by Love, K. J.
I don’t know how to respond to that, under normal circumstances, he would be completely right. However, last night was anything but normal. I knew she’d be upset, I just tried to push that thought out of my mind. The thought of her sitting there waiting for me and me not showing up. She must think I’m horrible. “Mr…”
“Mr. Brooks. Troy Brooks.”
I take a deep breath. I’m going to have to go through him to be able to even talk to Kayla. How can I prove to this man that I have never even met that I am truly in love with Kayla? Honesty. That’s my only hope.
“Mr. Brooks. I had to help an old friend and my best buddy last night who had gotten themselves drunk and was barely able to stand. If I had left them and something had happened, I never would have been able to look myself in the mirror again. I wanted nothing more than to be there with Kayla. I hate that I hurt her. I’m planning a future with her, Mr. Brooks. I want to spend the rest of my life with her. Last night just couldn’t be helped.
Once I got them settled some things happened that made the situation even worse. So by the time I got things under control, it was past a reasonable hour to call. I felt like I would have woken everyone in your home up and I didn’t think that would be a good thing to do.”
“Umm. You should have called, son. She was really hurt. I think I could have excused a late night call considering the circumstances.”
Okay, he doesn’t sound so mad now. Maybe there is a chance I can still see her today. “Mr. Brooks is there any way you could find it in your heart to allow me to drive to your home today and spend what is left of this weekend with Kayla?”
He’s quiet for a minute. “I don’t know if that would be a good idea. I’m not sure she would even want to see you.”
He has to say yes. Even if she thinks she doesn’t want to see me, I have to try. “Please Sir. I have to see her. If I get there and she doesn’t want anything to do with me I will leave. I promise.”
He makes some grumbling noises and lets out a loud breath. “Before I tell you yes, I want to make some things very clear to you, Mr. McGinnis. If you tell Kayla that you are going to be here, you very well best be here. If you tell her you are going to be here at a certain time, you will not be even a minute late. If you are, you might as well turn around because I will not allow you to see her. I don’t care if you are on our street, one minute late hitting our driveway and you will be turned away. A man never stands a woman up. You will treat her with respect and kindness. Kayla has been through a lot and she deserves nothing less. Did I make myself clear enough?”
One minute. This guy doesn’t play. I can respect that. He’s only looking out for her. It is his house and he is her guardian, I have to abide by his rules. “I couldn’t agree with you more, Sir. Kayla deserves nothing but the best. When I say I am going to be there, I will be there. You have my word.”
“Good. So what time will you be here today?”
I swallow hard. “I know I can’t be late, but is it okay if I’m early?”
I hear a deep laugh come through the phone. “Yes. You may be early in fact, I recommend it. Just don’t be too early.”
Don’t be late. Don’t be too early. My head is spinning. It is ten thirty now. Twelve thirty gives me exactly two hours. “I’m going to say I will be there by one o’clock.”
“I think that’s a good estimation, Mr. McGinnis.”
“Are you going to let Kayla know that I’m coming? And please, call me Blake.”
“I think it would be best if you just show up. I have a feeling if I tell her you're coming she may say she doesn’t want to see you. Besides, if you are late you’re not going to get to see her anyway.” He says with a laugh.
“I can’t thank you enough, Mr. Brooks. I’ll be there by one without a doubt. Nothing will keep me away today.”
I grab my stuff, lock the apartment door and run to my truck. I have two hours to figure out what I’m going to say to her. If Mr. Brooks thinks that she isn’t going to be pleased to see me, then I’m going to have my work cut out for me. Then add the stress of not being able to see her if I’m even one minute late. I pray there are no accidents or traffic backups.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Kayla
I stretch and roll over barely opening my eyes, trying to avoid the sun that is now glaring in my window. Last night comes crashing back to me. All of the hurt makes my chest tight, making it hard to breathe. I can’t dwell on this. If he doesn’t want me, then so be it. I survived before him and I’ll survive after.
It’s just that colors seemed brighter and the days were sweeter when I had the thought of him, because honestly, he was never really mine. Don’t get depressed, you can’t let it pull you down. Oh God, I’m not going to survive this. I’m just kidding myself. Why did he have to be such a good actor? Why did I have to fall for him? He played with my heart and now it’s broken more than ever. I want to rip it out of my chest so this pain will go away.
It’s twelve o’clock already. I can’t believe they let me sleep this late. Then I remember that I locked the door last night. I decide a day by the water will be therapeutic so I grab my robe and head to the bathroom to shower. Yes, I’m that girl. The one who showers before I go anywhere even if it’s to lay in the sun.
Going back into my room, I walk over to my dresser and dig out my pink and black polka dot string bikini and my cut off blue jean short shorts. I don’t bother drying my hair, it’s going to get wet anyway. I slip my bikini bottoms on and then tie my top the best I can. It’s hard to get it straight by myself. Normally, I have Tessa make sure it’s tied straight before I go out, but I don’t even know if she is home. I shimmy into my shorts and walk over to get a hair tie for my hair. Pulling my hair up into pony tail, I grab my sunscreen, sunglasses, and then head out to the linen closet to get a beach towel.
I walk into the great room and it’s empty. I wonder where everyone is. I walk over to the sliding glass doors and look out at the lake. They’re all there. It looks like Troy is taking the speed boat out. I would love to get out on the water today. How could they be planning to leave without me after the night I had?
I rush to the stairs and make my way out the back door onto the patio. I make a straight path to the dock. It’s going on twelve thirty now. Actually I’m shocked they haven’t launched the boat already. Troy usually likes to get an early start.
Just as I get in hearing distance, I hear Tessa talking. “Dad, she’s going to be so mad. I don’t think it’s a good idea.”
“I know what I’m doing Tessa.”
“Hey!” I yell. “Were you all just going to leave me here alone again?”
Lisa starts walking toward me. “No. Not at all honey. We were just letting you sleep. You can come with us if you want to.”
“I’m not ready to pull off just yet.” Troy says.
I’m confused. Everyone is here and ready. “Is something wrong with the boat? What are you waiting on?”
Tessa gets a really weird look on her face. Everyone is now staring at me and I’m feeling very uncomfortable. No girl wants that much attention focused on her when she is standing there in nothing but a string bikini. Tessa nods her head in my direction as if to tell me to look behind me. This does nothing but make me look down at my bikini again and try to cover myself with my beach towel.
“Behind you honey.” Lisa says.
I slowly turn around and there he stands. Ball cap over his jet black hair, tight white T-shirt stretched across his broad chest, khaki shorts snug over his glorious back side, boat shoes on his feet, and piercing hazel eyes staring back at me. He looks about as shocked as I do.
I swallow hard before I’m able to get my wits about me and ask, “What are you doing here? Why did you come?”
Chapter 32
Blake
I pull into a gas station and call Mr. Brooks to get specific directions to their house. He answers on the first ring like he has been waiting on me to call.
“Hello.”<
br />
“Hello, Mr. Brooks. It’s Blake. I’m at a service station by the marina. Can you give me directions to the house from here?”
I listen carefully as he tells me where to turn and where to park once I get there.
“Blake she hasn’t come out of her room yet. She’s a late sleeper but never this late. We are going down to the dock to get the boat ready for today. When you get here walk around the house and down to the lake. We have a private dock, that’s where you’ll find us. Don’t go to the house. She’s not expecting you. Just come down to the dock.”
“Yes, Sir. I should be there soon.”
“I’m glad you made it on time today.”
I can tell by his tone that he is smiling. “Me too.”
I get back in the truck and follow his directions to the house. Hopefully she won’t stay in her room much longer or this may have been a wasted trip. It’s probably going to take me hours to even get her to talk to me.
I pull onto the street Mr. Brooks told me that their house is on. Their house is beautiful. It’s a mushroom shape, its slate gray siding with white trim. The lower level is smaller than the top floor, which is basically walls of windows. It’s an architects dream. There’s also a beautiful deck on the top floor overlooking the lake. I would love to sit there and watch the sunset. Whoever built this, put a great deal of thought into every detail.
I park and do as he said, I walk around the house to the lake. In the distance, I can see everyone is busy doing stuff on the dock. As I reach the corner of the house I hear a door open. All the air escapes my lungs when I see her. She is even more beautiful than I remember. I step back around the side of the house so that she can’t see me. I’m acting like a punk ass. I came all this way to face her and now I can’t do it. I peek around the corner and watch as she walks toward the dock. I take a deep breath and follow a safe distance behind her.
Hey!” She yells at them. “Were you all just going to leave me here alone again?”
Some blonde tiny woman speaks to her. “No. Not at all honey. We were just letting you sleep. You can come with us if you want to.”
“I’m not ready to pull off just yet.” Troy says.
“Is something wrong with the boat? What are you waiting on?”
Tessa is the first one to see me. Her expression changes and Kayla must notice it because Tessa nods her head in my direction telling Kayla to look behind her. She still doesn’t understand what Tessa is trying to tell her.
“Behind you honey.” The blonde woman who spoke before says.
She slowly turns around and I can’t breathe. All I want to do is run to her and pull her to me. She has on the sexiest pink and black polka dotted bikini and some cut off shorts that should be illegal. Her hair is pulled up and exposing her beautiful neck, I can clearly see her pulse and it’s going crazy. She seems to be appraising my appearance as much as I am hers. My brain can’t even come up with one word to say to her.
I bring my eyes back up to hers. The eyes that I see every night in my dreams. And then it happens. Her posture changes and her face goes hard like stone.
“What are you doing here? Why did you come?”
“I needed to talk to you and I wanted to do it in person.” It doesn’t look like that made her happy at all.
“You didn’t have to drive all this way to tell me that you want nothing to do with me.”
“What? Why would I tell you that?” She turns away from me and walks down onto the dock.
“Is the boat ready? Can we go now?”
She is talking to who I assume is Mr. Brooks.
“It’s ready. Come on and join us Blake.”
She turns and storms past me back toward the house.
“Where are you going?” Tessa yells after her.
I’m just staring at everything in disbelief. I really screwed up. She thinks I don’t want her. I close my eyes and take a deep breath.
“If he’s going.” She says, pointing at me. “I’m not.”
Ouch. I knew this was going to be hard but this is going to be impossible if she won’t even hear me out. “So, I drove all this way and you’re just going to walk away from me.”
She stops dead in her tracks and throws the stuff she has in her hands down on the ground. She stomps toward me, she’s mad, really mad. I swallow hard and wait for it, because I know it’s coming.
“Walk away from you!” She says, poking me in the chest. I take a step back. “You are only about twenty eight hours late for our date that was supposed to happen at seven thirty last night! Where were you Blake? I waited all night for you and you never even called.”
Her anger has turned to tears. “I’m so sorry Kayla. I wanted to be here. There’s no where else I’d have rather been.” I reach for her but she backs up shaking her head. She drops her head and won’t look at me.
“Don’t. Just stop! No more lies! I can’t take it!”
I look out to her family. The people who have loved her longer than I have. I look to them for guidance. Each one of them is motioning for me to walk to her. Asher unties the boat and throws the rope inside it. Kayla glances to the boat and then just sits down where she is standing. Mr. Brooks starts the boat and they slowly pull away from the dock. I walk over to her and sit down beside her but not close enough to touch her.
“Kayla will you at least hear me out? Then, if you want me to leave I will, but please give me a chance to explain. I never wanted to hurt you.” She raises her eyes to meet mine for a brief second and the hurt I see there is like a dagger to my heart.
“But you did hurt me, Blake. You have no idea how much.”
I reach out to move a piece of her blonde hair that has fallen from her pony tail, but she jerks out of my reach. I sigh in defeat and bring my hand back down.
“I’m so sorry, baby. I never ever would intentionally hurt you. I stopped by the game room to help out Max, by giving him some money he owed some guys that he lost a few games of pool too. When I got there Jessica, my ex, was there and she was drunk.” She jumps up and starts for the house again. I jump up and follow her. She spins around to face me.
“You were with your ex when you were supposed to be here with me? How is that supposed to help me Blake? How is that supposed to make me feel better? Are you still in love with her?”
I shake my head. “Kayla, I never loved her.”
“So you just slept with her last night because she was convenient and there when I wasn’t? Typical male thing to do, Blake. I thought you were different. Just leave go back home and leave me alone.”
Okay, that’s enough of this crap. She might hate me when I’m finished, but damn it she is going to listen to me. I run up to her and pick her up and throw her over my shoulder. She starts beating me in the back as I turn and head for the dock. She’s screaming her head off and if anyone hears her like this and sees me they will probably call the police on us.
“Put me down, Blake!”
She continues to kick and scream, but I’m not stopping. I’m going to make her listen to me one way or another. I walk to the end of the dock and throw her in the water. I squat down and wait for her to come back up. When she does her eyes are wide and she is choking. Oh no! I reach down to pull her up before she goes under and as I do, she pulls me in with her.
As I resurface, she is treading water waiting on me. Oh, she is so much trouble. “I can’t believe you just did that.”
“Me? You threw me in the water without even knowing if I could swim or not you ass.”
Ass? “Fair enough. Will you please sit with me and just listen until I’m done.”
She swims back to the dock, and so help me, as she lifts herself out of the water I feel myself get light headed. Keep your thoughts clean McGinnis. If she does allow me to stay for the weekend, this image of her is going to be hard to get out of my head. Speaking of which, I don’t think I should get out of the water just yet.
She turns looking down at me. “Thought you wanted to talk. I don’t have al
l day.”
“Give me a minute. Can you grab that towel and wrap it around yourself?” I ask, hoping she’ll have mercy on me.
“Not a chance.” She says putting her hands on her hips and then she takes it up a step. She slides her shorts down her legs. I close my eyes and try to control my breathing.
Okay, I have no shame. I place my hands on the dock and pull myself up flexing my biceps more than needed to do it. She takes in a noticeable breath. See baby. Two can play at this game.
Chapter 33
Kayla
As he pulls himself up on the dock, in all his hotness, I feel like I’m going to pass out. He stands now towering over me then he reaches behind him and pulls the soaking wet white T-shirt over this head. Sugar, honey ice tea, the man is hot. I’ve had sex with this man, but honestly, it was basically in the dark and seeing him like this, in full daylight, is a sight to behold. He has abs that go on for days and his already olive skin has turned a beautiful bronze color from the sun. Thankfully some time before I pulled him in he had thrown his shoes off, however his shorts are dripping wet and the wet material doesn’t leave much to the imagination. I cover my mouth to hide my laughter.
“Keep laughing. I can always throw you back in.”
“I don’t think so. The clock is ticking so you better get to talking.”
I know I don’t want to hear this. Pretty sure in fact that I’m going to hate it.
“Okay. Let’s sit. Just let me get it all out before you blow up or say anything. Then you can ask all the questions you want.”
I nod my head. “I’m not sure how easy that will be, but I’ll try. That’s all I can promise.”
“That’s fair. As I was saying, she was drunk and turns out Max was drunk too. The owners were getting ready to call both of their parents. Their son asked me if I could take both of them with me. I still had the key to Scott’s apartment so I figured I would take them there and then I would call you and let you know what was going on.”
