“She’s so crabby,” he whined.
“I’m creating life… two at a time, thank you very much,” Paige yelled from the kitchen.
The guys laughed, and I think I might’ve heard her giggle. I wasn’t sure if it was lack of sleep, or if the tension had finally become too heavy to bear, but the room felt lighter as we made our way to the dining table. Their mother had died, but had left behind a brilliant legacy. Her boys were brave, and hard and strong when it mattered most. They couldn’t see it, not yet. As an outsider, the loss was palpable, but they were a family, and it was as if they just needed Liam to get here to remember that.
The guys all talked around their egg-filled forks. Paige had gone all out, even fried up a few peppers and onions into the hash browns. I listened to them talk about their mother, laugh about old stories, and go quiet when darker times were brought up. Even though their father had haunted this house, those darker memories never set them off course as they cleansed themselves through each other’s memories. Paige and I even chimed in a few times with our own accounts. It wasn’t until the plates were emptied that the conversation slowed.
Liam and the guys cleaned off the table, but Paige and I ordered them out of the kitchen. Their voices carried through the house as Paige and I washed and dried the plates.
“How are you feeling?” I asked as I set a pan in the drying rack.
She shrugged her shoulders. “Oh, you know, like a stuffed sausage, but I’ll manage.” She smiled briefly and then it dimmed. “I’m worried about Declan, all of them. She was everything to them. My parents are jerks, completely wrote me off, but I still would feel the pain of their loss, so I can’t imagine…” She let her words trail off and lowered her eyes to the sink.
“He’s got you to lean on,” I said, trying to infuse as much strength into my voice as I could.
“He said… he said he could’ve handled it… could’ve been at peace with it, if she’d had a chance to meet his children.” A tear dripped down her cheek and she quickly wiped it away. “But I told him, she’s with them now, and that when she’s had her fill she’d send them our way.” She huffed out a laugh. “He thinks I’m nuts, but I know it… I know she’s watching over our babies.”
My lips spread into a smile as I nodded.
“Maybe you’re right.” Declan’s deep voice startled me, and Paige’s mouth lifted at the corners as her eyes moved to his.
Declan’s presence overwhelmed the small room. I gave him a smile as I set my rag onto the counter and made my way out of the kitchen, giving them privacy. I followed Liam’s voice down the hall and noticed the basement door was opened. As I descended the stairs, a stale, damp chill puckered the skin on my arms. Liam looked up from the large leather trunk he was sifting through and gave me a small smile. Kieran was rummaging through his own box as I sidled up to Liam and placed my hand on his shoulder. He was sitting cross-legged on the concrete floor with pictures and papers strewn around him.
“What are you guys up to?” I asked as Liam handed me an old picture. It was bent at the edges and colored in sepia. His mother and father smiled back at me as they sat at a bar. They were so young. “She looks happy.”
Liam raised his eyes to mine. “She does.”
I sat next to him on the floor and he gripped my thigh. “You okay?” I whispered.
He shook his head, his dark eyes gleaming. “So much time…” He rifled through a few pictures. “And it doesn’t seem like enough.”
Kieran’s shoes scuffed on the concrete as he stood and Liam leaned forward to look at him. Kieran grabbed a few pictures and then nodded his chin. “I’m heading up. The funeral home is supposed to call me at one.”
Liam’s lips thinned. “Let me know if you need me to talk to them.”
“I can do this.” Kieran didn’t sound so sure. “I can do this,” he said again to himself.
Liam didn’t say a word as Kieran powered up the basement stairs. Once I was sure he was out of earshot I asked, “Is he—”
“Losing his mind… yes. But I’ve got to let him do this. He wants to take responsibility… and I don’t want to hold him back. He’s a grown man, and he needs to start acting like one.” Liam’s tone was fatherly, and I had to bite back my smile. My teeth sank into my lower lip and Liam’s brows dipped.
“He does, the kid’s going to be twenty-seven.”
I held up my hands in surrender. “I didn’t say a thing.” My smile escaped despite my efforts and he frowned.
“We’ve all babied him. And his whole obsession with becoming a priest, my mom fed into that shit. He’s going to be twenty-seven and the guy has no idea what it’s like in the real world. No idea what it’s like to be with a woman… to be a man… what am I supposed to do?” Liam’s voice was low, his temper surfacing, and my humor vanished.
“I think you need to let him be his own person.”
Liam’s jaw stretched into a tight line. “He’s so fucking lost. He goes to bars and talks to chicks and doesn’t follow through. He’s desperate for something and I don’t think he knows what that is. I think the church is his way to hide, and I’m afraid now that Mom is gone, he’s never going to figure out who he is.”
“He’s late to the game. Liam, he’s not lost, he’s just starting.” I raised my hand and slid my fingers through his hair at the nape of his neck.
Liam’s eyes closed. “He can’t stay in this house. He’ll never move forward.” His eyes opened and worry colored his irises. “I want to make it work with you. We’re starting over, too, and having him move in… I’d like to have my own fucking space. It’s selfish, but I’ve got you back and having my kid brother a room away, that shit didn’t work with Declan either.”
The nervous knots in my stomach coiled, flipped, and then coiled again as the words formed on my tongue. “Then move in with me.”
He laughed without mirth. “You’re crazy.”
I rolled my shoulders back, readying myself for the storm as I barked back, “Maybe I am.”
“And what, give Kieran my apartment?”
We’d just begun to mend our relationship, our fear, the walls, they were slowly dissolving. It hadn’t even been twenty-four hours, but Liam had been in my life for eleven years. The three we were apart, compared to the history we shared, were just an insignificant blip on the radar. It was why, no matter how hard I’d tried to run, I’d end up dialing his number every night. It wasn’t until this past year that I actually hit the call button, but it was a truth, my love for him had never died, and his love had called me home.
“Why not?” I leaned in and wrapped my hand around his. “Liam, we were practically living together anyway… and my place, it’s too big, it’s meant for a couple… a family. Give Kieran a clean slate, and give us a chance to build a life. A life we’ve had on pause for three years.”
Liam’s eyes searched mine, and I thought maybe he was looking for a glimmer of doubt. But my eyes were sure. He was the only one I’d ever want. He cupped my right cheek, and his thumb stroked the length of my scar. “I want to build a life with you.”
“Then say yes.”
He placed his lips on my mouth, my cheek, and, when he leaned back, his lips raised into a grin. “Fuck it.”
I laughed. “Is that a yes?”
“I think it is.” He pulled his hand through his hair and let out a rushed breath.
“Don’t look so scared,” I teased, tugging on his hand as I stood.
He rose to his full height, his shoulders broad as he narrowed the gap between us. “It’s always been my turf, my rules… the shop, it’s part of me.”
“You’re not losing the shop, you’ll just have to get up earlier to open it on time.” I smiled and his fingers wove into my hair cradling my head.
Liam’s eyes fell to my mouth. “You’re in this… all the way?”
“I’m in this.”
He slid his other hand into my hair. His full lips were only inches from mine as his rough whisper heated my sk
in, “No fucking around, Princess. No more broken promises… it’s me and you.”
“Always… us.”
His mother stood in the kitchen with her head down simultaneously reading a cookbook and stirring a pan filled with what looked like broth on the stove. She was so much shorter than the young man, and it made him smile to think maybe now, that he’d grown, that he worked hard for her, for his family, that she could think of him as a real man.
“Can I help?” he asked and his mother turned to him with a smile.
“Sure, grab those potatoes…” She nodded her chin toward the right side of the counter. “I’ll need seven of them peeled.”
He washed his hands quickly in the kitchen sink, and the whole time he felt his mother’s eyes on him. He grabbed the potato peeler from the drawer and got to work. He pulled the trash can next to him and popped the lid. He hated peeling potatoes, but he had something on his mind, and he’d deal with the task if it meant he’d have a few minutes to think. He ignored the watchful gaze of his mother for as long as he could, until it became overbearing.
“So, that girl I brought over the other day…”
His mother’s smirk annoyed him. She no doubt figured he’d open up eventually. She had a way of always waiting out his moods. “Kelly? She was very nice.”
“She’s young,” he grumbled.
“Not too much younger than you?”
“No, but she’s still in school.”
His mother shrugged and lowered the heat on the stove. The broth scented the kitchen with bouillon and parsley. “You like her.”
“Maybe.” His mother’s knowing eyes stripped him bare so he lowered his own to the ground.
“What’s twisting in that head of yours? Declan’s the quiet one, not you.” Her lips spread into a smart grin, and the young man chuckled.
“I picked her up from school today, so I could take her to work… and these two ass…” He cringed. “These two guys were sniffing around, and it pissed me off.”
“It’s not hard to piss you off, Liam.” She laughed, but it was soft and not at his expense.
“I shouldn’t care so much. I barely know her.” The muscle in his jaw contracted. He hardly knew her at all, but he’d never felt so attached, never wanted anything more.
“There’s a rare lot of people in this world who get under our skin. No matter what we do, or what they do, we’ll never shake them. If you’re linked, you’re linked, and it’s God’s will.” He rolled his eyes as she continued, “I’m serious. Soulmates, Liam… you can’t turn your back on them.”
He didn’t know if he believed any of that garbage. She was just a girl, and maybe it was because she was so much like him that he couldn’t stop thinking about her. No other girl understood him, but Kelly did, and he’d only hung out with her a couple times.
“She’s going to the dam with her friend and those guys this weekend, and…” He exhaled a long sigh and looked up at his mom. “And they’re rich, you know… they have futures to offer and I’m… just me.”
His mother’s smile vanished, and she took a few steps toward him. “Just you is good enough, it’s better than enough. Liam, your heart is so big, but you cage it. Let her see you, the real you…” She held her hand to his cheek. “And she’ll know how lucky she is.”
The lump in his throat became painful, but, when she dropped her hand, he found his voice. “Maybe I’ll invite myself along.”
His mother’s lips spread wide. “That’s my boy.”
Once Upon a Time
The shop’s open sign blinked a few times before it finally went dark, and I watched Kelly from my station table as she locked the door. The grand opening had worn me out, this whole remodel had, and I wasn’t sure how much damage it had done to Kelly… to us. But as she turned, her long-as-sin legs on display in shorts, her smile couldn’t’ve have looked more proud.
“Day one of Avenues Ink in the bag.” She held up the store keys and jingled them as she walked toward me, swaying those fucking hips side to side.
I chuckled at her sexy little tease, and she tilted her head back, her hair falling in waves around her shoulders as she laughed. She’d stayed for me, for us… for this. I’d built something, this place was mine… ours. The smell of fresh paint didn’t overpower her scent as she moved between my legs. I gripped her hips and pulled her close. “I don’t give a shit that my brothers are in the back, I’ll bend you over this table and we’ll christen the leather.”
Kelly’s cheeks turned almost as red as the new leather table as she placed her hands on my shoulders. “Just because you’re the boss doesn’t mean you’re in charge.” She leaned down, raked my bottom lip through her teeth, and I groaned.
“I’m heading out.” Kieran’s voice broke the mood, and if I didn’t love the kid…
Kelly attempted to pull away, but I turned her at the waist and brought her ass to my lap, her back to my chest. I privately grinned as she wriggled against me.
“Declan already head upstairs?” I asked.
“Yeah. I think today was a lot for him… so many people.” Kieran slipped his hands inside his pockets. “But, this place… Liam, it’s going to be amazing.”
I’d never felt the joy of owning something, shaping it with my own hands. We’d all broken our backs to get this place ready. I’d drained my savings, Kieran put his life on hold, and Declan learned. He learned an entire new canvas, and, fuck, was he good. Kelly leaned back and pushed most of her weight onto my right thigh, meeting me with a huge smile.
“You did it,” she whispered and pressed her lips to my mouth for a quick kiss.
When her eyes found mine again, I didn’t miss the slight shimmer. She’d given up more than any of us, more than she should have. She’d traded her dream for mine.
“We did it,” I corrected.
“I’ll see you tomorrow at eleven.” Kieran’s voice was in a vacuum as I stared at my girl.
I’d made her wait so long. I’d pushed her and stopped her from living her own dream, but still, she sat here, her face filled with love, with fucking loyalty. The sound of the back door closing cracked the surface of our bubble.
I thumbed a piece of Kelly’s dark brown hair, playing with it between my fingers for a few seconds, before I pushed it behind her ear and said, “Thank you.”
Her lips moved in slow motion, her smile brighter than I’d ever fucking seen it. “For what?”
“For today, for every goddamn day.”
“You don’t have to thank me, Liam. You busted your ass for this place, not me,” she said as she ran her fingers through my hair like she always did.
I fought the shudder, the blood pumping through my veins, her sweet breath. I had something to say, and the heat of her body, her touch, it was a distraction. “That’s not what I meant.”
“Okay?” She held the last syllable, her confusion pulling her brows into a knot.
“You stayed,” I said, and her smile dimmed. My chest tightened, that insecurity, that guilt squeezing my fucking heart. I didn’t think, and it wasn’t smooth, but she had to know. “I want to marry you.”
Her face paled, and the hope I’d been feeding all damn day burst into flames.
“Liam, I…” I lowered my eyes to her lap, my jaw working against my molars. She lifted my chin with her thumb and I didn’t fight it. “I-I’m not sure I’m ready for such a big step. I mean, you just opened this place, and I’m still stuck at Handy, maybe give this… us a little time to find new footing. You built this new world, let’s enjoy it for a little while longer.”
I wound my fingers around her wrist and lowered her hand. Her refusal simmering in my gut. She’d stayed, and maybe I was fucking stupid for thinking more of it than I should, but she was it for me, and I didn’t understand how I wasn’t it for her. Why did it fucking matter if we lived here, or California? I’m sure she could find a modeling job here, and if she didn’t… “You don’t have to stay at the gas station, Kelly. You could work here, work for
me.”
“And do what?” She hopped down from my lap, her feet hitting the floor with a loud clap.
“I don’t fucking know. Run the desk, manage the books, model some ink.”
She clenched her jaw. “We’re not ready.”
I was ready.
The good day was slipping through my fingers, she was slipping through my fingers. How long would it be before she wised up and moved the fuck on?
“Forget I said anything.” I held out my arms and folded them around her waist. My temper still loud and clear in my tone.
“I’m not saying no,” she whispered, but the doubt was in each syllable. I stood as she ran her palms and fingernails up my chest until they met behind my neck. She laced her hands together and pressed her body into mine. “I’m only saying not yet.”
I avoided her eyes for as long as I could. I didn’t want to submit to her. She wasn’t saying no, but she sure as shit hadn’t said yes, and that was the only answer I’d expected. She wasn’t ready, and I was.
“You know I love you. It’s not a no, it’s—”
“Not yet,” I interrupted and allowed my eyes to rise, the deep brown of hers consumed my anger.
She’d waited on me, and now it was my turn to wait on her. “So you’re in charge now?” I asked. My smirk lifted the weight of my proposal from her shoulders.
She relaxed as she exhaled a laugh and nodded her head.
“Then tell me what you want, Boss.”
She flipped my buckle and bit her bottom lip as she popped the button of my jeans. “I want you to fuck me on this table.”
She took a step backward and patted the red leather, a sexy grin peeking at the corners of her mouth. I flicked my gaze to the open store front windows and grasped her hips. She let out a playful scream as I lifted her, her thighs gripping my waist as I walked her to the other side of my station, and away from any possible prying eyes. As I set her down onto her feet, our mouths came together with a powerful punch. I let her nails dig into my neck, her teeth rip at my lips as I unbuttoned her shorts, and I let all the feeling dilute the rejection, the hurt.
Kingdom (Avenues Ink Series Book 2) Page 22
