Releasing Kate: The Acceptance Series

by D. Kelly

  The bouncer doesn’t answer but a man walks up that Connor greets as Jack. They talk inside for a few minutes and then Connor steps out and pulls us aside. “Well, that just got fucking weird,” he says, looking over his shoulder.

  “They’re not going to let you guys in. I guess it’s not public knowledge, and Jack said normally he wouldn’t say anything, but they’ve got some big clients here tonight and he doesn’t want a scene. Marc is co-owner of this club. There are no strings I can pull to get you in tonight.”

  Fuck!

  Connor looks down at his phone. “Um, more bad news, guys. Jess can’t find Kate anywhere; she’s completely disappeared.”

  A cute drunk girl giggles from behind us, “Sorry, I couldn’t help but overhear your conversation. People don’t disappear inside The Scene…they go create them.”

  We all exchange confused glances but Connor pours on the charm. “Really, that’s interesting how would that work exactly?” Connor gets close to her and places his hand on her arm and shoots her a panty dropping smile.

  “You know The Scene is a sex club, right? Well, not all hard core or anything, but there’s almost one hundred hotel rooms in that building and they are all stocked to make your every fantasy come true. But shhh, don’t tell anyone I told you. It’s supposed to be a secret.”

  Just as she finishes telling us the big secret, her boyfriend finds her. “Everly, what are you doing out here?” he asks her with a very stern voice. This guy is hard core.

  She puts her finger to her mouth in the shhh motion one more time before turning around to greet him. “Hey, baby, these guys got separated from their friend and wanted to know if I could check the bathroom for her.”

  Perfect timing because right then Jess walks out and any doubt on his face disappears. “Well let’s go. It seems as if they’ve found her now. Have a good evening, you guys.”

  The Scene is a sex club.

  Marc owns a sex club.

  Marc is inside with Kate right now in a hotel room in a sex club.

  “That’s it, you guys, you know that, right? After all of this bullshit she picked him!” I’m pissed and my heart is broken.

  “Let’s go get something to eat,” Mike says suddenly.

  “What? You want to go eat right now?” I don’t understand why he isn’t more upset right now. He hates Marc and he knows that right now he’s probably upstairs banging the hell out of Kate.

  “I want to think and I can’t think on an empty stomach. I was coming over to have dinner with Vanessa and that was hours ago. Kate’s done this dance with Marc for years and hasn’t slept with him yet. Maybe there’s still hope. This isn’t the first time she’s kissed him, and until she gets married, it probably won’t be the last.”

  Jess and Connor exchange a look that tells me what they were doing tonight was a whole lot more than just kissing. Hell, from what I saw on the dance floor myself they were fucking right there with their clothes on. He saw it, too. I don’t know how he can be so calm.

  We all end up piling in his truck and Mike pulls into the first place he sees that looks like it might be serving breakfast. Misty’s diner. Could this night get any worse? I try to warn him, “Hey, Mike, you might not want to eat here…”

  I don’t even get to finish my sentence before he jumps my shit. “Daniel, I don’t give a fuck where we eat, I just need to eat something.” Fuck it, I’m in no mood to fix his shit tonight; he can fix it himself.

  Dumb Ass.

  And, of course, as soon as we walk in who do we see? Yup. Fucking Misty. Maybe someday Mike will learn to listen before doing what he wants to when he wants to. This night keeps getting better and better. I’m probably enjoying the deer caught in the headlights look Mike has on his face a little more than I should.

  “Mike.” She says it with reverence as she smoothes out her hair and straightens out her shirt. Interesting. I’m not the only one who thinks so; Jess and Connor are taking it in, too. It’s obvious Misty still has feelings for Mike. Isn’t that strange, though? They haven’t even talked in what…two and a half years?

  Stranger still, Mike blushes…flushes? Do guys blush? Fuck if I know, but his face is beet red. Maybe he’s just pissed I didn’t make him listen to me, but from the look in his eye I would almost say he’s happy to see her. Is it a full moon out because this is one strange fucking night.

  “Um, hey, Misty, uh…how are you doing?” Holy shit, Mike is at a loss for words, he’s actually nervous. If I still thought I had a chance in hell with Kate after tonight I would be happy to see this unfolding right in front of me. It doesn’t matter—even if Kate wanted me back, after what I saw, there’s no going back.

  It’s over.

  “Oh, you know, working my way through school and taking life one day at a time. It’s been a long time, Mike,” she tells him sadly, but there’s an underlying current with them and I can’t put my finger on it. Something’s just off.

  “It has been a long time,” he replies as she walks us to our table “Misty, I’d like to catch up someday soon and maybe apologize properly.” Her eyes widen as if she never thought the day would come and then she smiles.

  “I’d like that, a lot, actually. I heard you were getting back together with Katherine. Congratulations.”

  “That’s news to me… did I miss out on something?” I know I sound like an asshole but God, I’m pissed tonight.

  “Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t know it was a secret…”

  Connor interjects, “That’s my fault. Sorry, Misty. Kate and I were here a little while back and we told Misty she was working on things. Misty, Daniel and Mike are both in a love triangle kind of situation now with Kate; it’s a touchy subject.”

  “Not after tonight, after tonight it doesn’t matter anymore,” I snap at them.

  “How about I give you a few minutes to look at them menu?” Misty says, retreating.

  “Daniel,” Jess says reaching out for my hand, “I know you’re hurting, but you don’t mean that. You don’t even know that she’s going to go through with it.”

  But I know, we all know.

  “After seeing that, I just can’t un-see it. Every time I look at her, that’s what I’m going to see.” I can feel tears burning behind my eyes but there’s no way in hell I’m crying in front of them. Over a girl who didn’t even give me the benefit of the doubt.

  “She didn’t trust in us enough to believe I wouldn’t do that to her.”

  There’s nothing but silence as we all look at our menus, and after we place our orders, Mike finally speaks.

  “Daniel, I could sit here and let you wallow all night and whine about Kate. Don’t you fucking think I want to crawl out of my skin right now with the thoughts of Marc fucking her senseless in the back of my mind?”

  Nodding, I agree with him because I feel the exact same way. My skin is crawling thinking about his hands on her, caressing her in all the places I know turn her on. Touching her in all the places I’ve claimed as mine, making her scream his name as she comes over and over again. Are they using a condom? Or is she letting him ride her bare back like she lets me and only me? Is he tasting her essence right now? Licking her come from his lips and going back for more? Or is he fucking her so hard that her pussy clenches him tightly as she screams out from her earth-shattering orgasm.

  Maybe he’ll get whiskey dick.

  Now I get why girls want details when men cheat. What I can picture in my mind has unlimited possibilities. At least if I found out the truth, my imagination could stop running wild and she would tell me the truth.

  Wouldn’t she?

  “Look, Daniel, I’m not happy right now, either. This is my worst nightmare coming true and there’s nothing I can do to stop it. Kate’s hurt, she’s reeling, and she’s seeking comfort in someone else. She thinks that will make everything better but it’s only going to make things worse. Kate isn’t built to fuck away her sorrows. You’re not the only one who is hurting—we’re all hurting—but none of us will
be hurting as much as she will tomorrow. Trust me on that.”

  “So what, you think she’s going to take the same downward spiral you did?”

  “Hell no, she won’t because even if she tried, I wouldn’t let her. I don’t want to even think about Kate with Marc, but after the past four years, what kind of hypocrite would I be if I didn’t forgive her for one night of indiscretions?”

  Mike looks at me with a gleam in his eyes but it’s not a friendly one. “Look, Daniel, if you can’t get past this, it’s cool. It actually works out better for me. I can forgive Kate and we can continue to fall back into our old life. This is the way it’s supposed to be, anyway. You were never supposed to be a part of her story, and the sooner you get that into your head, the better.”

  Dick,

  “So you’re enjoying my pain? You’re such a fucking condescending prick. Tell me again why we’re friends?”

  “Hey,” Connor intervenes. “Stop it, you two. Nothing is going to get resolved tonight. We’re just going to have to wait and see what happens. But if you both need a reminder why we’re friends, it’s because we’re all condescending pricks.”

  Fucking Connor. He’s probably the only one who could get me to laugh. Misty brings the food and slips Mike her number, telling him she would like to catch up sometime. She seems really nervous, but then again, so does he.

  It seems like every sixty seconds Jess is checking her cell phone, hoping to get a text that is never going to come. I’m just ready to go home; I need to get drunk.

  “What do you think about all this, Jess?” Maybe if someone can give me insight on Kate it will be her best friend.

  She looks at me sadly. “Honestly. Daniel. I don’t know what’s going on with Kate lately. She’s not the girl I know and love. This has been really hard on her and I know she’s retreated into a dark place inside to try and work through it all. She’s been different since that weird night when you all were at Vanessa’s. If I had to pinpoint the shift. it would be that night.”

  That’s the night she cut me off and stopped really talking to me. Maybe she’s just already picked Mike and this is just her way of trying to let me down easy.

  “No, Jess, she was acting different before that night. It started when she found out these asshats are friends,” Connor argues with her but Jess isn’t having it.

  “Her weirdness started that night, but back when she decided to date them both she was actually sort of happy. Who knows? Maybe the reality of dating two men actually just crashed down on her that night? It’s not like you guys are giving her an easy choice, seriously. ‘Hey Kate, do you choose, fuckability number one or fuckability number 2? Remember, they are best friends and brother’s, but there are no wrong answers here’ Yeah right, I’d be a freaking mess, too.”

  I’m so over this. I just want to go and drink. “Well, she chose fuckability number three tonight, which I guess really makes him fuckability number one. Can we go now? I’ve got a date with a bottle of Jack Daniel’s.”

  Mike drives us all back to Kate’s house in silence. The house is dark, of course, and so is Vanessa’s. Connor and Jess decide to spend the night here and wait for Kate. Mike and I go home in separate trucks. On the way home, I stop off at the nearest liquor store and spend over five hundred dollars on whiskey, tequila, and vodka. I’ve made the store owner’s night and I’ve got enough alcohol to get us all through this god awful weekend.

  When I walk inside with my box of booze, Mike laughs and points to his own box of booze. It’s almost comical that one woman can drive someone to want to drink like this but it’s not funny because she’s one exceptional woman.

  Silently, we sit, taking shot after shot, each of us texting every few minutes. I bet if we exchanged phones we would either laugh or beat each other’s asses at what we’re texting her.

  “So, you’d really take her back knowing she’s letting Marc fuck her brains out right now?” My words are slurred and things are about to get deep because we’re so drunk.

  Mike looks thoughtful and then answers with slurred words of his own. “Who am I to judge her? All I’m trying to do is earn her forgiveness, so if I can’t give it why should I get it? Fuck, Daniel! I hate Marc…like so much…so much that if I knew…” Then he whispers very loudly, “If I knew I could get away with killing him and never get caught, man, I would do it in a hot minute.”

  Me, too.

  “I didn’t like the way he jumped between you two that night he was here. We should have taken him out then.”

  He nods frantically at me. “Fuck yeah. He’s a cocky SOB, that’s for fucking sure.”

  “Mike?”

  “Yeah, buddy?”

  “Why don’t you like him? Did he do something horrible or something?”

  Mike hangs his head for a minute and then pours us both another shot of whiskey. “I’ve never told anyone this and you can’t tell anyone either, Daniel.”

  “Okay.”

  “No, dude, I mean it…this can never leave this yard, if you remember it tomorrow. Kate can never find out.”

  Damn, it must be serious because he’s so super serious. “I’ve never liked Marc, and when we were about twelve, I heard him tell some of his friends he was going to ‘tap that ass’ one day when Kate walked by. That really started my dislike of him. Progressively, it got worse and he got possessive of their time together. Like she was his girlfriend or something, you know?”

  “Oh, hell no,” I tell him, passing him another drink.

  “Exactly, hell fucking no. So one day, I ran into Marc at my gym. He was dropping off some girl and making some crude remark to her about her coming back to his house so she could taste the cream inside his chocolate cock this time. She laughed and said something alluding to how big his black dick was and how she needed time to recover because she was already walking funny.”

  “Man, I seriously did not need to know he’s well hung. I was hoping for a steroid dick on that fucker.” I tell him dejectedly.

  “Don’t worry about that. I know a girl who’s been with him that I hooked up with about a year ago. She said we’re about the same and that it’s nothing she would go back for. I don’t know if she’s telling the truth, but it’s comforting. And, uh, since I’ve seen you fuck and I know what your dick looks like I don’t think you have anything to worry about, either.”

  The level of uncomfortable when he says that is so funny! That is one thing we’ve never talked about is how our dicks compare in size. I don’t think most guys ever have that discussion. “Okay, but none of that really explains why you hate Marc.” I’m impatient. I want to know where the hatred comes from. I want something else to hate him for.

  “I’m getting there. So anyway, after I finished my workout I went to the locker room to shower and change. There was no one in the changing area but I could hear people fucking in the shower. Marc was fucking this chick, the one that had just told him she was sore a little while before.”

  “Okay…” I say, encouraging him to get on with it.

  “So when this chick came, which by the way sounded so fucking hot, she called out his name over and over. When Marc came, he cried out ‘Katherine, oh yeah, Katie Grace. Fuck me, baby girl.”

  “What the fuck? Why the hell would he do that?”

  “I almost threw up right then and there. He never saw me and never knew I heard anything.”

  “Guys don’t do that shit. He had to know you were there; he had to be fucking with you.” He’s shaking his head vehemently.

  “He didn’t know and I overheard this girl a week or so later talking to her friend at the gym. She told her she’d been hooking up with this guy who could fuck her into submission anytime but that she was going to have to call it off because she couldn’t take him calling out someone else’s name when they fucked. Man, we were only seventeen at the time. He’s been plotting this for a long time.”

  “Well, hell…” That’s all I can say.

  “Kate has no clue. I know they have
their sexual tension and everything, but this would really freak her out if she knew. Who knows, maybe he doesn’t do it anymore—maybe it was a phase—but he’s been in love with her a very long time.”

  “So now that they’re fucking do you think she’ll pick him?”

  “Nope, and maybe that’s why I’m not letting it bother me as much as I should be. She doesn’t love him like that; she’s just using him for an escape. She loves us like that. Maybe one of us more than the other,” he replies thoughtfully.

  “You think so? I don’t know. She’s super pissed at me right now and she’s lashing out. Sorry you’re paying for it, too.” When he laughs, I laugh, too.

  “Daniel, I’m paying for it anyway. She’s letting me back in but her heart hasn’t opened completely to me. Not yet anyway. Can you really do it, though? Let her go because of one mistake? You do realize that tomorrow she will consider this a mistake, don’t you?”

  “It’s not like she accidentally fell on his dick.”

  “Oh, you mean the way Vanessa fell on yours tonight?”

  “You’re an ass, did you know that?”

  “Absofuckinglutely and I like it that way. Stop being a bitch, Daniel, and get over this shit. You’re dating her but she’s not your girlfriend, you’re not exclusive. She can fuck whoever she wants to and so can you.” What is with the change in his attitude suddenly?

  “Look,” he says, finally slamming his glass down and wobbily getting to his feet, “I lost her once because I didn’t believe in her enough. Don’t make that mistake, you’ll regret it.”

  “You sound like you’re giving up.” Would he just give her to me?

  “No, I’ll never give up on Kate, not ever. As long as my heart is beating she’ll own it completely, but I admitted to myself a while ago that this is her choice not mine. All I can do is love her and earn her forgiveness. Everything else is up to her. Night, man.”

  “Goodnight.”

  I’m not sure how long I sit outside thinking about our conversation before finally stumbling upstairs to my room. Before passing out, I call Kate one last time.