by Emilia Finn
I nod. “Yeah. I rolled with B for like three hours. He’s been neglecting me since Kitten came along.”
“God forbid you don’t get to roll around on the floor together like stray dogs.”
“You just don’t get it.” I lean forward, deciding to just take the entire head section and I start spooning it into my mouth. It does actually taste delicious. Even the poo brown icing. “Me and the guys have been training together since we were kids. If a day went by and we didn’t roll then something was wrong. Now B’s doing a whole other kind of rolling on the regular and he’s left me in the cold.”
“You’re so dramatic,” she laughs, spooning a delicate piece of cake into her mouth. “Did you get nice presents?”
I nod again, swigging my own beer to wash down the giant glob of cake I filled my mouth with. “B got me the bottle of scotch. Sissy got me a box of condoms and some ugly as fuck socks; I think she’s trying to find the crappiest gifts in the world. The other guys got me some shit too.”
She rolls her eyes. “Your day is just full of shit, huh.”
“Yeah. And now my mouth is too,” I tease. She rears back, cocking her arm and punching me again. It kills me inside a little every time she does that, because her strikes are weak as shit. She’s already told me she doesn’t do gyms. She won’t let me help her.
Leo the lion can’t stand the thought that she can’t fight, that she can’t defend herself. Just means I’ll have to stay close, keep watch and protect her myself.
I wasn’t surprised when B talked Kit into training. It’s what we do. We equip those we love with skills to look after themselves. Even Nell knows how to fight. It’s the world’s best kept secret.
“You’re such an asshole, Jonathon Hart. It’s a wonder I hang around you.”
“Did I tell you you look pretty today?”
Casey snorts at my ridiculous attempt at getting out of trouble. She thinks she’s mad at me but it works every single time. She’s a sucker for a well placed compliment. “What am I going to do with you?”
“Well, since it’s my birthday, I want you to watch a movie, scratch my hair and eat cake with me. Do what we do best.”
She scoffs again. “You’re pretty easy to please.”
Wicked thoughts race through my mind but I lock them down. There’s joking, then there’s flirting with danger. Telling her about ways she could satisfy me could end us back in the same position we were in last week, but with less clothes.
I wouldn’t regret the amazing sex I know we’d have, but I’d for sure regret the damage to the foundations of our friends-without-benefits arrangement. I can’t risk her.
“I got you something.”
Pulling me from my thoughts, my eyes snap to hers. “Something what?”
“Something for your birthday, like a gift.”
“Why would you do that?”
Her brows pull low. “Why would I buy you a gift?”
I nod, forgetting my delicious cake and the thoughts of eating it from her belly button.
“Because you’re my best friend. Because it’s your birthday, dumbass.”
“But you made me a cake.”
“Yeah, well, I also bought you something. Stop being a baby. Hold on--” she stands up from the couch, grunting like she weighs double her hundred and fifteen pounds and she walks to her handbag.
I can’t explain the stupid giddiness that bounces around inside my gut, washing away my dirty thoughts and replacing it with excitement a kid might feel on Christmas morning. I’ve never had this feeling, this carefree excitement.
Even when the Kincaid’s took a more active role in letting Sissy and me stay with them, more so after Bryan passed away, I was still underage, then when I wasn’t, Izzy was. I was always worried my folks would swoop in and take her. She turned eighteen only last year, but I still worry they’re going to fuck something up for her.
No matter how long Nell had been cooking for us, no matter how many nights in a row I didn’t have to go back to the trailer park, I never let my guard down. When all the guys were giggling like fools on Christmas morning and Sissy was running around as carefree as I’d always hoped she’d feel, I was still on guard. I was never a giggling kid.
Casey is the first person to allow me to rest like this. She makes it so I can finally breathe.
She turns back from her bag and I snap my eyes up when I realize I was unknowingly watching her walk away, I focus on the small blue package in her hand.
She wanders toward me slowly, almost shyly and I quirk my brow. My sunshine isn’t shy. She’s crazy and outgoing, she’s flirty and loud.
She’s a smartass and if she was a dude, we’d have already had a beat down. She’s got a mouth on her that can cut anyone down and a dry wit that often makes you wonder if you’re an idiot.
“So I know this is something between you and Bobby. I don’t mean to step on your bromance stuff, but I got you something.”
She stands in front of me, almost between my open legs and I look up into her eyes. Her green eyes are bright and sparkly, though the color to her cheeks is new. She’s blushing. She’s nervous.
“Whatcha got for me, Sunshine?”
She holds it in her hands between us and I attempt to take it from her. She holds on tightly and I have to snatch it away from her gripping fingers.
I chuckle when she lets go, then she sits on the coffee table behind her, pushing the cake aside, her bent knees sitting between mine. I’m tempted to pull her into my lap; now feels like a really good time to hug her, but instead she drops her elbows to her knees, slumping over and staring at my hands.
Taking my cue, I peel the corners of the wrapping away, knowing it’s a book but dying of curiosity to know what book.
I carefully unfold the wrapping, folding the tape over neatly so not to get it stuck and I can refold the paper, then I smile when I find the Hogwarts Express staring back at me.
Casey awkwardly clears her throat. “It’s a first edition.”
My brows pull low with disapproval. “First editions aren’t cheap.”
“Don’t worry about that. Look inside.”
I look up into her shy eyes again, studying the bright green and the long lashes that I know she painstakingly paints every morning before she comes out of the bathroom.
Case doesn’t do casual. She does makeup and heels and iron flattened hair first thing each day. I don’t know why she bothers; her done up look is like a sexy fairy, but her freshly awake face is beautiful too, innocent and soft. Stunning.
Sometimes she looks like a rooster with her wild hair, but I’d never tease her for it. I love seeing the simpler version of her too. It’s different.
I open the cover, running my thumb over the signature inside, the author having pushed down hard with her pen and pressing into the page.
“Jon. Life can be magical. Let it.” Well, shit.
“How’d you get this?”
“I flew to London and locked her in a basement till she signed it?”
I look up again and I wait for her eyes to meet mine. “Casey. Your pants are on fire.”
She giggles softly. “Okay, I sent her an email. Or well, probably her PA, but whatever. Someone in another country replied to my email, took my credit card details and sent me a book.”
“That’s dangerous, Sunshine. Probably don’t expect the same results if it’s an Algerian prince taking your digits.”
“Noted, Leo. And to think, I almost replied to that email. He said we’d share millions of dollars. I could have done with the cash.” Case’s lip turns up at the side. She’s good at deflection and sarcasm when she’s nervous.
I take her right hand in my left. “This is the best gift anyone’s ever bought me.”
Casey scoffs. “Well that’s not true, Jon. You got a box of condoms and socks today.”
I ignore her continued bullshit. We’d never get anywhere if I always indulged her every tangent. “Thank you. I love it.”
She sighs
happily. “You’re very welcome. Happy birthday, Jon.”
“Wanna hug it out?”
She stands with a smile on her face. Kicking her heels off and toeing them under the table, she pushes my shoulder down so I lay along the couch, resting my head on the cushion on the end, then she lays in the gap between my side and the back of the couch.
Her leg comes up and rests across my hips like she does every time, her arm lies across my stomach and her face rests over my heart.
If you looked real close, you’d probably see the indent in my chest and stomach where she rests in this exact same spot most nights.
We haven’t slept together yet, we might never. But we sleep together most nights.
My life is perfect, the closest to happy I’ve ever been. But five months is all the time for perfection we’re gifted. Five months, six days and a few hours.
The universe is a cold hard bitch and I was never supposed to have the happy ending.
Part TWO
The Ending
Eleven
Tink
Kit’s Birthday
“Are you as psyched for tonight as I am?”
“Yes!” Kit’s excited voice over the phone makes me smile as I apply my lipstick. We’re going out tonight and we’re going to have a blast. My girl, my other best friend turned twenty-five yesterday, so we’re going out to party. We’re already a quarter of a century. Life’s too short not to have fun.
Bobby has a fight coming up in just a few weeks, so he and the guys are training a lot. Jon said he’d be at the gym as long as Bobby is, then he’ll go home. He told me to call him later if we want a ride. I have to admit, his protective ways make me swoon. I have the best best-friend in the whole world. Two of them, really. Kit is my sister and we love each other as though we were blood related. She’s been by my side right through from grade school; first kisses, bullies, virginity losses.
I sat in the bleachers year after year and watched her run track - I was sneering at her dumbass for running, but I was there to support her nonetheless. I was her loudest cheerer when she won, embarrassingly so, and I was the first to bring her ice cream and hot guy pictures when she busted her knee.
She was there every time to pick me up and chew out my asshole ex’s, and she always encouraged my shoe obsession, never once nagging me about overspending.
I was happy. I had a happy childhood with her by my side.
Jon doesn’t replace her, he just fills a different need. His and my friendship doesn’t affect Kit’s and mine at all. Her boyfriend and Jon are best friends too, so we always get to hang out as a big group.
My life is good.
But it’s her birthday and the guys are busy, so it’s a girl’s night out. The only sour note is the fact Iz isn’t old enough to come with us.
Not that I think Leo the lion would be happy about us taking his baby sister out to clubs. He’ll have to get over it eventually, but today won’t be that day.
“I’ll finish work about five. I’ve already picked my dress and shoes. Bobby and I tested the shoes out last night,” she mentions with a smirk in her voice.
“You’re a freak.” I laugh. “Are you training tonight?”
“Yeah, I’ll be hitting up Jon’s class, I think. Bobby’s with Aiden tonight. I’ll finish up about six then I’ll go home to get dressed.”
“Want me to meet you there or pick you up? Pre-drinks at your house?”
“Nah, I’ll just meet you there otherwise we’ll never get out. If we’re still at home when Bobby and the others roll in, we’ll definitely never make it out. Wanna get some dinner at the club?”
“Yeah alright, I’ll let work know and they’ll reserve us a table.”
“Awesome.”
“Alright, I’ll see you in a few hours then?”
“Yeah.”
“K, bye.”
“Hey, Tink, before you go--”
I roll my eyes at my nickname, though I can’t say it’s not growing on me. Jon never calls me Tink, but it seems everyone else in the world does now. I’ll never admit to Bobby the amount of Tinkerbelle merchandise I was subject to as a kid. My own Tink cups and plates. Tink bedspreads, Tink Halloween outfits. Bobby would have a field day if he knew. And I guess despite her disgusting devotion to that sexy man, Kit hasn’t broken the cardinal best friend rules and blabbed to him about it.
“Yes, Kitten?”
“I miss you.”
My smartass smirk turns to a soft remembrance as I think of all the years we’ve been together. She’s the best friend in the whole world. I’ve been blessed with two amazing best friends.
“You miss me? I saw you yesterday, silly.”
Kit sighs. “I know, but life is different now. With Bobby and Renee and Jack. I haven’t been neglecting you, have I? I know I’ve been absent--”
“No, babe. You haven’t. We’ve both been busy, but I miss you too. We should organize a Mr. Darcy and ice cream night soon, just the two of us.”
“Yeah, we should,” Kit murmurs into the phone. She’s so tired lately. I know her asshole family are really dragging her down. If I could fix that for her, I would. “I’m half tempted to make that night tonight.”
“Definitely not tonight. I have a big night planned for us, but soon, okay? We’ll do it soon.”
“Yeah, alright. I’ll see you in a bit.”
“Yeah. Hey, Kit.”
“Yeah?”
“I love you.”
Kit’s smile is almost audible over the line. “I love you too, Casey. So much.”
~*~
“Sunshine--”
“Sorry Leo.” I smirk arrogantly as I stir my drink. “It’s girl’s night. I don’t have time to take your calls--”
“Sissy was attacked.” Jon’s voice cuts through my heart, the break in his words, the pain in them has me sitting up straight on my stool at 188. I’ve been talking to my coworkers, bored and waiting for Kit’s late ass. She should have been here more than an hour ago, but although she’s disgustingly on time everywhere she goes, an hour isn’t a big deal to me, especially since my girl was training tonight then getting dressed. That’d take me a couple hours and she’s always budgeting such small pockets of time. And she’s got way more hair than I do. An hour is petty change for me.
“Izzy was attacked? Is she okay? Do you need me to come?”
I will. In a heartbeat. The way his voice broke is something I’ve never heard before.
“She’s in hospital. We’ve been up here for a couple hours. Is Kit with you?”
“No. She’s at home getting dress--”
“Casey, listen to me! Is Kit with you?”
My heart is thumping in my chest, threatening to rip its way through the skin that holds it in. My best friend is hurt and scared. Both of them are.
“Casey! Answer my fucking question.”
“No, Jon. She’s not with me.”
“Fuck! I gotta go--”
“Wait. What the hell’s going on?”
“Kit’s missing. Sissy was hurt.”
“Kit’s missing? What the fuck do you mean she’s missing? Kit doesn’t just go missing!”
“Can you go to the hospital? Sit with Sissy.”
“Where are you?” I’ve already bolted from my stool, fisting my purse and swinging out the front door past Mike. “What are you doing right now?”
“I’m going with Bobby.”
“Where’s Bobby going?”
“He’s going to fucking find her.” Jon’s harsh words barely register, my mind still stuck on my best friend being missing. Not even Bobby knows where she is.
I was sitting at a fucking bar, laughing at Derek’s ridiculous shaker moves as he mixed cocktails while Jon’s sister was attacked and now Kit is missing. “Let me come with you. Let me find her. I need to find my best friend.”
“I need you to go sit with Sissy. Please.”
“You’re making me choose between you and Kit.”
“There’s no fuck
ing choice.” Jon’s words are muffled by movement, as though he’s running, breathing hard, and I wonder if he’s running through hospital hallways. Panicking. “Sit with my fucking sister. I need you to sit with Sissy. I’ll find Kit.”
“Are you alone? Jon, don’t be dumb.”
“I’m with Aiden. We’re going to find Bobby and Jack now. Sit with Sissy!”
I swing into my car as Jon hangs up on me. I guess the situation hasn’t processed for me yet, as though for the first time ever, Jon is lying to me, but I navigate to my recent calls list, hit Kit’s name and call her.
She’ll answer, even though she didn’t answer the two calls I made in the last hour. I wasn’t calling to nag, I was having fun with Derek anyway. I was just checking in.
When her phone goes to voicemail I find my hands shaking and my breath hitching painfully in my chest. She’s not missing. They’re all messing with me. This isn’t real.
I’m going to kick Jon’s ass for this stunt. I know he’s all Leo the Lion, not wanting us out drinking alone without his knightly ass watching but when I catch up with him, I’m going to kick his ass for scaring the shit out of me.
~*~
I lay my hand on Bobby’s shoulder, his muscles unconsciously twitching under my touch as he sleeps with his face in Kit’s open hand.
“Wake up, B.”
“M’okay.”
“Wake up, honey. Your mom’s here.”
Bobby’s head lifts with confusion. He looks from my hand as it rests on his shoulder, then gazing down at the woman he loves as she rests deep inside a coma, he sighs as a new day greets us and she remains asleep.
It’s been six and a half days since the doctors stopped sedating her. It’s been a little less than that time since we expected my best friend to wake up, since we expected her broken and battered body to open her eyes so she could cuss us out for standing around and staring at her like a bunch of weirdos.
