His eyes glitter as he watches me gasp at what he’s doing. But then public establishment be damned, I can’t help but press myself into him and basically start riding his knee right there out in the open.
“Ah, fuck,” he mumbles when my hands come down to grasp his thigh holding on to him as I press myself against him harder.
Just then Cy starts in on a drum solo and I hear Kade mutter another curse. He leans forward, weaving his fingers up into the hair behind my head and pulling me forward, takes my mouth roughly. “To be continued,” he says when he sits back, his eyes burning into mine. He then drinks what’s left of his beer, leans over and touches his mouth to mine, stands and heads back to the stage.
I sit panting as I watch him walk through the crowd and it’s like everyone wants a piece of him as they all reach out and touch him or pat him on the back. I also see that right when he gets to the stage Peyton’s there and she practically throws herself at him, wrapping her arms around his neck and slamming her mouth onto his. I can tell he’s stunned for a second before he takes her by the waist, promptly sets her out of the way, gives her “The Look” then jumps up on stage as if that little sidebar never happened. Cassie comes back to the table holding two drinks rolling her eyes and giggling at what just happened to her brother, which makes me giggle with her. This is our third bourbon and we should probably make it our last since it’s kind of making us a little tipsy, which I tell her, but she tells me to lighten up, we’re having fun, so we should just go with it. She’s right. What just happened was pretty damned fun. I smile secretly to myself.
The band’s drum solo turns into Led Zeppelin’s, “When the Levee Breaks,” which is awesome and what’s even more awesome is that Flynt plays the harmonica perfectly. Brody comes back to the table just as Cassie and I stand and cheer for Flynt, as in stand on our barstools almost giving Brody a heart attack. He gets up and steps between us holding our legs and scolding us to get down which makes us giggle at him as we just keep on cheering. He finally hauls each of us down one at a time and sets our asses on our stools, pointing his finger at us both, daring us to “Try that shit again,” which just makes us giggle even more. God, we’re dicks when we drink.
But I’m not giggling so much when I catch the meaning in some of the songs that Kade sings. When he performs, “Baby I’m Amazed” by Wings, and flips around the lyrics to say he’s afraid of her leaving him and the fact that he looks right at me the entire time he sings the song, well, it’s kind of hard not to get it. After that, he dedicates “Brother” by Dark New Day to Brody and Cass. Brody pumps a fist at him, and I have to laugh when he sings the “screamo” parts with Kade. The band segues right into another of DND’s songs, “Follow the Sun Down,” and I find that I’m getting really turned on by Kade now. His voice is amazing and he’s sweating and I want to run up there and wipe his brow, which is ridiculous because I know I’d only look like a fool, so I look at Cass and burst out laughing. This makes her turn her head sideways at me in question, and that makes me laugh more because she looks like a dog that’s heard a weird sound. Uh, yeah. Did I mention I was a little tipsy?
But I sober a bit when Kade gets to the part of the song about not being able to stop running and he looks right at me again which makes me frown. I take a deep breath and look at Brody who’s smirking but won’t look back at me. Ass.
When Martina walks by, I order Cass and me another bourbon in protest of being sung about in such a not so stealthy way. Our drinks come and I yell, “Men. Fuck ‘em all!” as a toast and Cass and I clink our glasses and drink which just makes Brody roll his eyes and Martina snort as she walks away with a nod of agreement.
When it’s eleven-thirty, I tell Cass we need to go, saying this rather loudly, but not giving a shit if Brody hears. I know he wants to ask where we’re going or maybe he does ask, but the band’s playing country songs loudly now and even though Kade’s voice is amazing, I hate country, so I can’t hear Brody and now’s as good a time as any to leave because the twanginess of the songs is killer on my ears. I make sure to scope out where Peyton is before we go because I’m a good P.I. that way, and when I see she’s still stage-side drooling over Kade, I shake my head and roll my eyes then nod toward the door at Cass. After shrugging into our coats, we leave.
“Holy fuck, it’s cold out here!” she says once we get outside.
“Shhhhh!” I shush her rather loudly.
“Well, it is!” she hisses.
“Shouldn’t have worn a tank top. Or a miniskirt. Or no stockings. Or open-toed sandals. Or no panties.” I give her a look. “And you should’ve brought a bigger coat,” I also admonish.
“I had to look hot for Jeremy. Duh,” she replies as we half jog, half race-walk down the sidewalk then out into the street toward Peyton’s house. When I stumble a bit and yell out a loud, “Fuck!” she snickers and says, “Shouldn’t have worn stiletto boots!” and sticks her tongue out at me.
“I had to look hot for…” I begin then stop right in the middle of the street. She stops too and looks at me with a smirk. “Oh, my God. I totally dressed for Kade,” I mutter which blows my mind.
“Of course you did,” she says and grabs me by the arm pulling me along with her. “C’mon!”
“God, I’m a total groupie! I’m a groupie slut! I’m a starfucker!” I moan as we now traipse across someone’s leaf-covered lawn making so much noise it’s a wonder the owner doesn’t come out to see who the hell’s crunching through their yard.
She shushes me and keeps tugging me by the hand.
“Why would I do that?” I ask her.
“Because you’ve still got the hots for him. Again, duh. Now hurry. We’d better get our asses to Peyton’s before she gets home. And I don’t even wanna think about her bringing someone home with her and we have to hide and listen to the sounds she makes. Gross.”
“That’s disgusting,” I agree when she pulls me behind a cute little red brick house with black shutters. “Oh, my gosh! Her house is adorable!” I say loudly and get shushed again.
“Keep it down, Mill, jeez!” She puts her finger to her mouth and frowns at me. Then she goes to a window and pushes up on it and surprisingly it opens.
“How’d you know that was open?” I whisper.
“Didn’t. Plan was to try all of ‘em and I just got lucky. You first,” she says and pushes me toward the window.
“How am I supposed to get in there?”
She squats down and laces her fingers together. “Step in my hands and I’ll boost you in.”
“’Kay,” I reply, putting a foot into her hands.
“Goddamn it!” she squeaks out.
I turn midair and look down at her. “What?”
“Stilettos are like fuckin’ knives. Go!”
She pushes up and I crawl through the window, falling into a bathroom, knocking over a towel rack. “Shit,” I mumble, standing, trying to set it back up picking up the towels and putting them back on it.
“Leave them!” she hisses from outside. When I look out the window at her she says, “Go to the back and unlock the door.”
I leave the bathroom stumbling through the dark house, hands out in front of me trying to find the back door. When I get there, I try to unlock it but when I turn the lock thingy, it won’t open. I mess with it a few more seconds then turn it back the way it was and open it. “It wasn’t even locked!”
Cass huffs out a breath and comes inside. “It’s like she wants us to be here.”
“That’s not creepy,” I say with a shudder.
“She probably leaves it unlocked to give her men even more easy access to her.”
“That’s not any less creepy.” I make a face. “You have a flashlight?” I ask.
“Yeah, it’s hidden up my skirt. No! I don’t have a flashlight.” She smacks my arm making me smack her back.
“I didn’t think! Jeez!”
“We’ll just have to turn a light on and look quickly
,” she informs me.
“We need a sound to warn each other in case we hear somebody coming,” I say.
“But we’re right here together,” she says looking at me like I’m an idiot.
“All spies have sounds,” I say matter-of-factly when I know nothing of the sort.
“Jesus. Okay, a sound…”
“How about we make an owl sound, like ‘Hoo hoo!’”
“Fine.”
We’ve tiptoed from the back porch area through the kitchen into the living room, and when Cass stops to turn on a lamp, I run into her from behind. “Watch it!” she says, turning and frowning at me and I start giggling, which makes her giggle back then we start shushing each other. Lord.
“Sorry,” I murmur still giggling a little. “Look!” I say pointing.
There’s a roll top desk, so we go check it out, lifting up the roll part first. We don’t see a notepad, so we start pulling open drawers and BINGO! I find a notepad.
“This is it,” I whisper. “Dwight has the note but it was torn just like that.”
“The pad’s from the Mayor’s office. She tore off the letterhead,” Cass says.
“Wow.” It’s all I can say. I knew Peyton was a bitch but not this big of one who throws bricks at my window. Wow.
“I say we take this and show Dwight that it matches up,” Cass offers.
“But if we take it, it’s like tampering with evidence, isn’t it? I mean, maybe we could come over here tomorrow and see Peyton then make up some excuse to use the desk and ‘find it’ on accident?”
Cass thinks for a second but then we hear a noise that sounds like someone’s turning the front door’s knob. “Shit! Go!” she hisses and I throw the notepad back into the drawer, closing it quickly. She stops and turns off the lamp then we scramble to get the hell out of there.
We’re in the kitchen now where she runs into the table and I run into the back of her again. “Swear to God, Mill! You tryin’ to kill me?” she says through gritted teeth.
It’s not until we make it to the back porch and out that I remember. “I didn’t shut the window!” I say and run back through the kitchen toward the bathroom, surprisingly not running into anything this time. When I get there, I shove the window down then turn and go back out, but just as I turn to the right and start to run to the back porch, I’m nabbed around the waist by a strong arm and let out a loud OOMPH! as I’m jerked back against a hard body and a hand comes up and covers my mouth.
Oh, my holy fuck!
My heart’s about to jump out of my chest when I realize I’ve been caught by a strange man. Probably a serial killer. Shit! I try to do the “Hoo hoo” signal for Cass to run, but with the hand over my mouth, it comes out garbled. I’m now kicking and screaming into the hand when the man holding me leans down and whispers in my ear, “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” That’s when I bite down hard on his hand and land a kick into his shin then down onto his foot, which can’t feel good with my stilettos and I secretly thank my lucky stars that I wore them. He lets out a growl but actually lets me go and wasting no time, I run like a freakin’ banshee to the back door and out, down the porch steps.
“Hoo hoo! Cassie! Run!” I yell as I go, and just before I make it to the street, I’ll be damned if I’m not grabbed a second time and hauled back against the guy’s big body once more. I squirm, trying to kick him once more screaming, “Let me go!” but he’s got a better hold on me this time and avoids all attempts at my injuring him. Damn it.
This time I recognize the voice when he says into my ear, “Keep moving like that and you’re gonna make me hard.”
Kade.
Fuck.
Chapter 11
Kade sets me down and I spin to face him. “What do you think you’re doing?” I hiss.
He stands looking at me, hands on his hips and eyebrows raised. “That’s my line.”
I frown at that, not really wanting to explain anything and cross my arms over my chest. That’s when Brody appears, looking at me with eyebrows raised in question like his older brother’s.
“What?” I ask, suddenly pissed off that my private investigator aspirations have gone to shit.
“What were you two doing?” Kade asks.
Oh, yeah, there were two of us and I look around but Cassie’s nowhere to be seen. “Where’s Cass?” I ask. Brody gives a head nod to his right with a scowl and I look over to see her pinned up against a shed in whoever’s yard we’re in with her mouth glued to Jeremy’s. “Oh.” I look back at Kade and Brody, then my mouth hangs open for a second. “Wait, you brought Jeremy too?”
“Knew this was gonna be good,” Brody says with a chuckle making me glare at him.
“C’mon,” Kade says, wrapping his arm around my shoulders leading me back toward town.
I now hang my head in dejection at getting caught. I guess it could’ve been worse had it been Peyton who caught us, but this is pretty embarrassing. “How’d you know?” I mutter.
“Followed you,” Brody says with a shrug. “Almost midnight and you and Cass head out all sneaky and shit and you expect me not to wonder what the fuck you’re doing? Both wearing black? Thought you were both gonna bust out with some Johnny Cash song.” He lets out a snort. “Also knew Kade would be finishing up, so after I saw where you went, went back and got him.”
He’s looking awfully proud of himself which just serves to make me more annoyed. “Doesn’t take a genius to do what you did, you know,” I mumble then add, “and if we were gonna do any song wearing black, it would’ve been ‘Vogue,’ you jerk.” He chuckles again.
“So what exactly were you doing at Peyton’s?” Kade asks.
I let out a breath. “We wanted to find evidence that she threw the brick and we did. She’s got a notepad in her desk that has a sheet torn off at the top that matches the note.”
He says nothing to this. We’re now back on Main Street and walking down the sidewalk toward the bar going past Patty’s Petals flower shop and The Mane Event, a hair salon.
“Gotta get my guitar,” Kade says, taking my hand and leading me across the street to Jen’s. At the door, he tells Brody while looking at me, “Keep an eye on her. Don’t let her concoct any more covert ops until I get back.” He wraps a finger around a lock of my hair giving it a playful tug and I narrow my eyes at the smirk he gives me before he goes inside.
Now I turn to Brody. “Thanks, Brode. My buzz is totally gone now. Waste of Jim Beam if I ever saw one.”
He grins. “My pleasure. It was worth it watching you freak out.”
I scowl and twist my mouth then murmur, “Guess you like giving people heart attacks, you damned sadist.”
He lets out a laugh as Kade comes out the door holding a guitar case. “Welp, gonna go give Charlie the update that his Angels failed in their mission,” Brody says with a snort opening the door to the bar.
“Jerk,” I call him again. It’s so worth repeating.
Just as he starts to enter, I see him freeze when Piper and a guy come walking out holding hands. Yikes. Her eyes get great big when she sees Brody but then I see her put on a brave front as she tries acting indifferently about the situation.
When she sees me, she smiles and says, “Hey, Mill!” letting the guy’s hand go coming to me and giving me a hug.
“Hi, Piper,” I say back, squeezing her tightly knowing this is hard for her.
“The furniture working out okay?” she asks when she pulls back.
“Fabulously,” I reply with a smile.
“Rocked it, Kade,” she states turning to him, mock punching him in the arm.
“Thanks, Pipe,” he responds with a grin.
We stand there in awkward silence for a moment before she says, “Oh! Uh, this is my date, Alex Troxell.”
I smile politely at him and Kade nods but poor Brody’s still standing there speechless, holding the door open and I want to hug him too. Damn.
“Well, it was grea
t seeing you again,” she says with a strained smile then gives a little wave and she and her date take off walking toward her store holding hands once again.
I look at Brody who’s still imitating a statue. “Brody? You okay?” I ask quietly as I put a hand on his bicep.
This shakes him out of his reverie and when he looks down at me a look of hurt covers his beautiful features for a few seconds before he goes back to being his usual jovial self. “Huh? Oh, yeah, I’m good. Yeah, it’s all good. Well, I think Jim Beam’s calling me now,” he says with a grin before going inside. He’s not fooling me, though. He’s upset and probably going to drink himself into oblivion.
“Poor Brody,” I say after he goes inside.
Kade purses his lips then takes my hand and we walk toward Hale’s. “I’ll have to come back and get him. Can’t be driving in the condition he’s getting ready to be in.” He sighs then asks, “So you broke into Peyton’s and found the notepad. What now?”
“Not sure. I don’t think Dwight can do a whole lot about it anyway. Even if he found the notepad, she could always say someone broke in and wrote it, I guess.” He looks at me and nods in agreement. “I guess I did what I did for my own sake, you know? I was pretty sure it was her; now I’ve got proof.” I shrug.
He pulls me by the hand across the street with him where he puts his guitar in his truck then walks me across the street to the garage. After unlocking the door, I turn and look up at him. “You were amazing with your band tonight, Kade,” I say quietly. “Even though the innuendo was a little in my face.” I raise an eyebrow at him.
He smirks then brushes the backs of his fingers over my cheek down to my jaw and holds my chin as he leans down and touches his lips to mine. We stand looking at each other for a moment before he says, “Good night, Mill.” He turns and starts walking to his truck.
Bigger Than the Sky (Serenity Point) Page 10
