by Kylie Walker
Rachel didn’t answer. Drawing herself back from me, she allowed her father a path. After three dramatic strides, he stood in front of me. His lips were mere inches from mine. I could inhale the scent of him, and it was intoxicating. My lips began to shake, anticipating his kiss. He drew his hands to my shoulders, touching the soft skin of my neck, and then exhaled gruffly.
“I wasn’t sure I would ever see you again,” he said. “And I think we both realized that the arrangement simply wouldn’t work for us.”
A tentative smile crept around my cheeks. I waited, peering up at him, as he leaned forward and kissed me. The kiss was firm, powerful, an act of his ownership over me. He’d known, all along, that I would wait for him. And now he’d come back for me. I couldn’t imagine it any other way.
As he broke the kiss, he peered into my eyes. Rachel made a face to the side, grimacing, but accepting it.
“I always knew you guys were in love,” she said, kicking her foot through the air. “Daddy was just being stubborn about it.”
Tyler lifted my hands to his mouth, kissing the tips of my fingers. “Will you come with us, Quinn?” he asked me, speaking directly to my broken heart. “I know that I’ve hurt you. I know that you have no reason to trust me. But Rachel and I want to take care of you, the way you’ve taken care of us. Give me a chance.”
I didn’t hesitate. With tears rushing down my cheeks, I nodded, then kissed him again—feeling a gasp escape my lips. Of course, I would go with them. I would follow them as long as they wanted me. I fit with them like a glove, an extension of their once-broken family. Together, we would heal.
Together, we would face the world.
Epilogue
Two months later, I sat perched on the San Francisco apartment balcony, sipping a glass of soda. Indoors, I could hear Rachel practicing the piano, a new hobby of hers, which she’d taken to overzealously—already learning the scales to a scientific and mathematical level. Tyler was indoors, stirring a November stew, allowing smells to waft through the rest of the house. I was home. I felt happier than I’d ever been in my life. And for some reason, it was easy.
Everett had been overjoyed when I’d told him I needed to move on, telling him I was heading to San Francisco for ‘love.’ Scraping his fingers over his keyboard, he set up an interview between the heads of a Berkeley lab and I, telling me they were working on the same sort of things I was passionate about. “But they do it with taco breaks by the water,” Everett said, rolling his eyes and giving me an honest smile. “If you don’t get the job, I’ll be very, very surprised.”
It hadn’t taken me long to pack my few things and move out west, with Randy keeping me company. Tyler and Rachel had to return to San Francisco after a particularly wonderful weekend back in Raleigh—romantic dinners, fun experiments that Rachel and I concocted in the kitchen, and long walks with Randy—leaving me to draw a final line in the sand between the east coast and I and to start a new life once again.
As for Tyler, his career in San Francisco was taking off. As a partner of the firm (and one of the hottest in the industry), he’d been featured on nearly every tech magazine cover around the globe. When we went out to dinner, we were always side-eyed. I’d once heard someone whisper, “There he is with his new, blonde bimbo girlfriend. These guys. They always have the hottest women.” To this, his companion had replied, “I heard she’s a sleep scientist.”
Tyler appeared in the doorway of the balcony, his dark eyes on mine. It always seemed we could communicate so much, with just a glance. Just a touch. It was just like how they described soul mates; something beyond intimacy.
“The stew’s almost ready,” he said. Reaching forward, he wrapped his firm arms around my waist and inhaled the smell of my neck, rolling his lips across my skin. “When Rachel goes to her friend’s after dinner, I think I might have an idea of what we could do,” he murmured.
“Ha,” I said, turning around in his arms and lacing mine around his neck. My heart was hammering against my ribcage. “You know, standing out here watching the world go by, it occurred to me that this is the two-month anniversary of me being in San Francisco.”
“Think you’ll stick around for good?” he asked, laughing.
“Still not sure,” I said with a wink.
Indoors, Rachel pressed a wrong note, then stopped playing. Tyler grinned, sharing this intimate moment with me. “She’s going to be furious with herself.”
“She’s just like me in that way. Too hard on herself.”
“You shouldn’t be. You’re perfect,” he whispered, kissing my ear.
The three of us met at the dining room table a few minutes later, talking and eating stew with potatoes and carrots—Tyler’s mother’s recipe. San Francisco had become windy in early November, making us zip our jackets to our chins and shiver as we walked around the city. To us, San Francisco presented something new and enticing every single day, something to burst out and explore, and it had brought us closer together as a family. These were words that Tyler had said once, which sent a chill of happiness up and down my spine. A family, to replace all the terror of being alone.
Rachel ate half of her stew before jumping up, kissing me on the cheek and saying, “I have to run. Melissa and I have to set up the experiment before seven-thirty, or else we won’t have time to finish it before bedtime.”
“We’ll walk you,” Tyler said, scooting his chair back.
“Don’t be silly, Daddy,” Rachel said. “Melissa lives across the street. You can literally see her apartment from here. Lighten up!”
I gave Tyler a slight smirk, shrugging. “I think she can make it across the street by herself. She’s almost eleven, don’t you know.”
“Oh right. The big birthday’s coming up, isn’t it?” Tyler collected our bowls and added them to the sink, giving Rachel a final wave. “Just call if you’re running late, okay?”
When the door clicked closed, I found myself standing at the kitchen sink, beside Tyler. The heat of our bodies enveloped us, bringing us closer. In this private moment, he eased his lips over mine, hungry, and then pressed me against the side counter. I giggled, lifting myself up on the countertop. With my legs wrapped tightly around his thick, six-pack waist, he began to unbutton my dress.
“Hard day at the office, baby?” I asked him, kissing his ear, the slight sweat of his brow.
“I’ve been dreaming about your body all day.”
As he eased his hands across the softness of my breasts, molding his palms across my lower stomach—sinking in, I pressed my lips into a smile.
“What is it?” he asked, sensing something was different. “You look like you’re keeping a secret. I can tell by the look in your eyes.”
Leaning forward, I whispered into his ear—the news I’d known, since the previous week, but had kept to myself, rolling it over and over in my mind.
“I’m pregnant,” I whispered.
The next moment was one I replayed over and over again in my mind. Tyler’s face, wide-eyed, his normally chiseled jaw nearly dropping to the floor. And then, the flurry of activity. His kisses, warm across my cheeks and lips, down my breasts and onto my stomach. He brought my panties to the ground and then placed his hand at the warmth between my legs, still gazing into my eyes. I could feel my pulse, blasting against his fingers.
“Quinn. You’ve made me the happiest man in the world.”
We made love after that, much like the first time. On the kitchen counter, his cock thrusting deep into me, and then in the bedroom, rolling around in our crisp, white sheets, and making each other cry out with pleasure. We had a sense for each other’s bodies now, memorizing skin and muscle and were both already imagining the future. A baby, Rachel as the child’s big sister—eleven years older, and wiser! Along with raising a child in San Francisco, in the tech field, surrounded by such grandeur, such gorgeous natural beauty.
As we began to drift off to sleep in one another’s arms, holding each ot
her tight, we heard Rachel enter the apartment, her keys jangling and her whistle bright. Dressing quickly, we stood, poised at the outside of the door.
“Should we tell her?” I asked, a smile sneaking across my face. “Do you think she’s ready?”
“I think if we don’t tell her, she’d kill us for keeping a secret for so long,” Tyler laughed, sounding mischievous. “Besides. Can you think of anyone more deserving of this news? If it wasn’t for her, we wouldn’t be together. She’s our matchmaker.”
Knowing he was right, I reached up and kissed him again. The air around us smelled of our sex, of our orgasms, leaving our bodies spent and tired and ultimately happy. As we creaked open the door, we found Rachel at the stew pot, eating a carrot, her face bright.
“Hey, you two. What is it?”
“You’ll never guess.”
ASHER
Prologue
Present Day
Asher sat next to his mother’s bed on the floor and listened to the sounds of the ambulance approaching. He had alerted the nurse that his mother was gone and he had called them. Then, he had gone back to his place on the floor and slid his hand back into her frail cold one and held it. He didn’t want her to be alone––not even for a second.
He heard the door slam downstairs before the ambulance was close enough and the sound of heavy feet on the stairs. He braced himself. His father came flying through the door. He looked at Asher with wide eyes. “What did you do?” Asher didn’t answer him. His father came closer and looked down at his wife. His body was suddenly wracked with huge, guffawing sobs. He got between his wife and his son and shoved Asher away from her. Asher could hear the ambulance stopping out front. He didn’t fight his dad. He left the room and left his father to say good-by to his wife. Asher had already said good-bye to his mother––right before he had killed her.
Asher sat in the study downstairs and watched as the paramedics were led up by the nurse. He could hear his dad still crying. A little while later he watched as his mother’s body was brought down on the stretcher and she was wheeled out the door forever. He looked up then at the sinister face of his father. The nurse had left with the ambulance and they were alone. Asher was prepared for his father’s wrath––or at least he thought he was.
“You killed your own mother.” He didn’t raise his voice. He just said it, like it was a fact. He said it like Asher had taken a gun and pressed it to her temple and pulled the trigger. He said it like she hadn’t just suffered with cancer for a year and begged someone to do it. Asher didn’t say anything. He watched his dad walk over to the bar. His father stood there for several seconds and then without warning he swung one large arm and swept all the glass off the top of it, sending bottles and glasses flying, shattering into the walls and floors. “You killed your own fucking mother!” he screamed. Asher still didn’t say anything. His father turned towards him and said, “I want you out of here. I don’t want to see you again. You will have to live with what you did forever––but not here. You are no longer my family. You killed your own mother, my wife and you knew how I felt about it. I want you out! Now! If I see you again, I might be tempted to tell the police what you did.”
Asher wasn’t surprised that his father was angry––but he was shocked that he would threaten to call the police on him. He still didn’t say anything though. He was afraid of what he would say or do if he did. He picked up his keys and as his dad shuffled through the bottles on the floor to find one that still held liquor, Asher walked out the front door.
He sat in his car for a long time trying to decide what to do and where to go. He wanted Mia. She made everything better. He was afraid if he saw her right now though he would confess to what he had done. What would she think of him if she knew what he had done? He started the car and drove towards Dean’s house. He was in town this weekend. Maybe Asher would just get drunk and stay drunk for a couple of days. It seemed to work for his father.
When he got to Dean’s house he found Travis there. As soon as Travis opened the door and saw Asher’s face he said, “Oh fuck.––” Asher nodded and pushed his way through the door.
“Where’s Dean?”
“He had to head back.” Dean Kentworth was Asher and Travis’s best friend. He had graduated last year, but he had only gone a town away for college so he would come back to town to hang out with Asher and Travis on the weekends when he could. He kept his apartment in town and stayed in the dorms when school was in session. Travis and Asher both had keys to it. “Stacey just left and I was going to take off. I can stay, if you want me to.”
Asher went into the kitchen and pulled two beers out of the refrigerator. He tossed one to Travis and twisted the cap off his. He put it to his lips and chugged it. He wasn’t usually a drinker and he didn’t even really like the taste of it––so he put it away fast. Travis sat down at the table and drank his, watching his friend with wary eyes as he downed two or three to each one Travis drank. Asher didn’t talk about his mother, but he could tell by Travis’s demeanour that he had figured out she was gone. He didn’t want to talk about it yet––he couldn’t. He just finished killing her.
He wasn’t sure how many beers later it was, but Dean’s refrigerator ran dry. He looked at Travis who had four or five bottles sitting in front of him and said, “I gotta go.”
He stood up and teetered sideways on his feet, catching himself with his arm against the table. Travis stood up too. “You can’t drive man. You had like…” Travis looked like he was thinking and then he finally said, “Way too fucking many beers.”
“I need some air,” Asher said. He stepped out through the front door and Travis followed him.
“Give me the keys.” he said. “I’ll drive.”
Asher was too drunk to question his friend’s sobriety. He handed him the keys to his Mustang and they both got in the car.––That was the last thing he remembered until he woke up to the sounds of sirens blasting and the face of a person he didn’t know looming over him.
“Hey buddy! Can you hear me?” Asher tried to nod but realized he was strapped down onto something. For a second he panicked and tried to break loose. “It’s okay, that’s for your safety. You were in an accident; you have a head injury, you need to stay still okay? Blink if you can hear me.”
An accident? Asher’s head hurt.––His brain hurt. I had an accident? Where? Where am I? He reached back as far into his memory as he could. He felt a prick in his arm and realized the person who loomed over him was starting an IV.––Oh fuck! He remembered now. His mother was dead––and he had killed her.
The image of his father throwing him out of the house popped into his head. He remembered leaving the house and driving––somewhere. Oh God! Did he go see Mia? His chest hurt and he couldn’t breathe. They were still talking to him but the man’s voice sounded robotic and far away to him as they lifted the gurney and loaded him into the back of the ambulance. From the elevated vantage point he could see the Mustang and it all suddenly came flooding back. Travis had been with him. He had been driving.––He had taken the corner too sharp and they had spun out of control. They had been headed for the tree.––Oh fuck! “M-my fr-friend?” He managed to get out. Why can’t I talk?
The EMT said, “Just relax okay buddy? What’s your name?”
My friend’s name is Travis. Why are you ignoring the question? That’s what he wanted to say, but all of that wouldn’t come out. His head was so jumbled. “My friend! In the car.––Travis…” In a move reminiscent of the one he had just made at home with his mother, the EMT filled a syringe and stuck it into his IV. The last thing he heard him say was, “Relax buddy; we’ll be at the hospital soon.”
Chapter 1
ONE YEAR EARLIER
Mia Halloway walked through the cafeteria at lunchtime on Friday with her completely unappetizing looking tray. She slid into a seat at the table with the rest of the cheer team and said, “Mm...Shepherd’s Pie.” Stacey Stuart laughed and rubbed h
er belly before saying, “Jesus! I wish I would have gone the hot lunch route today.”
Mia looked over in front of her friend. Her turkey sandwich on rye, celery and carrot sticks and peanut butter cup looked almost good enough to steal.
“Yeah, I’ll bet,” Mia said, rolling her eyes.
“Hey did anyone go to Tina Lewis’s party last Saturday?” Jessica Ross, the captain of the cheer squad asked.
Three of the girls nodded. Mia hadn’t gone. She had attended a fundraiser with her parents that her mother was in charge of. She hated those things normally––but Asher Fury had been there, so that one had been worth it. “Why aren’t any of you talking about it?” Jessica asked. That was a good question, Mia thought. Cheerleaders were notorious gossips. Stacey and another girl named Hannah looked at each other and shrugged just as Lauren Hall asked, “What should we be talking about? Freddy and Becca?”
Mia was close enough to Stacey to feel her foot dart over and kick Lauren in the shin. Stacey was giving their other friend an almost imperceptible shake of her head. “What about Freddy and Becca?” Jessica asked. Freddy and Jessica had been ‘together’ since eighth grade. Now that they were seniors, Freddy suddenly thought maybe they should take a break for the rest of the school year and as he had put it, ‘explore other options.’ Jessica was furious about it.
“Oh…um…”
“Spill it!” she ordered the sophomore who suddenly looked like she wished she was anywhere but there.
“I don’t know anything,” Lauren said.
“Was Freddy with Becca?”
“They were talking.––”
“Lauren! Just tell me!” Jessica was one of those girls that everyone in high school wanted to be friends with. She was gorgeous, popular and her father owned a good deal of land in the county so she also had plenty of money. Lauren had become a cheerleader strictly to try and increase her social status. Jessica intimidated the hell out of her.
