Bigger Than the Sky (Serenity Point)

by Harper Bentley

  Shit!

  Kade’s holding me against his big, warm, hard body, his arm draped over me possessively, and I lie there wondering if that’s why I felt so good upon waking. Probably. But then I remember last night, well, a few hours ago, and the hurt burrows itself into my heart once again and I know I need to get out of here.

  I turn slowly and face him taking in his handsome face that’s now so relaxed in his sleep. When he’s awake, he’s usually on alert at all times prepared for anything, which I guess comes from his SEAL training, but he was always a little uptight, a little high-strung. I think it’s because he’s the oldest child and his inherent Type-A personality makes him that way—responsible, a perfectionist, bossy.

  And then I remember I’m mad at him. He’s hurt me so badly with the house that my stomach roils a little just thinking about it. I slide out from under his arm and off the bed, standing and turning to look at him, which, honest to God, takes my breath away. My lord, he’s beautiful. The perfect bone structure in his face that cuts such rugged lines, his thick, dark hair, broad chest and long, powerful legs all make him the epitome of how a real man should be built. But he’s no longer mine, and now since he’s gone out of his way to hurt me by buying the house, I know he never will be. I’d had a tiny glimmer of hope after he’d kissed me, thinking maybe… maybe we might be able to fix things, start again. But the house is basically a big “Fuck you” at me, and the finality of it all leaves my heart hollow. It’s like a death and nothing can be done to assuage the hurt.

  I’m still dressed, my coat and shoes are on so I leave his room, trying not to pay any attention to the house because I know it’ll just add to my pain. But as I walk down the stairs, running my hand over the beautiful, polished, dark oak banister, I can’t help but notice the ornate pattern carved into the balusters or the gorgeous caps at each landing. I know he’s done this because they weren’t there five years ago. And it’s just another knife to my heart.

  Once I reach the bottom of the stairs, I hurry through the living room and kitchen then out to the mudroom keeping my eyes averted as much as possible before pulling my cell phone out.

  “Can you come get me at Kade’s?” I ask when my call’s answered.

  ~~~

  “Thanks,” I say as I get into the car.

  “No problem. Just tell me why your eyes are practically swollen shut. He better not have hit you!” Cassie says.

  I snort out a laugh. “He’d never do that. You know he wouldn’t. It’s just…” Oh, God, I’m going to cry again. I sniff as another damned tear finds its way down my cheek. “This was my house.”

  We take off down the long drive and I see I have my proof now. The trees are gorgeous in the early morning light just as I knew they would be, just as they were years ago, and I tear up even more.

  “I know, sweetie. I about shit a brick when he bought it a few months ago.” She looks over at me in understanding as she hands me a tissue from her purse.

  “Months? And you never told me?”

  She looks at me sheepishly. “I didn’t want to hurt you…”

  I nod. That makes sense because she’s a good friend. I dab at my eyes and cheeks. “Well, speaking of bricks. Someone threw one through the store window last night. That’s why I was with Kade. He wouldn’t let me stay at the garage,” I explain wiping my eyes.

  “What? No they didn’t!”

  “Yep. It was two thirty-one this morning, you know me and numbers,” I glance at her and roll my eyes, “but I was sound asleep when a huge crash woke me. Got up, went downstairs and there was a brick with a note rubber-banded to it.”

  “What’d it say?”

  “‘Your not wanted here. You need to leave town while you still can bitch!’ Y-o-u-r. No comma after ‘can.’”

  She snorts. “Must’ve been a Serenity Point grad then.”

  “Exactly. Wanted to talk to you and Lacey about where my education tax dollars are going. Certainly not towards grammar,” I say with a chuckle.

  “Believe me, we’re doing our damndest,” she says chuckling right back.

  “When I find out who did it, that brick’s gonna be introduced to the side of their head,” I answer.

  She looks at me for a second before looking back at the road. “I know it was hard for you to go to the house last night. You gonna be okay?”

  I sigh and look out my window. “I was so pissed, Cass. I mean, seriously livid. And so hurt. How could he do this to me?” I look back at her.

  She too lets out a sigh then shrugs and shakes her head. “I don’t know.”

  “You know how I felt about that house. What it meant to me.”

  She nods. Out of all my friends, she was the only one who truly understood why I ran. She’d watched me with her brother over the years. She knew I loved him but she got me, understood the loneliness I’d felt. She’d taken some grief from her family for standing up for me, and I loved her even more for that. “I know, honey. Hey, wanna get breakfast at Mags’?” she asks as we drive through town.

  “Yeah. Her Denver omelet sounds good. But can you drop me at the station first? I know I look horrible. Need to grab a shower.”

  “Same. Okay, I’ll meet you there in an hour?”

  “’Kay.”

  She drops me off and thank God I’ve got more than one key to get in since Mike has the other. There’s a huge slab of plywood covering the window and I know Papaw would’ve thrown a fit had he seen it.

  I’ll find out who did this and they’ll pay. I’ll make sure of that.

  ~~~

  “Mags!” I say as I hug Maggie, proprietor of the best restaurant at which I’ve ever eaten. I’d eaten here at least once a week since I came to live with my grandparents because Papaw’s ritual was taking Meemaw and me for breakfast every Sunday morning.

  “Amelia,” she says, pulling back from our hug and holding my forearms, smiling sweetly at me, her lovely blue eyes sparkling. She’s a rather heavy-set, tall woman who, deceptive to her size, moves with the grace of a ballerina. Matter of fact, she danced with the New York City Ballet at one time but quit when she fell in love with her now husband of over thirty years, Frank, who’s the sole veterinarian in town. They met on a blind date, both were smitten, and she followed him back to Serenity Point, opened her restaurant, another dream she says she always had, and never looked back.

  “Just as beautiful as ever,” she continues. “It’s so good to see both of you again.” She smiles at Cassie then points to a booth and tells us, “Have a seat, girls. Sandra will be by to take your orders in a sec.”

  Cass and I slide into our booth and I watch Mags as she interacts with the other customers. I’m thankful that she didn’t say anything about my leaving town five years ago, but that’s just her way. I’m sure she hears tons of gossip but I don’t think I’ve ever actually heard her passing any of it along. She’s just nice like that.

  Sandra, our waitress, comes to the table, sets down a coffee carafe and while we pour our coffees, takes our orders then hurries off.

  “I think I know who threw the brick,” I inform Cass when Sandra leaves.

  “Who?” She gives me a raised eyebrow waiting for me to proceed.

  “Peyton.”

  Her eyes get big and she lets out a sarcastic, “Noooo.”

  I roll my eyes. “You already figured. But who else hates me enough around here to do that, well, other than your family.”

  “They don’t hate you, Mill. They understand what you did. But her, yeah, I can see her hating you.” She chuckles.

  I look at her mischievously. “I have a plan.”

  “Knew you would,” she says with a huge grin as she does little baby claps with her hands. “It’ll be just like the good old days!” I grin back at her knowing we did plenty of sneaking around when we were in school getting into all kinds of trouble.

  But that’s what I love about Cass. She doesn’t even know what I’m going to do, yet s
he’s in. For all she knows, I could be preparing to blow Peyton’s house sky high, but if I know Cass as well as I think I do, I’m willing to bet she’d be begging me to let her detonate shit. Such a great best friend.

  “I need to know where she lives and what you know about her habits or patterns. Her M.O. as they say,” I state, looking around to make sure no one’s listening in. Man, I’ve got this down. I so should’ve been a private investigator.

  “She lives in a little house over on Arnold Boulevard that her daddy bought for her.” She makes a face. “She’s at Jen’s pretty much every night hanging all over Kade, or if he’s not there, any guy who’s willing to pay for her drinks. I know she’ll be there tonight because Kade’s band is playing. We’re doing this tonight, right? Tell me we are!”

  “Wait. She’s there every night? What about her kids?” I ask with a frown. And she hangs all over Kade? Ew. And his band’s playing tonight? Well, think I’ll have to make a little detour from my plans of espionage and go to Jen’s for a bit to watch his sexy ass sing and play guitar. Even though I’m still upset at him about the house, he’s an amazing singer and guitarist and, hey, a little eye candy never hurt anyone, right?

  “Oh, please. She doesn’t have time for her kids. She’s too busy trying to find their next daddy. Far as I know, they spend every night at her parents’ while she goes catting around.”

  “Really… wow.”

  “Yeah, Lacey has Sadie in her second grade class. Says that every time she has her students write something about home, Sadie either writes about her dad or one of her grandparents, never anything about Peyton,” Cass informs me then shakes her head sadly. “Good thing is Lacey says Sadie seems to be well-adjusted and is a happy little girl.”

  “Well, that’s good. Sad, but good.” I look around again, making sure we’re not being eavesdropped on before moving forward with our plans. “Okay, tonight at midnight we’re going to her house. Wait. Don’t you have school tomorrow?”

  “Fall break.” She grins.

  “Yay!” I squeal quietly. “Okay, we’ll break into her house. The note was torn at the top, so we have to look for a pad of paper with the top half still on it.”

  “Then what?”

  “Um. I don’t know. If we find it, I’ll call Dwight and have him check her house? I mean, what I’d really like to do is wait for her then beat the shit out of her when she gets home.”

  “Works for me,” Cass says with a chuckle.

  “We’ll just play it by ear I guess,” I reply.

  “We’ll be like Rizzoli and Isles! Or Cagney and Lacey!”

  “Starsky and Hutch!” I add with a giggle.

  “Turner and Hooch!” she says laughing.

  “Uh, you can be Hooch,” I say with a snicker.

  “Gee, thanks.”

  “The dog has reddish hair like yours,” I put out there, still laughing.

  “Whatever.” She laughs then takes a drink of Mags’ fabulous coffee. “Oh, hey, Jeremy called me last night.”

  “Yeah?” I ask then take a sip too. God, that’s good coffee. Almost as good as Carolina Kelly’s. Dang.

  She nods. “Asked me out to some fancy Italian restaurant in Richmond next weekend.”

  “Nice!” She’d been talking to Jeremy at Jen’s Friday night. He was a nice guy and she’d crushed on him since we were in seventh grade. He was a year ahead of us in school and is now one of Brody’s fellow firemen.

  “God. I’m kinda scared, Mill. I mean, I’ve liked him forever. What if we go out and I hate him?”

  I chuckle. “It’s possible, but not probable. I mean, we’ve known him for seventeen years. I doubt he’s hiding any deep, dark secrets.”

  “Yeah. But I swear to God, if we come back to his place and he’s got some kind of freaky fetish that squicks me out, I’ll just die.”

  I start giggling now. “So a regular fetish is okay then?”

  She giggles with me. “I’m thirty. Can’t be too picky anymore.”

  “What if he has some kind of shoe fetish?” I ask.

  “I can handle that. I’ll wear whatever he wants.”

  “I mean, what if he’s the one who wants to wear the shoes?” I burst out laughing at the look on her face then she’s laughing too.

  “If it’s stilettos, I can deal. But flats? Hell no.”

  I’m laughing like crazy now, thinking I might be a little punch drunk from lack of sleep and don’t hear the bells jingle as the front door of the restaurant opens.

  “Oh, God, that’s hysterical,” I say as I use my napkin to wipe at my eyes when I feel a presence to my right and look over to see muscular thighs under faded jeans along with a frickin’ magnificent package that’s right at eye level. Damn. My eyes travel up to find Kade looking down at me, an amused smirk on his face. Annnd I’m not laughing so much anymore.

  His hair’s still wet from his morning shower, sitting all messily perfect on his head and I know he ran his fingers through it to get it that way. Jerk. He’s wearing an unbuttoned, dark blue plaid flannel shirt with a cream thermal underneath, the sleeves of the shirt rolled up to his mid-forearm, the thermal sleeves pushed up under them. How he can make the most casual of clothing look so good astonishes me.

  “Mind if I join you?” he asks.

  God, him and that damned smooth voice of his.

  When I’d left five years ago, I still had recordings on my phone of him singing with his band, and at night when I’d feel lonely, I’d play them just to hear his voice again. At the time, I almost felt as if he were my guardian angel, helping me get through the night.

  But now as I look at him, sexy as hell and smirking down at me, I realize I’m playing with fire and I’m going to get burned because he’s no angel. He’s the damned devil himself.

  Chapter 7

  Cassie looks at me, eyebrows raised, asking permission for her brother to join us and I can’t say no because that’d just be rude.

  “Sure,” I say through gritted teeth.

  Of course, he sits down in the booth right next to me, making me scoot over, his big, muscular body taking so much space our thighs touch. Great.

  “What were you all laughing at?” he asks, pouring himself a cup of coffee.

  Cassie giggles. “Oh, I’ve got a date with Jeremy next weekend and Mill and I were just commenting on weird fetishes I’m hoping he doesn’t have.”

  I can’t help but snort out a giggle as I picture Jeremy wearing my strappy sandals from the other night but my laughter quells when Kade looks down at me, the attractive crinkles showing around his eyes as he smiles. Why’s he smiling? Has he forgotten that he just broke my heart a few hours ago?

  “Fetishes, huh? Like maybe having a caveman, alpha male fantasy or something?” he asks, his thigh knocking into mine lightly.

  And stupid me with my perfect timing is taking a drink of coffee when he says that and now I’m choking on it.

  “You okay?” he asks as I cough. He puts an arm on the back of the booth behind me and pats me on the back a couple times.

  I shoot him a dirty look at which he just grins, his gray eyes dancing with humor. He keeps his arm on the back of the booth behind me so I’m practically smashed up against him now because I’m already hugging the wall and have nowhere else to go. When he leans across me to get a napkin out of the holder to give to me, I smell his aftershave, all spicy and musky and manly which makes my insides flutter a little. Good lord, it’s almost humiliating how friggin’ hyperaware of him I am.

  Sandra comes over to take his order, which I can recite from memory—two eggs over easy, hash browns, four slices of bacon, two sausage links, two pancakes and two pieces of wheat toast with grape jelly—and I clench my teeth in irritation.

  “Mom say anything about lunch today?” Cassie asks Kade.

  “Just to be there at one,” he answers. “Wants you there too.”

  I ignore what he’s said as I top off my coffee until he
knocks his thigh against mine again which makes me give him another look.

  “Lunch,” he says looking at me, his sexy smirk still on display.

  “What?” God, he really is irritating.

  “Mom wants you to come to lunch at one with us today,” Cassie explains.

  My chest seizes at the invitation. Shit. I’m not ready to see their parents yet. “Oh, I don’t think I can make it. I’ve got lots to do at the station. Need to call and get the window replaced.”

  “Already taken care of,” Kade says.

  “Huh? How?” I frown and look up at him.

  “Called Mike. Said he got hold of a guy in Richmond who’ll be here today around two.”

  Well, that was nice of him. And now I’m even more irritated.

  “Thanks,” I say, sounding a little cross.

  “You’re welcome,” he replies in a smug manner, his thigh bumping mine once again.

  “You’re really annoying,” I spout suddenly to him. “And irritating.” He looks down at me then throws his head back and laughs, the sexy column of his throat that’s covered with his beard on display, his Adam’s apple moving with his laughing, and it’s so hot, he’s so hot, that I’m just even more annoyed. I look at Cass and roll my eyes, shaking my head, only to see her bite her lips to keep from laughing. I squint my eyes and mouth, “Traitor,” at her as she’s trying not to giggle.

  “Babe,” Kade retorts quietly.

  I look up at him with a scowl. “And stop calling me ‘babe.’”

  He brings his arm down around me, his hand latching onto my shoulder and pulls me into him for a side hug kissing the top of my head and my whole body goes stiff. I turn and look at his hand then turn to look up at him knowing the expression on my face is less than attractive but he needs to stop touching me! I look at Cassie and my eyes bug out in an I need a little help here, please way but she’s still trying to muffle a giggle. What in the world? He knows I’m angry at him and she knows I’m upset, but now they’re both just smiling away as if nothing’s wrong. They’re like pod people and I decide their whole family is just demented. I finally lean forward, which makes him have to remove his hand. Better.