as Kyle’s girlfriend.

  “You’re in love with him, aren’t you?” she asks.

  A tear trickles down my cheek as I nod.

  “Oh, sweetheart.” She wraps her arms around me and lets me cry softly into her shoulder.

  “Everything okay in here?” Kyle asks with a worried look, as he rounds the corner into the kitchen, seeing me crying in his mother’s arms.

  Ellen releases me and I wipe my eyes as discreetly as I can.

  I face him and smile. “Yeah, of course.”

  Kyle doesn’t seem convinced.

  “Hayley, would you like dessert?” Ellen asks.

  “Thank you, but no. After the meal you cooked, I don’t think I’ll be eating for a week,” I joke.

  “Okay, honey. I’ll leave you two to it. Oh, did you bring your bags in with you?"

  “Yeah, they’re by the front door,” Kyle replies.

  “I’ll go and take them to your room for you,” she says before she smiles at the both of us before leaving the kitchen.

  Kyle steps towards me, pinning me between him and the counter. He leans his body into mine as takes my face in his hands, looking down at me, his forehead resting against mine. “Are you sure you’re alright?”

  “I’m perfect. Thank you for bringing me to meet them, they’re lovely.” I place my hand on his waist and reach up on my toes and kiss him lightly on the lips.

  “I told you they’d love you. And I'm happy you're here too,” he says. “What was all that with my mom? Why were you crying, did she say something to you?” He frowns in concern.

  “No, it’s nothing like that.” I shake my head. “She told me that you’ve never brought anyone home to meet them. Is that true?”

  He sighs softly. “Yeah.”

  “Why?”

  “Because I never wanted them to meet anyone. None of those girls ever meant anything to me, not like you do.” He cups my face in the palm of his hand. “Remember when you asked me about my tattoo, about what the branches represent, and I said they represent people that mean something to me?”

  I nod.

  “The last one represents you.”

  I capture my mouth with his, our lips fusing together. He pins me back against the counter with his hips as his fingers wind their way into my hair to deepen the kiss.

  "You're the one I've been waiting for," he says against my lips. He angles my face up to give him better access as his tongue slips into my mouth, tasting me.

  My hands roam his hard-muscled chest, I can feel of his heart beating as wildly as my own.

  I break off the kiss, catching my breath. “Come on, if we don’t go back soon, they'll think we’ve ran out on them to go have sex.”

  “That doesn’t sound like a bad idea,” he replies slyly, his hand snakes around and squeezes my ass, pressing me up against his growing erection.

  I push against him playfully, laughing.

  ∞∞∞

  I sit next to Kyle on the couch, snuggled against his side as we sit around the fire while soft classical music plays from the record player in the corner of the room, his family telling me stories from when Kyle was a little boy.

  “You should have seen him, cutest kid you ever saw,” his dad gushes.

  I look up at Kyle’s face, his cheeks glowing ever so slightly.

  “Hold that thought.” Ellen jumps up from her chair and heads over to the sideboard. She returns a few moments later with a photo album.

  “Oh no, mom, you really don’t have to do this. Hayley doesn’t want to see some snotty nosed kid, knee deep in a mud puddle when he was seven.”

  “Yes, I do!” I say laughing. I unwind myself form Kyle’s hold and make my way over to Ellen's seat, perching on the arm of her chair, peering over the album.

  Ellen laughs softly, poin
ting to one of the photos. “I forgot about this one. This is when Kyle was five, he was always so inquisitive growing up, he climbed up a tree at the side of the house and got stuck. Nathaniel had to climb up to reach him and he mis stepped and fell to the ground,” she explains, chuckling.

  “That hurt, and there you were with your camera snapping photos rather than helping your poor, injured husband.”